Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 321 Russian Dolls

In a secret prison cell in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Muxu City, Sima Jin, the leader of the Misty Swamp Team, was wearing a tattered prison uniform, with heavy and cold anti-magic shackles on his wrists and ankles.

He was guarded by members of the Bloodthirsty Division, a branch of the Bloodthirsty Team known for its cruelty and bloodlust. Everyone knew that falling into the hands of the Bloodthirsty Division often meant that even seeking death was a luxury.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the empty cell as Blood Lord appeared at the door and waved away the guards.

He walked up to Sima Jin and looked down at him.

Sima Jin raised his head, his cold gaze filled with deep-seated hatred. He spoke in a hoarse voice, "Kill me, give me a quick death."

Blood Lord's face was expressionless, his voice eerily calm: "I won't kill you so easily, Ah Jin."

What he wanted to destroy was never Sima Jin's physical body, but his soul, which the Blood Lord saw as hypocritical justice and pride.

After a brief silence, Blood Lord suddenly brought up the past: "Do you remember? Back when we were still in the Misty Swamp branch, we were ordered to deal with the Star Team together."

Sima Jin's eyes flickered, as if pulled back to a distant memory: "I remember, it was a sinful massacre. Why are you bringing this up now?"

“Back then, a logistics squad of the Misty Swamp team was ambushed in a terrifying dungeon, resulting in the deaths of seven brothers and the theft of many items and weapons. Through the deductions of the sacrificial reincarnators, the clues pointed to the Star Team.” The Blood Lord’s voice carried a hint of cold reminiscence. “Later, we surrounded the Star Team in a terrifying dungeon. They were terrified and, in order to prove their innocence, were even willing to open their watch space for us to search.”

His tone gradually turned sarcastic: "But Mu Shan, the leader of the Misty Swamp branch at the time, ordered us to take action without saying a word. The Star Team was far weaker than us and was completely slaughtered, with no one surviving. And until the very end, we did not find any of the iconic items or weapons belonging to our seven brothers in the Star Team's legacy."

Blood Lord stared into Sima Jin's eyes: "Later, we spent a lot of effort to find out that the one who really did that was 'Butcher' Andro, the leader of the Blood Skull team. That was an extremely crazy and reckless team. Everyone was a bloodthirsty madman and a pervert. Each of them dared to kill a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of their own. If you fell into their hands, you would be skinned alive even if you didn't die."

"But," Blood Lord's voice suddenly rose, filled with suppressed anger, "this time, Mu Shan chose to remain silent! Back then, the Insect Nest team wasn't as strong as it is now, and there weren't many sub-teams! He felt that it wasn't worth fighting a mad dog team like Blood Skull for those lost items! Mu Shan didn't even dare to investigate further! Including you, A Jin, although you didn't agree with Mu Shan's indiscriminate killing, you also opposed immediately going to war with Blood Skull, believing that a long-term plan was needed!"

Sima Jin's face was grim: "Back then, I was powerless and couldn't stop Mu Shan. Later, when I became powerful and became the leader of the Misty Swamp team, the first thing I did was execute Mu Shan, making him pay for his crimes back then!"

"Execute him?" Blood Lord scoffed. "You said it yourself, you can only execute him because you've become stronger! If he were still a squad leader and you were still just an ordinary member, would you dare to touch him? People live in the illusion of peace, always fabricating lies like 'good will never prevail over evil' and 'justice may be delayed but it will never be absent' to comfort themselves, pretending that the cruel rules of the survival of the fittest and the winner takes all don't exist!"

He stepped closer, his tone becoming increasingly sharp: "Now I understand. If it really was Xingchen who ambushed us, killed seven brothers, and stole the equipment, Mu Shan probably wouldn't have dared to attack without knowing the facts. Because by then, they would have truly possessed a batch of weapons of mass destruction! The destruction of the Xingchen team wasn't because they were guilty, but simply because they were weak!"

Blood Lord's gaze seemed to pierce Sima Jin's soul: "Just like back then, in order to advance, I used forbidden techniques to hunt down other reincarnators. You, I reported you to the court and personally led people to hunt me down. I called it upholding the rules and justice... But I want to ask you, if I were as strong as I am now back then, with the entire Bloodthirsty Team as my backing, would you still dare to do that? No, you wouldn't!"

"I dare!" Sima Jin stubbornly raised his head and met his gaze.

"You wouldn't dare!" Blood Lord interrupted decisively, "Because you're a hypocrite at heart! Your so-called justice is based on a balance of power! Remember when we were having dinner at your house and I was discussing Zhuge Yu of the Light Wheel Team?"

That memory surfaced in their minds.

At that time, Blood Lord was a frequent visitor to Sima Jin's house, but Sima Jin's wife, Xia Yu, never gave him a kind look at the dinner table.

To ease the awkwardness, Blood Lord had no choice but to talk to Sima Jin about the major event in the reincarnation circle at that time—Zhuge Yu, who died from Chang Wuyong's betrayal.

Blood Lord lamented at the time: "Zhuge Yu was a hero, a generation's hero, but it's a pity he died from the backstabbing of that beast Chang Wuyong."

