Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 259 The Cunning Lawyer's Advancement Test
After taking a shower, Lin Lu changed into a formal suit that didn't feel like home at all.

She looked at the television in the living room and asked worriedly, "Officer Jiang, what are we going to do tonight? The TV might turn on by itself after midnight. Should we... just unplug it?"

Jiang Jin shook his head, his gaze sharp: "Our mission is to find the true identity of the third 'person.' The anomalies mentioned in the rules, while dangerous, could also be the source of important clues. That image might provide crucial information. The rules only say not to look for more than 5 seconds, which we strictly adhere to; we cut off the power as soon as we glance at it, so the risk is manageable."

Moreover, if Jiang Jin modifies the rules through the "Cunning Lawyer" profession, he can observe for an even longer period. However, he is unsure of the consequences of doing so and intends to proceed cautiously.

Lin Lu thought Jiang Jin's words made sense, but her fear did not diminish: "Then... shall we take turns keeping watch tonight? You rest first, and I'll keep watch for the first half of the night?"

“No need,” Jiang Jin refused. “I’m a level 2 hunter. My physical fitness and mental stamina are much stronger than ordinary people, so staying up all night won’t have much of an impact. You should sleep first and conserve your energy. I’ll wake you up to switch shifts if I need you in three hours.”

So the two decided to spend the night in the living room.

All the lights in the house were on, and the bathroom was brightly lit, as I tried to use the light to dispel my inner unease.

Lin Lu curled up on the sofa, covered with a blanket, and closed her eyes.

However, how could one easily fall asleep in a strange, eerie, and possibly haunted house?

Lin Lu felt her ears had become unusually sensitive; any slight sound—such as the whirring of the refrigerator or the wind outside the window—was amplified infinitely, stimulating her nerves. This caused her to toss and turn, unable to fall asleep at all.

After an unknown amount of time, she sat up and said to Jiang Jin, who was sitting quietly on guard beside her, "Officer Jiang, I... I can't sleep. Could you... tell me about the Reincarnators? The Horror Dungeon, and the Reincarnation Camp... the more I know, the less scared I might be."

Jiang Jin glanced at her, nodded, and began to explain in a calm tone: "The so-called 'isolation camps' on the outskirts of Muxu City are actually all reincarnation camps. The people inside are all reincarnators like you and me. We need to go to terrifying dungeons like this place from time to time to undergo trials, thereby obtaining resentment crystals to improve our strength. Most importantly, we need to keep our SAN value from dropping to zero. Once it drops to zero, a person will die completely or become mutated."

He gave a general explanation of the concept of SAN value decline potential and the dangers of different contamination layers.

"As for the profession of sorcerer," Jiang Jin shook his head, "I know very little about it. The ten major profession systems are complex and bizarre, and there are relatively few reincarnated sorcerers. I am even less familiar with this series of evil spells. You can only rely on that handwritten book and figure it out on your own, but you must always be wary of backlash and corruption. Perhaps, you may have the opportunity to obtain a guiding NPC."

Lin Lu listened attentively. This information lessened her fear of the unknown environment and replaced it with a greater level of anxiety.

But in any case, the conversation made her feel a little more relaxed.

Unexpectedly, the television never turned on automatically, even as dawn broke outside.

This is not surprising, as the rules state "may," so it seems their luck wasn't too bad.

Jiang Jin took a short nap, and the alarm he had set went off at 7:55 a.m. He immediately woke up and woke Lin Lu, who had finally managed to fall asleep in the middle of the night.

"It's eight o'clock. Listen carefully to the chanting."

The two held their breath and focused intently.

Sure enough, at exactly eight o'clock, the faint sound of chanting could be heard from outside the window.

The monks chanted the Pali Buddhist scripture Karaniya Metta Sutta, which aims to spread compassion and goodwill and pray for peace.

"I heard you." Lin Lu breathed a sigh of relief. The requirement of rule number four had been met, so there was no need to do that "atonement" today.

Jiang Jin walked to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked outside. He saw a Thai monk wearing a traditional orange saffron robe, carrying a copper bowl, slowly walking along the path in front of the house.

