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

Having been completely turned into a toy doll and unable to move, Gao Hai could only silently count down, waiting for the one-minute countdown to end.

50 seconds... 45 seconds...

It felt like I had been placed on a shelf.

30 seconds... 25 seconds...

The woman continued humming a song, seemingly lingering inside the cabin.

10 seconds... 5 seconds...

It seemed as if they heard the other person talking to themselves.

[The swimming pool key is back! That's great! Alice can make more friends and play games with more people now!]

Alice wants friends~ She wants friends~ She wants good friends~

Time returns to zero.

Gao Hai did not change his demands.

The next moment, he felt a force flow through his entire body, rapidly destroying his incomplete flesh and blood, which had been forcibly kept alive by the strange force and could not die. In an instant, the white sheep doll burst open, scattering its contents all over the room.

Before losing consciousness, I seemed to hear the woman scream.

The eerie, terrifying sound, which was not something a human could make, made Gao Hai feel a sudden tremor in his heart, as if he were about to be grabbed by something.

Click!

But the next moment, he heard the crisp sound of the watch hands ticking.

The hands on the black watch have moved from position 1 to position 2.

And so everything vanished from Gao Hai's perception, along with that terrifying existence, disappearing without a trace, leaving only the feeling of sinking into the void.

Chapter Nineteen: The Black Watch's Predatory Power and New Desires

A city stained with blood.

As always, it was an empty city.

The pain and torment suffered in that dark room had completely vanished, as if it were a dream that had never existed.

However, this perspective applies to those unaware of those experiences. For Gao Hai, who personally witnessed the execution, he truly experienced the pain and knew that it was no dream. Because when he leaves this blood-red city and returns to the real world, he will once again traverse that terrifying hellish place, and will likely be sent back several times in different ways to die.

Come to think of it, how many times have I come to this city? I think it's been the fifth time?

Gao Hai reached out and touched his face, then his stomach and chest. After confirming that the cuts on his body were gone, he slowly let out a breath and then sat down on the ground with a thud.

"I never imagined that one day I would personally experience what it feels like to 'fail a dive'."

Recalling how his face was split in half and then torn apart like bread, with even a stringy texture in the process, Gao Hai felt extremely uncomfortable.

And this time, it's another situation where death is impossible. What the hell is wrong with that Alice? She can casually create a flesh and blood doll and trap a person's consciousness inside, making them immortal? Did she have this ability before she died, or did she gain it after becoming a monster? No, no, really, is this thing even a monster? She can talk to people, set traps and schemes, and use strange powers without restraint. All the restrictions that a monster should have seem to be non-existent on her. This thing is clearly different from a normal monster, isn't it?

Especially with that wicked and twisted personality, she actually feels more like a real person...

Thinking this, Gao Hai reached out and looked at his palm.

At this moment, his palms were naturally clean, with nothing on them.

But Gao Hai recalled that when he was bewitched by Alice's inhuman charm, he suddenly felt his palms become wet. At the time, he thought it was just sweaty hands, but now, thinking back, it was clear that Alice had shoved the blood-stained pen into his hand.

As for what happened afterward—Alice killing Ichino Rika and showing him the blood-stained pen—it was all an illusion. In reality, she had already killed the girl long ago, and she herself had already triggered the rules and was doomed at that moment.

So why wasn't I executed on the spot, but only after I discovered the blood-stained pen in my hand?

Is it because of Alice's own perverse sense of humor?

After all, Alice had triggered his blessing effect. After this thing possessed the child, Gao Hai had actually noticed something was wrong through Hedar's blessing. Therefore, he could be certain that Alice's personality was an absolutely antisocial and twisted personality, an extreme situation that a normal person would never reach.

However, it is also possible that there are still some rules operating within all these seemingly random events.

If that's the case... perhaps it's because I must **know the source of the item** and **realize that I already possess the game's completion item** before Alice can execute me, or is it that Alice needs to make her execution subject **know what happened** before she can carry out an execution? But if that's the case, what about Rika Iteno? She was killed directly, and her candle seemed to have been extinguished by Alice using some kind of power. Wait, could it be related to my identity? Rika Iteno is already a **bad student**, so killing her doesn't require following any rules; I can just do it directly. But my identity is that of a **teacher**, so I have to go through the process using the **Alice Game**?

