Chapter 138: Substitute
Du Yu didn’t know what that feeling in the previous instant was.
Could it be that the ghost that turned into her appearance was still in the company, and the instant she stepped in, it targeted her?
Du Yu thought it over and felt it was extremely likely.
She didn’t know that in that previous instant, Qin Wan had borrowed all of her good luck for the next period of time.
That wasn’t the feeling of a ghost targeting her; that was just a warning of falling into the abyss of misfortune that she had never experienced before.
Du Yu still followed.
Seeing her footsteps catch up, Lu Jinzhao and the other two slowly turned their heads and walked toward the company interior.
Qin Wan at the very front had an exceptionally rosy complexion at this moment, as if she had taken some special effect drug or some great tonic.
In fact, it was indeed so; she had eaten someone else’s good luck. Although she would suffer backlash, she felt extremely good right now.
Her body felt light and floating, her brain’s operation clearly unaffected, but perhaps due to a change in mindset, Qin Wan felt invincible right now.
Even standing in front of a ghost, she would avoid death due to various accidents.
Of course, there would always be someone else to substitute and bear the misfortune for her.
And she was well aware that this light and floating feeling wasn’t entirely real. She was indeed very lucky right now, but if she really stood in front of a ghost, she wouldn’t necessarily avoid death.
That was just an illusion, or rather, arrogance.
It was this feeling that made Qin Wan unwilling to frequently steal others’ good luck.
Frequently immersing herself in such illusions, she feared she would really become stupid.
As for how to kill Du Yu, they hadn’t discussed it at all or formulated any elaborate plan.
With Qin Wan there, it was fundamentally unnecessary.
She had already exerted the greatest effort; Zhou Zimo and Lu Jinzhao just needed to seize every unlucky opportunity for Du Yu next.
Just after walking a few steps into the company, she heard a sound from behind.
Looking back, it turned out Du Yu had slipped and nearly fallen.
“What a pity.”
Qin Wan thought to herself.
If she were a bit stronger, not only could she plunder others’ good luck, but also attach more misfortune. Presumably, she could kill a person without needing help from others.
The Du Yu behind her still hadn’t realized anything; she just felt the ground seemed a bit too slippery.
She looked up at the three in front: “You’ve seen it, right? There’s nothing here. Let’s leave quickly?”
“If the ghost really comes later, it won’t be easy to leave.”
Hard to say.
The three thought to themselves that the unluckiest one here right now was Du Yu. If there really was a ghost, she would definitely be targeted first.
Even if she didn’t know, she would likely unconsciously violate the ghost’s taboo and be attacked.
If Qin Wan could steal one person’s good luck for a long time, after swapping her luck, they could just ignore her, but now, they had to kill her as soon as possible during this period.
—Thud
Du Yu was hit by something. Fortunately, she dodged in time; otherwise, she probably couldn’t avoid a head full of blood.
Several people looked over upon hearing the sound and saw that a decoration hanging high on the wall had fallen off.
“Wow, really unlucky.” Zhou Zimo said with a smile.
Du Yu was a bit impatient, but she also started feeling something was off.
If in reality, she would just think it was an accident, but this was inside the platform. This slightly unusual accident might hint at something.
“Let’s split up and check.” Before Du Yu could answer, Lu Jinzhao directly said so, and after speaking, she gave Zhou Zimo a look.
Confirming that Du Yu was really very unlucky now—perhaps even drinking cold water would stuff her teeth—she decided not to wait any longer.
After saying that, Lu Jinzhao pretended to walk toward the door, while Zhou Zimo understood her hint and turned to walk in another direction.
Qin Wan naturally wouldn’t stay in place either. Du Yu hadn’t expected the three of them to split up in this clearly dangerous place, but in the urgency, she decisively chose to follow one of them.
She chose Qin Wan.
Only because among the three, Qin Wan seemed the most like a “soft persimmon.”
Seeing Du Yu follow, Qin Wan immediately made a decision: “Shall we go check the rooftop?”
Although it was a question, even if Du Yu refused, Qin Wan just stood in place for a moment before stepping toward the rooftop.
The rooftop reminded Du Yu of Bai Xunyan and Yan Xiaoyu; instinctively, she didn’t want to go, but seeing Qin Wan completely ignoring her words, when she turned to look for the others, she found Lu Jinzhao and Zhou Zimo’s figures already gone.
Now she could only stay by Qin Wan’s side.
Helplessly, Du Yu followed Qin Wan up to the rooftop.
Zhou Zimo and Lu Jinzhao, who had left the office area first, heard Qin Wan’s words and ran up to the rooftop ahead of time, waiting for Du Yu to arrive.
