Chapter 21: The Task

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The people who took part in the trial were no doubt more seasoned than those in the first trial. Number four, the woman with the red whip, looked at the gunman’s mischievous smile with a trace of anger in her eyes.

The fact that Song Qingxiao had entered the trial once again showed that she was not an idiot. The red whip lady understood the intention of the gunman’s actions and also knew that she had exposed her secret weapon.

Song Qingxiao and the others in the space remained silent. The large chap’s actions to uncover the secrets of the others were advantageous to them as well. The red whip lady had developed the intent to kill the large chap, but the trial had not started.

Everyone was vigilant towards each other. Song Qingxiao was extra fearful of the gun in the large chap’s hands because she worried that someone else would take advantage of the situation if they got injured fighting each other.

With the scenario the way it was, the red whip lady suppressed the rage inside her and glared menacingly at the large chap. She stared at the others intently and found a seat across the other two.

The gunman wore a crafty expression. It was as though he had expected that outcome. Before long, someone else appeared in the space. The large chap raised his gun once again. The rest of them stayed silent. Even the red whip lady who had been disadvantaged earlier looked on eagerly, anticipating the show.

“Welco—”

Before the large chap had completed his greeting, the new person began to plead for his life.

“Please don’t kill me!”

The new person was a middle-aged man who looked around forty years old. He had a head of shiny, black hair that was combed back, which exposed his forehead. He wore a brand-new suit which looked at odds with his character. He broke out in copious amounts of sweat as soon as the large chap aimed the gun at him. Everyone could see the sweat pouring out of him from his forehead and nose.

The large chap with the gun did not expect the new person to react in that manner. He looked astonished. However, to avoid the situation where he was overpowered by number five, who was merely pretending to be weak, he kept his gun raised.

The gunman pointed his gun at number five’s forehead and pressed forward aggressively, forcing number five to take a few steps back. The situation made everyone else in the space frown deeply.

Song Qingxiao pondered internally. ‘Could it be that number five was a complete newbie?’

However, she quickly rejected that idea. Number five’s expression did not look like one of complete surprise from having suddenly appeared in the space. Apart from fear, he also looked a little helpless and resigned to his fate.

“Don’t kill me.”

He had first raised his hands to plead for mercy, but it looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. He held his head as he sobbed and cursed, “This f*cking trial! I just want to go home! I don’t want to die…”

Everyone watched the scene before them in silence. After a while, the large chap’s face betrayed an expression of disgust and scorn. He kicked number five in the shoulder, causing him to collapse to the ground.

“Get out of my face, you piece of trash!”

Number five lay motionless on the ground for a long time before he crawled up, looking absolutely dejected. He did not dare to crawl towards Song Qingxiao or the bespectacled guy. He also seemed to be afraid of the red whip lady and the large chap, so he ended up sitting in a spot quite a distance away from everyone else.

“I don’t want to die. I’ve just redeemed some money. I’ve only been able to enjoy myself for a few days…” He mumbled non-stop, and it was hard to tell who he tried to speak to.

Song Qingxiao glanced at him. He cradled his head with both hands and was gripping at his hair. It looked like he was experiencing a nervous breakdown. His hair that was neatly combed back had become disheveled. It hung over his forehead, looking greasy and disgusting.

Based on number five’s words, she discovered that he had used his credits to redeem money to live in pleasure. No one paid any attention to him once they had confirmed that he was a piece of trash like the gunman had said.

Number five continued to mumble to himself. It was not long before another person appeared in the space. The large chap with the gun once again raised his gun at the new person.

However, before he managed to open his mouth, the new person had already caught hold of his hand that held the gun. With a kick of their right leg and a twist of their upper body, the gunman came crashing down to the ground over his shoulder.

Number six achieved their goal in one slick move. The large chap did not expect to end up in that situation. His body crashed to the ground with a loud thud. At the same time, the gun he held tightly in his hand clattered to the floor as well.

