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

He wiped the blood from his nose, dragged his broken left leg, took a deep breath, and got up from the ground. Then he saw a group of tourists chatting and laughing happily in the distance, walking straight towards him.

I finally had time to visit the Red Nut Grotto today!

However, it seems we don't have a tour guide. It would be great if we could have one.

"Isn't that it over there? Hello, handsome young man, can you be our tour guide?"

One by one, pale-faced tourists smiled and surrounded Gao Hai, a chilling aura enveloping him. Undoubtedly, he was facing an extremely dangerous situation that he had to avoid, but with a broken leg and multiple ribs, and his chest heaving with blood and qi, Gao Hai clearly lacked the ability to do so.

Is it going to reopen again?

We've already come this far.

[Rescue operation begins!]

The rescue team members descended from the sky, grabbed Gao Hai's shoulder, and then leaped up, pulling Gao Hai upwards.

Wearing a rescue suit, Kaguya pulled hard on the safety rope and managed to pull Gao Hai and the rescue team up.

"You really know how to show off."

As she spoke, Kaguya walked up to the badly injured Takami, took off her badge, and stuck it onto Takami's clothes. The rescue team uniform then quickly appeared, and Takami's injuries began to heal at an extremely fast pace.

"Miss Shinomiya, what are you doing here?"

Takami was somewhat surprised to see Kaguya, and then noticed that Kaguya's clothes were also torn in several places, suggesting that her journey here was probably not smooth, and that she only had no wounds because she was wearing a badge.

"I just guessed what might happen. This place is completely different from when the Shirakawa Apartments collapsed. There are just too many strange things here, and the surrounding situation is constantly changing. It's unrealistic to expect to reach any area safely. You'll need help."

Kaguya Shinomiya's face was expressionless, but there seemed to be a subtle glint in her eyes.

"My athletic ability is better than both Maki-san and Fujiwara-san."

She spoke earnestly to Gao Hai.

"My reflexes and athletic abilities were already far superior to those of ordinary people, and after receiving the blessing of the Twilight level, they have reached the limits of human potential."

"Neither Maki nor Fujiwara can keep up with you at a time like this, but I can. So they continue to observe and follow Fuln's situation, while I come to find you."

"In short, I'm the only one who can help you right now, so if we work together, we should be able to get to where you're going much faster."

Kaguya carefully listed her reasons, her dark red eyes fixed on Takahashi, awaiting his answer.

"That's great! Let's go, partner. We can't afford to waste any time now."

Without even a second's hesitation, Gao Hai got up from the ground, patted Kaguya on the shoulder, and then quickly ran forward.

"it is good!"

Kaguya followed closely behind Takahashi, the two of them, one tall and one short, running forward together, leaping and landing on another rocky platform. Then, Takahashi swung his blood-red scissors and severed the head of a fat tourist who was lunging at him from the front.

Kaguya followed closely behind, wielding a scalpel and making a horizontal cut, cleaving a tourist coming towards her and a security guard rushing towards Takami in half at the waist, immediately stopping these two bizarre actions.

The next moment, the two continued running forward.

Kaguya jumped up first, grabbed a safety rope swaying in mid-air, swung it forward with force, and then swung towards Takami.

Swollen figures emerged above and below the safety rope, groaning incoherently as they crawled toward Kaguya. Takahashi jumped up and grabbed the rope, using its momentum to leap again and land easily on another rocky platform. The swollen figures, unable to keep up with Takahashi and Kaguya's speed, plummeted off the rope and into the endless dark void.

It's already right ahead.

Gao Hai raised his head and looked at the office, which was now about 30 meters away and separated by a dozen or so staggered platforms.

Chapter 76: The So-Called Obsession and the Dying Enemy

"These platforms seem to be gradually approaching each other, showing a tendency to regroup."

Shijo Maki looked around at the floating rock fragments and keenly noticed that many fragments were gradually moving closer to each other, seemingly about to reunite.

With Andres missing, the Red Nut Gray Hole instance is essentially half destroyed. However, Hidal's obsession has not yet found peace, which prevents the instance from being completely destroyed. Everything will reassemble and restore its original complete structure, but what specific changes will occur in this process is difficult to predict.

We cannot wait for this place to re-coalesce; we must resolve the issue of Furn before that happens.

Not far away, Hedar, the monstrous creature clad in a blood-red dress and radiating resentment, had ceased its attack and stood motionless, stunned. Meanwhile, the now completely transformed Fornen, though reduced to a mangled mess, was still writhing with difficulty, attempting to complete its experiment.

