Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 360 The End... and a New Crisis
Yu Tianlun maintained his posture of activating the formation, the peach wood sword still stuck in the center of the runes on the floor; Li Shang's curse hand seals froze in mid-air; the mental barriers of the Lian Xuan and Lian De brothers solidified; Gao Gongwei's "slash and return" stance froze; Yang Jian's ghost domain still unfolded, but he could no longer control it in the slightest; even Jiang Jin, who had just advanced to LV3 and possessed the killing domain, was like a TV screen that had been paused, maintaining a posture ready to attack, unable to move!

This is Sadako's power!
It was her spiritual control, originating from the annihilation layer and transcending the rules of conventional physics!

Despair instantly seeped into everyone's heart, freezing their blood and solidifying their thoughts.

They could only watch helplessly, like lambs to the slaughter, as the second Sadako slowly, step by step, crawled out of the television screen at a constant and eerie pace.

His wet, black hair dripped water, and his pale fingers scratched at the ground.

She crawled across the floor covered with runes. The array chains binding her, now devoid of their power, passed through her as easily as phantoms, posing no obstacle whatsoever!

Beneath her face, hidden by her long hair, seemed to be two cold gazes sweeping over every immobilized prey.

The person closest to her was Jiang Jin, who was standing at the very front!
it's over...

The thought crossed everyone's mind.

The fates of Kong Huaizheng and Xu Yinqiu are about to be repeated in their lives!

However, just as Sadako crawled closer and closer, and the chilling aura of death was almost touching Jiang Jin's nose...

Jiang Jin's killing domain resonated with and responded to Sadako's real body due to their extreme proximity!

Hunting instincts, clearer than ever before!
He was unable to move, but his "Ghost Eyes" operated at their maximum capacity under the enhancement of the domain!

Those eyes seemed to transform into the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception from the Japanese anime Type-Moon, capable of looking directly at the root of all things and the line of death. Their gaze pierced through the thick plastic casing of the television set, through the complex internal circuitry, and directly "saw" the most crucial component... the curved CRT picture tube!
And on the cold glass inner wall of the picture tube, he "saw" it!
It was a clump of black, human-shaped remains, charred and unyielding!

The remains exuded an aura of resentment that shared the same origin as Sadako's, yet was even more ancient and primal!

Like a malignant tumor, it firmly parasitizes the picture tube, with countless "roots" spreading out and deeply integrating with the material structure of the television set!
His hunting instincts told him that those were the remains of Sadako's true form! The core of her curse, the root of her ability to transcend dimensions and reappear endlessly!

All that crawled out of the television set were merely "shadows" projected from the wreckage!
Found it! The fatal weakness!
But... what good will it do to find it?!
All of them, including Yang Jian, the strongest among them, were like fish on a chopping board, unable to move! They could only watch helplessly as death approached!
Just as Jiang Jin realized the truth, Sadako's entire body had completely crawled out of the television set. Her cold, slippery hands, which smelled of well water, slowly and firmly reached towards Jiang Jin's neck, who was closest to her!
The instant her fingers touched Jiang Jin's skin...

hum!
The world spun around them! Everyone's senses were violently distorted!

They weren't physically attacked, but their SAN value had plummeted below 30%, plunging them into the boundless, maddening, and despairing... Annihilation Layer!

Here, Sadako's power will no longer be subject to any restrictions!

She is the absolute ruler!
Jiang Jin felt as if his soul was being gripped by a cold, large hand, and then... crushed!
Consciousness instantly plunged into boundless darkness.

The outermost layer of the Russian nesting doll is broken again!
The next moment, Jiang Jin's consciousness re-condensed on the material layer of the villa's living room; he had "resurrected"!

However, he remained completely under his control and unable to move! And Sadako, who had just "killed" him, stood in front of him, seemingly unsurprised by his resurrection, and once again stretched out her pale hand.

A second death! The matryoshka doll shatters into another layer!
The third death! Another nesting doll has vanished into nothingness!
In the brief interval between death and resurrection, Jiang Jin endured the extreme pain of his soul being crushed time and time again. His SAN value, along with everyone else's SAN value, plummeted like a flood after a dam broke under this terrifying torment and the erosion of the annihilation layer environment, plunging straight into the abyss!
The defenses of reason are crumbling!
"Roar……!"