Soon, two sets of footsteps sounded; it was Qin Wan and Du Yu, arriving a step late.
Zhou Zimo and Lu Jinzhao hid one on each side behind the rooftop door. Upon hearing the movement, Lu Jinzhao saw Zhou Zimo clasp his hands together and quickly make several gestures, after which his entire aura changed, his eyes suddenly becoming completely different from usual.
To describe it, he became more chilling and numb than usual Zhou Zimo, like possessed by a ghost.
The rooftop door was open. After Qin Wan walked in, she clearly saw Zhou Zimo and Lu Jinzhao, but she didn’t glance sideways, pretending nothing happened as she walked toward the outside of the rooftop.
Du Yu following behind her naturally had no reason to be vigilant, but in the instant she crossed the last step toward the rooftop, for some reason, her foot unluckily caught on the step, and her whole body stumbled forward into the door.
This wasn’t a big deal at most, just a bit unlucky. Having gone through so many life-and-death trials, she could react to such an accident easily. Before her body even fell, her hand was already prepared to support herself. If nothing unexpected happened, she wouldn’t even get hurt from this fall.
But the person waiting inside the door seized the moment when her figure shook and she couldn’t control herself to strike.
A whip kick with the momentum of thunder heavily struck her side. Du Yu didn’t even see who kicked her or their figure clearly before her entire body flew in another direction.
Horror flashed in her mind; she didn’t even have time to care about the agony from her body and instinctively wanted to activate her fate and the supernatural items she carried, but the next second, a chilling aura attached to her calf.
She couldn’t move.
She felt footsteps rapidly approaching from the direction of the person who kicked her flying. A fierce glint flashed in Du Yu’s eyes. Her fate didn’t require physical movements to use. In fact, she felt she had to thank this supernatural power that made her unable to move!
She immediately transferred this attack to the person who kicked her. She didn’t need to see that person or know who it was; as long as there was a living person confirmed within range, her fate could take effect!
Sure enough, the next instant, the feeling of being suppressed and unable to move by supernatural power disappeared, and the rapidly approaching footsteps halted.
A trace of smugness just emerged in Du Yu’s heart, but the next second, she suddenly felt a gust of wind from above right. She instinctively raised her hand to block, but a sharp small knife with force beyond ordinary people directly pierced through her palm and stabbed into her neck!
“No!”
Panic surged in Du Yu’s heart. She foresaw the extremely unfavorable situation for herself and once again smelled the scent of death.
She immediately wanted to transfer the wound on her neck to someone else. This time, she chose the person holding the knife who harmed her.
Strong malice appeared in Du Yu’s eyes.
“Damn it! Damn it! You dare hurt me, then taste this yourself!”
The next instant, Du Yu felt the sensation of her windpipe being cut and breathing with bloody foam disappear.
Even though her body couldn’t move again, she revealed a pleased smile.
That damn guy now should have his neck cut by her, right?
She looked with malicious gaze at the person holding the small knife, but only saw a girl with a calm complexion, black long hair hanging down above her, pitch-black eyes staring at her like deep abysses.
Her neck… had nothing.
No wound, and her complexion was also very calm.
Even, upon noticing the gaze from the immobile Du Yu, a weird smile appeared on the girl’s abnormally pale face.
“What an interesting fate. Can it transfer the damage you receive? No wonder you had to follow us.”
She had been discovered.
But why?
Why wasn’t she injured?
“Transfer damage? Then how should we kill her?” From the other side, a familiar male voice rang out. Du Yu recognized it as Zhou Zimo’s voice.
Damn it! Damn it! They clearly didn’t seem like people from those extreme platforms, so why were they so decisive in deciding to kill her?!
Weren’t they afraid of accidents?
“Not difficult.”
Du Yu heard the girl’s indifferent voice, and her heart jolted. She hurriedly said, “Haha, any damage that kills me will be transferred. To kill me, are you prepared to die yourselves?”
“You can only transfer one type of damage at a time, right?”
The girl’s voice came with some rustling sounds, and that icy sensation like a venomous snake slithered up from her back to her face.
How did she figure it out so quickly?
Du Yu’s heart grew cold. Indeed, her fate was very powerful, but not strong enough yet; substitute death could only be used once per person.
But so what?
To kill her, they had to sacrifice a companion’s life!
They had no grudge; surely no one would be willing to give up their life just to kill her?!
Then, she saw the thing that had crawled onto her face.
It was a shadow puppet.
