Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 376 Visiting the Budai Couple
While Lingzi was out visiting Mingmei, Jiang Jin was diligently practicing his daily cultivation in room 304.

He held his breath, his eyes gleaming with a dark light as he absorbed each crystal of resentment.

It was as if countless tiny runes were appearing and disappearing deep within his pupils.

Finally, after absorbing all the crystallized resentment, he slowly raised his right hand, his five fingers slightly spread. He wasn't holding any sharp blade, but simply making a "tearing" motion towards the empty tatami area in front of him.

The next moment, a chilling scene unfolded.

The space where his fingertips pointed seemed to turn into a fragile piece of cloth, emitting a "rip" sound as it could not bear the weight!

He tore open a twisted spatial rift with his bare hands!
Inside the rift lies a chaotic region filled with indescribable whispers and distorted light and shadow—the deepest space of the Lost Layer!

Jiang Jin maintained the crack for a few seconds, carefully sensing the chaotic aura seeping in from the other end. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the spatial rift was smoothed out as if by an invisible hand, quickly repaired by the laws of the material layer, and disappeared as if it had never existed!

"It's already starting to be able to steadily tear into the deepest layer of the Lost Layer..." Jiang Jin muttered to himself, a satisfied look flashing across his face.

This is one of his core class skills as a Level 3 Forbidden Zone Hunter – [Sky Rift].

With his improved strength, he no longer needs any knives or mediums. With his understanding of the rules of space and his precise control of power, his hand itself can become a kind of "rule pollution". It is even enough to tear open the solid materialistic layer space barrier and directly touch the deepest layer of the lost!

Six months of life-or-death struggles and relentless training have yielded remarkable results. Through his profession as a charlatan lawyer, he has made astonishing progress in manipulating and distorting the rules, reaching the limit of a near-LV4 reincarnator. He is just one final step away from reaching a level that is considered top-tier among reincarnators worldwide!

His rapid rise to prominence has already attracted close attention from major global powers, including the European Union, the United States, and Russia.

Countless eyes were focused on this man from the East, assessing his potential and believing he would become the next Zhuge Yu. Many secretly plotted to win him over. Fortunately, his wife had passed away, so numerous factions hoped to form marriage alliances with him, all of which he refused.

Just then, the door opened slightly, and Lingzi returned. She gave Jiang Jin a detailed account of her visit to Mingmei and the information Mingmei had revealed about the fourth-floor staircase.

Finally, she mentioned Yamato Manami's invitation: "Manami just met me and, on behalf of her father, invited us to have dinner together in room 301 tonight. Shall we go?"

Jiang Jin's eyes flickered slightly as he quickly weighed his options.

In the original movie, Aimi's father, Mitsuru Yamato, was indeed a scumbag. After his wife's death, he became addicted to alcohol and even committed inhuman acts against his own daughter while drunk.

In Jiang Jin's view, Yamato Mitsuru and Ebisu are both beasts in human skin, and can be used as "consumables" to test the cruelty of the rules.

“We can go,” Jiang Jin decided. “It’s a good opportunity to observe the Yamato father and daughter up close, especially Yamato Mitsuru. However, the key is whether they will continue to invite us tomorrow and the day after.”

He recalled Rule number five—if a neighbor invites you to dinner for three consecutive days, you must decline the third invitation.

This dinner could very well be the beginning of a dangerous sign.

Around noon, Jiang Jin and Lingzi took half of the food delivered from the Izumo family, packed it in a bag, and went to visit the Hotei couple in room 103 on the first floor.

According to the movie's plot, the couple eventually fell into despair after losing their source of income, and after suffering a mental breakdown, they committed the horrific act of drinking each other's blood.

Providing some food assistance in advance can not only build goodwill but also serve as a stepping stone to obtaining intelligence.

Knock on the door of room 103, and Mrs. Hotai, Yami, opens the door.

When she saw the bags filled with rice, flour, cooking oil, and convenience foods that Jiang Jin and Lingzi were carrying, her eyes lit up with an incredulous surprise.

"Mr. Asakawa, Mrs. Asakawa? What's going on here...?"

"Mrs. Hotai, thank you for your help yesterday." Reiko smiled and spoke gently. "The Izumo family sent too much food, and the two of us couldn't finish it all. We were worried that it would spoil, so we thought we would share some with you as a way of thanking you for your kindness yesterday."

"This...this is too much!" Hotei Masami declined verbally, but her hand had already involuntarily taken the bag. She was so excited that she was almost incoherent. "Quick, please come in! What kind of image is this standing outside!"

The room was even more rudimentary and oppressive than room 304, with an indescribable musty smell permeating the air.

Mr. Hotei sat on the tatami mat, looking dejected. But when he saw Jiang Jin and the other man enter, and there was so much food, his eyes lit up!

"Thank you so much!" Hotei Masami carefully placed the food down and said warmly, "It's almost lunchtime, why don't you stay and eat with us? I'll go cook now!"

"Oh my, you two are so hospitable!" Mr. Cloth Bag was also very excited. Jiang Jin and Lingzi readily agreed.

