Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

The robot had stopped making any sound; its screens were completely off, as if it were dead, and it would never make the slightest noise again.

Ryo didn't know what those two figures were. Even though it was just a conversation from the past, from some unknown moment, she felt a chill run through her body, as if she were being watched by something terrifying. But even so, she continued to observe. Even though she realized that this fragmented scene was not simple, the girl, who was trying hard to find a way out, still persisted in digging into the fragment she had sensed.

Then she discovered something even deeper.

Something was left behind in a place where no record should have been made, outside the stage where no one had discovered it, something whose meaning is unclear.

He passed through this place.

[In the countless, meaningless infinity, He passed through countless places.]

He needs no purpose, for He is the purpose itself; He needs no meaning, for meaning must be found in Him.

He has destroyed countless worlds, and He has created countless worlds.

The universe is born and destroyed around Him, while He merely passes through, simply passing through place after place in infinite time, like the fission and fusion of atoms. He has no existence and needs no meaning; this is the supreme chaos.

But the ignorant cannot see through all this, and those with insufficient vision, the weak and pitiful, will not understand this.

They saw lightning, so they created gods of thunder and lightning, but they could not understand the origins of thunder's birth.

They saw the sun, and thus imagined golden crows and a sun god pulling a chariot. How could they possibly understand the flickering of stars?

Before those weak beings find the truth and transcend themselves to step onto the next level, they always have all sorts of naive and laughable understandings, and always do incomprehensible and foolish things. They think that in this way they can interpret all things, can deconstruct a fragment of that great being, but they don't realize that their actions are completely meaningless.

However, this kind of thing will definitely happen, and it will happen again and again.

Sometimes, individuals may become obsessed with illusions they cannot understand, presuming themselves to be saviors, believing they have become some kind of chosen exception, and committing terrible things according to what they perceive as insane thoughts.

This kind of story is undoubtedly a foolish one.

But even foolish stories aren't without merit, because even in their foolishness, the passionate emotions remain genuine. Madness and death are frequent characters in dramas. To create a truly compelling story, to develop a truly moving plot, let the fools shine, remove all limitations, and see if the madness of these fools can produce any interesting tales.

After all, the outcome of all this was already destined for destruction. So since the ending is predetermined, why should we tie our own hands? Why should we hold back?

Let us perform all of this more deeply, more purely, more intensely, and more unconventionally. Let us perish along with the story, let our madness and death become part of this drama, and let us become equally foolish and self-righteous beings.

Perhaps in this way, we can find a different meaning in the face of an inevitable ending.

That soaring voice was singing.

That maniacal voice sent chills down Liang's spine.

She didn't know what it was, but she was certain it wasn't human, either physically or mentally.

However, this information should be meaningful.

Although it is unknown who left this message and hid it in an inconspicuous corner of some copy, since the message was left behind, it must have been intended for someone to find and for someone else to see.

The person Liang could think of was Gao Hai.

This message is definitely for Mr. Gao, regardless of who left it or what their intentions are. To decipher its true meaning and extract its valuable information, only Mr. Gao can provide it; the message is only useful in his hands!

Amidst a wave of excruciating pain sweeping through her entire body, Liang slowly awoke.

She witnessed the past events and knew the origins of this replica set in the subway station, which allowed her to recount the events to Hongxia and Xingge, explaining the cause and effect of everything. However, she herself was no longer thinking about these matters; she was now focused on how to escape this increasingly distorted space, find a way to re-establish stable communication with Gao Hai, and share her information with him.

"Manager, are you sure there's nothing else around? You should be able to sense that there's something else here."

Without giving Hongxia and Xingge more time to react, Liang glanced at the things around them that were blocked outside the crimson domain, then turned his gaze back to Xingge, who was carrying him, and spoke to her.

The unseen forces spreading from behind hadn't caught up yet. Although being completely surrounded made escape difficult, Liang felt there was still a good chance of escaping their current predicament and continuing their search for a way out if he could use the strange object on Xingge's body to lure the other creatures over and make them fight again. Of course, the best solution would be another epic battle like before. The last time, they were caught off guard and it came too suddenly, so they didn't have a chance to escape. If it happened again, Liang felt he should be able to seize the opportunity to run away.

"Is there anything else? It's not just the same few as before, is it?"

