Chapter 44: Chang Street Slaughterhouse
As time passed bit by bit, all passengers were searching for traces of the rat.
This slaughterhouse had indeed been unattended for a long time, so catching a few rats was not difficult.
Inside the platform, without suitable reference objects, passengers found it hard to know the exact time; the watches or mobile phones they carried might not be accurate after entering the platform.
Therefore, they mostly relied on the sky’s color to judge time.
Fortunately, the weather inside the platform was temporarily normal this time; based on the sun’s position when they went out, the time was approximately around three in the afternoon.
After about two hours, passengers who had caught rats gradually gathered outside the main building in the center.
Calculating that the time was about right, Lu Jinzhao signaled to Wei Ling: “Let’s go.”
Wei Ling nodded. She had planned to enter the building alone, but unexpectedly, Lu Jinzhao followed her inside for some reason, though she did not ask.
However, seeing that the two were about to enter, someone could not hold back.
“Hey? Are you going in now?” The speaker was a member of the largest group by number.
Lu Jinzhao ignored him, but Wei Ling turned her head to look at him and replied: “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Just you two? That’s too dangerous. Why not wait until everyone is here and go together.”
As Lu Jinzhao expected, someone would suggest going together, and it was most likely to be from the largest small group.
Without needing Lu Jinzhao’s signal, Wei Ling had already refused: “No need, I don’t think it’s that dangerous.”
She said this deliberately, after all, her actions in the waiting room had already left an initial impression of being “frivolous and reckless.”
She did not mind deepening it a bit.
As her words fell, Wei Ling saw the person’s gaze toward her become subtle.
It did not matter; that was not important.
She followed Lu Jinzhao’s footsteps into the building. The gazes from behind gradually disappeared, and inside the building, though it was still daytime, the light was exceptionally dim.
Wei Ling had grown somewhat accustomed to being in darkness during missions.
She saw Lu Jinzhao observing the building’s layout, so she also looked up.
Unlike modern slaughter workshops, this slaughterhouse was obviously built relatively early, without those modern tools, and long unattended, leading to truly appalling hygiene conditions here.
Moreover, like being in a horror movie, the rooms inside this building had no regular design. The two followed the narrow cement corridor for a while before finding the location of the slaughter room.
This was probably at the center of the building, with sealed cement walls on both sides, no windows, resulting in no fresh air circulation and insufficient light shining in.
The only light allowing Wei Ling and Lu Jinzhao to see came from behind that open door, from the slaughter room filled with red light.
Just standing at the door without entering, the two already felt an inexplicable chill and pressure.
It was as if this red light was not the entrance to the slaughterhouse, but a monster’s gaping bloody mouth.
Lu Jinzhao stood outside the door and said to Wei Ling: “I won’t go in with you. Take this one in too.”
She also gave Wei Ling the rat that had been assigned to her.
Wei Ling was stunned for a moment: “Then you won’t have a rat?”
Lu Jinzhao nodded and only said: “It’s fine, this is part of the experiment.”
She needed to know if something would happen if she did not hand over the rat.
Of course, she dared to do this only because she was certain of one thing.
“Alright.” Wei Ling raised her eyebrow slightly and took the rat: “Then I’m going in.”
“By the way.” Her step toward the door suddenly paused, and looking at Lu Jinzhao, her eyes carried a bit of pleading: “Can you wait here for me? Don’t leave.”
Although she appeared carefree, she was obviously still fearful inside.
Lu Jinzhao smiled and said: “Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you here.”
After all, according to her speculation, Wei Ling going in this time might have a scare, but was likely safe.
And even if she did not hand over a rat to the butcher, she would not be in too much danger.
She speculated that today, the only one who must hand over a rat to the butcher was Wei Ling.
The clues given by this platform were very obvious, even the process of obtaining them was extremely procedural.
12 people, the rat on the meat ticket, Ox Head, the so-called correct animal in the waiting information, and during her exchange with Wei Ling, she said that a resident in her home had given her the meat ticket, requiring her to get meat from the slaughterhouse before dark every day and bring it home.
Combining this information, the true nature of this mission was already self-evident.
The resident at home who gave the meat ticket—if the meat was not brought back to her, something extremely terrifying would likely happen.
And if the correct animal was not given to the butcher every day, the outcome would surely not be good.
All of them were forced to gather here every day, offer the correct animal, in order to obtain one day of peace.
“If the speculation is correct, what I need to do is send a cow to the butcher, which is not difficult.”
After all, there were cows inside the slaughterhouse.
But the greatest difficulty of this mission was obviously not here.
“Trouble.” Lu Jinzhao sighed inwardly.
This mission, in her view, was indeed far simpler than [Loss of Control]. As long as handled properly, it might not even require directly facing the ghost’s threat.
This was the difficulty Class C should have.
But on the other hand, it was even more troublesome than [Loss of Control], and for some people, they might prefer facing [Loss of Control] rather than entering this platform.
“Wei Ling should be fine, plus both of us have supernatural items, so leaving alive should not be difficult.”
Outside the room, as Lu Jinzhao who was waiting reviewed her existing speculations in her mind several times again, Wei Ling had already entered the slaughter room.
She admitted she was not as intelligent as Lu Jinzhao and could not connect the clues at the first moment to know the platform’s truth, but she was willing to take the risk and enter the slaughter room alone because she had somewhat guessed that handing a rat to the butcher would not result in death.
But even so, fear was unavoidable.
Especially just after entering the slaughter room, she felt as if she had walked into an ice cellar.
This was probably not a normal slaughter room. Under the scarlet lights was row after row of unknown meat hanging inside the slaughter room.
They were strung together by iron hooks, dripping with blood beside Wei Ling, making her feel as if she were in a labyrinth of flesh and blood.
She could only carefully weave through this flesh and blood. The entire room echoed only with the sound of her advancing footsteps.
With every breath, her nostrils were filled with the smell of blood and flesh; in her peripheral vision, there were dismembered limbs and minced meat.
Occasionally brushing past the hanging dead meat beside her, the cold touch assaulted her, making goosebumps rise all over Wei Ling’s body.
When she gritted her teeth and reached the slaughter room depths, she finally saw the figure of the butcher’s table.
