I buried the gods in the restricted area.

Although even Jiang Rou herself felt that this speculation was too arbitrary, she still secretly kept a close eye on Zhang Yang.

To be precise, at this moment, apart from Jiang Mian, she was wary of everyone, including the photographer.

If a non-human being were to infiltrate the team without their knowledge, it would not stop there; it would definitely take further action, pushing everyone into an even deeper abyss.

But here's the question: if the non-human entity that infiltrated the team was indeed impersonating Zhang Yang, then where did the original Zhang Yang go? When was he replaced? And why was he replaced?

Jiang Rou's head throbbed with worry. Turning her head, she saw Jiang Mian looking equally lost in thought. Curious, she asked in a low voice, "Mr. Jiang Mian, is something on your mind?"

"My only concern right now is how to find those eighty-eight tombstones."

Jiang Mian snapped out of her thoughts, shook her head and sighed, "But this is entertainment time after all, and we should relax properly when it's time to relax. So I was just thinking, if an NPC really did infiltrate our team, who could it be?"

Jiang Rou was taken aback at first, then her eyes lit up. She hadn't expected that Mr. Jiang Mian was also thinking about the same thing. This might be a good opportunity to explore it in depth.

After a moment's hesitation, she tentatively asked in a low voice, "Does Mr. Jiang Mian have any suspects?"

"Of course not."

Jiang Mian was both amused and exasperated. "Aside from that video, we have no other clues. I can't possibly find the person out of thin air, can I?"

Yes, Jiang Rou suddenly realized—Mr. Jiang Mian was just treating this as a haunted house adventure game. What he needed were visible clues, not to speculate about people's hearts. Everyone's words and actions were not under his observation.

As she was secretly fretting, Jiang Mian continued, "Although I can't find anyone to suspect yet, I at least have someone I can trust."

Jiang Rou paused, then asked somewhat uncertainly, "Are you referring to...me?"

"Of course, after all, we came together." Jiang Mian smiled.

Jiang Rou smiled and said, "Then Mr. Jiang Mian is someone I can trust."

"Oh? Are you sure you want to believe me?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Mian's smile suddenly turned eerie, and her voice lowered, carrying an indescribable sinister tone, "I never said... I'm human."

"Mr. Jiang Mian..."

Jiang Rou's face turned deathly pale instantly. She staggered back several steps, almost falling to the ground.

"Haha, just kidding."

A strong hand pulled her back just in time. Jiang Mian put away her frightened expression and said with a wry smile, "Sorry, I didn't expect you to be such a coward."

Feeling the warmth of his palm, a living person's body, Jiang Rou's fear subsided somewhat, but she was still somewhat shaken and weakly said, "Mr. Jiang Mian, you've gone too far..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Jiang Mian apologized again for her prank, then said seriously, "But look, this haunted house isn't scary at all. If I didn't scare you, wouldn't your trip have been a waste?"

Jiang Rou: "..."

……

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Central District, Headquarters of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs.

Thirty-one floors underground.

As the elevator doors opened, a disheveled man with glasses practically tumbled out, shouting from afar, "Really?! The 'Flesh Bodhisattva' is actually willing to communicate with us?"

"Of course it's true, otherwise what would we need you for?"

Outside the elevator, two people had been waiting for some time, a man and a woman. The man was in his early twenties, with a string of copper coins around his neck. He had handsome features, but gave off a serious and old-fashioned feeling. He was clearly quite dissatisfied with the bespectacled man's rashness, and his tone revealed undisguised disdain.

The woman was tall, a head taller than the young man next to her who wore a copper coin necklace. The weather was clearly not cold, but she was wearing a thick down jacket, gloves, a scarf, and a hood, covering herself up completely, with only her icy eyes and a few strands of white hair showing.

"Nonsense! Do you know how many times we've executed these 'flesh Buddhas' over the years? Seventy-three times!"

The bespectacled man pushed up his glasses and said irritably, "Seven years, a full seven years! The 'Flesh Bodhisattva' was executed seven years ago without uttering a sound, and now it suddenly wants to communicate with us. How can I not be suspicious? To be honest, I'm terrified right now. If Uncle Chen hadn't insisted that I come and help you, I would never have gone to see that thing even if you beat me to death."

Although he said he was afraid, he clearly didn't think that way; his eyes revealed an undisguised fanaticism.

The white-haired woman stared at him for a while before speaking, "Lu..."

