Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 206 Advancement to LV2! Ghost Hunter Jiang Jin!
Outside the Rock Building, the rescue operation has been declared over.

Liu Yan stood outside the cordon, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.

She had just witnessed, through the live broadcast from the command center, her husband Jiang Jin single-handedly reversed the rules, instantly killed four old core powerhouses, and forced Li Ming to retreat.

Jiang Jin... he actually had such hidden strength?
It felt as if something had struck her chest hard, leaving her with a mixture of pride and bitterness.

As a reincarnated sorcerer, she had always been proud of herself. When she learned that Jiang Jin had been corrupted by memes, she secretly vowed to become stronger to protect him. But now... he had actually grown to this level?
As Jiang Jin walked out of the building, he looked at the blood-red jade pendant in his hand.

He remembered the prompts from the reincarnation system very clearly:
[Obtained "Crimson Jade" (Legendary Accessory)]

Effect: Absorption efficiency of resentment ash +500%, rule comprehension +200%.

Of course, this precise value is only available at LV1; it will not be as precise starting at LV2.

Before Jiang Jin could examine the jade pendant any further, thunderous applause suddenly erupted from all directions. The crowd parted automatically, and the three truly important figures from Muxu City arrived together—

Long Mingzhang, head of the Meme Contamination Monitoring Department; Xiao Tianze, deputy leader of the Temple Team and director of the Cleaner Dispatch Center; and Ye Xiu, leader of the Eternal Dream Team and head of the Restricted Area Management Section, all came forward to greet them.

These are the three strongest reincarnation giants in Muxu City, all of them at the peak of LV5! Even Wen Jinsong, the imperial envoy of the court, has to give them face!

"Officer Jiang!" Long Mingzhang stepped forward first and said enthusiastically, "I have decided that you will be the captain of the 12th Patrol Team, effective immediately, and will be directly under the dispatch of the Monitoring Department!"

Before anyone could process the news, Xiao Tianze chimed in: "The police chief of the Jinlin District branch is retiring this year, but the appointment has been delayed until now because a successor hasn't been decided yet. I've already spoken with the city government, and this position... is definitely yours!"

This time, even Jiang Jin was completely stunned.

Not long ago, he was just a low-level police officer, not even in the criminal investigation department. Most of the time, he just handled case reports, looked after files, and helped out when there was a shortage of manpower... And now, he is the director of the Jinlin Branch Bureau???
“Director Jiang,” Long Mingzhang said with a smile, “Don’t worry, the official appointment paperwork will be completed soon! Once you return to camp, you will receive your official appointment letter as the patrol team leader. The team leader will have a monthly salary of 500,000! Also, I know about your family situation. Membrane contamination deciphering isn’t my specialty, but I’ve already contacted Black Sparrow Pavilion to help you with everything they can!”

In fact, a monthly salary of 500,000 is already the salary of a patrol team leader in an area far from the outer ring road. Without Long Mingzhang's approval and special handling, the amount would not have been that high. Even a fool could see the intention behind Long Mingzhang's actions.

"Minister Long..."

Before Jiang Jin could answer, Long Mingzhang waved his hand and said, "Is this settled? Jiang Jin, from now on, you'll be a soldier in our Meme Contamination Monitoring Department! I hope you advance to LV2 soon and take your understanding of rule-based skills to the next level! If you need any resentment crystals, just let me know!"

At this moment, the various teams behind Long Mingzhang heard this and were so jealous that their eyes turned red.

"If you lack resentment fragments, just let me know."
Only Long Mingzhang would dare to say something like that!

At this moment, countless people looked at Liu Yan, only regretting that Jiang Jin was already married! Otherwise, they would have loved to introduce their daughters/sisters to Jiang Jin!

……

The gate of the Yihai camp appeared in front of the Nirvana team, who were surrounded by various reincarnators on their way back.

Some offered feigned congratulations but were actually trying to find out more, while many others stared openly at Jiang Jin's Reincarnator Watch—those gazes were so intense that they all knew the Blood Lord had gifted Jiang Jin the Crimson Jade.

"I heard that Jiang Jin wiped out the entire Old Core all by himself!"

"He's really LV1???"

"Now it seems that the annihilation of Shadow Blade and Crimson was all Jiang Jin's doing!"

"It's said he's mastered some heaven-defying rule-based skills! This means he can already use rule-contamination techniques on reincarnators! Isn't he just a human meme? We can't afford to mess with him! The Yin Sha team actually dared to offend them before!"

"If I were Blood Lord, I would be praying to the gods that no one died before his Nirvana! Otherwise, he would have truly offended a formidable enemy!"

