Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 59 Escape and the Source Ghost
Suddenly, Jiang Jin heard Tomie's voice behind him!
"Who...who touched me?"

Everyone immediately looked at Tomie.

A bluish-black handprint appeared on Tomie's left arm!
Tomie stared at the bluish-black handprint that had appeared on her arm, and a sickly smile crept onto her lips.

"This is really troublesome..."

The next second, she suddenly drew the boning knife from Jiang Jin's waist and slashed at her own left arm without hesitation!
"Pfft——!"

The severed left hand fell to the ground instantly!
Blood splattered, the severed arm fell to the ground, and the flesh at the wound began to regenerate at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Fool!" Liu Yan shouted, "Your regenerative ability will cause the ghost infant's contamination to spread! The severed hand will generate a new Tomie, and the new Tomie clone will become a new ghost slave in this ghost realm!"

In the original manga, being chopped up and dismembered is commonplace for Tomie. And the severed corpses will be reborn as hundreds or thousands of new clones.

The left hand, lying on the ground, was still moving. Then, from the severed end, it began to wriggle rapidly!
Tomie tilted her head, her newly grown fingers gently tracing the wound, and said with a coquettish smile, "Oh dear, Miss Liu, you can't blame me for this, I had no choice."

Suddenly, Liu Yan realized...

Tomie did it on purpose!
The original text mentions that this bluish-black handprint is the ghost slave mark of a ghost!

She would rather become a ghost slave than be rid of the gray thread worm parasite in her body!
The severed arm suddenly convulsed violently, the flesh swelled as if alive, and bluish-black blood vessels writhed on its surface, then—

"puff!"

A head emerged from the broken end, with black hair flowing freely; it was none other than Tomie's face!

"Hehe..." The newborn head let out a sharp laugh, "I think... I've become stronger..."

"Death knell!!" Jiang Jin roared.

The undead hound pounced instantly, its sharp teeth wreathed in eerie blue flames, as it viciously bit at the mutated arm.

At the same time, Liu Yan made a hand seal, and gray nematodes surged out like a tide, frantically devouring flesh and blood in an attempt to suppress regeneration.

At the same time, under the coat, endless gray worms swarmed out from under Tomie's skin, instantly devouring her flesh and blood!
however--

"Giggle..."

Tomie's dark blue head grinned wickedly, and the flesh and blood of her severed arm suddenly exploded, turning into countless tiny fleshy sprouts that eroded the gray nematodes in the opposite direction!
One by one, the gray nematodes became contaminated, with bluish-black patterns appearing on their bodies, before they died and fell to the ground.

"No... I can't suppress it!" Cold sweat beaded on Liu Yan's forehead.

The contamination from the ghost infant is multiplying wildly through Tomie's flesh and blood. If this continues, the entire Lost Layer Ghost Realm of the Library will be filled with the mutated flesh and blood of Tomie!
At that time, a large number of dark blue-black demon slaves named Tomie will appear!

The problem is that we can't keep attacking; the more we attack, the more Tomie spawns!
Even if only a tiny bit of flesh is left, Tomie can easily regenerate!

Suddenly, the books on the bookshelf began to flip wildly, and bluish-black blood seeped from between the pages!
Jiang Jin's mournful hunting rifle suddenly trembled violently, and the runes on the barrel shone like blazing iron—something was approaching!

"We can't wait any longer! Let's go!"

Jiang Jin quickly opened the lunchbox and fed Liu Yan chunks of meat!

He was about to rescue Yang Jian, who was pinned to the wall, when the latter seemed to realize something and shouted, "Listen to me, the Source Ghost is someone among you! But I don't know which one... Remember, when you go back, find the Source Ghost..."

Two bluish-black arms reached out from behind and covered Yang Jian's mouth!
A large amount of dark blue haze covered Yang Jian. Jiang Jin rushed into the haze and could no longer touch Yang Jian!
More gloom is looming!

If we don't leave now, we'll really be facing certain death!

Jiang Jin and Liu Yan swallowed the chunks of meat and returned to the Mysterious Layer!

Inside the mysterious layer...

The library on the fourth floor was quiet. Occasionally, a few students would walk past the bookshelves and select books. Jiang Jin pulled Liu Yan behind the bookshelves and put away his mournful voice.

The [Knocking Ghost] was left in the Lost Layer, but Jiang Jin had already ordered it to return to the golden chest. No matter how powerful the Ghost Realm was, it dared not touch the golden chest, so it could only wait for an opportunity to retrieve it.

Jiang Jin and Liu Yan were covered in cold sweat.

It felt like I had finally returned to heaven from hell.

Compared to the Lost Layer, the Mysterious Layer is simply wonderful!

The fact that we were able to return alive this time was largely thanks to the ghost realm released by Deathstroke!

Then, Jiang Jin and Liu Yan escaped from the library as quickly as possible.

"Around us... the Source Ghost?" Jiang Jin recalled Yang Jian's words: "The Source Ghost, Liu Yan, according to you, isn't that the Ghost Tamer named Zhou Zheng who died?"

According to the novel's plot, the ghost behind the curse was originally hidden in Zhou Zheng's body and was released to fight against the knocking ghost.

However, the ghost eventually went completely out of control, and its ghostly domain eventually swept through the entire Dachang City.

Liu Yan recalled the original text, which described the ghost's growth as having four stages, each with a completely different appearance and abilities: In the original text, the first stage would kill anyone it saw, the second stage would kill anyone it touched, the third stage would kill anyone it heard... and then the fourth stage...

It's probably at least a ghost from within the Annihilation Layer!
Of course, it shouldn't have reached the level of the Infinite Realm yet.

But without a doubt, if this ghost develops to the fourth stage, then for Jiang Jin and Liu Yan now, the most rational choice is to write their wills immediately.

Of course, even so, the chances of Jiang Jin and Liu Yan surviving are still extremely slim.

Jiang Jin had entered that ghost realm before, so he had to say that the 35% survival rate was probably largely due to the fact that the ghost realm was currently only at the Lost Layer.

But Jiang Jin and Liu Yan both knew that it was only a matter of time; the Ghost Realm would inevitably infiltrate the Mysterious Layer. Unable to leave Dachang City, their lives were in jeopardy until this mission was completed.

"However, the current plot is completely different from the original story."

For example… in the original work, the Source Ghost should be Zhou Zheng. Moreover, Yang Jian mentioned Zhou Zheng before. But his words clearly imply that the Source Ghost isn't Zhou Zheng?

The source of the demon is right beside them...

It was someone close to them...

The problem seems to be serious.

The person Liu Yan suspected the most was Zhao Kaiming.

“Jiang Jin, Zhao Kaiming is someone we must be especially wary of. In the original story, he is an absolute villain, a psychopathic lunatic! He made a deal with the wishing ghost behind him, wanting to turn Dachang City into a ghost town! And the key point is that at this stage of the plot, he should be a cripple. But now, it's perfectly normal for him to walk with a limp.”

"That is indeed very suspicious."

"The same goes for these inexplicable rules that don't exist in the original work. Red flashlights, green glow sticks—these things don't even exist in the original work!"

Rules are a common thread in all horror dungeon worlds.

In other words, each copy is itself governed by meme contamination.

"We need to be prepared; the curse of this world may be far more terrifying than the original story!"

"Liu Yan, do you still have any remnants of Tomie's body on your side?"

"Yes," Liu Yan nodded, "as many as you want."

(End of this chapter)