Xingge, of course, had no idea what Liang was thinking. When she suddenly brought up this question, she genuinely assumed that Funato Yasuo and the flesh monster had followed them. And just as this thought crossed her mind, accompanied by a strange movement, the corpses surrounding the three began to exhibit abnormal fluctuations. Then, the roars of the flesh monster and the mutterings of Funato Yasuo echoed from not far away.

Once again, those things were summoned in accordance with Xingge's thoughts.

They seem to be arriving even faster than last time. Liang suspects that the mark on Xingge's body might increase in power over time, bringing the strange creatures that are targeting her to them more and more quickly. She doesn't know how to remove such a mark; she'll probably have to go find Gao Hai again.

"As expected, they are here. I knew they would come. We'll seize the opportunity in a moment. Once these things start fighting amongst themselves, we'll take the chance to escape and see if we can get out of the Dark Zone that way."

Liang said in a calm voice. Although he could no longer walk, his expression was still very confident.

Hongxia, on the other hand, had become somewhat aware that something was wrong after these few times. She looked at Xingge and then at Liang, her heart filled with doubts, but she decided to put these things aside for the time being and find a way to escape alive first.

hum-

As soon as I took a step, I felt a strange vibration.

The tremor had nothing to do with the ship's boarding guard, the flesh-and-blood monster, the split-eyed creature, or the passengers. Although these things were showing signs of fighting each other again due to the overlap of their targets and the opposition of their rules, all three people present knew that the tremor could not have been caused by those creatures.

"They actually came."

Liang muttered to herself in shock. Although she had considered the possibility of two things happening at the same time, she did not expect it to happen so quickly.

"That voice, could it be...?"

Having realized what was happening, Hongxia looked up at the ceiling with an incredulous expression.

"Stop looking! Quickly find somewhere to hide so we don't get caught in the crossfire!"

This time, Xingge acted quickly, holding Hongxia with one hand and supporting Liang on her back with the other, speeding up to bypass the patients and strange creatures, and running away from the source of the sound.

Although they had taken evasive action, Hongxia and Xingge's movement speed was clearly no match for those powerful beings who could fly and burrow underground. Therefore, despite running away quickly, a violent explosion followed, and a strong wind pressure caught up with them from behind, knocking them to the ground. Liang also fell to the ground once again.

Rumble—rumble rumble rumble—

Amidst a series of explosions, the entire corridor was torn to shreds by the terrifying external force.

The floor collapsed, causing the three people who had fallen to the ground to fall as well. Xingge grabbed Hongxia and Liang in mid-air, using herself as a human cushion to slam into the ground below. The impact caused Xingge's vision to blur for a moment, and she almost lost consciousness. Liang was also nearly knocked unconscious after being thrown around twice, but she still struggled to roll off Xingge and tried to stand up and look upwards.

"Ugh...where am I...?"

Hongxia choked on a mouthful of ash, and groggily got up. By the red light of her phone's crimson field, she saw that she was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling mirrors, each over two meters tall, densely packed together to form a mirror maze, with no exit in sight. But before Hongxia could take a closer look at her surroundings, a chill ran down her spine, and Funato Yasuo's body lunged at her from a gap, roaring, "I'll lead you to salvation!"

bang——

Then, in a flash of bloody light, most of the old man's body exploded on the spot, turning into a pile of minced meat and falling to the ground, leaving only half a leg standing still.

"Hey?"

Nijika blinked, not realizing what had just happened until she blinked and then understood what had just occurred when Funato Yasuo appeared and was smashed.

Then, before she could react further, the flesh-and-blood monster and the patient passengers emerged. These creatures didn't lose their aggression due to the change in scenery; instead, they became even more ferocious, all rushing towards the three living people present.

Then, Hongxia saw a flash of blood-red light, passing through those strange creatures and the twisted objects reflected in the mirror at a speed too fast to be seen.

Bang bang bang bang bang——

The fleshy monster, which was not a strange creature, was instantly blasted to pieces by the bloody light and died on the spot.

Neither passengers nor patients escaped the attack. The seemingly powerful split-eyed monster was also hit, and they all shattered on the spot, turning into pieces of flesh scattered all over the ground. They could only barely wriggle, and it was unknown how long it would take for them to recover.

All the mirrors shattered amidst the raging blood-red light, none of them remaining standing. This actually made the space appear larger, allowing the blood-red figure to be clearly displayed before the three of them once again.

Just like the last time I saw him, his mere presence exuded a sense of despair.

