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

Fujiwara Chika instinctively raised her hand to try to block the falling mud and water, while Takahashi was distracted by the sudden situation. Then, Kawano suddenly raised his pistol and pointed it at Takahashi.

boom!

The next moment, a sharp gunshot rang out, and a spray of blood flew from Kawano's chest. He staggered a step and looked at Gao Hai in disbelief.

With his S-rank physical attributes, Gao Hai was able to draw and fire his gun even faster despite being distracted. Although Kawano had cleared the Twilight-level dungeon more than once, unfortunately, he had only ever achieved a B-rank rating. Despite his high level of physical enhancement, he was still no match for Gao Hai, who had already exceeded human limits.

Boom——

The next moment, a torrent of muddy water poured down, instantly knocking the three of them to the ground.

The impact of a mud waterfall cascading down from a height of tens or even hundreds of meters is far more severe than rain hitting a person. Caught off guard, Gao Hai was slammed to the ground by the force of the water, his head hitting the rocks hard. The intense pain and dizziness almost made him lose consciousness on the spot.

Kawano's situation was even worse. He was almost swept up by the water and slammed to the ground, then lifted up and smashed against the wall. Blood spurted out immediately, as if a sharp stone had been stuck in his body.

Only Fujiwara Chika noticed the cascading torrent first. Unable to warn Takami in time, she lay flat on the ground to protect her head. Because she hadn't removed her helmet, she escaped unharmed. Even so, the girl struggled to maintain her balance in the fiercely churning current. After several struggles, she swam to Takami's side, dove beneath him, and pushed him to the surface by pressing against his chest. Takami, whose nostrils were now above water, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and struggled to stay conscious, finally managing to swim in the turbulent current.

Rumbling--

An even larger torrent is still falling.

The lower part of the cliff was completely submerged in just a few seconds, and the water was still rising.

Furthermore, due to the low-lying terrain at the entrance of the [Blood Vein], a vortex formed, and Gao Hai's backpack was swept up by this vortex and pulled into the [Blood Vein]. If a person were caught in this vortex and forced into the narrow space of the [Blood Vein] under such circumstances, the consequences would be unimaginable. Even if they weren't forced into the [Blood Vein], but merely bumped into some rock along the way, it would still be something that players of flesh and blood could not withstand.

"Hold on tight."

Gao Hai grabbed Chika, yelled at her, and then suddenly exerted force, throwing Fujiwara Chika out of the water and onto a protruding area on the rocky cliff. The clumsy girl lost her balance and crashed hard onto the rocks, but she gritted her teeth and managed to climb up, using both hands and feet to grab onto the protruding rock.

Following this, Gao Hai grabbed a few protruding rocks and with a sudden burst of strength, climbed out of the muddy water. The presence of the [Veins] slowed the rising water speed to some extent, giving him a moment to catch his breath. Thinking this, Gao Hai had only climbed a little further when Kawano suddenly emerged from the water, grabbed Gao Hai's back, and pulled him completely into the water.

Holy crap, this guy—

The muddy water instantly obscured their view.

The intense water flow kept washing over his body, making it difficult for Gao Hai to even keep his balance.

[Go to hell...]

Amid the chaos, Gao Hai could hear Kawano's voice, which remained incredibly clear and eerie even amidst the torrent.

He was controlled by an out-of-control obsession.

Gao Hai was able to realize this from the change in Kawano's aura.

At this point, Kawano is somewhat similar to Takami, who wore the rescue team badge for too long during the second loop of the Shirakawa Apartment arcade, and is gradually transforming from human to the supernatural. However, Takami was able to maintain his own willpower back then, while Kawano, who clearly lacks this ability, has been completely controlled by the power of his obsession.

No wonder those few blows didn't kill him. This is troublesome, especially since we encountered the enemy under these circumstances.

Close your eyes and hold your breath.

Unable to see the other person clearly in the muddy torrent, Gao Hai simply stopped looking at him and instead used the blessing that distinguishes between good and evil, which is not human, as a locator. He clenched his fist, turned around suddenly, and delivered a powerful punch to Kawano's face, completely deforming his face. Kawano loosened his grip on Gao Hai and then kicked him away.

Next, Gao Hai quickly selected an object of obsession from his watch: the Blood Puppet... this thing could immediately control Kawano, but it would be too difficult to hit him in this environment; the Faceless Head... no, he's not completely human now, so this thing might not work; the Blood Scissors... it has the same problem as the Blood Puppet, this kind of weapon that requires manipulation is quite troublesome in this situation, so if that's the case, then he'll use the simplest one!

[Go to hell...]

Kawano has once again rushed forward amidst the rising water.

Then Gao Hai swung his scalpel and cleaved his right hand in two, severing it from his upper arm.

The rising water had already submerged the area where Fujiwara Chika was standing, forcing the girl to struggle upwards. Fortunately, as a well-known adventure area, the cliff had many spikes and climbing frames left by explorers, allowing the girl to continue her ascent.

On the other side, Gao Hai was tackled by Kawano, who only had one hand. The two fell into the muddy torrent again and were swept by the water and slammed against the rock wall on one side. Then, Gao Hai kicked Kawano away and was about to retaliate when he was hit by a rock falling from above and was instantly thrown into the deep water.

"Gao Jun!"

Unexpectedly, Gao Hai, who had the upper hand in the fight, was hit by a rock. Qian Hua, who was shocked, had just shouted out when she was covered in falling pebbles and mud.

More and more large and small rocks followed, falling down from the top of the cliff and knocking Kawano, who was struggling to do something, down as well.

Amidst the roaring sound, the torrent was becoming even more violent, and gradually, Chika was somewhat horrified to discover that corpses... no, clothes, were floating on the water—pieces of tourists' clothes.

Gao Hai did not float to the surface.

Fujiwara Chika took a deep breath, looked at the murky muddy water, let go of her hands, and jumped down from the climbing frame, plunging directly into it.

Rumble--Rumble--

The dull sound of the flowing water was like thunder, its echoes reverberating through the murky water.

The light from her headlamp couldn't penetrate the muddy water, so Fujiwara Chika could only dive as deep as possible, swimming towards the direction where Takami had fallen, based on her memory.

Rumbling--

More and more pebbles fell into the water.

The crimson color gradually began to replace the dark yellow of the muddy water.

Fujiwara Chika saw Takami, whose body and arms were pinned down by several pieces of rubble, while Kawano was also pinning him down and choking him.

At this moment, Kawano had become as terrifying as a ghost. Half of his face was covered in blood, grinning maliciously, while the other half of his face had transformed into that of a young man with a pale, expressionless face, foaming at the mouth, and wide-eyed eyes.

At this very moment, as Chika swam towards the high seas, that half-blue face was still able to turn and look at her.

Kawano's face was torn open, and a large amount of blood gushed out, revealing the horrific sight of his flesh and nerves being ripped apart alive.

But then, because the strange possession of Kawano was diverted, Gao Hai broke free from Kawano's hand and then slashed the scalpel straight down on his head, from his forehead to his nasal cavity to his chin, almost completely splitting his head in two.

The reason it's "almost" is because Kawano's hand has grabbed him again, or rather, the out-of-control obsession that possessed Kawano has grabbed him, and the hand that was originally cut off has gradually grown back. Gao Hai can even see the medicine bottle being held in the hand that has grown out of thin air.

It looks like a bottle of sleeping pills.

Is this the object that Kawano used to pass through the "blood vessels," which caused him to lose control and become possessed by a strange entity?

Rumbling--

A piece of gravel the size of a washbasin fell from above and hit Kawano.

He staggered slightly, and Gao Hai had already taken out the blood puppet with his left hand and slapped it directly at the other person.

Because of the fierce fighting in the rushing water, Gao Hai wasn't confident he could use the blood puppets to restrain his opponent, but now he had no such worries. As a result, the blood puppets struck, and one after another, eerie, bloody puppets made from living people appeared out of thin air, grabbed Kawano, and dragged him toward Gao Hai's side.

The strange entity controlling Kawano's body was not immune to the power of the blood puppet, and thus began to be dragged away little by little. Even so, the hand holding the medicine bottle still reached in front of Takami, and then a third hand tore a hole in Kawano's chest and crawled out, grabbing Takami's mouth and trying to pry it open to force the pills into Takami's mouth.