Jiang Jin stayed in the living room to chat with Mr. Budai, while Lingzi followed Yamei into the cramped kitchen to help, but in reality, she wanted to get information out of them separately.

Jiang Jin didn't waste any time on pleasantries and went straight to the point, lowering his voice to say, "Mr. Budai, to be honest, we already know about this apartment building... being cursed."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Cloth Bag trembled violently, and the forced smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a deep-seated pain and fear.

He covered his face with his hands, his shoulders began to tremble violently, and finally he couldn't help but let out a suppressed whimper, like that of a wounded beast.

“I…I was working as an office worker at a top-tier company in Shinjuku…” he sobbed intermittently, his voice broken, “To save money…to gain a foothold in Tokyo…after marrying Yami, I rented this cheap apartment…I never imagined…I never imagined it would be a ghost apartment!”

He looked up, tears streaming down his face, his eyes filled with regret: "Because...because I couldn't accept the company's transfer to Nagoya, I...I lost my job...and I still can't find a new one! On my resume...I don't even dare to write my expected salary, I only dare to write that I can't accept working too late...all because of that damn rule! No company will want an employee who can't work overtime! We...we're finished!"

Hearing her husband's broken cries, Yamei rushed out of the kitchen. Seeing her husband's state, her eyes instantly welled up with tears. The couple embraced and wept uncontrollably, a sense of despair filling the entire room.

Jiang Jin gave Lingzi a wink. Lingzi understood and secretly activated her incantation technique. A gentle, tranquil, and healing spiritual wave spread out like ripples, softly soothing the Cloth Bag Couple's emotions that were on the verge of collapse.

The couple couldn't see the invisible spiritual aura, but under the influence of the incantation, their agitated emotions gradually calmed down, and their crying slowly stopped. Although despair remained, they at least regained some rationality.

"I'm sorry...we lost our composure..." Mr. Cloth Bag wiped away his tears, his voice hoarse.

"It's okay, we understand."

Then, Mr. Hotei said, "Right now, we can only hope that it will be our turn to move out soon. According to the current order, after the Izumo family moves out, the next family to get 'moving out eligibility' should be the Ebisu family, the caretaker, then the Kotobuki family in room 203, then our family, then the Yamato family in room 301, and finally... it will be your turn... I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do..."

Yamei added bitterly, "We...we don't dare go far because we're unemployed. We can only go to real estate agencies every day, begging them to let us hand out flyers...we just hope...hope that someone else will be attracted by the low rent here and move in..."

Mr. Cloth Bag knew that their actions were tantamount to aiding and abetting a tyrant, but under the pressure of survival, morality had long since become blurred.

Jiang Jin discovered that Japanese horror stories often feature memes of man-made curses. In the past, there were unfortunate chain letters, then there was the cursed videotape in "The Ring," the cursed text message in "One Missed Call," and then there was the ghost apartment in "New Tales of the Unusual."

Then he asked a crucial question: "To your knowledge, are there any precedents of residents being cursed and killed without violating any rules?"

The couple exchanged a glance, both looking bewildered.

Mr. Cloth Bag shook his head: "We haven't been here long, less than half a year... so we don't know much about what happened before. And nobody... nobody brings it up. At least... at least within what we know, as long as we strictly follow the rules, we... we can still live."

His tone was uncertain, and clearly, the quality of his "living" was no different from that of a walking corpse.

Jiang Jin then pressed on with another key question: "Has anyone ever invited you to dinner for three consecutive nights?"

Upon hearing this question, Mr. Budai's expression changed slightly, and he nodded: "Yes...yes! Not long after we moved in, there was a family named Dahei in the apartment. They were a family of four, with a son and a daughter. They...invited us to their house for dinner for three consecutive nights."

"Oh?" Jiang Jin's eyes narrowed. "Did you go?"

"No! We haven't dared to go even once!" Yamei said hastily, her face still showing fear. "It's clearly written in the rules, how could we dare to agree!"

"Did they... explain why they invited you?" Reiko asked.

Mr. Hotei recalled, frowning: "No. They were very enthusiastic in inviting us, but after we declined, they didn't say much... It's a bit strange. Not long ago, the Yamato father and daughter moved in, and the Daikoku family... moved out."

He paused, his voice lowering, "They lived in the Beizuka First Apartment for four whole years... When they moved out, we saw them. Their two kids... had empty eyes, like... like they had autism. They were only middle school students, and their hair was... all white... It was so pitiful..."

Invitations for three consecutive days without explanation? The child's unusual behavior when moving out? Jiang Jin keenly noticed these anomalies. He remembered that in the movie, the female lead, Ai Shi, seemed to have searched for the Daikoku family; she should know their address.

He felt this could be an important clue.

Jiang Jin then inquired about the rules for administrators. The cloth bag couple said they had never encountered an administrator in plain clothes, but repeatedly warned them to be careful.

Finally, Jiang Jin casually asked for a piece of paper and a pen, wrote a clear "love" character on it, and handed it to the Budai couple: "Are there any taboos or related rumors about this character in the apartment?"

(End of this chapter)