Chapter 26: Loss Of Control
“Year of the Ox?”
Watching the old man’s back as he finished speaking and left, Wei Ling felt somewhat puzzled.
This answer did not match what she had expected, leaving her momentarily at a loss.
In contrast, Lu Jinzhao, upon hearing this answer, showed a moment of doubt in her expression, but it quickly turned serious.
Year of the Ox
A blurry thought flashed through her mind, an idea that could not be called complete, but just this possibility made Lu Jinzhao’s heart jolt.
“I hope it’s not what I’m thinking.”
She shook her head, not daring to think further. For now, it was all just ambiguous evidence; she was still missing a decisive clue that could determine the truth.
“Let’s go check out the altar first.”
Lu Jinzhao did not dwell on it for long. Her style had never been to let herself fall into groundless suspicions waiting for danger to arrive. Even though the thought that flashed through her mind was somewhat alarming, she quickly decided to continue to the altar.
If it really was that, there should be more clues inside the altar.
It was now approaching four in the afternoon. Perhaps because the sacrifice was approaching, more villagers were gathering around outside the altar.
That said, if you counted carefully, there were actually only about twenty people or so.
Besides Lu Jinzhao and Wei Ling, they also saw the figures of two other passengers.
“Looks like some people aren’t shrinking violets.”
Still, it was a Class C Instance, so Lu Jinzhao had thought more passengers would come to the altar.
“.But then again, seeking benefit and avoiding harm is instinct for living things.”
Those who knew the altar was likely to be trouble but still came were ultimately few.
Lu Jinzhao felt a faint disappointment in her heart, but she didn’t pay attention to those emotions and immediately adjusted her state and walked toward the altar.
The two who had already arrived were now standing outside the altar negotiating with the gatekeeper, but the other kept shaking his head, so it seemed the altar no longer allowed outsiders in or out?
After Lu Jinzhao got closer and listened to the conversation for a while, she confirmed that was indeed the case.
The negotiator seemed frustrated by the other’s intransigence, his left hand, which had been in his pocket, twitched, but his companion noticed and immediately patted his shoulder, stopping what he was about to do.
“Uncle, we just want to take a look. You can come in with us to make sure we don’t damage anything, okay?”
With that, he pulled out a train ticket and pushed it toward the gatekeeper.
Right, life-buying money. People inside the platform all loved passengers’ life-buying money; it usually made things easy.
Sure enough, the guard’s expression shifted upon seeing it. He took the train ticket and said sternly, “I’ll take you in for a quick look and then out. Don’t touch anything!”
“Okay, thanks, uncle.”
This life-buying money was really… handy.
“Should we go too?” Wei Ling subconsciously turned to ask Lu Jinzhao’s opinion, but saw her just shake her head.
“Let them check it out first.”
Wei Ling recalled Lu Jinzhao calmly entering the ancestral hall earlier, but now facing the altar she seemed much more cautious. Though she didn’t know why, she just said “oh” and chose to follow for now.
Soon, the two came back out, but their expressions weren’t great.
As if minding something, they didn’t flare up on the spot but gave Lu Jinzhao and Wei Ling a look before walking farther away. Then the more rational Zhang Junjie said gravely, “Things are looking bad.”
“What happened?” Wei Ling asked.
Inside the platform, unless it involved personal survival odds, passengers usually shared information with each other.
“The statue inside isn’t right.”
He didn’t call it a “Buddha statue” like the villagers did; the other passengers naturally didn’t think it was any Buddha statue either.
Zhang Junjie didn’t hold back; he lowered his voice and explained what he thought was off.
“At the base of that statue, there are two new, palm-sized figurines.”
“One male, one female, standing on either side.”
At his words, Lu Jinzhao and Wei Ling’s complexions changed.
Others might not know, but they knew all too well: the missing passengers were exactly one male and one female.
But that alone wouldn’t make Zhang Junjie’s expression so grave.
What concerned him most was
“Those two figurines have a bloody smell; you can smell it if you get a bit closer, but the people arranging things in the altar act like they can’t smell it.”
“Most crucially,”
Here, Zhang Junjie paused, as if recalling that scene still made him feel discomfort even now.
“When I got closer, I saw a completely different scene from before.”
“Those two figurines were like two containers, footless, severed from the lower body, like two chopped-off mineral water bottles, constantly leaking large amounts of blood from the opening, dripping to the statue’s base and being absorbed.”
“.Like two IV tubes supplying blood to the statue, or maybe two… sacrifices?”
“The blood water seemed endless, rushing down but immediately absorbed. As the bloody smell grew thicker, I felt… like the statue came alive!”
Even saying it now, his tone still held lingering fear.
“I wanted to leave right then, but in a blink, everything was normal again. When I looked again, where was any blood water? Those two figurines were just normal wooden carvings with legs intact.”
“As if what I saw was just an illusion.”
Here, Zhang Junjie’s tone grew urgent: “But you know, inside the platform, when do we get illusions for no reason?”
“Maybe what I saw is the reality!”
Wei Ling and Lu Jinzhao didn’t refute him; they even vaguely felt perhaps it really was.
The outwardly intact puppets were just a superficial image; those two puppets likely represented the two missing passengers.
And now, they had become sacrifices for the sacrifice, their lives steadily draining away.
When Wei Ling mentioned Ye Jingyun’s disappearance, Zhang Junjie’s tone grew even more certain.
“It’s just as I thought! This damn sacrifice uses living people!”
“So the question now is, where are they? They can’t really be those two puppets, right?” Wei Ling asked.
Lu Jinzhao shook her head: “The puppets are probably just symbolic. As for where those two are now… I guess they’re still in the altar, just not in the area we can access.”
“I have a suggestion.” The person beside Zhang Junjie suddenly spoke up.
“You all know, right? A sacrifice won’t just kill two people. Better to go deep into the altar than sit around waiting to die!”
At his words, everyone’s mouths twitched slightly.
Reckless fool, suicidal reckless fool.
What was this, some death-embracing philosophy?
“What’s the point?” Wei Ling asked, puzzled.
But he argued confidently: “There must be more important clues inside the altar!”
“What about the danger?” Lu Jinzhao asked.
“Is it not dangerous outside?” He was baffled, thinking Lu Jinzhao just didn’t get it—danger lurked both inside and out, so why not grab more clues before the worst hit?
Lu Jinzhao understood his thinking; she’d done the same in Summon Ghosts, but this instance was different from Summon Ghosts.
She said slowly: “Remember the taboo A Luo mentioned?”
“No killing; the smell of blood will draw it.”
“So, where’s the bloodiest smell right now?”
“Where will it be?”
Lu Jinzhao’s barrage of questions made his face stiffen: “If you want to go, go ahead. Count me out.”
She could tell the difference between risking it within limits and outright suicide.
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