Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 265 Invitation to Join the Team

Jiang Jin could sense that Deathstroke had already penetrated quite deep into the Lost Layer before discovering Tana's body!

So……

He immediately chose to recall the death knell!
He glanced at his watch; SAN was now beginning to fall into the Mysterious Layer.

After confirming that no one was in the bathroom, he closed the door, then braced his body against the door, reached his hand to his right eye socket, and removed his right eyeball!
The intact eyeball was quickly transformed into a ghostly bullet!

Next, he took out the Scream and began loading bullets. Of course, the Scream was currently in invisible mode.

As he loaded the Ghost Eye Bullet, he decided to transform it into an [Insect Bomb]. Based on the Ghost Eye Bullet, it would naturally produce a stronger area-of-effect attack on spirits!
Moreover, the sound of death itself will also remind Jiang Jin whether the evil spirit has come to his vicinity!
next moment……

The door to the cubicle that had been slightly ajar suddenly opened as if by an invisible force!
The Death Knell, now back in the mysterious layer, also began barking wildly in that direction!
The next second, the vein-like patterns on the barrel of the shriek gun began to light up!
Jiang Jin's ghostly eyes stared at the gun's scope, but no spirit entity was highlighted in the scope yet!
"Come on..." Jiang Jin gritted his teeth. As long as he fired a Soul-Locking Bullet, he could mark the spirit with a [Hunter Mark]! This mark could be triggered once every five minutes, both burning the spirit and helping him locate it!
Ultimately, the task issued by the reincarnation system is to find the true location of the evil spirit!
"bring it on!"

Lin Lu was restless in the restaurant.

Jiang Jin took far too long in the restroom, far exceeding the normal range.

She grew increasingly worried: Had she encountered one of the situations mentioned in the rules? Or had she discovered something?
But she was a girl, and had a typical social anxiety personality, so she didn't dare to barge into the men's restroom to check, and didn't even have the courage to go over and peek.

Just as she was feeling extremely anxious, Saran suddenly leaned closer, looked closely at her face, and said with some doubt, "Hey, Lu Ni, your eyes... for a moment just now they looked a little... scary."

"Ah? Do I have one?"

"How should I put it, you seem particularly cold, and a bit...unfamiliar? I've never seen you like this before."

Lin Lu's heart skipped a beat!

Was it because she had learned black magic? Or was it because of the resentment absorbed by the doll, causing those cold energies to subtly influence her?
She forced a smile, but her heart was in turmoil.

Isn't this also a form of rule corruption? Can I survive this alone?

She recalled Jiang Jin's previous explanation of meme contamination and SAN values: "Miss Lin, it's like this. Simply put, most ghost stories in human history are actually about a very small number of people whose SAN values ​​temporarily dropped due to accidental fright, near-death experiences, or contact with yin energy. Their mental fluctuations happened to resonate briefly with the mysterious layer, allowing them to see those wandering ghosts or remnants of the past. In the past, meme contamination did not exist or was extremely weak, and SAN values ​​could slowly recover naturally after dropping. Therefore, 99% of the supernatural ghost sightings in human history were just fleeting glimpses of the mysterious layer by chance. Most of the time, the vast majority of people lived peacefully in the material world. This is why so many people have died in human history, including countless unjustly killed ones, but real, continuous ghost stories that are widely known to the general public are so rare."

“But things are different now,” he said, his tone turning somber. “The era of meme contamination has arrived. Rules around the world have been distorted, and the sources of contamination are constantly radiating power, making connections with the Mysterious Layer and even deeper dimensions both easy and dangerous. SAN values ​​drop easily, but recovery is extremely difficult. This kind of ‘ghostly’ experience has become a daily nightmare for us reincarnators… and even for many ordinary people.”

