Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 74 Attendance (Seventh update! Requesting monthly votes!)
Zhao Kaiming's body rapidly shriveled up, like an empty sack. His uniform began to collapse from the collar, and his body beneath the fabric was melting away at a visible speed. The moment his collarbone was exposed to the air, even the bones began to crumble, turning into grayish-white powder that fell in a flurry.

The golden pistol fell to the ground first, followed by the empty uniform. The tape recorder sparked a few times as the worms gnawed at it, then fell silent. A night breeze blew by, scattering even the ashes on the ground, as if this person had never existed.

The death knell loosened its grip, and the coffin nails clattered to the ground. It lowered its head, sniffed the pile of clothes, and turned to disappear into the night.

Far from No. 7 Middle School, in an amusement park, the neon lights of the Ferris wheel suddenly flickered, and then, the night wind carried a yellowed amusement park ticket into the air...

All of this was a conspiracy between Jiang Jin and Liu Yan.

Liu Yan had read the original novel thoroughly, so she was well aware of the Wishing Ghost's abilities. Based on the information she provided, Jiang Jin devised this hunting plan.

Zhao Kaiming is currently the prime suspect and is very likely the source of the problem.

Even if he wasn't, based on what he did in collusion with the wishing ghost, his threats against me, and even his insults to my mother, killing him wouldn't be considered indiscriminate killing of innocent people.

Damn it, only your wife and children are human, Zhao Kaiming, but other people's wives and children aren't?
Hunting down such newborns is something Jiang Jin would do without any hesitation or sentimentality.

Meanwhile, he also checked Zhao Kaiming's location forty minutes earlier through the surveillance and assigned tasks to Sang Zhong there in advance.

Then, let Deathstroke go up... and bite the opponent to death! At the same time, since the opponent can retaliate, let the Gu worms devour his body completely.

Then, a key appeared in front of Zhao Kaiming's body!
Another skull key!
That's right, defeating powerful story characters can also drop Skull Keys!
Deathstroke, carrying the skull key in his mouth, quickly ran back!

What will be the outcome this time?
Jiang Jin and Liu Yan met up. Then, he went to the guardhouse. Liu Yan blocked the surveillance and used the skull key to open the treasure chest.

The skull treasure chest dropped by defeating story characters is based on a complete human ribcage, with ribs flaring outwards in an arc to form the main frame of the chest, and dark gold rust at the joints. An inverted skull serves as the lid, with two eerie blue crystals embedded in the eye sockets; the pupil-like patterns shimmer faintly as the viewer's perspective shifts, and a faint white mist seeps from the nostrils.

Use the key to open the skull treasure chest. The five treasures inside (the number of treasures obtained from the wedding anniversary skull key is increased by 2) are...

A golden pistol; this thing seems to be useful against ghost tamers and ghosts.

One was a key to a logistics warehouse that Zhao Kaiming had rented, with a note indicating that his relatives' remains were kept there. Of course, this was useless to Jiang Jin and Liu Yan.

Zhao Kaiming's Ghost Tamer ID Card.

A bag containing ten "ghost candles".

The last item is [Zhao Kaiming's cell phone].

The reincarnation system indicates that you can use this phone to trade with the Wishing Ghost. Make a wish, and the Ghost will trade with you—though the price is extremely high. Even after leaving this instance, you can still use the phone to trade with the Wishing Ghost. The relevant rules are basically the same as in the original story.

“This thing is dangerous,” Liu Yan warned. “Even in the original work, the wishing ghost is a rather terrifying ghost.”

"Keep it for now. It might come in handy if we encounter a desperate situation later."

"Hmm. But the reincarnation system didn't indicate that the task was completed, so... it seems that Zhao Kaiming isn't the source ghost."

Zhao Kaiming's inexplicable death meant no one could see the death knell, and Jiang Jin's assassination was covered by Liu Yan using Gu worms to obscure the surveillance.

Yang Jian returned at this critical juncture and immediately contacted Zhao Jianguo at the Ghost Tamer headquarters, thus naturally succeeding Zhao Kaiming.

“I hereby announce,” Zhao Jianguo contacted all the Ghost Masters currently in Dachang City No. 7: “Ghost Eye Yang Jian will temporarily replace Zhao Kaiming as the person in charge of Dachang City. Yang Jian will be the overall person in charge of this campus infiltration plan.”

Zhao Kaiming's madman-like personality meant that no one was truly loyal to him. During this power transition, not a single person jumped out to oppose him. Of course, even if someone did, it wouldn't matter; they could still fight against Yang Jian's Ghost Domain.

Thus, Yang Jian, the new head of Dachang City, was born!

Day two.

The morning sunlight streamed into the classroom through the glass windows, and the classroom of Class 5, Grade 12, was gradually filled with students.

Li Hua, a boarding student, arrived at her seat early, took out her English homework that she had finished the night before from her schoolbag, and placed it neatly on the corner of the table.

Cheng Mi walked in yawning, plopped down, glanced at Li Hua's notebook, and suddenly grinned: "Oh, Li Hua, writing your English essay again?"

Li Hua was taken aback for a moment, then realized what he meant and smiled helplessly: "What, can't I write it myself?"

Cheng Mi laughed even louder and patted him on the shoulder: "Okay, of course! I just find it strange, since you're always the main character in our English essays!"

Several classmates nearby heard the commotion and joined in the commotion.

"Li Hua, you're practically our class's go-to male lead for English essays!"

