Chapter 46: Chang Street Slaughterhouse
Fortunately, although the process of retreating backward was tormenting, no other accidents occurred.
Wei Ling saw the ghost’s figure, which gradually became blurry due to the receding light.
Its tall body hid in the darkness, its head always concealed behind flesh and blood, making it impossible to see clearly, and fortunately not seeing clearly.
Until it completely disappeared, Wei Ling suddenly turned her head and ran wildly toward the door.
She was no longer far from the door, and after running for not too long, she reached the doorway.
But what made her feel scared in hindsight was that the door, which had originally not been closed, was unexpectedly closed at this moment for some reason.
It couldn’t have been Lu Jinzhao who did it, so it could only be the ghost.
Perhaps because she hadn’t violated the taboo, although the door was closed, it wasn’t sealed shut. Under her tense gaze, the door was smoothly pulled open.
When the door opened, what came into view was not sunlight or an open vista, but a dark cement wall surface and a narrow corridor.
Lu Jinzhao was startled by the sound of the door opening and saw Wei Ling’s expression of lingering shock. She spoke to explain: “Not long after you went in, the door suddenly closed by itself. I tried to open it and found it wouldn’t open.”
Wei Ling was still panting heavily, her panicked expression barely maintaining some calmness. After hearing Lu Jinzhao’s words, she shook her head:
“I know the door wasn’t closed by you.”
“Thank you for still waiting for me outside the door.”
If it weren’t for Lu Jinzhao, and instead some other temporarily teamed teammate, perhaps at the moment the door closed automatically, they would already be considering whether to leave this dangerous place.
“Alright, it’s fine now. Take a moment to recover, then we’ll go out.” Lu Jinzhao raised her hand and patted Wei Ling’s back, trying to use the relatively intimate gesture to help stabilize Wei Ling’s emotions a bit.
This action was indeed effective; Wei Ling’s swaying gaze visibly stabilized.
Her racing heart gradually calmed. Looking at Lu Jinzhao’s calm face, she couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Even after experiencing several platform missions, she still couldn’t get used to the existence of ghosts. Every time facing a ghost directly, she would be terrified and get goosebumps, but Lu Jinzhao had clearly adapted too quickly.
“I’m good. Let’s go.”
“Mm.” Lu Jinzhao nodded, then suddenly said: “Right, after we go out, remember to say that we went in together.”
“Before we go out, tell me your entire experience inside, down to every detail.”
“Understood.”
When the two stepped out of this main building, they found that all the remaining passengers were already waiting eagerly outside the door.
Seeing the two come out, different expressions appeared on everyone’s faces, but most of their gazes carried a sense of joy.
After all, both of them came out alive, which meant that this mission might not be difficult.
And the fact that the two had gone in each holding a rat and both came out alive also made some people start having second thoughts.
Sure enough, someone immediately asked: “When you went in, what was the situation inside?”
Under Lu Jinzhao’s instruction, Wei Ling said to the person who spoke: “I can tell you, but what do you have to exchange for it?”
Usually, passengers entering the platform would freely exchange some clues, but in this platform mission, someone had set a bad precedent, so the rest naturally wouldn’t follow the tacit rules anymore.
As soon as Wei Ling said this, many people’s complexions turned unpleasant.
Wei Ling naturally knew that saying this meant making enemies. Inside the platform, it was best not to become enemies with all other passengers, and she dared to do this not because she blindly trusted Lu Jinzhao.
In terms of value, in her view, all these people combined weren’t worth as much as the fear she felt from opposing Lu Jinzhao.
When she said this, Lu Jinzhao was standing right beside her. The two had appeared together before boarding, so in others’ eyes, their team affiliation was obvious. By drawing aggro on herself, Lu Jinzhao wouldn’t be able to stay out of it either.
Finally, she truly trusted Lu Jinzhao relatively more and admired her.
Therefore, she chose to execute Lu Jinzhao’s plan and become the person thoroughly tied to Lu Jinzhao in this mission.
