Chapter 143: Substitute
When Lu Jinzhao prepared the “chopsticks” and began drawing lots, the real Qin Wan did not hesitate and once again overdrew her own good luck.
She had not lied before; she did not want to use luck transfer again, because she had already overdrawn good luck once in advance, and she would inevitably have to pay the price later, but right now, she also knew clearly that she must draw the real Lu Jinzhao.
She could only rely on good luck.
This also meant that before the train was about to end, she would have even more misfortune to repay.
But, she was now following Lu Jinzhao’s instructions, so Lu Jinzhao couldn’t completely ignore her afterward, right?
Although she had not spent much time with Lu Jinzhao, a life-and-death place like the platform could quickly reveal a person’s true nature.
She believed that Lu Jinzhao was not that kind of person; although she sensed a kind of indifference in Lu Jinzhao’s eyes and certain moments, her behavior was gentle and calm, unexpectedly not too indifferent.
This gentleness and friendliness were not like the appearances of those she had seen who pretended to be friendly; she would genuinely offer very useful suggestions at key moments, rather than using her hypocritical mask to deceive teammates.
Even if she had to do things that might seem very bad, she would do so directly and openly.
It was as if, even if her nature was indifferent, she was maintaining some personal order unique to her.
So Qin Wan felt that as long as the misfortune was not too bad, Lu Jinzhao probably would not completely abandon her.
For this, she chose to take a gamble.
Anyway, after gaining luck transfer, the most frequent thing she did was to gamble with her own good luck.
This time she only overdrew five seconds of good luck, which was enough for her to reach in and draw a lot.
Getting the chopstick, she opened it without hesitation, and sure enough, as she had expected, the paper slip read [Lu Jinzhao] in three big characters.
Qin Wan breathed a sigh of relief; actually, when Lu Jinzhao proposed this method, she had guessed that this person was real, but for safety’s sake, the draw still had to be done, and now the result was out—it was indeed her.
However, the fake Qin Wan next to her had obviously also drawn a name.
This made Qin Wan fall into worry; the real Lu Jinzhao had been found, but what about Zhou Zimo and Qin Wan?
But Lu Jinzhao should have a method, right?
Just as she was thinking this, she heard the real Lu Jinzhao suddenly raise her volume and shout quickly: “Zhou Zimo, immediately kill this fake next to me!”
“Qin Wan, take care of yourself, don’t die.”
In that instant, even though Qin Wan and Zhou Zimo had not yet understood why Lu Jinzhao wanted them to do this, and their brains had not had time to turn a few more times, their bodies had already instinctively moved first.
It was not that they were so convinced and obedient to Lu Jinzhao’s commands now that they would execute them immediately upon hearing them, but that Lu Jinzhao had deliberately laid the groundwork and used a little trick.
She knew that Qin Wan and Zhou Zimo had already established basic trust in her, and through previous words and actions, she had also made them understand her “correctness,” and the lot-drawing game had further strengthened this perception.
But even so, if she had just told Zhou Zimo to act and Qin Wan to attack, they would still instinctively think, hesitate, and weigh the pros and cons.
So Lu Jinzhao deliberately sped up her speech, raised her pitch, and used her eyes to stare straight at Zhou Zimo, releasing urgent emotion as much as possible to create a strengthened signal; in this current environment, Zhou Zimo and Qin Wan would perceive her purpose faster than usual, and the stronger emotion would drive them not to overthink but to execute the command first.
Including her emphasis on “fake” and the seemingly advisory sentence to Qin Wan “don’t die,” it was all just to release more emotion as a signal to achieve brief control over them.
Lu Jinzhao’s purpose was achieved; Zhou Zimo was not intelligent enough, and right now he was being pulled by emotion regardless, immediately charging toward the fake next to Lu Jinzhao.
If it were normal circumstances, if Lu Jinzhao asked him to actively use spirit possession to fight the ghost, he would hesitate somewhat and try to reach a condition exchange with Lu Jinzhao, but right now, he felt an urgent emotion, as if he must do this, time was tight, he didn’t know why, but he just had to do it as soon as possible.
So he moved.
And Qin Wan was stunned for a second, somewhat not reacting, but also under the infection of emotion, instinctively turned her head to guard against the other her.
She sensed the meaning Lu Jinzhao’s words were conveying: “take care of yourself” wasn’t that taking care of the other her?
Although she didn’t understand why, but… do this first?
