Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 215 The Experimental Field of the Old Core
On August 13, the mountain village was shrouded in the sweltering heat of summer.

Gao Gongwei stood at the entrance of the village, looking at the burning city in the distance, his brows furrowed.

Most of the houses in the village have been destroyed, leaving only a few thatched huts barely standing.

Takamiya Yui stood at the village entrance, gazing at the thick smoke rising in the distance, and gripped the katana at her waist tightly.

Upon entering this terrifying instance, he unhesitatingly chose the samurai class and became a LV1: young samurai.

He also knew the rules: only by surviving the first instance could his SAN value be restored to normal.

However, to his and Xueying's surprise, he adapted to the rule corruption very quickly and immediately obtained the Resentment Crystal reward, which he successfully absorbed. This was incredible for a new reincarnator.

"Mr. Takamiya, you're looking at the sky again." An aged voice came from behind.

Takamiya Yui turned around and saw the village's old woodcutter, Yamada, leaning on his cane, walking shakily towards her. Yamada was one of the few people in the village who had remained rational; most of the other villagers were completely clueless about the current situation and couldn't distinguish between the big and small kings.

Takamiya Yui had never actually experienced this era, but now he was truly experiencing the madness and chaos of this era.

"Mr. Takamiya, how much longer do you think we can hold out?" Yamada asked in a low voice.

Two days to go.

Takamiya Yui knew all too well what would happen next.

"I'm afraid it will be difficult to hold out until the end of this year."

His voice was soft, but loud enough for Yamada to hear clearly.

Just then, Gao Gongwei suddenly heard an angry roar from behind: "What nonsense are you spouting! Traitor!"

Gao Gongwei sighed, turned around, and saw a group of villagers carrying bamboo spears. He couldn't help but sigh again and tightened his grip on the knife in his hand.

……

"Takamiya-kun, I heard you got into another conflict with the villagers today?" Chiba Sakura walked over, holding a yellowed notebook filled with rules.

"I've learned something new," Gao Gongyu shook her head. "They seem to have lost their minds, haven't they?"

“Listen to me,” Chiyu Sakura said seriously, “Ignore these people. What we need to think about is not dying in the bombing.”

Chiyu Sakura opened her notebook and pointed to the first page: "The key is that this village has seven rules."

Article 1: This village will never accept any deserters.

The rule was written in blood-red paint on the village's notice board. Every villager firmly believed that deserters would bring misfortune. Takamiya Yui tried to persuade the villagers, telling them that the war was about to end, but all she received in return were angry curses.

"Coward! Traitor!" an old man spat at him. "How dare you say such things! Are you a deserter?"

Article 2: If deserters are discovered, the village chief must be notified immediately.

The village chief's house is located in the center of the village, and there are talismans for warding off evil spirits hanging at the door.

"Deserters bring curses," the village chief said ominously. "Their souls will turn into monsters."

This sounds like some kind of meme contamination.

Article 3: The deserter's face will gradually rot and eventually turn into a scarecrow.

There was an abandoned barn in the village, filled with scarecrows. Their faces were roughly painted with features, but some of the scarecrows' faces... seemed too realistic.

“Those aren’t ordinary scarecrows,” a child whispered to Yui Takamiya. “They can move.”

Sure enough, that very night, Takamiya Yui saw a scarecrow slowly turn its head, its empty eyes staring at him.

Article 4: Deserters will return to the place where they last hid before their death at midnight.

On the edge of the village stands a dilapidated farmhouse, said to have once been the hideout of a deserter. Villagers say that every midnight, a low whimpering sound, like someone crying, can be heard coming from inside.

Article 5: The deserter's shadow will detach from his body and wander alone.

Several villagers had seen, at dusk, unclaimed shadows slowly moving along the field ridges, eventually disappearing into the forest. The next day, the trees at the edge of the forest were covered with scarecrows.

“The shadow will seek a new host,” the village witch warned. “If you are possessed by it, you will also become a deserter.”

Article 6: Deserters cannot be killed, they can only be "sealed".

The villagers' weapons were ineffective against the deserter. Swords and blades would simply pass through the air. The only way to "seal" the deserter was to wrap his body with strips of cloth covered in scriptures and then burn them.