Lin Lu recalled that he also mentioned that meme pollution in China mainly manifests as a kind of rule pollution called "Ashes of Resentment," a drifting black dust that is omnipresent and erodes people's hearts. Other countries also have their own forms of manifestation: Japan has "Ferry of the Dead," India has "Echoes of the Dead Hill," and Europe has "Devil's Blood." It is even said that the currency used by European reincarnators is a strange item called "Indulgence Tickets," which are said to be able to be exchanged for four to five Crystals of Resentment.

This information filled Lin Lu with deep fear and helplessness. When the meme contamination outbreak occurred, she was still a primary school student. All she knew was that it was a terrifying disaster sweeping the globe, schools were closed, and people were filled with panic.

She had a habit of clipping and collecting newspaper articles about meme pollution when she was in school, both frightened and unable to resist the urge to learn more. In fact, rumors about "reincarnators" and "people with superpowers" have been circulating for the past ten years or so, but they have all been denounced as rumors by the authorities. Now she understands that those are the truths that have been covered up.

She vividly remembers the year she took the college entrance exam; the security at the exam site was extremely tight. The Meme Contamination Monitoring Department deployed a large number of personnel, and it was said that ten fully armed patrol teams patrolled the perimeter of the exam site. Looking back now, those people were practically reincarnators! They were afraid that the students' collective SAN values ​​would fluctuate under high stress, potentially causing contamination and turning the entire exam site into a red-code restricted area!

For a long time, the people of Muxu City have longed to leave this polluted city and seek work elsewhere. However, the monitoring department has consistently used "preventing the spread of meme pollution" as the primary reason to impose extremely strict restrictions and scrutiny on those who wish to leave. Permits for long-term work outside the city are extremely difficult to obtain.

This lockdown has exacerbated the economic problems in Muxu City, leading to soaring prices and a continuously rising cost of living. Security in the suburbs is also deteriorating, and more and more people are becoming desperate.

Inside and outside Muxu City, the purchasing power of the same denomination of RMB differed drastically. Because so few people could safely transport goods in and out, the risks and costs were extremely high, causing many things inside Muxu City to be several times more expensive than outside. Many people's previously comfortable standard of living plummeted, and many shops closed down; her parents were among them.

She had always dreamed of earning enough money to move her parents out of the suburbs and into the city, so that she wouldn't have to see them working odd jobs from dawn till dusk at their advanced age, and she wouldn't have to worry about meme contamination day and night anymore.

She had already planned to break up with Jin Chenglin completely. After all, she could die in the horror instance at any time, or one day her SAN value would drop to zero and she would become a memetic carrier. Memetic contamination was a curse that would accompany her for life, incurable, so why drag someone else down with her?
For the first time now, she realized that she might not be entirely worthless. The old neighbors who told her when she was a child that she had "heavy yin energy" and "unique destiny" might actually lead her further down the strange path of becoming a sorcerer.

But could this destiny help her successfully absorb the doll's resentment? She remembered that on the way to the mall, Jiang Jin had briefly mentioned the doll's original owner—the famous, ruthless reincarnator, "Witch Queen" Xia Yu. It sounded like a very prestigious name, while she herself was, after all, just a newly recruited reincarnator.

Just as she was lost in thought, suddenly—

“Ahhhh——!!!”

Lin Lu suddenly clutched her head, letting out a shrill scream, and slid off the chair, curling up in pain on the carpet!

Her mind felt like it was about to explode!

Countless fragments of memories that did not belong to her, filled with extreme pain, resentment, and fear, flooded in like a burst dam!
That was... Xia Yu's memory!

And the resentment of those who were cruelly murdered by Xia Yu before their deaths!

……

In the Silent Hill instance, on the large bed in a motel room.

Xia Yu leaned lazily against the headboard, covered only by a thin blanket that barely reached her thighs, outlining her breathtaking curves.

Even though Lin Lu was watching through Xia Yu's memories, she couldn't help but be attracted to her body. A complex emotion, a mixture of amazement and unease, welled up in her heart. It was a kind of beauty that was almost eerie and full of primal allure. Every line seemed to have been carefully sculpted by Nuwa.