Just as Jiang Jin was resurrected for the fourth time and Sadako reached out her hand again, the Deathstroke, which had been lying quietly to the side, as a product of resentful ashes, actually broke free from mental control, let out a crazy roar, opened its huge mouth, and bit down hard on Sadako's neck!

However, just as its sharp teeth snapped shut, the cold resentment emanating from Sadako's body surged back and invaded her!

"Ooh..." The death knell let out a short, painful wail. Its spirit, starting from the point of its bite, rapidly darkened and disintegrated, like a sand sculpture scattered by the wind. Under the despairing gazes of the crowd, it turned into ashes of resentment that drifted across the sky, completely vanishing...

Although Deathstroke did not die and could return to the contaminated layer to recover, utter despair, like a cold tide, had overwhelmed everyone.

However, in this utter silence, amidst the final despair where only the approaching footsteps of death...

A figure moved!

It's Reiko Asakawa!
Her face was as pale as paper, and her body was trembling slightly, but she had indeed broken free from Sadako's mental control!
As a healer, the healer's technique she used temporarily suppressed the spiritual erosion of Sadako, a pure vengeful spirit, by consuming the power of the [Life Essence] crystal from the newcomer's gift pack!

Although she couldn't confront it head-on, it was enough to allow her to retain a sliver of power to move within this mentally frozen area!

"Lingzi!" Jiang Jin roared during his brief moment of lucidity after his fourth resurrection, "Listen! Immediately increase your SAN value and enter the Mysterious Layer! Use your Life Essence Crystal to forcibly raise your SAN value to over 60%! Then, use the rag I gave you to disassemble the television, find the picture tube, and wipe away the black humanoid remains floating on it! That's her true form! Hurry!!"

This is the only chance! And the last chance!

Upon hearing this, Lingzi did not hesitate to continue absorbing the power of that precious life essence crystal!

A surge of pure and immense life energy rushed into her body, causing her rapidly declining SAN value to pause abruptly and then begin to rise against the trend! 65%, 66%...70%!

The moment the SAN value stabilized at 70%, the world before her eyes seemed to become "clearer".

The suffocating annihilation layer scene faded considerably, and the figure of Sadako standing in front of Jiang Jin, exuding a terrifying aura, was also gone!
Mysterious Layer!
She successfully anchored the SAN value primarily to the mysterious layer, which is closer to the materialistic reality!
Evil spirits from the Annihilation Layer will find it very difficult to operate in the Mysterious Layer, and their influence will be greatly reduced. At most, they will only leave a fleeting projection on the television screen!

Without the slightest hesitation, Lingzi, like a moth drawn to a flame, rushed towards the culprit, the television set!

She first unplugged the TV, then picked up the rag that Jiang Jin had specially left for her, and forcefully pulled open the clips on the back cover of the TV!

Her movements were somewhat clumsy due to tension and fear, but unusually firm!

The cathode ray tube was exposed to the air, radiating residual heat.

Reiko opened her eyes wide and saw it! On the inner glass wall at the end of the picture tube, there was a clearly visible, charred, black humanoid remains!
The remains seemed to wriggle slightly, as if alive, emanating a nauseating resentment! That's it!
Lingzi gritted her teeth, reached out, and vigorously, carefully, and repeatedly wiped the black residue on the picture tube!

Immediately afterward, the black debris, as if encountering its nemesis, quickly dimmed and dissipated under the wiping of the cloth!
At the same time, the suffocating, icy dominance in the living room vanished as quickly as the tide receded!
The figure of Sadako, who was standing in front of Jiang Jin and about to strike again, suddenly froze. Then, like a television screen with a broken signal, it flickered and distorted violently, and finally, with a "poof," it completely disappeared into nothingness, leaving no trace.

Plop, plop...

As everyone regained control of their bodies, they collapsed to the ground almost simultaneously, exhausted. Their hearts pounded wildly, they gasped for breath, and their faces were filled with bewilderment and disbelief at having survived such a disaster.

ended?
Sadako... really disappeared?

Everyone's attention was drawn to the television set that had been disassembled, its back cover now open and the picture tube wiped clean, and to the woman standing in front of the television set, holding a rag, her face pale but her eyes bright... Asakawa Reiko.

