Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 326 The Cursed Videotape

As the feeling of being half-asleep gradually faded, Jiang Jin opened his eyes.

Before me was a typical Japanese villa room, with tatami flooring underfoot and a landscape painting in the style of ukiyo-e hanging on the wall, depicting the scenery of Lake Ashi in Hakone.

The room was large enough that seven people could stand inside without feeling crowded.

Before me was an old-fashioned Toshiba television set, with a video recorder mounted below it, and a rotary landline telephone on the coffee table behind the sofa.

At this moment, everyone's attention was focused on Jiang Jin's hand, and the air in the room seemed to freeze into a solid form.

Jiang Jin looked down and saw that he was holding a videotape in his hand!

He could feel the weight of the videotape in his hand; it was much heavier than a regular VHS tape.

In the dim light, the curved screen of the television reflected his angular face, as well as the tense expressions of his teammates beside him.

The instructions issued by the reincarnation system appeared on the left retina of each person:
Reincarnators must watch the entire videotape within five minutes of entering the instance, without closing their eyes or fast-forwarding or rewinding, or they will be eliminated by the cleaners. On the seventh day after watching the videotape, reincarnators must have a SAN value above 80% to return to White Plum Hospital.

"Four minutes left." Yu Tianlun's voice was deep and steady. As the leader of the Nirvana team, he always maintained a calm demeanor.

Xu Yinqiu squatted down next to the phone and put the receiver to her ear.

"The dial tone is normal," she reported briefly. This newly promoted second deputy commander of Nirvana appeared even more dashing than before.

Jiang Jin looked down at the videotape in his hand. On the black plastic casing were ten rules printed in white lettering, which shimmered slightly in the dim light.

He quickly scanned the rules, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

The ten rules are as follows:
1. This videotape must be viewed in a room with a landline telephone. Please ensure the telephone handset can transmit dial tones. Please remember that only Toshiba CRT televisions can successfully play this videotape.

2. The room must be illuminated by at least three light sources (including the brightness of the TV itself) during playback. Do not use any fast forward, rewind, or pause functions on the remote control.

3. This videotape contains the NHK documentary "A Study of Izu Folklore," and is 1 minute and 20 seconds long. If the actual viewing time differs from the description, or if the content is discontinuous, please watch it repeatedly and record any scenes that appear before you see them each time you watch it.

4. You will receive a phone call after watching. Please answer it before it rings four times.

5. If hair images appear within the snow-like noise on the TV screen during video playback, this is due to the aging of the picture tube and there is no need to panic. Please immediately turn off the power and disassemble the TV to check the picture tube. If any human-shaped scorch marks or marks appear on the surface of the picture tube glass, please clean them vigorously immediately.

6. After viewing, any photo taken directly facing your face will appear distorted. This is normal, please do not panic.

7. Within seven days of the end of the viewing, you must make a complete copy using a blank videotape and ensure that another person who has not watched the videotape watches the complete copy.

8. Under no circumstances should you speak or record the name "Sadako Yamamura" in any way (including verbally, in writing, or electronically). Please remember that this person does not exist.

9. This videotape absolutely does not contain any footage of a woman jumping into a volcano. If you see this footage, please immediately turn off the power and call the repair center at 03-3486-0429. When the repair technician arrives, please make sure they are wearing a gold eagle badge. After the repair is completed, you will need to sign two identical confirmation forms.

10. Starting from the end of your first viewing, at the same time on the seventh day, you must remain in a room with both a television and a landline telephone, and you may not leave under any circumstances.

“That was close…” He pointed to the eighth rule, “We have to remember, we absolutely cannot say that name in this instance.”

"Time is running out," Yu Tianlun urged, "Let's start playing."

Jiang Jin nodded and inserted the videotape into the VCR.

This is the only television we can find within five minutes; it must be a Toshiba CRT television.

The machine emitted a dull hum and swallowed the cassette tape that was destined to bring curses.

The Lian brothers, Lian Xuan and Lian De, quickly checked the brightness of the light sources in the room—the chandelier overhead, the floor lamp in the corner, and the television—and found it to meet the requirements of Rule Two.

Seven people sat in a fan shape in front of the television, their eyes fixed on the black screen.

"Three, two, one..." Jiang Jin counted down softly and pressed the play button.

The television first emitted a loud, buzzing sound, and then the screen lit up.

At first, it was snowflakes, with countless black and white dots jumping on the screen and making a buzzing noise.

Then, the image suddenly became clear. At the same time, Xu Yinqiu started timing with the stopwatch on her phone.

In the opening scene, dark clouds covered the moon. The clouds didn't look like naturally formed clouds; the more you looked at them, the more they resembled countless strands of hair intertwined, slowly writhing in the night sky.

At that moment, Jiang Jin felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He forced himself to open his eyes wide and stare at the screen without blinking.

Xu Yinqiu's Eye of Incantation could clearly see that the SAN value of the people around him was dropping rapidly, almost 1% every 5-6 seconds!
The scene quickly changed.

