Chapter 54: Chang Street Slaughterhouse
Reaching the door outside the Slaughter Room, Wei Ling stopped at the doorway and did not go further inside.
She had been here once before and felt a deep unease about the place. Fortunately, Lu Jinzhao had not asked her to go in together.
The calf, which had been extremely resistant to approaching before entering the Main Building, became exceptionally compliant after being led inside. This saved Lu Jinzhao a lot of effort, but she also noticed something off in the building.
And even when she pushed open the door and led the calf into the Slaughter Room, facing the pungent smell of blood and the corpses of its kind, the calf did not make a single sound.
Just like the other living creatures still alive in this Slaughterhouse, silently waiting for the moment of death to arrive.
But was it like this when Wei Ling came in?
Overall, it was not much different from Wei Ling’s previous description, and the biggest difference was these chunks of meat that had already been cut and hung on Iron Hooks.
Some were whole pigs with their internal organs removed, some were half a cow, some were several animal heads strung together. Just this scene alone was like an endless hell.
Strangely, those animal heads strung together all happened to be “looking” right at Lu Jinzhao.
Even if she turned her head to look elsewhere, she could see a string of animal heads looking at her from every direction.
There was clearly no wind, yet the ropes hanging the heads were swaying slightly, as if those animals that were left with only their heads were still trying to twist them to look at this living person who dared to enter the Slaughter Room.
Under the ominous red light, the animals’ eyeballs were a lifeless void.
Drip.
It was the sound of water droplets falling to the ground.
Plop.
It was the sound of blood water dripping from rotting flesh.
The place was dim and damp, with blood and rotting flesh everywhere. If one was not careful while walking, they would brush against the nearby decaying flesh and blood. Having hung here too long, it had softened to the point that even clothes brushing past would carry away bits of rotting flesh.
Accompanying the sound of blood water dripping, Lu Jinzhao seemed to hear some faint rustling noises.
But those noises were too subtle, and they always came along with the sound of blood water hitting the ground. Even if she calmed down and listened carefully, she could not discern what they were.
She just always felt that whatever was making those noises was watching her, following her. When she moved, they in the darkness would move along with her.
“.Better not scare myself.”
The more she thought about these things carefully, the colder her back felt, and her steps hesitated.
But she had to complete the mission first now.
Lu Jinzhao could only force herself to try to ignore the psychological pressure brought by the abnormal environment and kept walking toward the Slaughter Room Depths.
Time passed bit by bit. Although Lu Jinzhao’s steps were slow, it should not take this long to even traverse a single Slaughter Room.
“.Something’s not right.”
Lu Jinzhao stopped.
It had been nearly ten minutes since she stepped through the door of the Slaughter Room.
According to Wei Ling’s memory, she had only walked two or three minutes before seeing the Butcher’s Table, but now she had far exceeded the time Wei Ling had taken.
She had to stop and carefully recall her path after entering.
According to her memory, she had indeed been walking straight.
But… Lu Jinzhao looked around—still the same rotting flesh and blood, and heads staring at her no matter which direction.
Here, directions could not be distinguished at all.
The rustling sounds rang out again, from the left, the right, behind, even ahead.
Those unseen things were stirring in the darkness, constantly drawing closer.
Lu Jinzhao had a premonition that if she stayed here, she would be surrounded by these sounds.
That probably would not be anything good.
“Calm down, calm down.” Lu Jinzhao sensed the anxiety in her heart rising, and could only keep reminding herself.
“Is it because I brought a calf instead of a person?”
The Butcher was not satisfied with the prey she brought?
Or perhaps, as time passed, the mission difficulty was gradually increasing?
In any case, she could not stay here long.
Wei Ling had said the Butcher’s Table was straight ahead. Since the environment made it impossible to discern her route, she could only rely on intuition.
Time might be confused, the path might be blurred, but she had to trust herself. Otherwise, if fear overwhelmed her, it would be over.
Lu Jinzhao exhaled and continued stepping toward what felt like “ahead.”
Silent, oppressive, damp.
Slightly swaying heads, and faint sounds in the darkness of something spying and approaching.
Lu Jinzhao felt her palms growing slightly damp; she was sweating.
It’s okay, it’s okay…
As long as she did not break the rules, even ghosts, under the train’s constraints, could not kill indiscriminately.
At least inside the [C]-level Platform, absolutely not.
Believe in the experience summed up by the seniors.
Believe in the way to survive given by the Rules.
A small Slaughter Room, yet it made Lu Jinzhao feel like she was walking through a jungle of flesh and blood, unable to find the exit.
She did not dare stop, even though she felt like she was just circling endlessly in this room!
But as soon as she paused even slightly, she could hear those rustling sounds from beside her, left and right, and behind.
Each time, they were closer to her.
Sweat beaded denser on her forehead. Lu Jinzhao realized that just continuing like this was only wasting time. She had not been killed by ghosts yet, but if she kept going until the sun set, she would be dead for sure.
But she was not just walking aimlessly forward.
She was also observing, searching for a way to break the situation.
Then, she noticed that whenever she passed a string of heads, when she saw the next string, they were not necessarily all staring directly at her, but after the ropes swayed slightly, those dead eyes always found her.
In this situation, Lu Jinzhao would not consider any abnormality a coincidence.
“Is it because of these heads?”
These animal heads slaughtered by the Butcher?
“Let’s try.”
Looking at those long-dead, even rotting animal heads, Lu Jinzhao made up her mind.
Pushing through the fear and pressure in her heart, she slowly approached one of them.
These heads were from various different animals: pigs, cows, sheep, even dog heads.
At this moment, they were all swaying slightly, quietly “watching” Lu Jinzhao approach.
As the distance closed, Lu Jinzhao could feel her heartbeat accelerating, from fear and from tension.
Only up close could she observe these strung-together heads carefully in the dim light.
Besides looking particularly terrifying, they seemed to have no other abnormalities.
She reached out her hand and placed it on one of the heads.
The sensation of rotting flesh followed, along with a chill and nausea surging in her heart. Lu Jinzhao slowly applied force, turning these heads to a direction where they completely could not see her.