"Lu Yu, if you stutter, shut up and open the door. I have a lot of things to do," the bespectacled man urged.

The woman was not annoyed. She nodded slightly and stepped forward with the young man wearing a copper coin necklace, using her palm prints to open the dark door in front of them.

The underground headquarters of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs contains many dangerous and powerful forbidden sequences. Starting from the 30th underground level, there are forbidden sequences of S-rank or higher. Only one case can be contained on each level.

The thirty-first floor underground houses the terrifying being marked by Bodhi as unexecution, who slaughtered an entire city seven years ago—

[Forbidden Sequence S - Flesh Bodhisattva]

As the door slowly opened, an exceptionally cold aura emanated from the end of the corridor. It wasn't a physical cold, but a psychological one; even the white-haired woman, who was wrapped up like a dumpling, couldn't help but shiver.

Lu Yu swallowed hard: "Damn, this feels like an online romance meeting in person. Before we met, I was so excited, but now that we're actually going to meet, I'm afraid to take the plunge..."

Wang Zheng, who was standing next to him, got so impatient that he kicked him in the butt.

The three of them then entered the corridor.

At the end of the corridor was a huge, old room, laid out like an ancient temple. Different colored candles burned in the four corners, their flames twisting violently. Huge black chains hung from the beams, each suspending a head, half a torso, and two arms. In the center of the room was a black futon, upon which sat the last half of the body.

That's right, if all these bodies were pieced together, it would form that terrifying "Flesh Bodhisattva".

Even after being dismembered and contained for seven years, the body remains incorruptible and immortal; this is the bizarre characteristic of the "Flesh Bodhisattva."

However, this is not its most terrifying aspect.

The three did not step into the "temple". They stood at the threshold and looked at the head hanging on the black chain from a distance.

Its head has its eyes closed and a smile on its face. Its skin looks as if it has been forcibly peeled off, leaving only dark red muscles. It has a kind and benevolent expression, but it is terrifying to look at.

After a moment's hesitation, Lu Yu spoke first, taking the initiative to greet them: "Um... Brother Bodhisattva, what brings you here to chat with us today?"

Wang Zheng glanced at him speechlessly, but didn't say anything. After all, neither he nor Xiao Qin were good with words, and if they wanted to communicate with the [Flesh Bodhisattva], they could only rely on this guy's abilities.

In fact, communicating with the "Flesh Bodhisattva" is extremely difficult because it doesn't speak human language, and the occasional syllables it utters only cause dizziness and nausea. However, with Lu Yu's arrival, everything changed; they successfully heard the "Flesh Bodhisattva's" "voice"—

"You've arrived."

Unlike his appearance, which makes people feel physically uncomfortable, the voice of the "Flesh Bodhisattva" is completely devoid of hostility and even gives people a feeling of being bathed in a spring breeze.

The three were not surprised by the [Flesh Bodhisattva's] tone, which seemed to have known they would come all along. According to Bodhi's records, the [Flesh Bodhisattva] possessed the ability to foresee parts of the future, which was one of the reasons why the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs was so determined to execute it.

Seeing that the "Flesh Bodhisattva" indeed had the desire to communicate, Lu Yu simply abandoned his nonchalant attitude and went straight to the point: "Brother Bodhisattva, since you foresaw our future visit to you, you should also know what we want to ask you."

"I do know."

On the massive chains, the head of the "Flesh Bodhisattva" swayed slightly. Its lips did not open or close, but a gentle voice reached everyone's ears: "But unfortunately, I do not know the future you wish to know."

The three exchanged glances, and Lu Yu asked, "Why?"

"Because I was killed long before that future arrived."

The "Flesh Bodhisattva" spoke calmly, seemingly without any fear or unease about his death, but Lu Yu and the other two were stunned and felt an indescribable sense of absurdity.

Over the past seven years, they have executed the "Flesh Bodhisattva" seventy-three times, but never once did they truly harm it. Yet now the "Flesh Bodhisattva" is saying that it will be killed in the future?

"I don't understand," Lu Yu said in a deep voice.

He didn't need to finish his sentence, because the "Flesh Bodhisattva" who could foresee the future would surely know what he wanted to ask.

Sure enough, the [Flesh Bodhisattva] chuckled and said, "Everything has its destination, and even I, whom you call the Forbidden Sequence, am no exception. I have already foreseen my death, which will take place on this day next year."

