Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 136 Fragments and Nightmares

The sky gradually darkened.

Xu Yinqiu wandered alone on the shore. She had already briefly entered the Lost Layer several times, but had always come up empty-handed.

She didn't dare to go too deep into the Lost Layer, after all, she was a Zhuyou professional reincarnator, and once she was deeply lost, she wasn't confident that she could return to the Material Layer through Zhuyou professional skills.

She recalled the last time she observed the SAN values ​​of several people through the Eye of Zhuyou.

When those people first arrived, their SAN values ​​were all above 90%, but as soon as they entered Teacher Park's house, their SAN values ​​began to steadily decline. It was as if the house itself was a source of meme contamination.

The current situation is...

South America: SAN 85%
Kim Myung-ho: SAN 83%
Cho Soon-hee: SAN 82%
Xu Dafeng: SAN 86%
Liu Zhengyuan: SAN 81%
Wu Enying: SAN 84%
Lee Se-ho: SAN 78%
People with a SAN value below 80% will begin to encounter anomalous phenomena in the Mysterious Layer, and Li Shihao is the most dangerous among them.

Unfortunately, the Eye of Zhuyou cannot be opened at any time, so she cannot grasp the pattern of these people's SAN value decline.

Once it falls below 60%, it will be completely lost in the illusion and will never be able to return to reality.

"We must find Jiang Jin and Liu Yan as soon as possible..." she muttered to herself.

She firmly believed that the person the leader had chosen wouldn't die so easily here. Moreover, with so many trump cards up his sleeve, it was hard to imagine him dying so quietly.

But why was his boning knife left on the beach? And why was it stained with blood?

Since there was blood, the prey he wounded must have been marked with a hunting curse. In that case, he and Liu Yan should be able to track down that ghost.

However, the terror of the Lost Layer lies in its unpredictability. Once someone is completely trapped inside, the physical concept of "location" disappears, and they gradually sink into a void.

The folk legend of "being trapped in a maze" is the shallowest manifestation of the maze.

Historically, it is not uncommon for beings to fall into a state of confusion. The Bagua Formation set up by Zhuge Liang during the Battle of Yiling is said to have used Taoist methods to trap Lu Xun in a state of confusion. If it were not for the help of Zhuge Liang's father-in-law, Huang Chengyan, Lu Xun would probably have been trapped there forever.

Items that can resist getting lost are extremely rare treasures among reincarnators.

Xu Yinqiu gritted her teeth and took out an ancient-looking copper coin from her bosom, on which were engraved indistinct runes—

This is "Soul-Stabilizing Coin," which can stabilize SAN value for a short period of time. Even if the SAN value drops to the Lost Layer, it can be used to return to the Material Layer. It is an item used by the Zhuyou profession.

"Hopefully I can hold on until we find them..."

She took a deep breath and continued walking deeper into the coast.

The sound of the waves echoed in her ears, like a whisper, and she could sense that something in the darkness was silently watching her...

As the team healer for the large team Dawn, Xu Yinqiu was no stranger to this feeling. The last time she had this feeling was in the [Hill of Silence] dungeon, or rather... Silent Hill.

Even among thousands of terrifying dungeons, Silent Hill remains one of the most feared. Its boss, Alessa, is practically at the level of the Infernal Realm; even level 4 Reincarnators dare not provoke her. To date, all those who have directly faced Alessa and returned alive are level 5 Reincarnators.

The real world of the Silent Hill instance is the material layer.

The so-called surface world is also known as the mysterious layer.

Once lost in the surface world (i.e., the lost layer), one will gradually enter the inner world of Silent Hill, which is—

Annihilation Layer!
And now, she could vaguely sense a terror similar to that of the Silent Hill world.

Of course, this horror instance cannot involve the Oblivion Layer.

Even so, this instance still made her feel that, like Silent Hill, the Lost Layer was gradually being permeated by the meme pollution of the Oblivion Layer.

She had to be extremely careful to avoid getting "deeply lost".

……

At Teacher Park's home.

Shihao lay on his back on the bed, his mind still agitated.

His fiancée, Eun-young, sat on the edge of the bed, gently took his hand, and asked softly, "What happened? I heard you yelling when I was looking at the paintings on the stairs earlier."

Shihao's lips trembled slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but a subconscious fear choked him up.

He closed his eyes, took several deep breaths, and then managed to speak:
"Eun-young...do you still remember the first time we came to celebrate Teacher Park's birthday?"

Eun-young nodded and said, "Of course I remember. At that time, Mi-ja said she hoped to comfort Teacher Park through this birthday party, otherwise she was worried that the teacher would do something foolish."

Se-ho's eyes darkened: "Yes, that day was really depressing. Young-min had just died, Teacher Park was forcing a smile, and everyone was careful, afraid of saying the wrong thing. They strictly followed every rule."

Eun-young's expression also darkened: "Yes... that night, we stayed here overnight, just like today, to keep the teacher company."

Shihao suddenly sat up, his voice very low: "There's something I've never told anyone."

Seeing his serious expression, Eun-young quickly asked, "Don't scare me, what's wrong?"

"That night, I drank quite a bit and felt really down, so I said I wanted to go for a walk. Do you remember?"

"Yes, I said I wanted to stay with you, but you said no need and just went out."

Shihao gripped the sheet tightly and said, "Actually, I went to... the beach where Yingmin was murdered. The police had just left not long before, and the scene was still cordoned off. I thought at the time... based on many mystery novels, the murderer might return to the scene after committing the crime."

