Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 11 Crystallization of Resentment
The rain intensified, and the dilapidated tile-roofed house began to leak.

Water droplets fell from a height and landed on Jiang Jin's forehead.

At this moment, Jiang Jin was squatting in front of the broken window.

Previously, Jiang Jin smashed the window with a chopstick holder, leaving shards of glass everywhere. Now, unable to find a suitable weapon, he'll have to make do with this for the time being.

He picked up a shard of glass, preparing to apply the Resentment Moss Balm, figuring that as long as he didn't touch the spirit, he wouldn't lose SAN.

Suddenly, the roar of a death knell came from behind.

Jiang Jin quickly turned around and ran up.

All that could be seen were blood on the fangs and mouth of the death knell, and bloodstains were also splattered on the ground in front of it, extending to a certain point where it broke off.

It looks... like the bleeding object instantly teleported away at the point of breakage!
Just as Liang Qin said, only the curse of a ghost can fight against a ghost.

These skeletal hounds can now be considered undead.

Jiang Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he still dared not let his guard down. He called out to Deathstroke, "Well done! Deathstroke! Let's go!"

Suddenly, a text prompt appeared in front of me:
"Reincarnator Jiang Jin, your skeleton hound 'Deathstroke' has repelled the ordinary evil spirit in the ▇▇ village pond."

Because you achieved this accomplishment alone, the reincarnation system has assessed your achievement and awarded you 20% SAN value and 2 Resentment Crystals (which have been automatically stored in your Reincarnator Watch). At the same time, the decrease in SAN value will stop for 2 hours.

Note 1: The Reincarnator Watch has approximately 30 cubic meters of internal space. Items can be placed inside simply by touching the watch. To retrieve an item, simply touch the watch and retrieve it using your mind.

Note 2: Resentment Crystals must not be directly touched by anyone other than Reincarnators (including prospective Reincarnators). Non-Reincarnators must store Resentment Crystals in a container; holding them directly will reduce SAN value by 3% per minute.

Note 3: Resentment Crystals can be used to purchase items suitable for your class at the Reincarnation Camp, or you can pay a processing fee to have the Resentment Crystals processed by the cleaner. Based on the current exchange rate, one Resentment Crystal can be exchanged for 8% SAN value in the Reincarnation System. You can also use the Reincarnator's Watch at any time to exchange Resentment Crystals for SAN value through the Reincarnation System, but this cannot exceed your personal SAN value cap of 100%.

Ugh?
Have rewards been distributed?
He glanced at his watch and saw that after adding 20% ​​to the SAN value, the SAN value returned to 81%!

This means he has returned to the materialist level!

Survived!

Overjoyed, he patted Deathstroke's head and said, "You saved my life, Deathstroke!"

The fierce skeleton hound immediately transformed into a loyal dog in front of its master, Jiang Jin, shaking its head as if it were quite pleased.

"And... crystallized resentment!"

He remembered that Liang Qin had told him to collect resentment crystals in the dungeon.

Are these resentment crystals and resentment shards different names for the same thing, or are they different things?

It now appears that SAN value is not the only currency in the reincarnation system; these resentment crystals are probably the hard currency circulating among reincarnators. After all, SAN value is like HP for reincarnators, and each person can only hold a maximum of 100%, so no one will easily give it up.

Moreover, he never expected that the watch was actually a spatial ring!
"I didn't expect it to be such a good thing! It can fit everything from the newbie gift pack box!"

Now that the reincarnation system has indicated that the ghost has been defeated and even given a reward, and his SAN value has returned to over 80%, he relaxed, sat down in his chair, touched his watch, and in a flash, took out the resentment crystal inside.

"This is?"

Two jet-black, multifaceted crystals, about the size of pigeon eggs, appeared in my palm. Each crystal had several faint red lines on its surface and felt warm and sticky to the touch.

"This thing can be used to replenish SAN points in an emergency, it's really a good thing!"

Suddenly, he noticed that Deathstroke was leaning against his leg, opening his mouth, and showing a longing expression.

"You want to... eat this?" Jiang Jin and Deathstroke were of one mind, so he immediately realized what it meant.

