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

She knew very well that if she encountered any strange creatures in this place, their strength would be extraordinary, and they wouldn't be easy to deal with. There was a good chance that several Red Moon-level or even Red Moon Core-level creatures would suddenly appear. And if she, who had chosen to step forward as the first line of defense, was unlucky enough to be selected, she might be instantly killed.

Even with Gao Hai's godlike power, dying in such a godlike place wouldn't necessarily save her. For Fumiya Otoha, who only wanted to survive the current crisis, this possibility was absolutely unacceptable. But then again, even if it weren't the Sunflower Squad, any other player team would still find it impossible to accept a combatant like her hiding in the back watching the show. Even Fumiya Otoha herself couldn't accept such a situation after the power dynamics reversed.

However, it wasn't without a way to continue hiding. After all, Otoha could see that the Sunflower Squad's attitude towards Yurikawa was unusual. For this innocent and adorable young girl, who had clearly been chosen by Gao Hai, principles weren't insurmountable. Therefore, Otoha guessed that if she chose to ask Yurikawa for help, using this innocent girl as a shield, perhaps the Sunflower Squad players would hesitate to do anything to her because of Yurikawa's attitude, allowing her to continue her covert operations.

Well, Fumiya Otoha thought the feasibility of this idea was quite high. Anyway, she never cared about face or anything like that; as long as she could survive in the end, she felt there was no problem. In this veteran's eyes, nothing was more important than living well; that was her honest and self-serving personality.

Despite saying that, after careful consideration, she ultimately decided against it and instead dutifully took on the task. The reason was simple: she confirmed that the Sunflower Squad members also carried strong traces of Takahashi's aura, suggesting that the squad might have had close contact with him and possibly even established a communication channel. She knew that using Yurikawa as a shield would be tantamount to severely offending the Sunflower Squad. If they were to say a few words to Takahashi after the incident, she risked being punished and eliminated.

Therefore, despite her reluctance, Otoha finally gave up the idea of ​​using Hana and reluctantly joined the team preparing for battle.

Splash—click-clack—

The sound of the bus moving through the gravel and various broken objects was clearly audible to the players inside.

It was still pitch black all around.

You can't hear any sounds made by anything other than the bus.

Relying on the only light source in the darkness, Yu Qingshan, who was driving the vehicle, breathed softly, his eyes fixed intently on the ruins illuminated by the headlights. He was completely focused, not missing even the slightest movement around him.

Something is getting closer.

Even now, Yu Qingshan can clearly feel this.

He couldn't judge the distance of the other party, nor could he perceive such subtle details. But he was certain it was an evil thing, a bloodthirsty, terrifying being, perhaps always lying dormant and seemingly harmless, but which would immediately become frenzied and violent given the opportunity.

Has it already discovered itself, discovered them, this group of living people?

This vague feeling... I still can't confirm the distance between us. But the aura is definitely becoming clearer and more distinct... which means the distance between us is indeed constantly decreasing? Is that thing heading this way right now?!

"Everyone be careful!"

The moment he noticed something was wrong, Yu Qingshan quickly called out.

The players inside the vehicle reacted swiftly; no one continued to joke about such a life-or-death situation. Even Kazama Ren and Sai Emi, who had seemed the most relaxed and casual before, now wore extremely serious expressions. As for Fumiya Otoha, she immediately pulled out her best life-saving item, attracting the attention of the surrounding players even before she used it.

So, what will appear next?

Could it be a twisted and deformed monster?

Could they be a group of crazed, bloodthirsty monsters?

Or is it just another earthquake, another spatial turbulence, or perhaps a curse on consciousness and thought?

Players speculated about possible scenarios, taking into account all the situations they had experienced so far, as if summarizing these experiences would enable them to face any unknown things from now on, and they would no longer worry about encountering any unexpected situations that they did not know how to deal with.

The obvious fact is that real accidents can never be prepared for in advance.

boom! ! !

A loud explosion rang out next to the bus, sending large amounts of gravel and flames flying into the air.

Was it an earthquake? Or did something emerge from the ground?

"Prepare--"

Yu Qingshan shouted again and took out his obsessive object, preparing to respond.

Boom, boom, boom! ! !

Then, with an incredibly loud explosion, Yu Qingshan, expressionless, saw a train at least three or four times the size of a normal train, as large as a house, and behind it, an unknown number of carriages, stretching for who knows how many meters.

What the hell is this?

Yu Qingshan, who considered himself quite experienced, momentarily lost his composure when he saw the massive train headed straight for him. Especially when he noticed several people seemingly hanging from the train and continuing to attack it, he was completely at a loss for how to react.

Chapter 107 Unexpected Situation and Unreasonable Enemy.

Things don't always go as expected.

For players, this statement isn't entirely accurate. A more accurate way to put it is that things rarely go exactly as expected; instead, unexpected events are frequent, and these unexpected events can often be fatal. Therefore, for sufficiently experienced players, especially those with extensive experience at the Red Moon level, it's perfectly normal for a seemingly smooth-sailing situation to suddenly take a sharp turn for the worse.

