Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 205: Fame
Actually, Yu Tianlun himself was the most shocked.

He didn't even know Jiang Jin had such abilities!

"He... I didn't know he had this ability..."

However, no one present believed it. You don't know? You dare send him? Who knew Yu Tianlun's acting skills were comparable to those of a professional politician!
"He..." The first to gasp in shock was Long Cang!
You must know that Long Cang hates Jiang Jin to the bone. This time, the latter volunteered for the mission, which made Long Cang feel extremely happy. He was courting death!

They bled a little, and then, the two elite members of the old nuclear organization on the other side... just like that, they died?
Clearly, this is a rule-based skill! And the most overpowered rule-based skill ever!
Valeria's fingers dug into her palms, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say something, but an invisible fear choked her.

“No…it’s impossible…” she finally managed to squeeze out, her voice hoarse and unlike her own, “He’s just a Level 1 hunter…a Blood Tracker…how could this be…”

Even Ye Yinghuo, who had bet on Jiang Jin, could hardly believe her eyes. Just moments before, Jiang Jin had said something like "You are all dead," and she had even doubted if he was just delusional. But she never expected him to actually kill the two old-core reincarnators so easily?
"Hahaha, Blood Spider!" Ye Yinghuo, being a girl at heart, quickly reacted and said, "Don't forget, it's 100 Resentment Crystals! Of course, if you can't afford it, you can exchange it for Resentment Shards, I don't mind!"

Valeria wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground; she had utterly humiliated herself today!

She has to bear the consequences of 100 crystallized resentments all by herself!
"A rule-based skill!" Xiao Tianze exclaimed without hesitation, "A mere level 1 hunter can actually master such a terrifying rule-based skill!"

“A LV1… even absorbing resentment crystals directly wouldn’t be possible, right?” Ye Xiu was also impressed by the younger generation. He immediately said to Yu Tianlun, “Team Leader Yu, such a talented person is being wasted in your Nirvana team! Name your price, I want to bring him into my Eternal Dream team for training!”

"Ye Xiu, how can you poach someone like that to their face?" Xiao Tianze sneered, "You're really showing no respect for Commander Yu!"

"To be able to comprehend such a powerful rule-based skill at LV1, what would it be like if it advanced to LV2 or even LV3? Even Chang Wuyong back then couldn't have achieved this much, right?"

Chang Wuyong, the leader of the Old Core Organization, is a globally recognized genius! He is only a near-LV5 reincarnator, yet he can instill fear in even true LV5s! Everyone firmly believes that once Chang Wuyong advances to LV5, he will be the undisputed strongest reincarnator in the world! Without a doubt!

In the eyes of the big shots at this moment, Jiang Jin's talent far surpasses Zhou Chen's! At least at LV1, Zhou Chen absolutely does not have this strength!

"Truly, the younger generation surpasses the older!" At this moment, Long Mingzhang only regretted that Jiang Jin wasn't one of his direct subordinates! This was a true genius with the potential to advance to LV5! In the future, when the memetic catastrophe arrives, only LV5 reincarnators will be effective combat forces. What a great help it would be to have an extra LV5 confidant!
What merit or ability do you, Yu Tianlun, possess to have found such a treasure?

Then, he suddenly looked at the Bloody Team's location and glared at them fiercely!
With the Blood Lord currently absent, his rage was naturally directed at him!
What a bunch of idiots! They almost ruined such a promising talent!
Long Mingzhang had already made up his mind: he absolutely had to win over such a genius and bring him to his side! No matter how many resources he poured in, he was determined to cultivate another LV5! If Muxu City could produce another LV5 comparable to Chang Wuyong, he, Long Mingzhang, would be a great hero to all mankind!

On the big screen, Jiang Jin walked up, bent down to pick up the two skull keys, and handed them to Feng Ya: "Commander Feng, you can keep these spoils."

Feng Ya instinctively caught it, but then realized it was too hot to handle. This should have been Jiang Jin's spoils of war!

"You..." Feng Ya opened his mouth, but found his voice terribly dry, "How did you do that?"

"It's just a rule-based skill. I'm sorry I can't explain it in detail."

Rule-based skills?
"You...you found a 100% pure fragment of resentment and absorbed it?"

Even Feng Ya himself thought he had gone mad when he said that.

A Level 1 Reincarnator absorbed 100% pure resentment shards and then successfully mastered a rule-based skill capable of instantly killing elite Reincarnators from the old core?
He felt that the Chinese men's football team had a slightly higher chance of making it into the World Cup semi-finals!
Rule-based skills are essentially the ability of a reincarnator to manipulate memetic rules. But where in this world are there invincible rule-based skills? To achieve a kill against an enemy far stronger than oneself, to kill such a powerful reincarnator, would certainly come at a huge cost and with certain conditions. But upon closer inspection, he noticed that Jiang Jin's SAN value on his watch hadn't decreased much!

