Song Qingxiao was deep in thought. She wondered why the doctor had not killed number two—the office lady. Number seven's death cleared up the issue for her.
When the game officially started, Song Qingxiao had pinned the doctor and the burly chap as the most difficult people to beat. Similarly, the doctor had made a similar deduction about the trial situation. Number seven's muscular physique made him everyone's biggest foe.
If it were a game based on logic, the doctor would definitely not lose. However, in that game, the trial was not merely a test of intelligence but also physical strength and combat skills. If the doctor killed number two, he might not be able to win if he encountered number seven.
Even if he managed to kill number seven by sheer luck, the force of number seven's retaliation would surely leave him severely injured. In that environment, his chances of survival would decrease once he was injured. He might lose his life in the hands of another survivor if he bumped into them. In that situation, if both of them formed an alliance temporarily, their chances of surviving would significantly increase.
None of the three survivors believed the nonsense uttered by the doctor earlier. It was complete nonsense for him to say that he did not set out to kill anyone because he did not want to bring trouble upon himself and that they only killed number seven because they were forced to. The fact that he had come searching for Song Qingxiao betrayed his words.
However, it was possible that number two completely understood the situation. She was not as naive and innocent as number one, nor did she have beauty on her side like number eight—the lady in the red dress. She must have been willing to partner with the doctor because she knew that if she went against him and set off alone as a woman in the space, she might not be able to survive.
To deal with a woman like that, a simple and straightforward provocation would not be enough to change her mind. She needed something more concrete! Song Qingxiao swallowed nervously and forced herself to be calm.
In the situation where the three of them faced each other, the only reason that she was still standing was because of her sheer willpower. After all, she had injured herself when she fell out of the tank, severely limiting her range of movement. In addition to that, she was tired and hungry. After she had spent so much time submerged in the sewage water in the tank, she feared that most of her strength had withered away.
The doctor and the office lady were injured from their fight with number seven, but their injuries did not seem to affect their ability to move. Even though the two of them were possibly suffering from hunger and tiredness like Song Qingxiao, their position was still superior compared to her. After all, the doctor was a guy, and the office lady was much stronger physically than Song Qingxiao's skinny build.
"Number two, there's only the three of us left in this space."
Song Qingxiao thought carefully about what she wanted to say. She was afraid that if she said the wrong thing, it would lead to her doom. As she spoke, the doctor and the office lady continued moving towards her. The distance between the three of them shrank. At that moment, running away was not a smart decision for Song Qingxiao.
Song Qingxiao became more anxious. She thought about taking out her dagger numerous times. However, each time the idea popped into her head, she firmly quashed it down again.
If she revealed her dagger, all she would achieve was to startle the doctor and the office lady momentarily. However, once they knew that she possessed a weapon, she would instantly become a dangerous target, forcing them to stay in their alliance.
The dagger would only be able to help her achieve victory through the element of surprise. Based on her strength and ability, there was no way that she would be able to beat the two people before her and kill them.
"We're both women. It would be extremely easy for the both of you to kill me."
In that precarious situation, Song Qingxiao appeared calm. She continued to speak, "However, once I'm dead, how are you going to stay alive, number two?"
Song Qingxiao's crisis was the problem that number two would have to face later. The doctor would have the upper hand against the office lady.
"Have you ever considered cooperating with me? You can think about what you're going to do after we've killed the doctor, and there's only the two of us left."
Song Qingxiao discussed her fate calmly as she objectively broke down the situation for the office lady.
"Number two, you can see that the threat I pose is clearly much less compared to number four. You're stronger than me. Hence, it would be much easier for you to kill me instead of number four."
Her words made the doctor speechless. Number four seemed to be caught between laughter and tears. Out of the corner of his eye, the doctor saw that the office lady—who had been inching closer to Song Qingxiao—had stopped in her tracks.
This action proved that Song Qingxiao's words had touched on a nerve. She had hit the point that number two was most worried about.
The smile on the doctor's face froze. He said, "Oh? So it's easy to kill you?" He turned to look at the office lady and said, "Number two, surely you don't believe her do you?"
The doctor noticed that while speaking to Song Qingxiao, the office lady took a step back, increasing the distance between them. Initially, the doctor and the office lady were the closest to each other between the three of them, and they had been moving towards Song Qingxiao.
However, Song Qingxiao's words had ruined the delicate balance, causing the office lady to put up her guard towards the doctor.
"She was in the same group as number one and number six. However, they are both dead now, and she is the only one who survived. She was also the first person to act by killing her teammates. Do you really think a dangerous person like her will be an easy opponent to face?"
The office lady took another small step back. The three of them stood in a triangle formation. There was an equal distance between all three of them, and the situation was a stalemate.