Well, that's true, but generally, this kind of thing only happens when the situation inside the instance isn't fully explored, leading players to encounter unpredictable dangers during their actions. However, the current situation doesn't entirely fit that premise. After all, we're not currently investigating anything within the instance, and as the battle gradually comes to an end, everyone basically knows what tricks the [Hospital] has up its sleeve, what abilities its minions possess, and so on. Under normal circumstances, it's quite difficult for unexpected situations to occur.

The prerequisite for this is that the hospital, as always, disdains to deal with players like them and focuses its energy on fighting Gao Hai and the girls around him.

However, now that they realized they were truly going to lose, the [Hospital] went into a frenzy and became utterly unscrupulous, targeting the players who were practically no match for them. Although Gao Hai's intervention made it difficult for the [Hospital] to directly attack the players, even if they acted irrationally, this thing could enhance the monsters under its control. As a result, the aura intensity of this living train skyrocketed from the Red Moon Core level to the Abyss Domain level. If it weren't for the presence of police officers, the players would have had absolutely no chance of defeating it.

Of course, while this situation was indeed unexpected, it was not a reason for the players who had fought this far to surrender. On the contrary, everyone knew that the more frantic the enemy became, the closer they were to their doom, and the closer victory was to victory. Therefore, while Cat Brother ventured deeper into the ruins alone, Toyama Akira, Ishido Masaaki, and Kobo Yuuki, along with the lawyer who had been rescued and healed, the four Red Moon-level players, plus the police officers, began their battle against the monster train in the ruins.

Then, the [hospital] once again acted ruthlessly. Everyone was relying on the power of their spiritual objects and blessings to help the police officers fight the train. Suddenly, a strong suction force came from the direction of the train, pulling all four players and the police officers to the vehicle within seconds. Akira Toyama and the lawyer were respectively sucked to the side and top of the front of the train; Masaaki Ishido and Koyo were sucked into the first carriage; and the police officers were grabbed and pressed against the front of the train by bloody hands protruding from the front, almost unable to move.

"This is the power of the core obsession in the cockpit, but I have suppressed it and it should be temporarily sealed. Why did it break free?"

The lawyer frowned as he spoke, his words clearly containing doubt, but his tone was completely flat, like that of a middle school student reading a text perfunctorily during morning reading.

"There's a second core obsession? Wait, this feeling... the [hospital] is strengthening the power of that core obsession! Tsk, how can a suppressed monster be forcibly activated using this method? Isn't that a bit too unreasonable?!"

Akira Toyama, who was stuck to the roof of the car by an invisible force and unable to move, was speechless for a moment after hearing the lawyer's words. But then he noticed the distorted aura gradually emerging from inside the car and realized that the situation was critical. He struggled to fight back.

hum-

A powerful surge of spiritual energy, accompanied by the aura of the object of obsession, was suddenly released.

In an instant, the three Red Guild players present were all shocked, and they immediately learned the information from the lawyer about the core obsession in the cockpit.

That was a nameless existence, a down-on-his-luck novelist known as "The Writer".

[Hospital] They found this person from somewhere and guided him to become a security guard at a small train station. Every day, he would travel back and forth on a dilapidated train, spending his days on the train with aches and pains.

During the lawyer's contact with this core obsession, he confirmed that this obsession was a writing enthusiast who had no fame, only ambition but no achievements. He had tried to submit articles to various magazines and newspapers more than once, but could never produce any results.

But all of this changed when the writer unexpectedly arrived at this dilapidated little station and, to make ends meet, took a job staying on the train. At midnight, he set up a small table in a corner of the driver's cab and wrote many terrifying stories about trains and stations. He was constantly struck by inspiration as he wrote these stories, and this time, his submissions far surpassed his previous successes. Earning a substantial sum, he was filled with hope and his mind was brimming with thoughts of realizing his lifelong dream of becoming a true writer.

Then, the unfortunate writer contracted some unknown illness on the train. Fortunately, an unnamed doctor on the train intervened and treated him. His condition stabilized slightly during the day, but worsened at night, ultimately leading to his death on the train. The doctor, whose identity was unknown, had vanished without a trace. The writer, in his dying moments, clutched his unpublished manuscript, his heart overflowing with longing for the future and a deep sense of resentment.

To be honest, as a Red Moon-level core obsession, the [Writer] is rather unimpressive, completely lacking the presence expected of a Red Moon-level core obsession. However, the lawyer's investigation confirmed that this seemingly misnamed core obsession was deliberately chosen by the [Hospital]. It exploited this unwilling creator, causing him to continue his endless creative process even after becoming a monster, writing works that could never be submitted again, and using them as the true story to form the external appearance of the instance. From this perspective, the [Writer] can be considered part of the instance's origin, and this is the key to how such a down-on-his-luck writer could reach the core level.

As the investigation and confrontation deepened, the lawyer, in the process of initially suppressing this core obsession, naturally also figured out the various abilities possessed by the other party. This is precisely one of the situations the players are now forced to experience: forcibly attaching the target player to the train. While the actual effect of this ability should be to prevent players from leaving the train, forcing them into the horror stories about the train written by the [Writer], the [Hospital] recklessly injected power, causing the ability to undergo an unknown change. As a result, everyone was stuck to the train, unable to move, and could only crash forward with it.

Boom!

Amidst the deafening explosion, the increasingly massive, monstrous train crashed into a collapsed building, smashing through it with a thunderous roar, before plunging into another building.

The police officer stuck to the front of the train was forced to endure extremely violent impacts, and the players on the train were also hit again and again. In less than a few seconds, everyone was more or less injured, while the monster train continued to crash wildly, showing no sign of stopping.

"We need to stop this thing!"

While struggling against the force that was sucking him into the car, Masaaki Ishido shouted to the others.

"..."

Toyama Akira didn't speak. He was being sucked onto the car headfirst, so his mouth was completely covered and he couldn't make a sound.

"Break through the outer shell of this thing and try to get inside the carriage; that's the only way to escape."

The lawyer on the other side quickly confirmed the solution after a short test and spoke to the others, while clenching his fist and struggling to move as much as possible, forcefully pounding on the car body.

thump—

With a dull thud, the lawyer confirmed that the front of the car he was in was indestructible, and that damaging it would be extremely difficult.

Rumble, rumble!

As if sensing the players' thoughts, the strange train accelerated again in an instant, crashing into the various ruins at a speed that a train could never normally reach, causing violent explosions to continue for a while.

It seems that something is constantly active during this process.

At the front of the train, Akira Toyama and the lawyer couldn't see the specifics clearly, only vaguely sensing the abnormality amidst the chaos. However, Masaaki Ishido and Koyoko, positioned in the carriages, could see it much more clearly. They saw the strange creatures scattering and darting about, and they saw the "passengers" who should have been trapped inside the train forever, now broken free by some unknown force and fleeing in all directions, their destinations unknown.

No, given the current situation, it's easy to guess where these things are going. They'll either interfere in the outer battlefield, targeting the players fighting off the flesh-and-blood monsters, or they'll disrupt the inner battlefield, hindering the three girls fiercely battling the [Surgeon]. And the unknown forces that changed everything are not unknown either; it's clearly the [Hospital's] doing. Regardless of which side these strange creatures go to, they are likely to alter the situation, shifting what was once a stable victory in an unknown direction—a development that absolutely cannot be accepted.

"Those passengers have escaped! We need to find a way to notify the others!!!"

Masaaki Ishido, who was the first to discover this terrible situation, shouted and clenched his fist, then slammed it hard into the carriage.

Boom boom boom!

The explosive sound of the train crashing through the ruins and the dull rumble of Ishido Masaaki striking the carriages overlapped at that moment, making them indistinguishable.

Will this approach be effective?

Ishido Masaaki concentrated and threw several punches, finally hearing a faint sound.

With a forced turn of his head, Masaaki Ishido saw the slightly dented exterior of the carriage. It seemed that compared to the seemingly indestructible engine, there was still hope of successfully breaking through the carriage.

"My attacks are having an effect. I'll help everyone once I figure out how to get inside the carriage!"

Feeling somewhat surprised, Masaaki Ishido continued to strike the dented part of the carriage exterior with force as he spoke.

Whoosh—boom—

But at this moment, accompanied by a strong gust of wind, the strange train accelerated once again, crashing through several buildings and even starting to rush underground. After crashing underground, it crashed back to the surface, eventually arriving at an area that was somewhat unfamiliar to the players.

Where did it run off to?

In the chaos, the players couldn't see their surroundings clearly, but they could hear what sounded like another car not far away.

Bang!

The next second, with a loud bang, a dilapidated-looking bus crashed into the monster train from the side, hitting the third carriage of this thing. It was then almost overturned on the spot by the faster and more powerful monster train, and crashed directly into another building not far away.

Was that a bus just now?

Still unable to escape, Masaaki Ishido blinked, somewhat puzzled by what had suddenly appeared just moments before.

It wasn't just the players who were puzzled; even the strange train suddenly slowed down. It seemed that colliding with an unexpected vehicle had also caused the train to become confused, as if it didn't know what to do next.

Thus, the police officer, who had been pinned to the front of the car and unable to move, finally found an opportunity to make his move.

boom!boom!

The first bullet hit the front of the vehicle and embedded itself deeply.

The second bullet flew into the driver's compartment and struck the distorted figure.

Two suppression rounds, two different targets. Both the train and the "Writer" were slowed down the moment they were hit by this special automatic attack. The "Writer," who was already in a state of forced release after being suppressed, was almost completely suppressed by this bullet, and even his breath could not be felt.

The power of the strange creature is being weakened.

Without needing to think further, the players present could quickly sense this.

However, they were unable to escape.

Even though the monster's power had been restricted, the strange sticky force should have disappeared along with it. However, all the players present could still feel the force controlling them and remained firmly attached to the car, unable to escape.