“But the seal can only last for seven days,” the priestess said. “After seven days, it will return.”

Article 7: The number of deserters is always one more than you know.

Gao Gongwei once counted the scarecrows in the village—seventeen. But the next day, when he counted them again, there were eighteen.

In this world, he encountered the four siblings from the original manga, "The Deserter's House": Atera, Kimie, Kayano, and Kikuyo. However, they insisted that they had never met the original manga's protagonist—the deserter Saburo Furukawa.

Furthermore, Oshima, a reincarnator and Onmyoji member of the Yuki Sakura team, also used his shikigami to infiltrate their family to investigate, but found no evidence that they were harboring the deserter Furukawa. This is quite different from the original storyline. Moreover, Kimie, who supposedly died in March in the original manga, is still alive.

"This afternoon, I want to take you to meet someone."

"To see someone? Who?"

"A person who can change your destiny. A person who can help you survive in this crazy world."

Gao Gongwei pursed her lips and didn't ask any further questions.

Since he demonstrated an amazing ability to resist rule corruption and crystallize resentment in this instance, the Snow Cherry team's attitude towards him has become subtle.

……

In the afternoon, the Snow Shadow team took Takamiya Yui to an abandoned arms factory near a village.

Yui Takamiya followed Yuki Sakura's team inside. The dimly lit factory was illuminated only by a few emergency lights.

"Watch your step," Chiyu Sakura warned.

Yui Takamiya looked down and saw a pool of dark red liquid on the cement floor. It looked like blood, but its surface had a strange metallic sheen.

As they went deeper, Yui Takamiya noticed strange graffiti on the wall—it wasn't Japanese, nor any script he was familiar with, but rather a series of distorted symbols that would make one dizzy if looked at for too long.

Even more bizarrely, the space in some corners seemed to be distorted. He saw a rat run into the shadows, only to reappear out of thin air in an open space three meters away.

"The material layer here is very fragile, you have to be careful," Maki Kobayashi from the Yuki Sakura team explained in a low voice.

Takamiya Yui nodded, forcing herself to remain calm.

"We've arrived." Chiyu Sakura suddenly stopped.

Gao Gongwei looked up, his pupils suddenly contracting.

In the open space in the center of the factory, there is a metal operating table that clearly does not belong to this era.

A man in a white coat was standing by the platform, adjusting some kind of instrument with his back to them.

Hearing footsteps, he slowly turned around—

It was a man around thirty years old, his face so pale it was almost transparent. “Takamiya Yui, right?” The man’s voice was surprisingly gentle, yet it carried an undeniable sense of oppression. “My name is Li Ming, the ‘Undead’ of the Old Core Organization.”

His Japanese was very standard, but strangely, there was a momentary delay between the opening and closing of his lips and the sound when he spoke, like the audio and video being out of sync in an old movie.

Yui Takamiya almost stopped breathing.

He had heard of the name!

"You...you are from the Old Nuclear Organization?" He tried to control the trembling in his voice.

Qian Yuying chuckled lightly: "That's right, our Xueying team has always been an outer member of the old core."

As Li Ming took a few steps closer, Gao Gongwei noticed that he was wearing a modern-style black turtleneck sweater under his white coat, which seemed out of place in this era.

“Are you surprised?” Li Ming noticed his gaze. “In fact, we’ve been studying the anchor points of the materialistic dimension’s spatial layer in this abandoned military factory to conduct experiments on meme rules.”

"Why did you bring me here?" Takamiya Yui asked warily.

"Of course it's because of your abilities, Mr. Takamiya. It's not easy to find a reincarnator like you who is so well adapted to the rules of memes."

"As far as I know, you have always been at odds with various countries..."

"Most people don't understand the real situation and foolishly resist memes. I'm telling you clearly, this war will not end until a new world is born."

Yui Takamiya's fingertips felt slightly cold.

The Old Core Organization—a notorious force in the world of reincarnators—believes that "memes will lead the world's evolution" and is dedicated to accelerating this process. Most of their members are experts in rule-based abilities, adept at using memetic contamination of instances to create catastrophes.

"I hope you will join our Oldcore organization. I will be spending some time in this instance soon. Our Oldcore organization has already established itself in this world as our home world."

