Someone Familiar

The person who strangled Song Qingxiao had terrifying strength. Just a single tug of their arm made her feel as though the thin strap of her lanyard was about to slice into her neck. It stung fiercely as it dug into her flesh.

Her throat was forced shut, causing her to be unable to breathe in any fresh air. Song Qingxiao lifted her head, and her face was bright red. She instinctively reached out for the dagger hidden in her arm, hoping to get out of the terrible situation. However, as soon as she raised her hand, her logic suppressed the instinct of her body.

Perhaps it was because she had previous experience of being strangled, but Song Qingxiao calmed down quickly as she considered the pros and cons of her actions. The place was a hospital, and there was someone before her. The dagger was her trump card. It would not do her any good if it was revealed at such an early stage. 

Besides that, Nurse Zhang was still there. Even though Song Qingxiao was being strangled, she would not die. She had to endure the suffering for a bit longer. If she revealed her trump card, it was like losing a leg to stand on.

As soon as she thought about it, Song Qingxiao changed the direction of her hand and reached toward the person who had ambushed her from behind. All of it happened in the blink of an eye. Song Qingxiao was dragged nearly two meters away before Nurse Zhang seemed to come back to her senses.

"Qingxiao!" she screamed.

Just as Song Qingxiao predicted, Nurse Zhang quickly ran to help her get out of the situation. At the same time, she yelled out for help from their colleagues. The sound of running footsteps could be heard from the treatment rooms. Some people also came running from the nurses' station. The door of the patient room was opened, and a group of patients came running out. They wore cold expressions.

It only took a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to Song Qingxiao. Nurse Zhang ran up to help, and it seemed like the person strangling her had tripped and fallen to the floor. However, it did not solve Song Qingxiao's crisis.

The person who tugged on her lanyard did not loosen their grip. In fact, they seemed to pull on the string even harder. In the confusion, Song Qingxiao could feel a pair of feet stepping onto her shoulders to increase the force around her neck!

The situation was more dangerous than before. Song Qingxiao struggled, but she could not get herself out of the threatening situation. Thankfully, the people in the treatment room and the nurses' station hurried over. With their combined efforts, they were able to subdue the person strangling Song Qingxiao.

The incident had caused Song Qingxiao to experience much suffering. In the end, Nurse Zhang found a pair of scissors and cut open the lanyard that was wrapped around Song Qingxiao's neck. Only then did Song Qingxiao feel truly out of danger.

"Are you alright?"

Nurse Zhang handed the scissors to a colleague. She knelt down in concern and was about to help Song Qingxiao get to her feet. Song Qingxiao had regained the ability to breathe. She took a deep breath of the air around her that smelt faintly of medication. 

Her throat still felt odd after her windpipe had been crushed, causing her to cough violently. She blinked a few times forcefully to squeeze out the tears in her eyes from being strangled. She rested her hand on Nurse Zhang's arm, too weak to say a word, and shook her head with much difficulty in response to her question.

Nurse Zhang looked like a mess herself. The nurse's cap on her head was off-center. There were a few scratch marks on her chin that had started to bleed and swell up. Song Qingxiao stood up with the support of Nurse Zhang. She turned her head to see the person that had been restrained on the ground. When she saw the patient, Song Qingxiao stopped coughing and reached for her neck. Her pupils narrowed, and a flash of killing intent swept past her eyes.

Number six, who had two braids in her hair, laid on the ground wearing a blue-striped hospital gown as she was pinned down by two strongly-built nurses. As soon as Song Qingxiao met her eyes, her lips curved into a sinister smile. Number six still had the lanyard that had been wrapped tightly around Song Qingxiao's throat in her hands.

Cough, cough, cough.

Song Qingxiao coughed a couple of times. Nurse Zhang still looked a little worried as she patted Song Qingxiao on the back.

"Are you alright?" Nurse Zhang asked.

Number six was quickly taken away by the others in the direction of the elevator.

"I'm alright." Song Qingxiao forced herself to answer. As soon as Nurse Zhang saw that she could still speak, she let out a sigh of relief. 

"That was one of the new patients that arrived today." Perhaps she was trying to reassure Song Qingxiao because she quickly explained, "She must have suddenly rushed out to hurt people while she was being examined by the doctor."

She pointed towards the examination room behind Song Qingxiao. The door was opened, and Song Qingxiao followed her line of sight to look over. She then nodded her head. Her throat still burned, and the skin of her neck must have been torn open. Nurse Zhang took a look and said, "Thankfully, the wound isn't too deep. However, we should still put some antiseptic over it."

She narrowed her eyes and sighed. "To avoid another situation like this, it looks like you won't be allowed to wear a lanyard." 

She looked a little regretful, but she quickly put on a smile. Pointing at the nametag on her chest, she said, "However, a name tag like this will be done in a few days. By then, you can be like me and not have to wear it."

