Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 285 It doesn’t look like acting
Zheng Zha looked up at the dark night sky, a hint of wariness in his eyes. Although he was usually carefree, when he was in a horror movie, the slightest unusual movement would put him into character.

At this moment, endless black clouds obscured the moon in the sky. But this obscuration, aside from the faint moonlight, did not make anything disappear; instead, it added a sense of danger. The clouds slowly dispersed, and another crescent moon emerged from the night sky, yet it seemed devoid of any luster, abruptly embedded in the pure black firmament…

Like a smear of white in the eye.

"Is he about to show himself...?" Zheng Zha touched the bridge of his nose and continued walking down the street.

He originally thought that checking toy stores and such would be enough, but unfortunately, many shops sell masks around Halloween... not just toy stores.

Therefore, after running past the surrounding toy stores, Zheng Zha came up empty-handed. Not only did he fail to find out the connection between the white mask and these stores, but he was also repeatedly asked when the compensation would arrive.

"It's such a small town, everyone knows each other... Is it really necessary to squeeze every last penny out of the compensation money?" Zheng Zha couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself.

Just then, Mu Xiang's voice rang in Zheng Zha's mind: "They're getting serious; the mastermind behind it all is about to show up."

"Didn't Zhang Jie say it was foolproof? How did it get discovered?" Zheng Zha asked in confusion.

“It’s not that they were alerted… In fact, coming to Haddonfield on Halloween was part of their plan,” Mu Xiang said. “We haven’t been exposed yet. If we were, at least Zhang Jie’s methods would be triggered.”

Zheng Zha was silent for a moment, "If they were alerted, even if it wasn't the only way, they would definitely check the situation through the puppet Loomis, right? And now that Zhang Jie's hint hasn't been triggered, does that mean they haven't been alerted?"

"correct answer."

Zheng Zha walked into a small shop that had temporarily hung Halloween masks, wondering to himself, "So what's the next step?"

“We can make bigger moves now. If this is an experiment, they will soon find that something went wrong,” Mu Xiang said calmly. “So whether the person behind the scenes shows up or not, the essential reason is no longer whether we have been exposed. The deadline set by the Main God is ten years, which seems lenient, but it is not.”

"This is a dimensional experiment, and judging from the state of these masks, it is actually quite mature. We just happen to be placed in a dimension that is about to verify the results. If we miss tonight, the next window of opportunity will be ten years from now."

Zheng Zha thought of the meme experiments on Ju-on in "Ju-on" and asked thoughtfully, "The main god sent us to this kind of place...it must have been intentional, right?"

“That’s right. As long as it can bring corresponding danger to the Samsara Squad, the God doesn’t care who the opponent is.” Mu Xiang pondered for a moment. “Moreover, I’ve always had a question… if we dare to charge in this time, we might gain even more.”

After asking his questions, Zheng Zha bid farewell to the old man minding the shop and walked across the street: "No wonder. According to your and Chu Xuan's theory, what we are about to encounter should be commensurate with our strength. In this plane, what kind of cult could have such strength... We can only consider things outside of this plane."

During the day, Zheng Zha went to the police station to search for files and found the records from the Miles family home. According to the movie's setting, the Miles family's nanny at the time was the one who lured young Michael into the cult. But unfortunately, when Zheng Zha traced the nanny back to her, he discovered that she had already died in an accident.

Whether it was an accident or a cover-up, after so many years, most of the clues have been lost. There's not much point in investigating this; it's better to wait until tonight.

"Could the third installment really be ruled out..." Zheng Zha sighed. "Neither the warehouse logs nor the supply channels I asked the shop owners about mention Santamila Town or Silver Clover Company."

Mu Xiang's voice rang out with a smile: "It's easy to say it exists, but difficult to say it doesn't. One reason for considering the mask factory in the third part is that its organization is just too strong... even more convenient than the other one. If I were an outsider, controlling that Celtic religion, there would be no reason not to control this Silver Clover Company." "So I still have to look..." Zheng Zha said helplessly, "But let me make this clear first, I think this line of thinking is problematic, we can't just leave no trace at all."

After a long silence, just when Zheng Zha thought Mu Xiang had gone to mess with the two Michaels again, Mu Xiang suddenly spoke up: "How much do you think this plane is controlled?"

“Uh…deeper than Ju-on?” Zheng Zha said uncertainly.

Mu Xiang smiled and said, "That's too general...too much deeper. To get involved in 'Ju-on,' you only need to target Kayako. But to influence Michael's storyline in this dimension...the changes would be far more extensive."

"Leaving aside how many people have become puppets like Dr. Loomis, helping outsiders as surveillance cameras for experiments; just consider the power of this mask, I don't believe any cult could create something like this. This thing is already far more powerful than the one in the movie... but there is no overt ruling power in this world, which I can only explain by the fact that the power that possesses this kind of power has other ambitions."

"This world... is a testing ground."

Zheng Zha asked, "How far has Michael evolved now?"

“Although he hasn’t unlocked his genetic potential, his physical strength is already beyond the capabilities of ordinary Tier 1 combatants. Imagine if a typical Reincarnation Squad tried to kill him three or four times before they could handle him,” Mu Xiang said. “What if there were a few more?”

Zheng Zha thought about it and realized it was indeed a tricky situation. Although Mu Xiang said that this kind of evolutionary ability was definitely not limitless, and that using power far exceeding the limit might be able to completely destroy one, the current situation was that they didn't know how many there would be.

A mask inexplicably appeared at Miles's mansion, creating another Michael... Neither Zhang Jie's mental power nor Zheng Zha's perception detected the mask's existence when they went to Miles's mansion. Even the appearance of this new demon couldn't be reflected in their mental power detection.

After removing their masks, the two demons remained unchanged, their bodies and minds identical. The masks seemed to be merely one-time triggers, their purpose fulfilled once the human form was transformed into this state. Even after Mu Xiang simultaneously shattered their hearts, both Michaels quickly recovered.

"Wait a minute, you and Zhang Jie, stop having so much fun! What if this thing evolves to the third tier? It'll be dangerous for the others!" Zheng Zha suddenly remembered something and hurriedly reminded him.

Zhang Jie chuckled: "We're not conducting any lethal experiments now... I'm just using telekinesis to keep them under control. Did I hurt them? No."

Hearing this, Zheng Zha couldn't help but exclaim, "Telekinesis is really useful..."

"By the way, Zheng Zha, do you know why we sent you out to investigate?" Mu Xiang asked a seemingly unrelated question.

Zheng Zha walked towards another row of shops, thinking to himself, "To cultivate my thinking ability?"

“That’s only one aspect.” Mu Xiang seemed to smile. “On the other hand, an investigation where someone has ‘I have a problem’ written all over their head isn’t something an ordinary person can fake. But your genuine emotion was just right.”

"Eh?"

(End of this chapter)