Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 314 Dark Forest
Zheng Jie screamed in a tearful voice, "Stop hitting me! Time's almost up, it's my turn to choose the fruit!"

Her cries temporarily pierced the madness and violence that permeated the fruit shop.

The fight stopped, but the hostility and suspicion in the air only intensified.

Everyone was panting, their faces and bodies covered in bruises, their eyes scanning their surroundings with the fierce and wary gaze of wounded wild beasts.

The ground was a mess, with trampled fruit spread out in a sticky mess, mixed with Zhou Qiang's dried and blackened bloodstains, emitting a disgusting smell.

Despite the fierce fighting, no one dared to touch the intact fruit on the shelves—it was crucial to their survival.

Time was of the essence. With grim expressions and wary glances, the group once again made their way to the suffocating warehouse.

Just before entering the room, Zheng Jie suddenly grabbed Li Yin's arm, her fingers icy cold, her voice trembling with despair: "Li Yin... tell me, has the ghost... set up traps elsewhere? Like that Golden Nali? Once triggered, is it... certain death? Please, tell me!"

Li Yin sighed as he looked at the woman who had been relatively calm before, now filled with near-collapse fear in her eyes.

He grasped Zheng Jie's cold hand, trying to make his voice sound calm and reliable: "So far, we've exposed the 'apricot' scam and found the hidden mango. At least in terms of our knowledge of all fruits, for now... there shouldn't be any other traps. Calm down and concentrate on choosing the fruit. There are nine options now, and the probability of the ghost guessing correctly is one in nine. Your chances of survival are very high."

His words of comfort failed to dispel the fear in Zheng Jie's eyes, but she still nodded vigorously, as if grasping at the last straw.

She glanced back one last time at the three corpses on the ground, each in a different pose but with their mouths agape in a terrifying way—the first unknown male corpse, the young Wu Qian, and Zhou Qiang, whose death was the most gruesome.

Her body trembled uncontrollably. Finally, she gritted her teeth, turned to face the shop, and the others heavily closed the warehouse door.

Darkness descended upon the warehouse.

But this time, the darkness did not bring relative peace. Heavy breathing and painful groans mingled together.

No one spoke, but everyone could feel the wary and suspicious gazes of those around them, like tangible thorns piercing their skin.

This cramped space has transformed into the state of nature described by Thomas Hobbes—every man is a wolf to every man, a miniature, terrifying dark forest.

Li Yin leaned against the cold wall, his mind racing, ignoring the pain in his body and the oppressive atmosphere around him.

After Zheng Jie, it's his turn... one-ninth, then one-eighth, one-seventh, one-sixth, one-fifth... the probability will relentlessly climb. When it's Sun Miao's turn, it will be one-third, a pure roulette of life and death.

We must find the ghost before the probability becomes unbearable!
The idea was crystal clear. But there was only one chance to make the identification, and the cost of a mistake was the death of everyone.

I could hear other residents talking in hushed tones, their voices filled with anxiety.

"How about... we vote? Let's see who's the most suspicious?" Sun Miao suggested softly, covering his swollen eye.

“Vote? If you vote wrong, we’ll all die together! Who would believe your vote!” Wang Tianba retorted immediately, his nose still bleeding.

"Then...then we interrogate each other about the details? There's always a chance we'll slip up!" Qian Yong wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Interrogated? Zhou Qiang was interrogated, and what happened? He's dead! Who knows if one of you is misleading us!" Zhao Meiling retorted shrilly.

The discussion has reached a dead end.

Every proposal was quickly rejected because, lacking a foundation of trust, any collective action could be exploited and misdirected by the hidden devil.

Jiang Jin quietly moved closer to Li Yin and asked in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Li Yin, you're the smartest one among us, is there really no other way now?"

Jiang Jin tried many methods, but he still couldn't come up with a good solution.

Li Yin glanced at him, shook his head, and said in a hoarse and tired voice, "No... at least, there is no sure way."

However, deep in his heart, the rudiments of an extremely risky, even somewhat insane, plan were being painstakingly conceived.

Design a trap for the ghost... a trap that it has to jump into, or that will expose it if it jumps into it.

Li Yin calmly analyzed the situation.

The ghost possesses sufficient intelligence, even bordering on cunning. It meticulously devised the "apricot" scam, patiently waiting for Zhou Qiang to make a mistake, and was able to observe details amidst the chaos... It would not be deceived by low-level lies.

As for Li Yin... he can't trust anyone. Everyone around him could be a cold, calculating hunter watching him.

Of course... the same applies to ghosts. It knows very well that every resident is trying their best to find it, so it will be extremely cautious, will not easily believe any information, and will not easily do anything unusual.