Even covered by the blanket, she could still clearly see the outline of Xia Yu's full breasts, her slender yet powerful waist, and her long, straight legs... The scenery under the thin blanket was so beautiful that it was enough to make any normal person's mouth dry.

Beside Xia Yu stood the Blood Lord. Lin Lu looked at this man with a gloomy and powerful aura, only to see his pair of emotionless eyes.

Then, Xia Yu raised a slender hand, her fingertips lightly tracing circles on the Blood Lord's bare chest. Her voice carried an innate allure, yet beneath it lay a chilling calculation and cruelty:
"Blood Lord, isn't my apology sincere enough...?" She parted her red lips slightly, her breath sweet as orchids, "I'll have to trouble you to put in some effort. Help me find a batch... um, some reincarnators with good 'aptitude,' preferably those skilled in soul-related professions, and then lock them up in some isolated restricted area. Afterwards, I can go over... and properly 'harvest,' properly feed... my cursed puppets." Blood Lord suddenly reached out and grabbed her chin, the force so strong that she frowned slightly, but there was no pity in his eyes, only a cold, merciless inspection of goods.

His deep voice carried undisguised sarcasm: "Hmph...apologize? That sounds nice. Xia Yu, I bet 100 crystals of resentment..."

Blood Lord leaned closer to Xia Yu, his breath hot on her face: "Today, I'm afraid this isn't the first time you've cheated on your unlucky husband, is it? Judging by how practiced you are, you're probably already a public bus that anyone can get on?"

These words were extremely insulting, but Xia Yu showed no anger on her face. Instead, she flashed an even more alluring and seductive smile, as if she had been praised.

Instead of struggling, she slithered closer to him like a snake, continuing to respond with her seductive voice, her words utterly shameless: "Oh dear, Commander, you have such sharp eyes! You even noticed that? But don't worry..."

She stuck out her tongue and licked her lips suggestively, her eyes captivating: "Now that you've planted this soul mark on me... from now on, this bus of mine will absolutely be yours alone... your private car. From now on, I'll be at your service... 'driving' anytime, and I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

Blood Lord's deep voice rang out: "Fine. But don't let me down. You must at least reach LV4 in the future to be worthy of my investment."

Then, the scene abruptly changed!
Inside the eerie Qingtan residential area, about a dozen reincarnators were bound by anti-magic shackles, their faces filled with despair and fear.

Xia Yu walked in like a queen, a cruel yet delightful smile on her face.

The massacre begins!
Those reincarnators died in extreme pain, their souls forcibly extracted and sucked into the spell puppets that Xia Yu always carried, wailing as they were absorbed.

Before they died, they used their last strength to utter the most vicious curse, which formed an almost tangible black resentment that clung to Xia Yu, only to be greedily absorbed by her...

"No...no...it's too cruel..." Lin Lu convulsed on the ground in pain, tears mixed with cold sweat streaming down her face. The horrific scenes and overwhelming resentment almost overwhelmed her reason.

"Ahhhh!"

The immense torrent of resentment was instantly sensed by Jiang Jin, who was in the bathroom!

The veins in the gun barrel began to flicker!
The next moment, the patterns completely faded.

The tolling of the death knell has now ceased!
That ghost... seems to have temporarily left the Mysterious Layer?

Because we need to avoid the torrent of resentment that has spread here?

After a long while, the terrifying flood of memories slowly receded. Lin Lu collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, her eyes unfocused, her whole body drenched in cold sweat.

At this moment, Jiang Jin returned. Seeing this scene, his expression became extremely grave! Seeing Lin Lu lying on the ground, he immediately went forward to help her up: "Lin Lu! What happened to you?"

Lin Lu grabbed Jiang Jin's arm, her fingers turning white from the force, her voice trembling and choked with sobs: "Officer Jiang...it's too, too cruel...that Xia Yu...and that Blood Lord...they don't treat people like human beings! They treat human lives like disposable resources! Doesn't the monitoring department...doesn't the monitoring department care?!"

