Chapter 36

The glass shard hurtled in the air towards number four. Number four instantly withdrew her whip and bent down. That glass shard flew over her head, causing her no harm at all. Since her attack did not hit its mark, Song Qingxiao immediately caught hold of another glass shard and gave it a firm tug.

Snap.

The sound of the glass breaking rang clearly through the air. The sharp edges of the broken glass sliced into her flesh, and blood poured out of the wound. However, Song Qingxiao did not seem to notice the pain in her palm because of the extreme anxiety that she was experiencing.

That piece of broken glass was much larger. Song Qingxiao raised both arms and once again hurled it towards number four before she had the time to react. That time, she had put all her energy into aiming the shard directly at number four’s face.

Number four turned her head, and the glass shard narrowly brushed past her face. Song Qingxiao took the opportunity to run away quickly. It was not a good idea to fight number four head-on then. After a few exchanges with number four, Song Qingxiao was pretty clear about number four’s ability.

At that critical juncture, she was deeply aware of the gap between their abilities. She originally had two cards up her sleeve—the first one being the dagger, and the other being the ‘Arrival’ word art technique.

However, the dagger had been exposed a while back, and it was nearly impossible to use it against the threat of the long whip. Hence, there was not much that she could do with it. It was practically useless.

Song Qingxiao had not used the ‘Arrival’ word art technique. Even if she did, she would only be able to subdue number four’s movements for a second or two based on her strength and weak psychic energy levels.

In a crucial moment, a second or two might save her life. However, at that moment, a couple of seconds would not affect the grand scheme of things. In fact, once her ability was revealed, number four would be vigilant against it, and Song Qingxiao would be in a more dangerous position.

Comparatively, number four needed to use a lot of energy to use the whip, but its power was shocking. While number four was expending her energy, similarly, Song Qingxiao’s energy also depleted as she tried to escape and hide. Hence, she was not better off than number four in any way.

In addition, number four was the hunter and did not care about harming any innocent people. Song Qingxiao was forced into a defensive position at every turn. If she wanted to kill number four, she needed to come up with a different plan.

She started running to the right of the corridor. She had run a distance of three to four meters before number four stowed her whip and started giving chase. All the lights to the other side of the corridor had gone out, and the faint glow from the elevator was not enough to illuminate the furthest corner to the right of the corridor.

Tap tap tap tap.

The sound of footsteps sounded close together like a war drum. Along with the beating of her head, her rapid panting, and the ticking sound in her consciousness, it made Sing Qingxiao feel as though her eardrums were about to explode.

Number four was in hot pursuit behind her, giving chase as though she was a haunting spirit. She raised her whip and swung it around wildly. It seemed to close the distance between them.

Song Qingxiao gritted her teeth tightly as the sound of the wind whooshed past her ears on both sides, accompanied by the snapping sound as the whip landed on the ground. She drew closer to the surveillance room.

Number six was likely to be hiding there. If number six had any evil intentions towards Song Qingxiao, she would be in a terrifyingly dangerous situation if number six rushed out of the room.

Song Qingxiao did not know if her mind was playing tricks on her, but she somehow felt that number six was hiding in the dark, observing her from the other side of the glass window. The tension in her mind grew, but it was clear that she could no longer hesitate.

Even if she feared that there would be danger ahead, she did not dare to stop her footsteps. Number four had already decided to kill her. All Song Qingxiao had to do was stop running momentarily for number four to catch up to her. Song Qingxiao rallied herself and increased her speed as she dashed towards the locked surveillance room.

In the darkness, the large door leading to the surveillance room was closed. The scene in her imagination did not happen. Hence, Song Qingxiao quickly ran towards the emergency exit. The huge momentum caused her body to slide to the right. She stopped her steps, leaned back, and reached for the door. In the blink of an eye, number four had drawn closer and was right behind her.

Swish!

The sound of the whip swinging towards her rang out in the air. With a creak, she pushed the heavy door of the emergency exit open. The lights in the emergency exit corridor shone through the door slit. Perhaps it was because she had been in the dark for too long. Even though the light was not very bright, Song Qingxiao had to shut her eyes as soon as she approached it.

