Chapter 4  

The doctor’s words caught nearly everyone by surprise. Everyone started to panic as soon as they saw the doctor’s wristwatch. The woman in the red dress mumbled to herself, “Is it possible that what I heard before wasn’t a hallucination?”

Her voice wavered slightly as she said that. The youth carrying the backpack next to her turned around and asked, “Did you hear the prompt to enter the ‘Trial of God’ too?”

There was a hint of terror in the youth’s eyes. That occurrence, which was beyond anything that science could explain, made everyone freeze in shock.

The doctor frowned deeply as he glanced at the wildly spinning hands of his wristwatch.

“So, it seems that everyone heard the words ‘Trial of God’.”

His tone was absolutely certain. Apart from the woman in the red dress and the youth with the backpack, everyone exchanged looks speechlessly, but no one refuted his claim. It was evident that what the doctor said was true. Everyone had heard the mysterious prompt before they entered the mysterious space.

Song Qingxiao hugged her knees with her arms. She felt a premonition that something terrible was about to happen. The events that occurred that night riddled her with anxiety. In the depths of her anxiety, she felt that what was about to unfold could undermine her future.

“Who was the first person to enter this ‘Trial of God’ test space?” asked the doctor.

Since he was the person who pointed out that their phones had no signal and the issue of his wristwatch being disrupted by the magnetic field, he quickly seemed to become the person that everyone trusted. He had easily won over the authority over the group that Zhou Jing had strived to achieve.

His question was not met with any resistance from the others. Even the burly chap who had previously acted defiantly scratched his head as he looked around the space while deep in thought. The girl sitting to Song Qingxiao’s left raised her hand cautiously and said, “I think… I think that it’s me…”

The girl’s voice was soft and reedy. She looked about fifteen or sixteen years old and had a head of straight black hair. Her face still retained child-like features, and she was on the verge of tears.

“There was no one else here when I first entered this space. She entered soon after me.” As she spoke, her tears started to trickle out of the corner of her eye, The girl pointed at the plump woman dressed in office wear. The woman admitted to that a little helplessly.

“Yes, that’s true. The person who entered after me was Zhou Jing.”

The doctor nodded. “I entered after him.”

The sequence after that was the youth with the backpack, and then the middle-aged man who was short and fat. They were followed by the burly chap, the woman in the red dress, and finally, Song Qingxiao.

“Was there anything different about this place when you entered?” asked the doctor. At his question, everyone’s gaze landed on that girl. She was about to burst into tears from all the people staring at her. Her nose turned bright red, and she blinked rapidly.

“No, everything was the same as it is now. There was just no one else here,” she answered. The whole place was surrounded by fog. When the girl entered, she screamed only to discover that there was no one else here. She began to feel frightened and found a central spot to sit. People slowly began to arrive soon after that.

From the girl’s story, one could tell that she was easily frightened. However, it could be because she was still young, and her personality was a little fragile. The doctor questioned her closely but did not seem to discover anything useful.

At that moment, Song Qingxiao discovered that everyone had received a mysterious prompt to enter the ‘Trial of God’ test space. However, she was stumped as to what they needed to do next to leave the place.

She guessed that since the place was called the ‘Trial of God’ test space, it was expected that everyone would have to undergo some sort of test. Her eye twitched non-stop. Since she was the last person to arrive, she felt that the odds were stacked against her.

Since they were in an unfamiliar environment and would soon have to face an unfamiliar situation, the people who had arrived before her must be hiding something.

The worst part about the whole thing was that she was in a dangerous situation before she arrived. Hence, she had nothing on her. Since they did not know when they would leave, it could become quite problematic since they did not have food or water.

“I want to go home!” wailed the girl. Everyone was already a bundle of nerves because of the series of events that had brought them there. Once she cried, everyone’s faces dropped.

The doctor looked at the girl and said loudly, “No one is clear about what’s going on. There’s nothing that we can do about being stuck here.”

He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I suggest that we split up and explore this place. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find a way out quickly.” The space was extremely unfamiliar and filled with heavy, thick fog. Since the way everyone had arrived was rather odd, the doctor suggested that two or three people form a group for safety’s sake. They would split up into four groups that would each head off in different directions to see what was hidden behind the heavy fog. Hopefully, they would also find the best way to get out of the mysterious place.

Zhou Jing felt unhappy as soon as he heard the doctor’s orders. He thought that the doctor had stolen his previous ‘authority’ from him, making him feel resentful. Zhou Jing frowned as he protested against the idea.

“You want us to explore the area? We can’t be sure that there’s nothing dangerous out there. Since everyone got here through the prompt, why don’t we wait it out? Maybe it’ll be better to see if that mysterious voice would appear again?”

Zhou Jing’s words seemed to gain the approval of a portion of the group. The short, fat, middle-aged man’s gaze flitted between Zhou Jing and the doctor. It looked like he was trying to decide who to trust.

The group seemed to split into two camps of thought. One side was represented by the burly chap who agreed with the doctor’s suggestion. The other side included people like the woman in the red dress who preferred to go ahead with Zhou Jing’s suggestion and stay where they were, waiting for another instruction to come.

The woman in the red dress swept her hair back and asked with a glint in her eyes, “How about this, since you guys are willing to explore the area, you should just go. The rest of us can stay here and wait for news…”

As soon as the woman in the red dress said that, the plump woman chuckled and looked at her contemptuously. Before she could speak, the doctor said, “I’m warning you now, there is no signal here, and we are completely cut off from the outside world. More importantly…”

The doctor paused momentarily and pointed out what Song Qingxiao had worried about before.

“There’s no food here and no water source. After she entered,” said the doctor as he pointed towards Song Qingxiao, “No one new has entered this space. I personally think that we’re the only ones here who are supposed to go through this ‘Trial of God’. No one knows when the next instruction is going to come. However, if you’re stuck here, you’ll have to bear the consequences yourself.”

His words were a warning to everyone, and they got a rude awakening. Zhou Jing did not dare to make another sound even though he was still unhappy. Although everyone was fearful and apprehensive about this space, they decided to follow the doctor’s orders since there was no better option.

There were a total of five men in the group. In the unfamiliar environment, the burly chap’s strong and muscular figure gave him a strong advantage. In the group, many people hoped to be in the same group as him.

Coming second after the burly chap was the doctor with his clear logic and sharp mind. Zhou Jing, who worked in the municipal center, was next in line. The woman disregarded the short and fat, middle-aged man and the youth with the backpack because of their age and image in the team selection.

In the end, after a bout of discussion, the doctor and the plump office lady formed a team. The burly chap and the woman in the red dress were in the next group. Zhou Jing and the youth with the backpack formed another group. That left the middle-aged man, the girl who entered this space first, and Song Qingxiao last, so they were forced to become a team.

In terms of power, it appeared that Song Qingxiao’s team was the weakest. The middle-aged man stared at Song Qingxiao and the timid girl in displeasure. However, his protests did not affect the group, so he was forced to accept the group arrangement.

The four groups split off to head out in four different directions.?Obviously, it was challenging to take a step into an unknown location, so everyone hesitated for quite some time. Finally, the doctor took the lead and dragged the plump woman into the direction of the thick fog.

Song Qingxiao felt a little uneasy as she walked in a different direction with the middle-aged man and the girl. Right when they stepped into the thick fog, that mysterious voice appeared once again in Song Qingxiao’s mind.

‘Welcome to the Trial of God.’