"Home-field world?"

"Correct."

"What exactly do you want to do?"

"Simply put, it's about turning the entire real world... into a giant copy." Li Ming's smile gradually twisted. "For this, I'd like to invite you to join the Old Core."

A chill ran down Gao Gongwei's spine.

“What if I refuse?” she asked softly.

The temperature inside the factory suddenly dropped.

The members of Xueying's team quietly gathered around.

Li Ming was still smiling, but his eyes were already cold: "Gao Gongwei, do you think... you have the right to choose?"

Gao Gongwei's fingertips trembled slightly. He knew very well that he was no match for them at the moment.

“...I need time to think about it,” he finally said.

Li Ming stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Fine, I'll give you two days."

……

Two days later.

On this day, the sweltering air was so thick it was suffocating.

Takamiya Yui knelt on the tatami mat, her back soaked with sweat.

The radio emitted a hissing static, like a cicada's dying cry.

"Mr. Takamiya, tea." Chiba Sakura handed over a teacup. Because of Li Ming's high regard for her, she was now even more respectful to Takamiya Yui.

Gao Gongwei did not answer. He knew that today was the day to give Li Ming an answer.

He really didn't want to join this organization, but it was clear that if he didn't, he probably wouldn't have much of a chance to leave this terrifying instance alive.

"They're here." Maki Kobayashi suddenly opened the sliding door.

Is someone coming?

Two figures wearing cloaks walked in.

The moment the tall cloak was lifted, the faces of a man and a woman were revealed.

The man was tall, with a sharply defined, sculpted face. His thick, jet-black hair was neatly combed, exuding an elegant air. His deep-set eyes, like stars, revealed determination and confidence. His straight nose and slightly upturned lips were enough to make countless young women swoon.

The woman was slender with a shapely figure, delicate features, and skin as white as snow, smooth and flawless. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, soft and silky, exuding a faint fragrance.

They were holding hands; they were clearly a couple.

Qian Yuying introduced, "This is Lord Li Yuanxiu, a Chinese witchcraft professional reincarnator, and this is his wife, Miss Di Nanyin, a Chinese hunter professional reincarnator. They are from the Insect Nest team in China and are temporarily here to assist us with the meme rule experiment."

"The Chinese Zergling team?" Takamiya Yui had heard Shirakawa Rin mention it in an email; it seemed to be a very powerful team. "Is the Zergling team also part of your Oldcore team?"

"The insect nest is only temporarily cooperating with the old core. I specifically requested to come here today," Li Yuanxiu said. "You know why, right?"

“I know.” Gao Gongwei was not surprised by this: “You guys really know how to pick dates.”

Li Yuanxiu didn't seem to be used to sitting on tatami mats, so Xueying's team prepared a chair for him in advance.

"I thought you'd be angry if I said that." Li Yuanxiu seemed a little surprised by Gao Gongwei's reaction.

“What’s there to be angry about?” Takamiya Yui waved his hand and said, “We in Edo are only able to survive under the protection of the Dragon Soaring Army. You have no idea… For the past five years, Edo has been living in hell. We are extremely grateful and ashamed that your country has repaid evil with kindness.”

At this moment, Di Nan asked curiously, "Has the situation in Edo improved a lot now?"

"At least in places like Shinjuku and Shibuya, there are more people. Five years ago, who could have imagined that Shinjuku would become so deserted?"

As Takamiya Yui finished speaking, she glanced at the radio beside her.

"I heard that the Chinese city of Muxu entered the Japanese horror game through a place called Baimei Hospital?"

“Theoretically, that’s true, but this isn’t a horror instance housed by White Plum Hospital,” Li Yuanxiu replied. “But you seem to know quite a bit about it.”

“My wife’s sister was a trainee squad leader in the Bloody Team. But we haven’t been in contact recently, so something might have happened to her.”

Then he sighed again.

"I don't know how much longer our country can hold out..."

Finally, that familiar voice began to ring out on the radio.

"I am deeply aware of the global situation and the current state of the empire..."

Everyone listened in silence.

Gao Gongwei recalled Li Ming's words.

"This war will not end..."

(End of this chapter)