Not used to being taken care of by someone, Qian Ling observed Ariana's movement carefully.
"Don't worry, I won't poison you. I don't want to owe you a favor for saving me earlier, so I'm returning the favor. How are you feeling?" Ariana tucked her in bed as her anxiety swam away. Seeing her lips return to its rosy color, Ariana could finally breathe properly.
Picking up the white container with the pills in it, she inspected the medicine to try to figure out what it is. There was no label sticker on the container and the scent that the pill emitted was definitely one of the worst that she had ever came across.
"By the way, what are these pills? Are you suffering from an illness?" She didn't have time to run around in circles to strip down layers of her secrets. Forget talking about listening to her personal issues, Ariana just wanted to get the hell out of here once she figures out the whole conspiracy behind this project.
"Curious? Then you need to promise to leave after I tell you. It's very dangerous here."
"Then don't tell me about it because I'm not leaving anytime soon. If you want someone to hear you, out, then I can be your ears at no charge. If not, then I can care less because I'm not that curious after all." Tossing the pills back into the container and leaving it at the table, she walked towards the door to leave.
"I locked the door when I came in, so you won't be able to leave here."
"Did you really think that I was so weak to knock down this door?" Ariana's lip twitched as she turned around to meet Qian Ling's signal to be quiet. Seeing the index finger on her lips, Ariana didn't make another sound. After a minute or two later, her expression darkened.
"Hide! Quickly!" Qian Ling's eyes widened in surprise and quickly hopped out of bed. Taking Ariana's arm, she dragged her to the closet and covered her with a stack of clothes.
Whispering, she said. "Do not come out even if someone opens this door. Understand? Unless I am the one who opens it and takes the pile of clothes from you. Or else, do not budge. If anyone other than me does open this door, hold a deep breath and only release it after the person is gone."
Ariana covered her nose and mouth. "Good." Qian Ling smiled and closed the door. Some minutes had passed, and no sounds were made in the room. For a second, Ariana actually thought that she was being played and everything was a lie to trap her inside the closet. Just when she was about to move from where she was sitting, loud bangs slammed against the door. The strength was so great that she could feel her butt vibrating in the closet.
Qian Ling wrapped her bath robe around her body and opened the door, "What is it?"
"Did you see a human girl sneak in?" A deep, wicked voice echoed in the room.
"No. I've been in my room the entire time." Obviously, she was lying and trying to help her by spitting out another lie. The man didn't seem to have believed in her words as the door was slammed open entirely and Qian Ling started to scream furiously at him.
"What kind of manners do you have?! You're charging in to a woman's room and acting all righteous. Get the hell out of my sight!" She shouted coldly at the strange man in her room. Suddenly, the voices grew closer to the closet, and the door was violently slammed open. Seeing that the closet was filled with clothes and no space for even a child to hide in, the man grinned and exited the room.
Minutes later, Qian Ling helped Ariana out of the pile of clothes, "That was very close. It seems like they are looking for you. You need to leave. I don't need to have an extra person to save later, understand?"
"But once I get out of here, I won't be able to get back in as easily!"
"Trust me. Once the guards finish with their daily room checks and end up finding no one, they will naturally scavenger hunt and shut this whole place down. By that time, it'll be even more difficult to leave. You can't risk it."
"But I.. I can't. I am this close to finding that person out!" Ariana was reluctant to leave.
Releasing a heavy sigh, she rubbed her temples and held onto her wrist, "Listen carefully, the person you are looking for is part of the Shi family. Check the Shi family's recent activities and see who will be receiving the most benefits. You'll figure out who is the culprit behind the whole thing."
Ariana bit her lips and lowered her gaze to the tight grip on her skin, "Who are you? Why do you know this much?" Qian Ling didn't want to expose too much information because the more she knew; the more danger would come her way.
"My name is Qian Ling. As for how I know who you are, thank Alexander for telling me about you. I've taken care of him as his nurse. He probably wouldn't talk about it to you. Go. The only way to get revenge is by staying alive. At this rate, you'll be the next corpse in that meat grinder from earlier."
"You're Qian Ling?!!"
"Yes."
"Great! I can leave, but you must come with me." She smiled as she thought that Susu could finally be saved. But the following response was not what she wanted to hear.
"Sorry, but only you can leave this place. I can only show you the route and help you escape. If I leave with you, not only will we not be able to leave; both of us will get caught and punished. They will torture you." Qian Ling's resentful eyes revealed a sense of hopelessness.
"What do you mean?"
"See this?" Loosening her grip, Qian Ling reached to the bottom of her pants and lifted it up to reveal the mark on her right ankle.
"A barcode?"
"This barcode is not a tattoo. It is an alarm that was specially set on my body. I've tried escaping plentiful times in the past and realized later that they could track me easily because of this barcode and some tracker device inside my body. That's why I can't leave with you." She explained.
"That's absurd! Why are they keeping you here?" As her anxiety level heightened, Ariana's voice also stuttered as she spoke.
Qian Ling patted the back of her hands, "Because I am the only one who has made progress with the development of their experiment. Over the years, I've been releasing victims and replacing human organs with cloned ones. So, no matter what, you must leave. It'll be too late when the guards come back here."
"But what's their point? What are they trying to get from this experiment?" Ariana had so many questions that everything was becoming blurry to her.
"Afterlife." Qian Ling replied.
As she heard that response, Ariana staggered to her feet, swaying a little. Luckily, Qian Ling held onto her or else she might have fallen to the floor. She shook her head from the few seconds of black out as Qian Ling helped her to the bed.
"Stretch out your hand. I'll take your pulse." Ariana obediently stretched out her right arm towards her direction and closed her eyes to reduce the dizzy feeling.