"Exactly! We write letters for you every day, reply to emails to your foreign pen pals, and give suggestions to the school, but in the end, you're the one writing your own essays?"

Li Hua felt a little embarrassed by their comments and scratched his head: "I can't expect you to write for me every time..."

Just then, Song Yu, the English class representative, walked over, carrying a stack of homework books. He looked at Li Hua with a smile and said, "Oh, Li Hua, you're personally writing this time? Everyone else writes the essays for you, but you wrote them yourself. I think you're more suitable to be the English class representative than I am."

A burst of laughter erupted in the classroom.

Li Hua shook his head helplessly and opened his English homework. Last night's essay topic was "Li Hua's First Day of School," and he honestly wrote about his experience of reporting for school yesterday—moving dormitories, receiving textbooks, meeting new classmates, and the strange incident of being locked in the equipment room during PE class.

"Come here, let me see, let me see how you wrote it, Li Hua."

Song Yu walked over, picked up Li Hua's homework, glanced at it, and read the first paragraph of the essay aloud with a smile:
"Yesterday, our PE teacher Mr. Zhang asked us to fetch some mats from the equipment room. But when I and my friend Cheng Mi went into there, the door was locked, and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't open it."

(Yesterday, Mr. Zhang, who teaches PE, asked us to go to the equipment room to get mats, but when my friend Cheng Mi and I went inside, the door was locked and we couldn't open it no matter what we did.)
At this moment, others also gathered around to look at Li Hua's English essay.

"Huh? You guys were locked in the equipment room yesterday?"

"The door to the equipment room... is never locked normally."

“'We couldn't open it.' Haha, Li Hua, you didn't make this up in your essay, did you?”

Li Hua chuckled twice, saying nothing more. Cheng Mi said, "It's true, I'm here too."

After collecting the homework, Song Yu turned and left, and the classroom quickly returned to the noisy atmosphere of morning reading.

The morning classes proceeded as scheduled.

Before the first class began, the homeroom teacher, Liu Yan, stood on the podium, holding the student roster in her hand, her eyes scanning the entire class.

"Roll call".

Her voice wasn't loud, but the classroom immediately fell silent.

"Cheng Mi".

"arrive."

"Li Hua."

"arrive."

"Song Yu." "Here."

……

Liu Yan's fingertip slid across the list, then suddenly paused.

"Lin Xiaoyu?"

No one answered.

Liu Yan raised her head and looked at the empty seats at the back of the classroom.

Lin Xiaoyu certainly couldn't come. Liu Yan knew better than anyone how she died during yesterday's supernatural tide.

No one knows what Lin Xiaoyu went through, and those who opened their eyes and saw what happened to Lin Xiaoyu also entered the Lost Layer. Now, they are probably all turned into ghost slaves.

A few murmurs rose in the classroom.

"How could she be late..."

"Could something have happened at home?"

Liu Yan didn't say much and continued calling out names.

"Luo Fan".

"arrive."

"Li Jing."

"arrive."

In the end, three people from the class were absent—Lin Xiaoyu, Song Wei, and Zhang Yu.

Liu Yan closed the student handbook and said calmly, "Alright, roll call is over."

The class monitor responded, and the lesson officially began.

……

Time flies.

During lunch break, Li Hua and several classmates with whom he had a good relationship ate together in the cafeteria.

As Cheng Mi ate her food, she sighed, "I'm a senior in high school now. Time really flies."

"Quickly?" Song Yu rolled his eyes. "I can't wait to graduate. I don't want to stay in this lousy school for even a day longer. And this time there are a bunch of inexplicable student rules."

"You make it sound like our school is some kind of terrible place." Chang Han, an athletic star, grinned. He had played basketball for forty minutes in PE class today, and his forehead was still covered in sweat.

"Isn't it scary?" Luo Fan interjected. He was Lin Xiaoyu's deskmate and usually had a lazy demeanor. "Don't you guys think there have been a lot of strange things happening at our school this time?"

"For example?" Chang Han asked curiously.

Luo Fan lowered his voice: "Lin Xiaoyu, I remember yesterday when we got up from the table and opened our eyes, she seemed to have disappeared."

Li Hua's heart skipped a beat.

“And another thing,” Luo Fan continued, “the matter of Class 7 in the third year of high school at the end of last semester is still unresolved. Their teacher, Mr. Wang, has passed away.”

Class beauty Li Jing frowned: "Yeah, they said some thugs broke in."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Li Hua lowered his head and ate without saying another word.

At this moment, Cheng Mi took out a can of iced cola and opened it.

"You bought Coke at the convenience store again?" Li Hua asked. "You bought Coke yesterday too."

"This time it's different, this is sugar-free raw cola."

"You really have a lot of tricks up your sleeve."

Cheng Mi picked up the cola and took a big gulp, then smacked his lips: "How can we do without ice-cold cola in the sweltering summer!"

"It's a shame that Coca-Cola didn't hire you as their spokesperson."

"This is Pepsi!"

"Whatever Pepsi gives you, I, Coca-Cola, will give you ten times that amount!"

"Why does this sound so familiar?"

The first class in the afternoon was still Liu Yan's Chinese class.

"Roll call".

Liu Yan's voice remained calm.

"Cheng Mi".

"arrive."

"Li Hua."

"arrive."

……

"Lin Xiaoyu."

The classroom fell silent for a moment.

Then, a girl's voice rang out:

"arrive."

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(End of this chapter)