Chapter 192: Building Trust
“Is this a ghost?”
Tian Lei’s body clearly shrank back after seeing [Tan Meng]. She was very afraid of ghosts, extremely afraid, and the aura on [Tan Meng] was undoubtedly the chilling aura that only belongs to ghosts.
“It is.” Lu Jinzhao nodded.
Her answer made a few traces of incredulity appear on Tian Lei’s face.
Although she knew through some channels and means that her teammate’s fate was related to shadow puppets, she didn’t expect Lu Jinzhao to be able to directly control a ghost.
This was too unbelievable.
She had never seen such a fate before.
Although Tian Lei instinctively felt that this ghost shouldn’t be a “complete” one, driven by the fate, it would definitely differ from those ghosts inside the platform, but… no matter how weak a ghost is, it’s absolutely different from humans.
A fate that can drive ghosts is undoubtedly one of the fates with the highest upper limit in a place like the train.
She had originally been thinking maybe escape first today, and deal with later matters later. The person in front of her was so dominant that she didn’t know what to do.
She always felt that continuing to stay here would break the social distance, and the feeling that the sufficiently indifferent distance subconsciously maintained for a long time was on the verge of shattering made her uneasy.
Make an excuse to get something and then escape. Afterward, apologize on social software, and then slowly communicate or something.
Tian Lei had originally thought this way, but now she realized that escape was impossible.
This person wouldn’t let go before she answered the question.
As for forcibly escaping using fate or supernatural items, she probably wasn’t Lu Jinzhao’s opponent.
She was forced into a desperate situation.
But since it didn’t involve a life-and-death crisis, although Tian Lei felt some anxiety in her heart, her reason still existed. After struggling a few times, she chose to yield.
Or rather, for now, she could only yield.
She didn’t expect meeting her teammate this time to turn into such a situation. This made her a bit frustrated, and not quite willing to just reveal her “bottom card” like this. She looked at Lu Jinzhao and asked a question before talking about her fate:
“If I tell you, can you not tell others?”
This sentence seemed a bit naive, but Lu Jinzhao, seeing Tian Lei’s serious expression, realized that if she promised but didn’t follow through, the other party would absolutely do some extreme things for revenge.
However, Lu Jinzhao didn’t plan to be someone who breaks her word, so she nodded: “I promise, I won’t tell others.”
Tian Lei’s eyes turned, the emotion in her eyes still doubt. She obviously didn’t believe it, but she remembered Lu Jinzhao’s answer.
“Alright, my fate is very simple, and its effect is also very singular.”
“You know the name, so you already know its full effect. It’s called”
[Born from Despair]
A hint of surprise flowed in Lu Jinzhao’s eyes: “…What a special fate.”
Tian Lei pursed her lips and didn’t respond.
“It suits you very well.”
For someone who wants to live more than anyone, in a place like the platform that’s nine deaths, one life, pairing with [Born from Despair] was indeed the best match.
“You should be very satisfied with your fate?”
Even though it doesn’t have any offensive capability, it’s the most fitting survival fate in a place like the train.
“Mm.” Tian Lei nodded vigorously. She did really like her fate, but this fate wasn’t easy to cooperate with others. Once on a platform, a teammate who learned her fate actually made her take a risk.
Of course, in the end, she survived, and the one who made her take the risk died.
She hoped Lu Jinzhao wouldn’t have such an idea, and also felt that if Lu Jinzhao was powerful enough, intelligent enough, she wouldn’t have such an idea.
“…What about you?” Tian Lei’s gaze unconsciously turned to [Tan Meng].
Lu Jinzhao smiled: “You’ve seen it. My fate is this.”
As she spoke, all the shadow puppets except [Lu Jinzhao] crawled out from her cufflinks or collar.
Five shadow puppets of different appearances either stood on Lu Jinzhao’s shoulder, or stuck to her wrist, some crawled along Lu Jinzhao’s hand grabbing Tian Lei onto Tian Lei’s body.
Tian Lei felt goosebumps rise on her body.
She was really afraid of things like ghosts, and by extension, she had some stress reaction even to these shadow puppets that looked like little ghosts.
Lu Jinzhao saw her body’s discomfort and comforted: “Don’t be afraid. They’re completely under my control. You can think of them as part of my body.”
