The person holding onto Song Qingxiao exerted an immense force, causing her neck to feel as if it was being tightly squeezed by a thin rope, almost cutting into her flesh and causing a burning pain.

Her airway was being compressed, making it impossible for her to breathe in fresh air. Song Qingxiao tilted her head back, her face turning purple.

Instinctively, she reached out to grab the dagger hidden on her wrist, wanting to change her predicament. But in that split second, her rationality overpowered her body’s instinctive reaction.

Perhaps it was because she had been strangled before, but she quickly calmed down and analyzed the situation.

They were in a hospital, with people in front of her. Revealing the dagger too early would not benefit her. Furthermore, Nurse Zhang was still present. Being strangled would only result in some hardship, but she wouldn’t die. However, if she revealed her trump card, she would truly lose a major advantage.

With this in mind, Song Qingxiao changed the direction of her raised hand and reached back to grab the person who was attacking her from behind.

All of this happened in an instant. After being dragged a couple of meters, Nurse Zhang seemed to finally react and let out a cry of alarm.

“Qingxiao…”

As Song Qingxiao expected, Nurse Zhang hurriedly came forward to try and help her out of her predicament, while also calling for her colleagues.

Footsteps hurriedly approached from the treatment room, and other nurses followed suit. The door to the ward was opened, and a group of patients came out, their expressions stiff and cold.

Although only a few seconds had passed, it felt like an eternity for Song Qingxiao. Nurse Zhang came forward to help, and it seemed like the person attacking her was tripped and fell to the ground.

But this did not solve Song Qingxiao’s crisis. The person who had grabbed her work badge did not let go even after falling. Instead, they tightened the rope even more. In the chaos, Song Qingxiao felt a pair of feet stepping on her shoulders, increasing the pressure on her neck!

The situation now was even more dangerous than before. Song Qingxiao struggled several times but couldn’t escape this peril.

Fortunately, someone came out of the treatment room. The nurses in the station also quickly arrived, and with everyone’s combined efforts, they subdued the person dragging Song Qingxiao.

But this struggle caused Song Qingxiao a lot of suffering. Finally, Nurse Zhang took a pair of scissors and cut the rope that was strangling Song Qingxiao’s neck, finally resolving her crisis.

“Are you okay?”

Nurse Zhang handed the scissors to her colleague and bent down with some concern, trying to help her up.

With the return of air, Song Qingxiao took a deep breath, inhaling the slightly medicinal air. Her throat felt uncomfortable from being choked, and she coughed violently. She blinked a few times, forcing out the tears that had been squeezed out of her eyes. She reached out and held Nurse Zhang’s arm, unable to speak, and shook her head with great effort.

Nurse Zhang looked a bit disheveled, her hat crooked, and there were a few bloodstains on her chin where she had been scratched. The wound was bleeding and swollen.

Using Nurse Zhang’s support, Song Qingxiao stood up and turned her head to look at the person who had been restrained on the ground. But as soon as she saw the patient, Song Qingxiao’s coughing motion froze, her pupils contracted, and a flash of killing intent passed through her eyes.

Two strong nurses restrained the patient lying on the ground, wearing a blue-striped patient gown and two braids. Their gazes met, and the patient’s mouth curled up into a slightly eerie smile.

In the patient’s hand, they still tightly held the work badge strap that had been wrapped around Song Qingxiao’s neck.

“Cough, cough…”

Song Qingxiao coughed twice, and Nurse Zhang still looked somewhat concerned. While patting her back to help her catch her breath, she asked, “Are you okay?”

The patient was quickly taken away by others and led towards the elevator.

“I’m fine.” Song Qingxiao reluctantly spoke, and Nurse Zhang, hearing that she could still talk, breathed a sigh of relief. “This is a new patient who arrived today. It seems that Dr. He accidentally injured someone while examining her.”

She pointed to the examination room behind Song Qingxiao, where the door was open. Song Qingxiao followed her gaze and nodded.

Her throat still burned, indicating that her skin had been injured from the strangulation. Nurse Zhang leaned over and took a look. “Fortunately, the wound isn’t deep, but it still needs to be disinfected with some iodine.”

She lowered her eyelids and sighed, “To avoid situations like this, it seems that we can’t wear work badges.” She looked regretful, but quickly smiled and pointed to the name badge on her chest. “But special name badges like this should be ready soon. Then, Qingxiao can be like me and not wear this badge.”

Song Qingxiao twitched the corner of her mouth, barely considered a response, but didn’t speak.