Jiang Jin paused for a moment, then helped her to her feet. He said to the astonished Saiti and Saran, "She's feeling a little unwell. I'll take her home first." He then half-supported and half-carried Lin Lu and quickly left the restaurant.

On the way back to "Sweet Home," Lin Lu was still unable to shake off that terrible memory.

After listening to her description, Jiang Jin sighed and explained, "The killings between reincarnators that occur in the quarantine zone and inside the terrifying instance... are, in principle, not investigated by the monitoring department. The rules there are self-contained, the law of the jungle. The fighting between reincarnators for resources, resentment crystals, and promotion opportunities... is tacitly approved, and even encouraged to some extent. The government's explanation is that only in this way can the strongest warriors be selected to fight against memetic contamination..."

"The government... how could the government do this..." Lin Lu felt a chill run down her spine, and her worldview was greatly shaken.

The waves of resentment originating from Xia Yu's memories continued to assault her consciousness, making it difficult for her to remain calm.

However, Jiang Jin keenly noticed that despite the intense impact of resentment, Lin Lu's spirit did not seem to be collapsing. Although her SAN value fluctuated, the decline was far less than he had expected.

And just now... Although the ghosts from the Lost Layer would definitely be greatly weakened if they came to the Mysterious Layer, since the Mysterious Layer retains most of the physical laws of the Material Layer, the fact that they could temporarily retreat because of Lin Lu, a newly promoted reincarnator, is quite a terrifying talent!
“Your ability to adapt to the corruption of rules… seems to be much stronger than that of ordinary people.” Jiang Jin looked at her thoughtfully.

Then, Jiang Jin lowered his voice and told her, "Just now in the restroom, I had Deathstroke go deep into the Lost Layer... and we saw Tana's body. He died a horrible death... like his face was skinned alive. He died in the Lost Layer, so there's nothing in the restrooms of the Material Layer, and everyone will just assume he's missing. Moreover, it seems that I triggered that 'third person' to come to the Mysterious Layer because of this, but the resentment you released temporarily repelled it!"

Lin Lu covered her mouth in fright, her eyes filled with fear and shock.

Reaching a relatively quiet alleyway, Jiang Jin took out a crystal of resentment from his watch and handed it to Lin Lu: "Hold it, try to sense and absorb the 'ashes of resentment' inside. Don't rush, take it one step at a time, just like you sensed the pottery jar and the little ghost before."

Lin Lu was a little nervous, but she still held the slightly burning crystal of resentment as instructed. She closed her eyes, concentrated, and tried to mobilize the power of the sorcerer.

Unexpectedly, the process went exceptionally smoothly. The cold, chaotic, and negatively charged "ashes of resentment" within the shattered crystals, as if drawn by an attraction, slowly and obediently flowed into her body, where she initially refined and absorbed them with almost no rejection reaction!
At the same time, the resentment that she had previously absorbed from the cursed puppet, which was not yet fully refined, also seemed to be stirred and began to merge more smoothly and completely with her soul.

“Very good,” Jiang Jin’s eyes flashed with surprise and approval. “It seems you are indeed very suited to this path. Remember this feeling, slowly refine it, and transform it into your own power. This will gradually improve your abilities and level as a sorcerer.”

Lin Lu felt a mix of emotions as she sensed the cold but gradually controlled power within her body.

Fear still exists, but a strong will to survive and a determination to become stronger and protect parents also begin to quietly grow!
At that moment, Jiang Jin no longer hesitated and decided to extend an invitation to Lin Lu.

Lin Lu perfectly matches Yu Tianlun's team member selection requirements in terms of both talent and character! With her strength, advancing to LV2 in a short time is absolutely no problem!

As the deputy leader, he has the authority to recruit trainee team members!

"Miss Lin, as the vice leader of the Nirvana Team, I formally extend an invitation to you: Would you like to join our Nirvana Team? Our leader is a Level 3 Reincarnator, and our leader's mission is: never to engage in senseless killing, but only to become stronger and save this city from meme contamination!"

(End of this chapter)