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

2. Knowing about the target's bizarre past life experiences.

3. Knowing the supernatural rules inherent in the strangeness that is the target.

4. Arrive at the location where the eerie being died as a human, or at the core location where the eerie being resides (you can also directly target the object of its obsession).

5. Currently under the influence of a bizarre supernatural rule that is being targeted.

6. The chosen target harmed innocent people with whom they had no prior grudge while alive.

If any one of the six rules is met, the gun is ready to fire and can be used to shoot the strange creature that Gao Hai has chosen as his target.

After the shot is fired, the bullet will inevitably hit the target. No matter what rules this weird thing has, it will inevitably be hit by the bullet. Then, it will be sealed and become unable to move. The weird rules related to this weird thing will become invalid, which is equivalent to banning this thing directly in the dungeon.

If it's a Twilight-level anomaly, even if only one condition is met, a single bullet can seal it for several days. If all six rules are met, the sealing time can even be measured in years. Conversely, if it's a Dark Night-level or Crimson Moon-level anomaly, or an existence of the core obsession type, the power will be much reduced. However, the reason this gun has ten bullets in its chamber is because it can fire ten shots when used against anomalies. In other words, when encountering a core obsession or a powerful anomaly, Gao Hai can fire more than one shot, using the cumulative effect to seal the opponent.

For example, Hidal, one of the core obsessions of the Red Nut Gray Hole, is known to Gao Hai. He knows what this strange creature looks like and its rules are that anyone entering the cave must be killed, and anyone entering the base will go on a killing spree. If he uses this pistol while he is under the influence of Hidal's power, he would need to use four bullets to stack the effect to seal her, and the seal would last for about 24 hours. If he shoots her inside the Great Rift, he could even seal her for two or three days. Of course, because Hidal was a victim in life, the most important sixth rule cannot be triggered; otherwise, Gao Hai could seal her for nearly a week with a single shot.

Sealing a Dark Night-level core obsession for an entire day and blessing the user without incurring any cost—if Xiong Mi knew about this, her expression would probably be priceless. After all, the Bronze Eye she acquired at the cost of an eyeball could only control a monster for a few tens of minutes at most, and overuse would backfire on her.

Gao Hai was certain that the blessing of this gun was reserved for him alone. This was a decision made by Hirano Sosuke before his final rest, and he received the blessing only after taking the pistol left behind by Hirano.

In addition to these, Hirano Sosuke's blessing to Takami has three other effects.

Hirano Sosuke's second blessing effect for Takami was something Takami decided to call "Immortality," or perhaps "Battle Continuation" would be more appropriate.

The effect of this blessing is also very simple: as long as Gao Hai himself is still conscious, he can maintain his mobility for a period of time even when he suffers a fatal injury, and he will be fully recovered after the duration of this blessing ends.

Even if he were vaporized by high temperatures, chopped into mincemeat, or dissolved in a pool of sulfuric acid, Gao Hai would not die. He could even continue to manipulate his own dust, flesh fragments, or dissolving liquid under such circumstances. As long as his consciousness could withstand the impact of being torn apart and pulverized, he truly would not die. Moreover, after the blessing effect ended, he would be resurrected on the spot, restored to a completely unharmed state, without any physical aftereffects.

It has to be said that the effect of this blessing is truly terrifying. Of course, compared to the Judgment Spear, the limitations of this blessing are very clear. Once the blessing is used, it needs a full 3 days and 72 hours to recover and recharge. In other words, this blessing can actually be regarded as a one-time resurrection item in the dungeon, since under normal circumstances no one will stay in a dungeon for three days.

Hirano Sosuke's blessing has a third effect, which is quite peculiar and clearly has a life-saving property.

Gao Hai felt that this blessing could be called a "reconnaissance" blessing.

This blessing is essentially a passive effect, but it has prerequisites for activation and is a special blessing based on the rules of ghost stories.

When Gao Hai enters an area under the influence of the strange phenomenon and investigates it, if he encounters a strange attack in the area, and there is a place in the scene where he can hide from the strange thing or avoid its rule characteristics, then Gao Hai will immediately know where that place is.

To use a previous example, when Takami was surrounded by those terrifying porcelain dolls and scalded to death with boiling water during his first playthrough of the Shirakawa Apartment, if he had this blessing, even if his mind was already corrupted and he would have mistaken those dolls for "cute children," he would have immediately noticed the tall cabinet in the corridor and thought, "If I hide on this tall cabinet, I won't be in danger."

This effect ignores Gao Hai's mental state; even if he is asleep or unconscious, this blessing can forcibly wake him and tell him where the safe place is. However, this blessing has a condition for activation: Gao Hai must have "seen" the area. For example, in the Shirakawa Apartment, he had to have seen those tall cabinets before the blessing could mark their locations for him when he encountered the porcelain doll. In other words, the power of this blessing depends on Gao Hai's "level of cognition." If he is completely unaware of his surroundings, the blessing will not take effect.