"The Crimson Jade...is it in Jiang Jin's hands now?"

Yu Tianlun stood silently beside Jiang Jin, the peach wood sword that slipped from his sleeve gleaming coldly, forcing back several spies who had gotten too close.

“Go back and we’ll talk.” Yu Tianlun lowered his voice, his gaze sweeping over Jiang Jin. “You owe me an explanation.”

Liu Yan looked at Jiang Jin and said, "Jiang Jin, what other surprises do you have that I don't know about?"

You can tell from her voice that she's been rewatching The Legend of Zhen Huan a lot lately.

Entering the camp villa, Yu Tianlun turned around and said to Jiang Jin, "Take out the Crimson Jade and let me see it."

Jiang Jin took out the Crimson Jade from his watch and handed it to Yu Tianlun.

"This is a treasure that a thousand resentment crystals couldn't buy..." Yu Tianlun's Adam's apple bobbed. "Blood Lord is certainly generous. Jiang Jin, listen to me, this thing will make it easier for you to see the essence of the rules!"

Liu Yan was also surprised: "A thousand crystals of resentment?"

Suddenly there was a loud thunder outside the window and heavy rain poured down.

"Strike while the iron is hot, Jiang Jin!" Yu Tianlun said, returning the jade pendant to Jiang Jin, "Immediately attempt to reach LV2!"

The onlookers outside the villa didn't disperse until the early hours of the morning.

Jiang Jin sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation room, with a vermilion jade pendant around his neck.

He held the crystal of resentment in his hand and began to absorb the ashes of resentment. When the jade pendant shone brightly red, the black ashes of resentment within the crystal were drawn out like silk threads and entered Jiang Jin's nasal cavity with his breath.

His skin gradually became transparent enough to see the wall behind him—a sign of ghostly transformation.

Soon, when the fourth crystal of resentment was exhausted, a sudden change occurred.

Jiang Jin's left eyeball began to transform into a ghostly pupil!

"I've done it! Now I'm almost LV2!"

The Crimson Jade allowed Jiang Jin to absorb the ashes of resentment more efficiently to transform himself. Now, most of his body has become ghost-like, and he has already stepped into LV2!

The death knell, standing nearby, seemed to sense something as well, revealing an excited expression!
"Alright, let's take this opportunity to start absorbing the fragments of resentment!"

The reason he didn't use so many resentment crystals before was because absorbing resentment crystals at LV1 does more harm than good. But with the help of the Crimson Jade, his understanding of the rules will be much stronger!
Of course, only family members know their own situation. Jiang Jin was not the peerless genius Long Mingzhang imagined at all; he relied entirely on the cheat-like abilities of his hidden profession, the "Cunning Lawyer"!
Therefore, absorbing a fragment of resentment crystal is the limit for him right now. One must take things one step at a time. Even if he successfully comprehends the rules, he probably won't be able to develop any overpowered rule-based skills, and skills themselves are often limited by the characteristics of one's profession.

"Then... let's begin!"

Jiang Jin took out the resentment crystal fragments and began to absorb them!
Resentment fragments and resentment crystals are completely different!

Resentment Shards are carriers of constant-scale causes! In essence, they are materialized fragments of rules! There are only two ways to obtain Resentment Shards: the first is by damaging evil spirits with Resentment Crystals, with a higher probability of generation from rule-based evil spirits; the second is by hunting Ash Ghouls, which have a certain probability of dropping Resentment Shards after being injured... Of course, the premise is not to die at the hands of Resentment Ghouls.

The second method is extremely dangerous. Over the years, even LV3-LV4 players have died at the hands of Ash Ghouls. They are forever active in the Oblivion Layer, and the deeper an Ash Ghoul goes into the Oblivion Layer, the purer the Resentment Shards it drops. Theoretically, only the Interdimensional Layer can yield the legendary 100% pure Resentment Shards. These are rarer than misprinted stamps; there are probably only a handful nationwide.

This is just a regular fragment of resentment with relatively average purity, but even for a LV1, it's extremely difficult to absorb. There's a good chance of accidentally becoming corrupted by the rules themselves. But with the Crimson Jade, Jiang Jin's chances are much higher.

"Okay...I'll give it a try!"

Ingest, begin!
……

Next, Jiang Jin began to absorb both the resentment ashes and the fragments of rules simultaneously!

The ashes of resentment will transform the body and soul, making them more adaptable to the contaminated layer! Then, navigating the contaminated layer will be much easier, and the SAN value will be more stable!

Absorbing fragments of rules allows one to gain a deeper understanding of the rules, thereby comprehending true rule-based skills! These skills can then unleash even greater power within the contaminated layer!