Gao Hai considered several possibilities, but since the intelligence chain could not be established, he could only temporarily jot down these speculations and had no way of confirming which one was true.

In any case, I need to figure out what to do in the second playthrough.

Thinking this, Gao Hai turned his head and looked at the cracks in the ground behind him.

"There are more people now."

Many more figures have now appeared amidst the raging flames.

Li Youcai and Xu Jiazhen, these two old acquaintances, were still burning. Then there was Anthony Towan, the mayor, and many politicians and journalists from America, a total of 15 people, who were also burning together. There was also Fernand himself, researchers and soldiers from the research base, and some explorers inside, a total of more than 30 people.

Oh, and there's Pei Di too. This man is also in the fire. Although he was coerced in his experience, it doesn't change the fact that he's essentially a scoundrel who disregards human life and is obsessed with wealth. It's just that he's somewhat human in front of his friend Wilbo, but he turns into a beast when facing the tourists and employees.

56 people.

This is the amount of firewood burning in the blood-soaked city today.

Gao Hai estimated there should have been more, like General Xiegela, who could have been brought in. However, it seems only those who can still retain a certain degree of self-awareness and existence can be dragged into this fiery hell. The Red Nut Gray Hole has been running for many years, and some villains probably perished before Gao Hai could even conquer the instance.

The rollback time has now been shortened to 41 days. After 41 days, his watch will automatically replenish one slot. Since he has already spent more than a month outside the instance, plus the time spent inside, Gao Hai only needs to wait 2 days to replenish one rollback slot.

Two days? But in my first playthrough, I only survived for a little over an hour in the [Wisteria Middle School] instance before I was eliminated.

Gao Hai couldn't help but feel a headache coming on, but he wasn't really afraid. After all, although he hadn't found a way to pass the level, he had found many ways to survive. For example, by putting the candle into his watch at the beginning, he could ensure that the "Very Wicked Wolf" couldn't attack him from start to finish, which would directly solve a troublesome problem and free up one of his hands to do things more efficiently.

Also, yes, there really is.

Looking up, Gao Hai saw the objects gradually falling from the sky.

First, there were dozens of candles.

Gao Hai didn't put his blood on the candles, but perhaps because he had stored them in his watch's storage space, these things were still considered to be his possessions and ended up in front of him.

In other words, the students whose candles were stolen will now be activated at the start of the dungeon.

Next, there was a bloodstained sheep's head hood.

Yes, that's right. The hood that gave Gao Hai the identity of "teacher" was also pulled in by the watch. Gao Hai remembered that this thing would gradually merge with his flesh and blood. It was probably during this process that this thing came into contact with his blood and was thus judged to have become his property.

It's a pity there's no outstanding student badge; it seems that thing doesn't have much practical significance and is merely a prop used to change one's identity.

And then... um? A joint blood puppet?!

Gao Hai was stunned as he looked at the object of his obsession that he had lost and then found again.

In the Red Nut Gray Hole instance, this item was originally given to Kaguya Maki and the others by Takami. However, during an attack at the research base, in order to escape the strange pursuit, they threw it out and failed to retrieve it, resulting in the item being lost.

Now this thing is back.

I don't know where the power of the watch pulled me back.

"Any object that has been stained with my blood can be contained. This thing can even retrieve objects that have been contained and then discarded? Isn't that a bit too outrageous?"

Gao Hai, who really wanted to complain, then looked at his next obsession.

The next object of my obsession is an Aries doll.

Yes, that's right, it's the one Alice used to store Takahashi's brain and internal organs in the first playthrough.

"Is this thing actually an obsession object? And it just so happens to be the one that contained my corpse after I was killed. Does this mean I'm carrying my own ashes into a dungeon? Wait, I wasn't dead back then. This thing was just a costume at most. But if it's a costume, doesn't that mean I can debut as a VTuber? But isn't that a bit inappropriate for the next few years?"

