Chapter 3: Summon Ghosts
Even though several had already boarded the train, completed missions, and knew the dangers of train missions, the passengers couldn’t help but change their complexions at this moment.
The mission time limit is only 12 hours, let alone there being a man in the team; even a woman couldn’t obtain the “pregnant woman” identity within 12 hours.
No one wants to die, so no one wants to draw that mission.
What made Lu Jinzhao feel slightly fortunate was that the train stipulated 【random draw】, so at least there was no need to worry about being assigned the most difficult mission because she was a newcomer.
The atmosphere was somewhat tense, the newcomer wearing glasses had an ugly expression like he was about to cry, he looked at everyone somewhat helplessly: “Isn’t this just sending us to our deaths?!”
Jiang Yingzhi frowned upon hearing this, Lu Jinzhao silently sighed in her heart, sure enough, when people feel fear, their reason goes offline, this newcomer named Zhou Wenbo had completely forgotten that Jiang Yingzhi had already warned:
—Even if the mission content obviously requires going to one’s death, it must still be done.
Now is not the time to worry about whether the train sends people to their deaths, but rather to consider, if one draws this mission, how to resolve this seemingly certain-death situation?
Lu Jinzhao’s gaze scanned the surroundings, this Chinatown seemed somewhat desolate for some reason, eerily exuding a bit of ghostly aura, but fortunately there were still people living here, and the shops were open, so if there was something needed to buy, a suitable place could still be found.
“Right, completing missions always requires some props, what about the money for buying things?” Lu Jinzhao asked while standing on the street side.
“Pay with train tickets, life-buying money is very expensive.” Jiang Yingzhi didn’t answer the glasses-wearing man Zhou Wenbo’s words, but answered Lu Jinzhao’s.
Lu Jinzhao nodded, understanding her implication, probably the currency on the train tickets had a different ratio from the currency in the platform mission instance.
After being ignored, Zhou Wenbo’s complexion wasn’t great, but he didn’t say anything more, the people nearby also didn’t care much about the newcomer’s question, only looking at Lin Shuyue and asking:
“Random draw, how are we going to draw?”
“Draw lots, paper slips numbered 1-10, whatever you draw is what it is.” Lin Shuyue replied, after she spoke, no one opposed, after deciding the order of drawing lots, Lin Shuyue walked to the nearby small shop to borrow a pen and paper from the boss, made the paper slips, and placed them in her palm.
“You should know that with the train’s rules, I can’t cheat for myself, so, let’s begin.”
Lu Jinzhao’s drawing order was fourth, neither good nor bad, she didn’t pay much attention to the expressions of the first few people drawing lots, anyway, it wouldn’t change the outcome in her hands.
When the paper slip was held in her hand but not yet opened, Lu Jinzhao already felt the slight dampness in her palm, she understood that this was because she was too nervous.
As long as it wasn’t 9, she could accept any other result, with this thought, Lu Jinzhao didn’t hesitate anymore and quickly opened the paper slip in her hand.
【8】
Lu Jinzhao breathed a sigh of relief, 8, replace dead person’s cornea, among all the methods it’s one of the more terrible ones, but obviously much better than pregnant woman suicide.
The numbers were drawn one after another, the one who got a bye was opening an umbrella indoors, the one who drew pregnant woman suicide was Jiang Yingzhi.
Some people clearly showed relieved expressions on their faces, while a few others looked at Jiang Yingzhi with slight worry and pity, in their eyes, Jiang Yingzhi was probably already a dead person.
Lu Jinzhao had no time to care about others’ emotions now, after all, the one she drew seemed to her to be the most difficult one besides pregnant woman suicide.
How to do it to successfully complete the mission?
The companions beside her were discussing the order, everyone clearly didn’t plan to act alone, but to complete the see a ghost rituals one by one in sequence.
When it came to Lu Jinzhao, she seemed to be lost in thought.
“What’s wrong?” Lin Shuyue turned her head to look at her, not understanding why this newcomer was still spacing out at a time like this.
Lu Jinzhao came back to her senses slightly: “Uh, I’m just thinking about my cornea transplant surgery matter.”
“Indeed, yours is a bit troublesome.” Lin Shuyue frowned slightly upon hearing this.
She drew Cup Spirit, the preparation was very simple, Lu Jinzhao’s transplanting dead person’s cornea was the most troublesome among them besides Jiang Yingzhi.
“It’s just a pity, I don’t have any ideas either.” She shook her head regretfully, not lying just because she was afraid of trouble.
Lu Jinzhao didn’t expect others to give her any suggestions or help, she didn’t reply anymore, just continued her earlier thinking, her line of sight constantly scanning the surroundings.
Chinese restaurant, gold shop, herbal medicine store, noodle shop, residential building, auntie carrying a vegetable basket, ubiquitous red signs, children peeking out curiously at them, the puppy that just gave birth from who-knows-which family on the street side, and the bookstore not far away.
Lu Jinzhao’s eyes lit up, she quickly approached Lin Shuyue with some urgency in her tone and asked: “Shuyue jie, you said the train won’t use language barriers to trouble passengers, so, there must definitely be a doctor here who can perform surgery on me, right?”
