Chapter 49: Chang Street Slaughterhouse
Lu Jinzhao and Wei Ling headed to the slaughterhouse at a time that wasn’t too late, but someone had already arrived inside early.
And, the people already inside were the group led by that glasses woman.
But Lu Jinzhao noticed a subtle piece of information.
Her team was missing one person.
She and Wei Ling stood at a distance, not approaching the group.
After all, now anyone with a brain knew that the existing passengers would eventually turn on each other at some point; this was no longer a place where everyone could friendly be teammates.
“What’s the situation?” Wei Ling frowned slightly: “Are they missing one person?”
“That person’s target is snake, went to catch a snake?”
Lu Jinzhao shook her head slightly: “Doesn’t seem like it.”
If someone in the team was that day’s target, given the intelligence that woman had shown so far, she shouldn’t let her teammate go alone to find the target; at least she would provide help.
And right now, all the team members were here, only one person was missing.
“They might have had internal conflict.” Lu Jinzhao guessed.
“Internal conflict?” Wei Ling thought for a moment, then reacted.
The team had the most people, which was a numbers advantage, but what if the meat ticket of someone in the team was a teammate?
And that animal was one that’s hard to find in the limited locations.
Like monkey, horse, tiger, and… dragon.
It wasn’t a very tight-knit team to begin with; once they realized there was a life-and-death conflict with someone in the team, how could they stay?
What a pity.
Lu Jinzhao thought that if this mission were a different type, a small group with enough people would really be some trouble.
This group’s actions also meant that in their largest small group, no one’s target was “snake”.
But they couldn’t relax because of that.
If she were that woman, she would find the person whose meat ticket was “snake”, use the other’s zodiac sign as an exchange for a transaction, trading that her team had no “snake”, and willing to help them find “snake”, whether animal or person.
One rat had already died, exclude the person holding the snake meat ticket themselves, then subtract their team members.
The remaining targets were actually already very few.
As for whether the other side would agree…
If they kept failing to find snake, the other side would definitely agree.
Find snake, use snake to threaten and get the other’s real zodiac sign, maybe it’s one the team needs, and can be kept as reserve food.
In just a blink of an eye, Lu Jinzhao had already thought of many things.
No matter what, in this inside the platform, numbers indeed meant a certain degree of advantage.
Since they were already at a disadvantage, they had to find a method to close that gap.
She suddenly turned to Wei Ling and said: “Meat ticket, exchange with me.”
“Don’t let anyone see.”
After exchanging meat tickets, Wei Ling asked what she wanted to do; Lu Jinzhao raised her eyebrow slightly: “Kids shouldn’t ask about these things.”
She didn’t want to lead the child astray anymore.
Hearing this, Wei Ling’s expression became strange: “Fine, you’re the big sister, you call the shots.”
Not long after, more people arrived at the slaughterhouse.
It was a duo; as soon as they entered, they saw people already there, were slightly stunned, then the two discussed something in low voices, ignored the people present, and turned to walk into other parts of the slaughterhouse.
Anyone with eyes could tell they were looking for something.
What were they looking for?
Naturally, only snake.
Lu Jinzhao scanned around, taking in everyone’s expressions.
She waited a bit longer, until the bald head man who “betrayed” the team walked into the slaughterhouse; the small group’s gazes and attention were all drawn to this person. She observed for a while and found that the bald head man’s gaze always lingered more on one person in the team, and she had an epiphany.
The two sides were filled with hostility, looking like they could fight at any moment over a trigger; Lu Jinzhao was certain the small team would find a way to get rid of this bald head at some point.
But they weren’t acting rashly now, so probably the bald head had a supernatural item as backing.
Lu Jinzhao quietly left the area and found the two passengers still looking for snake.
Obviously, they hadn’t found anything.
Seeing Lu Jinzhao approach, the two became somewhat vigilant.
Through yesterday’s events and today’s butcher’s broadcast, these two had already figured out part of the truth, knowing that the so-called animals might be the 12 zodiac signs, and realized that some impossible-to-get animals would be people with the same zodiac sign.
Therefore, now seeing other passengers approach, they kept some vigilance.
Lu Jinzhao was satisfied with this; not idiots, saving her the effort of explaining.
She didn’t approach them immediately, but after confirming no one was around, she said softly: “No need to be nervous, I’m here to exchange messages with you.”
One of the two immediately said: “We have nothing to exchange!”
Obviously, they understood the need to keep their zodiac signs secret.
Lu Jinzhao just smiled: “Don’t you want to know who the snake is?”
The two were stunned.
They had thought they could find a few snakes in the slaughterhouse, but after searching for so long, not even a shadow.