An antique mirror appears on the left side of the screen, reflecting a woman combing her hair. Her long hair is jet black and glossy, and the comb glides slowly through the strands, the movement both elegant and eerie.

The next second, without any transition, the mirror suddenly appeared on the right side of the screen, and this time, a woman dressed in white with a blurry figure appeared in the mirror!

Jiang Jin held his breath instantly. This was the first time he had truly faced the evil spirits of the Annihilation Layer!
The camera shifts again, the mirror moves to the left, and the woman combing her hair in the mirror seems to notice something. She slows down her combing and tilts her head slightly, looking around in confusion.

The screen changed again, transforming into a text resembling a news report.

A large number of Japanese characters swam across the screen like tadpoles, many of them blurry and illegible, making them impossible to read coherently. Jiang Jin had already automatically acquired the ability to recognize and speak Japanese, and could barely make out words like "volcano" and "eruption."

Immediately afterwards, a group of people appeared in the frame. Their postures were bizarre and unusual; some crawled on all fours, while others walked with their bodies twisted.

“These people…” Xu Yinqiu said softly, her voice carrying a hint of physical discomfort.

The screen switches again.

A man stands beside a lake or the sea, his head covered by a white cloth, obscuring his face and shoulders. The man slowly extends his right hand, pointing to the side.

Then, an eye suddenly appeared on the screen. The pupil dilated, almost filling the entire iris, and in the center of that dark pupil, an upside-down traditional Chinese character “贞” was clearly visible.

Jiang Jin suddenly felt nauseous.

That eye seemed to be looking directly into his soul through the screen.

Finally, the scene freezes on an ancient well. It sits in the woods, appearing eerie and unsettling.

Immediately afterwards, the screen suddenly turned into a large amount of snow and noise.

The video ends.

The entire viewing process took exactly one minute and twenty seconds, perfectly consistent with the rule description.

The room was deathly silent, with only the static noise from the television vibrating in the air.

Jiang Jin took a deep breath and reached out to turn off the TV.

According to the movie plot, that scene should appear next, right?

Sure enough, after turning it off, he could clearly see a white figure standing behind them on the black screen of the television!
He turned back sharply.

No one is empty.

The other team members turned around as he did so, and everyone saw the eerie reflection on the screen, confirming that there was no one else in the room besides the seven of them.

“She’s here,” Lian Xuan said softly. As the team’s medium, he was most sensitive to supernatural beings. “I can feel… a cold and powerful resentment lingering in every corner of this space.”

Everyone anticipated Sadako's appearance, but no one dared to prepare a countermeasure beforehand. After all, this wasn't a Lost Layer evil spirit that could be preemptively struck and severely damaged. An Annihilation Layer evil spirit couldn't be judged using any materialistic common sense; the slightest carelessness could trigger rule corruption.

Immediately afterwards, the phone rang!

The seven people exchanged a glance and quickly went to the rotary phone.

Seven people reached out and grabbed the receiver at the same time, before the fourth ring.

Then, Jiang Jin put the receiver to his ear.

Soon, from the other end of the phone, came a series of strange, indescribable sounds, accompanied by waves of sound!
Then, the call ended.

The meme curse triggered by this videotape has officially begun. In seven days, they will face the annihilation layer evil spirit, Sadako Yamamura!

Yu Tianlun looked out the window and said, "Let's first confirm our situation and environment. Jiang Jin, has the system given you any notification about what identity you've acquired?"

Jiang Jin nodded and stood up as well.

“The system assigned me a background setting: I am a Chinese person residing in Japan, this villa is in my name, and it is located in the Hakone area of ​​the northern Izu Peninsula in Japan.” He walked towards the door, “Let’s inspect the entire building.”

The seven people walked out of the room one by one and came to a spacious corridor.

Japanese-style sliding doors separate different rooms, the wooden floors are polished to a shine, and the walls are adorned with photos and paintings of Japanese landscapes.

Jiang Jin led the team to inspect each room with familiarity—the Japanese-style room, the Western-style room, the study, the kitchen, and finally the living room.

The spacious living room was furnished with comfortable sofas and a coffee table, where two undead hounds, Deathstroke and Sadie, were patrolling.

“August 29, 1997,” Yu Tianlun glanced at the date on the calendar in the living room, “is the day that Tomoko Oishi and others watched the videotape in the original movie. In the opening scene of the movie, Tomoko dies in her home on September 5, 1997.”

“But whether Tomoko still exists in this meme-contaminated instance is still unknown. The videotape should have been at the holiday home in Hakone. After Tomoko and the others watched it, they returned it to the manager. Later, the female protagonist, Reiko, went to the holiday home, retrieved the videotape, and watched it. And now, it has appeared here,” Jiang Jin pondered.

“Um…” Kong Huaizheng spoke up at this moment: “I have a question. One of the rules mentions copying the videotape for others to watch. In the original movie, this was the way to get rid of the curse, so… could we try this method?”

(End of this chapter)