How on earth did this happen? Such an incredible rule-based skill could be achieved by a Level 4 Reincarnator with a deep understanding of the rules. For example, the Old Core has experts in this field.

But the problem is, Jiang Jin is only LV1! Without absorbing enough resentment ash to gradually adapt his body and soul to memetic contamination, allowing him to survive and fight within the contaminated layer and build a solid foundation, how could he possibly master rule-based skills? Even today, there are very few LV1 individuals who can master rule-based skills, and even they are unlikely to be very strong! After all, the foundation is what it is. Asking someone to train in boxing for half a year and then go into the ring to fight Tyson is absurd, no matter how talented they are.

The understanding of the rules, in essence, is that the reincarnator gradually transforms the pollution of their materialistic physical body into a form of evolution. In fact, the Old Core Organization also adheres to this view: memes are not pollution, but evolution. This statement is not without merit.

Feng Ya stared at Jiang Jin for a long time before finally saying, "You're really a... LV1? Not LV3?"

“I am indeed LV1. In fact, I have been a reincarnator for less than two months.”

Hearing Jiang Jin's words, Feng Ya could only say: Do you listen to human speech?
You have to understand, he's a Level 4 Hunter. Everyone knows how difficult it is for Hunters to level up. The fact that he's reached this point is already a testament to his exceptional abilities as a Reincarnator. But looking at Jiang Jin in front of him, he couldn't help but feel that all his previous training had been for nothing.

No wonder he dared to follow! He should have thought of that earlier. Under normal circumstances, how could a Level 1 dare to come and throw their life away?

Hurried footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor; Emu's meme-deciphering team had finally arrived.

Su Banxia, ​​who was in the lead, held a Bagua compass, followed by five Zhuyou reincarnation practitioners dressed in white robes.

"Commander Feng, well done!" Su Banxia strode forward, her gaze sweeping over the skeletons on the ground and the two skull keys in Feng Ya's hand, her tone filled with admiration, "I didn't expect your Xuanjia Division to take care of two so quickly!"

"Yes," said the Reincarnator behind him, "That's amazing! Captain Feng, as expected of a LV4 Rule Hunter, once you advance to LV5, you'll be the second vice captain of the Temple team!"

Before Fengya could explain, Chenxi and the Bloody Team arrived.

The Blood Lord approached and, seeing Jiang Jin still alive, felt a surge of displeasure. Looking at the two skeletons, he said, "Which two reincarnators from the Old Core are these? Hmm, Li Ming definitely isn't one of them; he's immortal. Then…"

At this moment, Blood Lord suddenly sensed something was wrong.

Because Feng Ya's expression was quite... indescribable, and his cheeks even twitched slightly.

"What's wrong, Commander Feng?"

Feng Ya raised his hand and pointed at Jiang Jin: "Commander Su, you flatter me. This time it was Mr. Jiang from the Nirvana team who did it."

For a moment, he couldn't even remember Jiang Jin's name. After all, he had always thought that Jiang Jin was just a cannon fodder who came to take credit, and he didn't take him seriously at all.

Blood Lord's brain was momentarily unable to comprehend this absurd logical relationship, and he froze on the spot.

"You're saying... he killed two... Reincarnators from the Old Core?"

Feng Ya gave a wry smile and nodded.

Blood Lord suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Jiang Jin.

"Commander Feng, you have a good sense of humor..."

Su Wuxia, who was standing to the side, also felt that this was too absurd and said, "Commander Feng, didn't you just point at the wrong person?"

"Commander Su, hurry up and find a way to break the rule corruption. I don't have time to joke with you." Feng Ya walked up to Jiang Jin and handed him two skull keys. "I can't accept this without doing anything, so Mr. Jiang, you should keep these keys."

Su Banxia opened her eyes wide and looked at Jiang Jin.

Blood Lord felt his brain wasn't working properly.

"What???"

……

Deep in the corridor on the twentieth floor, reinforcements from the Dawn and Hound teams finally arrived.

Blood Lord walked ahead with a livid face, his heart filled with turbulent emotions.

What...what's going on?
Were the two people who died in the old core level 4 or level 4?
No, that doesn't matter anymore!
Rule-based skills are openly considered the strongest means for Reincarnators. Within the same class, the strength and quantity of class-based skills are the fundamental factors determining the strength of a Reincarnator!

Blood Lord asked himself, Zhou Chen was already a genius, but he had only vaguely grasped the threshold of rule corruption at LV1! To achieve this, he had forcibly embedded resentment crystals into his body and risked his life to obtain them!
How could this Jiang Jin be so strong? It can't be, right? Could it be that he wasn't the one who actually attacked, but Yu Tianlun? Or perhaps, Yu Tianlun gave him a powerful rule-based item?

