Chapter 114: Inheritance
If before last night, Lu Jinzhao’s biggest worry was that other passengers might try killing and skinning, then after last night, Lu Jinzhao felt that the number of people who would do such a thing had decreased.
Very simple, because their supernatural reserves had decreased.
Whether supernatural items or the abilities brought by their own fate, these things that could confront ghosts inside the platform all counted as the passengers’ supernatural power reserves for survival.
Even for those with fate, their own abilities would not be endless like a ghost’s.
Essentially, they were also consumables, although they could recover continuously, but inside a platform, the amount and number of times they could be used were limited.
Last night, others had been consumed for a whole night, and if they used their remaining supernatural reserves to confront other passengers, even if they won, how much chance of victory would they have left when facing the ghost?
Not to mention that making new shadow puppets also required time.
“Time… is also very crucial here.”
Lu Jinzhao sighed somewhat.
Looking back now, the seemingly “leisurely” days of the first few missions actually hid killing intent.
Because if they wanted to kill and skin, they would have to make a decision in those few days.
Once the last mission began, the ghost’s attacks were no longer limited to “those who hadn’t completed the mission,” but gradually, as the night lengthened and time passed, it slowly freed itself, and they would have no other energy left for killing and skinning.
“No, there is still one person who might be able to.”
Huo Ye.
Lu Jinzhao didn’t know what his fate was, but it was certain that people with fate definitely had special abilities.
Perhaps he still had spare capacity.
But as for Lu Jinzhao herself, if she hadn’t been able to turn her body into a corpse and thus obtained the needed human skin in advance, she would probably also be caught in a difficult choice right now.
Lu Jinzhao had never experienced a Class B Platform, and after realizing in these few days that the ghost was continuously lifting “taboos” with time, she also felt some lingering fear.
“Plans can’t keep up with changes.”
Even though she hadn’t fallen into a desperate situation like the other passengers now, Lu Jinzhao had already begun reflecting.
“I was still too hesitant, perhaps sometimes I can try to be more flexible, bolder.”
She always habitually observed first: observing the mission, observing companions, and also observing the ghost.
Always thinking of having the best possible method before making a decision.
But in this platform, if she didn’t have the bell in hand that allowed a countermeasure, what would she do?
Lu Jinzhao knew that with her personality, she would also “wait and see” like the other passengers, rather than striking first to kill and skin someone.
Before this, Lu Jinzhao didn’t think there was any problem with that, after all, the other passengers had done the same.
But now, she was reflecting.
“If I didn’t have the bell, then the current me would most likely die inside this platform.”
She realized that just being a bit more cautious and careful than other passengers was not enough.
She must be more decisive, bolder, and crueler.
“But this doesn’t mean I must become a madman.”
Especially not the kind of madman that the parchment expected; such people wouldn’t last long inside the platform either.
“Being careful and cautious isn’t wrong, being decisive and cruel is also necessary inside the platform, I just need to grasp the right degree.”
The girl’s complexion changed several times as she sat behind the workbench, and when she stopped thinking and stood up from the chair, her mindset had already changed.
Besides adjusting her own mindset, Lu Jinzhao also sorted out what she needed to do next.
The most important thing was still to find traces of “Master.”
But she didn’t think she could find it during the day.
At this point, it could actually be confirmed that Master was definitely not human, so inside this platform, besides humans, what else could Master be?
It could only be the ghost.
And the ghost currently only appeared after dark.
Even if she finished making the shadow puppet now, what she would face was an attack from the “shadow puppet,” not “Master,” or rather, the ghost’s true body.
Not seeing the ghost and having to resist the shadow puppet’s erosion in vain, what difference did it make from wasting life?
Lu Jinzhao took all her things with her and began searching in the old house.
However, she couldn’t find any trace of the ghost for a long time, and naturally, no trace of Ji Xiangchen either.
“Could it really only wait until night, until the ghost shows itself?”
It was simply too passive; once night came, the ghost appeared, accompanied by the ghost’s attack.
She had to find Master during the ghost’s attack, go to Master, and complete the shadow puppet assembly before dying to finish the mission.
Difficult, but Lu Jinzhao felt it wasn’t without a chance of victory.
Unable to find the desired clues in the house, Lu Jinzhao planned to return to her room. On the way back, she passed by Zhong Sui’s door from afar and saw that her door was open.
“Has Zhong Sui gone out too?”
The thought flashed through her mind, but Lu Jinzhao had no intention of investigating.