His vision blurred, as if he had returned to that cold, gloomy night.

“That night, the sound of the waves was particularly loud. I stood on the beach, my drunkenness getting worse and worse…” Shihao’s breathing became rapid. “Later, I just felt an urgent need to pee, so I simply unzipped my pants in front of the sea…”

At this point, his Adam's apple bobbed. "And then?" Eun-young pressed.

As Shih-hao recalled this, his pupils began to widen: "When I was halfway through urinating, I saw... someone walking over from the side, slowly approaching me."

Eun-young was taken aback and asked, "Who is it?"

“I don’t know.” Shihao began to recall the events of that day. “I’m just sure he came looking for me because I shouted that I was annoyed and not to talk to me. If it were a stranger passing by, asking for directions or something, he definitely wouldn’t have come any closer after hearing that. But he still walked straight toward me.”

"and then?"

“Then I blacked out.” Shihao’s nails almost dug into his palms. “When I woke up, it was the next morning, and I was lying in my own bed. And everyone said that I came back by myself fifteen minutes later.”

Eun-young's face turned pale: "Wait a minute, I remember that night, after you left, everyone was busy comforting Teacher Park, and no one left to look for you until you came back. So... it couldn't be any of us."

“Yes, that’s what you all say. So here’s the question… who is that person? I don’t know anyone around here except my teacher and you guys. My whole family moved to Chuncheon later, and I don’t have any other relatives in Samcheok.”

The room fell into dead silence.

"Maybe they think it's uncivilized for you to urinate in the ocean, and they want to say a few words to you?"

Outside the window, the wind suddenly became fierce, pounding against the glass.

"If that's the case, was it necessary for him to get so close to me? Wasn't he afraid of splashing his urine on me? And, most importantly, I have a vague feeling... I seem to know that person very well..."

Eun-young unconsciously placed her hand on her chest and suddenly asked, "Do you suspect that the person who killed Young-min is the murderer?"

Shihao did not answer.

But his silence was the best answer.

“You were drunk then,” Eun-young continued, “Maybe there wasn’t even that person, and you just saw things?”

“That’s certainly possible, which is why I haven’t told anyone. But…” Se-ho rubbed his eyes and said to Eun-young, “But ever since that incident, every time I see a blade, or… a compass, I feel a little subconsciously uncomfortable. It’s fine normally, it doesn’t affect my daily life, but it’s especially noticeable here.”

“No wonder you asked the nanny to put sheaths on all the knives at home…” Eun-young pursed her lips and said, “Since we’ve come this far, I might as well tell you too.”

"What?" Shihao asked hurriedly, "You're also hiding something from me?"

Eun-young pursed her lips and said, "Three years ago, after we arrived here, you remember, right? Teacher lost control of her bowels. I thought that since Mi-ja usually takes care of everything, I would help Teacher take a bath. After the bath, I helped Teacher put on the wheelchair, and I felt exhausted, so I went straight back to my room to sleep. But after sleeping for about ten minutes, I woke up because I felt like I had a very scary nightmare. And I found that my room door was open, even though I clearly locked it when I went back to my room."

"Huh? This?"

“I asked Miko, the only one who has a key, privately, but she said she had never opened my room.”

"That's outrageous!" Shihao exclaimed angrily. "Which bastard did this?!"

Opening a woman's bedroom door in the middle of the night? Isn't that perverted?

"I clearly remember locking the door..."

"You must have misremembered?"

"But the problem is... but after that, there's something even stranger..."

"what?"

“I think I had a really scary dream back then. I don’t remember what happened in the dream, but ever since then, I’ve been terrified of seeing staplers. Especially when someone is using a stapler to staple documents… I always instinctively avoid them. I’ve always been too embarrassed to tell you about this.”

Se-ho and Eun-young both fell silent.

……

Coastside.

Zheng Yuan walked over to Xu Yinqiu, who was sitting on the beach, and said, "Yin...Yinqiu, it's cold here at night. Why don't you go back first?"

“Zhengyuan,” Xu Yinqiu looked at Zhengyuan and suddenly asked, “Can I talk to you?”

"Okay, sure?"

Xu Yinqiu's eyes, guided by the power of incantation, were fixed on Zheng Yuan.

His SAN value has dropped below 80%, entering the mysterious layer.

"Regarding those seven rules, before Jiang Jin and Liu Yan, has anyone among you... violated these rules in the past three years? Even just once?"

Hearing Xu Yinqiu ask that question, Zheng Yuan tilted his head and said, "If we have to be strict about it... there was such a time."

"Hmm?" Xu Yinqiu immediately pressed, "What?"

"Let me state first that I can't be sure if others violated the rules, but I didn't tell anyone else. But as far as I know, there was one time. It was two years ago, during the second birthday party for the teacher. At that time, the cake that was reserved for Yingmin remained where it was. But I found... someone had taken a bite out of the cake!"

"Hmm?" Xu Yinqiu asked, "You got bitten?"

"Everyone swore they didn't eat it. But I think maybe someone was greedy and took a bite. But the teacher was very excited and said... it was Youngmin who came back, it was Youngmin who ate the cake! Sigh, at that time, we were really worried about the teacher's mental state..."

Xu Yinqiu was stunned.

"I need to go back and check..."

She's going to check on... that cake that's currently sitting on the dining table in the yard!
(End of this chapter)