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

【teacher? 】

But I don't remember anything, I don't know anything, everything in my mind is normal, I haven't even encountered any strange forces attacking me, what should I do? What kind of situation am I in right now?

[Teacher? Teacher, are you abandoning us?]

It sounded like someone was speaking, a childish voice that seemed to belong to a young child.

Am I a teacher? Why am I a teacher? What does this identity have to do with me?

Gao Hai looked up in confusion, towards the doorway, at the door that had been opened at some point, and at the children standing outside, watching him. One, two... many children crowded into the small living room outside the door, each one staring at him, each one looking at him, standing there expressionless and blankly.

A black pistol appeared in Gao Hai's hand.

His mind became increasingly confused by the clash between various "normal" perceptions and "abnormal" instinctive feelings, and now he finally sensed something abnormal.

Unlike Kaguya and Takami, who were cautiously wary of the children, and unlike Yoshitsugu Takai and Miyazawa Hana, these expressionless children finally made Takami sense something was amiss. He could vaguely feel that these children, who seemed to have nothing special about them, were all monsters.

Could this “abnormal situation” that I am currently experiencing, which I am unaware of, be caused by these strange creatures?

If they are the cause of all this, then using this gun on them might resolve the current crisis.

Gao Hai's finger was already on the trigger.

That's right, such perceptions and thoughts are perfectly normal.

So if what I perceive as normal is actually abnormal, then making this choice will definitely... change nothing.

【teacher? 】

Gao Hai ignored the sound, lowered his head, placed the gun on his lap, removed the magazine, and looked at the bullets inside.

There are a total of 8 bullets.

Before entering this instance, I fired a bullet with this gun that could suppress the eerie entity, meaning I should have 9 bullets left. But now, I only have 8; one bullet was used up sometime ago.

He had no recollection of ever firing another shot.

So, I must have fired a gun inside the instance, and most likely at what I perceived as an "anomaly" in an attempt to change something, but that attempt must have failed. Therefore, I remember nothing now, so I'll assume everything is normal.

So what I should do now is not shoot at the "abnormal", but shoot at the "normal".

Gao Hai slowly raised his head and looked at the people in the room once again, at Ji Gang, at Takai, Miyazawa Hana, Kaguya, and Gao Hai. All six of them seemed normal; in his opinion, there was nothing wrong with them.

[Teacher? Why aren't you saying anything? Is it possible that the teacher isn't actually a teacher?]

The children who made him feel uneasy had entered the room and were approaching him step by step.

Gao Hai, his gaze calmly sweeping over the surrounding area, had already silently put on the rescue team badge, then turned the gun and pressed it against his forehead.

"The most normal thing is not what I see, but what I think is normal."

Gao Hai spoke in a low voice.

If what is "normal" is actually "abnormal," then he should be under the influence of this "strange force that blocks cognition" right now. If he were to use the bullet that suppresses this strange force on himself, it would definitely bring about a real change.

[Gao Jun, what are you doing?]

Mr. Gao, what are you doing?!

Stop it right now!

【Are you crazy? 】

Teacher, do you also want to commit suicide?

The sounds around him could no longer sway Gao Hai's will at this moment.

"bring it on!"

He finally said this in a low voice.

Then, he decisively pulled the trigger.

boom--

Chapter 8: The Power of Immortality and Actions During the Gap of Consciousness

What would it be like to have a bullet pierce your skull, drill a hole in your brain tissue, and then exit through the other side of your skull?

Generally speaking, no one can truly experience this, because a normal person would simply die instantly after being attacked like this, without any further sensation. But Gao Hai could clearly feel the changes within himself, the pain from the remaining nerves after his brain was instantly destroyed, and the momentary disorientation in his thinking and cognition caused by the shattering of brain tissue.

In that instant, he couldn't even organize his thoughts properly, and he couldn't even think. He felt a sudden "buzz," and then he knew almost nothing, feeling as if his whole body was completely blurred.

