Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 380 Nanako Matsushima

The moment Milano's hand reached out from the shadows and maliciously turned the doorknob, Jiang Jin's pupils contracted to their maximum!
He didn't have time to think about why this woman wanted to die together with him; a strong sense of crisis made him react instinctively!
He abruptly tossed something into Lingzi's hand and hissed, "Put it on!"

Reiko instinctively took the ring and then slipped it onto her finger!
At that very moment, the door was pushed open completely!

……

Don't know how long it has been.

The door has been closed again.

But Jiang Jin also seemed to have all his strength drained away. He leaned against the wall, panting heavily, veins bulging on his forehead, and cold sweat instantly soaking his back.

Lingzi rushed forward to support Jiang Jin: "Commander! How are you?"

Jiang Jin did not answer. His eyes were unfocused, and something indescribable seemed to linger deep within his pupils.

He instinctively took out a set of Russian nesting dolls!
Now... only the smallest one, which is also the matryoshka doll, is left.

He... just died again!
The moment that door opened and a meme carrier entered, his sixth "matryoshka doll" was already consumed.

If it weren't for this nesting doll, he would be a corpse by now.

And the ring on Reiko's finger was gone too.

The last ring given by the Blood Lord that could effectively resist one instance of lethal memetic contamination... is also ruined.

The cost was devastating.

It was already late at night when Jiang Jin recovered.

He sat cross-legged in the center of the living room, trying to calm his SAN level.

Lingzi stood guard by his side, not daring to disturb him, and could only watch him with worried eyes.

They had absolutely no recollection of what they saw or experienced after opening the door.

It was some kind of terrifying existence that could not be rationally perceived or remembered!
……

The next morning, sunlight streamed into the ominous apartment again, but it brought no warmth whatsoever.

Yamato Aimi timidly knocked on the door of room 304 again, repeating the dinner invitation from the previous night.

Jiang Jin weighed the options carefully.

Last night's attack and the opening of the door prove that danger lurks both inside and outside the apartment. The invitation from the Yamato family is eerie, but it may also be a way to gather information.

The dinner invitation the following day was acceptable. Avoidance wasn't the solution; he needed to take the initiative and, within the bounds of the rules, find out more details.

“Okay, we’ll be there on time tonight,” Jiang Jin replied affirmatively.

Ai seemed relieved, and hurriedly left with her head down.

Subsequently, the two decided to split up, based on their established personas.

Jiang Jin goes to the sports club where he "works," while Lingzi goes to NHK television station, attempting to use her identity as a reporter to investigate clues behind the Beizuka First Apartment.

However, trouble struck as soon as Reiko stepped into the bustling streets of Shibuya.

Previously, things were fine in the relatively remote and less populated Tanashi City. However, once she entered Shibuya, a fashion and trendsetting area, her face, which looked almost exactly like that of the currently very popular actress Nanako Matsushima, became a huge problem.

"Eh?! Is that Ms. Nanako?"

"Wait a minute! It's Matsushima-san, right? I really love your 'The Witch's Condition'!"

"Oh my god! It's Fuyutsuki-sensei from GTO! Can I get her autograph?"

"The voice sounds just like it! It really is him!"

Almost every few minutes, passersby or fans would excitedly surround him, asking questions and requesting autographs.

No matter how Reiko explained that she wasn't Nanako Matsushima, but just looked like her, no one believed her. After all, most celebrities, when recognized by strangers, would immediately deny it. The face was the same, the voice was the same, even the location of the signature beauty mark under her eye was identical!
In the late 90s, before the information explosion and when celebrity images were deeply ingrained in people's minds, this level of similarity made it seem to the average person to the untrained eye.

Unable to bear the harassment any longer, Lingzi finally had no choice but to buy a mask and put it on before she could escape to the TV station.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. It was a little better in Muxu City before, since fewer and fewer young Chinese people watch Japanese dramas, but these kinds of misunderstandings still happen frequently.

Reiko's feelings were incredibly conflicted and complex.

Who am I, really?
It's Reiko Asakawa, a woman with a son, Yoichi, who was forced to become a reincarnator and struggles to survive in terror.
Or...Nanako Matsushima? The national star who shines on screen and portrays all sorts of love stories?
For her, Asakawa Reiko's life was a real 25 years, and all her memories, emotions, and bonds stemmed from that time. But for the world, for everyone around her, including some members of the Nirvana team, it seemed more inclined to see her as "Matsushima Nanako." Even within the team, one could occasionally hear whispers: "The leader is really something, being liked by Matsushima Nanako and still remaining unmoved..."

This caused her deep distress and cognitive dissonance.

She's not Nanako Matsushima!
Nanako likes sunny and handsome "pretty boys" like Takashi Sorimachi, but she herself is more attracted to mature, stable men who can provide a sense of security; Nanako is always smiling, cheerful, and outgoing in public, but her personality is more intellectual, calm, and even somewhat introverted; Nanako is a Libra with blood type A, while Reiko is a Capricorn with blood type O...

