Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 371 Residents' Living Rules
Jiang Jin looked out through the peephole and saw that old man Ebisu was standing alone outside the door, holding a folded white piece of paper in his hand.

Jiang Jin opened the door, a curious expression on his face: "Mr. Ebisu, is there something you need?"

The old man didn't say anything, but silently handed over the papers in his hand.

Jiang Jin took it and felt that the paper was unusually cold and rough.

“Mr. Asakawa, Mrs. Asakawa,” Ebisu’s gaze slowly swept over Jiang Jin and Reiko behind him, his slightly cloudy eyes carrying an indescribable solemnity, “These are the apartment’s rules of conduct. Please strictly abide by every rule on them and do not violate them under any circumstances.”

He emphasized the words "must," "strict," and "absolute," his tone heavy as if he were reading a proclamation before a trial.

"What are the consequences? What if... you accidentally break it?" Jiang Jin asked tentatively, feigning nonchalance, his brows furrowing slightly, showing the confusion of an ordinary person towards such a strange rule.

Ebisu shook his head, his wrinkles seeming to deepen: "Then we'll just have to bear the consequences ourselves. This is the rule set by our landlord who lives in the countryside; we just need to follow it and not ask any questions."

He paused, then added, "For your safety."

After saying that, he didn't give Jiang Jin a chance to ask any more questions. He nodded slightly and then turned and slowly left.

Jiang Jin closed the door and locked it. The relaxed expression on his face vanished instantly, replaced by an extremely serious one.

He went back to the living room and spread the paper out on the makeshift folding table that had been unloaded from the truck. Lingzi immediately came over as well.

The two began to read carefully, word by word.

【Beizuka Daiichi Apartment Residents' Guidelines】

Welcome to Beizuka No. 1 Apartment. Please be sure to follow the rules below to ensure your safety and comfort.

The apartment will not be held responsible for any violations.

1. You must return to the apartment before midnight every day, crossing the white line at the door (the white line must never be moved). You may leave the apartment after 6:00 AM the following morning. During this time, no matter what noise you hear outside the door (including but not limited to knocking, crying, or furniture being moved), do not look through the peephole, and absolutely do not open the door.

2. There is no fourth floor in this apartment building. If you see an upward staircase at the third-floor stairwell, please immediately close your eyes and turn clockwise three times. If the staircase is still there when you open your eyes again, please do not step onto it. Please return to your room immediately and do not go out today.

3. Every Friday is garbage collection day. Please place your sorted garbage at your door. If you find any personal items in your garbage bag that do not belong to you and have bloodstains, please calmly discard them along with the garbage and do not investigate further.

4. Power outages may occur occasionally in the apartment. An emergency flashlight is provided in your bedside table. Please remember: the light should only illuminate the ground in front of you; never shine it upwards onto the walls, and never shine it behind you.

5. Be friendly to your neighbors but don't pry into their privacy. If a neighbor invites you to dinner for three consecutive days, you must decline the third invitation. No matter how they try to persuade you, reply, "Sorry, I have an important appointment tonight."

6. Apartment managers always wear uniforms and name tags. If someone in plainclothes claims to be a manager and requests entry into your room for "maintenance," please call the manager's office to verify. However, please note that there may be no answer on the other end of the line.

7. The balcony is safe. However, if you find unexplained damp handprints on clothes drying on the balcony, do not accept them; let them air dry until they disappear naturally.

8. When a new resident moves in, the resident who has lived there the longest will be granted "moving-out eligibility." The building manager will then issue a written notice to them. Those granted eligibility must pack their belongings and leave within 24 hours.

Silence enveloped room 304.

Jiang Jin's brows furrowed tightly. He was recalling the plot of the movie "Tales of the Strange: The Ghost Apartment".