Lin Shuyue thought for a moment upon hearing this, then nodded affirmatively: “Correct, the train usually won’t trouble us in these places, barring accidents, there must definitely be conditions here to satisfy your surgery.”
Usually?
Lu Jinzhao mulled over these two words, but didn’t pay too much attention, after confirming her guess, she decisively said to Lin Shuyue: “Senior, wait a moment, I’ll go to the bookstore to buy something, soon.”
Then she turned and quickly ran in the earlier direction, which was exactly the bookstore where Ten Methods to See Ghosts was purchased.
It didn’t take too long, less than ten minutes, Lu Jinzhao came out of the bookstore, seeing her, Lin Shuyue asked curiously: “What did you buy?”
Lu Jinzhao took out a business card from her pocket upon hearing this: “Bought the address of a black doctor who dares to do any surgery.”
“What?” Someone was puzzled: “How did you get it?”
Undeniably, besides the pregnant woman suicide mission, one of the see a ghost rituals no one wanted to draw was Lu Jinzhao’s, not only dangerous, but mainly too troublesome, only 12 hours, how to successfully transplant dead person’s cornea?
Seeing it was a newcomer who drew this mission, actually a few people had already assumed in their hearts that Lu Jinzhao would probably die from failing to complete the mission.
But right now, this unremarkable newcomer had quietly obtained the key prop to complete the mission?
“Because the train won’t trouble us in these places.” Lu Jinzhao replied matter-of-factly.
“So what?” Zhou Wenbo was very puzzled, he didn’t understand the causal relationship here.
Lu Jinzhao looked at him, only feeling that if she didn’t get off the train, this person probably wouldn’t live long, but then she saw a few others also looking at her with curious expressions, clearly only two or three understood what she was saying.
She simply explained: “Since it won’t use that way to trouble me, then conditions for surgery must exist here, time is tight, it also won’t make me search like finding a needle in a haystack.”
“There must definitely be clues, just think a bit and you’ll realize it, the bookstore boss.”
“Didn’t he say when we bought the book, the people who bought books from him last time all died, he obviously knows something.”
“Just like that?” Zhou Wenbo frowned, his tone very puzzled.
“Just like that.” Lu Jinzhao nodded.
In her view, this was already a very obvious hint.
And indeed it was, she successfully bought the doctor’s address and contact info from the bookstore boss with 5 life-buying money.
Lin Shuyue, after hearing Lu Jinzhao’s words, glanced sideways slightly, re-evaluating this newcomer she hadn’t paid much attention to before.
Very intelligent, great memory, and most importantly, quick reaction, able to think of a method to resolve the current dilemma from a casual sentence she said earlier, this is the quick wit very necessary to survive on the train.
“Such good luck.” Zhou Wenbo muttered under his breath, not quietly, Lu Jinzhao heard his self-muttering, and gave this unfamiliar man a strange look.
For some reason, she always felt this person inexplicably started “competing” with the other two newcomers, not sure what he was competing over, thinking he was the best among the newcomers?
Is this the time to care about these things?
Clearly very scared, yet insisting on nitpicking over meaningless things, always feeling… a bit useless.
Lu Jinzhao withdrew her gaze, still with a friendly smile on her face, not saying anything more.
“Alright, Little Lu’s problem she solved herself, the see a ghost rituals we need to do all require preparing some things, now everyone first go buy the needed items, gather back in forty minutes.”
Lu Jinzhao also used this time to find the doctor and book the surgery, with an introduction and “money”, the doctor agreed quickly, but cornea this kind of thing needs some preparation time, she needed to wait six hours before the surgery.
After coming out of the clinic, the life-buying money on the train ticket was already only 45 left, the doctor directly took 150.
The suddenly scarce life-buying money gave Lu Jinzhao a sense of crisis, but right now she was also helpless.
Everything prepared, the see a ghost ritual was finally about to begin.
Lin Shuyue went first, one because what she drew wasn’t too difficult, two to probe the depth of this platform.
Lu Jinzhao had also heard of the 【Cup Spirit】 game, similar to pen spirit, almost the same as dish spirit, mostly participated in by multiple people, but it wasn’t impossible for one person.
Right now, Lin Shuyue was going to participate in this ritual alone.
Inside the room, dim yellow lights shone on Lin Shuyue, her face which looked more imposing than ordinary people was especially serious at this moment, she sat upright at the table, an old tabletop laid with a paper written with large characters, an upside-down porcelain cup on top, beside it white paper and pen, these were all the things needed for the ritual.
Lin Shuyue sat quietly at the table for about two minutes, everyone surrounded her from a not-too-close not-too-far distance behind, standing silently, no one spoke, shadows stretched long under the dim lights, until the corners of the house.
Then, she finally made a move, took a deep breath, placed one finger on the bottom of the cup, then closed her eyes, and chanted loudly:
“Cup Spirit, Cup Spirit, please appear…”
“Cup Spirit, Cup Spirit, please appear!”
A bit slow to warm up this one
