Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 83 The Secret of the Potion

After Jiang Jin and security captain Li Jun took over their shift, he and Liu Yan walked out of the monitoring room.

He turned to look at Liu Yan beside him, who was staring at his palm.

It was a vessel for venomous insects. There, a massive number of gray nematodes constantly fought and multiplied.

This is called "raising Gu".

"How's the blackboard bulletin going?" Jiang Jin asked. "How are the drawings from Li Hua, Qi Lan, and Song Yu?"

Liu Yan withdrew her gaze and pulled a crumpled piece of sketch paper from her pocket. On the paper was a sketch drawn in pencil: the school gate of No. 7 Middle School, the playground track, the flagpole, and the old locust tree.

“This is a rather dangerous experiment,” she said, handing the sketch to Jiang Jin. “Although I’ve sent Gu worms to protect them 24 hours a day, I’m not sure what the consequences will be, but I don’t have a better solution for now. Even the Lost Layer is completely calm right now, and there’s no other way to think of a solution.”

Jiang Jin was also considering whether there was any way to tamper with the rules, draw out the source of the ghost behind the Seventh Middle School, and then use coffin nails to pin it down.

While altering the rules to change the ghost's behavior pattern is possible, repeatedly attempting to change the subject to "source ghost" has failed. Ghosts are not required to follow rules, and Jiang Jin cannot change the subject of the rules to "ghost" when modifying them.

Jiang Jin had actually considered another method: to distinguish between humans and ghosts by altering a restriction in the rules. The altered rules could apply to specific people, but not to ghosts. The idea was to alter a rule, then find various suspects and try to make the altered rule work on them.

Normally, the right eye will display a message asking, "Are you sure you want the modified rule to apply to XXX? Yes/No"

But Jiang Jin quickly discovered... if he clicked "no" on one person, he couldn't try to apply it to others, and the rules showed they couldn't be modified anymore, entering a cooldown period. Of course, if he clicked "yes," he would have to pay SAN points based on the number of people involved. There were too many suspects now, and in this instance, each rule cost between 8% and 15% SAN points—Jiang Jin thought this was too much to handle!

Jiang Jin looked at the blackboard sketch, gazing at the No. 7 Middle School flagpole above, with its bare flag and old locust tree.

"What if there are no further abnormalities?"

“Then I’ll go to the abandoned classroom and draw it myself,” Liu Yan said firmly. “I’ll use the blood of the Gu worms instead of chalk.”

“School Doctor Cheng,” Jiang Jin suddenly spoke up, “is she your career guidance NPC?”

"Yes. Just like Director Chen is your career guidance NPC."

Recalling the "Black Abyss City" that Dr. Cheng had mentioned to her, memories flooded back like a tide.

On that rainy night, Liu Yan was hunted by five reincarnators for killing Liu Wenqiang in prison.

Everyone is wary of those who practice witchcraft and reincarnation. Witchcraft practitioners are almost always significantly stronger at the same level, and many can even defeat enemies of a higher level. Previously, a woman named Lady Pustuca who followed a mutated branch of witchcraft had already given them a major headache.

She eventually escaped to "Black Abyss City".

She still remembers the stench emanating from the black trash can on the corner of the streets of Black Abyss City.

With her last bit of strength, Liu Yan lifted the lid of the bucket. Inside, it was filled with rotten food scraps, and on the moldy fruit peels and spoiled meat, translucent larvae crawled. They wriggled like maggots, but their bodies shimmered with an eerie blue light.

At that moment, Liu Yan had only one thought: she had to get the insect eggs! She needed to suppress the backlash from the Gray Threadworm's natal Gu!
Her fingers trembled as she plunged into the disgusting mixture, quickly grabbing a few unhatched insect eggs. Just then, the sound of metal wheels rolling over the ground came from afar—

A sanitation worker slowly pushed his garbage cart along; he was there to collect trash. His scavenging bag was bulging, and you could vaguely see something struggling inside.

Liu Yan only had time to stuff the insect eggs into the Reincarnator's watch before fleeing in a panic. If the cleaners found her, she would be immediately "eliminated."

A low bark interrupted Liu Yan's reverie.

After marrying Jiang Jin, she will be able to see and touch Deathstroke directly.

The death knell sprang from the shadows, its empty eye sockets flaring with terrifying, eerie blue flames, but it was utterly docile before Jiang Jin.

However, what's most striking is what it's carrying in its mouth—

A ring with a simple and antique design.

"The [Underworld Scavenging] skill?" Jiang Jin squatted down in surprise and rubbed Deathstroke's head. "Good lad, did you find some treasure?!"

This is a rule-based skill that Deathstroke gained after swallowing a shard of resentment. It can bring anything, even things that shouldn't exist in this plane. For example, it's entirely possible that it could bring the Snake-Eyed Bronze Fish from "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles" or the Muchen Pearl from "Ghost Blows Out the Light."

The ring felt cold to the touch, and a text prompt from the Reincarnation System appeared in front of Jiang Jin's eyes.

"This is... the [Undetectable Ghost Ring]?" Liu Yan touched the ring and exclaimed with delight, "This thing should only appear in the later stages of the game..."

Jiang Jin couldn't wait to put the ring on his index finger. In an instant, he felt an invisible force envelop his entire body, as if he were covered with a transparent film.

“Rules test,” he said excitedly. “As long as there are at least two people, including myself, within a 50-meter radius, the ghost won’t be able to detect me. It works the same way if I leave the instance!”

Liu Yan suddenly grabbed his wrist: "Wait... are you going to put it on now?"

"Hmm, are there any other rules?" The text prompt that appeared in front of Jiang Jin's eyes said that he could just put it on.

"This was just brought back by Deathstroke. Shouldn't it at least be washed?"

"..."

Then, the ring was placed into the Reincarnator's watch. Since the internal space of the two watches was completely merged, doubling in size, they could take it out and use it whenever they wanted, even if they were separated.

“We can’t use ghost candles at school anymore,” Liu Yan suddenly said.

Jiang Jin frowned: "When did this start?"

“This morning.” Liu Yan took out half a red candle. There were obvious burn marks on the wick, but the candle body was intact. “After lighting it, there was no light and no heat.”

Ghost candles are an important item in the [Terror Resurgence] instance, used to repel ghosts when lit. Now, they're useless.

"In other words, we have no choice but to confront them head-on."

Just then, the alarm in the adjacent monitoring room suddenly went off!
Security captain Li Jun stared intently at the monitor screen—on the fifth-floor corridor, a gray-white child was walking slowly! Its limbs were twisted, and its pupils were as black as ink.

"According to Article 8 of the Staff Code of Conduct, press the yellow button!" Li Jun shouted sharply, grabbing the walkie-talkie from the table at the same time: "Zhang Han! Target spotted on the fifth floor!"

"Received!" Zhang Han's voice came through the walkie-talkie, accompanied by hurried footsteps.

Li Jun pressed the yellow emergency button, and the alarm in the monitoring room stopped abruptly, replaced by the clicking sound of some kind of machinery—the Ghost Rope had been activated!

This is a supernatural prop from the original story, which should have been in Yang Jian's possession, but here it has become a trap planned by the Ghost Tamer Headquarters!

The red alarm mentioned in Article 4 of the Faculty and Staff Code of Conduct will also cause this ghost rope to dangle once it is pressed!
On the fifth-floor corridor ceiling, a thick hemp rope suddenly drooped down, quickly wrapping around the neck of the gray-white ghost child as if it were alive, and abruptly hoisted it up!

"Let's go!" Li Jun grabbed the will-o'-the-wisp lighter from the table and rushed out of the monitoring room.

The fifth-floor corridor is relatively empty now during lunch break!