The movie does have core rules about having to be home before midnight and new residents moving into old ones before leaving (corresponding to rules 1 and 8), but the six rules in the middle... elevator taboos, garbage irregularities, flashlight usage guidelines during power outages, restrictions on the number of times neighbors can be invited, administrator identity verification, balcony handprints... these rules are so detailed they're outrageous, full of déjà vu, yet completely different from the original movie, that they set off alarm bells in his mind.

“A rule-based evil spirit…” Reiko said softly, “Once it is violated, it may trigger an instant death flag, with almost no room for maneuver.”

Jiang Jin nodded. Just like the evil spirit in the "Guoyuan Fresh Fruit" shop, anyone who guessed the correct fruit to feed it was doomed to die.

Reiko recalled the movie's plot: "According to the movie, the origin of this apartment was the daughter of the original owner, who was sexually assaulted and murdered by her beastly father and died here. Her resentment lingered and formed a curse... The movie's ending was that the resentment was finally resolved through the empathy and understanding of the female protagonist who had also experienced the pain."

“It’s probably not that simple now.” Jiang Jin interrupted her, his finger pointing heavily at the rules. “The terror of rule-based evil spirits lies in their absolute ‘causality.’ The trigger condition is death. Logic and emotion are often ineffective in the face of such beings. The kind of scene in movies where people are moved and their curses are lifted is absolutely impossible in this terrifying instance contaminated by memes.”

His eyes gleamed with a calm, analytical light: "I want to first verify whether these rules are exactly as stated on paper, whether there are loopholes that we can exploit, or... whether the 'instant death' judgment is really as absolute as in the movies, or whether there is a buffer zone."

Just then, another knock sounded at the door, slightly more urgent than Ebisu's.

Jiang Jin quickly put away the rules, gave Lingzi a wink, and walked to the door again. Through the peephole, he saw the Izumo family of three—Mr. Izumo, Mrs. Noriko, and the overly cheerful high school student, Takashi Izumo. They were all carrying something in their hands.

Jiang Jin adjusted his expression and opened the door.

"Mr. Asakawa, I hope we didn't disturb your rest?" Noriko Izumo said with a gentle yet slightly apologetic smile. "Knowing that you just moved in and might not have had time to buy groceries, we prepared some extra rice, flour, cooking oil, and convenience foods. We hope you won't find them too much."

Mr. Izumo chimed in, "Yes, it must be tough moving right now. Let's just get through this."

Takashi Izumo simply placed the ten-kilogram bag of rice and a large bucket of cooking oil he was carrying in the corner of the entryway, grinning as he said, "Mr. Asakawa, call me anytime if you need any more heavy work!"

They brought a considerable amount of things: in addition to rice, noodles, and oil, there were various seasonings, instant curry, several large bags of instant noodles, and even some fresh vegetables and fruits. This act of "neighborly care" was unusually generous.

Jiang Jin and Lingzi quickly expressed their gratitude, showing just the right amount of surprise and appreciation.

But in the intervals between moving their belongings, Jiang Jin keenly caught a glimpse of barely concealed guilt deep in the eyes of the Izumo couple. Especially when their gaze occasionally swept over room 304, that complex and indescribable emotion became even more apparent. This was naturally due to Article 8 of the resident rules—"When a new resident moves in, the resident who has lived there the longest will be granted 'moving-out eligibility'."

The Izumo family is currently the longest-staying resident in the apartment building. Their eligibility to move out was contingent upon the arrival of Jiang Jin and Lingzi, the "new residents." Their enthusiastic help and generous gifts weren't merely out of so-called "neighborly friendliness," but rather stemmed from a deeper sense of compensation based on the transfer of a survival opportunity, a guilt akin to "sacrificing" a replacement. They knew that if they continued living in this apartment building, where a strict midnight curfew was enforced, a shortage of supplies would be disastrous, so they wanted to stockpile food for the new residents.

"Thank you so much, you've been a huge help to us." Reiko smiled gently as she took the carton of eggs from Noriko Izumo. "Now we won't have to worry about buying groceries for at least a few days."