Lu Jinzhao and Wei Ling had spent a non-negligible amount of time inside, and they had emerged right when others were hesitating whether to go in now. Actually, there wasn’t much time left before nightfall.
Therefore, while the questioner was still hesitating, someone couldn’t hold back anymore.
“I’ll exchange with you. I have information I know.” As soon as the speaker’s voice came out, Lu Jinzhao noticed that the woman wearing glasses obviously changed her expression subtly.
In Lu Jinzhao’s view, although the man in her small group was the one who spoke every time, various details showed that she was the team leader. She was intelligent enough and could establish an information advantage early through numerical superiority.
Presumably, she had some plan, which was why she proposed that exchange at the door, breaking the long-standing default rule of sharing information inside the platform.
And Wei Ling and Lu Jinzhao’s wild approach had clearly disrupted her original plan. She probably hadn’t expected that inside a platform with life-and-death crisis, someone could be so reckless.
The plan was disrupted, but with numerical advantage, she wasn’t anxious.
The person who chose to exchange was led aside by Wei Ling and Lu Jinzhao. This time, Lu Jinzhao spoke:
“Answer three questions from me, and I’ll tell you the precautions after going in, as well as what will happen.”
“Okay.” The person nodded.
“First question: What is the pattern on your meat ticket?”
Hearing this question, the person’s expression changed abruptly, as if suddenly remembering something or realizing something, and began to look at Lu Jinzhao suspiciously.
But he clearly hadn’t figured out the key to this question yet, and the current survival crisis was more urgent, so he could only hesitantly take out his meat ticket and answer: “It’s a rabbit.”
As his words fell, the moment she saw the meat ticket, Wei Ling’s eyes slowly widened.
The instant she saw this rabbit, several simple clues rapidly connected in her mind, and almost instantly, a thought took shape.
She immediately wanted to speak out, but seeing Lu Jinzhao’s calm face, she held back.
At this moment, Lu Jinzhao was already asking the second question.
“What is your zodiac sign?”
The man’s expression in front of her became even stranger, but he still answered first: “Rat. I’m Rat Zodiac.”
Wei Ling’s eyebrows raised, and her gaze toward the man took on a complex flavor.
But Lu Jinzhao continued asking: “Last question: Has anyone asked you these two questions?”
“Yes.”
“So can you tell me what happened? Why are you asking this?”
Sure enough, this wasn’t a hard-to-discover secret.
“According to transaction principles, we only need to tell you what happened in the building. There’s no need to explain the rest to you, right?” This time, before Lu Jinzhao could speak, Wei Ling stepped in first.
She didn’t want Lu Jinzhao to really explain to this person in front of her.
Moreover, who knew if after explaining to this person, the next second, this information would be known by whom?
This platform wasn’t like the previous information exchange situations.
So, she quickly finished telling everything that happened to her in the building and then sent the person away.
Once the person had walked a bit farther, she looked at the departing back, moved slightly closer to Lu Jinzhao. Even though she tried to lower her volume, her voice was still filled with shock as she asked:
“It’s the Twelve Zodiac Animals?!”
Lu Jinzhao nodded: “Yes.”
After answering, she looked at Wei Ling again and asked: “Is it okay to do this?”
Not explaining to that person—if he couldn’t figure out the key point, made a wrong decision, or was slightly lured by others who already understood the essence of this platform mission, he might lose his life today!
Wei Ling pursed her lips, still maintaining that arrogant posture on her face: “Your questions were already sufficient hints. If he can’t figure it out, that’s not my fault.”
Lu Jinzhao sighed and lightly tapped Wei Ling’s shoulder with her finger: “I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about you. If he dies, you have no problem with that?”
She still remembered the surprised emotion Wei Ling showed when she learned that she had used others’ lives to test her guess.
“No problem. I’ve already decided.”
This is really
Lu Jinzhao silently looked at Wei Ling, wondering if she had led her astray.
No full attendance this month, so fewer updates. Next month with full attendance, there will be more updates.
