Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 32 Master Jiang

Jiang Jin's cold eyes swept across the doorway ahead. The other side had guns, so he had to strike first to ensure that they wouldn't take advantage of him at will.

As for opening the door and then, under questioning, stating that the man's death yesterday had nothing to do with him, Jiang Jin, he would never gamble his life on these gunmen who disregard human life and would "act according to the law."

Before long, the people outside started banging on the door.

"boom!"

The door was slammed open, and the first person to rush in was grabbed by the neck before he could even stand properly. Then, a boning knife was placed against his neck.

Deathstroke lunged at the people who followed, not biting them, but quickly giving them the awareness that "an invisible force is attacking them." Especially in a village like this!
"This, what is this?"

"The bronze mirror! Quickly, move under the bronze mirror!"

The other party, unable to see the death knell, was suddenly tackled and naturally terrified.

Jiang Jin shielded the first person who rushed in from his own side and pressed a gun against the man's head.

"Help me! Help me!" The person being held hostage by Jiang Jin trembled with fear. "Hero, let's talk this out! Our village is working for the Tianyi Gang in Kowloon! Please don't be impulsive!"

The group of men drew their guns, and one of them asked worriedly, "Could he be a cop?"

"Damn it! If this bastard is really a cop, he should be killed!"

Jiang Jin said coldly, "Deathstroke, stop for now."

Then, they naturally wouldn't feel the attack from the "invisible thing".

"That thing is listening to him!" Everyone immediately looked horrified. "Who is he?"

“If any of you dare to fire, ‘it’ will make you all die a horrible death.” Jiang Jin said coldly, “Call your leaders over here and tell them that I have a way to complete the soul-suppressing ritual.”

Jiang Jin is indeed gambling now, since he doesn't have any more chips to play right now.

He demonstrated his extraordinary abilities immediately so that these people would be aware of his capabilities to the greatest extent possible.

From a psychological perspective, the people in this village have been living in fear for a long time.

The process of selecting offerings during the nightly parade is completely impartial, regardless of whether you are a villager or a member of the village committee. From this perspective, everyone in the village would be eager to seize any opportunity to escape this cursed nightmare. Even the village chief himself couldn't unilaterally suppress this, as doing so would be completely unpopular and make it impossible to command those below.

Of course, it's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with his underlings. After all, he had killed one of them, and it's possible that some of them were dissatisfied and wanted to take his life. That's why he immediately showed them the terror of the death knell.

He could command an unseen, ferocious, invisible entity, enough to instill fear and dread in each of them.

Only in this way can we deter them from taking our lives!

Otherwise, he didn't think he could control them by taking one of their henchmen hostage.

Sure enough, after witnessing Jiang Jin's abilities, the group dared not be negligent and quickly went to consult their superiors.

With an invisible death knell in place, these people, though all armed, dared not lay a hand on Jiang Jin.

These people may seem fierce, but they are actually aggressive towards the weak and cowardly towards the strong.

And just like that, in less than seven minutes, someone came to report.

"Vice Village Chief Huang said, 'Let's invite Mr. Jiang to the village committee to talk!'"

Then, he looked at Jiang Jin and said, "Sir, please!"

Jiang Jin breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that... I can finally relax for now.

Of course, he maintained his composed and aloof demeanor, saying, "What? You're inviting me over? Shouldn't he come himself?"

As a grassroots police officer, he learned various interrogation techniques from his mentor and also gained an understanding of many psychological concepts.

When an incompetent person pretends to be something they're not, that's called arrogance and ignorance of one's own limitations.

When a capable person shows off, that's called the demeanor of a master, or unfathomable!

"This..." The man was somewhat embarrassed. He cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and said, "This, Mr. Jiang, no, Master, this is not a very convenient matter for me... Besides, this isn't the place to talk. So, could you do me the honor of hosting a banquet for you at the village committee office to discuss... the matter of the soul-suppressing ritual?" Jiang Jin saw that he had been very polite and figured that it was about right. He figured that if he continued to pretend, it would be too much. He said, "Alright. In that case, I'll go with you."

Then he released the hostages.

This shows that he is not afraid of them shooting him in the back.

Soon, Jiang Jin was invited to the village committee.

The village committee building is a three-story building covered with white ceramic tiles, and the eyes of the stone lions at the entrance have been painted blood red.

As soon as Jiang Jin stepped into the courtyard, he smelled a strange odor mixed with incense ash and burnt smell.

"Woof!" Deathstroke's low growl came from behind. Jiang Jin caught a glimpse of the gap in the second-floor curtains out of the corner of his eye. His hunter's instincts told him quickly that at least five or six gun barrels were pointed at him. After mastering the Hunting Blade, he possessed a strong hunting instinct even without activating Hunter's Vision.

