Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 358 Cleaner's Rag

Jiang Jin's Level 2 rule-modifying ability as a "Cunning Lawyer" was still cooling down. Faced with the repair technician outside the door who was persistently knocking and claimed to hear the sound of a tape running, he quickly made a judgment and came to a conclusion - he absolutely could not open the door!
Who knows what these "technicians" without the Golden Eagle badge are? Letting them in could have consequences far worse than Sadako's direct attack.

However, the strange occurrences inside the house did not stop. Lian De listened with increasing anxiety as he heard the increasingly clear "buzzing" sound of the cassette tape beneath his brother Lian Xuan's skin.

At this moment, he remembered that his brother, as a medium, had a contract with an evil spirit in the mirror from a Korean horror game called "The Mirror of Vengeful Spirits".

"Brother, let's try summoning the 'Mirror Spirit'! It might be able to deal with what's outside!" Lian De suggested.

“Okay!” Lian Xuan nodded.

The two brothers quickly entered the first-floor restroom. Facing the mirror in front of them, Lian Xuan immediately concentrated, trying to summon the evil spirit sleeping in the mirror.

But soon, Lian Xuan was horrified to discover that the reflection in the mirror showed a stuttering effect, similar to that often seen when watching videos with slow internet speeds!

He was clearly chanting a spell, but the "he" in the mirror might delay opening his mouth by half a second, or the opening and closing of his mouth might be completely different! It looked like... a poorly received television screen, full of skipped frames and gibberish!
The world in the mirror also seemed to be severely disturbed and became extremely unstable.

Forcibly summoning a spirit under these circumstances could lead to the evil spirit going out of control or summoning something corrupted and distorted!

"No! We can't summon him!" Lian Xuan decisively interrupted the ritual, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Outside the door, the repair technician's knocking became more urgent and louder, carrying an undeniable sense of pressure: "The tape is malfunctioning! It must be repaired immediately! Open the door!"

Jiang Jin glanced at the terrified faces of the crowd and quickly took out several pairs of specially made noise-canceling headphones that he had prepared in advance from the space of the Reincarnator's Watch.

"Put them on! Everyone put them on!" he shouted, taking out a golden chest as he did so!
When Yang Jian saw the box, a noticeable flicker of emotion finally appeared in his indifferent eyes. He recognized it!

Back when he was just an ordinary high school student, he got caught up in paranormal events after browsing a scary post about "knocking ghosts" online, which started his life as a ghost tamer with a life-or-death struggle.

Then, a reincarnator named Wu Qin, who possessed astonishing strength, intervened and joined forces with him, ultimately successfully sealing it with this specially made golden box!
After everyone put on their headphones, Jiang Jin opened the lock on the golden box without hesitation.

Then, a terrifying old man dressed in black funeral clothes and covered in thick lividity stepped stiffly out of the box, one step at a time!

The Door-Knocking Ghost!
Lian De gasped as he watched this scene unfold. This was the infamous Knocking Ghost!

He immediately felt as if he were seeing his favorite novel being adapted into a live-action film or television series!
The old man ignored everyone in the living room, his lifeless, empty eyes staring straight at the front door. Then, he raised his stiff arm, covered in lividity, and began... to knock on the door!
"Boom...boom...boom..."

A dull, rhythmic knocking sound, carrying the ominous scent of death, echoed through the villa, creating an eerie duet with the knocking of the repairman outside.

However, the anticipated opening of the ghostly realm did not occur. The knocking ghost's knocking rules seemed to conflict with, or rather... be suppressed by, some characteristic of the repairman outside the door!
Even more terrifying, as the knocking ghost continued to knock on the door, its originally dry skin, covered in lividity, began to seep out large amounts of cold, salty seawater! The seawater quickly soaked its burial shroud, spreading across the floor and emitting the same deathly aura as in Sadako's well!

At the same time, a loud bang came from the second floor. The volume of the TV seemed to have been turned up to the maximum, and the ear-piercing static noise swept down like a tsunami!