But soon, Blood Lord realized a reality: Jiang Jin's move was powerful!

He proved his potential right in front of Long Mingzhang!
Long Mingzhang will definitely do everything in his power to cultivate Jiang Jin! In that case, he will do everything in his power to protect Jiang Jin!
And who can touch the people Long Mingzhang wants to protect?

In comparison, although he was only LV4, Long Mingzhang always believed that his chances of advancing to LV5 were slim. In fact, even the Blood Lord himself knew that advancing was far more difficult than for an ordinary Soul Stealer—the price he paid for taking the shortcut. Meanwhile, a genius like Jiang Jin, who possessed such a high level of understanding and comprehension of the rules even at LV1, had a much higher chance of advancing to LV5 than Long Mingzhang, even higher than Zhou Chen! So, in Long Mingzhang's heart, who was more important—himself or Jiang Jin? What if Jiang Jin held a grudge against him…?

Blood Lord's brain was racing at this moment, and he finally came to a conclusion—admit defeat!
We have to admit defeat!
Fortunately... it's not too late! After all, not a single member of the Nirvana team died, but Jiang Jin almost wiped out two of his Bloody Team's sub-teams!
At the same time, he was extremely relieved that Jiang Jin had killed Tang Min! In this way, the curse placed on Yu Tianlun was automatically cleared, and Yu Tianlun didn't even know what curse he had been subjected to from beginning to end!
Under such circumstances, as long as we pay a small price, ask Long Mingzhang to mediate, and most importantly, have Wu Ge's connection, we can immediately admit our mistakes and apologize. There is still hope that we can reconcile with the Nirvana team!
As for those resentment crystal fragments? Blood Lord wouldn't dare covet them!

Those who aspire to great things must learn to be flexible and adaptable! He has no personal grudges against the Nirvana team, so why should he make things difficult for them? Oh, right, Long Cang definitely holds a grudge against Jiang Jin. He must persuade him to admit it when he gets back! If he doesn't understand and insists on revenge, then Blood Lord will have no choice but to cripple him to protect the entire Bloody Team.

Using Xiao Tianze's array as cover, the joint team silently infiltrated the core area. The metal door to the conference room was sealed with a talisman, which Li Yuanxiu broke.

suddenly……

"Step back!" Feng Ya shouted sharply.

The next second, the door exploded!

Three figures burst out of the smoke and dust—the three remaining reincarnators of the old core: the immortal Li Ming, the cause-and-effect reverser Zhao Hui, and the memory compiler Sun Mei.

Li Ming coldly looked at the reincarnators in front of him and laughed loudly: "I knew you would come. Fine, killing you will also give me a lot of skull keys."

However, Jiang Jin was relieved.

They weren't with the hostages, saving them the trouble and effort.

"You're asking for death!" Zhao Hui grinned maliciously, raising his hand, preparing to use his "Cause Reversal" skill...

Jiang Jin cut his hand again, and blood dripped down.

Zhao Hui paused for a second, then suddenly looked down at his feet—he didn't know when, but countless blood vessels had already wrapped around his ankles.

"No...this is impossible..."

Amidst screams, Zhao Hui and Sun Mei's bodies began to melt, their skin peeling off like wax to reveal the writhing black substance beneath.

In just three seconds, the two were transformed into skeletons identical to their previous ones, with crimson blood lines entwined between their bones.

Only Li Ming stood still, his body also entangled in blood threads, yet he could not die due to his "immortal" nature.

Black viscous fluid gushed from his seven orifices, constantly regenerating in an endless cycle.

“Ah…Ahhhh!!”

The extreme pain caused this LV4 powerhouse to kneel on the ground, his fingers scratching at the ground, leaving deep bloody marks.

His eyeballs burst and regenerated, his skin ulcerated and healed, as if he had been thrown into an eternal purgatory.

Li Ming couldn't understand what had happened.
He's Li Ming, the immortal one!

Ten minutes later, Li Ming's screams had become inhuman.

His vocal cords were torn and repaired time and time again, and the sound he made was like rusty gears grinding together.

Because the reincarnation system has a 30% chance of triggering the SAN lock mechanism, his SAN value will not drop below the annihilation layer in a short period of time. And as long as his SAN value does not fall into the interdimensional layer, he is absolutely immortal!

But this survival turned into torture!
Even so, anyone who gets close to Li Ming will have their skin shattered and die completely if he touches even a tiny bit of their skin!
Only then did everyone realize how terrifying Li Ming was!
Finally, Li Ming endured until the SAN lock time ended, and he sneaked into the Annihilation Layer and made his escape! After escaping the domain of rules, he was able to survive.

