Chapter 17: Inviting Spirits (14)

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Is it time now?

A moment of confusion swept through Lu Jin Zhao’s mind as she realized that her “time of death” had arrived.

The ghost had been following her all along, yet it hadn’t struck. One reason was that she never actually saw the ghost; the rules restrained it. Another was that she hadn’t yet brought it to the station.

But now, it was time.

“Xiao Lu, why don’t you look at us?”

Us?

Where did “us” come from?

No more pretending, huh!

The silent exasperation in Lu Jin Zhao’s heart dulled her fear somewhat and made her realize once again that ghosts lacked much intelligence. They acted purely on instinct, which was why those possessed by ghosts spoke illogically and inadvertently revealed the ghost’s purpose.

Humans standing face to face against ghosts had no chance of victory, but humans had brains.

—Rumble

The sound of a train approaching the station.

The train was coming.

The ghost grew more restless. Lu Jin Zhao felt as if the shoulder gripped by the ghost no longer belonged to her.

Not only was her body growing numb, but the ghost’s invasion seemed to slow her thoughts as well.

Something was approaching—an almost instinctive perception—as if a decayed face was staring straight at her, inching closer and closer, waiting for the moment she opened her eyes.

At that instant, she would lock eyes with those murky, pale, dead eyes.

Though she knew she mustn’t open her eyes, her will seemed to waver alongside the growing numbness in her body.

She thought... perhaps it was an illusion conjured by the ghost behind her; there was no ghost before her at all. If she dared not open her eyes and could not escape, she could only wait for death.

The presence before her neared again.

Ghosts did not breathe, so this sensation was purely a feeling.

But it was enough to keep Lu Jin Zhao’s nerves taut, especially since... she caught a strong stench of rot!

That smell was as if she was face to face with a corpse, with less than a centimeter between them!

Suddenly.

An icy touch fell upon her eyelids—somewhat like human skin, but sticky and foul, like a rotten finger pressing on her eyes.

Lu Jin Zhao’s breath caught; she felt her eyelids being forcibly pried open.

She could already see faint images.

Indeed, a ghost stood before her, but its hands hung limply—probably because she hadn’t broken any rules, it couldn’t touch her directly?

So, the one forcibly lifting her eyelids was the ghost behind her?

She had to act. If this went on for more than five seconds, she would die.

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Lu Jin Zhao clenched her teeth hard and drew the knife from her bosom, stabbing fiercely into the hand grasping her shoulder!

—Squelch

The knife pierced flesh, but no scream came from behind.

Naturally, Lu Jin Zhao even doubted whether she could still feel pain.

A chilling cold unlike before radiated from her shoulder—it was blood, the already icy blood of the possessed body.

Could someone still live with blood that cold?

No time to ponder; Lu Jin Zhao immediately shouted, “Cen Duo! If you want to live, make a deal with it!”

At the same time, she took the box from her pocket and pressed it against the wounded hand.

She wasn’t sure if this would work; the risk was great.

She guessed the one possessed behind her was Cen Duo—she was almost certain—but she didn’t know if Cen Duo could hear her or would comply.

Nor was she sure if the box could expel the ghost; even if it did, another ghost was still before her.

Lu Jin Zhao was unwilling to make a deal with this box herself to drive away the ghost in front of her.

Moreover, the train had already entered the station; she would never personally trade with the ghost unless totally cornered.

The next moment, the hand shackling her shoulder suddenly weakened, and the hand over her eyes slipped away.

Lu Jin Zhao knew that Cen Duo’s remaining consciousness and will to survive had made a deal with the box; the box and the ghost had begun to struggle for control over Cen Duo’s body!

An opportunity.

Lu Jin Zhao broke free from the shoulder’s restraint. She heard the roaring train getting closer; soon—no more than three minutes—it would arrive and open its doors.

Bang!

The sound of breaking glass came from outside. Had Lu Jin Zhao opened her eyes, she would have seen streetlights shattering abruptly.

All the lights went out at that moment; the entire station was plunged into darkness as if dragged into some terrifying realm. The only light piercing the gloom was the headlamp of the black beast—the train—approaching from afar.

Alongside the train’s roar, a faint voice from behind—belonging to Cen Duo—echoed.

She was saying...

“Help...”

“...help.”

She was begging for rescue.

But... Lu Jin Zhao could not save her.

Not only because she couldn’t, but because she had no intention of saving her.

She had taken out the box not to save Cen Duo.

From Lin Shuyue’s fate, she knew that in such uncontrolled deals, Cen Duo was doomed.

But since she herself had no way out, Lu Jin Zhao acted without hesitation.

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Sure enough, in less than five seconds, Cen Duo’s voice vanished completely.

Clatter.

The familiar sound of the box dropping to the ground.

An indescribable feeling stirred in Lu Jin Zhao’s heart. According to Jiang Yingzhi and Lin Shuyue’s accounts, this box was a precious tool for self-rescue.

Yet she had used it to kill and exorcise.

Lu Jin Zhao picked up the box and only dared to slightly open her eyes when her gaze was fixed downward. The moment she looked up, a shock struck her heart.

The once somewhat worn wooden box had become brand new.

“...Is it because it ‘consumed’ two people in such a short time?”

Anyone could guess that previous holders of the box would never be as generous as Lu Jin Zhao. The deal could only exist one at a time, and others had controlled the amount for self-preservation; but in Lu Jin Zhao’s hands, it seemed somewhat out of control.

“Perhaps... I can’t let it keep feeding on people anymore.”

As she thought this, a shadow suddenly flickered before her eyes. Lu Jin Zhao snapped them shut.

Time was too tight; that ghost would likely linger before her every moment. If she opened her eyes, she might lock eyes with the ghost the next second.

Lu Jin Zhao could only run toward the train, keeping her eyes tightly shut.

Fortunately, even though the train had stopped at the station, its roar was still loud enough to guide her.

Only...

As she ran toward the train, something tangled around her ankle.

“...Hair.”

Lu Jin Zhao immediately confirmed this in her heart.

Damn it, these ghosts wouldn’t just let living people run onto the train in front of them, would they?

Not only hair—she also heard faint cat cries and smelled the scent of incense candles.

The ghosts had arrived.

And there was more than one.

She dared not open her eyes but knew that many ghosts summoned by the ghost-seeing ceremony had already gathered around her.

Though the train doors were less than a minute away, it felt like an impassable chasm separated her from them.

She would die.

At no moment was Lu Jin Zhao more certain of this.

Even if she hadn’t broken any rules, those possessed would be driven by the ghosts’ murderous instincts to kill her.

She had to get back on the train as soon as possible to have a sliver of hope!