As soon as Song Qingxiao saw that, she instinctively thought about getting to her feet. The bespectacled guy also had his hands on the ground. The red whip lady seemed to be gripping her whip in preparation to act.

Everyone wanted to take the opportunity to snatch the gun from the large chap’s hands. However, newcomer number six reacted faster than everyone else. In the instant that the burly chap fell to the ground, number six had stepped forward and bent down to snatch it.

No one expected that even after he had fallen, the large chap with the gun was still gripping onto the gun tightly. He continued clutching onto the gun even though it had brought trouble upon him and still did not fire the pistol.

As soon as number six rushed forward, he endured the pain and raised his gun to aim at number six. He warned, “Step away from me. I’m serious here.”

When he spoke, number six straightened up and grunted coldly as they took a couple of steps back. The large chap took the chance to slowly get to his feet. He looked wary.

Everyone’s plans had fallen through. Number four, the woman with the red whip looked a little disappointed as she kept her whip. She returned to her original seat and cast an assessing look on the new person.

Newcomer number six was a beautiful and young girl. Two short braids hung from her head down to both sides of her shoulders. She had a headscarf that was tied into a butterfly knot on her head. She was dressed in a blue vest top matched with a low-waisted, short skirt of a similar color. It showed off her long legs and slender waist.

However, thanks to her previous stunt of knocking the large chap down, no one dared to underestimate her ability.

Up until then, a total of six people had entered the test space. Even though Song Qingxiao did not like the large chap with the gun. She had to admit that thanks to his actions, she had managed to glean a lot of helpful information in a short amount of time.

The people who had entered the space earlier had the upper hand compared to those who entered later. The people who possessed the most complete information out of the six were the ones who had entered much earlier.

At that moment, Song Qingxiao could see that apart from herself, the bespectacled guy did not seem to possess any special abilities. So he was not worth a mention during then. After she entered the space, she was followed closely by number four.

Number four had exposed herself as soon as she entered the space. She had a long, red whip. The whip had managed to leave a mark on the large chap’s gun. Hence, it was clear that it was not an ordinary object. It was highly likely that it was a weapon that she had exchanged using credits from the space.

Apart from that, the whip had managed to leave an imprint on the gun, showing that the whip was no ordinary object. Also, number four possessed incredible arm strength. It was highly probable that she had upgraded her bloodline or her physical attributes.

Based on these observations, for the red whip woman to make preparations in two aspects, it proved that she had quite a significant amount of credits. The credits were a reward for completing the trial. Song Qingxiao had not worked out the reward components and was unsure if it had anything to do with killing people.

Regardless of that, since the red whip woman possessed enough credits, there were only two possibilities. She had either participated in numerous trials or performed exceptionally well in her first trial to have received so many credits.

In either case, it was enough to prove that the red whip woman was an extraordinarily ruthless character deserving of Song Qingxiao’s attention. Number five did not deserve mention at the moment. Based on his appearance, he was the weakest one in the trial.

As for number six, as soon as she entered, she reacted quickly and managed to cause the large chap to topple onto the ground. Even though she had not exposed whether she had any weapons or trump cards, one could easily see that her reaction speed was excellent. She also possessed stellar combat skills, which was how she managed to make the large chap bite the dust.

Song Qingxiao’s advantage was that she did not reveal her trump cards when threatened by the large chap with the gun. Compared to dangerous characters such as the gunman, the lady with the whip, and number six, she must seem unthreatening in the eyes of the other participants.

The atmosphere in the space seemed to change subtly. Apart from number five, who was sitting alone far away in the corner, Song Qingxiao and the bespectacled guy sat quite closely together. The other three people each occupied their own space.

The large chap got up and paused for a moment. No one new seemed to enter the space. Song Qingxiao had just begun to wonder if there would only be six people in the trial when instructions regarding the game appeared in her consciousness.

‘Protect the people. Obliterate failure.’

Song Qingxiao’s expression changed into one of surprise. She looked up and saw that everyone else in the space also wore astonished faces. It was clear that everyone had each received the instructions regarding the task.