But soon, his cognitive abilities began to recover.

Even though his head had been pierced by a bullet with power comparable to a rocket, and even though the bullet entered from one side of his head, almost shattering Gao Hai's entire brain tissue, and then emerged from the other side almost completely shattering his skull (it didn't explode directly because the protagonist's physical abilities had been enhanced to near the Red Moon level), he still did not die and was rapidly regaining consciousness.

The source of this power lies in the second blessing that Hirano Sosuke gave to Takami: the blessing that he would survive a fatal wound and be fully recovered after 10 minutes.

With the power of this blessing, Gao Hai gradually recovered. Even though the function of his entire head had been basically lost, his vision, hearing, and senses were restored at this moment.

Then he saw the empty, dilapidated house that had been abandoned for a long time.

A skeleton lay on the floor next to the computer desk. Judging from the clothes, it appeared to be that of an adult male, though now only bones remained. Gao Hai recognized the man; his name was Yoshigo Saburo. Over ten years ago, one night on his way home, he happened upon Hayate Elementary School manifesting in the real world, and was swept into a virtual world along with his house. He tried to escape many times, and using the computer's time manipulation, realized he had been there for six days, leaving behind many records. Then he died in this place.

He wasn't killed by some strange force, but rather starved and thirsted to death. In fact, he should have died on the third or fourth day, but he lived until the seventh day before truly dying. Takahashi didn't know the reason for this, only that the number 7 held some special significance at Hayate Elementary School. Once the seventh day passed, it was impossible to escape this instance alive. This was why Kumami instructed Takahashi and Kaguya to rescue Hayasaka Ai before more than seven days had passed since she was trapped in the instance.

Gao Hai remembered that he had fired a shot at Ji Gang earlier.

The shot seemed to temporarily seal off the small bedroom, so when he was reverted to his previous state, he woke up in the small living room outside the bedroom. However, because he hadn't found a real target to attack, the suppressor bullet only hit a vague illusion, which lasted for a very short time before he woke up again in the small bedroom.

But this time, Gao Hai felt that he had made the right choice.

Manipulating the body that had been blown off its head, Gao Hai staggered out of the small bedroom and into the living room.

The children's figures had vanished, but unlike the illusory phantoms, they turned and walked away after seeing Gao Hai blow his head off. These children were genuine monsters, not illusions created by the dungeon's own eerie power based on the [names] and [figures] Gao Hai had seen. As for why they were approaching Gao Hai just now but turned and left, Gao Hai didn't know the reason yet, and he had no way of confirming it at the moment.

We need to find Kaguya first.

He clearly remembered meeting Kaguya once before, but after entering that small bedroom, an illusion identical to him, seemingly created by Kaguya's consciousness after seeing Takami, locked the bedroom door. Throughout the subsequent replays and explorations, he was unable to find Kaguya because the corridor door leading to her direction was locked by the illusion created by Takami's consciousness, Takai.

【Illusion】—this is the temporary name Gao Hai gave to those things.

This thing is a product of some strange power within Hayate Elementary School itself. Whenever a player enters the instance and learns someone's name through any means, reads documents related to that person, or sees their photo, a vague image is created in their subconscious. This image is then directly associated with Hayate Elementary School and that person, and that person's figure will appear around the player. It can only be observed by that player, and it only truly exists while the player observes this "illusion." Once the player looks away, it disappears from the world, and the player forgets its existence.

From what we've seen so far, this bizarre supernatural tale's rules still have quite distinct characteristics. First, those who can be immediately manifested are all dead people. Takami manifested Kaguya and himself because he saw Kaguya and his own reflection in the mirror in the corridor. In other words, living people must observe a specific image before they can create an "illusion." Second, this thing is likely contagious like a virus. Based on his impression of his only reunion with Kaguya, after Kaguya saw him, she could then see Yoshitsugu and Takai following her, and he also saw the "illusion" of Miyazawa Hana. Finally, and most importantly, the "illusion" seems to be given the concept of "teammates" by the power of Hayate Elementary School, preventing the player from becoming suspicious. However, once this thing seizes an opportunity, it will secretly create trouble for the player.