In the instant after giving the command, Lu Jinzhao quickly retreated, decisively put on the bell, and then controlled the shadow puppet to run toward the direction of the other her.
Although the shadow puppet had little damage against ghosts, it was not completely ineffective; moreover, what was in front of her was not the ghost itself, but her “substitute”; she wanted to try, if she actively attacked the substitute, what would the consequences be?
Meanwhile, the two Zhou Zimos who had already invited “god” possession rushed quickly in front of the substitute Lu Jinzhao; the real Zhou Zimo punched straight at the opponent’s face, and the substitute Lu Jinzhao seemed not to have reacted to what happened, only standing there with a face full of surprise, and then, in the instant Zhou Zimo’s fist landed on her face, the substitute who should have been sent flying by the impact force actually stood motionless in place.
And Zhou Zimo only felt his fist sink into a puddle of mud; a weird yin-soft power resolved this impact, and touching this power made Zhou Zimo’s hair stand on end instantly; he instinctively knew he was no match, so the heat in his mind receded slightly, and he immediately withdrew and retreated; seeing this, the substitute Zhou Zimo also silently withdrew the fist that had landed on the substitute Lu Jinzhao and decisively retreated.
When the fist was pulled out, everyone saw that the substitute Lu Jinzhao’s face and body had completely twisted; her front and body were caved in from the two punches by the real and fake Zhou Zimos, with all five features squeezed into the depression, presenting an extremely weird strange appearance.
However, when the fist left, the caved-in cheek slowly popped back out, and the twisted features gradually restored.
The substitute Lu Jinzhao’s expression became puzzled, muttering continuously in her mouth: “Why?”
“Why did you discover me?”
“Why?”
Spirit possession had indeed hurt it; it could no longer maintain complete imitation of Lu Jinzhao’s appearance, exposing its ghostly side.
Killing the ghost was impossible, but under the clash of supernatural power, the ghost’s ability revealed a flaw.
Zhou Zimo was still not strong enough; if his spirit possession was strong enough, perhaps one punch could make the substitute disappear.
But the flaw the ghost had revealed at this moment made his eyes light up.
Since hitting Lu Jinzhao’s substitute could make the other party reveal its true form, then his own should be the same, right?
So Zhou Zimo, taking advantage of the “god” he had invited this time not yet leaving, decisively swung a punch toward the one next to him.
But at the same time, that substitute seemed completely in sync with his thoughts, also swinging a punch toward him!
The two fists collided in mid-air, and the next second, Zhou Zimo’s complexion changed immediately.
His power was being sucked away!
Continuously disappearing from the point of collision!
Spirit possession was about to fail again; this wouldn’t do.
He immediately realized this and decisively withdrew his hand.
And that ghost who had clearly taken his power, that fake Zhou Zimo, now also had a pale face, as if encountering something unexpected.
Damn impostor!
“Go!” At this moment, Lu Jinzhao issued another command.
Then, she decisively looked up at the real Zhou Zimo and Qin Wan and said: “Zhou Zimo, Qin Wan, come with me.”
As the words fell, the two substitutes who had originally planned to follow her also suddenly stood motionless in place.
And the substitute Lu Jinzhao who had already revealed a flaw was still continuously questioning why.
The real Zhou Zimo and Qin Wan, who had been clearly selected, although curious how Lu Jinzhao could distinguish them, knew it was not a good time to chat right now, so they closely followed behind Lu Jinzhao and left this pitch-black hotel.
And the three substitutes who had been identified and abandoned did not closely follow; they just stood in the pitch-black lobby, silently watching the departing three.
Gaze deep, limbs stiff, like three standing corpses.
“No physical attacks were made?” Lu Jinzhao thought rapidly in her mind while walking.
This time’s ghost had an attack method that was particularly incomprehensible, but now Lu Jinzhao had summarized a few rules.
“Try not to call names; if you call wrong, the substitute will take something from the real one.”
“Perhaps it’s not just names, but a kind of recognition; if someone mistakes the substitute for the real person, it will really gradually become the real person.”
“Attacks are not physical, more mental, which also means harder to guard against; we succeeded in distinguishing and escaping this time, but it can’t end just like this.”
The outside world had now fallen into complete darkness, all lights extinguished, the sky like a pitch-black curtain; the three little people walked on a pitch-black road, with only the three beams of mobile phone lights in their hands providing some brightness.
“They didn’t catch up.” Zhou Zimo looked back and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Seeing they had temporarily escaped danger, Qin Wan couldn’t hold back: “How did you distinguish us?”
