Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 241 Soul-Splitting Nail

Two days later, in Changming District, Muxu City.

Tianyang Hospital.

Of course, it's more accurate to describe it as a futuristic luxury health resort than a hospital.

Inside the streamlined, pure white building complex, there are wide green belts and incredibly fresh air. At the entrance, there are no bustling crowds like in a public hospital, only security personnel in high-ranking uniforms silently patrolling. Their eyes are sharp and their steps are steady; clearly, they are no ordinary people.

On the surface, this is the most prestigious private hospital in Muxu City, catering to wealthy businessmen and celebrities. In reality, it is secretly controlled by the government and is a special medical institution that serves only reincarnators. The interior is decorated with extreme luxury and comfort, with spacious and bright corridors, even covered with sound-absorbing carpets. Each ward is comparable to a presidential suite in a five-star hotel.

All medical staff have undergone the most rigorous screening and training, and have signed extremely strict confidentiality agreements, so much so that they are no longer surprised by patients with all kinds of strange costumes or even inhuman appearances.

With Captain Ye Xiu recuperating here, the hospital's security level has been raised to the highest. Considering the possibility of further assassinations from the insect lair, the Membrane Contamination Monitoring Department has granted special permission: within the hospital grounds, Reincarnators are permitted to use all their professional skills and tools for self-defense, and will not be prosecuted as long as innocent people are not harmed. This has created an atmosphere of tension and danger permeating the hospital.

Jiang Jin, Yu Tianlun, and Li Hao, the reincarnator sent by the Temple team, walked through the excessively quiet corridor and headed towards the top-floor VIP ward area.

Li Hao tightly gripped a specially made lead box, inside which was a fragment of resentment crystal, which had just been obtained from the Lanruo Temple instance and transformed by a special "meme carrier" processed by the cleaner.

This shard contains the unique power of the Lanruo Temple meme's rules that repel Gu worms, and it is their greatest hope for saving Ye Xiu.

Jiang Jin secretly calculated in his heart. If he could save Ye Xiu, the leader of the Yongmeng team and an old friend of Minister Long, it would be an immense favor. The Yongmeng team would definitely repay him in full, which would be crucial to the future development of the Nirvana team. At the very least, with this relationship, even if that madman Blood Lord wanted to do something wicked, he would have to consider the weight of Long Mingzhang and Yongmeng.

Of course, the relationship between Long Mingzhang and Ye Xiu was somewhat superficial. When Mo Xiu took over the Yongmeng team and expelled Ye Xiu's wife and daughter, Long Mingzhang did not offer any help. He clearly felt that the living new leader of Yongmeng, Mo Xiu, was more valuable than the dying old leader, Ye Xiu.

However, as long as Ye Xiu can come back to life, everything will be fine, and Long Mingzhang will naturally change his attitude then.

However, as soon as they approached the secluded area where Ye Xiu's ward was located, the three of them sensed that something was wrong.

In the rest area outside the ward, five or six reincarnated individuals sat or stood guard. Their eyes were arrogant, their aura fierce, and they made no attempt to conceal their malice, completely blocking the entrance to the ward.

The leader was a middle-aged man with extremely sinister eyes and arms covered in tattoos.

"Stop! What are you doing?" The tattooed man stepped forward and blocked the three people's path without any politeness. His gaze swept over the lead box in Li Hao's hand with scrutiny and vigilance.

Li Hao suppressed his displeasure and said in a deep voice, "I am Li Hao from the Temple team. I have come here on the orders of Minister Long to treat Captain Ye Xiu."

"Treatment?" The tattooed man scoffed, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "Don't you know what state Commander Ye is in right now? Stop tormenting him and let him rest in peace. You're not welcome here, please leave!"

Li Hao's face darkened!
Rest in peace? Ye Xiu isn't dead yet, is he?
"I am from the Temple team! I am here on behalf of Minister Long! Do you dare to stop me?"

"The Temple Team?" The tattooed man's sneer deepened. "So what? I'm a member of the Eternal Dream Team, and I only obey Commander Mo Xiumo's orders! Commander Mo has decreed that no one is allowed to disturb Commander Ye's 'rest'!"

"How dare you disobey Minister Long's orders?!" Li Hao's voice was filled with anger.

The tattooed man smiled confidently: "I wouldn't dare. But Minister Long is the leader of the Temple team. If we, as reincarnators, violate the rules, there's nothing we can say. Otherwise, according to the laws of the court, the government cannot interfere in the internal affairs of a reincarnator team. I am a member of Eternal Dream, so naturally I have priority in carrying out Commander Mo's orders. Please leave!"

