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

The blood-red sky was no different from before.

The city, filtered through a blood-red lens, actually looks quite pleasing to the eye.

Yes, this is indeed my home, isn't it?

Gao Hai lay on the road like a dead man, unwilling to get up, thinking to himself with a heavy heart.

what……

I don't want to move...

I really...don't want to move at all...

It's so tiring.

Even though my body has fully recovered, I am so mentally exhausted that I don’t even want to think anymore.

I'm so tired, so very tired.

What kind of human suffering is this?

In my first playthrough, I managed to survive for over an hour at Fujika Middle School. I was constantly fighting for my life and barely had any rest. In the end, I was turned into a living doll and had to self-destruct to avoid losing my save file.

After successfully taking down a few obsessions on my second playthrough, I finally stood up, but I still couldn't beat Alice, that overpowered monster. I was killing, running, and escaping the whole time, and I barely had any rest time. I only lived for about two hours, and in the end, I even experienced the way of dying by having my flesh and spirit absorbed... Speaking of which, I feel like Alice could cosplay Cell for this kind of death.

In short, after two playthroughs, I used up five rollback opportunities, and ended up surviving for less than four hours in total.

Really tired.

I'm so tired I don't want to move at all; I just want to lie here and relax.

I'm so tired that I want to give up completely, so tired that I really don't want to go back to that lousy school.

However, in this blood-red city, lying on the ground and slacking off like this is perfectly fine, since he is absolutely safe here and doesn't need to worry about anything suddenly appearing and killing him.

That's right. After all, this is a special area where only I exist. It's the protagonist's cheat world, and nothing else can possibly appear here. Even if something did, it would only be those thugs on the barbecue grill over there. And those people couldn't possibly escape from the sea of ​​fire, so just relax.

Ah, yes, yes, I should be able to stay here for a long time. I will only be teleported out when I want to leave.

So for now, I'll just slack off for a bit.

Gao Hai let out a long sigh, lay down on the ground, stretched comfortably, glanced at Yotsuya Miko lying next to him, then closed his eyes, intending to take a nap.

"..."

Open your eyes and turn your head.

"Holy crap, what's going on?!"

Gao Hai, who suddenly sat up from the ground, stared in shock at the girl lying next to him.

Four grains see the child.

A 17-year-old high school girl with the special ability to sense the supernatural and see things that ordinary people cannot see, helped Takami many times in both her first and second playthroughs at Fujika Junior High School. At the same time, she was possessed by the area boss Alice and became Takami's enemy, and successfully killed Takami twice.

She's an adorable girl with very distinct strengths and weaknesses, leaving one speechless.

In addition, she ranks third in terms of figure among the women Gao Hai knows, only behind Fujiwara Chika and Goto Ichiri, and is considered to be very well-endowed.

At this very moment, the girl was lying beside him, quietly with her eyes closed, not moving at all, and not even her breathing could be seen.

So the question is, how did she end up in this place that, theoretically, only Gao Hai could enter?

"Hey, wake up. Huh? What's going on here..."

Trying to shake her awake, they found the girl's body stiff as a stone. No, it was more like this [Yotsuya Miko] was a decoration, completely fixed to the space.

What's happening here?

Gao Hai stared at the stiff, sculpted girl model in front of him, completely bewildered.

Wait, the difference between my death in the second timeline of Fujika Middle School and the first timeline is that Alice used Miko's body to perform a special ritual, intending to absorb my body and spirit completely. Although I ultimately chose to self-destruct, not giving her the chance to do so, at that time, my spirit and flesh and blood had probably merged with Miko's to some extent, and even merged with Alice, which is why I was able to see what was hidden beneath the school building.

Gao Hai looked around but didn't see any trace of Alice.

Clearly, the black watch filtered out the harmful elements during the rollback process. Even if Alice had completely merged with Gao Hai's spirit and flesh, she still wouldn't have been able to enter this blood-red city.

However, Yotsuya Miko was allowed in.

Although Yotsuya Miko might not possess Takami's "authority," meaning she existed merely as a "shell" during the time-space lockdown phase of the rollback—something akin to a decoration or limited-edition furniture—she was indeed brought in. She was brought into this blood-red city by the watch due to a certain degree of "fusion" with Takami.

