Chapter 149: Substitute
“Alright.”
Lu Jinzhao agreed directly without hesitation.
After all, she had planned to let at least one teammate survive as much as possible.
In the final half-minute of Misfortune, due to excessive blood loss and the ghost’s supernatural interference, Qin Wan began to feel her brain growing foggy, and her footsteps gradually became unsteady.
Countless voices called her name in her ears; if not for Lu Jinzhao gripping her wrist tightly, she might have already gotten lost in the crowd.
But that ghost should be somewhat helpless now, right?
All the moves it could use had been used, and now Misfortune was almost over—what else could it do?
Everything went just as Qin Wan thought: time ticked away bit by bit, and the ghost seemed to have no other method to take their lives.
Qin Wan’s heart grew increasingly excited. She thought that although this mission was extremely dangerous, fortunately, this ghost’s method of killing was exceptionally unique—it seemed to have no physical body and had to have the substitute take all of a passenger’s life before proceeding to the next step.
As she thought this, Qin Wan’s complexion suddenly stiffened, and her excited heart stalled in that moment.
She thought of a problem.
Right, the passengers who entered the instance weren’t just them—what about the others who had already been successfully replaced by substitutes?
What about those substitutes?
Were they just going to disappear like this?
As if to respond to her guess, Qin Wan heard the roar of an engine and tires, the sound of tires friction against the ground.
A beam of high beams shot straight over from the end of the street.
The lights dispersed the darkness, which should have brought light—if the vehicle emitting this beam hadn’t been speeding straight toward her.
The high beams were too bright; she couldn’t see who was in the driver’s seat, but no matter who it was, the speed at which the car was hurtling indicated ill intent.
Several blank substitutes on the road, who had been shambling toward Qin Wan like zombies, were sent flying by the collision; the tall vehicle charged toward its target like a merciless meat grinder.
Qin Wan didn’t have time to think too much and could only urgently remind Lu Jinzhao, who was pulling her along, in a hurried tone: “Run!”
Getting hit like that would truly be a stroke of extreme luck!
Lu Jinzhao was already prepared to dodge without the reminder, but running while pulling Qin Wan was too slow. This car was undoubtedly coming straight for Qin Wan. She could easily dodge by dropping her, but Lu Jinzhao didn’t do that. She suddenly tightened her grip on Qin Wan’s hand, yanking her in front of herself. Then, with her other hand, she swiftly scooped up the back of Qin Wan’s knees, lifting her directly into her arms. Before the speeding car could hit them, she dashed to a corner beyond the vehicle’s reach!
Qin Wan clutched Lu Jinzhao’s shoulders with both hands, her pupils shaking nonstop.
“Your strength is impressive.”
Some fates enhanced one’s physique, but did shadow puppetry as well?
Lu Jinzhao had no time to respond. The car that had sped over failed to hit them and was now constantly turning the wheel at the corner, its tires screeching against the ground with a piercing sound. Its aggressive appearance showed it had no intention of giving up.
“It’s Du Yu’s teammate!” Qin Wan, who was being carried and didn’t need to run herself, wasn’t idle. After observing carefully for a moment, she recognized the person in the car.
Two people who had already been replaced by substitutes finally appeared.
“Since the ghost couldn’t get the substitutes to replace us, it wants to kill us directly?”
“But this ghost seems to have no physical body, or rather, its physical body can’t appear before us? So it can only use the substitutes that have already replaced their originals.”
Seeing that Lu Jinzhao had no intention of putting her down, Qin Wan could only stay put obediently to avoid causing trouble, while continuously trying to analyze the ghost’s current actions.
It was actually quite simple: it simply wanted to kill them.
“So Du Yu’s teammates are showing up now because the ghost realized it couldn’t replace us.”
Since it couldn’t replace them, it had to kill them.
This ghost had put all its skills into substitutes, so its final “physical means” could only involve sending out the substitutes that had successfully replaced their originals.
Those blank substitutes all over the street hadn’t caused them much physical harm, but as soon as the substitutes that had replaced their originals appeared, they tried to run them over directly.
“Fortunately, not many people have been replaced.”
The car, now turned around, charged unhesitatingly toward the two again. Misfortune seemed to guide the car’s front, always managing to aim at them in time.
