Chapter 102: Inheritance
When the bones were placed under the light, Lu Jinzhao examined them carefully for a long time and confirmed one thing.
These bones were just like that human skin, too “perfect.”
Perfect to the point of being somewhat weirdness.
Lu Jinzhao’s fingers slowly rubbed over the bone stick, confirming that the surface of the bone stick had no flaws whatsoever, and it was exceptionally smooth and even, just like a bone sign that had already been polished, many times larger than ordinary shadow puppet chopsticks.
Lu Jinzhao’s brows furrowed slightly, her line of sight falling on the beast skin shadow puppets already completed on the workbench. Under the flickering lamplight, she actually felt that these shadow puppets looked exceptionally lifelike, so lifelike that they seemed like they would move along with the swaying firelight.
“…Don’t think too much.” Lu Jinzhao shook her head, raised her hand to put all the shadow puppets on the workbench into the box and locked it.
She said not to think too much, but her actions were still on guard.
After locking up those shadow puppets, Lu Jinzhao took out a saw and aimed it at a human bone.
In her expectation, cutting these bones should take quite a bit of time and effort, but when she actually started cutting, she unexpectedly discovered that these bones were not particularly sturdy.
There was even an indescribable feeling of “softness.”
The cutting process didn’t even produce much noise. After she successfully sawed through a human bone, the cut surface was also smooth to an unbelievable degree.
“What the hell is this thing?”
Lu Jinzhao could only tell that this was definitely not normal human bone.
However, this saved the time for polishing; she just needed to saw out bone pieces of the appropriate size.
But… it was too smooth.
So smooth that Lu Jinzhao started feeling somewhat paranoid.
The trial’s difficulty itself was too low…
This was completely different from what she had anticipated.
Unless the trial’s difficulty was deliberately this low.
What was the purpose?
If the difficulty was low, it could only be deliberate to let them pass quickly and complete the mission.
And if they smoothly passed the trial, they would produce shadow puppets.
If that was the purpose, then reasoning backward, if this was dangerous, then to make her own situation a bit safer, she couldn’t make the shadow puppets.
But that was completely unfeasible.
This answer went completely against clearing the platform.
As Lu Jinzhao thought about it, she started feeling a bit of a headache.
She wasn’t sure if the speculation in her mind right now was right or wrong, but whether right or wrong, she temporarily couldn’t see a method to solve the problem.
“I must review the clues we have so far again…”
While cutting, Lu Jinzhao meticulously recalled in her mind everything from stepping into the platform to what had happened today, but her train of thought would occasionally break; she had to pay attention to whether the human skin in front of her showed any abnormalities, and also to the bones she was cutting.
One night passed, and Lu Jinzhao sawed out quite a few suitable chopsticks from the bones. The human skin also stayed obediently in place, and some train of thought emerged in her brain.
What concerned her the most was still the trial itself.
Although Zhong Sui would first read out the contents of the letter, everyone would also check what was written on it afterward. She had looked, and it matched exactly what Zhong Sui said.
“Is there a problem with the train of thought for solving it?”
Lu Jinzhao pondered this question all day.
The five of them were trapped in this old house, completing this trial mission that wasn’t too difficult. It seemed that as long as they successfully made the shadow puppets, they could return to reality.
But everyone knew deep down that things absolutely wouldn’t be that simple.
On the third evening, everything was still very calm. However, the minced meat on the wooden table had completely rotted, and in a puddle of meat paste, a letter was stuck in it. The requirement was for the passengers to complete the hollowing, coloring, and shaping before 12 at night.
Too rushed; this way, they could assemble the shadow puppets tomorrow and complete the making.
The uneasy premonition in her heart grew stronger, and Lu Jinzhao even instinctively started resisting completing the mission.
But she didn’t want to be the first one not to complete the mission.
That night, after confirming the new day’s mission and everyone splitting up, Fu Xuesheng took the initiative to come to her.
She looked at Lu Jinzhao and said directly, “Do you feel like something is very off?”
Lu Jinzhao nodded, feeling some anxiety in her heart. “I feel like we can’t keep going like this.”
So passively, completing missions one by one according to the instructions.
This way, they were just slowly approaching the trap of death.
Fu Xuesheng seemed somewhat hesitant. “I’m going to do something. If I don’t show up for assembly tomorrow, something might have happened to me.”
Hearing this, Lu Jinzhao just looked at her calmly. “What do you plan to do?”
Since the other party came to her now, there must be cooperation.
“I plan to try what happens if we don’t complete the mission by 12.”
Lu Jinzhao was somewhat shocked… This person had quite the guts.
You high-level passengers all do missions like this?
Probably seeing Lu Jinzhao’s shock, Fu Xuesheng explained, “Not completely not doing the mission, um… probably right on the time limit?”
“What do you need me to do?” Lu Jinzhao asked.
“Can you go to the master’s room early tomorrow? Help me see if there’s any change.”
“Sure.” Lu Jinzhao nodded.
Even if Fu Xuesheng didn’t say it, she probably would have gone anyway.
It was just that Fu Xuesheng planned to do something, and she also had some plans in her heart that she intended to carry out.
“You won’t die, right?” She looked at Fu Xuesheng, her tone calm, making it impossible to tell if she hoped the other would die or live.
Fu Xuesheng still had a listless appearance. “I don’t know, maybe?”
“Though I still want to live, this platform… is a bit too weird. Maybe it’s hard for everyone to survive.”
“I’ll do my best. Some danger should still be survivable.”
Lu Jinzhao could tell that she had some trump cards.
Indeed, without trump cards, how would she dare to take risks?
Wasn’t she planning to make an attempt herself?
Lu Jinzhao wasn’t sure if the others had realized this issue, but considering the competitive relationship possibly existing between passengers implied in the waiting information, she didn’t plan to ask or share too much.
When she reviewed this platform last night, she noticed a key point.
On the first night, when they received the first mission.
At that time, the “master” required them to use the dead person’s skin and bone to make a humanoid shadow puppet.
And at that time, the master’s corpse was right in front of them, so everyone naturally assumed it was to use this corpse to make it.
But… what if any dead person’s skin and bone would do?
Compared to this weird corpse, the obviously abnormal human skin and bones, why not choose others?
Yes, there were no extra dead bodies here, but didn’t she happen to have a supernatural item that, after use, had the side effect of slowly killing her?