Li Tianshi, who had been chained up, was finally rescued. The business tycoon was now in a sorry state, but his eyes remained sharp. He looked at the many reincarnated individuals before him and suddenly bowed deeply: "Thank you all. On behalf of the Pan Shi Group, I express my gratitude to you all, especially Mr. Jiang!"

Li Yuanxiu stepped forward and said to Li Tianshi, "Dad, it's good that you're alright."

Then, he turned around, came to Jiang Jin, cupped his hands and thanked him: "Mr. Jiang, I will remember your kindness today. I will repay your kindness later."

Then, he actually planned to leave.

This scene left everyone stunned. What do you mean by this? Aren't you and President Li father and son? Is that all?

Feng Ya recalled the long-standing rumors of discord between the father and son, and now it seemed that these rumors were not unfounded.

As the Blood Lord slowly approached, all the reincarnators instinctively made way for him.

“Jiang Jin.” Blood Lord’s voice was unexpectedly calm. “That brat Wu Ge keeps mentioning you to me.”

Jiang Jin's pupils contracted slightly—Wu Ge? The boy who fought alongside him in the Ghost Festival convenience store instance?
"He said you narrowly escaped death in a rules-based dungeon." Blood Lord took out a blood-red jade pendant from his robes. "Seeing you today, I finally understand what true genius is. There was a misunderstanding between us in the past. It was Han Wei who provided me with false information, which caused our conflict with Nirvana. Consider this jade pendant my apology, and I hope that the Bloody Team and the Nirvana Team can reconcile in the future. If your team still thinks it's not enough, you can contact me again and name a specific price."

Jiang Jin looked at the Blood Lord, and he naturally knew why the other party had chosen to reconcile with him. But he hadn't expected him to lower his stance so much.

This is completely different from the rumored Blood Lord!

"Blood Leader, you're too kind. But you're saying Wu Ge... is a member of the Bloodthirsty Team?"

Jiang Jin was very grateful for the information that Wu Ge had sent about the anomalies in the Korean horror game, and he had always had a good impression of the young man. But he never expected that he was related to the Blood Lord.
“He is my adopted son. However, I have always regarded him as my biological son.”

Jiang Jin was initially skeptical, but after thinking for a moment, he accepted the blood-red jade pendant.

"In that case, I shall accept it without further ado."

For Jiang Jin, the current outcome was naturally the best possible result. He was even more surprised that the Blood Lord would proactively signal a desire for peace in front of so many people.

You have to understand that such a show of weakness would be an absolute loss of face for a Level 4 Reincarnator like him.

However, Blood Lord's thinking was pragmatic: humanity was on the verge of extinction, what use was face! The most crucial thing was that he absolutely could not offend Long Mingzhang, and he absolutely could not allow the imperial court to cut off his resource supply! He did this in public, which was meant for Long Mingzhang's benefit! Moreover, as a Level 4, he had already humbled himself so much to apologize, giving Nirvana enough face. Anyway, no one on your side died, and you even got so many Bloody Keys from us. Now that I've given you this Bloody Jade Pendant as an apology, it should be enough to achieve reconciliation between the two teams.

Finally, he added, "From now on, the two teams will become friends through this rivalry. If you have any needs, you can always contact me through Wu Ge."

Inside the command center, Long Mingzhang looked at Yu Tianlun: "Commander Yu, name your price."

Yu Tianlun raised an eyebrow: "Minister Long, what's this?"

“Jiang Jin.” Long Mingzhang’s eyes gleamed behind his glasses. “I want him to join the Temple team.”

"I'm afraid that won't work," Yu Tianlun smiled. "He is a person who has undergone Nirvana."

"Resources! Access! The LV5 advancement path!" Long Mingzhang slammed his fist on the table. "Do you know what a genius like him means?"

Yu Tianlun remained unmoved: "Then you should understand my character even better."

The two looked at each other for a long time.

“Yu Tianlun,” Long Mingzhang took a deep breath and said, “You should know who I am, Long Mingzhang. Why do you think we should go to aid Japan? Do you really think we have internationalist spirit and are willing to sacrifice our lives to help the Japanese people?”

"I know."

“We need more LV5 Reincarnators! Only the top LV5 Reincarnators have the ability to pass through the Interdimensional Layer, leave the Materialist Layer of Muxu City, and come to other memetic contamination areas! Now, the memetic contamination in Edo cannot continue to expand, otherwise it will spread to us sooner or later! Our country's Materialist Layer is relatively stable, with a vast territory, but how long can it hold out?”

Yu Tianlun fell silent.

"Also, I will handle your affairs with the Bloodthirsty Team. Don't worry... Blood Owl will never dare to lay a finger on you again! If he dares to do so, I, Long Mingzhang, will be the first to cripple him!"

(End of this chapter)