But such subtle differences are insignificant to outsiders. Sometimes, even she herself would feel momentarily lost, especially under the constant hints and reinforcement from those around her.

Later, when she joined the television station, she used her "senior" status to ask people to investigate the historical materials of the Beizuka First Apartment.

Jiang Jin was worried about her safety, so he had already sent Deathstroke to follow her quietly and protect her from the shadows. Although Lingzi knew that Deathstroke was following her, she couldn't see him.

Around noon, a junior colleague excitedly ran over to tell her, "Senior, I've made progress on the apartment information you asked me to look up!"

According to scattered files and old reports found by later generations, the Beizuka First Apartment did indeed experience a number of unusual deaths among its residents over the past few decades. What the deceased had in common was that their expressions were extremely distorted at the time of death, as if they had witnessed something utterly terrifying.

However, due to the early years of these incidents (mainly concentrated in the 1960s and 70s, the height of the Cold War, and the Vietnam War), and the relatively chaotic social environment, police investigations often came to nothing, ultimately attributing the events to accidents or mental health issues. There are even some outlandish rumors speculating that they may be related to active Soviet espionage at the time, or to mass hallucinations caused by some unknown virus.

The clues are limited, and most are vague and ambiguous.

Finally, the junior colleague rubbed his hands together, somewhat embarrassed, and made a request: "Um... senior, could you... please give me an autographed photo? I just joined the company, and my niece really wants an autographed photo of Nanako Matsushima... but Ms. Matsushima hasn't worked with us since filming our morning drama 'Himawari,' and I don't have any connections... and you happen to look so much like her..."

Reiko looked at the expectant look in the other person's eyes, hesitated for a moment, but still firmly refused: "Let's... forget it. I'm really not Nanako Matsushima, I just happen to look a lot like her. If your niece finds out, it won't be good for either of us."

She had to stay within this boundary, otherwise, she worried that her self-identity as "Reiko Asakawa" would completely collapse under this ubiquitous "playing".

……

That evening, Jiang Jin and Lingzi arrived at room 301 on time for their appointment.

A fairly exquisite meal was already laid out on the table. Jiang Jin first sincerely apologized for standing him up last night, explaining that an unexpected situation had arisen.

However, Yamato Mitsuru didn't seem to care about their apology. His gaze was fixed on Reiko from the very beginning, with a scrutinizing quality typical of a journalist and... a hint of barely perceptible excitement.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Yamato Mitsuru suddenly put down his wine glass, looked at Reiko, and said in an extremely certain tone, "Ms. Asakawa... no, perhaps I should call you—Ms. Matsushima Nanako?"

Lingzi's heart sank. Here we go again?
She forced herself to remain calm and said, "Mr. Yamato, you've misunderstood. I'm really not Ms. Matsushima."

Yamato Mitsuru's lips curled into a meaningful smile, exuding the confidence and aggressiveness of a former weekly magazine reporter: "When I was a reporter for a weekly magazine, I saw you in person once. I couldn't possibly be mistaken. The face is the same, the voice is the same, the height and build are the same, even the position of the beauty mark under your eye... it's exactly the same. In this world, it's impossible for two people who are not related by blood to look so alike. Most importantly, Asakawa Reiko is the female lead in the horror film 'Ring.' What a coincidence! You're a national superstar who chose to secretly marry someone outside the entertainment industry and then used the pseudonym 'Asakawa Reiko,' the character you played, right? I reckon that apart from your manager and assistant, and a very few others, no one knows you live here, right? But you didn't expect to move into such a ghostly apartment, and the residents were so eager to help you move your things that I immediately recognized your face..."

Why does this assumption sound... somewhat reasonable?
Lingzi wanted to continue denying it, but Jiang Jin gently pressed her hand down under the table. Then Jiang Jin gave her a wink.

Seeing the two's subtle actions, Yamato Mitsuru's smile deepened, making people even more uneasy.

He leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, but carried an undeniable threat: "I have an idea... I plan to write a sensational report about what happened in this apartment. Just imagine, if a top star like you personally 'experienced' and 'promoted' it, how popular would this cursed apartment become? Countless curious, skeptical young people would flock here! It would become a more famous Japanese ghost story tourist attraction than Tokyo Disneyland! A constant stream of new residents... would mean that those of us trapped here would finally have a chance to escape!"

His eyes gleamed with a crazed and greedy light as he stared intently at Reiko: "Now, Ms. Matsushima Nanako, do you still intend to... continue to deny your identity?"

The air seemed to freeze. Aimi looked at her father in horror, then at Reiko.

Reiko looked at Yamato Mitsuru's crazed eyes, which were filled with determination and even willing to drag countless innocent people into hell, and felt the warmth and power emanating from Jiang Jin's palm.

Clearly, Jiang Jin's intention was to make her feign compliance and make the best of a bad situation.

So... she raised her head, revealing a slightly shy yet polite smile that was common on screen with Nanako Matsushima, and said softly, "I didn't expect... that you still saw through me."

"That's right, I am Nanako Matsushima."

(End of this chapter)