For example, locking the door previously would put it in an "unopenable" state, which is why Takami couldn't reunite with Kaguya in subsequent actions. It's strange, though, that "illusions" currently seem to have no physical form, existing only in the player's mind. But when this "illusion" locks the door, the door is truly locked. Could it be that what's locked is actually the door in the player's perception, rather than the real door?

Gao Hai couldn't answer these questions for the time being. Just like the extremely bizarre rewind mechanism of Zaoli Elementary School, if something went wrong, the player would be restored to the state they were in when they first entered the instance, and they wouldn't even be able to retain their memories. The act of leaving a message on one's hand could only maintain one rewind; the second rewind would erase the trace left before that.

Perhaps it's because he/she acted in a way that didn't fit the role he/she was supposed to be playing?

But this can only correspond to the time when he was surrounded by those students who turned into black line figures during the last time travel, right?

Or is there an invisible rule in each room that will immediately restart if broken? Ugh, I don't understand at all. This is really troublesome. Can't I just play an easier dungeon once?

While he was thinking, Gao Hai had already walked to the locked door on one side of the small living room.

As before, no matter what Gao Hai did, he couldn't open the door. Once the door was locked, it became indestructible, and forcing his way through the adjacent wall was equally impossible.

Perhaps it's because in a child's eyes, walls are impossible to break down, and locked doors are indeed impossible to open.

unless……

boom!

Gao Hai drew his pistol and fired it crisply and cleanly.

On the other side of the door, a bullet flew out and hit the door lock switch, clicking open the lock and allowing Gao Hai to open the door smoothly.

Continuing forward, through the corridor, he opened the door to the hall in the same way, finally arriving at the location of the small bedroom door where Kaguya had started. This time, Takahashi didn't need to use bullets to open the door, because the key was already in the door, and he could simply turn it to open it.

Why is the key here?

Gao Hai picked up the key, which still had some dirt on it and you could barely make out the fingerprints. It looked like it was the size of a child's finger.

Has any child been here and deliberately left a key?

Never mind, almost a minute and a half of the ten minutes have already passed. Let's find the person first.

Thinking this, Gao Hai unlocked the door and then opened the bedroom door in front of him.

Chapter Nine: Gentle Methods to Bring the Girl Trapped in the Cycle

How long has this dazed feeling lasted?

Even though everything seemed normal to me, and I didn't feel anything unusual, I was getting more and more tired. I felt like I had been working hard and exhausted for a long time, and I was starting to feel lethargic.

It's as if I've been wandering around this place for a very, very long time, and I've been trapped here for a very long time.

But haven't I just entered the instance and just started exploring this place?

Why am I having this strange feeling? Is there something wrong with me? But everything seems so normal, everything I see, hear, and feel is perfectly normal.

What exactly went wrong...?

Kaguya opened her eyes again and sat up in bed.

She discovered that the bedroom door could not be opened.

She turned her head and looked at the only window in the room from which she could investigate.

She walked to the window and opened it.

Kaguya opened her eyes again and sat up in bed.

She felt really tired, so tired, as if she had done the same boring thing over and over again dozens of times. She was so exhausted that she just wanted to lie down and sleep, and simply rest for a while.

Was it because he hadn't had a proper rest since Hayasaka went missing, and his fatigue finally kicked in after entering the dungeon?

It doesn't seem to be the case... But I can't remember, I can't figure out what's wrong, I can't recall any unusual situation I've encountered.

Hmm, this door is locked. Looks like I'll have to try going through the window.

Don't worry, we'll definitely find a way.

Her companions were still comforting her.

After a brief moment of thought, Kaguya turned to look at the window on one side of the room and stepped forward.

Perhaps, this is the place to leave this room and explore the surroundings.

Thinking this, Kaguya reached out and opened the window.