Even if they left the slaughterhouse now, they didn’t dare go to the long street; they had exchanged messages and knew those houses on the long street were occupied by old men comparable to man-eating evil ghosts—who knew what dangers there were?
“What do you want to exchange?” the man asked.
“One of your zodiac signs.” Lu Jinzhao answered.
Actually, she didn’t care what their zodiac signs were; she just needed a suitable “exchange” excuse.
The two looked at her suspiciously and asked: “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
Lu Jinzhao smiled slightly and took out her meat ticket: “See this?”
Printed on the meat ticket was clearly rat.
“It’s you?!” The two’s eyes widened slightly at the meat ticket, envy flashing in their eyes.
“Now that you’ve seen it, you should understand, right?”
“I’m the only one here who’s completed the mission, and the only one with no need to deceive you.”
Lu Jinzhao said without changing expression.
The two’s expressions immediately softened: “Indeed…”
If the meat ticket is rat, her words do have some credibility.
But…
“What if you’re snake, here to trick us?”
Knowing they couldn’t find a real snake, they’d target someone with snake zodiac!
So vigilant.
Lu Jinzhao just chuckled lightly and asked: “If I were snake, couldn’t I just hide?”
“Could you find me?”
The two thought about it; indeed, among the still-living passengers besides them and the dead rat, there were a full 9 left!
If she intentionally hid, they had no way to find Lu Jinzhao.
Most importantly, she had completed her mission; if she were snake, as long as she safely hid through today, it’d be foolproof—with such high fault tolerance, no need to stir up trouble.
No matter how they thought, the possibility that the woman in front of them was snake was the lowest among the others.
The two’s defenses dropped again.
“You only want one of our zodiac signs?” The two confirmed again.
“Yes.” Lu Jinzhao nodded affirmatively.
The two looked at each other, then one said: “My zodiac sign is pig.”
Not credible, but… whatever.
Lu Jinzhao nodded: “Snake is that slightly chubby otaku with glasses.”
She meant a member of the glasses woman’s team, and not the one the bald head man was very focused on.
“Really?”
The two obviously couldn’t immediately trust Lu Jinzhao’s answer because of their own lie.
“Of course, if you don’t believe me, go ask that bald head man; you know he was with the otaku before, right?”
“But today they seem to have fallen out; go ask him, he’ll definitely tell you the truth.”
“And I guess, after their team confirms one of you has snake as target, they might come trick you, saying their team has no snake or something.”
“They might even offer to help you find snake—at that point, think if that team wants to raise you like pigs.”
Lu Jinzhao wasn’t afraid of being exposed; her words were half-true half-false, and the false part the bald head man wouldn’t call her out, might even gladly help cover for her.
And she deliberately avoided the person who was likely the bald head man’s target.
This was a perfect shit-stirring stick.
Lu Jinzhao’s words further increased her credibility; the two made eye contact and finally chose to believe.
“Thanks.”
But just verbal thanks; neither mentioned that “pig” was a lie.
Lu Jinzhao didn’t mind, just smiled: “Pleasant cooperation.”
She turned and left, completing her first active lie in the platform mission.
She wasn’t certain if this lie would yield the result she wanted—human nature itself is a huge variable—but it was just a small scheme anyway; if it failed, no big deal.
Spread fake news, chaos ensues, that’s fine.
In life-or-death moments, no one can stay absolutely calm; moreover, from the earlier talk, Lu Jinzhao determined those two had plenty of caution but lacked intelligence.
If all went as expected, soon there would be a passenger-versus-passenger free-for-all here.
After all, zodiac signs can’t be verified by anyone.
If I say you’re “snake”, how do you prove you’re not?
No method.
No matter who dies by then, it’s good for her and Wei Ling.
The man whose target is snake gets beaten to death by the small group, send his corpse in, today’s over.
The man whose target is snake succeeds, sends in that fake snake, both die, today’s over.
Either result keeps hidden the fact that whoever sends in a real animal becomes the next target.
And in Lu Jinzhao’s imagined worst case, that man neither gets beaten nor troubles the small group, but really finds a snake with his partner and sends it in…
That’s fine too; he’ll become the next target, he absolutely won’t dare tell others, only Wei Ling and Lu Jinzhao know clearly.
He’ll still be a useful target.
About updating more… actually I didn’t want to say because it’s a bit embarrassing.
A few days ago when I went downstairs for takeout, I slipped and fell down the stairs, my tailbone smashed hard on the stairs; good thing the X-ray showed no bone damage, but now I’m in a state of unease, can only sleep prone or on side, can’t sit long in front of the computer qaq
Once the swelling on my lower back subsides and doesn’t hurt much, I’ll start updating more!
