Tao Sheng felt that since the two seniors’ projection-like state was similar to his father’s ethereal form, what he needed to reveal was mainly information related to his father’s ethereal body.

However, after hearing him say all that, Xiao Bai suddenly blurted out directly:

“Do you know how your father in that ethereal state can be considered truly dead?”

??

Hearing this, Tao Sheng was immediately covered in question marks.

What??

What do you mean??

So direct?!

That’s my father!

Can I tell you how to kill my father??

Do I look like I have brain damage??

Not only was he covered in question marks, but Tao Sheng’s gaze toward Xiao Bai even carried caution and wariness.

Seeing this, Xiao Bai seemed to realize belatedly.

She frowned, looking somewhat speechless, and deliberately lowered her voice to explain:

“What are you thinking? I have no grievances or grudges with your father, no motive to harm him at all!”

“Besides, your father isn’t even here right now…”

As she spoke, Xiao Bai’s gaze swept over the projections of the chubby guy and the old woman, lowering her voice even further:

“What I really want to deal with… is the same as yours.”

She didn’t say it explicitly, but Tao Sheng instantly understood.

However, he still shook his head: “No matter what you’re thinking, I can’t possibly tell you how to kill my father!”

“Besides, given my father’s condition, he’s essentially immortal!”

When he said this, Tao Sheng’s tone was extremely confident.

This made Jiang Ye feel…

quite uncomfortable.

He was quite eager to transform the shadow phantom into a clone.

That way, the mutated clone could be controlled by his own people…

However, he hadn’t expected to actually obtain means to kill the shadow phantom from Tao Sheng.

He believed that if such methods existed, the shadow phantom wouldn’t have told Tao Sheng.

Xiao Bai thought the same way and quickly settled for second best:

“Then say something useful – are there any methods that can affect those two projections?”

Tao Sheng had some ideas in his heart, but…

He directly furrowed his brows and said: “I do have one item here.”

“But as you saw earlier, even when Chubby Senior took out his cards, they were completely unusable!”

“The might of the restricted zone doesn’t just turn us into ordinary people – even the items we possess become ineffective!”

“So, in this restricted zone, even if I have ideas, I can’t use them at all.”

A light flashed in Xiao Bai’s eyes as she directly asked: “Why don’t you tell us, what item is it?”

Tao Sheng didn’t want to say, shaking his head: “I already said it’s useless!”

Xiao Bai’s gaze suddenly turned sharp: “Do you really want to die here with us?”

Previously, when Tao Sheng heard such words, he would even betray his own father.

But now his attitude was quite firm: “It’s not that I want to die here with you, but I told you, this is a restricted zone! Items are useless!”

“Don’t threaten me with death! I’ll die, but you’ll die too! Even if we’re all grasshoppers on the same boat, why should I be the only one laying my heart bare?”

“Besides, you insisted that the two seniors’ situation is similar to my father’s, but think carefully – are their situations really similar?”

“My father indeed has no physical form, but he can hear, see, and speak! He can move around in his ethereal state!”

“But what about these two seniors? They’re left with only two projections that don’t even move! How can these situations be the same?”

The more Tao Sheng spoke, the more he felt he was being deceived.

He became extremely resistant to revealing any more secrets about the shadow phantom.

However, at this moment, Xu Gou walked over again, his gaze cool as he looked at him, his voice cold and deep:

“It’s still uncertain whether we’re actually in the restricted zone right now! And whether items can work here isn’t for you to decide!”

“Since you mentioned having an item that works against the shadow phantom, why not take it out and try?”

“What exactly are you afraid of? The shadow phantom isn’t even here!”

As Xu Gou’s attitude hardened, Peng Gu also subtly moved closer, forming a surrounding formation against Tao Sheng.

Tao Sheng’s expression changed slightly, and he immediately cast his gaze toward Yu Mo who was by Jiang Ye’s side.

Yu Mo remained silent but pretended not to see, shrinking into the corner.

This scene made Tao Sheng’s breathing grow heavy with anger, the blood patterns covering his body appearing thicker.

What surprised him even more was…

Yu Mo, who had already retreated to the corner, seemed to think of something and suddenly blurted out:

“I think I might know why cousin is unwilling to take out the item…”

As soon as these words were spoken, numerous eyes fell upon him.

And Tao Sheng’s expression instantly turned extremely ugly.

In fact, he suddenly erupted, charging fiercely toward Yu Mo.

Raising his fist as if to hit someone.