Sigh, weren't they saying that skeleton hounds don't need to be fed? Why do they want to eat resentment crystals?

Could it be that feeding it resentment crystals would strengthen it?
"This is my spare blood vial, I can't let you take it for now."

Deathstroke was immediately sullen, but his eyes remained fixed on Jiang Jin's hand.

"When I get back, I must go to that Reincarnation Camp and ask someone what happens if I feed the Skeleton Hound with Resentment Crystals."

Next, he put everything from the newcomer's gift box into the watch. After the gift box was empty, it completely disappeared in front of Jiang Jin.

Half an hour later, the rain finally stopped.

Through the decaying wooden door, Jiang Jin and Deathstroke walked out one after the other.

Jiang Jin often felt envious watching his senior colleagues with their police dogs at the station. Now that he had such a "partner," he felt more confident.

When Lu Zhao made his previous reckless choice, his biggest worry was that without Lu Zhao, he would be alone at night, and if he got sleepy, there would be no one to keep watch. But how could he survive for three days without sleeping? Now, things are better. At night, he has a powerful warning bell by his side. If any ghosts attack, it can immediately howl to wake him up.

Afterwards, he went to the place he had arranged to meet Lu Zhao. Although he thought it unlikely that Lu Zhao would come, they had already made the appointment, so he decided to wait for him anyway. Lu Zhao's phone model seemed to be out of date.

"We need to make good use of the items in the treasure chest... As for Deathstroke, although it repelled that ghost, that ghost shouldn't be very strong."

The text description stated that this was "an ordinary evil spirit from the pool." Given that it appeared to be a male ghost, it shouldn't be the blue-clad woman or the red-clad woman mentioned in the visitor guidelines. The latter two are likely the true final bosses of this dungeon.

I remember when I first entered apartment number 31 in Qingtan Community, I heard Cantonese opera singing coming from the bathroom.

At that moment, Liang Qin's hunting dog was so frightened that it immediately turned tail and ran away!
Liang Qin claims to be a Level 2 hunter, so that hound must be much stronger than Deathstroke.

"I'm currently the lowest-ranking hunter—the Blood Tracker. For now, I can only rely on external tools to deal with ghosts. I need to find a way to master the Bloodstained Imprisonment and the Hunting Curse Blade as soon as possible to avoid this passive situation. My current ranged weapon is this Rusty Hunting Crossbow. And then, I also need a melee blade."

The crossbow bolts, also known as the "Undead Finger Bone Arrows," require additional SAN points to exchange for. Each bolt costs 5% SAN points, and firing it costs another 5%, resulting in a total stun duration of only 1.5 seconds for the ghost. Jiang Jin speculated that the advantage was probably... it could achieve the same effect even against the ghost of the final boss in this dungeon. Don't underestimate a 1.5-second stun; in a critical moment, that time can be enough to decide life or death.

The key point is that although Jiang Jin had a decent shooting record in the police station, he had never used a crossbow.

"As it stands, the crossbow's rust isn't due to a quality issue, but rather... that's part of its character?"

Another reason he chose the hunter class was that he was fairly confident in his shooting skills. However, the newbie gift pack didn't include a gun.

Then there's the knife... Jiang Jin had received knife and axe training during his time at the police academy. As long as he had a blade capable of harming spirits, he had enough confidence. Moreover, this could serve as practice before he unlocked his ability to hunt cursed blades.

But where can one find a blade sharp enough?

"It seems we'll have to go into the village and see if there's any way to get a knife like this."

Fortunately, I have enough Hong Kong dollars on me, so I should be able to find a way.

Now, with two crystals of resentment and three rolls of bloodstained bandages, he has enough leverage to maneuver.

Most importantly, his rule-altering ability cooldown will end at night!

Then he can change the rules again!
"We must gather as much intelligence as possible before the night patrol performance!"

Suddenly, Jiang Jin heard hurried footsteps behind him.

He immediately turned around and saw the old woman he had met when he first entered the village, holding a thick rolling pin, about to smash it hard into his face!
(End of this chapter)