Both Xingge and Hongxia were almost unable to move in the face of this terrifying existence, feeling as if their bodies were no longer their own.

Ryo struggled to her feet, panting heavily, her gaze fixed on the evil entity called "Surgeon." Then, suddenly realizing something, she abruptly turned her gaze to the ground, to the shattered mirrors. She then discovered that all the mirrors smashed by "Surgeon" had been burned beyond recognition; not a single one could still reflect an image.

So that's it. It wasn't attacking those strange creatures; it was attacking the mirror.

At this moment, Ryo realized why the [Surgeon] had inexplicably destroyed those monsters, eliminating what should have been allies. This monster's target wasn't actually the monsters like Funato Yasuo, but the mirrors. It was just that its attacks were so powerful that even a slight blast from them was an attack the monsters couldn't withstand, resulting in all its allies being wiped out in one wave of attacks. Ah, that's not entirely accurate, since even Red Moon-level monsters weren't worthy of being teammates with a being of the [Surgeon's] caliber; their combat power was simply on a completely different level.

Salvation...only through death...only through death can true salvation...

They heard the monster muttering to itself.

It was much clearer than I expected, like a voice deliberately speaking to myself.

Ok?

Yamada Ryo realized something was wrong. The thing shrouded in the blood-red mist seemed to be turning its head to look at him.

This creature, which had previously ignored the three of them, seemed to have noticed them this time, and immediately set its sights on Yamada Ryo, who appeared to be in the worst condition.

No, could this thing be trying to kill me because it thinks I'm badly injured and about to die?

Seeing that this thing really saw her as a target, Liang opened her mouth, unsure of what to do. Considering its superhuman power to casually destroy buildings, she felt that no matter what she did, she couldn't escape its attack. At most, she could only try to appear less cowardly and die with some dignity.

As they were thinking this, another fiery red figure landed, causing the three people present to widen their eyes in surprise.

"So you were here. Why did you stop following? Are you tired already?"

Amidst her fiery red hair fluttering in the wind, the girl with emerald green eyes spoke with a smile, her words revealing a touch of boldness.

"Is that person Kita?"

Upon seeing the figure suddenly enter the arena, Hongxia was stunned and realized that she couldn't possibly recognize this figure as the same person as the energetic girl in her memory.

The only salvation in this world... is death... When everyone dies, everyone is happy...

The monster within the blood-red light murmured, sharp weapons gradually taking shape within the light, and a twisted, crazed aura rose higher in the darkness. Most of these weapons were aimed at Kita Ikuyo, who had just appeared, but one small knife turned towards Ryo, resolutely locking this innocent bystander in as well.

"It seems you're not planning to make the first move. In that case, I'll start!"

The next second, Kita's figure arrived in front of the [Surgeon] in an instant. As the extraordinary power that the girl was gathering was also accompanied by dazzling golden light and various special effects, it instantly mixed with the power released by the [Surgeon].

boom! ! ! ! !

In just a moment, Hongxia and Xingge, who were closer, were thrown over by the shockwave from the battle and flew in the air for a second or two before landing on the ground.

Liang, who was further away, was not greatly affected, but she did not hesitate to roll to the ground to avoid the only weapon that had locked onto her, which was so strong in her perception that she almost thought she was dead.

“Pfft—”

Liang coughed up blood, looked down, and saw the knife stuck in his stomach.

Even though I dodged it, it still happened... Oh, I see. My strength is too weak to dodge it at all. What a frustrating result...

The blade, constructed from extraordinary power, is slowly disappearing, but the damage inflicted by the blade itself is penetrating deeper into the body.

The power of the crimson domain stored within his body was instantly depleted, leaving no trace. Yet, even in this state of coolness, he could still feel that terrifying power had not been eliminated; its activity had only been slightly reduced, and it was still continuously eroding his body.

At this rate, he won't live much longer; he might die in half an hour at most.

Rumble, rumble——

Kita's figure and the figure of the "surgeon" intersected, and in the blink of an eye, they had been brought back to the surface from underground. With every move, the already fragmented ruins around them became even more dilapidated. Many places had been leveled again and again, and it was impossible to tell what they originally looked like.

The mental link has not been restored.

Stumbling and falling to the ground, Liang sat down heavily, breathing heavily. She tried to reconnect with Gao Hai again, but found that she still couldn't get in touch with him.

Why is it still not working? The spatial blockade should have been lifted.