Chapter 376: An Old Friend
"Hey! Qin Dingdong!!"
Su Shuan urgently turned Qin Dingdong over and patted her face, feeling that her cheeks were burning hot.
"Not good..."
Su Shuan decisively reached out and felt Qin Dingdong's neck. After confirming there was a pulse, she listened to her breathing.
She was still alive, but she wasn't breathing.
Without hesitation, Su Shuan pried open Qin Dingdong's mouth, reached in, and cleared out a few pieces of ice chips. Then she unbuttoned her shirt, used her thumb to locate the position of Qin Dingdong's sternum, moved down three centimeters, knelt on the ground, straightened her upper body, clasped her hands together, and pressed down hard.
She used the full weight of her upper body to press down wildly. After about twenty or thirty compressions, she relaxed her hands, pinched Qin Dingdong's nose, and blew two breaths into her mouth.
After releasing, Su Shuan bent down again to listen to Qin Dingdong's breathing. It was still not good.
Zhang Chenze came to Lin Qin's room and helped her up. The two of them moved together to Su Shuan's side.
The three women all had somewhat unusual professions; they each knew a bit about first aid. But no textbook had ever told them how to rescue someone who had simultaneously experienced a sandstorm, flood, poisonous miasma, hailstorm, and wildfire.
Before long, Su Shuan's face was covered in sweat, and her hands performing chest compressions were growing weaker and weaker.
"Let me take over..." Attorney Zhang patted Su Shuan on the back, signaling her to step aside. Then she straightened her upper body and began performing CPR on Qin Dingdong.
Seeing their relentless efforts, Earth Dog slowly pushed open her own door and walked over to them.
"Is it really necessary?" Earth Dog asked. "There's no point in saving her now. Even if she wakes up, she'll be in so much pain she'll want to die."
None of the three women paid her any attention. They were completely focused on Qin Dingdong. Su Shuan sat down beside Qin Dingdong and supported her head with both hands—if she kept her head turned to the side, it would only make breathing harder.
Finally, through the unyielding efforts of the two, Qin Dingdong let out a loud cough. A mouthful of blood-tinged vomit sprayed from her lips.
"Ah—!"
She cried out in pain, her breathing instantly returning. She frowned in agony, lying on the ground gasping for air. Soon she started coughing uncontrollably, coughing up fresh blood.
"Thank goodness..." Su Shuan and Zhang Chenze both sat down on the floor, exhausted. They exchanged a glance and gave a bitter smile.
This game of "Earth Dog" had finally been won with everyone surviving.
"Damn it..." Qin Dingdong slowly opened her eyes, seeing the accursed glass shop in front of her. "Are you all that bored...? Why bother saving me...?"
Zhang Chenze was picking locusts off her clothes. She sighed and said, "Then what do you want? We had the power to save you, but we just stood by and did nothing? That wouldn't be fair to you."
"Who cares about 'fairness'...?" Qin Dingdong coughed a few more times. "This body of mine won't last much longer. It would've been better to let me die..."
"Old Qin, I understand you, really," Lin Qin nodded. "But that's just a thought I've had after everything we've been through. How can you use that kind of thinking to guide the 'newcomers'?"
"Newcomers...?"
Qin Dingdong lifted her eyelids weakly, looking at Su Shuan and Zhang Chenze's determined gazes. She felt a wave of melancholy.
Once upon a time, she and Lin Qin had the same look in their eyes—they wanted to win, to defeat the "Zodiacs," and above all, to escape this place.
But as they accumulated experience and gained abilities, they gradually began to disregard life. Not only did they start to disregard the lives of others, they no longer cared about their own.
Lin Qin knew that if it were just her and Qin Dingdong left, she would never have stepped in to save her. She would have waited until their next meeting.
Was this a good thing or a bad thing?
"Forget it... Big sister won't blame you," Qin Dingdong tried to push herself off the ground, but found she had no strength at all. So, with Lin Qin's help, she got to her feet and said, "After all, saving one life is better than building a seven-story... what's the saying? Seven-story pagoda? Tusu?"
Earth Dog took out a cloth pouch containing a full forty "Tao" and handed it to Su Shuan.
"You can stay as long as you like. My shift is over." She took a few steps, then turned back. "This place is already a mess. I'll clean up tomorrow morning. Just don't make it worse."
The four women all looked at her with meaningful expressions, but no one replied.
Seeing that no one wanted to acknowledge her, Earth Dog nodded and turned to leave.
"Wait..." Su Shuan called out.
"What is it?" Earth Dog asked.
"There's something I've been wondering about," Su Shuan said, standing up. "At the very last moment, when I broke your plan, you seemed to say, 'As expected of you.' What did you mean by that? Have we met before?"
Earth Dog stared at Su Shuan expressionlessly, a strange look in her eyes. She straightened the collar of her suit and said slowly, "Su Shuan, how many people are left in your interview room?"
Hearing her own name spoken, Su Shuan knew her guess was correct—they had indeed known each other before.
"What do you mean by 'how many are left'? There have always been four people in our room," Su Shuan said. "Why are you asking?"
Earth Dog nodded slightly. "Let me guess: you, Jiang Ruoxue, Zhou Mo—right? And who is the fourth?"
Hearing this, Su Shuan slowly walked toward Earth Dog. "What do you mean...? You know Ruoxue and Zhou Mo too?"
"Is that so surprising?" Earth Dog gave a bitter smile. "We once had so many comrades, and in the end, only you four remain. If I weren't standing here, no one would remember those who have passed. For them, that's more painful than dying ten thousand times."
"Who are you...?"
"I'm still curious. Who is the fourth?" Earth Dog repeated.
"His name is Fang Zichen," Su Shuan answered. "A college freshman."
"Zichen..." Earth Dog nodded. "His personality isn't suited for surviving this long. Have you been protecting him all this time?"
"What do you mean? Who are you, really?"
Earth Dog thought for a moment, then nodded. "There's no rule that says I can't reveal my identity, so I suppose telling you is fine. Su Shuan, I come from the same room as you. But our teammates weren't enough to get us out of here, so I chose a different path."
"Huh...?" Su Shuan hadn't expected Earth Dog to be so honest even after the game ended, but her thoughts were in turmoil. "You and I came from the same room... and now you're 'Earth Dog'?!"
"Yes." Earth Dog nodded. "Su Shuan, do you want to join us?"
"Join you...?"
The four women were all taken aback.
"Become a 'Zodiac,'" Earth Dog sighed. "The path you're walking now is too dangerous. I'm no longer a 'participant,' so you've lost one ally. The other three... Zichen is useless, Jiang Ruoxue comes and goes like a ghost, and Zhou Mo doesn't fit in. How are you going to escape?"
She then looked at the women behind Su Shuan and said, "Are you relying on them?"
Her gaze lingered on Qin Dingdong for a long time. She said slowly, "I was planning to kill that woman for you. But you insisted on saving her. What a ridiculous thing to do."
"What?"
"Su Shuan, that woman has caused your death before." Earth Dog said lazily. "I thought after all this time she would have learned her lesson, but she still wasted the 'Wish Sign' in the first round. She'll get you all killed sooner or later."
Hearing this, Zhang Chenze took a step forward and said, "Hey... don't say things like that. Everyone has their own judgment. You don't have the right to decide for others."