See the Law of Deception

Chapter 2 Summoning Ghosts (1)

A deafening roar, accompanied by a thin mist that seemed to rise from nowhere, intruded into the silent underground platform.

An ancient, roaring steam monster broke through the thin mist and slowly came to a stop in front of the crowd.

This was a rather old train, the kind that seemed to only appear in museums and black-and-white photographs. But now, it stopped right in front of Lu Jinzhao, its open doors like the entrance to hell, greeting the uneasy newlyweds with "Welcome."

"Check your ticket first, we can talk about everything else once we're on the train."

The woman in the lead looked at the newlyweds, then picked up the black ticket and walked to the train door, seemingly to demonstrate to the newlyweds how to have their tickets checked. Her movements were very slow.

Lu Jinzhao could clearly see that when someone approached, a small window suddenly opened on the right side of the car door, and a pale, thin, withered hand reached out from the opening to take the ticket that the woman had handed in. After about three seconds, the ticket was handed back out.

After collecting the tickets, the woman turned to the newlyweds and said, "Checking tickets is simple, but absolutely do not do anything unnecessary."

The ticket checking process was not complicated. When it was Lu Jinzhao's turn, she placed her black ticket at the window, just like the others before her.

The next second, the slender hand reached out again. However, unlike when she was watching from the side, at such close range, Lu Jinzhao clearly felt a cold aura approaching her with the movement of the hand, like a tide constantly invading her, until those strange fingers touched the ticket.

The chilling atmosphere abruptly ceased, and all the eerie phenomena came to an abrupt end. Only then did Lu Jinzhao belatedly realize that he had unconsciously held his breath.

It was like an unconscious physical reaction when facing a crisis. When she came to her senses, she realized that her heartbeat had been speeding up without her even noticing.

She wasn't sure if others felt the same way, but she now understood why women warned them not to do anything unnecessary.

Dangerous, very dangerous.

Even after just a brief contact, alarms were going off incessantly in Lu Jinzhao's brain.

From a young age, she possessed a more acute sense of perception and intuition than the average person, which made her more susceptible to all sorts of "frights." Sometimes, even when nothing had happened, she would inexplicably feel terrified.

But never before had her brain felt like it was about to explode with a sense of crisis, issuing her a sharp warning.

Two seconds later, when the ticket was handed out, she successfully retrieved it and boarded the train, only then did her wildly beating heart begin to calm down.

The layout inside the carriage was not like that of a regular train; rather, it resembled a private compartment. Although Lu Jinzhao's ticket clearly stated "no seat," the train did not seem to restrict her from standing. It appears that the meaning of "no seat" was not simply that.

Only after the environment became slightly "safe" did she have a chance to glance at her ticket after it had been checked.

Overall, there haven't been any major changes. The only change is that the amount column has changed from 100 to 200.

Did ticket checks increase the amount of unknown currency?

The girl who had first met Lu Jinzhao noticed her puzzled expression. Perhaps to fulfill her previous promise, she stood next to Lu Jinzhao and explained briefly:

"You should have noticed the numbers on your ticket, right?"

"In the words of our predecessors, that was the money the train gave us to save our lives."

"Money to buy your life?" Lu Jinzhao paused slightly, then asked, "What's the use of this money?"

Upon hearing this, the other two newlyweds in the car also looked over.

The woman's tone was no longer gentle, but carried an indescribable solemnity and warning: "The money to buy your lives, as the name suggests, is money used to buy your lives."

"Don't blame me for not reminding you, no matter what, you absolutely cannot spend all the money on your ticket."

"As long as you have money, you still have life."

Seemingly concerned that the train journey wouldn't be too long, the woman didn't go into too much detail about many things, but she clearly stated the most important taboos.

This also includes boarding the train when the station is shown on the ticket. Each station is a very difficult task, and what's most terrifying is that there are usually ghosts on the platform.

To complete the mission alive is undoubtedly difficult, even life-threatening. While the train will not give missions that will kill everyone, every mission is definitely not well-intentioned.

Among the passengers on duty, there is no doubt that the mortality rate was highest among newcomers.

These words made the three newlyweds in the car look rather unpleasant, but even so, the woman simply told them clearly:

"If you really encounter a life-threatening crisis, no one will come to save you; you can only rely on yourselves."

"It's almost time, the train is about to arrive at the station, I'll give you one last piece of advice."

"The mission given by the train must be completed, even if you feel that doing this mission is just sending yourself to your death, you still have to do it!"

"If we fail to complete the mission, the train will be more terrifying than a ghost."

After she finished speaking, she briefly introduced the passengers on the train to the newlyweds in the last few minutes before the train arrived at the station. Then, with the rumble of the train slowing down, the train arrived at the platform.