The words “completely under control” made Tian Lei relax a bit.
She looked at [Du Yu] who had crawled onto her arm, baring teeth and not knowing what it was doing—anyway, frantically jumping up and stepping on her arm—and said to Lu Jinzhao in a negotiating tone: “Can you make it stay away from me?”
It actually didn’t hurt, just like a piece of paper moving on her arm, but Tian Lei felt this thing was a bit eerie. She didn’t want this kind of thing on her body.
“Uh, sure.” Lu Jinzhao swore, this time she really didn’t mean it.
When releasing too many shadow puppets at once, although they wouldn’t lose control, sometimes they would reveal a bit of their “instinct.”
Just like… sometimes when people space out or aren’t paying attention, they make habitual movements without realizing it.
[Du Yu]’s movements were its instinct. Made from the skin peeled from that Du Yu full of hostility, who looked at everyone unfavorably and equally disliked everyone, it naturally carried that hostility.
Lu Jinzhao was the “owner,” so it naturally wouldn’t look unfavorably at Lu Jinzhao, but apart from Lu Jinzhao, any creature—even non-creatures—were objects of dislike in this shadow puppet’s instinct.
Because shadow puppets have no brain, only residual instinct, once Lu Jinzhao wasn’t paying close attention, it would make some embarrassing actions.
After [Du Yu] left, Tian Lei looked at Lu Jinzhao’s shadow puppets, hesitated a bit, but still voiced her thought: “Can I ask about their effects?”
“Of course.”
“But only I know the full effects of these shadow puppets right now, and you next, so keep it secret for me, okay?”
She was trusted.
Tian Lei inevitably felt this emotion.
Although she immediately started finding various reasons in her mind—they were going to enter the death platform together, which was already agreed upon—but the emotion stirred by Lu Jinzhao’s words didn’t easily subside.
Before she could calm her mood, Lu Jinzhao began introducing the shadow puppets’ effects to her.
For these five she brought out, Lu Jinzhao didn’t hide anything.
She believed that to gain trust, some sacrifice was necessary.
She could use techniques, use her insight into Tian Lei’s psychology to break her defenses, but building trust couldn’t rely only on those false parts.
Beyond those, she had to let Tian Lei truly feel “being trusted,” and the cognition that the person in front was reliable.
After explaining the effects of the five shadow puppets, Tian Lei’s gaze could be called “sparkling.” She looked at Lu Jinzhao and sincerely praised: “So amazing…”
At this time, Lu Jinzhao let go of the hand gripping her wrist, but Tian Lei didn’t immediately pull back—not even changing her posture.
Her gaze was still on Lu Jinzhao’s raised hand and the shadow puppets. The five fingers moved simply, slightly lifting and bending, then the five shadow puppets stood on Lu Jinzhao’s shoulder or leg, bowing to her, like the curtain call of a performance.
“How come they seem a bit cute?” Tian Lei began to question her own aesthetics.
These five shadow puppets’ appearances absolutely weren’t the cute type; even because of the materials, they looked somewhat eerie.
But under Lu Jinzhao’s control, they showed a bit of an unusual beauty.
“That’s my fate.” The shadow puppets all crawled back into Lu Jinzhao’s cufflinks.
Hearing this, Tian Lei withdrew her attention and suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.
She hadn’t introduced her own fate in such detail. Although her fate was very “obvious at a glance,” facing Lu Jinzhao now, she felt like she owed something.
But Lu Jinzhao seemed completely unconcerned, stood up, looked at her and asked: “Any plans for today?”
“If not, I’ll head home first. Then… tomorrow, how about dinner together?”
“Hm?” Tian Lei was a bit surprised. Was it ending today?
She thought Lu Jinzhao would stay here a bit longer, ask her some more questions.
But they were meeting again tomorrow?
Thinking of this, Tian Lei surprisingly found she wasn’t as repulsed as before.
It seemed okay to go, but she didn’t particularly want to. The two thoughts pulled at each other in Tian Lei’s heart.
“Tomorrow… where to eat tomorrow? What time?” she asked.
If it was a place with lots of people, far away, or very hot, or the time didn’t fit, then find an excuse to refuse.
“My place.” Lu Jinzhao said.