Yu Tianlun and Jiang Jin exchanged a glance, immediately understanding. This watchdog wasn't worried about disturbing Ye Xiu's rest; it clearly intended to kill him!
Once Ye Xiu wakes up, those who quickly switched sides to Vice Leader Mo Xiu after Ye Xiu's assassination attempt, and who may even have participated in the ostracization of Ye Xiu's wife and daughter, will definitely not have a good ending!

Mo Xiu's confidence in confronting Long Mingzhang head-on stemmed from his own strengths. Although he was only LV4, he had gone to great lengths, using the essence of countless living beings and vengeful spirits, combined with ancient evil spells from Southeast Asia and two fragments of resentment, to create a "blood puppet incarnation," which he then hid deep within the annihilation layer of a terrifying dungeon.

This avatar is intertwined with his original body; as long as the avatar remains, even if his original body dies, he can be reborn through it, which is almost equivalent to having an extra life! It is precisely because he has this trump card that he is so unscrupulous.

Jiang Jin even had an even more terrifying suspicion: Mo Xiu was so eager to kill Ye Xiu, even at the cost of offending Long Mingzhang, was he colluding with the mastermind behind the assassination of Ye Xiu—the Insect Nest team?!

"Looks like there's no room for negotiation?" Li Hao's eyes turned cold. Like Yu Tianlun, he was a Level 3 Shaman and wasn't afraid to fight.

"Talk?" The tattooed man sneered, waving his hand. The Eternal Dream Reincarnators behind him drew their weapons. "Please leave. Don't you understand?"

"You're courting death!" Li Hao roared, refusing to waste any more words. Instantly, a bone chain covered in runes appeared in his hand. He chanted incantations, and a blazing white halo suddenly spread out from him, impacting the crowd opposite him!
Unlike Yu Tianlun, he did not follow the path of shamanism that unites the body with the Dao, but instead followed the path of "barbarian shamanism" cultivation!
Yu Tianlun moved almost simultaneously! He drew his longsword, and although it was not fully unsheathed, the incomparably sharp sword intent had already transformed into a tangible pressure, pressing down on his opponent like a mountain!

"Brother Jiang! Here! Go save people!" In the midst of the chaos, Li Hao spotted an opening and suddenly threw the lead box containing the shards of resentment towards Jiang Jin!
Jiang Jin caught the lead box without hesitation, and his body instantly became blurry and transparent—Ghost Hunter LV2 Core Skill: [Ghost Transformation]!
Advancing as a hunter is difficult, but because of this, once you advance, your skills have a much higher priority in the reincarnation system than those of other hunters!

Like a ghost without a physical form, he completely ignored the energy barrier and physical obstacles hastily set up by the Eternal Dream Reincarnator and broke through into the VIP ward!

The rules of the reincarnation system determine that the hunter's penetration skills have a higher priority than these ordinary defensive spells!

However, the moment Jiang Jin walked through the door and entered the ward, the scene that came into view made his pupils shrink and his anger surge to the top of his head!

The ward was extremely spacious and luxurious, with various life-sustaining instruments operating silently. In the center of the ward, Ye Xiu lay on the bed, his face ashen and his breath barely perceptible.

But standing beside the bed was a young woman with a face that was both alluring and ruthless—Bai Miya!
She was holding a gourd that was spinning continuously and emitting a dark suction force. The mouth of the gourd was pointed at Ye Xiu's brow, trying to absorb the last bit of Ye Xiu's extremely weak soul!
Jiang Jin had seen her profile picture and recognized the woman at a glance! She was the one who infiltrated the wedding to help Li Yuanxiu, who was attempting an assassination, escape!

So that's how it is! Their desperate attempts to stop them weren't out of fear of disturbing them, but because Bai Miya was inside performing a soul-snatching act!
They were definitely in cahoots!

"Stop!" Jiang Jin roared, and the Death Cry shotgun instantly appeared in his hand. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger!
boom!boom!
The bullet whistled out and shot straight at Bai Miya!

Bai Miya was clearly taken aback by Jiang Jin's ability to break through the barrier so quickly. She was startled and hurriedly stopped absorbing souls. She quickly dodged and turned the mouth of the soul-absorbing gourd sharply towards Jiang Jin!

"You're courting death!" Bai Mia was both shocked and furious. She was a Soul Refiner Level 3, specializing in extracting, refining, and manipulating souls. In theory, she should have been able to crush a Hunter Level 2 Ghost Hunter!
however--

Jiang Jin's hunting instincts and combat experience, honed through numerous life-or-death trials, far exceeded her expectations. Although the bullet failed to directly cripple her as a Soul Reaper, the impact and anti-magic properties still caused her blood to surge. More importantly, her SAN value immediately began to drop after the bullet struck her!
Bai Miya screamed and released several ferocious ghosts that she had usually refined, which rushed towards Jiang Jin.