Even so, the power of this blessing is already incredibly strong. Human observation skills are limited, and coupled with the psychological contamination inherent in the supernatural, even if the location of a "safe point" was spotted during reconnaissance, it would be difficult to find the safe area immediately in a real emergency. With this blessing, Gao Hai can skip this step and directly know what he needs to do to survive.

Finally, there's Hirano Sosuke's fourth blessing effect, which is also the most straightforward: a direct buff that adds points to Takami's attributes.

This blessing further enhanced Gao Hai's physical abilities. Although the increase was small, given his already superhuman physique, the effect was still very powerful. Furthermore, his willpower, already comparable to or even surpassing that of a Red Moon-level player, received a very slight boost. This was likely because his base attributes were already too high, preventing the blessing from providing a significant further increase. Finally, regarding gun handling and cleaning skills, Gao Hai directly acquired Hirano Sousuke's entire handgun skill level, essentially becoming an expert-level gunslinger.

"...Is this the blessing of a Crimson Moon-level core obsession?"

Feeling the surging power within his body, Gao Hai even had an unrealistic sense of expansion, as if he could fight Thanos.

And, wait, what's this feeling?

And one more blessing.

The power of this blessing was so small that Gao Hai didn't feel it at all at first.

This is a blessing left to a forgotten, uncared-for child after Gao Hai finally shattered the ugly, monstrous shell and brought her out of the enclosed darkness.

It was Alice, a human, who gave him this blessing.

"..."

In the silence, Gao Hai reached out his hand, and a door appeared in the air.

He opened the door, stepped inside, and found a small white room inside.

There were some snacks in the room, the kind of food her parents would buy for her during the warmer years of her memory, and the kind of food she thought was the most delicious.

There was also a small bed in the room, which was obviously too small for Gao Hai, but just right for the child—a soft and warm little bed.

There are also cute dolls, including little rabbits, sheep, ducks, and so on.

This is her home as she remembers it, her bedroom, the place where she once lived a peaceful and comfortable life.

Now, this place has become a scene manifested by the power of blessing. As long as you open this door, enter it, and then close the door, Gao Hai can enter an isolated space between the dungeon and the real world, where he can rest and recuperate in peace without being attacked by any monsters.

Once this room is summoned, its maximum duration of existence is... 5 hours.

After being summoned once, there is a 10-day cooldown period before it can be used again. After all, that child is not the same individual as the monster Alice, and its power is relatively weak. Providing Gao Hai with such a blessing is already her limit.

"This is really..."

Not knowing what to say, Gao Hai left the room, closed the door, and watched it disappear before his eyes.

Tuk-tuk-tuk——

It was at this moment that he heard a knock on the door, followed by a soft sound as the door opened, and Fujiwara Chika's long pink hair appeared in front of Takami.

"Ah Hai, we're coming in~"

Amidst cheerful laughter, Chika squeezed through the door first, followed by Shijou Maki, carrying a lunchbox, her face slightly flushed, seemingly a little nervous.

Interlude 3-02: The Forgotten, the Entangled, the Vanished

What would it be like if a person were completely forgotten by the real world, if a person ceased to exist altogether, and if the people around them didn't care at all?

If possible, Miko wishes she would never know about this.

But when she awoke from her daze, when she found herself back on the street where she had first disappeared, when she got home, had just taken a shower and changed her dirty clothes, and hadn't even had time to process her emotions, she received a call from the school.

Over the phone, the school sincerely apologized to Jianzi, explaining that the class assignment system had malfunctioned and placed her and her friend Yurikawa in a canceled, empty class. They assured her that they would immediately transfer her from the empty class and that it would not affect her normal studies.

At that moment, Miko Yotsuya didn't know how to describe her feelings.

None of the 23 classmates survived, and the teachers who taught them, their parents, and everyone in the world who knew them have completely forgotten their existence, as if they had never existed at all.

Including her best friend, her only friend in the class, Yurikawa Hana, she also forgot her other classmates and lost all memories of everyone.

This feeling terrified Miko.

She realized that if she died one day and wasn't saved by Takahashi's time-lapse, she would face the same fate. Her mother would forget her, be puzzled by the arrangement of her bedroom, and her best friend, Yurikawa Hana, would think she had never had a friend named Yotsuya Miko, that she had always been alone, and perhaps go looking for other girls to befriend.

Even if someone were to reveal her name and her story, or tell others about her existence, it would be meaningless, because everyone has completely forgotten everything and would never remember her again, simply feeling that it is none of their business.

She hated this feeling.

And she didn't know how to get rid of the unease in her heart.

If it's a senior...

It was only at this moment that Jianzi realized she hadn't kept Gao Hai's contact information.

She returned to Gao Hai's house, but by then it was in ruins and the fire department was cleaning it up. She couldn't find Gao Hai anywhere.

Senior, where are you now?

The dejected girl turned and left, returning home. Only then did she vaguely realize that she seemed to have gained some kind of special power.

As long as her willpower can withstand it, she can survive for a short time. After encountering something strange, she can automatically find a safe place based on her surroundings. In addition, her physical fitness and willpower are enhanced. These three blessings are added to the girl's body, making Yotsuya Miko, who originally had the physical fitness of an ordinary person, instantly possess physical fitness that surpasses the limits of human beings. So much so that she accidentally pulled down the faucet while washing her hands.

Having been taught some basic facts about sacrifice games by Gao Hai and Xiong Mi, Jianzi knew she had received a strange blessing. However, gaining extraordinary power didn't make the girl happy; instead, it worsened her mood. After all, even Xiong Mi, a top-tier Red Moon-level player, had experienced being captured by the supernatural and suffering a fate worse than death. What use was this extraordinary power she had gained? In the perilous world of dungeons, this power couldn't completely shield her from danger. She would still face death repeatedly, and because of her perception talent, she would likely face far greater dangers than other players.

A month?

The girl turned to look at the calendar in the room, her expression growing increasingly somber.

No, according to Miss Xiong Mi, she was not participating in the mission normally, but was just an ordinary person who was caught up in it. Therefore, her first mission will proceed normally at the same time as the other players, and there are less than half a month left before the players' next mission begins.

In other words, in about half a month, he will have to enter the dungeon world again and go to a terrifying place like Teng Hua Middle School.

"senior……"

Where are you now?

Curled up on the bed, Miko called out softly, hoping that Takahashi would appear before her.

As for Gao Hai at this moment...

Yes, he's spacing out.

Gao Hai was staring indifferently out the window.

At this moment, his expression was like that of a saint who had transcended the mortal world, as if he had seen through all the ways of the world and was about to embark on the long road to immortality.

"Ugh, Ah Hai is so rough."

Behind her, Fujiwara Chika complained softly, picked up the torn pink bra and tried it on several times, but in the end, her hairstyle made it completely impossible to put it on.

"It's like he's a pervert. He came to bring you food, but he did this kind of thing..."

While muttering complaints under her breath, Zhenfei put on her black stockings, only to find that they had several holes torn in them. After hesitating for a moment, she sighed and took the stockings off, slipping her bare white feet directly into her shoes.

At this moment, the sky had completely darkened, and night had fallen.

Almost five hours have passed since Qianhua and Zhenfei entered this place. As for what they and Gao Hai did during these five hours, the messy sheets and torn bedding speak for themselves.

"But in that state of mind, I really couldn't hold back."

Gao Hai shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of hesitation.

At the time, Maki and Chika only thought that Takahashi hadn't eaten for a long time, so they took the initiative to cook him a bento box to bring over. Unexpectedly, while Takahashi was eating the bento, Chika suddenly wanted to feed him. Maki, seeing this, naturally couldn't pretend not to see it, so she joined in, and Takahashi himself accepted it without hesitation. So, as they ate, it's unclear who started it, but the three of them ended up rolling around on the bed together, and then, well, you know what I mean.

It must be said that after receiving the blessing that further enhanced his physical abilities, Gao Hai's combat power increased significantly, to the point that the contest lasted for a considerable period of time.

It's worth remembering that in that glorious one-on-two duel at the hotel, Gao Hai gradually fell into a disadvantageous position in the latter half. He had to rely on certain techniques and tools, as well as sealing the stronger Chika with ropes, to avoid being defeated. This time, however, Gao Hai's power has increased to the point where he doesn't need external assistance and can defeat these two strong opponents solely through his own strength.

"Ah Hai, what are you thinking about?"

A soft and warm touch came from behind me.

Chika gently rested her head on Gao Hai's shoulder, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her entire upper body against his back.

Gao Hai, who had only glanced back briefly and confirmed Qian Hua's current natural state, felt his previously calmed emotions fluctuate slightly again.

At this moment, Maki, who was already dressed, came forward and sat down next to Takami. Although she couldn't press herself against him like Chika did, she still tried to get as close to him as possible and sat down beside him somewhat awkwardly.

The night outside the window, illuminated by the lights of the buildings, took on a hazy, dreamlike quality.

Feeling the presence of the two girls, Gao Hai's previously turbulent emotions calmed down once again. He reached out and held Chika's hand, who was leaning against his back, and then used his other hand to grasp Maki's small hand. The three of them sat there silently for a while.

"By the way, Haijun, I've already found a construction team for you. It will probably take about two to three weeks for your house to be repaired."

Just then, Consort Zhen suddenly spoke up. The little girl's eyes darted around, and it was unclear what she was thinking.