After making a few casual remarks, Gao Hai picked up the Aries doll and quickly figured out how to use it.

The effect is simple: it's a substitution.

Because this rag doll absorbed Gao Hai's blood, it can be considered, to some extent, Gao Hai himself. When Gao Hai suffers a fatal attack, the doll can take his place. Moreover, this replacement is voluntary. In the case of when Gao Hai was turned into a living rag doll by Alice, if it happened again, as long as he remained conscious, he could replace the rag doll's flesh and blood with this toy, and then he would be fully resurrected.

Each doll can die once in place of another. After dying once, the doll will enter a state of out of control. As for the manifestation of this out-of-control state... it's hard to tell. It seems to send coordinates to [Alice]? After this thing is used, it seems to be able to track the player?

"In terms of effectiveness, it's impossible for any player not to be tempted, but once you use it, you'll be locked onto by Alice? It's quite a nasty obsession."

Gao Hai shook his head, then looked at the last two dolls and a machete.

Yes, that's right. The watch brought in three dolls, one of which contained his own flesh and blood, and the other two were brought in by the blood splattered on him when he exploded. The knife was the one Alice used to cut his flesh, and the watch brought them all in.

Besides "awesome," Gao Hai can't think of any other adjective to describe this black watch.

The machete was about half a meter long, the kind used for chopping wood, its blade stained with blood. After obtaining it, Gao Hai sensed that it not only possessed extreme sharpness but also seemed to have a special effect on the supernatural entities within [Fujika Middle School]. Any supernatural entity within the school, whether a student, teacher, or anything else, could be dismembered by this machete, and its regeneration speed would be significantly reduced after dismemberment. It was a special object of obsession specifically targeting [Fujika Middle School].

Perhaps it was this knife that carried out one massacre after another in this school?

As for the two dolls whose blood splattered on them after his self-destruction, that's...

I could feel the presence of living people.

On the two dolls, one rabbit doll was inscribed with "Yuanshan Ming" and the other brown bear doll with "Xiong Mi". You could feel the presence of a living person inside both dolls.

Furthermore, it's not an aura that ordinary people can possess; it's clearly the aura of a player, and one that is far stronger than the average player. It's an aura that can still be clearly sensed even after enduring prolonged torment.

Inside those two dolls are two players who can at least complete the Dark Night level dungeon, and maybe... they might even be Red Moon level players?!

If I can restore them to normal, turn them back from their puppet state to humans, and if these two players can retain their normal minds and cooperate well with others, then I will no longer be fighting alone, no longer facing the Red Moon-level dungeon alone with a fragile True Sight and a bunch of pure burdens.

Players who can be captured by Alice in a dungeon like [Wisteria Middle School] are unlikely to be low-level players who spend their days grinding in twilight-level dungeons.

So, if I could really free these two dolls...

when--

The first bell has rung.

Gao Hai put down the doll in his hand and looked up at the blood-red city.

It's time to make a wish.

Having experienced multiple deaths, Gao Hai has come to understand that each time he dies and arrives at this place, he can make a wish upon this blood-red city. As long as the wish is reasonable enough and within his capacity to bear it, it may be granted.

So what kind of wish should I make?

Suppress the runaway catalytic effect of the dungeon on Twilight-level Obsessives? No, that's pointless, and the cost is definitely not low.

Tell me the truth about Alice directly? While I do want to know what's going on, that's an unrealistic wish, and even if it were possible, I couldn't afford it.

I need to consider what I need to know most right now.

What do I need...?

I already know the black umbrella is problematic, so I can't use it in the second playthrough. This significantly reduces the chance of Miko being possessed, giving me more assurance in scouting enemy positions. I also know how to solve the candle problem, so in the second playthrough, no one needs to open the classroom to trigger the strange students, thus keeping the enemy numbers under control for a short time. Plus, with the goat's head mask, I can avoid many of the pitfalls I encountered in the first playthrough in the second. Therefore, I need to figure out what I need most right now.

So, what do I need?