Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 92 Brothers
Two days later, in the command room of the Yihai Reincarnation Camp.

Wen Qi sat behind her desk, her fingertips lightly tapping the surface.

Standing before her was a young woman—her secretary, Lin Xia, a professional priestess, at level 1: Priestess. Her profession allowed her to obtain vague omens through simple divination.

"What was the result?" Wen Qi asked calmly.

This is just a routine monthly divination. The results of the divination will determine whether to temporarily recruit new members to join the reincarnation patrol team outside the outer ring.

Lin Xia put down the tortoise shell in her hand, the cracks on it displaying peculiar patterns: "The divination indicates, 'Blood and mist travel together, it is advantageous to cross great rivers.'"

She looked up: "Assistant Wen, there is a new reincarnator named Jiang Jin. His destiny is not only extremely compatible with the patrol team's fortune, but it also indicates that he has extraordinary potential and is worth cultivating."

Wen Qi was somewhat surprised: "Is someone who just passed the beginner dungeon at LV1 worth this much attention?"

"After all, I am only a Level 1 Priest Reincarnator, and I cannot guarantee absolute accuracy."

Wen Qi pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "Interesting. Get Jiang Jin's file and report it to the department. We're short-handed right now, so let him join the 12th patrol squad under our camp as a full member."

Lin Xia hesitated for a moment: "Official team member? Do we need to communicate with him first? Not every reincarnator is willing to be dispatched by the government."

“No need.” Wen Qi stood up and walked to the window. “Some people are destined to be pushed along. He’s a formal member, but he’s only given a first-level position. He won’t be subject to many restrictions on a daily basis. After all, he’s a policeman, so he’s a civil servant. Of course, everyone has their own ambitions. If he’s determined not to agree, then so be it.”

Then, Wen Qi crossed her arms, her expression turning serious: "Lin Xia, you should also know that the central urban area will no longer be an absolutely safe zone in the future. Although the average SAN value of citizens in the five major central urban areas has always been higher than that of the suburbs, it has been declining in recent years. The statistical report for the fourth quarter of last year showed that the average SAN value of urban residents had dropped to 91%, and this year, it may fall below 90%, similar to the suburban areas of the outer ring! In contrast... the annual growth rate of reincarnators has reached more than 20%, and this number is increasing year by year!"

“Yes,” Lin Xia nodded, her face full of worry. “It’s like this in the city center, not to mention the suburbs. Many outlying areas have become almost deserted, with people flooding into the city center like crazy. Even with policies to restrict population movement, it’s still not stopped. Temporary residence permits in the city center are being sold for tens of thousands of yuan on the black market, and now the housing prices in the city center are almost the same as in Shanghai.”

"The premise is still to strictly restrict the outflow of the city's population to work in other places or to live abroad. We have even mobilized military personnel to cooperate with the reincarnators to guard the outskirts of our city. Anyone who leaves Muxu City without permission will be arrested and prosecuted to prevent the outflow of memetic pollution. Lin Xia, just wait, the material layer space of the five main urban areas will be gradually eroded by memetic pollution sooner or later!"

……

"SAN value 87.5%, normal. The report will be sent to your mobile meme monitoring app in 2 minutes."

Finally solved... Jiang Jin breathed a sigh of relief and took off the helmet with dozens of wires stuck in it.

Although the watch can display the SAN value at any time, he still has to come to the checkpoint for testing in order to get a negative SAN value report to ride the subway and bus, since ordinary staff can't see the Reincarnator's watch.

Jiang Jin picked up the gift box beside him, opened the guard booth door, and neon lights shone into the dark booth, which was no bigger than a phone booth. Looking out, there was still a long queue stretching as far as the eye could see. As soon as Jiang Jin came out, the middle-aged man behind him immediately rushed in and slammed the guard booth door shut.

There were complaints from the long queue behind them.

"How much longer will we have to wait?"

"There's no way around it, the time required for SAN value testing varies for everyone."

"Hurry up and finish the test, my report has expired, and I can't take the bus or subway without a valid report."

During rush hour, the subway station is bustling with people.

Upon entering the station, Jiang Jin, as always, opened his phone to show the platform staff the normal SAN value report from the meme contamination monitoring app before entering the station.

Inside the subway, there are various display screens almost everywhere, which occasionally show maps of the Muxu Market, and then the screens will show many areas marked in red on the map.

Then, lines of text will appear on the screen: "Please pay close attention to the map updates on the Meme Monitoring APP and never enter the red code area."

Please strictly adhere to this month's rules and regulations:

Article 1: It is forbidden to look directly at the bronze statue on Yanghua Road in Qinglin District on rainy days. If you accidentally make eye contact, please immediately open your umbrella and recite the first seven digits of pi until you are more than 200 meters away.

Article 2: In the Mushan District, if an elevator in an apartment building with fewer than 18 floors displays the '18th floor' button, regardless of which floor you originally pressed, you must leave with the other passengers at the floor where the elevator opens after the button appears.

Article 3: All units in the New South District are strictly prohibited from working overtime after 9:00 PM, and must turn off all electronic devices before then. Article 4: When reading any type of book (including mobile e-books) within the Wenbei District, one must not turn to page 94.

Undoubtedly, if the rules are violated, the SAN value will drop immediately, and then there is a high chance that one will become a reincarnator and have to go to the horror dungeon, just like Xia Wei did.

Jiang Jin glanced at the display screen as he passed by. The screen showed approximately seventy red-coded areas across the entire city.

A closer look reveals that seven areas outside the city's outer ring road are marked in dark red; these are the seven major restricted zones, or "containment zones."

Upon reaching the Line 5 platform, I noticed that the advertisements around me had changed again. This time, it was a public service announcement from the Meme Contamination Monitoring Department. Popular actress Wen Lina smiled and held up a medicine bottle, accompanied by the text: "The newly developed MPTTD-007 Cognitive Stabilizing Pill helps maintain your SAN value. Please pick it up for free at the Meme Contamination Monitoring Department."

Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a new message from my mother: Ah Jin, have you gotten on the subway yet? Your brother, sister-in-law, and nephew have all arrived, bringing lots of things. Your dad cooked a lot of dishes too. Also, when is Xiao Liu coming back from training? How's your first day back at the bureau?
Jiang Jin replied: Mom, I'm about to get on the subway. Liu Yan's return date from her training camp out of town is still uncertain. I haven't told her about my meme contamination so far.

Jiang Jin gripped his phone tightly, a complicated bitter smile on his face. He was already married to Liu Yan, but he still couldn't tell his parents and brother.

When he got home, he could hear his older brother and sister-in-law talking as he walked down the stairs.

"Mom, these are all benefits from my workplace. Take them all. I'm officially starting my new job tomorrow, and I probably won't be able to come back to see you for a long time."

"It's alright, don't worry about home. Just do your job well and don't let your superiors down."

As Jiang Jin stepped into the house, he was instantly enveloped by the lively atmosphere. The table was already laden with dishes, and the lights were blindingly bright, making the house resemble a small celebration.

Jiang Jin's older brother, Jiang Han, his sister-in-law, Lin Yue, and his nephew, Xiao Yu, had already arrived. Seeing Jiang Jin enter, his father glanced at his watch and said, "I told you to come back earlier. Everyone's waiting for you. Why did you have to come back so right on time? Haven't you learned your lesson about the meme contamination incident?"

"Alright, Dad, Ah Jin is back, let's start the meal." The older brother, Jiang Han, was wearing a well-tailored, fitted leather jacket, looking very neat and capable.

At this moment, his nephew Xiaoyu said, "Uncle, can I go play with Ahua for a while now?"

Ahua is the cat that Jiang Jin's mother raised.

"Go."

Jiang Jin couldn't help but recall a month ago when Xiao Yu came to his house to play.

When it was time to eat, Jiang Jin reminded his mother, "Mom, did you put Ahua in the cat cage after feeding her? Make sure she doesn't come out when we eat, it's almost seven o'clock."

"Hey, why?" My nephew Xiaoyu happened to hear this and asked curiously, "I want to play with Ahua again. I haven't petted it in so long!"

At that time, Jiang Jin explained, "Because according to the rules and announcements issued by the Membrane Contamination Monitoring Department this month, our district does not allow feeding cats after 7 p.m. If Ahua runs out when we eat later and accidentally eats the bones or something we left over, it will be troublesome."

"Is it that exaggerated? This isn't exactly feeding a cat, is it?" Xiaoyu's eyes widened.

"The rules must be strictly followed, and there can be no room for complacency. The police station in the district next to ours handled a case where an elderly woman was diagnosed with memetic contamination because of feeding cats. Her SAN value dropped below 50%, and she has now been taken to the outer ring road for isolation and treatment."

"50%?" Upon hearing this, Xiaoyu immediately asked, "What happened to that old lady afterwards?"

"Of course something big has happened!" Jiang Jin said with a serious expression.

Jiang Jin did not reveal the old lady's condition, after all, the other people involved were still shaken when they heard about the whole case.

The elderly woman told the arriving detectives that after feeding her cat at 7 PM, her SAN (Self-Rating Anxiety) level was only slightly lower than normal, so she didn't think much of it and didn't give it any cognitive stabilizing medication. However, later, the cat would suddenly appear at her bedside every day at 4 AM, meowing. Three days later, the cat vomited…human fingernails in front of her!
Only then did she realize she had been terrified and called the police. However, when the police arrived at the scene, they didn't find the fingernail she mentioned. Later, they contacted the meme contamination monitoring department, and the terrifying thing was... after her SAN value was found to have dropped below 50%, she inexplicably lost a finger inside the police station! None of the surveillance footage showed when the finger was severed. And the wound was clearly caused by an animal bite!
According to the Meme Contamination Monitoring Department, her severed finger is a somatization symptom caused by meme contamination, and the condition is likely to worsen over time.

But that's not the scariest part. An investigation revealed that the old lady didn't own a cat at all, and no one had ever seen the cat.

Only now did Jiang Jin realize that the cat was clearly not a creature of the material world!
The old woman, naturally, could only become a reserve reincarnator, destined for the terrifying dungeon trial. It's unknown what class she will choose.

However, given her age, it's highly unlikely she'll emerge alive from the instance...

(End of this chapter)