However, Sima Jin coldly replied, "Is Zhuge Yu considered a hero?"

Under the astonished gaze of the Blood Lord, he continued, "At that time, the spread of memetic contamination was an inevitable trend globally. His attempts to forcibly stop it could at most delay the process, but could not prevent the final outcome. However, because of him, the entire Muxu City was completely sealed off, and the people inside... would forever suffer the terrifying threat of memetic contamination, unable to leave, and ultimately become the first wave of sacrifices when this breakwater collapsed! Are the lives of the people of Muxu City really less valuable than those of people in first-tier cities?"

His voice was filled with suppressed pain: "My parents also died from memcinous pollution, and I became a reincarnator because of it. Back then, my family could have gone to work and settle down elsewhere, leaving Muxu City, but because of Zhuge Yu, we could only slowly die in this city destined to fall. So... Zhuge Yu is a sinner to the people of Muxu City!"

Blood Lord is from Shanghai. It was because of Zhuge Island that the memetic pollution of Muxu City was sealed off and did not spread to Shanghai on a large scale. He was able to avoid being harmed when he was in his senior year of high school. Otherwise, if he had become a reincarnator at that time, he probably would not have survived.

Zhuge Yu was a benefactor to him. But to Sima Jin, who came from Muxu, Zhuge Yu was the indirect instigator who led to the destruction of his family. At this moment, the Blood Lord brought up the old matter again, his voice icy: "You see, whether a hero or a sinner depends only on whose interests his actions ultimately align with. Your justice, your morality, are the same."

After a long silence, Blood Lord seemed to have exhausted all his emotions. He turned around and waved to the guards of the Bloodthirsty Division: "Let him go."

The guards were stunned, and Sima Jin also suddenly raised his head, looking at the Blood Lord in disbelief.

Blood Lord didn't turn around, his voice carrying a complex weariness: "Ah Jin, I'll let you go this time. From now on, I owe you nothing. If we meet again on the battlefield, we will be enemies, and I will not hold back. A person like you... should not die from the backstabbing and scheming of a shameless and vicious woman like Xia Yu, but should die on a fair and square battlefield."

……

The door to the "Guoyuan Fresh Fruit Shop" was finally pushed open from the inside.

The five survivors—Li Yin, Jiang Jin, Qian Yong, Zhao Meiling, and Sun Miao—helped each other as they staggered out.

The moment Jiang Jin stepped out of the store, the Reincarnation System's notification message was clearly displayed on the retina of his left eye:

"Reincarnator Jiang Jin, you have completed the [Hell Apartment] instance: Guoyuan Fresh Fruit Shop quest (Li Yin's first blood letter).

Please choose one of the following four rewards.

A. Ghost Blood Vial: A semi-transparent glass vial containing a viscous, dark red liquid. Drinking it instantly restores all SAN points and dispels most mid-level and lower-level curses and poison effects. This vial never runs out, no matter how many times it is used.

B. Compass of Sophistry: An old brass compass used when faced with rule-based choices or logical dilemmas. The compass needle will point to the direction or choice with the "relatively higher probability of survival" in the current situation. Can only be used once per instance.

C. Bloodstained Apartment Key: An old-fashioned brass key stained with blackened blood that cannot be wiped clean. Using this key in any enclosed space (including but not limited to rooms, carriages, and enchanted areas) will 100% directly open a temporary passage to a safe location outside.

D. Matryoshka Dolls: A set of exquisite traditional Russian-style matryoshka dolls, consisting of 7 layers nested from largest to smallest. When the owner dies, the outermost doll will automatically break, negating the death. The number of matryoshka dolls decreases with each death until all dolls are exhausted (if facing a death caused by an excessively powerful curse, two or three dolls may be consumed at once).

Jiang Jin was overjoyed and chose the Russian nesting dolls without hesitation!
He can finally have the confidence to tackle the [Midnight Ring] horror dungeon!

Then, Jiang Jin stopped and looked at Li Yin.

He stepped forward, lowered his voice, and said in a volume only the two of them could hear, "Li Yin, thank you for this time... I'm leaving soon."

He paused, his tone becoming unusually serious: "Remember what I'm about to say, it's very important. In the future… you will meet a woman named Ying Ziye. If… if you have the chance, please be sure to tell her one thing—"

He looked directly into Li Yin's eyes and said, word by word, "Don't open any drawers in the warehouse."

Li Yin was stunned, his eyes filled with confusion and questions: "Ying Ziye? Warehouse drawer? What do you mean? How did you know..."

In the original novel, the female protagonist, Ziye, was killed early on because she opened a "warehouse" drawer in a blood-letter quest, which triggered a deadly path.

Jiang Jin shook his head, a profound and wry smile on his face: "Don't ask why. Just remember this sentence and tell her at the right time. It can save her life."

"Jiang Jin, what exactly are you..."

Before Li Yin could ask any more questions, Jiang Jin gave the key figure of the future hell apartment a deep look, as if trying to memorize his appearance.

Then, Jiang Jin's figure quickly blurred and eventually disappeared completely from this instance world.

Li Yin stood there, stunned and unable to recover for a long time...

(End of this chapter)