See the Law of Deception

Chapter 104 Inheritance (10)

After quickly bandaging the thigh, Lu Jinzhao turned his attention to the human skin that was quietly sitting on the workbench.

She tried moving her fingers and found that although her body felt a bit rusty, her fingers were recovering quite well.

It was already past midnight, and she had to hurry up and prepare the skin she had peeled off herself to dry in the shade. She also needed to use this human skin to complete her task for the day.

Lu Jinzhao first prepared his own hide and placed it in a wooden frame before starting to complete the task assigned by his "master" for the day.

With memories of the past "three years," the drawing wasn't too difficult for Lu Jinzhao, and everything seemed to go smoothly when he worked on the human skin.

Although it took a lot of time, she had finished the drawing before dawn.

But the real test is yet to come.

The most troublesome and skill-testing carving stage.

One day was still too short. Fortunately, the task did not require them to make a particularly exquisite shadow puppet, as long as it met the requirement of being a "human-shaped shadow puppet".

Therefore, Lu Jinzhao used the simplest script, featuring an ordinary-looking little girl.

Clothes are the simplest and easiest style to make, while hair is a little more complicated.

As for the girl's expression, she only intended to maintain the calmest demeanor.

When Lu Jinzhao picked up the carving knife to make a cut, the techniques his master had taught him naturally came to mind.

Normal shadow puppet carving is divided into relief carving and intaglio carving. Because she did not design any patterns on the shadow puppet's clothes, there were fewer parts that needed to be intaglio carved.

As the carving progressed, Lu Jinzhao gradually discovered something.

Her fingers, which were touching human skin, were changing.

The fingerprints are slowly disappearing.

Suddenly, a sentence she had once heard popped into Lu Jinzhao's mind: "Hands are a person's second face."

Fingerprints are also one of the most unique things about a person.

Now, as she slowly touches the human skin, her fingerprints are disappearing.

It was as if her face was being slowly erased, and she herself was being devoured by human skin.

As the carving slowly took shape, the originally dried-out human skin regained some resilience and luster, as if it had absorbed vital energy and come back to life.

As Lu Jinzhao watched the shadow puppet gradually take shape, an indescribable feeling of disgust welled up within him.

She even wanted to tear the shadow puppet apart immediately.

But no.

To survive, she had to tolerate this thing.

At least, tolerate it for now.

By the time she finished carving, it was already afternoon.

Lu hadn't left her room all day, yet she didn't feel hungry.

She thought that her stomach might be completely ruined.

As she finished carving and began to apply color, the problem became more and more obvious.

She had designed the simplest clothing for this shadow puppet, without any patterns, and even the clothes were black. Yet, when colors were added to the shadow puppet and the light in the room changed slightly, the shadow puppet seemed to tremble slightly with the light and shadow.

It seems like it's about to come back to life.

Just one breath away.

Just a little bit.

As Lu Jinzhao watched the shadow puppet gradually taking shape under his hands, he couldn't help but take two steps back and stare at it for a while before letting out a soft breath.

This is bad, extremely bad.

This thing... it's getting more and more sinister the more you look at it.

The fact that a shadow puppet could be made in such a short time is already suspicious enough. Now, this shadow puppet, made under such rough conditions, actually shows a strange sense of exquisite beauty!

God knows she really did a pretty perfunctory job. But even so, the shadow puppet seemed to have absorbed something and repaired the rough parts of her work.

"This damn thing, could it really have sucked away my life essence?"

She's practically dead now, half-dead, so she can't feel anything.

Perhaps we need to check on the current state of our other companions to know.

After the coloring was completed, it was already night.

Lu Jinzhao rubbed his tired, throbbing temples, propped himself up, and put the mostly finished human skin into his toolbox before taking it out.

She remembered Fu Xuesheng's instructions, so instead of going to the usual meeting place, she went directly to a spot not far from her master's room.

The room door was open.

Each of them deliberately left the door open when they left.

It's less than an hour until midnight.

Lu Jinzhao carried his toolbox and observed carefully.

Time passes little by little.

While observing, she also felt her own current state.

My heartbeat was still slow, and the ground beneath my feet felt both heavy and soft, an unreal sensation.

Even though the skin on my thigh had been peeled off, I could barely feel any pain; instead, I had a strange sensation.

The pain seemed to have disappeared, but that was definitely not good news.

In dangerous places like train platforms, pain serves as a warning that the body is in danger. Once the sense of pain is lost, it is highly likely that one will lose control and self-control over the body.

Her breathing also slowed down, almost half the normal breathing rate.

There was a long interval between each inhale and exhale.

Without even looking in a mirror, Lu Jinzhao knew that she probably looked more like a female ghost than the shadow puppet in the box.

While I was pondering this, a strange noise seemed to come from my master's room.

Lu Jinzhao's attention immediately focused on the door.

She dared not get too close, for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

Then she saw that the already open door seemed to be touched by some invisible force, and it fluttered slightly.

But that was the only unusual movement.

After that, nothing else seemed amiss.

Lu Jinzhao didn't notice anything amiss until the other companions arrived at the door one after another.

Her brows were furrowed, somewhat confused about what had happened, and also worried about Fu Xuesheng's current situation.

It wasn't that I was worried about her life, but rather that if she died, I wouldn't be able to get any more information from her.

If Fu Xuesheng were still alive, perhaps she could figure out what happened from her experience regarding that subtle noise.
"Junior Sister?"

Someone called out to Lu Jinzhao in a subtle tone. Lu Jinzhao turned his head and saw the person's somewhat suspicious gaze.

"What's wrong?" Lu Jinzhao asked in response.

Hearing the reply, the person seemed relieved: "It's nothing. I didn't recognize you for a moment, I thought..."

Did you think there was a ghost standing here?

Lu Jinzhao added the details in his mind.

She shook her head to indicate that she was fine, and then looked at her companions who were arriving one after another, carefully observing their condition.

Zhong Sui and Ji Xiangchen could tell something was different; Zhong Sui even smelled a distinct bloody odor, suggesting that something must have happened between them.

But Huo Ye appeared calm, and nothing seemed amiss.

Huo Ye was the only person present who possessed a destiny.