Everyone's attention was drawn to the loud noise, and they subconsciously turned to look towards the second floor.

Just a moment!
When Jiang Jin and the others quickly turned their heads back to the entrance, they were horrified to find that the old man in black who had been knocking on the door just moments before was gone!

In front of the entrance hall, all that remained was a puddle of salty seawater on the floor!
"Upstairs? Who turned up the volume?" Lingzi asked, pointing tremblingly to the second floor.

Jiang Jin was shocked and rushed up to the second floor, with Lingzi following closely behind.

Upon reaching the second floor, Jiang Jin saw that the television screen was lit up, filled with static and noise. Amidst this static, Jiang Jin could only see a blurry but unmistakable figure floating in the screen!
It was that ghost who knocked on the door, covered in lividity and dressed in black!

It seemed trapped inside the television screen, its movements stiff, helplessly floating amidst the black and white noise!

Almost simultaneously, a cold system notification flashed across Jiang Jin's left retina:

"Warning: Reincarnator Jiang Jin, your ghost slave 'Knocking Ghost' has escaped your control and the binding has been released. This ghost has been captured by an unknown force and transferred to an abnormal dimension within the contaminated layer."

The knocking ghost... was forcibly dragged into the television!
Even a terrifying being of this caliber couldn't resist this power!

Back downstairs, facing the empty entryway where the repairman's knocking still echoed, a sense of despair washed over me.

Even the knocking ghost failed, what else can be done?
Jiang Jin's eyes sharpened, as if he had made up his mind.

He turned to Yu Tianlun and said, "Commander, lend me 400 Resentment Crystals! I need them urgently!"

Yu Tianlun didn't ask any more questions, knowing that Jiang Jin wouldn't make things up without reason, and immediately completed the transfer through the Reincarnator's Watch.

Subsequently, Jiang Jin used his "Lawyer of Ghosts" privileges to purchase an item—[Cleaning Supplies - Rags]!
With a flash of light, an ordinary-looking, slightly worn gray rag appeared in Jiang Jin's hand.

Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, Jiang Jin walked up to Gao Gongwei, whose body was stiff and whose throat was making a snowy noise, picked up the rag, and began to wipe him.

The movements were simple, even somewhat comical.

However, a miracle happened!
Wherever the rag passed, the unsettling hissing sound from the cassette tape beneath Yui Takamiya's skin vanished instantly! His stiff body softened, his frozen expression relaxed, and the static in his throat stopped abruptly!

He coughed violently a few times, gasping for breath, and his eyes regained their clarity, as if he had just woken up from a nightmare!

"I...I'm healed?" Takamiya Yui looked at her hands in disbelief.

Everyone was stunned! This seemingly ordinary rag had such miraculous effects?!
Yu Tianlun's pupils contracted, and he exclaimed, "This...this is a cleaner's rag?! How is this possible?! The cleaners are agents of the reincarnation system. The monitoring department can only request the reincarnation system to dispatch cleaners by submitting special reports. No one has ever been able to use their tools directly!"

Looking at the seemingly ordinary rag in his hand, Jiang Jin understood that this was a "bug-level" item he had temporarily obtained by exploiting a loophole in the system using his "Cunning Lawyer" profession and enormous resources. It would be a crucial trump card for his future. A full 700 crystals of resentment!

As for the vacuum cleaners, brooms, and mops used by cleaners, they require the crystallization of tens of thousands of resentments!

Then, Jiang Jin continued to wipe the other people with a rag, achieving the same effect!

At that moment, the incessant knocking on the door finally stopped.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Jin took out another item, Zhong Kui Judge's Pen!
"Zhong Kui's Judge's Pen!" Lian Xuan recognized it at a glance, his voice filled with utter shock. "Isn't this Captain Feng Ya's signature weapon? Rumor has it he was killed by assassins from the Old Core Organization in the Lanruo Temple dungeon... How did this pen end up in your hands, Vice Captain?!" Lian De's eyes widened as well: "Zhong Kui from the [City of the Wrongfully Dead] horror dungeon?! My god, Vice Captain, you even got your hands on such a divine weapon?!"