"Of course, of course." Izumo Noriko waved her hands repeatedly, her eyes flickering slightly. "Then... you go ahead with your work, we won't bother you any longer."

After the Izumo family expressed their welcome once again, they took their leave.

The room fell silent again after the door was closed, but unlike before, the entryway and a corner of the living room were piled with household supplies, creating a distorted sense of "abundance".

Reiko looked at the pile of food and sighed softly, "In this hell where rules reign supreme, this family of three is also a pitiful bunch."

She silently began to organize the ingredients, putting perishable fruits and vegetables into the refrigerator, and sorting rice, flour, and cooking oil into categories.

Then, she tied on an apron and went into the small kitchen.

“It’s getting late, Commander, I’ll start cooking,” her voice regained its calm. “Now that we have the ingredients, we can’t face these rules on an empty stomach.”

Jiang Jin wanted to help, but Lingzi gently pushed him away.

“You must be tired from moving things today, take a rest, leave this to me.” Her tone carried an undeniable insistence.

Jiang Jin had no choice but to sit on the only small sofa in the living room and watch Lingzi busy in the kitchen.

As a single mother, she is very skilled at housework, and her movements are quite adept. Washing vegetables, chopping vegetables, turning on the stove, heating oil... everything is done in an orderly manner.

Soon, the familiar aroma of sizzling oil filled the kitchen – the pungent scent of ginger, garlic, and chili peppers releasing their fragrance in hot oil.

The aroma... Jiang Jin was slightly taken aback.

When Lingzi brought the first dish to the table, Jiang Jin was completely stunned.

It was a plate of bright red, fragrant shredded pork with garlic sauce.

Next, the second dish was a plate of braised pork ribs, with a rich sauce and an enticing color.

Then came Mapo Tofu, exuding the authentic Sichuan flavor of numbing spiciness.

Finally, there was a bowl of tomato and egg soup, its colors a mix of red and yellow, steaming hot.

Four dishes were laid out on the folding table that served as a makeshift dining table. They looked and smelled delicious, and without exception, they were all authentic Chinese home-style dishes, and... they were all his favorite dishes.

He looked at Reiko Asakawa, who was taking off her apron, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, her face showing a hint of expectation and shyness. She said softly, "Captain, I don't know if this suits your taste... I've practiced for a long time."

Jiang Jin's emotions were a mix of feelings. Looking at the steaming, fragrant Chinese dishes on the table in front of him, he knew that she must have been deliberately trying to learn how to cook them.

"You..." Jiang Jin opened his mouth, his voice a little dry, "When did you learn that?"

Reiko lowered her eyelids to hide the fleeting disappointment, and smiled lightly, "It's nothing, it's just... I learned it while gathering intelligence. Commander, try it, it won't taste good when it's cold."

She handed him the bowl of rice.

Jiang Jin picked up his chopsticks, took a bite of shredded pork with garlic sauce, and put it in his mouth. The taste... was surprisingly authentic. It was sweet, sour, spicy, and salty, with distinct layers and a rich texture.

“It’s delicious,” he said softly, his tone sincere. “Thank you, Reiko.”

Reiko smiled and said, "Eat more if you like it. Later... I can make other things."

The two began to eat in silence.

As Jiang Jin ate the familiar dishes, his taste buds were satisfied, but his heart was filled with mixed feelings.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping once more over room 304, which he called "home".

The white line at the apartment entrance that hasn't been carefully measured yet, the flashlight in the bedside table that could be a lifesaver or a killer, and the balcony outside the window that's defined as "safe" by the rules but might have damp handprints on it...

“After we finish eating,” Jiang Jin put down his chopsticks, his voice regaining the calm and decisiveness of a leader, “we need to seriously consider how to survive in this apartment, and how much the evil spirit curse within it differs from the original movie!”

His eyes were extremely serious; the home-field trial mission was no small matter!

"We must obtain that 'key' and turn this world into our 'home ground' for rebirth!"

(End of this chapter)