Chapter 2
‘Ten, nine, eight…’
The massive blood loss began to make Song Qingxiao’s consciousness blurry. She recalled her mother, and numerous long-forgotten scenes started to appear in her mind. That mysterious countdown continued in her mind.
‘Six, five…’
‘Four…’
‘Three…’
Her fingers twitched, and her mind began to wander. She could not feel her body, and the sound of the rain in her ears disappeared. All she could hear was the sound of her heart beating interspersed with the countdown.
‘Two…’
She did not want to die! She had just graduated and had only recently managed to get a job to support herself. She had only been on the job for a day.
Luckily, she managed to survive her first day on the job despite having encountered some trouble. She did not want to die quietly in an alley. The next day, once the rain stopped, perhaps some people would pass through the alley. Even then, they might not spare a second glance at her corpse!
Should she enter the Trial of God? She used the last of her energy to move her lips. Rainwater gushed into her mouth. Foam mixed with blood trickled down her chin. Her desire to live won over her fear of death.
‘Yes…’
The thought had barely registered in her mind when her fingers began to twitch the next second lightly. What she felt was no longer the wet and cold stone pavement but a smooth floor. She was no longer in the dark alley where she met the end of her life. There seemed to be others around her. She could hear the sound of heavy breathing!
“Welcome to the Trial of God’s test space!”
Song Qingxiao took a deep breath of fresh, cool air and sat up immediately. She opened her eyes! Several other people were sitting or standing beside her. All of them turned to look at her with shocked expressions.
There were no strong winds or heavy rainfall. The dark alley and the little tune that she heard before she died was not here either. She looked around, assessing her surroundings carefully, and subconsciously reached out her hands to touch her throat.
Before she lost consciousness, her throat had been slit open by that person. She still remembered the feeling of that dagger entering her body. Song Qingxiao went as pale as a sheet. When her hands reached her throat, it felt smooth and perfect. There was no wound, and she could breathe normally.
The scene right before she was killed was like a nightmare. She raised her arms and saw that her left arm still had traces of fresh bloodstains. It was proof that she did not imagine what had happened before.
“What is this place? What’s going on?” Song Qingxiao mumbled to herself as her body trembled non-stop. Everyone around her looked at her with fear in their eyes.
Everything that had happened was beyond her scope of knowledge. However, she guessed that it might have something to do with the voices that appeared in her mind.
Song Qingxiao steadied her nerves and used her hands to support her as she stood up. Since she had just been through a dangerous situation, she was instinctively wary of the strange environment.
She noticed something odd about the place. A gray fog enveloped everything. Only an open space of about 30 square meters was left uncovered. Apart from that, there were no other decorations or furnishings.
About seven or eight people beside her were located quite a distance away from her, and they stared at her vigilantly.
“What is this place?”
It seemed like they were all strangers since everyone had kept a distance from each other. The group of people consisted of men and women of all ages. No two were alike.
A young woman dressed in a red one-piece dress and high-heels uncrossed her arms. She fiddled with her hair before she asked, “Who are you people? How did you end up here?”
Everyone there exchanged looks with each other. However, since they were all strangers, none of them seemed to want to speak up first. That woman swept her gaze over every single person within that open space before her eyes finally landed on Song Qingxiao, who was the last to enter the area.
Song Qingxiao’s appearance was the most frightening one among them all. Her clothes were thoroughly drenched, and there were bloodstains all over her chest as well as her sleeves. Her hair was disheveled. She looked as white as a ghost, and her lips were devoid of color. She looked extremely gross and destitute as if she had been through a rough time.
It was clear that Song Qingxiao did not come from a good background. When the woman’s gaze landed on Song Qingxiao, she looked just like everyone else—a little nervous but also disdainful and disgusted.
“Hey, new person. Who are you? What’s your name, and how did you get here?” The woman quickly asked Song Qingxiao a series of questions as she stared at her. As soon as she spoke, everyone else stared intently at Song Qingxiao and waited eagerly for her answer.
Since Song Qingxiao was still unsure about where she was, she did not answer honestly when the woman directed those questions at her. That night’s event had made her extremely wary, and she kept her guard up high. The unfamiliar environment and the strangers around her made her feel even more anxious.
She copied what everyone else had done and moved to a spot within the open space that was a little further from the others. She then curled up into a ball. By then, one of the others had begun to grow impatient and sternly questioned her.
“Did you hear what she said?”
The person who spoke up was a strong, muscular guy who wore a tight tank top. The tank top exposed his arm, which was covered in tattoos. He had a fierce and mean appearance, and he raised his fist as he spoke. It seemed like everyone was most apprehensive about him since they had all moved far away from him.
Song Qingxiao was still taking deep breaths since she was still traumatized by the sensation of being stabbed by the dagger. She could not shake off the feeling of not being able to breathe. Even though the wound on her neck had mysteriously disappeared, she was still severely affected. She still stretched out her neck and raised her chin as she took deep breaths in.
She said in a loud voice, “My name is Song Qingxiao. I’m not sure how I ended up here. I’m pretty confused about it myself.”
She did not mention the mysterious voice that appeared in her mind. Neither did she bring up the ‘Trial of God’. Looking at how they reacted to her words, it seemed as though no one suspected her of lying.
The woman who had questioned her seemed to be focused on the bloodstains on Song Qingxiao. She was clearly curious about what had happened to her before she arrived. Her reaction proved that everyone here in this space must have arrived here abruptly. Everyone else there could have also received the prompt to enter the Trial of God before they mysteriously arrived in the space.
From the way the other people were dressed, they were all doing different things at different times before they were summoned to the ‘Trial of God’. For example, the woman who had questioned Song Qingxiao was dressed in a dinner gown, while another middle-aged man further back—who was short and plump—seemed to be wearing work clothes.
Song Qingxiao was unclear about why she had been able to enter the trial, nor had she figured out what the purpose of this trial was. However, since she was introverted and did not like to draw attention to herself, she kept quiet after she had answered the woman’s questions. While she listened to the conversations around her, she quietly observed all the people in the space.
She did a headcount, and there were a total of nine people in the space, including herself. Apart from the woman who asked her the questions and the scary-looking burly chap, there was also a short, chubby guy who looked about forty years old. There was a bespectacled and refined-looking man next to him.
On the other side, there was a young man and a young woman, both with green eyes. Sitting in the east corner was a slightly plump woman in office wear. A young male doctor who wore a white coat stood about two meters away from her. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and wore a deep frown.
The bespectacled, middle-aged man’s eyes lit up, and he spoke as he adjusted his glasses.
“It looks like everyone arrived here by accident. Even though I don’t understand why we have all arrived here, since we’re here now, we should try to figure out where this is and what has caused us all to appear here.”
He used his hands to push against the ground as he stood up.
“I suggest that in a place like this, we should all sit in a circle and introduce ourselves. This is so that we can get to know and become familiar with each other.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the fierce-looking chap laughed loudly.
“Who are you? Why should the rest of us listen to what you say?” he asked.
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