"Master Jiang, I've kept you waiting." A middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit emerged from the building, two patina-covered walnuts twirling in his left hand, and a jade thumb ring on his right little finger. "I am Huang Yongxiao, the deputy village head of this village. After hearing about your matter, I immediately arranged for a banquet to be prepared. Please forgive the hassle."

Then, Jiang Jin was led to the reception room, where a table with nine dishes and a soup was laid out.

Jiang Jin glanced at the pot of pork hock soup floating with oil. To be honest, after his experience at Chen's Roast Meat Shop, unless it was char siu to replenish his sanity, he really didn't want to eat meat anymore.

So much food, and only two people are eating it.

That's quite extravagant.

"Master Jiang, please have a seat."

After Jiang Jin sat down, Deputy Village Chief Huang personally served him soup: "Shall we eat and chat?"

"Let's get down to business. Your village's nightly 'performances' are basically using living people as sacrifices, aren't they?"

"Master is indeed insightful." Deputy Village Chief Huang was not surprised at all, the jade ring gleaming dimly in the sunlight. "There's nothing we can do about it. Master, you already know quite a bit about the Soul-Suppressing Ritual, don't you?"

"I know a little." Jiang Jin maintained his superior demeanor, but suddenly he had Deathstroke jump onto the table and knock the soup bowl out of Deputy Village Chief Huang's hand!
“I can’t stand this fatty meat, it’s too greasy.” Jiang Jin pointed to the table: “Vice Village Chief Huang, don’t worry, ‘it’ will definitely listen to me. With my orders, ‘it’ won’t hurt you.”

How could Jiang Jin possibly eat this group's food? He doesn't care if he lives too long.

"This..." Deputy Village Chief Huang looked astonished, then asked in a trembling voice, "What exactly is this?"

Jiang Jin continued, "Vice Village Chief Huang, my purpose in coming here is very pure: to help you complete the soul-suppressing ritual, to help those in distress and save the common people, not for fame or fortune. But the people in your village don't believe me, and they insist on fighting me with knives and guns..."

"Sir, you are truly virtuous! You are truly virtuous! It was all Zhang Asi's fault for offending the master; he deserved to die!"

"Could the deputy village chief tell me more about the soul-suppressing ceremony?"

"Well... okay, it's like this..."

Then he began to recount the story of the soul-suppressing ritual.

This is exactly the same as what Zhang Asi said. And he, too, doesn't know the origin of the blue and red female ghost.

“The bronze mirror and the lanterns can’t completely suppress this ghost… and recently, the bronze mirror has started to shatter more and more easily, and blue patterns have started to appear on the food. So, the night patrol performance has been changed to be performed every night. If it weren’t for the bronze mirror and the lanterns, the villagers wouldn’t be alive now.”

“However, if the soul-suppressing ritual is completed, ‘she’ can be completely suppressed, and from then on, the people of your village will be forever freed from this curse, right? I have a good plan to complete the soul-suppressing ritual. Therefore… I need your cooperation!”

However, Deputy Village Chief Huang shook his head and said, "Master, you seem to have misunderstood."

"What?" Jiang Jin asked in confusion.

"I invited you here, Master, so that you can tell everyone that you came to save the village, but after careful investigation, you discovered that the resentment and curse in this village were too powerful, and you were powerless to help. As long as you do as I say, not only will no one bother you after Zhang Asi's death, but I will also reward you handsomely!"

　There will be a third update tonight.

　　I made a promise at Hospital 444 before, but many people may not have seen it. Therefore, I solemnly promise again that this book will not have orthopedics, political commentary (including anti-Japanese war), Cthulhu (SAN is just a setting used to replace the redemption ticket, please don't dwell on it), Western demon families (although demons may appear in a few dungeons, they will absolutely not involve the main plot, mainly to show the diversity of dungeons), terrible romance, and the replacement or death of the female lead.

　　The problem is, many people don't believe me! A significant portion of them are former fans who have turned against me and are now obsessed with criticizing me. Turning from fans to haters is often more dangerous than being a hater from the start; at best, it's sarcastic remarks, at worst, personal attacks. They're just waiting for me to fall so they can kick me while I'm down. How could I let them get away with that?
　　I will definitely write this book well! The online game theme was a bit too strong in the early stages, so I've started to tone it down. But I can't satisfy everyone; I can only satisfy paying readers. Many people want to read a pure horror story with no superpowers for all the characters, but I can only apologize; that's unrealistic and has no commercial viability.

　　I am determined to use this book to turn my reputation around and rebuild my former glory!
　　Therefore, I will update again tonight!
　　This is to demonstrate my determination!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)