Another proctor swallowed hard and shook his head, saying, "I checked it yesterday. There were no suspicious items inside. It was something that looked like strips of meat, and it smelled sweet and fragrant. It wasn't rotten mandarin fish."

"It's sealed, so it's hard to say. It's best to open it and take a look."

As the proctor spoke, he untied the rope and, with a forceful pull of his fingers, lifted the ceramic lid.

A sweet aroma wafted towards them, making the proctor unconsciously swallow.

"The scholar said that this is not good for preservation after opening and should be eaten as soon as possible."

"what to do?"

"Since it's already opened, it would be a waste to throw it away. Why don't we all try it?"

“I think it’s a good idea. This method of storing meat is so ingenious, let’s study it.”

The proctors chatted amongst themselves, then solemnly began to examine the beef strips.

"Hmm! Not bad, this method is feasible and can be promoted to students on future scientific expeditions."

One of the examiners, after tasting it, remarked with lingering satisfaction.

In the following days, at mealtimes, the proctors would deliberately stop in front of Zhen Jingxiu and Su Jin's cells.

The two were preoccupied with answering the questions. The beef strips were shared among the three of them and ran out on the fourth day, but they didn't care. They boiled two eggs every day and ate porridge and noodles twice a day.

The scientific expedition is in full swing, and with only two days left, some candidates are starting to get restless.

That evening, Su Jin did what she always did: after dinner, she checked the problems she had worked on during the day to see if there were any that needed to be corrected.

Just as he was concentrating on the question, he suddenly heard a "poof" sound and an unidentified object was launched in front of his desk.