In other words, the [Flesh Bodhisattva] only has one year left to live… Lu Yu was shocked and asked, “Impossible, who could kill you?”

[The Flesh Bodhisattva] did not answer, but simply smiled and said, "That's not important, and I don't want to answer it, but I can answer your other question—"

"As you think, as long as I die, the future you fear most will not come for the time being."

Lu Yu scratched his head: "If you hadn't said that, I would have almost apologized for those seventy-three executions before, but..."

His eyes darkened. "What do you mean by 'for the time being'?"

"It means exactly what you think it means."

The flesh bodhisattva calmly said, "I have foreseen my 'end,' and your 'end' will also come eventually."

"But you just said you can't see that far into the future." Lu Yu frowned.

"I may not be able to see the distant future, but I can see Him."

The fleshy bodhisattva smiled slightly, the compassionate smile appearing particularly sinister on his skinless face. "I know your abilities. If you are willing, I can give you a chance to see Him."

"No!"

Wang Zheng sternly stopped him, "Don't believe it..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Yu had already stepped across the threshold, walked straight to the disgusting head, and placed his hand on it.

"If I don't even take a look..."

With his back to the two of them, he pushed up his glasses with his other hand and sighed softly, "I won't be able to sleep tonight."

Even with his head being pressed down like that, the fleshy bodhisattva wasn't angry. Instead, he gently reminded him, "When you see Him, He will also see you, so please don't look too much."

"I see."

Without wasting words, Lu Yu closed his eyes and activated his ability.

The next second, his consciousness sank into a thick darkness until he saw a certain "being"—

In the depths of darkness, a colossal stone Buddha sits atop a decaying lotus pedestal, its head bowed, its face bizarrely split—the left half of its face is dignified and solemn, with lowered eyebrows and a smile on its lips, embodying ultimate compassion; the right half of its face, however, is contorted with muscles, its eyes bulging with rage, and its mouth twisted into a sinister grin, embodying bone-chilling malice.

The stone statue was permeated with a thick, tangible stench that seemed to penetrate the senses and penetrate directly into the mind, causing one's internal organs to churn.

The most bizarre thing was that, although it was a fleeting moment, the Buddha statue was not still, but rather had a frozen dynamic, as if it had only just been frozen in time when it was seen. The boundary between compassion and ferocity was blurred and wriggling in the dim light, exuding a sinister and oppressive feeling that blasphemed the sacred, making Lu Yu's breathing almost stop.

"What the hell is this thing...?"

Lu Yu was relieved that this was just a fragment of the [Flesh Bodhisattva's] memory, and he could leave at any time. However, what was terrifying was that almost at the same time he returned to reality, the Buddha statue... moved.

The Buddha's head suddenly turned in his direction at an angle that was extremely subtle yet incredibly clear, an angle that could not possibly be achieved by a stone joint.

With this movement, the split face suddenly flipped, compassion turning into ferocity, and ferocity feigning compassion. The arc of the mouth tore open to the ears, forming a grotesque smile full of malice and mockery that could make the souls of mortals tremble.

"Hold!"

Almost instinctively, as soon as he returned to reality, Lu Yu scrambled out of the temple, took out an old pocket watch from his pocket, and shook it repeatedly at himself.

Even though I was far away from that darkness and that stone Buddha, and even though I used the "Reset" technique to hypnotize myself, the feeling of being watched by some indescribable thing still clung to me like a maggot, and it took an unknown amount of time before it slowly dissipated with a chilling sensation.

"What kind of monster is that...?"

Lu Yu was still shaken. He had a premonition that if the memories of the [Flesh Bodhisattva] hadn't been so short, he might have already died at the hands of that stone Buddha that existed only in his memories.

Madness, grotesqueness, and malice.

That is something that modern humans cannot comprehend.

It should be noted that he was only peering into a momentary memory, yet the stone Buddha was able to find him by following that memory and even almost killed him. Such methods were simply mind-blowing.

How could such a bizarre creature exist in this world?

No wonder the "Flesh Bodhisattva" said he foresaw the "end" of the world. Faced with such a monster, humanity seems to have no hope at all.

Lu Yu was pale, thinking that he really wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. If that stone Buddha was destined to appear in the world, he couldn't think of any way to resist it.

The reason why the "Flesh Bodhisattva" has become an S-level forbidden order is simply because it once saw that stone Buddha.

That's right, it changed into what it is today with just one glance.

And it called that being—

God.