Even worse, another beam of high beams lit up from not far away, and another sedan sped in from the opposite direction, blocking the path Lu Jinzhao had intended to take.
Most likely, Du Yu’s other teammate.
The performance of “Misfortune” was as outstanding as ever.
Several methods to resolve the current crisis flashed through Lu Jinzhao’s mind, but she rejected any decisions that required temporarily separating from Qin Wan. She kept holding Qin Wan not only to protect her life but also to confirm that she was always with the real Qin Wan.
Even though she had practiced martial arts and her physical fitness far exceeded that of ordinary people, running quickly while carrying an adult woman was still too stamina-consuming. Lu Jinzhao already felt the fatigue from her body, but fortunately, she could hold on.
At this moment, going indoors seemed like it could resolve the current crisis, but while running quickly, Lu Jinzhao suddenly asked Qin Wan a question.
“How much longer for Misfortune?”
Qin Wan gave an accurate answer: “About fifteen seconds, give or take three seconds.”
That was enough.
Even if the “substitutes” driving the two cars followed her and Qin Wan into a building, they absolutely wouldn’t let them go. Her stamina was nearly depleted, the bell’s time was exhausted, and the shadow puppet was somewhat tattered. The only thing left she could use was the wooden box.
But based on the bell’s performance in this B-grade instance, the wooden box might not have much effect, and even if it did, she might have to pay a huge price. Without the bell, she needed to use it even more cautiously.
So she needed a method that could both resolve the current crisis and delay the ghost’s attack.
An idea immediately came to mind. Lu Jinzhao abruptly veered her running steps toward the center of the wide main road, and the two cars from different directions followed by turning their steering wheels.
Qin Wan, with “Misfortune,” was like a massive magnet, continuously drawing the two cars toward her position until they hit her.
The ghost’s thinking was also absolutely single-minded. If she stood still in the middle of the wide street holding Qin Wan, those two cars approaching from different directions would head straight toward her and Qin Wan.
As long as she didn’t move too soon and waited until the cars entered a range where they couldn’t brake or swerve effectively even with hard turns, the two cars would inevitably crash into each other.
Fortunately, the drivers weren’t human. Both cars had their accelerators floored, and the ghost had no superb driving skills—it relied entirely on the “substitutes'” memories. Combined with Lu Jinzhao’s current muscles and reaction speed being far superior to ordinary people, she dared to do this.
Qin Wan, held in her arms, paled as she realized what she intended, completely unable to look toward the cars.
She desperately wanted Lu Jinzhao to put her down. If she had known Lu Jinzhao planned this, she absolutely, absolutely would have demanded she not do it and just let her down—she could endure this Misfortune herself.
But it was too late now. Asking Lu Jinzhao to put her down would be suicide.
So she said nothing and could only cling tightly to Lu Jinzhao, like a drowning person grasping the only floating piece of wood on the sea.
In truth, Lu Jinzhao didn’t really know the exact distance at which the two cars would definitely collide. She had never studied such knowledge. Her judgment was simply: at what distance could she react and jump out.
The two oncoming vehicles floored their accelerators, the roar unending. The high beams threatened to pierce Lu Jinzhao’s eyes. Qin Wan buried her face in her shoulder like a turtle retracting into its shell, her trembling hand clutching the pocket watch tightly, ready to open it the moment she sensed Lu Jinzhao couldn’t dodge.
Even if smashed into meat paste, the pocket watch could restore her—it would just probably cost half a lifetime of lifespan.
The lights drew closer, the roar assaulting their eardrums at extreme speed. Qin Wan felt her heartbeat racing to the point of nausea. Lu Jinzhao, gripped tightly by her, had all her muscles tensed, yet her heartbeat remarkably stayed steady.
She could still maintain calmness in this situation?
While Qin Wan was astonished, the two cars were still some distance from them—but merely less than three seconds from impact.
In a flash, Lu Jinzhao judged: this was her last chance to escape!
Without hesitation, she leaped forward with Qin Wan in her arms!
A massive collision sound erupted behind her! Accompanied by soaring firelight and flying vehicle debris hitting Lu Jinzhao’s back, the impact force sent her tumbling two rolls on the ground. Poor Qin Wan cushioned her first, but fortunately, they weren’t smashed into meat paste—they survived.