Although Reiko Asakawa didn't know much about Chinese culture, she had heard of Zhong Kui's great name, and her eyes lit up with excitement: "Is it Lord Zhong Kui? In Japan, Zhong Kui is regarded as the incarnation of Susanoo! I never thought I would see the legendary Zhong Kui Judge's Pen with my own eyes today!"

Jiang Jin stroked the cool handle of the Judge's Pen, feeling the immense power it contained, which he still couldn't fully unleash. He said in a deep voice, "I'm already at LV3. This Judge's Pen, an advanced item exclusive to hunters, can now slightly demonstrate its terrifying power to 'fight ghosts and exorcise evil spirits, and determine life and death,' which is worthy of the name 'Zhong Kui'!"

His judge's pen was enhanced through a semi-domain technique, combined with the coffin nails Yang Jian was holding, and Li Shang's black magic...

That's his biggest source of confidence in his final battle with Sadako!
With the crisis temporarily averted, Reiko looked at Jiang Jin with eyes full of reliance after surviving a disaster and an even more ardent love. She couldn't help but step forward and grab Jiang Jin's hand, asking in a sweet voice, "Kurosaki-kun, you're amazing! This...this pen, may I touch it?"

Watching this scene, Lian De thought to himself: Goodness, if this weren't a terrifying dungeon, the vice-leader would probably have been dragged to a hotel by this beautiful streamer and done with in whatever position she wanted, right? I'm so envious!

However, their relief was only temporary. They soon discovered that the eerie wooden door leading to the basement had reappeared at the end of the corridor.

Jiang Jin tried to wipe the wooden door with that magical cloth, but this time it had no effect.

After a moment's thought, he immediately returned to the television on the second floor and played the videotape again.

When the scene cut to "woman jumping into volcano", he quickly wiped the area on the TV screen where the scene appeared with a rag!
A miracle happened again! As they wiped the area, they ran downstairs to check and discovered the basement door...

It has disappeared!
……

About 500 meters from the Hakone villa, in the shadows, three figures were quietly observing the movements in the direction of the villa.

One of them was the shrine maiden Chiyo.

She gently wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, whispering with lingering fear, "Just now... what were those repair technicians? They were terrifying."

She recalled the scene she had just perceived—those unrecognizable faces, those cyclical existences that could even distort the perception of time, and the kind of cold, absolute terror they represented, a terror that seemed to be executing some unknown rule like a program.

This kind of terror is different from Sadako's resentful and proactive invasion. It is a more grand, more ruthless "existence" that is as inviolable as the background rules. Just watching it makes her feel that her consciousness and SAN value are being shaken, as if the meaning of her own existence is about to be covered and formatted by those invisible rules.

"Does the Nirvana team really need Madam to personally intervene? I'm afraid the memetic contamination of this terrifying instance alone is enough to wipe them out, isn't it?" It was Xie Xian, who was standing next to Chiyo, who spoke.

He was the most loyal member of Lady Pussy's ten-man personal guard.

“Of course it is necessary,” Chiyo said firmly. She was the person in the guard with the deepest ties to the old nuclear organization. “Leader Chang Wuyong has conducted several deep divinations. Of the more than one hundred future branches he glimpsed, more than seventy showed that Jiang Jin’s strength in the future was enough to grow to the point of being on par with Leader Chang. Moreover, in most of these futures, he was an enemy of the Insect Hole, and there were even branches in which he personally… killed his wife. The more distant futures, which involved Leader Chang’s own safety, could not be clearly observed. This situation is extremely rare. Even Zhuge Yu back then was not that terrible.”

Xie Feng frowned and said, "Alright, even if Jiang Jin's talent is comparable to Zhuge Yu's back then, talent is not the same as strength. He is only a newly promoted LV3, while Madam is a near-LV5 witchcraft expert. For her to personally take action is simply using a sledgehammer to crack a nut!"