The doctor continued to speak, but he cursed inwardly. Number nine had been able to survive after killing number one and number six. It proved that she was not someone to be underestimated. He should not have been overthinking the situation and given her the chance to speak.
He should have gone ahead with the original plan to focus on killing number nine with the help of number two. After that, he would get rid of number two and leave the d*mn place.
Number two was full of uncertainty. It was not a normal betting situation where one would lose a couple bucks. If she placed the wrong bet, the thing that she would lose was her life.
Song Qingxiao looked at the situation and quickly piped up.
"Number six had the intent to kill us, so number one and I were forced to defend ourselves."
Her words were intended to reveal that number six's death resulted from her teaming up with number one. Her survival was merely a stroke of luck.
Her words seemed to give number two an idea. If she and number nine joined forces to kill the doctor, there was a chance that she might be as lucky as number nine. While they cooperated in killing the doctor, the doctor and number nine might become gravely injured and die. In that case, number two would become the final victor in this trial!
Number two finally made up her mind. Her confused and undecided expression became one full of killing intent and wariness.
The doctor sighed and looked a little disappointed. He said, "It looks like you've made up your mind."
Number two's eyes were as cold as ice. "I have no choice. I want to live too. After all, you intended on killing me too. Otherwise, why haven't you asked for my name even though we've been working together for so long?"
The doctor did not ask for her name because he already knew that after he killed her, her card in his consciousness would flip over. Hence, he would learn her name sooner or later.
Since everyone had revealed their true colors, there was no longer any need to pretend. The situation was disadvantageous for the doctor, but it could not be avoided. The two women started to close in on him.
The doctor slowly retreated until he was backed up against the large water tank containing number six's corpse. He could no longer retreat any further. The two women drew closer and closer. The doctor turned, and his gaze landed on Song Qingxiao.
He no longer concealed the killing intent within him. In that instant, Song Qingxiao felt as though she was staring right into the eyes of a serpent. She understood that the doctor had chosen her as his target because of her weak appearance.
He prepared to get rid of her first before he turned to deal with the office lady to reduce the pressure of being attacked by two people at once.
In the doctor's eyes, she was a pushover that he would deal with first.
That was Song Qingxiao's true crisis!
Song Qingxiao noticed that number two—the office lady—wore an unmistakable grin because of the doctor's choice. After the situation progressed to that stage, they were past the point of no return. No one would be willing to show mercy.
They were too focused on preserving their own lives.
Even though only the last person alive could leave the place, her alliance with number two was highly fragile. Hence, she could only focus on saving her own life. She could not rely on someone else to save her.
Running away was not an option for Song Qingxiao. If she gave up and ran away then, the office lady would retreat as well, and their impromptu alliance would be completely destroyed. It would be highly disadvantageous for her.
As soon as Song Qingxiao thought of that, her eyes flashed with determination. All she hoped for was for the office lady to be more intelligent and realize that it would help the doctor conserve energy if she died too quickly. It would not be advantageous for the office lady whatsoever.
If the doctor could conserve his energy, the office lady would not be in a good position. If number two could piece all of that together before the doctor prepared to kill Song Qingxiao, she could help her get some respite and buy her some precious time.
"Number two…"
Song Qingxiao had just begun to speak when the doctor made up his mind. He would not give her another chance to complete her sentence. After all, his carelessness earlier allowed Song Qingxiao to influence number two and caused no end of trouble for the doctor. Hence, as soon as Song Qingxiao's lips began to move, the doctor lunged towards her.
When she killed number six, Song Qingxiao had only managed to succeed because she ambushed him with her dagger when he was not paying attention. Since she faced a true opponent, Song Qingxiao truly felt what being under real pressure was like. Her body had already reached its limit a long time ago, and she barely kept it together through sheer willpower. Her legs felt like lead blocks—heavy and immobile.
The doctor finally took out his hand, which he had kept inside his pocket during the entire ordeal, and clenched it into a fist. He looked like he was about to aim for her eye. In her panic, Song Qingxiao turned her head and planned to flee from his attack. However, her exhausted legs were not up for that level of exertion.
In that moment of crisis, Song Qingxiao held the mouse in her left hand and aimed it at the doctor's fist. She hoped that she could take advantage of the doctor's attacking force to stabilize herself.
In their first exchange, Song Qingxiao revealed that she was in a state of complete weakness, showing the doctor that she was entirely out of energy. Even though the doctor's first attack did not make its mark, Song Qingxiao did not gain any advantage from it either. The sharp edge of the broken mouse merely left several bloodstains on the back of his hand.
Even though she had managed to avoid the doctor's punch aimed at her eyes, his fist managed to brush against her cheek. The doctor staggered forward. Song Qingxiao turned around warily and took two deep breaths. She then took a step in the direction of the office lady only to notice a dull tingling sensation in her cheek.
