Chapter 20

The sudden change made all of Song Qingxiao’s hairs stand on end. She broke out in cold sweat. In that moment of crisis, she subconsciously formed a seal with her fingers and attempted to use her ‘Arrival’ word arts to freeze the man for a second, giving her time to avoid the attack.

In the blink of an eye, a thought flashed through her mind. She recalled the scene when she redeemed her credits after she finished the previous trial. There were guns and bullets as options when she made her choice, but they were not cheap.

The cost of redemption for a gun was 100 credits, and each bullet cost 50 credits. She knew there would be people who would have redeemed a weapon with such firepower like that. However, unless a person had tons of credits to splurge, they would have limited credits left for the bullets once they had exchanged their credits for a gun.

Based on Song Qingxiao’s experience with the previous trial, the number of participants in each trial could reach up to nine people. Even if every shot was a sure-kill, that person would need at least eight bullets to be able to kill all of the other people in a nine-person trial situation. It was not an insignificant number.

Besides that, it was Song Qingxiao’s second time taking part in the trial. Since that person had a gun, she deduced that everyone else had at least one previous experience taking part in the trial.

Everyone had managed to survive their previous trial, so they must have redeemed some items and have their own ways of self-protection. The person wielding the gun had bullets, but he needed to consider the possibility of saving his bullets for self-preservation.

Since bullets were precious, it was unlikely that he would easily pull the trigger. A single shot may not be able to kill a person. Hence, firing at Song Qingxiao would not only be a waste of bullets but also an opportunity to make him an enemy of her.

The person could have held the gun to her head after she had entered the test space not because he wanted to kill her, but mainly to intimidate and threaten her. The most likely explanation was that the gunman used the opportunity to scare people into revealing their trump card, thus allowing him to gain more information and have a greater chance of surviving the trial.

When people were faced with danger, their first instinct would be to save their lives. That was where their secret would be most likely to be exposed.

In the last trial, Song Qingxiao won the fight because she had kept her trump card a secret until the very end and had the element of surprise when she killed the doctor. She deeply understood the importance of a trump card, and at that moment, her greatest trump card was the ‘Nine-Word Secret Order’.

Song Qingxiao had an idea, and she forced herself to let go of the seal that she had formed with her fingers. She kept her fear under control and gripped the gun with one hand as though she were about to snatch it away. With her other hand, she reached for her waist.

Before she entered the test space, she had bought two daggers and sewed herself a waist strap so that she could conceal one on her body. At the same time, she also strapped the second dagger to her wrist, keeping it hidden with her sleeve.

Song Qingxiao did that just in case her first prediction was wrong. In that case, she would need to retaliate to protect herself. She needed to be prepared so that she had an escape plan. Her actions were pure instinct.

However, before her fingers had reached her clothes, another hand had reached over to grope her belly roughly. It was empty! The dagger that she had prepared had disappeared into thin air. In her panic, the intent to kill developed within her because of that guy’s actions.

The gun barrel pressed against her face was moved in the next second, and the tall and strongly-built man grinned at her. His eyes were extremely cold as he said, “Put your hands up.”

The tall and strong man’s behavior was just as Song Qingxiao had predicted. He would not open fire easily. She took a deep breath in and stared into the evil eyes of the gunman. She raised her arms hesitantly. A crescent-shaped dagger was pressed firmly against her arm, held in place by her strap.

For some unknown reason, the dagger that she had concealed next to her waist had disappeared since she entered the space. The dagger that she had used to kill in the previous trial still remained.

After she had raised her arms, her sleeves started to slip down to reveal her slender wrists. Song Qingxiao’s heart pounded wildly, and it felt like it was about to jump up to her throat.

The dagger was hidden on her lower arm. If her sleeve continued to slip any further, it would be exposed and discovered by that gunman.

She pursed her lips tightly, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She dared not raise her arms any higher and did her best to shrug her shoulders, putting on her best look of terror.

The gunman did not seem to be suspicious of her expression. As he spoke, he used his gun to tap Song Qingxiao’s body. He did so thoroughly, not missing out on any areas as he checked her chest, back, and even her legs.