“Very simple.” Lu Jinzhao glanced at her: “From behavioral logic.”
“The ghost’s logic must be to want us dead.”
No matter how well disguised as human, this underlying logic wouldn’t change; it was the code engraved in the ghost’s instinct.
“So they can’t make any actions or words similar to hints.”
“At the beginning, Qin Wan, when you didn’t know, you called the substitute Zhou Zimo’s name.”
“And the real Zhou Zimo reacted strongly; he sensed something and immediately scolded you.”
“But at that time he also called your name; I observed your reaction—you and the other you had no reaction.”
“Not a single Qin Wan showed panic like Zhou Zimo’s, not even in the eyes.”
This meant Qin Wan was fine.
A logical relationship was thus formed between Zhou Zimo and Qin Wan, and it was a very clear one for distinguishing real from fake.
The real Qin Wan called the substitute’s name, the substitute took something from Zhou Zimo, so Zhou Zimo panicked and scolded Qin Wan; although he called Qin Wan’s name, it was correct, so Qin Wan was fine.
“But at that time the fake me gave another explanation, right? Why did you believe me?” Zhou Zimo was still puzzled, but although he asked this, he felt somewhat happy in his heart because Lu Jinzhao believed him; this had nothing to do with anything else, just the positive emotion from being trusted by a teammate.
“Because his explanation had no effect at all.”
It was completely just fooling around.
The logical relationship it produced was basically zero.
It was an explanation that better hid who was the ghost and who was the real Zhou Zimo.
“After you finished talking, I already had eighty percent certainty in my mind about who was real.”
“And then?” Zhou Zimo asked eagerly.
“What then?” This time it was Lu Jinzhao who was a bit puzzled.
“I mean, then how did you confirm we were definitely us?”
“I didn’t confirm.” Lu Jinzhao said matter-of-factly.
“Ah?”
“How could something like this be one hundred percent certain?”
“So in the end you gambled?!” Zhou Zimo was greatly shocked.
“Eighty percent certainty isn’t really gambling, right?” Lu Jinzhao said: “But if you insist, a little bit.”
Eighty percent certainty was enough for her; not too risky.
After all, this was the platform, facing a ghost; where would she get a one hundred percent win?
“What if you were wrong?” There was some worry in Qin Wan’s tone.
“Actually, in the instant I called your names, couldn’t I distinguish real from fake?” It would just require Qin Wan and Zhou Zimo to pay a price.
They would inevitably show abnormality because of calling the wrong name.
Hearing Lu Jinzhao say this, Qin Wan and Zhou Zimo both felt their hearts sink.
Right, if Lu Jinzhao had gotten it wrong then, wouldn’t they have had something taken by the substitutes again?
Too risky.
“You actually didn’t have to tell us that.” Qin Wan paused for a while before slowly saying.
“Nothing that can’t be said.” Lu Jinzhao remained very rational: “It’s a fact, but it’s also something that didn’t happen; if you want to blame me for it, that’s your business.”
She wouldn’t care.
“Alright, then what now?”
After all this trouble, there was still half an hour until the train arrived.
In this final half hour, none of the three felt they could pass it safely.
“My misfortune backlash is coming soon…” Qin Wan said somewhat hesitantly.
Actually, at the beginning, on the train, she hadn’t planned to tell her teammates exactly when her misfortune would arrive.
After all, at that time she was completely a burden.
But perhaps influenced by Lu Jinzhao, at this moment, she chose to be honest.
She had thought she would face teammates’ hesitation, hesitation, even rejection; she even thought about immoral kidnapping or interest exchange to get teammates to protect her.
But she hadn’t expected Lu Jinzhao’s response to be: “Misfortune has its own uses, right?”
“Is misfortune completely bad? Not necessarily.”
“Anyway, in this platform this time, whether good luck or misfortune, they’re actually quite useful.”
Huh?
Is that how it is?
So impressive; can she rationally divide which parts of anything are usable in her eyes?
[Strengthened Signal]
When humans consciously act toward others, it’s actually a process of sending signals, hoping the other party can read the signal and react.
And “strengthened signal” is, in a specific environment, strengthening the signal of “one’s purpose” for the opponent to perceive, so the amplitude of actions enlarges, and the outburst of emotion becomes even more surging.
.。。
Sometimes the evil personality Yun Lili uses strengthened signal when playing cards to suck friends’ blood; even if there’s no reason, friends will dazedly really send it to me, then half a beat later react and question me ()
