Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 76 The Paralyzed City

When Mu Xiang and Chu Xuan returned to the hotel, it was already 10 p.m., and all the hotel lights were off. Only the lights that the Zhongzhou team had brought were in the room.

In fact, it would be more accurate to say that the entire city lost power rather than that the hotel lights went out.

"Has everyone been attacked again?" Mu Xiang asked the people in the room as soon as he entered, carrying a large box of sushi.

Zhang Jie chuckled as he took the sushi box from Mu Xiang, opened it, and laughed, "You guys have quite the leisure to enjoy yourselves, then I won't stand on ceremony." With that, he invited the others to come and eat.

After eating compressed biscuits and luncheon meat for three consecutive meals, everyone quickly gathered around and, without any politeness, started eating.

Only Zheng Zha and Zhao Yingkong remained seated.

"What...what did you mean by what you were saying this afternoon?" Zheng Zha asked in a low voice as he saw Mu Xiang approaching.

Mu Xiang sighed; he knew Zheng Zha would be worried…

"It's a simple principle. We are weaker than the Northern Flame Continent team... The severely damaged Ju-on is unlikely to have as much impact on them as it does on us." Mu Xiang peeled a lemon candy. "Instead of reducing the pressure on the Northern Flame Continent team, we should make Ju-on into a behemoth that they can't handle either."

Zheng Zha pondered, "You mean... this way... we're on the same starting line as the Beiyanzhou team?"

“Not entirely accurate,” Mu Xiang shook his head. “This gives us an advantage… because we obtained items related to Ju-on in advance. So, with Ju-on strengthened, we, with our items, will have a much easier time than the Bei Yan Zhou team.”

"So, the North Flame Continent team is just busy protecting the rookies?" Zheng Zha pondered. "But why does the Curse of Vengeance count towards the team battle score if it kills a rookie? It wasn't us who killed them..."

"That's not how it is..." Chu Xuan walked over while eating a red apple, and said calmly upon hearing this.

[Why do I feel like you actually meant to talk about "the wisdom of ordinary people"?]

"Eh?"

Mu Xiang waved his hand: "That's not what I think. If that were the case, we could just let the newcomers be killed by the curse... or we could kill all the newcomers ourselves and prevent the other side from scoring. That doesn't make sense logically."

"Uh, okay." Zheng Zha nodded, seemingly still believing that enhancing the Curse-Induced technique only made it more powerful. "Then why cut off the power and use the shadowless lamps we prepared ourselves? Is it because the Northern Flame Continent team might not understand this principle, so we're plunging them into darkness?"

Upon hearing this, Mu Xiang gave a wry smile. He couldn't explain it clearly in a short time... and didn't know how to explain it: "It's not like that..."

Zhao Yingkong suddenly put down her book and stared at Mu Xiang, asking, "What did you do this afternoon? First, the internet crashed, and then the whole city lost power."

"First, we'll go to the Ju-on House and destroy everything related to Ju-on... Then we'll go to Kobayashi's house from the movie to set up some things, because after being transported by Ju-on, I'm starting to worry that the main god will put the North Flame Continent team there," Mu Xiang said.

"That's less than a 30% chance," Chu Xuan said indifferently, then threw away the apple core he had left over.

“I’m not like you… If I could be 100% sure, I would definitely do it.” Mu Xiang smiled calmly. “I wouldn’t dare gamble on a 50% chance.”

"Such a layout is prone to mediocrity," Chu Xuan replied calmly.

Zhao Yingkong asked, "And then?"

"Then we went to cut off the power and internet, which was done using one of Chu Xuan's high-tech gadgets..." Mu Xiang shrugged. "Afterwards, we went to the city's museum because, according to legend, Oda Nobunaga also had a connection to this place... Sure enough, we found something left behind by Oda Nobunaga, and the main god even hinted at its usefulness with a halo—just like Buddhist scriptures. On the way back, we bought some sushi, otherwise we wouldn't have any to eat tomorrow."

"Why did you cut off the power and internet?" Zhao Yingkong pressed again, and Zheng Zha asked the same question. Hearing this, he also sensed that something was wrong.

Seeing that Chu Xuan still seemed unwilling to explain, Mu Xiang sighed: "This has to do with the way Ju-on spreads..."

He then briefly summarized his and Chu Xuan's speculations about Ju-on: "In short, before this, anyone who entered the Ju-on House would have the seed of Ju-on planted in them; and Ju-on itself exists because of Kayako. Now, let's divide what we're facing into two halves: one half is the contagious Ju-on, and the other half is the main body and carrier of Ju-on, Kayako. All the trouble we've encountered today proves this point... and what Chu Xuan and I did was destroy everything related to Kayako."

"Thus, anything bearing Kayako's mark ceased to exist, and Ju-on lost its initial limitations... Kayako was both its support and its constraint. So Ju-on completely spiraled out of control... Even without stepping into the Ju-on House, simply seeing Kayako or the people killed by Kayako will plant the seeds of Ju-on."

Zheng Zha frowned: "So you're cutting off the internet and electricity to stop the spread of the curse? That's so contradictory..."

"No... it's to prevent the Jutsu from spreading further. With the internet and power cut off, the Jutsu can't spread through the internet or communications." Mu Xiang shook his head. "That way, the Jutsu's intensity won't get too high..."

"So you mean, Ju-on can now cover an entire city?!" Zheng Zha's voice suddenly rose.

Mu Xiang gestured for him to speak softly, then nodded.

“What if someone escapes?” Zhao Yingkong said coldly.

Chu Xuan spoke up: "That should be a low probability. After the power and internet are cut off, the transmission of information throughout the city will be disrupted. By the time someone discovers the problem, it will probably be too late."

Seeing Zheng Zha's increasingly grim expression, Mu Xiang shrugged: "We can only gamble on his 50% probability."

“So everyone in this city…” Zheng Zha gritted his teeth.

"They will both die," Zhao Yingkong coldly answered for the two of them.

Zheng Zha stared intently at Mu Xiang and Chu Xuan's expressionless faces: "Is this all the effort you've put in to cause trouble?"

"Disrupting things? To be precise, this is a setup." Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses.

"Why do this? Aren't the people of this city innocent?" Zheng Zha tried his best to suppress his voice so that others wouldn't hear the argument.

Upon hearing this, Chu Xuan silently stood up, while Zhao Yingkong lowered her head again to read her book.

Mu Xiang sighed, "I admit that Chu Xuan's idea is radical... but it does maximize benefits. So I agree with his approach. Also, I want to remind you of something."

Zheng Zha took a deep breath and looked at Mu Xiang.

"I'll say it again: if something won't harm my team, I'll consider it; and if there's profit involved, I'll do it," Mu Xiang said in a low voice. "Besides, we have no right to judge innocence... because we're not saviors. Here, we and they are all human, only we wield more power."

“This time I won’t gain an advantage by betraying newcomers…” Mu Xiang shrugged. “Of course, you can think it’s because betraying newcomers will result in points being deducted. But I still want to say that when I consider what to do, I will definitely put you, or rather, us, first.”

"So, you're going to be a butcher if you don't want to be a savior?" Zhao Yingkong sneered, still reading her book. "You two are more interesting than I thought... I accept you as teammates."

“The butcher…” Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses. “I have no intention of making any excuses.” He glanced at Zheng Zha, who had his head down, sighed, and patted him on the shoulder.

That night, the entire city was transformed into a ghost town.

Although it couldn't cause too much of a commotion in the paralyzed city... people kept dying, and then becoming new nourishment for the grudge.

The curse spreads like a chain reaction virus throughout the city.

And this was only the second day.

(End of this chapter)