When Li Jun and Zhang Han rushed to the fifth floor, the corridor had completely changed.

The walls were covered in mold, and foul-smelling liquid dripped from the ceiling, while the ghost child hanging by the ghost rope was actually laughing!
"cluck"

Its laughter was sharp and piercing, like countless shards of glass scraping against a blackboard.

Li Jun ignited the ghost fire, releasing a ghostly domain. The eerie green flames burned in his palm, instantly illuminating the entire corridor. The flames transformed into a fiery serpent, lunging straight at the ghost child!

Zhang Han tore open his shirt, revealing a hideous ghost tattoo on his back—which was now slowly wriggling, protruding from his skin like a living thing!

However, the ghost child simply waved his hand lightly—

"Snapped!"

The ghost rope is broken!

Li Jun's ghost fire was extinguished by an invisible force, and Zhang Han's ghost tattoo was torn to shreds!
"Damn it!" Li Jun's expression changed drastically. "Its ghost domain is stronger than mine!"

The next second, the entire fifth floor distorted, and Li Jun and Zhang Han's figures vanished instantly!

They were all pulled into the Lost Layer!

Then, the crimson light of the Ghost Eye enveloped the area, and Yang Jian rushed into the Lost Layer as well!

Then, in the monitoring room, one by one the monitor screens went out instantly!
All the security cameras installed inside Dachang No. 7 Middle School are damaged!
Not only that, Liu Yan could sense that the Gu worms she had planted were dying in droves!

"No!"

She was heartbroken!

While the Soul-Eating Bees from the [Blood Rust Gu] explosion can be reborn, the Gu worms lost in this wave cannot be recovered!

Once the number of gray nematodes in the frenzied breeding program reaches a certain level, they will begin to turn against Liu Yan!
"That ghost child... is far from being the source of the ghost!"

At this moment, on the fifth floor.

The noise Li Jun and Zhang Han made just now was so loud that even Wang Bo couldn't stand it.

He walked out of the office, but by then, the outside was completely empty. The moldy walls had also returned to normal.

"Huh?" Wang Bo was immediately puzzled. "Who was making noise in the hallway just now?"

At that moment, he suddenly noticed that School Doctor Cheng was walking from the other side of the corridor.

“School Doctor Cheng?” Wang Bo walked over and asked, “What are you doing here…”

He suddenly noticed that Dr. Cheng was holding a blood collection tube and a blue medicine bottle.

"It's nothing, I just came up for a stroll."

"Oh, that's how it is."

After Wang Bo left suspiciously, School Doctor Cheng went to the corridor and carefully checked the places where Zhang Han and Li Jun had just been.

"Couldn't you at least make me bleed a little?"

She glanced at the blue medicine bottle in her hand, then went downstairs and returned to the infirmary.

School doctor Cheng opened the freezer and examined the two medicine bottles inside.

These two medicine bottles are unusual. Although they contain red and blue medicine, they seem to have been diluted, as the colors are very light.

"Has nothing changed?"

Suddenly……

The liquid in the two medicine bottles began to churn violently!
Finally, the color started to darken!
“The effects of Yan Li’s [Ghost Blood] and the [Ghost Lake] water are changing over time.” She stared at the blue and red potion bottles. “It seems that today’s tide will determine everyone’s final fate.”

If Liu Yan were here, she would be absolutely shocked. [Ghost Blood] was an artifact created by a deceased ghost tamer named Yan Li, while [Ghost Lake] is a supernatural location that appears late in the original novel. It was one of the places where those highly skilled ghost tamers of the Republic of China era imprisoned ghosts!

School doctor Cheng closed the freezer and began writing a report on the computer.

"The grayish-white blood merges with the [Ghost Blood] and [Ghost Lake], extending the time for the [Vaccine] to 5 hours and 23 minutes, a 30% increase..."

　The third update today!

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(End of this chapter)