He was about forty years old, with a shaved head and a calm expression.

Jiang Jin strode out the door, caught up with the monk, respectfully put his hands together in a gesture of respect, and then carefully placed several hundred-baht banknotes into the copper bowl held by the monk.

The monk stopped, bowed in return, and softly recited a blessing in Thai.

“Master,” Jiang Jin asked, his hands clasped together, “I have some questions I would like to ask you to answer…”

However, the monk looked at Jiang Jin and said in clear but accented Chinese, "Benefactor, do some characters sometimes appear in your right eye?"

Jiang Jin's heart skipped a beat!
All information and hints about the mysterious lawyer are transmitted through the retina of his right eye!

This is his biggest secret!

Before he could answer, the monk calmly continued, "You have a karmic connection with Buddha. Would you be willing to accept a test?"

NPCs issue quests!

"What test?"

"Could you please go to the 'Phantom Massage Shop' in Patpong, Bangkok, and find a disrobed monk named Pongpasong? He is wicked and has stolen our temple's treasure, the 'Gilded Bodhi Leaf.' Please help us retrieve it. If you can pass the test, you will establish a good connection with Buddha."

Almost simultaneously, familiar system text appeared on Jiang Jin's right retina:

"Reincarnator Jiang Jin, your career advancement guide 'Bowl-Holding Monk' has issued you the 'Mysterious Lawyer' advancement test mission: [Retrieve the stolen Buddhist treasure].

Mission Objective: Head to the 'Phantom Massage Parlor' in Bangkok's Patpong district, find the evil sorcerer Pompasong, and retrieve the 'Gilded Bodhi Leaf' he stole.

Mission prompt: Pompasong practices Southeast Asian sorcery and is assessed as having strength comparable to a near-LV3 reincarnator. He is proficient in black magic and spirit control. Please proceed with caution.

Quest Reward: Upon successful completion, the 'Cunning Lawyer' profession will be promoted to LV2.

Whether to accept?

whether"

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Jin immediately chose "yes" in his mind!
Opportunities and risks coexist; enhancing one's capabilities is key to survival.

Seeing that Jiang Jin accepted, the monk nodded slightly and handed him a piece of paper: "This is the exact address of the massage parlor. I will come back here at this time tomorrow, and you can return the treasure to me then."

He repeatedly warned, "Remember, do not ask me any other unnecessary questions, and do not try to track me down in any way."

After saying this, the monk stopped and turned to continue his alms round, his figure quickly disappearing around the street corner.

Jiang Jin returned to the house with a solemn expression.

Lin Lu hurriedly asked, "What's wrong? What did that monk say to you?"

“It’s like this,” Jiang Jin explained briefly, “I have to go to the Patpong district on a mission. I’m going alone; you can’t come with me, it’s too dangerous there.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Lu's face turned pale.

Leave her alone in this bizarrely rule-ridden room? After last night, she simply couldn't imagine it.

"No, no! Officer Jiang, I... I can't stay here alone! Please, take me with you. I promise I won't cause any trouble. You go inside and I'll wait for you outside!"

Looking at Lin Lu's terrified and pleading eyes, and considering that the house itself wasn't entirely safe, Jiang Jin sighed, "Alright. But you must absolutely follow orders. Wherever I tell you to wait, wait there. Don't act on your own no matter what happens."

"Okay! I'll definitely listen!" Lin Lu quickly agreed.

After making some preparations, the two went out and hailed a taxi to Bangkok's famous red-light district, Patpong.

The Patpong area is relatively quiet during the day, but you can still see some scantily clad streetwalkers and heavily made-up ladyboys soliciting business.

Following the address given by the monk, Jiang Jin found the environment increasingly chaotic, filled with signs for massage parlors, bars, and adult entertainment venues. Every time a woman passed by, Jiang Jin subconsciously wondered if she was a transvestite.

Finally, he saw the flashing sign of "Phantom Massage Parlor" at the entrance of a narrow alley.

He pointed to a fairly clean-looking fast food restaurant across the alley and said to Lin Lu, "Go there and wait for me. Order some food and drinks. No matter what happens, don't come out, and don't go near that restaurant. Call me immediately if anything happens."