Despite the danger, Jiang Jin remained calm, moving quickly to evade while firing steadily. The shotgun spat out phosphorescent flames, each bullet hitting the core of the vengeful spirits with pinpoint accuracy, causing them to howl and retreat, their souls unstable.

At the same time, the low growl of the death knell sounded, and the Ghost Domain skill was activated, further weakening and interfering with the actions of these vengeful spirits.

In an instant, a fierce chase ensued in the spacious 200-square-meter hospital room. Bullets whistled, ghostly figures loomed, and flashes of light from colliding energies flickered intermittently.

But the more Jiang Jin fought, the more confused he became.

This Bai Miya is really too weak!

Despite having the LV3 rank, his control over his professional abilities, timing, and skill combos are incredibly rough. He doesn't resemble a seasoned veteran at all; he's more like a useless bum who only has a high rank and relies entirely on equipment and items to build up his stats!
The vengeful spirits she released were all show and no substance; their resentment was scattered and weak. Apart from the soul-absorbing gourd, which was quite troublesome and constantly generated suction to try to pull Jiang Jin's soul, they posed almost no real threat to Jiang Jin.

Thinking back to Zhou Chen and Qin Mei, who were both LV3 and had left a deep impression on him, the woman in front of him was completely different! How did she even reach LV3? Was it all thanks to her mother, Madam Bai Ye, the vice-captain of the Insect Nest, who used resources to force her to reach LV3?

Unable to break through after a prolonged attack, and instead being overwhelmed by a newly promoted LV2, Bai Mia was both anxious and angry, remembering that she had failed to kill Aurora Georgia before, and couldn't save face.

It's now!

A cold glint flashed in Jiang Jin's eyes as he keenly seized the moment when her old strength had just been depleted, her new strength had not yet been generated, and she was showing a weakness due to her impatience! He suddenly took out an item and a rusty hunting crossbow that had not been used for a long time from his Reincarnator watch!

This is a loot he obtained from the previous [Headballoon] dungeon (he couldn't remember which bloody team's legacy it was), a rather rare ranged attack item.

[Name]: Soul-Splittering Nail
[Type]: Consumable Item/Ranged
[Effect]: You can fire an energy spike that ignores most physical defenses with the Rusty Hunting Crossbow, directly attacking the target's soul essence. If there is unstable energy in the target's body (such as unabsorbed resentment ash), there is a very high probability that it will cause energy leakage or even backlash.

A nail about three inches long, completely black, with twisted silver patterns wrapped around its surface, appeared in Jiang Jin's hand. He quickly attached it to the rusty crossbow and aimed at Bai Mia to fire!

call out!
A nearly invisible streak of gray-black light flashed across the ward in an instant!

Before Bai Miya could react, the Soul-Splitting Nail had already pierced her chest! There was no wound, no blood, but she suddenly let out an extremely shrill scream!

"Ahhhh——!"

She felt as if her soul had been pierced by a red-hot iron nail! Even more terrifying, the "resentment ashes" within her body, which were the foundation of her power and had not yet been fully refined and absorbed, were now escaping wildly outwards along with the force of the nail, as if they had found an outlet! Her power level began to plummet like an avalanche!

"No! My power!!" Bai Miya felt in horror that her LV3 rank was slipping away from her, the intense pain and the backlash from the drop in her power almost driving her to the brink of collapse. Forgetting all about the mission, she frantically pulled out a return-to-town rune and screamed as she activated it!

A silver light instantly enveloped her, and the next second, she and the Soul-Splitting Nail disappeared from the ward.

……

At the same time, the Bug Hole team appeared in the world, in a core safe house, inside a luxurious but cold-blooded villa.

Pfft!
Bai Miya fell to the floor in a disheveled state. The excruciating pain in her chest, as if her soul had been torn apart, still lingered. What terrified her even more was the rapid loss of power within her body and the collapse of her cultivation realm!
"Ahhh! Mom! Mom! Save me!" she screamed like a pig being slaughtered.

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Madam Bai Yewei rushed in!

When she saw her daughter's appearance, her expression changed drastically. She immediately stepped forward to check on her, and as soon as her fingers touched Bai Miya's forehead, her face turned extremely pale.

"You... you've lost a huge amount of resentment ash! Your cultivation level..." Bai Yewei's voice was filled with disbelief and anger, "...dropped back to LV2?! What happened?! Weren't you supposed to be stealing Ye Xiu's last bit of soul? How did it turn out like this?!"

Bai Miya simply clutched her chest, tears streaming down her face, too pained to speak coherently, her eyes filled with fear and resentment.

Bai Yewei was both angry and anxious when she saw her daughter's useless behavior. Her eyes were so dark that they seemed to be dripping with water!

Back then, she didn't hesitate to frame the Blood Lord in order to get her daughter promoted to LV3, but now... it's all gone!

(End of this chapter)