It was she, a novice who had only recently become a reincarnator, who, in the final moment of despair, delivered the fatal blow, erasing the root of the curse.

The living room was deathly silent, save for the sound of the rain gradually subsiding outside the window and the heavy, weary breathing of the group.

"Survived!"

"We've defeated Sadako!"

The curse seems to be... really over!

Jiang Jin walked up to Lingzi and looked at the woman who had just saved everyone and whose face was still pale. He felt a complex mix of gratitude and guilt.

He bowed deeply and said, "Miss Asakawa, thank you. You saved everyone."

He straightened up, his gaze sincere yet resolute: "However, there's one thing I must correct. To protect you and to gather clues, we used some... unconventional methods on you. Now, it's time to end that."

He looked at Li Shang and said, "Li Shang, remove the curse."

Li Shang nodded, stepped forward, chanted the incantation to dispel the curse, and gently touched Lingzi's brow with his finger.

An invisible sense of constraint quietly dissipated.

After doing all this, Li Shang stepped back and observed Lingzi's reaction.

However, Reiko simply blinked, looked at Li Shang curiously, then at Jiang Jin, and asked in confusion, "Kurosaki-kun, what was Li-san doing just now? Was it some kind of Chinese etiquette?"

Jiang Jin was stunned, and tentatively asked, "You...you don't feel any changes?"

“Changes?” Lingzi was even more confused. She looked at Jiang Jin, whose face still held that familiar gentleness and determination, and even more relief and closeness after surviving a disaster.

"I feel... nothing has changed. Kurosaki-kun, is there anything you want me to change? Oh, right, you want me to call you Jiang-kun, right? Okay, then I'll call you that from now on."

At that moment, an eerie silence fell over the living room.

Everyone was stunned, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Looking at Lingzi's genuine affection, and then at Jiang Jin's face, which, though weary and sweaty, still possessed sharp features and a resolute spirit, Lian De suddenly slapped his thigh, realizing something, and muttered in Chinese, "Damn!"

He explained to Jiang Jin and the others, who were equally astonished, "Vice-Captain, the black magic might have just been the initial trigger, forcibly planting a seed of affection in her heart, even to the point of disregarding everything. But what happened afterward—she almost died protecting you from the Gu worms, went through the final battle with you, and when everyone was in despair, you entrusted her with a crucial task, personally ending the terrifying curse… This series of life-and-death experiences, absolute trust, and rescues, the resulting 'suspension bridge effect' and emotional impact, were enough to make her truly develop feelings for you!"

"Now, her feelings for you are real, they come from her own heart! They have nothing to do with black magic!"

Lian De smacked his lips and concluded, "Thinking about it carefully, considering this series of actions, plus your fairly handsome face as a vice-captain, and the aura of a LV3 expert... it's perfectly reasonable for Miss Asakawa to really fall for you!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Reiko Asakawa again. Although she couldn't understand Chinese, she was still gazing at Jiang Jin with eyes full of affection, as if he were the only person in the world she could see.

Jiang Jin opened his mouth, looking at the woman in front of him who had just saved him and his team and was now showing him genuine affection, and suddenly felt a headache coming on.

"Vice-Commander, tell me, when faced with such a beautiful woman who is truly infatuated with you, do you really feel no flutter or romantic feelings at all?" Lian De walked up and asked Jiang Jin.

"……I don't!"

"You hesitated! You hesitated for a second!"

"Who hesitated! I was just speechless because of you!" Jiang Jin wished he could kick Lian De to death.

“Vice Regiment Commander Jiang,” Li Shangze said, “it’s alright. With your status and position, you’ll be a national-level reincarnator personally appointed by the imperial court. It’s perfectly normal for you to have a dozen women around you. The strong are entitled to special privileges!”

At this moment, Yu Tianlun came up, coughed, and helped Jiang Jin end the awkward topic.

"Have you forgotten... we still have an enemy! The one who manipulates the Gu worms!"

At this moment, outside the villa...

“They seem to have actually held on. Far more people survived than we thought.” Xie Feng’s face was grim. “Then… let’s act immediately!”

(End of this chapter)