Too close, stuck to her face. Standing up looking at her, the shadow puppet’s features weren’t refined, even revealing roughness. She could clearly see the enlarged shadow puppet right before her eyes, and behind the shadow puppet, the black-haired girl looking down at her.
Clearly one rough, one refined, yet she oddly saw some similarity between them.
Especially when this supposedly inanimate shadow puppet opened its mouth outlined by threads toward her, revealing a weirdness smile.
“You had to follow us because your fate has a range limit, right?”
The girl spoke words she didn’t want to hear.
“Qin Wan, walk a bit farther. Zhou Zimo, you too. You two go downstairs first, wait ten minutes, then come back up.”
“Mm, by then, she should be dead.”
“No!” Du Yu suddenly shouted loudly.
She felt it, she felt it!
This girl before her really had the confidence to kill her for sure!
Could she be immune to “substitute death”?
Right, there wasn’t a single mark on her neck!
Damn it, wasn’t that her nemesis?!
How did she encounter this kind of person!
“We can cooperate, really cooperate. Don’t kill me!” Du Yu begged.
Though begging, Lu Jinzhao clearly saw the resentment in her eyes.
“No can do.” Lu Jinzhao smiled again.
Qin Wan and Zhou Zimo had already obediently left, so her conversation with this dying person Du Yu was much more casual.
“You being alive is less useful to me than you being dead.” Lu Jinzhao said honestly.
“So amazing, the knife is clearly still stuck in your neck, but your speech isn’t affected?”
“Your fate is really useful.”
Lu Jinzhao sighed; she really liked it.
She really liked everyone’s fates.
“My fate can also help others substitute death.”
Yes, it had that effect, but Du Yu had never used it and had no intention of using it.
“Mm mm.” Lu Jinzhao nodded: “Even more useful. Anything else?”
Expectation flowed from her tone.
But Du Yu suddenly fell silent and stopped speaking, because she felt it: the girl before her seemed emotionally active on the surface, but there was nothing.
She saw no human emotions in those pitch-black eyes, just pure darkness.
What Du Yu was most proud of was that she could see a person’s heart through their eyes; any emotions evoked from that made her feel pleasure, but at this moment, she saw nothing.
It was as if this girl before her had a soul that was just a piece of darkness.
“What… are you?” She couldn’t help asking.
“Hm?” Lu Jinzhao looked at her puzzled, still smiling: “Your last words are so strange.”
“I get it.” Du Yu suddenly murmured to herself: “You’re not human at all.”
“Like Bai Xunyan and Yan Xiaoyu, you’re possessed by a ghost—no, replaced by a ghost.”
“You’re a ghost.”
Strange conclusion.
Had she mentally collapsed upon realizing she would die?
Lu Jinzhao looked at her with regret on her face.
“Time’s about up.” She said, and then that shadow puppet suddenly burrowed into Du Yu’s clothes, sticking to her belly.
“I was thinking your fate probably isn’t strong enough; otherwise, with such a useful fate, you wouldn’t still be stuck at B-grade platform.”
“Must have lots of limits, right?”
“Like only transferring one type of damage at a time, to one person.”
“Like having a range limit.”
“What about time? Wound size, or rather, lethality?”
“Let’s do an experiment.”
The girl smiled at her, saying cruel words.
Then, Du Yu clearly felt intense agony coming from her belly!
“What… what did you do?!”
She asked.
Her belly hurt so much, as if something was tearing at her flesh and blood.
She couldn’t move. She wanted to transfer the supernatural power suppressing her immobility to Lu Jinzhao, but she had just transferred the neck wound to her and couldn’t transfer again!
Her delay in acting let the girl bending down above her to look at her confirm something.
She drew the knife and sighed: “Is that all? A bit regrettable… but still usable.”
Saying words Du Yu couldn’t quite understand, then Du Yu felt her belly… as if forcibly opened with a big gash.
Something burrowed in, gnawing at her flesh and blood and internal organs!
Her consciousness began to blur, blood massively draining. With her internal organs being gnawed and functions lost, she was stepping toward death.
Strong unwillingness burst from Du Yu’s eyes. Why of all people did she encounter this woman?!
She clearly still had supernatural props unused—if only she could move!
But there were no ifs.
Ten minutes passed quickly.
When Qin Wan and Zhou Zimo returned to the rooftop, they only saw Lu Jinzhao fiddling with a corpse whose internal organs had already been hollowed out.
And she seemed to be skinning this corpse?
The girl with hands full of blood saw their surprised gazes and gave a slightly apologetic smile:
“Um, my fate needs some materials. Bear with me?”