More and more patients came out of the surrounding rooms, and several people appeared in the corridor. Each person had a vacant expression, as if they were wandering souls.

Seeing this situation, Nurse Zhang became anxious and didn’t have time to say much. She quickly asked a colleague to take Song Qingxiao to the nurse station to apply medicine, while she prepared to bring the other patients back to their rooms.

She tidied her hair and put her hat back on. Song Qingxiao looked at the wound on her chin and said, “Nurse Zhang, the wound on your chin…”

“It’s okay.” Nurse Zhang paused and then smiled with her eyes bent. “They are patients. We can’t hold it against them.”

Her tone was gentle and patient, as if the gruesome wound on her face hadn’t stirred any anger in her heart. Song Qingxiao’s gaze flickered, and the nurse who stayed behind said, “Xiaoyu is the gentlest person here.”

Song Qingxiao turned her head, and the nurse’s name badge read: Wang Xiaoli.

Wherever Nurse Zhang went, the patients hurriedly returned to their rooms. “This is not the time for activities. Patients cannot freely wander around.”

As Wang Xiaoli spoke, Song Qingxiao was still immersed in the memory of encountering Number Six and almost being killed.

This incident had left Song Qingxiao with many doubts. After Number Five was threatened by Number Four, in a panic, they activated the trial scene. Everyone was caught off guard, including Song Qingxiao. They didn’t have time to inquire about the tasks of the other trial participants and were forced into the scene.

After a series of choices and entering the task, she had just figured out the approximate time of the task and hadn’t grasped any clues when she encountered Number Six, resulting in her suffering.

The countdown in her field of vision showed: 119:17:51. The urgency of time and the encounter with Number Six made Song Qingxiao furrow her brows.

From the current situation, there was an identity opposition between her and Number Six in the trial scene. One was a medical staff member, and the other was a patient.

The prompts in her consciousness did not change, still displaying: Protect the public, failure will be eradicated.

Task completion: 1000 points.

This indicated that the previous incident did not violate the task conditions. It was highly likely that this trial would be similar to the previous one, where the trial participants would only receive task information after they started killing each other and someone died.

If this logic held true, Number Six attacking her upon their first encounter would also comply with the game rules. However, Song Qingxiao remembered the scene when Number Six first appeared in the space.

When she had just entered the trial space, the big man pointed his gun at her. Number Six reacted quickly and skillfully, not only avoiding danger but also knocking the big man to the ground. They even almost took the big man’s gun. This showed that this person had a high level of combat skills and was not to be underestimated.

Although she had the identity of a patient in the scene, Song Qingxiao knew that it was just an adaptation to the game rules. Number Six was not a real patient.

For such a person, if they really wanted to kill her, it would be impossible to fail. She couldn’t help but touch her neck again, feeling the burning pain. Number Six should understand that she was wearing a nurse’s uniform, surrounded by people, and in a hospital. The trial participants were competing or even hostile towards each other.

In this situation, even if they launched a surprise attack, it wouldn’t be successful. What was the intention behind their actions?

The questions in her mind remained unanswered. Wang Xiaoli noticed Song Qingxiao touching her neck and said, “Are you feeling scared now?”

Song Qingxiao endured the discomfort and swallowed her saliva, pretending as if nothing had happened and put her hand down. Before she could speak, Wang Xiaoli smiled and said, “Maybe even scarier things will happen later?”

Nurse Zhang sent the patients who came out of the hallway back to their rooms and walked over to Wang Xiaoli and Song Qingxiao. The nurse station happened to be an open-operating table, and Nurse Zhang stood there, took a cotton swab, and dipped it in alcohol to disinfect the wound on her chin, and called Song Qingxiao over.

On the opposite side of the operating table was a ward that had been attacked earlier. Having been bitten by a snake, Song Qingxiao was now wary, and as she approached, she subconsciously turned her head to look around, making sure there was no one behind her.

In that split second when she turned her head, through the glass of the ward, she saw a bed where No. 5 had changed into a blue-striped patient gown. He sat on the bed trembling. As if noticing Song Qingxiao’s gaze, he lifted his head. The timid man with greasy hair widened his eyes and, upon seeing her, revealed a terrified expression, as if on the verge of tears. He hastily lowered his head.

After encountering Number Six earlier, an ‘acquaintance’ appeared once again in the mission scenario.

Song Qingxiao bit her lip, lowered her eyelids, and concealed the emotion in her gaze.