Cursing angrily: “You damn ingrate! Betraying me once wasn’t enough, you have to do it twice!!”

His eyes wide with rage, he looked like he wanted to devour Yu Mo alive.

However, just as Tao Sheng had said, in this “restricted zone,” they had all become ordinary people!

At the ordinary person level, Yu Mo wasn’t necessarily much weaker than Tao Sheng.

He sidestepped, dodging Tao Sheng’s sudden violent attack.

Then quickly dodged again, hiding behind Xu Gou and Peng Gu.

Since he was already called an “ingrate,” he naturally didn’t care about that illusory cousinly bond, directly shouting:

“If I’m not mistaken! Cousin isn’t willing to take out the item not just because this is a restricted zone where items don’t work…”

“More importantly, that item is probably embedded in his flesh and blood!”

“Right now we’re all ordinary people – if we want to forcibly retrieve the item, we’ll probably have to strip cousin’s flesh!”

He spoke extremely quickly.

Tao Sheng counterattacked fiercely, but faced Xu Gou and Peng Gu like two mountains.

His eyes red, he roared, his gaze wishing it could tear Yu Mo apart!

“Fuck! If I’d known you were such a heartless, ungrateful ingrate! I should have torn you apart and fed you to dogs the first time we met!”

However, no matter how fiercely he cursed now, it was useless.

Xu Gou and Peng Gu simultaneously restrained him.

Not just to stop his violence.

But also because of the information Yu Mo had revealed…

Tao Sheng began to feel afraid now.

Previously outside, even when the damn old woman twisted off his hand.

He could easily regenerate it with his abilities.

But now…

They were in a restricted zone!

Talent abilities and Glyph Pattern Ability were gone!

As mere ordinary people, if he really had his flesh stripped…

How painful would that be?!

And worse, he might die!

Besides anger, Tao Sheng now felt baseless fear.

His arms restrained by one person each, his struggling force weakened, and he began speaking words of surrender:

His eyes red, he roared, his gaze wishing it could tear Yu Mo apart!

“That heartless ingrate… he has a grudge against me! You can’t believe what he says!”

“I… we’re all grasshoppers on the same boat now! If you strip me because of his provocation…”

“Then later, if someone else provokes, won’t we just keep killing each other?!”

“Yes! What you’re doing to me now is mutual slaughter! This will lead us down a path of internal collapse!”

“No! This is very wrong!” Tao Sheng seemed to realize something, his previously surrendering expression suddenly turning panicked and twisted.

His voice suddenly rose, his tone extremely confident:

“Remember what you said about the Data Panel problem? My suspicion about your thoughts is correct!”

“We’re not in a restricted zone at all, but in an illusion!”

“There must be someone behind this manipulating everything!”

“This hand will first make you skin me alive, take out the so-called item from my body…”

“Then there will be other reasons to make us kill each other!”

“Really! Believe me! Once you harm me, there will be a first, then a second!”

“Finally, everyone here will die tragically from mutual slaughter!”

The more Tao Sheng spoke, the more confident he became, as if he had already seen the truth.

However, what made him despair was—

Xu Gou, who seemed more shrewd than him, didn’t listen to his words at all.

In fact, this sinister and cunning guy gave him a wicked smile and said leisurely:

“According to your theory, this isn’t a restricted zone but an illusion…”

“Then you should be even happier, because if it’s not a restricted zone, you’re not an ordinary person.”

“Then it’s just stripping flesh to retrieve an item, you won’t die…”

At this moment, Xu Gou seemed like the god of death in Tao Sheng’s eyes!

Intense fear made his brain go blank for a moment.

But soon, he reacted and shouted again:

“No! No! Maybe this is still a restricted zone! But the terror of the restricted zone exceeds our imagination! Not only do we become ordinary people, but we also lose our humanity!”

“Yes! Your current abnormality is being influenced by the restricted zone!”

Tao Sheng became increasingly convinced of this idea.

He had only heard about the terror of the Abyss Restricted Zone before.

He thought the terror was just becoming ordinary people.

But perhaps the more terrifying thing was the devastation of human hearts?!

Yes! The more Tao Sheng thought about it, the more alarmed he became!

Even if he was arrogant, how could he develop rebellious thoughts against the two seniors in such a short time?

Perhaps he was also influenced by the restricted zone!

Yes! It must be like this!

Tao Sheng looked again at the two seniors’ projections and suddenly shouted: “I know! I know why they became projections!”