We need to find another object of obsession to restrain this thing's actions.

Thinking this, Takahashi tried to take out the object of his obsession from his left hand again, but then Kawano's leg suddenly stretched up and used his knee to block Takahashi's left wrist.

This dog...

Gao Hai saw the crazed expression on Kawano's remaining half of his face and realized that the guy's remaining consciousness already knew that he couldn't survive, so at the last moment he planned to take Gao Hai down with him.

Unfortunately, my leg is pinned down by a rock, but I should be able to break free if I force it. In that case...

Long pink hair approached, accompanied by the flickering light.

Takahashi turned his head and saw Fujiwara Chika struggling to swim towards him.

The girl held a gun in her hand, the one that Gao Hai and Kawano had used during their initial gunfight, but which had been swept away by the flood and its whereabouts were unknown. At this moment, she swam from behind to Kawano, grabbed the remaining half of his head, and pressed the muzzle of the gun directly against the top of his head.

Beep—beep—beep beep beep—

The muffled gunshots coming from underwater sounded eerie, and even kind of cute.

It was clear that the girl, who was using a handgun for the first time, pulled the trigger repeatedly with all her might. After five shots, she actually broke the trigger, and she didn't even realize it. She pulled the trigger a dozen more times before stopping.

After five bullets were fired into Kawano's brain, even though he was now possessed by a strange power, the pain was still unbearable for him, and the knee pressing down on Gao Hai's left hand immediately loosened.

Immediately afterwards, Gao Hai forcefully pulled his legs out of the stone that was pressing down on him. Even though the flesh of one ankle was completely torn apart, exposing the white bone, Gao Hai still disregarded everything and kicked Kawano's body with both legs, sending him flying. Kawano was now surrounded by countless blood puppets and unable to move.

Grabbing Qianhua's hand, Gao Hai surfaced in the next moment and quickly swam to the surface.

By this time, the blood had submerged most of the ever-rising pool, and Gao Hai and Qian Hua, who floated out of it, were covered in mud and had wounds of all sizes all over their bodies, so dirty that they were almost unrecognizable.

Swimming to the edge of the cliff, grabbing various tools left behind by previous explorers, the two began to climb upwards with great effort.

The roaring sound of the flowing water grew louder and louder.

Gravel kept falling down and into the water below.

Fujiwara Chika looked back at the water below and discovered that there were bloated corpses floating in the water, each one raising its head and looking at her and Takami. She was so frightened that she quickly turned her head and continued to climb upwards desperately.

Rumbling--

A large amount of muddy water poured down, almost washing Qianhua away on the spot.

Gao Hai reached out and grabbed the girl, pulling her upwards to continue climbing.

Amidst the flying pebbles, the two were hit more than once, but Gao Hai had no good options in the current situation. He could only try his best to avoid the larger rocks that would likely cause them to fall if hit, and then grit his teeth and continue to climb higher with Qianhua.

Just how far is it...?

The girl's breathing became increasingly erratic, and she was beginning to have trouble holding on.

We can't stop...

She could hear the chilling cries and pleas for help coming from below.

If I stop... those things will grab me... but... I'm so tired... I need to hold on... just a little longer...

Struggling, they continued to climb upwards with all their might, step by step, climbing higher and higher, struggling to move forward on the rugged cliffs.

The dark red blood continued to rise.

The corpses in the water were still making even more mournful noises.

Weren't we exploring the caves? Why did we end up here?

[Mommy, I want to go home, I want to go home, waaaaah—]

How long have I been here? It's so dark... I'm so hungry... Someone please help me...

[Where did this water come from...? No, no, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!]

[Help! Someone please save us! Save us! Ahh ...

It seemed as if something was crawling out of the water, howling, trying to keep up with the two of them, trying to climb up the cliff together.

But their bodies cannot leave the water, and they cannot truly escape from here.

Countless corpses piled up in the water.

A foul stench spread.

They are expanding, they are rotting, they are dissolving.

They were left here, endlessly wandering in the darkness, silently dissolving in the water.