It seems like this was just an accident, but it's also possible that... the black watch doesn't care?

Does this mean that if I find the right method, I can bring other people into this blood-red city? But so far, it's not clear what the point of doing so would be, since the people brought in seem to be just projections, unable to move or interact.

However, after this guy messed things up, I had absolutely no desire to continue resting.

Gao Hai sighed softly, sat up from the ground, and looked up at the sky.

when--

The bell rang at just the right moment.

A whole bunch of things that people were obsessed with fell from the sky.

All the obsession items that Gao Hai threw into that fleshy monster have returned, as have all the obsession items that Gao Hai lost or broke. Whether it's the sheep's headgear, the rescue team badge, the scalpel, or anything else, they are all back with him now, not one missing.

Then there are the extra objects of obsession.

A cane made from Alice's bones.

A lump of flesh the size of a palm, which appeared to be from that flesh monster.

There's also a strange device connected to several pipes... Wait, can this thing even get in? But speaking of which, this kind of thing does have the feel of a parasite, after all, it can merge the memories and body of a living person into another person.

Speaking of which, the machete Alice used to kill me in the first playthrough was taken by my blood, and the teleportation device she used to kill me in the second playthrough was also put into my watch. How is she going to kill me in the third playthrough? Ugh, why do we have to assume that I'll be killed by that thing again in the third playthrough? And after this save, what changes should have happened to the school building?

After losing the special object associated with the area, the teaching building should be placed under lockdown.

The area is still accessible in this state, but the monsters within will be extremely inactive, essentially a complete shutdown. Furthermore, any items that could previously be obtained in this area will disappear, the monster rules and mechanics within the area will fail, and many areas will become inaccessible, locked zones. Even if you forcibly break down walls and doors, you'll find nothing inside.

In a sense, this is somewhat similar to a dungeon with unfixed phases, but it's much safer. Therefore, if players encounter a dungeon with locked areas, staying within those areas will ensure their safety.

Of course, if an unsealed area's supernatural entity comes looking for it, it will still die. Sealed areas, due to their own rules becoming ineffective, will also become unable to prevent supernatural entities from other areas from entering. Although supernatural entities generally don't leave their activity area, there's always a chance of something going wrong. Just like how players have always thought that in dungeons they only need to figure out how to deal with supernatural entities' actions according to the rules, Gao Hai encountered a heavyweight entity like [Alice] on his third dungeon run. This Alice actively hides its own rules and fabricates false rules, actively searching and killing players across the entire map.

In fact, even now, Gao Hai isn't sure if Alice is truly a supernatural being. Its level of intelligence and emotional depth makes him wonder if the researchers at Fujika Middle School actually succeeded, and if this so-called Alice is actually a hybrid creation of humans and supernatural beings. Otherwise, it's really hard to explain its overly human-like nature and the contradiction of being trapped by its own rules like a normal supernatural being.

Regardless, Gao Hai has at least successfully uncovered some of the rules governing this thing.

Alice's core theme is "making friends".

Becoming her "friend" isn't something that can be done with a simple acknowledgment; there has to be a process, which currently appears to involve completing a game with Alice. Gao Hai believes this is likely a restriction placed on Alice by the person who created this system. The reason the "Alice Game," a rule that completely fails to restrict Alice, exists is to make the player an individual who meets the criteria for "friend."

Alice cannot kill the player unless they become her "friend". Although she can turn on lights, blow out candles, use illusions to induce actions, or use possession to physically kill, she cannot use her supernatural powers to kill the player directly in these situations. This is her biggest limitation.

The only type of person Alice can't befriend is someone who "hates evil like poison." Gao Hai speculates that perhaps the Alice who existed as an idol back then encountered such an unyielding person and paid some price, making it impossible for her to befriend them. Going further, considering the dead body in the underground base, Gao Hai even wonders if some powerful individual single-handedly wiped out Alice's fan club, perhaps even killing Alice herself, forcing her to enter Fujika Middle School and become one of its anomalies, which is why she hates such people so much.