The statement that rules are sacred is true in itself. Within the powerful rule domain created by Li Ming and others, even LV4 reincarnators would die from the curse of rule corruption if they violated the rules! However, the only drawback is that they themselves are also bound by the rules! Therefore, after Jiang Jin rewrote the rules, they faced dire consequences!
After all, no one could have imagined that such an overpowered profession as the "Cheat Lawyer" would exist (even Zhou Chen had his memories of the Cheat Lawyer erased)! Jiang Jin is, in essence, a human-shaped bug!

Under the influence of the Crimson Jade, Jiang Jin continued to absorb the shards of crystal without hesitation. A massive amount of resentful ash was successfully absorbed under the Crimson Jade's influence, perfectly merging with his body and soul. Finally, his skin became completely translucent, and the ghostly power flowing through his internal organs became clearly visible.

At this moment, he had begun the final stage of his advancement to Ghost Hunter!
His body and soul will be completely transformed! His materialistic physical form will undergo a complete metamorphosis!
At 3:20 a.m., Jiang Jin slowly opened his eyes. Stars swirled in the depths of his dark pupils, and he could see even the smallest dust particles in the air very clearly.
The Dark Eyes have been completely transformed!
Jiang Jin has now fully advanced to LV2 class! He has become a Ghost Hunter!
Moreover, that's not all!
A message from the reincarnation system appeared in my left eye!

"Reincarnator Jiang Jin, you have advanced to Hunter LV2: Ghost Hunter."

Your pupils have acquired the rule-based skill: [Space-Time Deep Vision]: It costs 5% of your SAN value to activate once, allowing you to see any future scene within the next half hour!
There are three rules for this skill:
First, this skill can only be used once a day.

Second, each use will permanently decrease vision by 10 degrees, which cannot be reversed by any means.

Third, it is forbidden to disclose any visions of the future to anyone other than oneself in any way.

What an incredible skill!
A 10-degree decrease in vision each time? No big deal. You can always get glasses eventually. Compared to the benefits this skill can bring, it's completely negligible. And...

Jiang Jin tried to modify three rules using his ability as a "magic lawyer".

For example, instead of allowing it to be used only once a day, he tried changing it to allow it to be used three times a day...

However, the result was quickly obtained: LV1 rule tamperers cannot modify the rules of rule-based skills.

It seems we need to find a way to raise the rank of the "Deceptive Lawyer" as well.

He had previously tried to inquire about how to advance his rank, and the answer he received was that he had to find a special NPC within the quarantine zone to unlock the method to advance to the level 2 of the "Cunning Lawyer".

"As long as I can get promoted, I might be able to add, delete, or even create rules on my own in the future!"

At that time, whether it's a reincarnator or meme contamination, what does Jiang Jin have to fear?

Early in the morning, Jiang Jin's phone vibrated incessantly on the bedside table. He groggily grabbed it and saw the screen was overflowing with unread message notifications—

"Director Jiang, this is Wang Hui from the Jinlin Branch. When will you be coming to the station to hand over your duties?"

"Officer Jiang, this is the Patrol Dispatch Section of the Meme Monitoring Department. Your uniform has been ordered!"

"Brother Jiang, I am Liang Ji from the Yin Sha team. I apologize for any offense I may have caused you before, and I will come to apologize in person another day!"

"Mr. Jiang, I am Gao Lan from Black Sparrow Pavilion. I would like to invite you to dinner tonight. The location is up to you."

Jiang Jin rubbed his temples, about to turn off his phone, when he suddenly saw a message—

"Captain Jiang, this is Ye Xiu."

Ye Xiu is the head of the restricted area management section of the Meme Contamination Monitoring Department, so he refers to Jiang Jin by his title.

"At noon today, we would like to invite you and the entire Nirvana team to a banquet at the Tianzi Pavilion of the Jinding Hotel. General Manager Li will also be back and would like to express his gratitude to you. We hope you can take the time to attend."

"What's wrong?" Liu Yan sat up, her long hair falling over Jiang Jin's shoulder.

"Ye Xiu, the team leader of Yongmeng, is treating us to dinner," Jiang Jin handed her his phone, "and specifically asked us all to come."

Liu Yan glanced at it and frowned slightly: "Commander Ye? Oh, right, the General Manager Li we rescued yesterday is practically Commander Ye's future in-law. In three days, General Manager Li's son will be marrying Commander Ye's only daughter."

"Registering for marriage through the reincarnation system?"

