Chapter 3  

When the middle-aged man heard his words, his smile faltered slightly. However, he quickly put on another smile and said, “Why don’t I introduce myself first?”

Song Qingxiao had not let her guard down at all since she entered the mysterious space. She still felt uneasy since she was in an unfamiliar environment. Her childhood and, not to mention, the life-threatening situation that she had just experienced, made her extremely sensitive to the small details in other people’s expressions.

Hence, she noticed that the bespectacled, middle-aged man looked at the burly chap with contempt and displeasure, but it was also mixed with a bit of fear.

“My name is Zhou Jing, and I work in the Dongji province municipal center. I have many years of work experience.”

The middle-aged man looked very pleased with himself as he said that. He was well-dressed and looked like a gentleman. He did indeed fit the appearance of a man who worked in a government agency. The people around him seemed to relax their guard around him after he said that.

In the strange and unfamiliar environment, no one knew each other. Hence, everyone had their own ways of self-preservation. His identity as a public servant made everyone feel a little safer.

Even the burly thug relaxed his menacing expression after he had heard Zhou Jing’s self-introduction. Once Zhou Jing saw that his identity made everyone feel more settled, his spirits were seemingly lifted. He once again suggested to the group the idea of getting everyone to sit in a circle. That time, his suggestion was not met with as much resistance as before.

Song Qingxiao’s body still seemed a little out of her control. Her hands could not stop trembling. She had already caught everyone’s eye because she arrived drenched and covered in blood, and because of that, everyone clearly seemed to be wary of her. They ended up avoiding her. Song Qingxiao moved her body with much difficulty to sit closer and join the circle.

Zhou Jing began to speak.

“We should start by sharing about who we are, our backgrounds, and also what was going on when we ended up here. We should share everything that we know with each other.”

He coughed once to clear his throat before he continued by saying, “After all, this place is a little odd.”

There were no doors or windows in this place. Apart from the nine people here, there were no other sounds. “I’ve tried.”

As soon as Zhou Jing finished speaking, the male doctor who wore a white coat took his hands out of his pockets. He held a brand new smartphone in his hand.

“You can’t make calls here. There’s no signal.”

As soon as he said that, expressions of horrified surprise appeared on everyone’s faces. Considering how advanced the era was, science and technology made great strides every day. The satellite network could reach almost every corner of the globe. It was a severe problem if one’s phone had no signal and could not make calls.

Everyone started to panic as they all reached for their phones. The lady in the red dress seemed to have entered the space without her purse, which contained her phone. Hence, she could only look towards the teen next to her who carried a backpack. She watched as he retrieved his phone from his bag and gave it a shake. He looked up in disappointment. Shaking his head, he said, “My phone has no signal too.”

After everyone had checked their phones only to find that none of their phones could get any signal, Zhou Jing put his phone down and said, “I’m guessing that gangsters might have kidnaped us. Before they kidnapped us, they must have done something to kill our phone’s signals.”

His words frightened a couple of people there. However, Song Qingxiao felt that was not the answer. Even if she did not consider the mysterious voice that sounded in her mind earlier, the method that she entered this space defied the boundaries of what could be explained by science. There was no way that gangsters could have magically transported her from that alley she used to get home into this space in the blink of an eye.

Just as that thought popped into her head, someone quickly objected.

“That’s impossible.”

The person who spoke up was the male doctor who had previously mentioned that his phone had no signal. His expression was solemn as he spoke, “I was at work when I suddenly appeared in this place. If we were truly kidnapped, no one would have been able to do this.”

As soon as Zhou Jing heard someone disagree with him, he felt his authority was challenged and instantly felt a little unhappy. He responded, “There’s nothing impossible about it.”

He straightened his back and continued, “I can tell from how you’re dressed that you’re a doctor. Hence, you must know about the properties of certain drugs. If the gangsters used some sort of psychedelic drug on you, you would lose consciousness in a short amount of time.”

“During this time, they would transport you to this place that they had prepared. Your brain and eyes would have been affected by the drug, so you would have hallucinations about what happened before. Hence, it would give you the wrong impression that you were wide awake when you appeared in this place.” Zhou Jing’s manner of speech was full of certainty. His voice was deep and commanding. At the same time, he used his body language to emphasize his points. Hence, many people were influenced by him. From the looks on their faces, it seemed that many people agreed with his theory.

‘That’s impossible!’ thought Song Qingxiao as she hung her head. As soon as she heard his argument, she pursed her lips tightly. If it were up to her feelings, she would be willing to believe Zhou Jing’s words. However, logically, there was no way that she could accept his argument.

Before entering the mysterious ‘Trial of God test space’, Song Qingxiao was killed by a stranger. Before she died, she chose to enter the trial and discovered that she had been brought back to life and her wound had disappeared.

They were all unbelievable happenings, and it was like a dream. However, the bloodstains on Song Qingxiao’s body and the dirt between her fingers proved that her previous experience was not a hallucination.

Not to mention, based on what she knew, Zhou Jing was from the Dongji province. Yet, Song Qingxiao was from the West District of Imperial City. It was enough to prove that all the nine people there, including herself, could be from different regions and provinces within the Empire.

In fact, if she were bold, just by looking at how soaked her hair and uniform were from the rain, she would say that the people there were not only from different places but even the time and environment they came from were different.

After she had entered the space, based on the reaction after the doctor discovered that his phone had no signal while Zhou Jing was speaking, it appeared that everyone had not been in this space for long. That was why no one had noticed that there was no signal.

When all the evidence was put together, Song Qingxiao made a bold guess that no one would be able to gather a group of people of different ages, gender, and backgrounds from different times and different locations in one place at about the same time. Even if they had made preparations beforehand, this feat was impossible—unless the person who did this was God!

She once again recalled the voice in her head that said, ‘Will you enter the Trial of God?’ and she could not help but shudder.

“It’s not possible!” The doctor refuted Zhou Jing’s words again. His tone was darker the second time. Zhou Jing felt quite unhappy that the doctor had contradicted him once more, especially since everyone else had agreed with his guess. The doctor had contradicted him multiple times. Zhou Jing’s expression turned somber, and he raised his voice.

“What grounds do you have to say that?”

The atmosphere seemed to become a little tense. Everyone exchanged looks, and no one dared to say anything in that situation. The audience’s gaze swung back and forth between Zhou Jing and the doctor as if they tried to decide who between them was their pillar of strength.

The doctor glanced at Zhou Jing, who was pretty worked up, and returned his phone to the pocket of his doctor’s uniform. He raised his wrist and showed off his wristwatch. “It’s true that phone signals can be tampered with. However, I’ve discovered that my watch has also stopped functioning.”

As he spoke up to that point, the doctor sighed and rotated his arm so that everyone could get a better look. Song Qingxiao lifted her head to see that his wristwatch’s needle was out of control and spinning crazily at high speeds.

“This could be the effect of a magnetic field. I suspect that we are currently in a mysterious space.”

The doctor’s words caused everyone to panic. However, strangely enough, Song Qingxiao began to relax after hearing his words, her nervous and tightly-wound body began to relax. The doctor’s words seemed to confirm her own suspicions.