Chapter 80: Wang Family Funeral Home
Lu Jinzhao had already made up her mind that before nightfall, she must make herself physically deaf.
This was also a helpless measure, but during summon ghosts, she had already suggested even more brutal methods to others, and had experienced the pain of replacing dead person’s cornea and almost having the flesh on her legs shaved off in the extreme gamble with the ghost; now it was just two hammers to her cochlea, which would hurt a bit, but surviving was probably the most important.
Meng Ning had already searched everywhere here during the afternoon, but still hadn’t found anything that could block her ears and make her completely unable to hear sounds.
Even in the real world, completely isolating sounds is very difficult; ordinary earplugs don’t have such an effect.
Moreover, just plugging the ears also carries risk.
Only deafness is foolproof.
She had no hesitation and didn’t plan to wait until nightfall to “watch the timing” before deciding whether to do it.
After experiencing several platform missions, she was very clear that a ghost’s attack sometimes doesn’t leave time for preparation.
Iron hammer, small knife, even iron wire—Meng Ning had prepared the items very completely.
Lu Jinzhao glanced at her and rarely comforted her: “Don’t worry, find the right place, don’t hit too hard when striking, of course, don’t hit too lightly either; besides deafness, there might also be concussion and facial paralysis.”
“Just control the force so it doesn’t cause severe concussion; once the mission ends at dawn and we return to the train, it can all be cured.”
Meng Ning’s mouth twitched; Lu Jinzhao’s tone was very relaxed, but for her, this was no small matter.
Moreover, it was hard for her to control that force; even harder was how a person could be so ruthless to themselves?
So she asked: “After you finish in a bit, if it goes smoothly, can you help me?”
If she did it herself, she might smash her head until it was bloody and still not get it right.
“I can, but it must be before nightfall.”
She didn’t mind Meng Ning’s little scheme; wanting to survive inside the platform, this was the right way.
Meng Ning hesitated only a few seconds before making her decision: “Okay!”
She still looked so timid; after speaking, her complexion turned pale, her hands trembling slightly, with an appearance of being utterly useless, but she had just decided to let Lu Jinzhao give her forehead two hammers.
“Alright.”
Lu Jinzhao checked the time: “Let’s eat, digest for half an hour, then start.”
“Right, don’t eat too much, don’t drink too much water.”
One was to avoid her losing muscle control under agony later; the other was that tonight there definitely wouldn’t be time for them to use the restroom.
Simple eating was necessary; tonight would probably be a major trial for both stamina and willpower.
After finishing the meal and resting a bit, the two returned to the dormitory.
No medical supplies were found anywhere in the funeral home, which was expected.
“Alright, let me try first.”
Lu Jinzhao picked up the metal hammer in her hand, which felt heavy; she swung it in her hand, then smashed the retrieved board many times, gradually getting used to the weight and force.
The parchment suddenly jumped out at this moment.
[Smash away, best if you smash yourself into an idiot.]
[So exciting; if you smash your brain, what then?]
[Brain death? There’s such a term, right?]
The parchment didn’t know what it was expecting either.
Lu Jinzhao thought, that would surely disappoint you.
She had long summarized her encounters inside the platform, realizing that injuries to the body were unavoidable; perhaps one day she would also need the wooden box, so among the knowledge she had crammed, much was about the human body.
She needed to know which parts of the human body could be temporarily sacrificed without causing death, which injuries would cause loss of important senses, including deafness.
If the train’s repair didn’t require life-buying money and wasn’t always available, she wouldn’t even mind practicing on herself.
But unfortunately, she didn’t have such conditions, so she could only familiarize herself day and night with the positions and functions of her internal organs; at least, theoretical knowledge had to be maxed out for emergencies.
Now, though she only had “theory,” it was enough.
The cold iron hammer pressed close to her head, positioned right at the cochlea.
Lu Jinzhao took a deep breath, bit a piece of round wood in her mouth, stabilized her mind in less than three seconds after confirming the position, then without hesitation raised her hand far back and heavily struck her head.
—Bang
Meng Ning clearly heard this sound and saw Lu Jinzhao’s head knocked askew, her eyes instantly becoming dazed, and the iron hammer dropping to the ground.
Her teeth felt sore; she admired Lu Jinzhao’s precision and calmness in being so ruthless to herself.
She saw Lu Jinzhao’s complexion become hard to control due to pain, her rapid breathing, and the veins bulging on her neck; Meng Ning guessed that for at least five seconds, her head was blank from the impact.
But she actually endured the pain and said to Meng Ning: “Say something.”
At the same time, she lifted her hand to cover the other ear; though this couldn’t completely block sound, at least she could test if the injured ear’s hearing was damaged.
The result brought joy to Lu Jinzhao’s face, which was breaking out in cold sweat; she succeeded—one ear’s hearing was at least severely damaged; as for whether it was completely deaf, she’d know after handling the other side.
“After I smash the other side in a bit, I’ll give you a hand signal; after seeing it, make noise right by my ear, as loud as possible.”
Meng Ning nodded to show she understood.
But Lu Jinzhao still rested a bit more; there was no way around it—her body was already at the end of its tether, and now she was inflicting more pain on herself; if she didn’t recover a bit, she wouldn’t have enough strength for the second hammer.
Fortunately, she had anticipated this, and the planned time was plenty.
But when she picked up the hammer from the ground to give herself the second hammer, her hand still involuntarily shook once; however, it was quickly controlled.
No one could not be afraid, no one could not resist, but whoever could control their fear, whoever could maintain consciousness under pain, would survive longer on the train.
The round wood had deep tooth marks; Lu Jinzhao stuffed it back into her mouth, then without a moment’s hesitation, mustered her energy and smashed the other side again.
In that instant, intense buzzing accompanied a flash of white light before her eyes, then the world began to spin, Meng Ning’s figure in front twisted, she felt an itch in her ear canal, touched it with her hand, and when her fingers came back to view, they had blood on them.
So Lu Jinzhao realized belatedly that she was bleeding.
After a while, she saw Meng Ning wave at her, then come in front of her, mouth opening and closing saying something, but she heard nothing at all.
Then she saw Meng Ning take out her mobile phone, turn the volume to max and place it by her ear, still with no sound.
Only then did a satisfied smile appear on Lu Jinzhao’s pale, sweat-covered face.
Very good, success on the first try.
In this aspect, she was actually a genius.