By the time Song Qingxiao reached the door, number four had already waved her long whip, which landed on the door with a loud smack. The thick wood of the door shook as the end of the whip made contact with the side of Song Qingxiao’s palm. Her entire body trembled, and she instinctively withdrew the hand that held the door open.

‘Ouch!’

A burning, fiery pain spread across her hand. The place where the whip had been in contact with the whip felt like a wound that had been sliced open then brushed with chili oil. Song Qingxiao broke out in cold sweat.

The pain felt like a bone-eating parasite. It was extremely hard to bear. Song Qingxiao did not have to look to know that her hand would be drenched in blood. She endured the gruesome pain and pushed the door open. In the time that it took number four to strike again, she nimbly darted behind the door. The door closed with a bang as the chain at the door rattled loudly. Song Qingxiao ran towards the stairs.

After a couple of seconds, the sound of a thump rang out in the same manner. Number four pushed the door open with a grim expression. As soon as the light hit her eyes, she closed them because she had not adjusted to the light. However, she soon saw Song Qingxiao, who had run seven to eight steps down the stairs.

“So, you’re planning to run?”

Since she had reached that point, number four would not let her go so easily. She needed to kill Song Qingxiao that night, along with the rest of the trial participants. Once she had killed enough people, she would be able to complete the mission and leave the test space as soon as possible.

Song Qingxiao placed both her hands on the railing of the emergency exit stairs. Her entire body trembled. The sweat on her face poured down in massive amounts, drenching her hair and causing it to stick onto her deathly pale face. She looked as though the end of her life was approaching.

She held the dagger with one hand. Both her hands were covered in blood, but she did not know when she had injured them. She had taken about a dozen steps, and she leaned most of her body against the railing, panting heavily.

Number four’s eyes lit up with glee as soon as she saw the scene unravel. It was likely that Song Qingxiao could not run anymore. Attempting to escape would be a pointless struggle.

As soon as she thought of that, number four chased after her without hesitation. Song Qingxiao still thought about escaping, but as soon as number four saw that her prey was planning to run away, she raised her long whip and aimed it at Song Qingxiao. Of course, she would not let Song Qingxiao escape.

Smack!

As soon as the whip flew over, Song Qingxiao could not avoid it as nimbly as she had done earlier. As she turned her body to one side to dodge it, she missed a step unexpectedly. Her waist slammed against the railing, and she nearly toppled over.

The whip landed on the railing and made a loud sound. The paint on top of the metal railing was shredded off after it received such a heavy blow. The metal railing continued to sway as it made a rumbling sound.

Number four continued to give chase and withdrew her whip. At the same time, she immediately extended the whip and swung it out once again. She could see that Song Qingxiao was powerless to continue running away from her. Even if the attack did not hit its mark, it would sap her strength once again.

Song Qingxiao raised the hand that held the dagger and her stance looked as though she were about to throw the dagger at number four. She seemed like she had been forced into a dead end, to the extent that she was about to throw her weapon of self-defense away.

A glint of victory flashed across number four’s eyes. Her whip swung towards Song Qingxiao at lightning speed. At the same time, Song Qingxiao tossed the item in her hand towards number four.

Number four was unprepared, and she could not draw her whip back to block the item. The force of her attack did not decrease even as number four turned her head to avoid the object that Song Qingxiao threw.

Amid the noise, she seemed to hear a tinkling sound midair that sounded like metals clashing, not a dagger. As the thought flashed through her mind, she heard Song Qingxiao’s muffled cry before she had even turned her head.

The red whip lady had turned her head away, but she was very sure that her whip drew blood that time.

Song Qingxiao’s hand had indeed been brushed by the body of the whip, and the pain was practically indescribable. Her entire arm felt as though it had been sapped of strength. The intense pain caused her whole arm to tremble non-stop. However, the whip brushed against her body and slammed against the iron railing she leaned on.

Due to the short distance and the exceedingly long length of the whip, when the end of the whip slammed against the iron railing, the excessive force caused it to wrap around the railing twice. In an instant, a knot formed on the top and tied the whip down securely.

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