At that moment, she did not dare to reach out and touch her cheek. She could faintly feel that the skin on her cheek was grazed and that blood was gushing out of the wound. When the doctor attacked her, she vaguely noticed the object that the doctor was holding onto. It was likely the secret weapon that the doctor had been hiding the whole time, only to reveal it then.
Song Qingxiao resisted the urge to reach for her dagger. She panted breathlessly. The doctor's attacks did not achieve its intended outcome. As he brought his momentum to a halt, he turned about, and she could see that he wielded an uncapped fountain pen in his right hand. The fountain pen's tip was covered in blood and skin. He must have used that pen to scratch her cheek.
After she noticed that, Song Qingxiao realized how dangerous the situation was. The doctor had rushed towards her, aiming for her eye. Luckily, she had avoided his attack. Otherwise, the outcome would be too gruesome to imagine.
The both of them had swapped positions. The doctor did not rest and once again lunged towards Song Qingxiao. He learned from his previous mistake and crashed into her with his body. Song Qingxiao was less fortunate that time. Her body was utterly unable to keep up with her mind. As soon as the doctor collided with her, she collapsed and fell backward.
If she was knocked to the ground, there was no need to explain what would happen next. Thankfully she stood not too far away from the large water tank where number six's body was kept. When the doctor crashed into her, she fell backward, and her head knocked against the tank, making a loud noise.
Even though it was a pretty bad fall, the tank was able to support her body. The doctor bent his arm and heavily pressed his elbow into her. Her instinct to survive was triggered. She hit the doctor in the face with the mouse and the phone in her hands. However, her strength was so weak that it had a negligible effect on the doctor.
The doctor pinned Song Qingxiao down to prevent her from struggling and forcing him to expend more energy. The doctor hit her temples forcefully, causing Song Qingxiao to go dizzy. Her hand that held the phone began to go limp.
The phone fell to the ground, and the doctor reached out to remove the mouse from her other hand. For some strange reason, her grip in that hand was unyielding. The doctor tugged at the mouse forcefully a couple of times before he retrieved it.
Her head was super dizzy from being hit. The factory seemed to spin around her, and her stomach felt incredibly upset. She could hear the pulsing of her arteries in her head. At that moment, she had a vivid feeling that her death was imminent.
Her eyes must have been filled with blood because she could not see the doctor's savage face clearly. His features seemed to merge with her killer's in her memory, the one who stabbed her to death with a dagger in the dark alley.
She was in two life-threatening situations in one day. She did not think that anyone else in the history of time would ever experience such an extraordinary encounter. Her arms felt like they weighed a ton, and her body felt like it did not belong to her. Her consciousness seemed about to leave her body. If it were not for her last remaining breath, Song Qingxiao felt like she would have fainted long ago. She would already have died in the hands of the doctor.
The hand around her neck began to squeeze tighter. It felt like the force of it was about to snap her neck. The choking feeling seemed familiar. She moved her fingers which were dangling at her sides, towards the dagger hidden in her sleeve.
She opened her mouth and tried to breathe. Her chest heaved slightly as she tried to push the doctor off her to give herself a chance to breathe. However, her struggles were so pitifully weak that the doctor completely disregarded them.
On the contrary, the office lady who stood aside was shocked as she watched the scene unfold. She was an intelligent woman, and her thought process was precisely what Song Qingxiao had thought before.
She knew that once Song Qingxiao was dead, she would be next on the kill list for the doctor. Even if the rules allowed more than one person to get out alive, the doctor would not let her escape alive since she had witnessed his murder. She needed to seize the opportunity to save Song Qingxiao and work together to deal with the doctor.
That was her initial plan. However, after seeing the scene in front of her, her determination began to waver. The doctor seemed to retain his strength. He had kept his hand in his pockets not because it was injured. Instead, it was because he hid a fountain pen that could be used as a weapon.
She looked indecisive, and in the next moment, she began to step back. Even though she expected that outcome for Song Qingxiao, it sent chills down her spine since it was happening.
Song Qingxiao felt extremely resentful at the office lady's cold feet at the last minute. However, at that moment, she could neither shout nor scold because her chest had begun to ache from the lack of oxygen. She moved her arms, and she felt that the dagger hidden in her sleeve had started to slide downwards.
If her trump card was revealed then, she would be in hot water. However, Song Qingxiao had no other choice. If she continued to endure it, she feared that she would die in the hands of the doctor before she could take the dagger out!
Since the situation unraveled that way, all she could do was give it her best shot. Whether she lived or died, it would be up to fate. However, in the next second, everything changed.
Luck was once again on her side.
Based on the doctor's assessment, Song Qingxiao was not a threat to him at all. Since she was in that situation, there was no way that she could retaliate with a powerful attack. Hence, the doctor had let down his guard and loosened his grip on her arm to stop the office lady who tried to escape!