Lin Lu nodded nervously, quickly walked into the fast food restaurant, found a seat by the window, and stared intently at the alleyway across the street.

Jiang Jin took a deep breath and was about to walk into the alley when a wrinkled hand suddenly reached out from a dark corner and grabbed his arm!

Jiang Jin's hunter's instincts almost flared up instantly, but he forcibly restrained himself and turned to look. He was grabbed by an extremely aged old woman, dressed in tattered traditional Thai clothing, her eyes cloudy and barely visible.

In a hoarse, unpleasant voice, she said, "Young man... there's something about you that interests me..."

Jiang Jin frowned and asked, "What is it?"

The old woman leaned closer to him, a glimmer of light seemingly flashing in her cloudy eyes: "Are you... carrying a doll? A... doll filled with resentment and bitterness?"

Jiang Jin couldn't help but recall the doll he obtained after defeating Xia Yu. He had shown it to Murong Yan later, but for her, who hadn't even advanced to the LV2 level of witch puppeteer, Xia Yu's "Queen of Witches" doll was simply too advanced for her to use.

"How did you know?" Jiang Jin asked in a deep voice.

"Hehehe..." The old woman let out a laugh like an owl. "You... can't use it, can you? Let me see it... Maybe, this old woman has a way to make it... work for you."

Jiang Jin quickly weighed the options in his mind.

This old witch's origins are unknown, but she seems to possess some real skills. The doll is currently just a useless possession to her; perhaps she can use this opportunity…

Just as Jiang Jin was being entangled by the old witch, Lin Lu, who was in the fast food restaurant, suddenly received a notification from her Line phone. It was a message from Saiti.

[Sati]: Luni, are you awake? Did you sleep well last night?
Lin Lu looked at her phone, hesitated for a moment, and replied: I'm awake, I'm okay. How about you?
[Saiti]: Same as always. Oh, right, I received a notice from my alma mater last night that the anniversary celebration is coming up soon, and the principal specially invited a few of us to go back as outstanding entrepreneurs. I also sent a message to Atai, but he hasn't replied yet.

Lin Lu's heart stirred; she felt this was a good opportunity to gather information.

[Lu Ni]: Really? That's great. Speaking of which, Seti, I suddenly remembered something from our university days. Did anything... unusual or strange happen back then?
[Saiti]: Unusual? (Sent a thinking emoji) Hmm... how should I put it, back then, Atai came from an outer province (outer provinces refer to provinces outside Bangkok, similar to provinces in China), which was quite difficult. As for his personality, to put it nicely, he's a nice guy; to put it bluntly... he has a bit of a people-pleasing personality and doesn't know how to refuse others.

Lin Lu recalled some fragmented information she had seen in the chat history and tried to guide the conversation to continue asking questions.

[Lu Ni]: Hmm, I remember you mentioned something before, wasn't there a girl... who got pregnant at school and came to Atai asking for help to get an abortion? It seems there was a misunderstanding after all?
[Saiti]: Oh! You mean that incident? (Sends a crying-laughing emoji) Yeah, it was quite unpleasant back then. The girl secretly went to have an abortion, she was scared, so she asked Atai to go with her. Somehow, the girl's parents found out, rushed over, saw Atai there, thought he was the child's father, and beat him up without saying a word. That silly boy Atai didn't fight back or explain himself.

[Lu Ni]: Oh my god... what happened next? Has it been clarified? Atai is definitely not the father of the child, right?

[Saiti]: Of course it was clarified. The girl later told the truth because she was afraid things would get out of hand; the child's father was a boy from another college, and that boy later admitted it too. But Atai got beaten up for nothing.

Lin Lu suddenly noticed something suspicious and typed rapidly.

[Lu Ni]: Then... why did that girl specifically ask Atai to go with her? And not someone else? Like... the child's real father?

[Saiti]: Well... maybe it's because Atai is easy to talk to? You know, abortion is strictly prohibited by law in our country. She doesn't dare go to a regular hospital, so she can only go to those underground clinics. Those places are chaotic and dangerous, and she's a girl, so she's scared. She probably went to Atai because she knew he's soft-hearted and wouldn't refuse people.