Song Qingxiao twitched the corner of her lips. It could be considered a response, but she made no sound. The patients around her started to increase in number. Soon, there were a lot of people in the corridor. Each person looked dazed and blank, looking like their souls had wandered off.

Nurse Zhang looked a little anxious when she saw the situation. She did not bother to explain and rushed to get a colleague to help Song Qingxiao apply some medication to her wound. She then rushed off to escort the patients back into their rooms.

Nurse Zhang tidied her hair and put on her nurse's cap once again. Song Qingxiao looked at the wound on her chin and said, "Nurse Zhang, the wound on your chin…"

Nurse Zhang paused. However, she quickly smiled. "It's alright. They're patients, so I can't take it to heart."

Her tone was gentle and full of patience. The jagged wound on her chin did not seem to trigger a hint of anger from her. Song Qingxiao's eyes flashed.

Another nurse piped up to say, "Nurse Zhang is the sweetest person here in our hospital."

Song Qingxiao turned and saw that the name tag on the nurse's chest read 'Wang Xiaoli'. Nurse Zhang ushered the patients back into their rooms. 

"This is not activity time. Patients are not allowed to wander around freely."

As Wang Xiaoli continued to speak, Song Qingxiao was still immersed in her memory of how she had bumped into number six and was nearly killed by her.

The incident that had happened earlier filled Song Qingxiao with doubt. Number five had panicked after being frightened by number four. After that, the trial started, and everyone had no time to react.

That included Song Qingxiao. She had no chance to learn about the task of the other participants in the trial before she was forced to enter the scene. After a series of selections, she entered the scene. She had barely figured out the time limit for the mission, but she still did not understand the clues when she bumped into number six and nearly lost her life!

The numbers in her vision had dropped to 119:17:51. Song Qingxiao frowned deeply because of the pressures of time and the fact that she had encountered number six. Based on what she saw, her identity was in opposition to number six's in the mission setting. One of them was a medical staff, and the other was a patient.

The instructions in her consciousness had not changed. It still showed, 'Protect the people. Obliterate failure. Completion of task: 1000 credits.' It proved that their earlier tussle had not affected the task. It was highly likely that the trial would be just like the previous trial. 

The prompt would only be triggered to change after the participants had started to kill one another. Once someone had died, a change would occur, and the surviving participants would receive more information.

According to that logic, it made perfect sense that number six had attacked her as soon as she saw her. However, Song Qingxiao thought about the fleeting moment when number six had appeared in the space.

When she entered the test space, the large chap had pointed his gun at her. Number six had reacted quickly, and her reactions were agile. She turned the dangerous situation around quickly. Not only did she manage to flip the large chap to the ground, but she also nearly snatched his gun from him. It was enough to see that she had a high combat ability.

She was an extremely dangerous character.

Even though number six had entered the scene with a patient's identity, Song Qingxiao was clear that it was only an adaptation of the game's rules. Number six was not actually a patient. 

If a person like that really wanted to kill Song Qingxiao, it was impossible that she would fail. She could not stop herself from touching her throat. It still stung painfully. Number six must have known that she wore a nurse's uniform and was surrounded by other people in the hospital. The participants were all in competitive and even hostile relationships with each other.

Yet, she had acted in such a situation. Even if she ambushed Song Qingxiao, she would not have succeeded, so what was the purpose of her actions? Song Qingxiao could not figure out the answer to that question in her mind.

Wang Xiaoli saw Song Qingxiao reaching for her neck and asked, "Are you feeling a little scared?"

Song Qingxiao endured her discomfort and swallowed her spit. She dropped her hand as though nothing was wrong. Before she spoke, Wang Xiaoli did not seem to need an answer. She smiled and said, "What if more terrifying things happen after this?"

Nurse Zhang had finished ushering all the patients in the corridor back to their rooms. She walked towards Wang Xiaoli and Song Qingxiao. Next to the nurses' station stood an equipment console. Nurse Zhang headed there to retrieve a cotton swab with alcohol and disinfected the wound on her chin. She waved Song Qingxiao over. 

The equipment console was situated across a patient room. Since she was just ambushed, Song Qingxiao was extremely wary. Before she walked over, she instinctively turned her head to look around her to confirm that there was no one behind her.

At that moment when she turned her head around, her eyes glanced past the window of a patient room. She saw number five dressed in a blue-striped hospital gown curled up on the bed. He trembled as he sat on the bed and raised his head as though he felt Song Qingxiao's eyes on him. 

As soon as that cowardly man with greasy hair saw her, his eyes went wide, and a terrified expression appeared on his face. He looked close to tears and quickly lowered his head. After she had just been reacquainted with number six, she once again encountered someone familiar in the scene. Song Qingxiao bit her lower lip and narrowed her eyes to hide the expression in her eyes.