Chapter 148: Substitute
The hands grabbing her back all fell off, and Qin Wan was led by Lu Jinzhao, running aimlessly in the darkness.
She couldn’t see anything clearly, only Lu Jinzhao holding the mobile phone in front of her.
“Where are we going?”
In the pitch blackness, mixed with several sounds shouting her name, those voices filled with malice and resentment, as if given one chance, they could grab her and drag her into the abyss. Qin Wan didn’t dare look back or stop, only tightly gripping Lu Jinzhao’s hand, letting her lead the way forward.
The pain from her back had become nearly numb. She could feel the blood loss had stopped, her heartbeat was almost nonexistent, and her body had stiffened, making her running movements a bit strange.
She knew the wound on her back was probably quite serious, but wasn’t the amount of bleeding a bit too little?
Was it because her current bodily functions were too close to those of a corpse?
While Qin Wan was pondering this, Lu Jinzhao ahead gave an answer: “I don’t know either.”
“Run toward the place with fewer sounds.”
She actually couldn’t see the road ahead clearly either, not even knowing if the next step would hit something. This path was too dark. She could only rely on memory and the faint light from the mobile phone screen to illuminate less than a meter of the road underfoot for her to react accordingly.
【You actually just need to watch coldly from the sidelines. She’ll attract the ghost’s attention, and during the time her misfortune continues to act up, you’re relatively safe.】
Lu Jinzhao didn’t respond to the parchment.
Relatively safe?
And then what?
Qin Wan would die, leaving her and a low-intelligence version of Zhou Zimo whose brain had been partially eaten by the ghost.
Was that really a good thing?
Just from Zhou Zimo’s recent performance, it was clear that staying with him, let alone safety, she might get screwed to death if she wasn’t careful and failed to control him.
To put it cruelly, Lu Jinzhao didn’t think Zhou Zimo could survive anymore.
Ever since part of him was taken by the ghost, Zhou Zimo had become increasingly sluggish and increasingly stupid.
Unless she risked her life to protect him, he might have a slim chance, but Lu Jinzhao felt she wasn’t crazy yet.
Since she had given up on Zhou Zimo, she couldn’t give up on Qin Wan too.
In fact, during Zhou Zimo’s two conversations with the substitute Qin Wan, Lu Jinzhao had already felt a bit helpless, but she discovered that Qin Wan seemed to have used some method to maintain her completeness.
Thus, Qin Wan’s priority increased.
Lu Jinzhao didn’t think that in this instance, after all teammates died and she was left alone, there would be any way for her to survive. Most likely, the parchment would appear and demand a transaction with her.
Compared to transacting with the parchment, she was more willing to try protecting one teammate.
Since she definitely had to bring a teammate along to survive, she chose Qin Wan.
And at this moment, what the parchment said further confirmed for Lu Jinzhao that if she gave up all teammates, she herself might not survive either.
The shadow puppet that had torn from those blank substitutes drifted back onto her body. Lu Jinzhao could feel that the originally “sturdy” little shadow puppet had become somewhat tattered, and after leaving, she would need to find a method to repair it.
While running forward, through the faint light of the mobile phone screen, Lu Jinzhao saw one figure after another.
They were like shells that had lost reason, pouncing toward where Qin Wan was. Those hands stretched straight in the darkness, and once they grabbed a target, they wouldn’t let go.
And her line of sight was only less than a meter, so she could only dodge immediately when she saw hands reaching out. This destined her running speed wouldn’t be too fast, but even so, sweat gradually appeared on Lu Jinzhao’s forehead.
She still had to pull Qin Wan along. Because of the bell, Qin Wan’s body was now stiff beyond reason. She had to pull her hard to give her leverage.
Fortunately, her fate gave her a good body. Otherwise, with such a great burden, the previous her would have been gasping for breath and weak in the legs long ago.
The sound of the bell on Qin Wan’s hand grew weaker. Lu Jinzhao understood that the bell’s effect was about to disappear.
“How much longer does your misfortune have?” she asked.
“Less than a minute.” Qin Wan was also keeping track.
Hearing this, Lu Jinzhao said nothing more, just focused on pulling her to escape.
“Qin Wan.” Lu Jinzhao’s voice suddenly rang out from ahead again.
Qin Wan reflexively wanted to answer her but immediately realized something was wrong.
This voice was too calm, without the jolting of running, and the tone was too flat.
She looked up at Lu Jinzhao’s back. This person who had been pulling her hand didn’t even turn her head, nor did she ask why she wasn’t answering.
So, that sentence wasn’t asked by the real Lu Jinzhao.
Cold sweat dripped from Qin Wan’s forehead. She was actually already exhausted, her brain somewhat dazed. She had almost fallen for it. Fortunately, she was still maintaining enough vigilance.
This damn ghost!
Maybe after getting out, even if called by name again, she wouldn’t dare answer immediately.
“Wait a moment.”
Lu Jinzhao’s voice came again. This time, Qin Wan was sure it was her, because Lu Jinzhao’s footsteps had also stopped.
Then, the red rope tied to her wrist was retracted. In fact, the bell tied to the red rope was almost silent now. Qin Wan guessed it probably couldn’t continue functioning.
Although it had only lasted about a minute or so, it had saved her nearly half a year of lifespan, which was enough.
When the bell on her wrist was retracted and Qin Wan was pulled to run again by Lu Jinzhao, she noticed the difference from before.
The pain in her body instantly overwhelmed her like a tide, as if a pillar supporting her from collapsing had been removed, even breathing becoming difficult.
No.
Qin Wan realized that when she had the bell on, her heartbeat and breathing had almost stopped. Now she had to “breathe autonomously,” unlike earlier when she had gotten used to not breathing.
So she began to breathe in and out forcefully. Her slow heartbeat gradually rose, the blood in her body slowly resumed flowing, and the pain revived with it.
The wound that had stopped oozing blood suddenly burst like a blood explosion. Qin Wan immediately realized that without the bell maintaining her body in a “corpse” state, she would gradually lose mobility due to excessive blood loss.
She suddenly called out to Lu Jinzhao.
“Little Lu.”
Lu Jinzhao ahead didn’t answer immediately. Qin Wan continued: “I’ll lend you a supernatural item. It can ensure you definitely survive here.”
She briefly explained the pocket watch’s function, then said: “If we’re not on the same train afterward, you can borrow it from me anytime.”
“As a condition, can you take me back to the train?”
If her blood kept flowing out, she wasn’t sure when she would lose consciousness.
Of course, she could use the pocket watch to rewind her state, but that would probably take a lot of time and lifespan.
So, she thought of this method.