At this moment, the old man Kurozuka, who resembled a skeleton with sunken eyes and exuded an aura of decay, let out a hoarse laugh: "Hehe, but this kid named Jiang Jin is quite old-fashioned. He only has Liu Yan, the number one beauty on the beauty pageant list, by his side, and she's a reincarnator. Yet he's actually so devoted, not a harem-building man?"

Chiyo glanced at Kurozuka with disgust. She knew that the old man was extremely lecherous and secretly imprisoned countless women as slaves, cruelly murdering them once he got tired of them or they became pregnant.

She said coldly, "Hmph, infatuation? As far as I know, in about one-third of the futures predicted by Chief Chang, Jiang Jin will have five to seven wives. In the remaining two-thirds of the futures, he will only have one wife."

Xie Feng pursed his lips and said, "This is already pretty good. Do you think this is a male protagonist in a female-oriented novel? Even if you become an immortal emperor or god, you still have to abide by the marriage law. In about 66% of the future, you can actually achieve monogamy. You can already be considered a devoted lover."

Kurozuka also became interested, a lewd glint in his eyes: "Oh? Tell me more?"

Xie Feng also knew: "I also want to know, what women will he have in the future? I think the people from the Duncan Club would also be willing to marry him."

Chiyo continued, "In the 66% of the futures where one spouse is the only partner, it is Liu Yan in most cases. Only in the few branches where Liu Yan dies will his second wife be Asakawa Reiko or Lin Lu."

"Lin Lu? I've never heard of that name before. What about the future of those with multiple wives?" Kurozuka asked impatiently.

"Why do you men only care about this kind of topic?" Chiyo said irritably.

"Otherwise, why worry about his strength? With his wife around, he's already doomed!" Kurozuka grinned sinisterly. "His women, I might as well 'take over' them one by one!"

Being able to "intercept" a woman who is a future peak powerhouse would greatly satisfy Kurozuka's perverted psychology.

"Pah! Disgusting!" Chiyo spat, but still said, "In the remaining branches of Jiang Jin's polygamous future, his wives are usually Liu Yan, Lin Lu, Asakawa Reiko, Murong Yan, Su Wan, and some branches may also have Kanako from the [Red-Clad Ghost Woman], Nancy from [Nightmare Street], and so on..."

“Hehe, I’ve memorized their names,” Kurozuka licked his chapped lips. “I’ll catch them one by one and ‘treat them well’ later.”

"All you can think about is that dirty stuff with your lower body!" Xie Feng coldly interrupted him. "At our level, would we lack women? Why do you have to covet the widow of the defeated enemy of the Madam? Besides, in Chief Chang's divination, there are more than thirty future branches that Jiang Jin was directly killed."

Chiyo added, "That's right, there are futures where he's killed, and in some branches, he even dies at the hands of his wife. But there is absolutely no future branch that shows his woman falling into your hands, Kurozuka."

Her words carried a hint of sarcasm and warning, causing Kurozuka's face to darken instantly, yet she could not refute the authority emanating from Chang Wuyong's divination.

Under the cover of night, the three core members of the Insect Nest team, each harboring their own secrets, continued to lurk in the shadows like venomous snakes, waiting for the opportune moment to deliver a fatal blow to the Nirvana team.

Meanwhile, inside the villa, Jiang Jin handed a rag to Asakawa Reiko.

“Kurosaki…kun?” Reiko was stunned.

“Here you go,” Jiang Jin said solemnly. “This rag can largely resist memetic contamination. Don’t worry, I will never let you die!”

Since the curse was not yet lifted, he didn't care whether Lingzi would misunderstand his words.

A gloomy atmosphere hung in the air, dark clouds pressed down on the city...

The dawn on the last day was deeper than the darkness of night.

The final battle against Sadako Yamamura is finally here!

(End of this chapter)