The inherently mechanical nature of the supernatural is on full display at this moment. They only act according to fixed behavioral patterns and never consider the actual situation. To be honest, Maki is really curious about these strange tales, these obsessions, these supernatural phenomena. What exactly are they? Why do they possess such bizarre and terrifying power? Why are they so rigid and inflexible, completely restricted by rules, as if they have been deliberately shaped into this form?

Even if there are abnormal individuals among them, such as Xu Sheng and Li Youcai and Xu Jiazhen from Baichuan Apartment, and Foeneng from Red Nut Gray Hole, these obsessions, although retaining a certain degree of humanity, still cannot defy their own rules and will be completely restricted by the rules.

But who actually wrote this rule?

Why are these things restricted by various rules, just like games with various weaknesses and conditions for defeating them?

Moreover, putting everything else aside, the Red Nut Gray Hole, a long instance spanning decades, and the Black Blood Bullet connected to this instance, have proven that many years ago, the existence of strange tales could actually be recognized, understood, and studied by everyone in the world.

But Maki was completely unaware of this, as were all the other players. Everyone only knew that the first game had occurred approximately two years prior. The players who survived from that period are known as the original players, those who experienced over 20 games and stood at the pinnacle of player experience. Among the various pieces of information passed down from them, there was absolutely no mention of whether any ghost stories existed in the past, and no posts discussing these matters have ever been found on the forums.

When did this obscuring perception, this thing that separates ordinary people from players, begin to exist? Where did it come from? Who is behind this phenomenon? And what role does this so-called "sacrifice game" play between players, between humans and ghost stories?

Furthermore, even setting aside these distant issues, the Red Nut Gray Hole has always been a beginner's dungeon. The Research Base area had never appeared before this game, so theoretically, this area should have been dormant and sealed away. So, where did the American players get their [Black Blood Bullets]? In the pre-fixed period, only tourists could normally enter and exit the Red Nut Gray Hole, so there shouldn't have been any way to obtain the raw materials for [Black Blood Bullets], right?

Perhaps... those black blood stones in the prison area were once taken out of this instance, and they can continue to exist outside the instance, just like objects of obsession?

Princess Zhenfei suddenly thought of a reasonable explanation.

Indeed, just as obsessive objects can continue to exist outside of their original instance, the raw material for the [Black Blood Bullet]—the black bloodstone transformed from living people—possesses inherently bizarre properties. While the research institute was still functioning normally, it's likely that black bloodstone was already being taken away for research, production, and maintenance elsewhere. Since this substance can be mass-produced using human lives as raw materials, those black bloodstones obtained in the real world could probably be used in the same way, even if the user has forgotten about the Red Nut Gray Hole.

If that's the case... then what if, after the Sea King breaks through this instance and the entire instance is destroyed, all the Black Blood Stones of the American players become ineffective? If the source of the [Black Blood Bullet] is the Red Nut Gray Hole, then wouldn't those who destroyed this instance become the enemies of all the American players?!

This possibility startled Zhenfei.

However, there's no going back now. From the moment we entered this instance, Haijun was bound to destroy it to clear the level due to the restrictions of that strange watch. All I could do was assist him and face the potential troubles together.

No matter what difficulties they might encounter next, Maki has no intention of leaving Takahashi. Instead, she will stand firmly by his side and do everything in her power to help him.

The turmoil in the girl's heart subsided quickly at that moment.

She continued to hide behind the rock with Chika, observing Folneng, who was still struggling to carry out his research work among the building debris not far away, and Hedar, who seemed to have crashed because he couldn't kill Folneng for a long time.

The situation here seems relatively stable; there shouldn't be any major problems.

"Those who seek to usurp the throne will ultimately suffer the consequences and find no peace."

At this moment, Fujiwara Chika spoke softly, muttering to herself.

"Hey, what are you saying?"

Princess Zhenfei turned her head; she hadn't clearly heard what the pink-haired girl beside her was saying.

"I'm talking about Foln, a person who thought he could escape all punishment and become a god of the new world, but in the end, he could only fall to this state, becoming an obsessive person who is forever awake and wanders in the instance without peace. For this person, there should be no more painful punishment than this, right?"

Chika's words carried a hint of emotion.

When Gao Hai arrived at the second floor of the research area and gained access to Xie Geira's office, Fujiwara Chika casually searched for some materials. She found another notebook of Austin's that Folnen had collected years ago, as well as some records left by Folnen himself. It seemed that these things he thought he had hidden well had actually already been discovered by Xie Geira, who probably just hadn't taken them seriously and left them untouched in the office.

Because she had only read them recently, Chika could still recall the records she had seen word for word.