Lin Lu stared at the screen, lost in thought. A people-pleasing personality…unable to refuse people…could there be deeper entanglements and resentments hidden behind this?

At the alley entrance, after a brief moment of thought, Jiang Jin decided to take the risk.

He took the ominous-looking doll out of the Reincarnator's Watch.

The doll was exquisitely crafted, but its face was distorted and its eyes were filled with resentment, as if it were alive.

The moment the old witch saw the doll, her murky eyes lit up with a greedy light!
She grabbed it and carefully caressed and felt it.

"My God... such powerful resentment! Such pure curse power!"

She exclaimed, “Young man, you’re wasting it by keeping it! You have no idea how to use it. Give it to me, and I can fix it up and make it safe for you to use. But… you’ll have to pay me 50,000 baht!”

At the current exchange rate, 5 Thai Baht is approximately equivalent to 1 RMB.

Jiang Jin didn't have that much cash, and he couldn't completely trust this witch of unknown origin.

"I don't have that much money right now."

Jiang Jin took out a wad of banknotes from his wallet, totaling 10,000 Thai baht.

When his wife saw the thousand-dollar bills printed with the image of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, her eyes lit up.

"Okay, consider this a deposit. Leave your phone number, I'll contact you once it's all set up... Remember, have 40,000 baht ready!"

"can."

After giving the old woman her contact information, she hugged the doll and disappeared into a dark corner.

Without further delay, Jiang Jin turned around and resolutely walked into the narrow alley leading to the "Phantom Massage Shop".

The death knell followed closely at his feet, emitting low growls, appearing extremely vigilant.

Two burly men with unfriendly expressions sat at the entrance of the massage parlor.

Seeing Jiang Jin approach, one of them lazily looked up and asked, "Who are you looking for? A massage?"

Jiang Jin replied, "I'm looking for Master Pompasong."

The man looked him over and shook his head: "I don't know him. There's no one like him here."

Jiang Jin calmly pulled out two more 1,000 baht bills and stuffed them into the other person's hand: "Could you please think about it again? Is there really no such person?"

The man crumpled the banknotes, then lowered his voice and said, "Third floor, the innermost room. But be warned, he has a strange temper; whether he'll see you or not is uncertain."

"Thank you." Jiang Jin nodded, pushed open the glass door, and went inside.

The store was dimly lit and filled with a strong smell of cheap perfume.

Several scantily clad women sat on the sofa, looking at Jiang Jin with curiosity.

Jiang Jin ignored them, found the stairs, and went up.

The higher you go, the dimmer the light becomes, and the colder the air grows.

Upon reaching the third floor, looking at the long and dark corridor before him, Jiang Jin walked forward step by step, with Deathstroke following closely behind.

He arrived at the door at the end of the corridor, and as soon as he knocked, the door creaked open by itself.

The scene inside the room came into view.

A bald, thin man with no eyebrows was tattooing a woman's smooth back with his back to the door.

Hearing the door open, the man didn't turn around and said in a cold, hoarse voice, "Who introduced you? Don't you know the rules? Wait outside."

Clearly, this person is the evil monk Pomba Song.

Jiang Jin silently retreated into the shadows of the corridor, waiting patiently.

He recalled Lin Lu mentioning that in the game "Sweet Home," there was a very evil sorcerer who was the culprit behind all the misfortunes. Could it be... this person?
About ten minutes later, the woman walked out with a blank look in her eyes and went downstairs as if sleepwalking.

Pompason was cleaning his tools inside when his voice came: "Come in."

Jiang Jin went back into the room.

The walls of the room were covered with all sorts of strange talismans, and there were many magical artifacts and jars whose purpose was unclear.

Pompasong turned around, revealing a bloodless face with sinister eyes. He looked at Jiang Jin and said, "Who introduced you to this place? What do you want? Good luck? Wealth? Or... a curse?"

Jiang Jin didn't bother with pleasantries and went straight to the point: "I'm not here to ask for anything. I'm here to retrieve something you shouldn't have taken—the 'Gilded Bodhi Leaf'."

(End of this chapter)