There were no announcements or broadcasts inside the train; instead, the doors opened silently after the train came to a complete stop.

"Get out of the car." Lu Jinzhao clenched her fists. Now she understood. Although she didn't know why Lin Zhao did this, she was undoubtedly involved in the supernatural event. Right now, she had better follow the rules and save her life.

When Jiang Yingzhi mentioned the extremely high mortality rate of newborns, she recalled the blood-written words that appeared on the sheepskin at the train station.

Paying a price to survive

She seems to have a shortcut that others don't have, but what is the end of this path?
What price will she have to pay?
Lu Jinzhao had a strange sense of foreboding, which made her reluctant to take out the parchment for the exchange.

"I'd better not do that unless it's absolutely necessary."

Having made up his mind, Lu Jinzhao finally stepped out of the car.

As soon as she got out of the car, she surveyed her surroundings. Clearly, she was no longer in Yuncheng.

She thought of Thailand, which was written on her train ticket. The surrounding environment did indeed resemble places she had seen in movies, such as Chinatown.

"Don't worry about language issues; the train won't create difficulties for the mission in this way."

"Our mission time is 12 hours, and we need to complete 9 encounters with ghosts. Time is tight, so let's find a bookstore right now."

The leader of this temporary team formed by the train was a woman named Lin Shuyue, because, according to Jiang Yingzhi, she had the most experience with the most train platforms.

"Since the mission time is so tight, the bookstore shouldn't be too hard to find."

With that, she led everyone into this Chinatown in Thailand.

The weather was somewhat gloomy, and judging from the position of the sun, it was around three o'clock in the afternoon. Lu Jinzhao had a bad feeling in his heart, which meant that if the method of seeing ghosts was drawn later in the order, the completion time would be midnight.

Regardless of how many horror movies or ghost stories one has watched, everyone knows that midnight is definitely not a good time. Lu Jinzhao could only pray that the number he drew wouldn't be too late.

Fortunately, the bookstore was easy to find. Shortly after entering Chinatown, they saw an old bookstore with a sign hanging on it.

The paint on the bookstore's name on the signboard was almost completely worn away, and no matter how hard Lu Jinzhao tried, he couldn't make out what the bookstore's name was. It was tucked away inconspicuously on one side of Chinatown, occupying only a very small space. There was a wooden display rack at the entrance with some promotional slogans written on it.

"There are very few people."

Xu Lei looked around and frowned.

Not only was the weather gloomy, but there were also very few pedestrians, a stark contrast to the bustling Chinatown I had in mind.

The buildings here all exude a sense of the last century. Occasionally, someone will open a window from upstairs and look down. Their gaze will linger for a few seconds after seeing the crowd entering Chinatown before they retreat back into the window.

The whole street exuded a strange atmosphere, as gloomy and oppressive as the weather.

Upon entering the bookstore, Lu Jinzhao smelled a slightly pungent odor, probably because the bookstore was small but packed with a large number of books.

The bookstore owner, a middle-aged man, asked Lu Jinzhao and his companions listlessly without even looking up, "What kind of books do you want to buy?"

He only looked up at them when Lin Shuyue answered the Ten Methods of Seeing Ghosts.

After examining it carefully for four or five seconds, the boss asked in a low voice, clearly tinged with the stench of a heavy smoker, "Are you sure?"

"Are you going to play some kind of ghost game again?"

"Don't blame me for not warning you, those young people who bought this book from me last time, they're all dead!"

As if he were talking about some shocking urban legend, the boss's expression became much more serious.

Just like the beginning of most horror movies, the protagonists always have to do something stupid first. Now, Lu Jinzhao and the others are the same. They ignored the bookstore owner's warning and still bought the book called "Ten Ways to See Ghosts".

As she left, Lu Jinzhao felt uncomfortable with the way the bookstore owner looked at them, as if he were looking at someone who was about to die.

Not everyone present had seen the movie "Ten Ways to See Ghosts," so they needed to read the book first to determine exactly which ten methods were involved.

However, after reading the method, the atmosphere fell into a deathly silence.

Simply because the ten methods are:
The methods include: cup spirit, knocking a bowl at a crossroads, black cat playing hide-and-seek with ghosts, smearing corpse mud, head-down, combing hair at midnight, holding an umbrella indoors, transplanting a dead person's cornea, pregnant woman's suicide, and finally, the ultimate method of seeing ghosts: playing dead.

"There are no pregnant women among us."

Someone slowly uttered these words.

Yes, Lu Jinzhao thought to himself, if there are no pregnant women, it means that the person who draws the number "pregnant woman suicide" is destined not to complete the ghost-seeing mission.

In other words, someone has to die?!

Infinite flow, no romantic pairing
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(End of this chapter)