No matter what she was going to do, as long as she didn’t appear in front of her, she wouldn’t care.
It was no longer time for mutual friendly assistance.
“Maybe tonight someone will go with me to find traces of Master.”
Lu Jinzhao knew in her heart that the accelerating mission rhythm made it impossible for them to continue their previous idea of “waiting.”
Those who had survived until now, except for those with extremely good luck, were not idiots; they all absolutely realized that they must complete the mission as soon as possible.
The previous small missions used time limits to urge them to speed up, while the last mission used continuously accelerating supernatural phenomena to urge them.
After returning to her room, less than four hours passed, and the sky gradually darkened.
Lu Jinzhao’s complexion wasn’t good; today, daytime had only lasted six hours!
“Too fast.”
At this rate, she dared to say that tomorrow’s daylight would absolutely not exceed two hours, and after that, it would fall into eternal night.
They would face endless attacks.
“So, the food carried in hand when entering the platform seemed like a time limit hint, but was actually just an interfering item to make passengers relax their guard.”
This platform never intended to let them live that long!
“Whatever, tonight, I must take a gamble.”
Candlelight lit up, and Lu Jinzhao sat in front of the workbench to start assembling the shadow puppet.
Drill holes with an awl needle, then connect the shadow puppet’s joints with thread soaked in beeswax, and after that, she picked up the bone sign beside her, among which the most crucial one was called the [fate stick], the main control rod for moving the torso.
As the shadow puppet was assembled, Lu Jinzhao naturally recalled the more critical steps of the assembly process in her mind.
After completing most of the steps, Lu Jinzhao left the final step.
She hadn’t installed the right-hand rod.
The iron wire hook was naturally made, just short of hanging the bone sign on it.
“Almost done.”
Lu Jinzhao lifted the shadow puppet and looked at this “masterpiece” that was mostly completed.
During the assembly process, although it was made from her own skin, after installing the control rod made from Master’s bones, Lu Jinzhao felt that discomfort again, the sensation of her body being occupied by something else.
That feeling had mostly dissipated when she shredded the previous shadow puppet, but now it had returned quite a bit.
She sighed: “Sure enough, using Master’s bones isn’t good enough.”
But at least, only the bones were Master’s, which was already much better compared to others.
Lu Jinzhao didn’t complain for long; she tentatively lifted the shadow puppet to test it, and after confirming no major issues, she took the shadow puppet and walked to the door.
She was waiting for the supernatural phenomenon to appear.
Once it appeared, she would immediately go out to find “Master.”
It didn’t keep Lu Jinzhao waiting long; soon, she heard some gongs and drums sounds.
That was music completely different from last night; although still mainly percussion, the tune was another one.
When the first drumbeat sounded, Lu Jinzhao’s head, which had been looking out the window, involuntarily snapped around, her line of sight falling on the center position outside the door.
Just from this, Lu Jinzhao judged that the ghost’s control over her was stronger than last night.
But fortunately, she had already shredded the shadow puppet; even though due to the bones she was still controlled, it was within a range she could resist.
The premise was that she hadn’t fully assembled the shadow puppet yet.
However, tonight, the situation had obviously changed again.
Besides the accompaniment, peering through the paper window, Lu Jinzhao saw swaying shadows from the outside world.
Very lively shadows.
It was as if a theater troupe was standing in the center of the courtyard, currently preparing for the drama’s performance.
But looking closely, most of the shadows were very faint, not clear, like floating illusions, except for one.
Only the one in the very center was exceptionally real.
Lu Jinzhao had a premonition in her heart that shadow… was the ghost.
She immediately opened the door.
Her movements were very light, without making any sound, but as the door was opened, the door, which had been used for soundproofing and blocking certain things, completely lost its effect.
The drum music, which hadn’t seemed too loud inside the room, became deafening after opening the door.
With every beat, Lu Jinzhao felt her heart tremble along, not to mention her limbs, which seemed to want to follow the drumbeat to the center, to that stage that didn’t exist.
And the shadow puppet in her hand also kept lifting its legs and turning its head with the drumbeat, as if trying to break free from Lu Jinzhao’s restraint.
Because she didn’t resist the accompaniment’s pull much, Lu Jinzhao soon arrived at the center of the house.
This old house had a very large area; in the center, besides Master’s room, there was also a large open space.
And at this moment, a human figure stood in the open space, most of its body facing away from Lu Jinzhao, empty drum sounds coming from all directions, and it was making one dramatic action after another along with the drumbeat’s rhythm.
