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

As the flame flickered, the extinguished candle was relit.

Gao Hai frowned, carefully observing the dark red candle. Just as he was about to try blowing it out to see the effect, he noticed that the headless girl lying on the ground next to him twitched, then suddenly got up and stood up.

Chapter Three: The Candles of the Living and the Dead, and the Approaching Bloodshed

bang——

The moment the corpse bounced up, its footsteps landed with a dull thud.

The girls who were just yelling and cursing immediately shut up, and several timid girls screamed on the spot.

Jianzi, who was standing behind Gao Hai and wanted to check the situation, was so frightened that she froze completely, and even her breathing stopped for a moment.

As for Takami himself, who was closest to the body...

I rub!

It actually came to life?!

Gao Hai, with a blank expression, silently complained in his heart.

It must be said that Gao Hai was startled when he saw the corpse with its head exploded suddenly spring up.

Of course, he wasn't scared by the thing itself; Gao Hai wouldn't be so frightened by a scene like that. It's just that the thing went from being motionless to being launched into the air in an instant. Even though Gao Hai's physical abilities and reflexes were far superior to those of an ordinary person, he was completely caught off guard and unable to react effectively when the thing suddenly sprang up. As a result, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

However, Gao Hai immediately realized that the thing had merely stood up; it was still a corpse and hadn't revived into a human, nor had it transformed into a monster. It seemed that after the candle was relit, the thing had been transformed into a "living" state by the power of the strange rules, and its body had been forced to move on its own.

That's quite an interesting mechanism, but it still needs further testing.

Gao Hai stood up, took a step back while holding the candle.

tread--

The headless corpse then took steps, swaying as it followed Gao Hai, or rather, following behind the candle.

Gao Hai suddenly accelerated, retreating several steps to keep the candlelight away from the corpse. The corpse then accelerated as well, tumbling and crawling towards Gao Hai, even tripping and falling, before springing back to its feet.

This scene was quite comical.

If the performer weren't a corpse with its head bitten off, Miko thought she might still be able to laugh.

But she soon noticed that Gao Hai's expression had become serious.

Place the candle on the empty table next to it.

Gao Hai watched as the corpse staggered to the candle and stood still. He walked around it, tossed a lighter to Jianzi, took out a second one, and quickly went to the other corpses on the ground.

“The dead will become strange and move quickly after the candles are extinguished, so we can’t keep the candles on these dead people extinguished.”

Upon hearing Gao Hai's warning, Jian Zi felt a chill run down her spine and quickly rushed towards the fallen corpse to relight the extinguished candles.

Most of the girls around were still watching from a distance. After being intimidated by Gao Hai earlier, and then subjected to the girls' accusations and insults against him, most of them didn't dare to approach Gao Hai and Jianzi now. As for the girls who were just cursing, they all shut up when they saw the corpse on the ground stand up again and Gao Hai and Jianzi run to relight the candles. It's unclear what they were thinking now.

So, surrounded by the remaining 19 girls, Gao Hai and Jian Zi each found a candle, lit it, and led the two headless corpses to the side of the classroom. The three headless girls, covered in blood, stood together, facing the three candles on the table, remaining motionless.

It seemed harmless, but when Gao Hai moved away from the headless corpse with the candle, he clearly sensed a malice growing and spreading within its body. This was enough for him to confirm that these dead students, like the people who were mysteriously killed by knocking on the door in Shirakawa Apartment, would gradually transform into bizarre companions, and that this candle, which seemed to represent the living in some sense, could suppress this transformation as long as it continued to burn.

Upon observing the other three corpses, Gao Hai also noticed the spreading malice. This malice was undoubtedly something only a strange creature could possess, but it was extremely subtle, so subtle that his blessing didn't react at all unless Gao Hai actively observed or looked closely.

Perhaps the same thing happened with the ghostly hand before. The eeriness of the Crimson Moon level had already shielded his blessing to some extent, so when his eyes were closed, he hadn't been able to detect the ghostly hand's existence at all. He had to open his eyes and focus his gaze on the hand holding his for the blessing to work its magic even when suppressed, making him realize that he was holding the wrong hand.

However, this kind of hindsight is not very meaningful, although it's not too late to understand this now.

As Gao Hai pondered this, his gaze fell upon the candles surrounding the corpses.

It was obvious that these candles burned much faster than candles held by a living person. He roughly estimated that they would only last for about ten minutes before going out completely.

He honestly didn't want to know what would happen to these dead students.

Meanwhile, Miko walked up to the last corpse but couldn't find the candle beside it. After Gao Hai's reminder, she noticed that although the corpse looked normal, it gave her a vaguely uncomfortable feeling, so she quickly helped Gao Hai look for the candle, but she couldn't find it here.

Are you looking for this?

At that moment, a hand reached out from the side and handed a extinguished red candle to Miko.

"Huh? That's right, it's this one. Ah, Ichino-kun?"

She subconsciously reached out and took the candle. She paused slightly, then looked up and saw that it was the vice class monitor, Ichino Rihanna, who had stood by her side and spoken up for her earlier.

Before meeting this bespectacled girl with braided hair, Jianzi didn't know much about her, and their relationship was rather ordinary as they didn't talk much.

However, now, Itono Rika glanced at Takami not far away from time to time, took a deep breath, and mustered up the courage to ignore the corpse on the ground and approach Miko.

"Yoshitani-kun, um... you and that Mr. Taka know what's going on right now, right?"

As they spoke, Keino carefully protected the candle in her hand, as did the other girls behind her. This small group had all taken their candles and the rule sheet on the table. When those girls were criticizing and insulting them, they either remained silent or spoke up for Miko, without taking sides with those who were hostile to Takami and Miko.

