Chapter 14: Inviting Trouble (11)

Was the box malfunctioning? Impossible! The deal had already been struck!

Lin Shuyue felt an icy chill spread through her entire body. For a moment, she couldn’t discern whether she was truly haunted by a vengeful spirit or if it was merely a psychological effect triggered by Lu Jinchao’s words.

“You... you’re not lying to me?” Her expression stiffened, caught between tears and laughter.

The train was about to arrive, and she had already used her trump card once. At this moment, she was the last person who wanted any more unforeseen incidents.

But...

Lu Jinchao shook his head and even took two steps back. “I have no reason to lie to you.”

“Or do you think it’s better if I keep this from you?”

That was impossible.

Neither Lin Shuyue nor Lu Jinchao wanted to unknowingly carry a ghost while waiting for the train’s arrival.

So Lu Jinchao chose to tell her directly.

Yet in the next moment, through Lin Shuyue’s back, he saw the ghost stir.

The ghost had been discovered by its host and no longer hid.

The proximity was too close; its attack required no time—just an instant. Lin Shuyue felt a bone-chilling cold sweep over her. She instinctively reached for the box, hoping to offer more flesh and blood as a sacrifice to save her life, but...

She couldn’t move.

She was completely paralyzed.

She struggled, but the cold grew heavier and heavier. It felt as if a thousand-pound weight pressed down on her back. She couldn't see her own face, but she knew it had turned pale in an instant. Her body felt as if it were fixed in midair by iron chains—utterly immobile.

This was the helplessness of an ordinary person attacked by a ghost.

Summoning all her strength, she only managed to turn her eyes toward Lu Jinchao.

—Help me!

She wasn’t ready to give up.

Even though at this moment she fully realized she had made a grave mistake on this ghost-seeing mission, it was already too late.

Would the newcomer dare to save her?

She must have seen the ghost and noticed it was attacking her, right?

Lu Jinchao had indeed seen it clearly. The ghost clung tightly to Lin Shuyue’s back, as if hugging a beloved teddy bear. Human bones and flesh were as fragile as cotton to it; with just a gentle squeeze, Lin Shuyue’s arm caved inward, her bones instantly shattering.

Undoubtedly, within ten seconds, Lin Shuyue would be twisted into a shapeless heap of blood and flesh, like fragile paper crumpled by the ghost’s grasp.

From the perspective of those unable to see ghosts, it would appear as if “air” had crushed her into a mass of mangled flesh.

Lu Jinchao didn’t look up and couldn’t see the desperate plea in Lin Shuyue’s eyes, but he knew this was no time to sit and wait for death.

Although he could have turned and fled, Lu Jinchao made a different choice.

The moment he saw Lin Shuyue’s arm cave in, he realized the ghost’s attack had begun.

He also confirmed that the ghost truly lacked intelligence—Jiang Yingzhi had not lied.

The ghost could have remained dormant, but once Lin Shuyue discovered it, it immediately launched its assault.

They seemed bound by unbreakable rules: humans must first “break taboo,” and if the person targeted by the ghost sees it, the ghost will attack at once.

This was likely the “rule” Jiang Yingzhi mentioned.

Confirming this, Lu Jinchao decisively sprinted toward Lin Shuyue, drew his knife and the box, and slashed open her palm before forcing the box open and inserting it into her immobilized hand.

Only after doing this did Lu Jinchao realize his own body had turned ice cold. If he stayed longer, he might lose control like Lin Shuyue.

Though the ghost hadn’t touched him, he was still affected—was it because of this eye?

After completing these actions, Lu Jinchao quickly retreated, moving about two meters away from Lin Shuyue—or rather, from the ghost. The chilling, bone-piercing cold that threatened to freeze him dissipated.

“Is the influence radius only two meters?”

Not far, but he still didn’t know the ghost’s “speed.”

However, if he was right, anyone on this platform who had not performed the cup spirit ritual need not fear being hunted by this ghost.

The cup spirit ritual was a forbidden ceremony that established a connection with the ghost, allowing the ghost to attack those who performed it. Without undergoing the ritual, even brushing past this ghost wouldn’t result in attack—or in sensing its chilling aura.

It was like the boundary between life and death.

Unless that person was Lu Jinchao.

Because now, wearing a dead man’s cornea, this eye blurred the lines between life and death, enabling him to see ghosts. Thus, the moment he locked eyes with the ghost, he became exposed to it—no ritual required.

His situation was too dangerous, far more perilous than passengers merely performing a ritual.

Lu Jinchao’s mind raced. He refused to flee outright because he understood just how perilous his position was. Simply running wouldn’t save him.

Meanwhile, in those few seconds of his contemplation, Lin Shuyue’s body underwent drastic changes.

The opened box seemed like a greedy mouth biting into Lin Shuyue’s palm. Blood surged from the wound, flooding into the insatiable maw. Lin Shuyue’s body suddenly weakened, but the sensation of being trapped vanished.

Yet that was all.

The ghost on her hadn’t left and was still trying to kill her.

The box and the ghost locked in a brief struggle lasting about two seconds. Lin Shuyue’s pupils contracted sharply; she seemed to sense something. Only able to utter a single syllable—“No”—before her entire body deflated like a burst balloon.

The entire process lasted less than three seconds. The box had used Lin Shuyue’s entire flesh and blood as the price to drive the ghost away completely.

—Plop.

The sound of the box dropping from the air onto the ground.

Also, the sound of a corpse, a skeleton wrapped in skin, collapsing to the floor.

Her body was beyond recognition. Lu Jinchao had never seen a more horrifying scene, not even in horror films.

He forced down his fear, glanced left and right at the ground—

It was gone.

The ghost Lin Shuyue had summoned had indeed left.

Whether because of Lin Shuyue’s death or the ghost box, this platform now had one less ghost capable of threatening Lu Jinchao’s life.

The first time he truly witnessed a human die was so terrifying that even though he had been mentally preparing since boarding the train, he still felt cold and numb, too afraid to move for a long while.

He paused in place, feeling his frozen body slowly warm. Then he shut his eyes tightly, forcing himself to regain composure.

“Calm down. Stay calm!”

Lin Shuyue was dead, but the mission was not over. He couldn’t lose his wits out of fear.

His pounding heart didn’t settle with this simple self-reminder, but Lu Jinchao’s body began to move.

He took a few steps forward, deliberately avoiding looking at Lin Shuyue’s corpse, instead picking up the box that had fallen nearby.