Chapter 139: Substitute
Zhou Zimo and Qin Wan didn’t say much about her behavior that could be called grotesque.
Lu Jinzhao thought perhaps they had also seen more grotesque things?
After all, fates are myriad and bizarre; maybe there were some just like her that needed corpses as materials?
Moreover, there were plenty of all sorts of bizarre and gruesome corpses inside the platform, so they should all have immunity by now.
Lu Jinzhao knocked off a rib while thinking.
The shadow puppet had already returned to her side; aside from an extra needle-sized small hole on its neck, there were no other changes.
As long as the shadow puppet’s weakness wasn’t found, same-level passengers who were preempted by her would find it quite difficult to counter-kill her.
After taking the needed materials, Du Yu’s corpse was already somewhat unsightly.
Most of the intact skin on her body had been peeled off, her body was torn open with a huge gash at the abdomen, the internal organs had disappeared, her chest was also torn open, and several ribs had been broken off and taken.
Those who didn’t know might think some wild beast had gnawed on this corpse.
Lu Jinzhao put the materials into the prepared bag and then back into the backpack; only when she looked up did she notice that Zhou Zimo and Qin Wan were both looking at her with an expression similar to constipation.
“What’s wrong?”
She stood up and shook the blood and internal organ fragments off her hands.
“Nothing, just that this kind of scene is quite rare.” Zhou Zimo said tactfully.
Qin Wan followed up: “In our platform, um, quite rare.”
Lu Jinzhao wanted to wipe her hands but found there was nothing suitable to wipe them on; Du Yu’s clothes were soaked through with blood, and she didn’t want to wipe them on her own clothes.
Whatever, never mind; she could wash them later if there was a chance.
“You mean you’ve seen it in other platforms?” Lu Jinzhao asked casually.
“Fei Quan has it, but Fei Quan is considered orderly among extreme stations; some small city stations are completely full of livestock.”
“I heard that a long time ago someone tried various methods of stripping others’ fates, including cannibalism.”
“Although it was later proven that eating people doesn’t work, some people thought this was interesting; when the pressure endured in the platform needed release, they would vent it on their own kind.”
Lu Jinzhao couldn’t understand it at all; even if she experienced life-and-death pressure that greatly increased, what she thought about was how to become stronger to escape this situation, not venting on weaker people.
She also didn’t plan to try to understand this kind of thought, just simply nodded to indicate she knew.
“Let’s go.”
“Where to now?” Zhou Zimo asked.
“Don’t know, just find some place near the train to stay.” Qin Wan replied.
Anyway, it was the same wherever they were; it wasn’t a low-level platform with relatively safe places; in a high-level platform, unless it was a specific mission, nowhere could be called safe, and all places inside the platform would have ghost encounters.
Just as the three walked out of the rooftop and headed downstairs, when passing the floor where the company was, they suddenly heard a bit of sound.
Footsteps and conversation voices came from the floor that should have been empty.
The three paused, not because they found someone and felt surprised, but because they recognized it: this conversation voice was very familiar, extremely familiar, familiar to the point of
being exactly their own voices.
Lu Jinzhao, who was walking last, suddenly looked up at the two figures ahead.
She thought of what Du Yu had said; Du Yu insisted that her teammates had been replaced by ghosts that morning and acted exactly the same as usual; if she hadn’t tested with her fate and found the other wasn’t human, she would have been kept in the dark the whole time.
Although facts proved she had lied, her fate not possessing such ability at all, the point of acting exactly the same as usual might not necessarily be a lie.
She had only seen the obviously off Bai Xunyan and Yan Xiaoyu outside the mourning hall; that morning she had occasionally paid attention to Fei Quan and hadn’t noticed any abnormalities.
So, now?
Now this one that made her detect no abnormalities at all, even able to chat freely about stories between stations, perfectly connecting to the previous topic, looking completely like her real teammate?
Real or fake?
Through the open door of the stairwell, Lu Jinzhao saw the office area through the glass.
There were three figures.
She, Qin Wan, and Zhou Zimo.
Lu Jinzhao noticed something.
The her inside had clean hands, no bloodstains.
So, her substitute had appeared before she dissected Du Yu.
Then, the Qin Wan and Zhou Zimo standing together with the fake her inside were also fake?
She couldn’t be sure.
At this moment, Lu Jinzhao finally felt the tricky part of this mission.
“Qin Wan, has your good luck already ended?” she asked.
Qin Wan paused, realized something, and said somewhat disappointedly: “It was gone when we went downstairs.”
If Qin Wan’s good luck was still ongoing, then she wouldn’t likely be walking with a ghost; even with luck, she would first encounter the “real” Lu Jinzhao, but even asking, Lu Jinzhao couldn’t confirm if she was telling the truth or lying; she just confirmed it.
Then, she looked at the two and said: “I have three verification methods; I’m not sure if they’ll work, not sure if the ghost can even copy this.”
“If it can, then we have no method against this ghost.”
“What methods?” Zhou Zimo asked eagerly.
“First, fate; second, supernatural item.” If the substitutes made by the ghost could even copy these two, then their chances against this ghost were extremely low; this meant that any moment when the person in front of them disappeared from sight could be when the ghost replaced them.
No one could be 100% sure that the one beside them was human.
What’s more, with so many substitutes, all possessing the passengers’ fates and the ghost’s own abilities, what was there left to fight?
“Indeed.” Zhou Zimo nodded in agreement, then asked: “What is the third method?”
Lu Jinzhao glanced at Qin Wan and said: “Her.”
“Or rather, luck transfer.”
This platform selecting Qin Wan might not have been accidental.
Luck was actually an extremely important thing here.
“Whether misfortune or good luck, both will bring the desired result.”
Misfortune would likely lead to encountering a ghost, while good luck would lead to encountering teammates.
Qin Wan’s face paled slightly: “I’ve already transferred luck too many times, and even borrowed luck; I can’t transfer luck to myself anymore.”
She had to save some power for later use; after all, she still had “misfortune” to repay.
Zhou Zimo hesitated a bit; he didn’t want to transfer luck at a time like this; borrowing good luck meant there would inevitably be a period of misfortune before returning to the train, and he didn’t want any accidents.
“How about we split up?” he said.
Since they couldn’t confirm if the people around were real or fake, he might as well stay alone; he had spirit possession and should have no problem persisting until the train arrived.
Lu Jinzhao was briefly silent; she was still thinking.