"Only Mr. Gao knows the specifics. He... was implicated here because of me. He wouldn't have been involved in this matter originally..."

Seeing that she lowered her head slightly, lit the candle, and answered Ichino Rihana in a low voice.

The girl's feelings were conflicted.

She knew that only Gao Hai had the means, the experience, and the ability to deal with this eerie and terrifying place, and the only one who could possibly protect her and help her escape alive. Furthermore, given her special "vision," Gao Hai would certainly not treat her the same as the other students, and would dedicate more effort to protecting and guiding her.

However, even Gao Hai was not entirely confident about the current dangerous situation. Being trapped in this deadly place was an unexpected disaster for Gao Hai, and he himself was the culprit who caused his predicament.

It's hard for Yotsuya Miko to describe this feeling.

Feelings of guilt and self-blame, along with a secret sense of smug satisfaction at having a greater chance of survival than others, entangled the girl in conflicting emotions, making it difficult for her to calm down.

Even so, she did not slow down and quickly used the candle to guide the last headless corpse to the side of the classroom, where it stood with the other three corpses.

Incidentally, even now, some students still haven't taken their candles away, leaving them on the table and completely ignoring them.

Although Rihanna and her small group were terrified of the row of headless corpses, they still approached Miko and Takami's group under the leadership of the vice squad leader, seemingly intending to seek refuge there.

Gao Hai didn't react to this. He simply held the candle, looked up, and gazed at the overhead lights in the classroom that were kept off.

The lights are off, which means this instance is currently in the "night" phase, right?

I didn't see anything like "Elephant Teacher" or "Giraffe Inspector," and judging from the half-open curtains, the corridor was completely dark with no light. So it's very likely that it's "night." In that case, the main people I need to keep an eye on are "Flashlight Sister" and "Statue Uncle," and wait, I also need to be careful of "Duck Teacher."

Thinking about this, Gao Hai suddenly realized something, and the expression on his face changed slightly.

He turned his head and looked towards the direction of the classroom's main entrance.

A girl was trying to open the door and go out, but she couldn't open it after trying for a long time. She was standing by the door, leaning against the wall, catching her breath and resting.

She didn't bring a candle, which suggests she's not one of those who believe in superstitions, but that's not why Gao Hai paid attention to her.

The power of blessings has been mobilized.

It was Hedar's blessing, the blessing that judged someone as "abnormal."

The effect didn't target the girl who tried to open the door, but rather the closed door itself. Behind that door, something approached and stuck to it, and was thus sensed by Gao Hai's blessing power.

Click——

The sound of a key being inserted into the lock and turned could be heard.

The next moment, the door that had been impossible to open before was slowly pushed open.

With the help of the candlelight, Gao Hai could see a pair of eyes peering out from the darkness behind the door in the dim light.

"time to go……"

Turning his head, Gao Hai spoke expressionlessly to Jianzi, who had walked up to him.

"Hey, the door's open, you can go out now!"

A girl near the door shouted excitedly. She was so nervous that she ran forward without thinking, trying to rush out of the classroom.

From the darkness, a pitch-black arm reached out and grabbed the girl who hadn't had time to stop, then violently pulled her out the door.

click-

The crisp sound of bones breaking rang out, accompanied by the girl's pitiful screams as she lay dying.

At that moment, the back door of the classroom opened gently.

Behind the half-closed window, a small hand reached out and gently lifted the curtain.

Behind the window, which was completely covered by curtains, sounds began to come from.

The screams rang out again.

The stench of blood permeated the air. A candle rolled to the ground, its flame flickering slightly before going out.

Before the light disappeared, from the edge of the firelight, one could see the densely packed things that filled the corridor, and their open eyes, staring into the classroom.

The piercing cries had not yet stopped.

The girl, who had fallen to the ground, struggled as she was dragged into the darkness, and then fell silent.

Gao Hai saw a tall man, at least two meters tall, with a duck doll on his head, standing silently in the corridor.

He reached out and grabbed Miko's shoulder, pulling her directly into his arms.

Without checking on the students' condition, Gao Hai turned around, rushed to the back wall of the classroom, turned his back, and with a flash of blood-red light in his pupils, smashed through the wall with a loud bang, landing in another classroom next to this one.

The power of blessing was activated and then quickly deactivated.

As the dust settled, Gao Hai could already see what the classroom looked like.

I saw the burning candles, the neatly arranged irises and white chrysanthemums on the table, and the students in school uniforms, who were sitting in all the seats, covering their faces with their hands.

The moment Gao Hai rushed into the classroom with Jianzi, the moment he saw these things clearly, all the students slowly lowered their hands, revealing the gouged-out eye sockets, the gouged-out nose sockets, and the blood-soaked holes where their lips, teeth, and tongues had been gouged out.

“Oh my god…”

One of the girls who ran in with Gao Hai screamed in fright when she saw this scene, and her legs went weak and she sat down on the ground.

Gao Hai clearly saw that the candles on the students' desks burned out rapidly after he entered. In the blink of an eye, they had burned more than halfway and were about to go out.

Jingle Bell--

A crisp bell rang out the next moment.

Suddenly, white lights appeared, illuminating the entire classroom in a snowy white light, as white as the color of a wreath.

All the students lowered their heads, picked up the books on the table, opened them, and sat motionless in their seats.

Gao Hai could hear cries and screams coming from the classroom he had escaped from.

At the same time, he could also clearly see a woman wearing a sheep's head hood passing by outside the classroom window and down the corridor.