Perhaps Song Qingxiao’s previous instinctive movement to reach for her stomach had misled him. After he had completed his search, he did not bother checking her arms. He glanced at her arms and saw that her sleeves had slipped down, exposing her wrists.

Once he was sure that she was not hiding any weapons, he turned his head to one side and gestured with his chin off to one direction. Scornfully, he spat, “Head over there, number three.”

Song Qingxiao narrowed her eyes. She was still filled with terror. Only when the man raised his gun towards her once more did she force herself to calm down. She followed the man’s instructions and walked into the corner.

Based on what the man had called her, she realized that there were only two others who had arrived in the space before her. She looked at the skinny, young man who was seated in the west side of the corner. He wore glasses, looking extremely gentle and reserved. He must have similarly been held at gunpoint by that gunman. Hence, his expression was extremely wary.

As soon as he noticed Song Qingxiao’s eyes on him, he immediately pushed up his glasses so that the light reflecting off his glasses concealed his eyes. However, Song Qingxiao could sense that at the same time, he was observing her closely.

Even though there were only three people in the space, the atmosphere was filled with killing intent, the sense of impending crisis and vigilance. The crushing feeling made one feel as though it were hard to breathe.

She sat down in a spot that was about two meters away from the bespectacled guy. Her keen senses noticed his body tense up in a fraction of a second as she sat down. It was clear that he would have violently reacted in defense if she had made any extra movements.

The environment in the test space was pretty similar to the first one that she entered. It was still an empty space surrounded by thick fog. Her eyes swept across the two men in the space as she wondered in which order they entered the space.

Based on outward appearances, the gunman was extremely strong. He was close to 190 centimeters tall, and he wore a tank-top, which showed off his muscular arms. At first glance, he looked like a huge threat even without the gun in his hand.

However, Song Qingxiao did not dare to underestimate the bespectacled guy. After all, in her first trial, the strongly-built number seven died in the hands of the doctor. If everyone in the trial were survivors of the first trial, then each person there was extremely dangerous.

The disappearance of the dagger that she had prepared before she entered the space still weighed on her mind. She was also in some pain from where the gunman had hit her with his gun.

He did not hold back the force of his blows, but he still maintained some control. He did not beat them until they reached their breaking point to prevent them from acting out in desperation. However, he used enough force and caused enough damage to affect their ability to act once the trial officially started.

Before Song Qingxiao had the chance to figure out why the dagger went missing, a lady appeared in the space. She received the same treatment as Song Qingxiao. Before the lady could react to entering the space, a gun was held against her head, and the gunman said, “Welcome.”

The lady received a considerable shock. Her body twisted, and she instinctively took a step back. Her right hand shook, and a red whip slipped out of her wrist like a snake. With a whoosh, she waved it at the large chap.

He took a step back as he withdrew his gun to shield his face.

Smack!

The whip made a clear sound as it made contact with the gun. From the sound of the blow, Song Qingxiao could tell that the woman’s attack was pretty powerful. Perhaps, she might have strengthened her physical attributes or even upgraded her bloodline!

The woman’s attack did not hit its mark. She withdrew her whip and was about to attack once more. The large chap with the gun took two steps back. The gun in his hands was hit by the woman’s whip, which left behind a faint imprint.

He took a stance that looked like he was surrendering and said, “Hey beautiful lady, it was just a joke.”

He grinned and treated her differently compared to how he treated Song Qingxiao. The lady with the whip steadied herself before she raised her whip. She wore an uncertain expression. Her eyes were icy cold and extremely wary. It was as if she was trying to figure out if the large chap’s words were true or false.

Song Qingxiao analyzed the scene before her. In her mind, she had set the large chap as a dangerous character in the trial. At the same time, the killing intention she had towards him grew.

It was not because Song Qingxiao empathized with the experience of the lady with the whip, nor was it because she was angry that the large chap had treated her differently from the lady with the whip. It was because the man appeared rough, but he was actually very meticulous.

He used his credits to redeem a gun and bullets with tremendous intimidation power. Even though these objects possessed a great lethality, they were also highly attention-grabbing. It would be extremely hard for him to conceal it after he entered the test space.

Hence he knew that before he became everyone’s target, he needed to use his gun and force everyone else in the trial to reveal their trump card and ability.

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