Those actions were not standard, but exceptionally stiff, every movement revealing an indescribable weirdness.
Now that it was completely dark, the entire house relied only on some candlelight as light source, so the details of the human figure in the center weren’t very clear, but through its clothes, Lu Jinzhao could tell that it was… Ji Xiangchen.
The closer she got, the more Lu Jinzhao felt her body slipping out of control; clearly she was still standing in the corridor, some distance from the ghost in the center, and even though she was using her own human skin to make the shadow puppet, she already felt on the verge of loss of control.
What about the others then?
The others at this distance probably had no choice but to use supernatural items.
Otherwise, they would be pulled to stand in front of that ghost.
What would happen after that?
Lu Jinzhao had just taken out the candle, preparing to approach, when she noticed another human figure appearing opposite.
Her footsteps immediately stopped, and she dodged behind a pillar.
That human figure was Zhong Sui?
No, not just her.
As Zhong Sui’s figure appeared, moments later, Fu Xuesheng also walked out from behind.
She turned her head to look toward Huo Ye’s room; there was no movement.
Lu Jinzhao’s brows slightly raised as she realized what the situation in front of her was.
Huo Ye’s fate probably allowed him to resist a certain degree of supernatural erosion, so he didn’t need to come out, and at the same time, he had guessed that tonight someone would definitely not hold back and try to complete the mission.
After all, among those with fate, only he could steadily sit back and wait.
Tonight, those who had to risk their lives were them, the ones whose “fate” wasn’t good enough.
“Really…”
Lu Jinzhao looked ahead expressionlessly, unable to suppress a bit of irritation rising in her emotions.
She also had to have a fate.
Moreover, she guessed that as long as she was the first to complete the mission, she might obtain a fate.
Master’s only true disciple, wasn’t that the [special profession] mentioned on the forum?
Lu Jinzhao had expectations for this.
Her gaze fell on Zhong Sui and Fu Xuesheng; their conditions didn’t look good.
After all, they didn’t have spare human skin and directly used Master’s skin; it was visible that at this moment, because the ghost’s supernatural power was invading their bodies, they were resisting extremely arduously.
Their bodies hadn’t completely lost control, probably because they used some props.
From their distance, they had come out of the same room; it seemed they had reached some agreement.
Fu Xuesheng was walking a bit behind, holding the shadow puppet in hand but not completed, her other hand gripping a bone sign.
While Zhong Sui held a photo in hand, undoubtedly, that photo was a supernatural item.
Perhaps that supernatural item was helping her resist the ghost’s influence.
Zhong Sui’s footsteps moved forward step by step, Fu Xuesheng following behind her; their advancing movements were exceptionally difficult, especially the closer they got to the figure in the courtyard, the more their steps seemed trapped in a quagmire.
They wanted to approach the ghost in the very center.
“They want to approach Ji Xiangchen, thinking Ji Xiangchen is now Master?”
Lu Jinzhao had also considered this possibility and even thought the probability was high.
After all, Ji Xiangchen was the only “ghost” that had appeared inside this platform so far.
“Should I rush ahead first?”
The moment this idea appeared in Lu Jinzhao’s mind, it was rejected.
“No, can’t be hasty.”
Completing the mission was absolutely not a simple matter.
Just look at Huo Ye not even leaving his room tonight; he was certain no one would get ahead of him tonight.
He was still waiting.
So she couldn’t rush now either; wasn’t there ready-made people to probe for her right now?
When Zhong Sui and Fu Xuesheng got closer, the ghost that had only been stiffly dancing to the drumbeat suddenly stopped.
It sensed something.
Then, its joints twisted in a posture no normal person could achieve; clearly its toes pointed in one direction, but its knees fully turned backward, and in an instant, it completed the turn.
Fu Xuesheng and Zhong Sui, who had been facing its back, instantly faced this ghost directly.
And Lu Jinzhao, who had dodged behind the pillar to avoid Fu Xuesheng and Zhong Sui, finally saw its face clearly.
That head of Master’s, once hidden in the water vat and then suddenly disappeared, was now on Ji Xiangchen’s neck.
It opened its murky pupils wide, staring straight at the living people daring to approach it, and on its long-dead face was a weird and stiff smile.
Perhaps, ever since it left the water vat and came to Ji Xiangchen’s neck, it had been smiling like this.
Late! Because of schedule um… um…!
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