Xu Gou and Peng Gu originally hadn’t listened to Tao Sheng’s “excuses” at all.

They directly pressed him down, wanting to strip his flesh and retrieve the bones.

Only when they heard him mention the two seniors did they slightly restrain their actions.

However, the sharp blade in Xu Gou’s hand was already pressed against Tao Sheng’s collarbone.

As if the next second, he would really skin him alive…

Tao Sheng trembled with every breath at this moment, but still shouted at extreme speed:

“Just as I said! This restricted zone can erode people’s minds! Making people develop rebellious intentions, violent hearts!”

“My thoughts of attacking the two seniors were influenced by this!”

“You! You must have had such thoughts too just now, you must have been influenced too!”

“And these two seniors, the reason they transformed into projection state…”

“Perhaps there aren’t as many complicated reasons as we thought, it’s simply because—”

“They knew about the restricted zone’s mental erosion, so they used special methods to protect their minds!”

“So they won’t participate in mutual slaughter! While we! We…”

Tao Sheng felt the pressure against his collarbone and roared desperately: “We… I beg you… can’t you wake up!”

“Even a pig-brained person like me has come to my senses! Why can’t you wake up!”

This was absolutely the first time Tao Sheng had belittled himself like this.

But there was no choice – under the threat of death, he just wanted to survive!

And what he faced was death by being skinned alive!

Of course, Tao Sheng also vaguely realized—

The reason he could be the first to see the restricted zone’s mental erosion was because he was the first victim.

As the saying goes, the knife hurts whoever it cuts.

He was the first to be cut, so the first to regain consciousness.

But with Xu Gou and others’ intelligence…

They should…

Tao Sheng still held a sliver of hope in his heart.

But he never expected that death-god-like man to give him another cool smile.

“How ridiculous.”

“You yourself said you’re pig-brained, so why would something you can figure out be beyond our understanding?”

As he spoke, Xu Gou’s knife directly dug into Tao Sheng’s collarbone.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

Screams like a slaughtered pig quickly echoed throughout the enclosed space.

Peng Gu and Yu Mo were responsible for holding Tao Sheng down.

Xu Gou ruthlessly dug out the flesh from his body.

Xiao Bai stood to the side without participating, just watching intently without blinking.

As a Reincarnation Ghost, Xiao Bai had seen plenty of various bizarre and terrifying scenes.

Not just flesh being dug out – she had even seen people eating people.

Moreover, her hair was maintained with Corpse Oil.

This kind of bloody scene that ordinary people would find horrifying meant nothing in her eyes.

Tao Sheng felt the pressure against his collarbone and roared desperately: “We… I beg you… can’t you come to your senses!”

“Even a pig-brained person like me has come to my senses! Why can’t you come to yours!”

Instead, the flesh that was cut off still contained numerous blood patterns.

This was absolutely the first time Tao Sheng had belittled himself like this.

Now that the flesh was cut away, she could see that the blood patterns weren’t just surface-level, but penetrated deep into the flesh and blood…

Moreover, what was even stranger was—

After stripping away Tao Sheng’s flesh and blood, his body consisted entirely of flesh and blood, without any internal organs.

His entire body seemed to be composed only of blood-patterned flesh and blood.

Oh right, besides the eerie flesh and blood, there were of course bones…

He was the first to be cut, so the first to regain consciousness.

After cleaning the meat and some adhering fascia from these bones…

Tao Sheng, who had been wailing and screaming like a ghost, completely passed out.

And the fine patterns appearing on the bones suddenly became clear.

The black fine patterns, at first glance, looked similar to the irregular blood-colored patterns, just black in color.

But looking carefully, these black patterns seemed like numerous cracks.

After observing for a while, Xu Gou touched them with his hand, indeed feeling the broken and concave texture, then used the knife tip to stab toward those cracks.

As a result, he could actually insert the knife tip!

Tao Sheng groaned again, twitched a few times, then turned pale and passed out again.

This time passing out looked like he had died.

However, at this moment, no one cared whether he lived or died.

Xu Gou stared intently at the cracks on his bones, applying force.

But with an ordinary person’s body and ordinary tools, the knife tip got stuck in the cracks.

Couldn’t go in, couldn’t pull out.

After Xu Gou’s attempt failed, he asked Xiao Bai: “Want to try?”

Xiao Bai didn’t move, her gaze sweeping over the bone cracks.

Finally, she calmly said: “If we remove all his flesh and blood, we might find the bone that’s easiest to work with.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep