Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 369 Home World Trial Mission
At this moment, inside the Blood Owl's villa, there was a "holy land" that was completely opposite to its owner's bloody reputation.

This is an extremely prosperous and colorful anime world.

The room is extremely spacious and features top-notch acoustic and optical design to ensure absolute tranquility and the most perfect visual experience.

The walls are completely covered with huge anime wallpapers, including Naruto Uzumaki with outstretched arms and a bright smile; Ichigo Kurosaki holding a giant Zanpakuto with a determined look in his eyes; and Luffy in his Gear 5 Nika form, looking cool.

Throughout the room, custom-made crystal display cases and floating shelves are densely packed with countless exquisite figurines. From the classic Super Saiyan form of Son Goku to the stern-faced Levi Ackerman, to the composed Saitama with his bald cape, to Zenitsu wielding his Nichirin Blade and the adorable Nezuko with a bamboo tube in her mouth… it encompasses almost all the most popular characters from the golden age of Japanese anime to the present day. The sheer number and perfect condition of these figures are enough to leave any seasoned otaku speechless.

On the huge bookshelves against the wall, thousands of Japanese manga volumes are neatly stacked. The complete series of "Naruto" and "Bleach" are impressive, while the still-running "One Piece" and "Detective Conan" volumes occupy almost two whole rows. Classic works such as "Attack on Titan," "Jujutsu Kaisen," and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" are also prominently displayed, like a miniature anime chronology.

On one side of the room, there was even a dedicated changing area with a large number of well-made cosplay costumes hanging on the walls, ranging from the Survey Corps' Wings of Freedom uniforms to the Demon Slayer Corps members' uniforms, which can be described as complete.

At this moment, Wu Ge, the owner of the room, was lazily nestled in the extremely comfortable and luxurious sofa in the center.

He was wearing a custom T-shirt printed with the classic scene from "Detective Conan" where Conan puts glasses on Ai Haibara. The intricate design clearly showed his preference.

He held the latest issue of "Detective Conan" manga in his hand, his eyes quickly scanning the pages. A knowing smile appeared on his lips as he muttered to himself, "As expected, he's the culprit."

Wu Ge perfectly inherited the intellect of his father, Wu Zhiping, who was known for his strategic thinking, and possesses exceptional logical reasoning abilities. From childhood to adulthood, when reading mystery comics like Detective Conan, he has a success rate of over 80% in guessing the culprit or the core method. The remaining 20% ​​mostly involves obscure professional knowledge or Japanese folk culture that he has not yet explored in depth.

He put down the comic book, picked up the tablet next to him, and skillfully logged into an anime and manga forum to check out the latest news and discussions in the community.

In the forum, there's a title highlighted in bold red that's been pushed to the top of the hottest thread. This post was originally published a month and a half ago, and the number of replies is still skyrocketing.

"[Breaking News] Membrane pollution worsens in Tottori Prefecture; Aoyama-sensei announces the end of 'Detective Conan'!"

At this point, the post was refreshing with new replies almost every few seconds, and everyone's focus was now on two questions:

"Holy crap?! This is a once-in-a-lifetime event! So, will it be Shinichi & Ran or Conan & Ai in the end? I'm betting on Shinichi & Ran!"

"The Koei Tecmo Party will never be slaves!"

"Supporters of the mistress, get out! Shinichi and Ran are the official couple!"

"When your master was plastered with Kaito Kid's image at the swimming pool, what rank did he hold?"

"Why are people upstairs still arguing about fandom stuff? Is that the important thing right now? The key issue is Aoyama-sensei's personal safety! What's the situation in Tottori? Has the meme disaster announcement been released yet?"

"Weekly Shonen Sunday has been on hiatus for half a year. It even survived the fall of Edo! Gosho Aoyama is now entirely serializing online, and the frequency of his hiatuses is alarmingly high..."

"The anime has been off the air for half a year! Now I'm more worried about the safety of Queen Hayashibara and Aunt Takayama! I grew up watching EVA and Detective Conan! I urge them to come to China for refuge as soon as possible!"

"Where's the informant for the final episode? Get back to work! The whole internet is flooded with 'Hang in there, Aoyama-sensei,' and 'I hope I can see the ending of Detective Conan in my lifetime'..."

Wu Ge was about to type a reply when a soft knock came from the door.

"Come in." Wu Ge composed himself, his tone returning to calm.

The door opened, and Georgia walked in carrying an elegant tray with freshly baked cakes and a steaming cup of freshly ground coffee on it.

With a fawning smile, she said, "Young Master, are you tired from reading? Have something to eat and rest."

She placed the tray on the coffee table next to the sofa, her gaze casually sweeping over the tablet screen in Wu Ge's hand. She immediately struck up a conversation, feigning familiarity, "Sigh, young master, are you also waiting for the Conan finale? It's really worrying. I'm also a Conan x Ai shipper, and I really hope they can have a good ending."

Wu Ge gave a faint "hmm" and didn't say anything more.

He didn't like Georgia; the woman had a restless streak, and all her flattery and submissiveness seemed like a carefully calculated performance.

Her sudden attentiveness today must mean she has something in mind. Georgia seemed oblivious to Wu Ge's coldness, or perhaps she simply didn't care.

After putting her things down, she didn't leave immediately. Instead, she pretended to be curious and began to look around the study, which resembled a museum. Her gaze swept over the dazzling array of figurines and bookshelves. Suddenly, she pointed quickly to a corner of the bookshelf and said in a trembling voice, "Young...Young Master! You even have Junji Ito's manga?! That's a super forbidden book!"

Wu Ge's heart skipped a beat, and he looked in the direction she was pointing...

Next to his meticulously collected collection of Demon Slayer manga, there were actually a few more volumes of manga!

The title was clearly visible... "The Whirlpool"!
Junji Ito's "Uzumaki"!
It's important to know that the "Vortex" is a globally recognized meme, second only to the "Zoo Ghost Story" in terms of danger!

This is meme contamination originating from the interstitial layer!

"Impossible!" Wu Ge exclaimed, abruptly standing up, his face drained of all color. "I burned this comic book a long time ago! I burned it myself! I even disposed of the ashes!"

A chilling feeling instantly swept over my entire body!
Junji Ito's works are renowned for their depictions of indescribable horror and profound despair. His masterpiece, *Uzumaki*, is considered a prime example, as its meme-contaminated nature can easily trigger cognitive confusion and terrifying curses, leading to its being listed as a top-ranking banned book in many countries. Simply possessing this manga can result in a death sentence!

How could they have reappeared here, without him noticing?
Just as he was filled with doubt and uncertainty, the screen of the tablet in his hand suddenly refreshed automatically, and a push notification popped up, the scarlet text piercing his eyes!
[Urgent Notice]: Communication and signal have been completely lost in Tottori, Okayama, Hyogo, and Yamaguchi prefectures, Japan! A high-intensity memetic contamination barrier has appeared at the border! Memetic contamination in western Japan has gone completely out of control!
[Warning from the Meme Contamination Monitoring Department]: All reincarnators, please choose carefully before entering the Japanese-style horror instance!
Then, Wu Ge looked at the comics that shouldn't exist, rushed over, pulled them out, and prepared to burn them!
At that moment, in his eyes, the spiral pattern on the cover seemed to slowly... rotate!

……

At this moment, a string of words appeared on the retina of Jiang Jin's left eye:

"Nirvana Team Leader Jiang Jin, the Nirvana Team has triggered the [Home World] trial mission: From today onwards, move into Room 304 of the Beizuka First Apartment and survive until the next new resident moves in."

Trial Quest Rewards: 600 Resentment Crystals and one Key to the Shell Mound First Apartment. Possessing the key, this instance will become the Nirvana Team's home world.

He and Reiko were sitting in a rented van in the parking lot of the so-called "Beizuka First Apartment".

Reiko, sitting in the passenger seat, looked at Jiang Jin in astonishment and said, "Captain... Home World?"

Jiang Jin was also surprised, as triggering a home-world trial mission is very rare!
But the problem is, only he, a Level 3, and Reiko, a Level 1, participated in this trial mission.

“Home-field advantage…” he murmured almost silently.

Jiang Jin and Lingzi both understood what the "home world" meant... A stronghold that can be entered at any time, is relatively familiar with, and from which stable resources and side quest rewards can be obtained is a strategic asset that countless reincarnation teams dream of!

The Insect Nest team and the Old Core organization are able to fight against the imperial court and even the world precisely because they have their own home world!
However, the system never gives generously; correspondingly, the difficulty of obtaining it will inevitably increase exponentially.

This seemingly simple "survival" task hides dangers far beyond imagination.

Beizuka First Apartment...

Jiang Jin had already read a lot of the "Tales of the Strange, New Ear Bag" series and its theatrical versions, so he knew very well that this was a horror version of one of the theatrical versions, "The Haunted Apartment"!
The truck bed contained all their "belongings" in this instance world... some simple furniture and luggage, all necessary for the identities the system had assigned them.

According to the background instilled by the reincarnation system, they are a newlywed couple who have just moved from Shinagawa Ward. The husband, Asakawa Jin (Kang Jin), is a coach at a nearby sports club; the wife, Asakawa Reiko, is a reporter for a television station in Tokyo.

"When soldiers come, we'll block them; when water comes, we'll dam it." Jiang Jin took a deep breath, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and gave Lingzi a calm smile. "Remember, we are now the 'Asakawa Couple'."

He never expected that after pretending to be husband and wife with Lin Lu in the "Ghostly Shadow" instance half a year ago, he would now be playing husband and wife with Lingzi in this "New Tales of the Strange" instance. Last time he played a Thai person, and this time he has to play a Japanese person!

Lingzi instinctively took his arm, her face displaying the expectant yet slightly nervous expression befitting newlyweds moving into their new home. For her, this was entirely a natural performance, requiring no acting skills whatsoever.

The apartment building is an old three-story structure with a mottled exterior paint that exudes an air of decay.

The building is square and the windows are neatly arranged, yet it inexplicably gives people a dull and oppressive feeling.

Jiang Jin, who had seen the movie, knew that the apartment they were about to move into was, in the original movie's setting, a terrifying place that was cursed and full of strange tales!
(End of this chapter)