Abrasions, along with impacts and shrapnel from the vehicle explosion, quickly covered Lu Jinzhao’s back with large patches of bloodstains. She frowned slightly, pausing in place for about two seconds as if adjusting to something, then stood up and pulled the coughing-up-blood Qin Wan from the ground.
Qin Wan’s complexion wasn’t good, and the resentment in her eyes nearly solidified. She couldn’t understand why Lu Jinzhao, who gave her the impression of being cautious and steady, would do something so insane!
She wanted to say, had she seen a ghost?
She had never encountered anything like this before, nor heard seniors mention such a blockbuster-movie-like ordeal just to reach the platform, but the next second, something even more ghostly happened.
Not far from them, the two cars that had collided and exploded into flames now emitted teeth-gritting sounds from the inferno, followed by banging noises—like the people burning inside were crying for help.
But Qin Wan knew it wasn’t.
It was the ghost trying to escape the twisted vehicles, wanting to get out and continue the pursuit and kill.
“Even like this, it’s fine?”
She wiped the blood overflowing from her lips and felt shocked once again by the existence of “ghosts.”
“It’s a ghost, after all.” As Lu Jinzhao spoke, she glanced down at her right leg. Based on experience, it was probably cracked.
But they were physical ghosts, and substitutes disguised as humans rather than the original body—wouldn’t they sustain some damage?
If this ghost were like those others inside the platform, Lu Jinzhao wouldn’t have used such a “physical” method, but these were two “substitutes” imitating humans.
Now, having suffered massive impact, burned by explosion and fierce flames, they still hadn’t died. Because they were ghosts, they wouldn’t “die,” but the “human-imitating” bodies still restricted them.
They couldn’t even open the twisted car doors.
“But they seem trapped inside?” Qin Wan watched and sighed in relief upon seeing the doors constantly battered yet unable to open.
Misfortune had disappeared.
The blank substitutes that had been charging at Qin Wan had already been knocked flying quite a few; now without Misfortune’s pull, they wandered the streets like they had lost consciousness.
The crisis seemed resolved.
Qin Wan slumped on the ground. With the fire from the burning exploded vehicles, they no longer had to plunge into darkness.
The burning firelight brought the two at least a faint sense of security, even though banging sounds continued from the flames.
“So tenacious.”
Qin Wan looked toward the collision site, then saw protrusions bulging on the metal skin amid the banging sounds.
Her expression suddenly turned horrified: “They can’t get out, can they?!”
Lu Jinzhao glanced over: “Probably they can.”
She hadn’t expected to completely restrain those two substitutes anyway.
“Then what do we do!” Qin Wan was on the verge of tears, thinking the torment was finally over.
She was already mentally and physically exhausted.
“Nothing. It looks like it’ll take them a while to get out. Rest now while we can—the train is coming soon. Run toward the train position in a bit.”
What else could they do?
Wasn’t fleeing the only option?
Inside the platform, as humans, that was all they could ever do.
The two fell silent and rested for a while. Lu Jinzhao looked at the still-burning flames; cracks had already appeared on the metal skin. This steel cage wouldn’t hold the substitutes for long.
She stood up and said to Qin Wan: “Let’s go.”
For now, get away from here first and head toward the train’s position.
Qin Wan didn’t use the pocket watch. Even though her body felt incredibly heavy, as if teetering on the edge of death, all that could be repaired once back on the train. Using the pocket watch now would truly be inviting death, beckoning it to come sooner.
As the two headed toward the train, a burst of intense running footsteps suddenly appeared.
“Huff… you’re here? Are you okay? I thought something happened to you!”
Having apparently gone through something, Zhou Zimo, covered in wounds like he’d fought a brutal battle, ran toward them.
Qin Wan and Lu Jinzhao looked up at him without answering, their eyes filled with scrutiny and vigilance.
Seeing no response, Zhou Zimo seemed a bit awkward.
“Uh, well, I am the real me, really!”
“Saying it like that doesn’t help much…”
He scratched his head, somewhat at a loss, then thought of something, his eyes lighting up: “You’ll know once we’re on the train!”
Lu Jinzhao and Qin Wan made eye contact, confirming each other’s thoughts, then said nothing.
