Chapter 20: Loss Of Control
Lu Jinzhao just smiled at her without answering her question, then turned her gaze to the waiting room screen.
Just like last time, the screen now displayed information about the platform mission.
【This arriving train level: C】
【Number of passengers this time: Ten】
【Passenger list: Zhang Junjie, Li Haoyang, Wang Siyuan, Chen Yuxuan, Huang Yawen, Wu Xue, Xu Ruolin, Lu Jinzhao, Wei Ling, Ye Jingyun】
【This station: Loss of Control】
【Rumor has it that Qu Xiang is a famous land of gods and ghosts. Every year, the villagers hold sacrifices to ensure the evil ghosts do not cause trouble. Once there is a problem with the sacrifice, the evil existences in the village will lose control.】
【Survive in Qu Xiang for 24 hours, and board the return train after 24 hours to complete the mission.】
After reading the platform information, Lu Jinzhao frowned slightly.
24 hours was too long, and besides that, the information provided was even less clear than Summon Ghosts.
It seemed like they needed to ensure the sacrifice ritual in Qu Xiang went smoothly. Perhaps during the ritual, evil ghosts would appear and cause chaos, trying to disrupt the sacrifice. Only if the sacrifice went smoothly could they possibly survive the 24 hours?
“It doesn’t look too troublesome. The main mission is written very clearly.”
A sturdy young man spoke up.
“The sacrifice is probably similar to some kind of suppression. The evil ghost suppressed by Qu Xiang must be extraordinary. We need to be careful during the ritual. Strange things might happen even before it starts.”
The people in the room began discussing one after another.
“Since the time is one day and one night, it means we arrive on the day of the sacrifice. After entering, we should immediately figure out the ritual process. If we don’t intervene, something will definitely go wrong if we let the villagers do it themselves.”
Indeed, Lu Jinzhao agreed with this point.
But would it not go wrong if the passengers did it?
She thought of the ritual in Summon Ghosts—performing the ritual was actually the fatal step.
But would it be the same in Loss of Control? She couldn’t be sure and could only take it one step at a time.
The people in the waiting room gradually offered many suggestions that sounded useful. Lu Jinzhao kept them in mind but didn’t say anything, since she was just a newbie who had only experienced one platform once. It was better not to overstep.
“From the current analysis, the most dangerous part is the sacrifice process. There will definitely be some non-human accidents during it. And it’s certain that if the sacrifice fails, the consequences will be very serious.”
“So after entering, everyone be careful not to violate any taboos during the sacrifice.”
Everyone nodded. Lu Jinzhao noticed that the previously lively pink-haired girl was quite quiet in this segment, only occasionally whispering something to the girl beside her.
“As expected, it’s intentional.”
Pulling aggro like this and drawing attention must mean she had her own confidence.
In other words, she probably had a decent supernatural item for self-defense?
Seeming to notice Lu Jinzhao’s gaze, the pink-haired girl looked up with a smile. Lu Jinzhao blinked and naturally shifted her line of sight away.
Soon, the sound of the train arriving rang out.
This time, all ten people were present.
Lu Jinzhao had gone through the ticket inspection process once before, but this time, having experienced a platform instance, she already knew what it felt like to be close to a ghost. So when the ticket inspector’s hand reached out to take her train ticket, Lu Jinzhao could confirm that the ticket inspector was a ghost.
“This aura, no mistake.”
“What exactly is this train? Using ghosts for ticket inspection?”
“What’s even scarier is that the ghost is really just obediently doing ticket inspection?”
When the train ticket was taken back, Lu Jinzhao was slightly surprised to find that the life-buying money amount had become 500.
“It seems that depending on the difficulty, the life-buying money provided by the train increases accordingly.”
After boarding, the group continued their discussion from the waiting room. In Lu Jinzhao’s eyes, the ten people had already vaguely formed several small groups. Of course, there were also loners like her, but it was clear that many people still kept in touch in real life after leaving the platform.
“After this platform ends, I’ll ask if anyone else is around.”
Lu Jinzhao had not found the place name Qu Xiang in reality, but on the train, its location seemed no different from Thailand. Almost at the same time, the train slowly stopped.
“Arrived at the station, everyone, be careful.”
Among this group of passengers, there was no one like Lin Shuyue who could take the lead. Lu Jinzhao guessed they had all experienced several platform missions, and there was no obviously particularly powerful person among this group’s passengers.
This was enough to see the difference from last time. Last time, even though Lin Shuyue wasn’t particularly powerful, she could still command respect. And back then, she was the only one on the list with a supernatural item.
This time, Lu Jinzhao guessed that at least several small groups definitely had supernatural items.
The train door opened, and Lu Jinzhao looked outside but saw nothing.
Just separated by a door, it felt like two worlds. Outside was pitch black.
Completely different from Chinatown.
Perhaps this was the unique feature of each platform?
She thought about it briefly, then followed the people ahead out the door.
The instant she crossed the door, Lu Jinzhao found herself indoors.
She looked back in surprise. Behind her was a slightly ancient double wooden door, outside was a rural dirt road, and there was no trace of the train.
She was surprised in her heart but didn’t show it on her face, because no one else seemed surprised by it either.
“Looks like I still lack experience.”
Lu Jinzhao withdrew her gaze and began observing the room.
It was not hard to see that this was an ancestral hall.
It was quite spacious with an ancient style. The place they arrived at after crossing the door was the lobby of the ancestral hall. A few steps forward, they could see the ancestor tablets being worshiped. This should be a small Feng Clan village, and the ancestors on the tablets were all from the Feng Clan.
However, it seemed like it hadn’t been cleaned for a while. The table for offerings was empty, the incense and candles had long burned out, the incense ash had been scattered everywhere by the wind due to lack of care, and only an eternal lamp on the side of the tablets was still barely lit.
While Lu Jinzhao was observing the surroundings, the door of the ancestral hall creaked slightly, and then an old man walked in.
As soon as he entered, he saw people inside the ancestral hall and became angry.
“Didn’t I say not to enter the ancestral hall unless necessary? How did you get in? The sacrifice time hasn’t arrived yet!”
“Get out quickly! You don’t understand the rules at all!”