Its disguise was flawless; its memories, emotions, reactions... were all perfectly concealed. Even if... even if the residents went mad and started killing each other, it could perfectly disguise itself as a corpse, lying in a pool of blood, only revealing its fangs at the very last moment.

This is a dead end.

A dead end built on information asymmetry and an absolute chain of suspicion.

at this time--

"Okay...okay...come out now..." Zheng Jie's weak voice came from outside the warehouse, as if she had exhausted all her strength.

Like startled birds, everyone rushed out of the warehouse. Zheng Jie stood in the center of the shop, her face as pale as a sheet of paper, her body swaying slightly, as if she might collapse at any moment.

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, the deadly chill and stench arrived as expected!

This time, the demon clone materialized from the shadows in the corner of the ceiling!
Its deathly white eyes swept over Zheng Jie, then over the remaining nine kinds of fruit, and its rotting fingers, with a deathly rhythm, slowly rose.

Everyone's hearts were in their throats.

The finger moves... across the lychee, across the apple, across the dragon fruit...

Finally, under Zheng Jie's suddenly contracted pupils, she pointed firmly at—the bright red, juicy strawberry!
"No—!" Zheng Jie let out a short and shrill cry.

A chilling killing intent instantly locked onto her! The ghost clone let out a low growl and pounced in as a black shadow!

The lights flickered violently! When the light stabilized again, Zheng Jie was already lying on the ground, becoming the fourth corpse with its mouth wide open.

Another person has died.

"Damn it! How did I guess right again!" Wang Tianba slammed his fist on the shelf next to him.

"How could she have such bad luck?" Zhao Meiling's voice trembled.

Just then, Jiang Jin's gaze was fixed on Zheng Jie's corpse, or more precisely, on her right hand fingers hanging limply to the ground!

He strode forward, disregarding any taboos, and squatted down to examine it carefully.

"What are you looking at!" Qian Yong shouted.

Jiang Jin looked up, his expression unusually grave: "Her fingers... the tips of her index finger and thumb, have a small amount of... red fruit pulp residue and juice on them. It's from a strawberry!"

Everyone was shocked!

"When she was choosing fruit, her fingers touched a strawberry, and she probably didn't even notice that they got on her!" Jiang Jin's voice carried a hint of coldness. "The ghost... the ghost probably noticed this detail! It saw the strawberry residue on Zheng Jie's hands, so it pointed to the strawberry!"

This deduction sent chills down everyone's spine!

The ghost isn't just making random guesses or playing mind games; it's also observing! Observing the extremely subtle physical traces left unconsciously by the residents!

Jiang Jin suddenly stood up, his sharp gaze sweeping over everyone present like a searchlight, trying to find clues in their expressions: "Just now... did anyone pay special attention to Zheng Jie's hands? Did anyone see the hickeys on her hands?"

However, he was disappointed. Before and after Zheng Jie came out, everyone was in a state of high tension and mutual wariness, their eyes darting around, suspicious of everyone around them. Some may have caught a glimpse of her unintentionally, while others may not.

At this moment, under Jiang Jin's scrutiny, everyone showed expressions of bewilderment, shock, or deep thought, making it impossible to discern who was the observant "ghost" who had taken advantage of this!
Ghosts possess intelligence, patience, and observational skills far exceeding our imagination.

The scene was deathly silent. Only six people remained standing.

Li Yin took a deep breath, feeling the heavy, rapid beating of his heart. He stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over Zheng Jie's fresh corpse on the ground, and then over the nine kinds of fruit on the shelf—no, for him now, eight kinds.

Now, it's Li Yin's turn.

One in eight chance of dying.

He had to make a choice.

But before making a choice, how should he carry out the dangerous plan that was brewing in his mind?
He was isolated and helpless, surrounded by wolves, while the hunter watched coldly from the sidelines.

Just then, he suddenly looked at Zhou Qiang's corpse.

According to the arrangement in the blood-written plan, Zhou Qiang was the first to be fed fruit, as he had the highest survival rate and the strongest fighting ability among the residents. Compared to him, Wang Tianba's skills were merely superficial.

Li Yin began to feel uneasy. Was this arrangement a coincidence?

Or is there some hidden secret behind this?

Each mission indicated by a blood-red letter is dangerous, but there doesn't seem to be a situation where you can only rely on luck to get through it.

So……

He walked up to Zhou Qiang's body, squatted down, and examined it closely.

Because the blood-written instructions said that the ghost disguised as a resident could only be identified through deduction, Li Yin didn't think that force was of any use.

But... a thought is now vaguely forming in his mind.

Design a trap to wipe out this ghost!
Li Yin turned his head back and then looked at someone.

That was... Jiang Jin!
(End of this chapter)