"It is said that the marriage was registered through the Reincarnation System at the wedding, which can be considered a powerful alliance between the two parties. After all, Li Yuanxiu is the strongest witchcraft reincarnator besides Lady Pustules. As long as he advances to LV4, he may be able to contend with her! The imperial court has been thinking about completely eradicating the Insect Nest team for a long time."

"Then we really can't not go."

Even on a national scale, Ye Xiu is one of the strongest Reincarnators in the top tier. We still have to give him face.

The Jin Ding Hotel is located in the most bustling area of ​​Changming District, and even on the rooftop helipad, three armed helicopters bearing the Yongmeng team's emblem are prominently parked.

As soon as Jiang Jin and his group stepped into the lobby, eight reincarnators dressed in black suits immediately came forward to greet them. The man in the lead bowed respectfully and said, "Captain Jiang, Commander Yu, and Commander Ye are waiting on the top floor."

The elevator went straight to the 8th floor, and the moment the doors opened, Jiang Jin's pupils contracted slightly—

At the entrance of Tianzi Pavilion, two life-size replicas of Qin terracotta warriors stand on the left and right, their bodies covered with talismans and their eye sockets flickering with ghostly blue flames.

This is no decoration; it's clearly a "gatekeeper spirit" tamed by the Eternal Dream team!
"Hahaha, our hero has arrived!"

Amidst hearty laughter, a middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit strode over.

His temples were slightly gray, and his face was refined. He was Ye Xiu, the leader of the Eternal Dream Guild whom I had met yesterday, and one of the peak level 5 reincarnators in Muxu City.

"Commander Ye." Jiang Jin clasped his hands in greeting, his gaze sweeping over Ye Xiu's back.

Ye Yinghuo, dressed in a light purple dress, nodded to him; Li Tianshi, in a sharp suit, was full of gratitude; and the young man standing beside him was his son, Li Yuanxiu, who was scrutinizing the Nirvana group with a critical eye.

"Don't be shy!" Ye Xiu warmly put his arm around Jiang Jin's shoulder. "It's just a casual meal today, and we'll talk about a few things."

Suddenly, he noticed Jiang Jin's eyes and exclaimed, "You... you've advanced to LV2?"

"Luckily, I broke through this morning." To be honest, if it weren't for the Crimson Jade given to him by the Blood Lord, Jiang Jin would have needed a considerable amount of time to advance, let alone successfully develop a rule-based professional skill on his first absorption of resentment crystals.

"Hahaha! Good, good, excellent!" Ye Xiu exclaimed excitedly, "You are truly a force to be reckoned with! Your advancement speed is impressive, no less than Long Mingzhang's! Come, everyone, please!"

After entering the private room and taking our seats, the waiters began serving cold dishes.

……

After a few rounds of drinks, Ye Xiu suddenly put down his glass and said, "Actually, there are two things I wanted to discuss with you all today."

He clapped his hands, and a waiter brought over a gilded invitation card with a large double happiness character on the cover.

"First, my daughter Firefly is getting married in three days," Ye Xiu said with a smile, looking at his daughter. "The groom is Li Yuanxiu, the young master of the Rock Group and the leader of the Netherhounds. He will soon become my son-in-law!"

Upon hearing this, Li Tianshi grinned from ear to ear, clearly extremely pleased with the marriage. Ye Yinghuo appeared somewhat shy, behaving like a girl in love, but Jiang Jin keenly noticed that Li Yuanxiu... seemed rather indifferent.

However, this is not surprising, since this marriage is clearly a strategic alliance.

"Secondly..." Ye Xiu's tone suddenly turned serious, "After what happened yesterday, I'm worried that the Old Core... and even the Bug Nest, might cause trouble at the wedding."

Yu Tianlun put down his chopsticks: "So Commander Ye is thinking..."

"Please invite the Nirvana team to the wedding as well," Ye Xiu said, looking directly at Jiang Jin. "No need for a gift, but... we hope Captain Jiang can lend a hand with the wedding security. The reward is negotiable: Resentment Crystals, dungeon intelligence, or even a favor from Eternal Dream."

The private room fell silent instantly.

At this point, Yu Tianlun was numb. In the past two days, a large number of people had been desperately sending money to Nirvana, and the line of people wanting to join Nirvana had once again become very long. He even had to leave Yinqiu and two probationary interns at the camp to conduct interviews.

Yu Tianlun said solemnly, "Commander Ye, you flatter us. There's no reason to accept gifts at a wedding. We will definitely be there to offer our congratulations."

Jiang Jin nodded, "It's nothing, Commander Ye, you're too kind."

"Great! That's satisfying!" Ye Xiu laughed, raising his glass. "Then... it's settled!"

(End of this chapter)