Austin's Notes 2

I found many animal bones in the cracks of the "gentle slope" area. It seems that the Qichazhala tribe used this place as a sacrificial site. They believed it was the mouth of the gods, and food thrown in here would be eaten by the gods, after which they would receive blessings.

[Furthermore, according to the records left by these indigenous people, it seems that approaching this crack outside of sacrificial periods was dangerous? And would one be punished by the gods? I don't understand; who would be foolish enough to fall into such an easily visible crack?]

Austin's Notes 3

Okay, I take back what I said earlier. Damn it, I was just a little careless and ended up falling into that hole.

[Being stuck in there was really unpleasant. My back and knees were all scraped raw, and I even injured my hands trying to climb out. Luckily, it's quite narrow down there, so I only got stuck a little bit before it was over. Getting out shouldn't be too difficult, provided you've received professional training and are a qualified caving expert.]

If this place is to be developed into a tourist attraction, it would be best to fence it off. I highly doubt that tourists might accidentally fall in, and rescuing someone from such a narrow crevice is no easy task.

[But honestly, I'm quite curious. If these Native American gods really existed, and were as powerful as they claimed, why didn't they survive?]

[Haha, perhaps the false gods were scared away by the Lord's glory.]

[Folneng's Record]

[God does indeed exist. The detection of the "Great Rift" confirmed an energy reaction similar to that in "blood vessels." There is no mistake, the "Great Rift" once contained an extremely high-intensity energy reaction, the energy level of which was... more than 50 times that of the "blood vessel" where Andres was located.]

But that entity is no longer there.

The tests show that the being mentioned in the record left at least seven thousand years ago. Since that day, all that remains in the "Great Rift" are traces of that god. And even these traces are enough to make ignorant fools worship him.

Those marks have almost lost their power now; they only lure people into falling into the cracks, but given the size and width of those cracks, a person falling in is perfectly fine. At most, they might get a few scrapes and feel uncomfortable for about a week, but that will be over soon.

What is this? Is my research really over?

After all that effort, all we found was a footprint from thousands of years ago? No, no, no, I refuse to accept that. This is not the ending I want.

Let me think… sacrifice? Ah, yes, sacrifice. Those idiotic natives throw meat and grain into the cracks and then pray. They believe the gods will receive their offerings and bless their tribe to thrive. Although they're just a bunch of stupid creatures destined to be eliminated, perhaps their thinking is worth learning from.

Austin was a fool, and his successor, Pete, was an even bigger fool. They couldn't discover or utilize the legacy of such a great being within the cave, which is why they ultimately failed. I, on the other hand, should have been the one to win in the end.

"Let's begin then. Hmm, if we're going to perform a sacrifice, sacrificing animals doesn't seem very meaningful. Let's try sacrificing living people. Coincidentally, according to the ancient texts I've translated, using captives from other tribes as sacrifices seems to be the highest level of ritual; the effect should be quite good."

[For the next expedition, let's make sure the explorers stuck in the crevice don't have to come back. Hmm, it would be best to tamper with their equipment a bit, so they don't have to struggle to climb out; that would ruin the fun.]

[Great! There's always a way out. I can always find a solution. I will keep going, and I will succeed!]

God, the true God.

I will reach that point sooner or later.

I've already invested so much time and effort; I must succeed, I absolutely must succeed, and I cannot allow any possibility of failure!

The notebook, suspected to be Fornen's diary, became increasingly filled with hypnotic words as it went on. Fornen desperately praised and encouraged himself in the notebook, repeatedly writing to himself, "I will succeed, I will become a god." Perhaps due to the considerable pressure she had faced during her research, Chika had to admit that seeing those seemingly insane words made her somewhat afraid of Fornen.

However, these things are not worth sharing with Princess Zhenfei right now, as there are more important things to do.

Once they quieted down, Chika and Maki continued to monitor Fuln's situation.

They had prepared several different action plans to ensure that after Gao Hai arrived at the office and issued the order, he could subdue Folneng immediately and have him killed by Hedar, thus putting an end to the last obsession in the Red Nut Gray Hole.

After a long wait, Princess Zhenfei was somewhat anxious.

I wonder where Haijun is now.

She couldn't help but turn her head to glance in the direction Kaguya had left.

With Aunt Kaguya by his side to help, those two should be able to get to the office smoothly.

After all, although Aunt Kaguya is somewhat annoying, she is very capable. If she were to assist and help, Kaijun would definitely have an easier time.

Thinking about it this way, I should be able to get through the last part of this mission smoothly and safely. It's just a pity that if I were stronger, then I wouldn't need Aunt Kaguya's help; I could help instead.

"..."