To uncover the truth, we must first find Alice's obsession in the dormitory building and disable all four areas on the surface of Fujika Middle School. Only then can we truly understand what is hidden in this instance area.

Only then will he be able to access the true core obsession of this instance, understand what exactly constitutes the core obsession of the Fujika Middle School area, and what experiences and regrets led to that core obsession being hidden so deeply, causing the seemingly inhuman and supernatural entity [Alice] to gain such prominence.

Regardless, one thing is certain: the core obsession of the Red Moon-level dungeon is definitely not something easy to deal with.

Gao Hai didn't believe he had any other choice. Forced by the strange black watch, he had to perfectly complete the dungeon to leave. Even if it wasn't a proper dungeon game, he felt this broken watch wouldn't let him go.

Of course, with so many benefits from this, it's only right to make some sacrifices.

Gao Hai was already aware of this, so he wouldn't have any complaints about the black watch.

On another note, Alice was willing to remove my rescue team badge and throw it away, yet she completely ignored my watch, even after I repeatedly took various items from it that I was obsessed with. Could it be that she simply can't see the watch I'm wearing, or perhaps she's even incapable of taking any action against this black watch?

If I were to throw my watch in her face, would she feel like she'd been slapped in thin air?

A few unreliable thoughts popped into Gao Hai's mind, but he quickly dismissed them.

when--

The second bell has already rung.

Takahashi took a deep breath and looked down at Yotsuya Miko lying on the ground.

His two deaths were actually caused by Miko, although to be precise it was Alice who possessed him and carried out the act, but the body that actually did it was Miko.

This can't go on.

Miko Yotsuya is indeed a reliable teammate, and she's an indispensable one. However, if she's possessed, she becomes a major problem that Takami can hardly overcome, or even at all, stall for time. Moreover, without her, Takami cannot obtain many traps and clues, and he cannot abandon such a teammate in order to clear the game.

If I could help her resist mental erosion and pollution... No, my mental strength also has its limits. I will die in the second playthrough, partly because I was basically in a state of mental exhaustion for those two hours. It's impossible to resist multiple forms of erosion for a long time.

So, what if it's a shared spiritual corruption, sharing the contamination she's suffered? You know, apart from instantly kneeling when facing [Alice], this girl can actually resist other strange powers.

Expanding on this idea further... perhaps I could use the sharing of mental energy to help all those I deem worthy of help resist the corrosive influence of pollution. This link cannot involve the exchange of memories or consciousness, to avoid information leaks. I only need to share my slightly stronger willpower than the average person with others, and this sharing must be something I can activate and deactivate at any time.

With his eyes closed, Gao Hai's thoughts gradually became clear, and he became completely certain of the ability he wanted to acquire.

when--

The third bell rang at that moment.

The blood-red city has lost its color.

Yotsuya Miko's figure quietly disappeared.

Gao Hai has gained new abilities from this black watch.

This ability does not consume any rollback attempts and can be activated and deactivated by Gao Hai himself, with an effective range of 10 meters in radius. As long as Gao Hai himself is willing, he can establish a willpower link with any one or more people within this range, sharing the mental pollution and cognitive distortion caused by the strange power.

As long as he is within a 10-meter radius of Gao Hai, he can establish this special willpower link with him.

Such a connection does not involve spiritual contact, so neither party can see the other's inner thoughts and memories while the connection is established, making it a rather unique ability.

It is worth mentioning that after Gao Hai obtained this ability, he immediately sensed a limitation.

The black watch appears to only hold 12 abilities, and with this ability unlocked, 9 slots are already occupied, leaving only 3 usable. Therefore, Gao Hai must carefully consider any further ability wishes he desires and cannot act recklessly.

So, these limitations still exist? That's quite troublesome. However, I've already gained enough benefits from the special abilities this watch provides, so now that I've rested, it's time to continue the battle and get back to fighting!

At this moment, Gao Hai's fighting spirit soared.

Then he suddenly realized that he had forgotten to rest after being frightened by Miko, so the result was actually no different from before, and he quickly fell into a state of sadness and sighing again.

The blood-red city vanished without a trace.

Everything returned to complete darkness.

……

Gao Hai opened his eyes and found himself back in his familiar classroom.