See the Law of Deception

Chapter 22 Out of Control (3)

"Besides that, the most important point."

"You must not go to the altar after the ceremony!"

"If you encounter anything strange, you can go to the ancestral hall to take refuge."

There are a few taboos in Qu Township, but they can be summarized as follows: keep a low profile, stay quiet, don't do anything unnecessary, and don't go to places you shouldn't go.

The altar is very dangerous, while the ancestral hall is relatively safe.

"It doesn't sound like a very difficult thing."

After Aro left, everyone sat together to summarize.

"But is it believable that Aro said the ancestral hall is a safe place?"

Looking at the expressions on everyone's faces, it was clear that they all had doubts.

"Perhaps the trap for this platform mission lies here."

Altars and ancestral halls?
"The altar is only dangerous after the ritual is over. Should we go check it now?"

"Indeed, just in case, let's go take a look now."

Lu Jinzhao had no objection to this. Based on the clues obtained so far, the danger of this mission should revolve around the sacrificial ceremony, so it was not wrong to go and find out about the site in advance.

On her way to the altar, she overheard someone muttering:
"Do you think it's possible that normally the altar is safe and the ancestral hall is dangerous, but today it's the other way around?"

Not impossible.

Based on her observations of the ancestral hall, the accumulated dust was not just from one or two months' work, which suggests that no one was allowed to enter or leave the ancestral hall under normal circumstances.

But this is just one of many possibilities.

Lu Jinzhao kept all these possibilities in mind. This was her first time at a Class C platform. It seemed that the dangers of the more difficult platform missions were not as obvious as those of Class D dungeons, but rather passengers had to perceive them themselves.

What she needs to do now is to figure out where the danger might be coming from.

Perhaps because the sacrificial ceremony was approaching, the villagers were particularly solemn about this day, and even during the day, there were hardly any people to be seen on the village paths.

Everyone was at home preparing for the evening's sacrificial ceremony, and they probably also told the children not to go out casually.

It's called an altar, but it's actually just a temple at the very back of the village.

The area is about the same size as the ancestral hall. There are two middle-aged men who look to be in their forties or fifties guarding the outside. Occasionally, people will carry things in and out, probably setting something up.

After a brief conversation, the man allowed them to enter the altar, but also clearly warned them not to touch the statues, not to damage any decorations, and that they could only look around for a while before leaving.

Lu Jinzhao was still inwardly marveling at how smoothly things were progressing without any obstacles when he entered the altar and saw the so-called statue of the god, and couldn't help but frown.

The entire altar enshrines only one statue, which sits in the very center of the altar. However, unlike the tall statues that usually exist in temples, it looks almost life-sized.

Whether it's due to the exquisite carving technique or some other reason, this statue looks so lifelike that it even causes a kind of uncanny valley effect. However, its facial features are rather strange.

An indescribable sense of disharmony and eeriness makes those who look directly at it want to look away.

It looks more like a ghost than a deity statue.

Strange and twisted, eerily ghostly.

No wonder they had to suppress it; this thing doesn't look like anything good.
Once inside the temple, everyone obediently refrained from touching anything and instead focused on observing with their eyes.

Lu Jinzhao noticed that the people inside were also observing them, which wasn't strange, since strangers coming to the village on the day of the sacrifice would naturally attract everyone's attention.

However, in the eyes of these ordinary villagers, there seemed to be a cold, highly noticeable, and extremely unsettling gaze.
While observing her surroundings, Lu Jinzhao couldn't help but turn her head to look at the source of the gaze, but unexpectedly, she met the eyes of that strange "statue".

Lu Jinzhao was startled. The statue was watching her?
Or rather, them.

"This place...is not good." She heard her companion whisper, "Let's get out of here as soon as we're done looking around. I don't think we can stay here any longer."

It seems that she wasn't the only one; others also felt this strange sense of being watched.

After leaving the altar, the pink-haired girl, Wei Ling, said with certainty, "It's certain that the problem lies with the altar, or rather, with that statue."

"That thing is probably a ghost."

Ye Jingyun, who had been following her closely, had some doubts: "Then shouldn't we enter the altar?"

Wei Ling shook her head: "We still have to go. It's important to understand the situation."

At this moment, she, who had seemed somewhat carefree before, suddenly became reliable. But the next second, she put away her serious expression and said to Ye Jingyun in a relaxed tone, "Don't worry too much. There will be signs before something goes wrong. You've already gone through four platform missions, don't you understand?"

Ye Jingyun, who was standing next to her, nodded, and her mindset relaxed a little as Wei Ling spoke.

"Yes, for missions with long time limits, the dangers usually become apparent as the plot progresses. At least now we know where the dangers will come from."

However, things never go as planned on the platform.

And danger always comes with an exceptionally fierce surge.

When the group dispersed to explore the village and agreed to meet at their temporary lodgings for lunch, one person never returned.

Where is Li Haoyang?

"It's almost past lunchtime, and he still hasn't come back?"

Someone shook their head: "No."

"Where are the people who went out with him? Why didn't you come back with him?"

“We originally went to check on the village chief. Li Haoyang was walking at the back, but suddenly he ran off without a word. We couldn't catch up with him, we lost him, and we couldn't find him anywhere. With the rendezvous time approaching, we were thinking maybe he would come back on his own, but…”

As a result, the person still hasn't returned.

Things suddenly started to go wrong.

"Did he exhibit any strange behavior before?"

The person being questioned turned pale when this was mentioned: "No!"

"That's the problem. He stayed with me the whole time after he entered the platform. I'm sure of it, absolutely not!"

"It was sudden; he just ran off like a madman, without saying a word!"

"It was like suddenly seeing a ghost."

At this point, his tone was full of disbelief: "But we're not newbies who've never been to the platform before. Even if we saw a ghost, we shouldn't have panicked like this and run away without saying a word."

Indeed, that's something only a newcomer would do.

His words made the already not-so-heavy atmosphere become somber.

"An anomaly, it's appeared so early?"

There are still at least 20 hours to go!

How will they get through this?

What happened to Li Haoyang who suddenly ran away?
(End of this chapter)