Chapter 35: Loss Of Control
Lu Jinzhao felt somewhat cold.
It was not because of the weather, nor wearing too little, but a chill spreading from within her body, entwining her like maggots on the bones.
Every moment, Lu Jinzhao could feel deep in her mind, in a place she could not perceive, a shadow not belonging to her lurking within.
But this also brought some extra benefits, like at this moment, her brain seemed to have an additional “receiver,” allowing her an extra pair of invisible “eyes” to perceive whether everything around was an illusion.
Now, when she looked down at the time on her watch, she would no longer be deceived by illusions.
“Five more minutes, and the train is coming.”
Lu Jinzhao said affirmatively.
Wei Ling’s expression was somewhat dazed: “Really?”
She asked subconsciously.
In just one day inside this platform, she no longer knew how to distinguish truth from falsehood; no matter what she heard or saw, her first instinct was always to question it.
“Really.” Lu Jinzhao continued affirmatively, helping to boost her confidence.
“Since you can’t distinguish truth from falsehood, just believe what I say.”
But Wei Ling’s tone was still somewhat helpless: “Then how do I distinguish whether you are real or fake?”
“.”
Lu Jinzhao was speechless for a moment.
“Since you can’t distinguish, don’t.” She could only say: “Just bet that the current me is real.”
Hearing this, Wei Ling opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
“…I understand.”
Indeed, as Lu Jinzhao said, facing the dilemma before her, she had no method except to gamble.
So, bet that the Lu Jinzhao before her was indeed real and indeed had a method to take her away from here.
Handing her life over to another—the choice Lu Jinzhao absolutely did not want to make—Wei Ling gritted her teeth and made it.
After deciding to entrust her life to the Lu Jinzhao before her, Wei Ling’s panicked and uneasy heart actually felt a slight relaxation.
“…Anyway, life and death are no longer up to me, so be it.”
She thought this way, and even her breathing seemed to smooth out a bit.
Five minutes passed quickly, and soon she heard again the familiar sound of the train arriving.
But this time, she did not anxiously stand up and head toward the train door; instead, she subconsciously looked up at Lu Jinzhao with questioning eyes.
After seeing Lu Jinzhao nod, Wei Ling immediately stood up eagerly.
However, as she prepared to take a step, hesitation and struggle appeared on her face.
Although she had made the decision, when it really came time to do it… she still needed strong courage to support her.
And her courage had already been depleted to almost nothing inside this platform.
The train stopped.
The familiar warm light appeared at the door again, and Wei Ling saw Lu Jinzhao already striding toward the train door without hesitation.
“…Wait!” she hurriedly called out.
Lu Jinzhao turned back to look at her. Wei Ling’s eyes were full of conflict; she hoped Lu Jinzhao would say something more, give her some confidence, persuade her to board, anything—just say something, she still needed a little motivation.
And Lu Jinzhao did not disappoint her expectations; upon seeing her hesitation, she did not ignore it but affirmed again: “Let’s go, this time it’s real.”
Even though Wei Ling did not fully believe this statement, and even she still could not distinguish whether the train before her was real or fake, or whether Lu Jinzhao’s words were real or fake, after hearing this, Wei Ling took a deep breath, stood up, and walked toward the door.
Whether she lived or died depended on these short few steps underfoot.
Wei Ling had never found the act of moving forward so difficult; almost every step made her regret, every bit of progress made her feel she might die at any moment, but even so, she tremblingly completed the entire distance.
The moment she stepped through the train door, the familiar interior decorations came into view, and she was still alive and well.
Realizing this, Wei Ling’s brain went blank for an instant; after prolonged extreme mental tension suddenly relaxed, she could not control her body and directly knelt down in the carriage.
Lu Jinzhao looked at her and, unusually, made a joke: “No need to give me such a grand salute.”
Wei Ling’s spirit was still somewhat dazed; only after hearing Lu Jinzhao’s words did she come back to her senses, and an uncontrollable smile of surviving a disaster appeared on her face. Finally, with a tone that had regained some spirit, she replied: “Of course, of course.”
Her tone was a bit sycophantic, but her brain was all mush at the moment, feeling that surviving today was entirely thanks to Lu Jinzhao.
But after paying life-buying money to repair the wounds on her body, and then taking out her train ticket to check her balance after the train started, she could not help but let out a surprised question.
“Huh?”
“Why is this reward so much?”
Lu Jinzhao also saw the balance on her own train ticket: 500 after boarding ticket inspection, and now 1300.
An increase of 800!
She directly asked: “Is this a lot?”
Wei Ling nodded: “A lot!”
“Don’t you know?” She was somewhat puzzled.
Lu Jinzhao had no intention of hiding anything anymore and directly said: “I really don’t know; this is only my second mission.”
Wei Ling’s eyes widened, and she was stunned in place for a good while.
“Sister, you’re not joking, right?”
She even unconsciously used respectful language, her fatigued spirit stimulated into excitement.
Lu Jinzhao blinked: “No, so, can you tell me now?”
Wei Ling was momentarily speechless: “You… this isn’t right…”
“How is this possible?”
“You…”
“Wait, no way, am I still in an illusion?”
Otherwise, how could such an absurd thing happen?
A newcomer on their second mission directly boarding a Class C train?
She had never heard of such a thing!
Or maybe her experience was too limited?
Wei Ling’s brain struggled to work for a bit but could not figure it out, so she simply gave up and explained directly:
“Generally speaking, the platform settlement reward is double the boarding amount, meaning 100 for boarding a Class D train, settlement around 200, with fluctuations based on mission difficulty—Class D fluctuates by about 50, so a trip with slightly higher than normal difficulty yields less than 400 life-buying money at most if you survive.”
“You know, repairing even a small wound costs dozens, so Class D passengers easily spend more than they earn.”
“For Class C, boarding gives 200, mission settlement around 400, fluctuation about 100, meaning excluding the boarding ticket inspection life-buying money, just the mission settlement, the most I’ve seen is less than 500 life-buying money.”
At this point, even with her brain like mush, Wei Ling’s expression became serious: “But this time, I got nearly 600!”
Six hundred?
Lu Jinzhao calmly glanced at her own train ticket, which clearly showed 1300.
She asked: “What does this mean?”
Wei Ling immediately replied: “It means this mission is abnormal!”
“The difficulty is abnormal!”
She repeated: “Even the so-called high-difficulty instances at the same level that people talk about almost never give rewards outside the calculated range—why so much this time?”
Lu Jinzhao lowered her gaze, confirming again in her heart that the two missions she had experienced both had abnormal difficulty.
Sure enough, was it the parchment’s doing?
Just to force her into a transaction?
If it really was because of it, why could it control the difficulty of train platform missions?
What exactly was it?
There’s still tonight, time to go to sleep now ()
