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

clam down.

Calm down!

I am still alive; I am not dead yet.

We cannot give up the struggle, we cannot surrender so easily.

He tried to move, attempting to move in this pitch-black world where, for some reason, he could see things approaching him.

In fact, Gao Hai couldn't even be sure which direction he was moving in. He was just struggling with all his might, refusing to give up.

Everything disappeared in the next moment.

[Old............not yet decided...]

Just before the sound subsided, it seemed as if someone was muttering to themselves.

I still couldn't hear what they were saying.

However, I felt a sense of numbness.

It wasn't sadness, pain, or despair, but rather a numbness—a feeling of having almost no emotional response left, a feeling of having nothing left at all.

It's like falling into a pitch-black Dead Sea, where even if you sink into it, you can't stir up a single wave.

I can't feel anything anymore.

So be it.

Nothing matters anymore.

Anyway, this is just how it will end.

Everything has disappeared.

Including myself, it seems we can no longer find our way.

No one will notice.

Nobody will care.

Like a completely transparent person, even though a position is vacant, everyone will pretend not to see it, pretend not to know anything, and continue living their lives no different from before.

So let it just disappear.

That's it...

No, I can still see you.

No matter what others do, I'll always see you.

thump!

Gao Hai's body crashed heavily to the ground.

"Cough...uh..."

He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and blood also gushed from his nose and ears, turning the whites of his eyes almost red.

At this moment, almost all the capillaries inside Gao Hai's eyeballs had burst, and the load on his brain had reached its limit, putting him at risk of sudden death at any moment.

At this moment, the repair capabilities of the rescue team badge were even struggling to keep up with the rate of damage to his body. Even at full power, it could only barely keep him from dying immediately.

"Cough... Ah... Ugh..."

Speechless.

As soon as he opened his mouth, blood started gushing out.

His breathing was hoarse, like a broken bellows; his lungs were completely submerged in blood; and the functions of all his organs had failed to the point that he would die immediately if his badge were removed.

But he is not dead yet.

My body held on strong, protected by the rescue team badge.

Even after experiencing pollution and shocks far exceeding the player's tolerance limits, the consciousness did not completely collapse.

It seemed someone was helping him up.

Someone pried open their mouth and fed something into it.

It tastes very sweet, and seems to be some kind of fruit hard candy.

His injuries began to heal.

The previously blurred vision became clear at this moment.

The first thing Gao Hai saw was a police officer sitting against the wall of the teaching building, his body mutilated and almost unrecognizable.

This was the first time he had seen the entity summoned by the rescue team badge suffer such severe damage. Its hands and feet were gone, its waist was torn apart, leaving only about half of it. Its chest cavity was caved in, one side seemingly crushed, while the other side had been completely ripped out, exposing its internal organs. As for its head, only the area from its chin to its neck remained, with even a small portion of its neck missing.

Cuts from blades, blunt force trauma, fractures, burns, scalds, water stains, dirt and grime... It's quite a miserable sight. What on earth did this police officer I summoned encounter? And how did it manage to bring me out of the school building after suffering such injuries?

Seemingly sensing Gao Hai's awakening, the already mutilated police officer gradually became transparent, slowly dissipating and disappearing without a trace.

Gao Hai looked to his side and saw Jian Zi, whose face was pale and whose expression was one of relief after surviving a disaster.

He looked to the other side and saw Goto Ichiri putting away a bag of candy, who also seemed relieved.

Finally, sensing something, Gao Hai raised his head again and looked at the teaching building in front of him.

Under the midnight moonlight, every classroom in the teaching building was lit up.

In each classroom, groups of people gathered.

One student after another stood by the window, staring at him expressionlessly, at the three people who were outside the teaching building, silent and motionless.

A strong sense of oppression spread.

The relief of escaping death that had finally risen within him was choked back in his throat at that moment.

It was also obvious that the students' faces turned even paler, and they were trembling so much that they couldn't utter a single word.

However, Goto Ichiri managed to remain calm and retain her mobility at this moment. With one hand dragging the half-paralyzed Takami and the other pulling the nearly fainting Miko, she quickly left the area.

"Yeluoshan Middle School... I remember, it was still operating for many years after World War II, right?"

Having finally recovered considerably, Gao Hai turned his head to look at Goto Ichiri, who was dragging him forward, and asked.

"Um...yes, that's how it is."

Although Xiao Boqi is still not very good at communicating, they have been working together for a while now, so he can speak much more smoothly to Gao Hai.

"Is there any detailed, yet unreleased, information about Yelu Mountain Middle School after the war?"

Gao Hai took a breath and then asked again.

"No...no, there's very little information on that. However, I remember Nanami speculating that the two core obsessions in this region were formed after the war."

Little Pochi shook his head, making a face as if he was trying hard to think and recall, and after thinking for a while, he spoke again.

Information regarding the postwar operation is unclear. Eriko Asamoto and Koji Morihara, who were the core obsessions, both became haunted by supernatural tales in the postwar period. Then, combined with what he sensed during the moment he narrowly escaped death in the school building...

It is currently confirmed that the number of people who died inside the main teaching building is likely over ten thousand.

After being pulled back to the main teaching building, Gao Hai was certain that the mental shock and contamination he had suffered was enough to annihilate even a full squad of top-tier Red Moon level players. The quantity and quality of the obsessions within the main teaching building had reached an absurd level. At this point, the ten mental fragments Gao Hai had stored through blessings were completely depleted; not a single one remained. Even so, he was practically dead after leaving the teaching building; both his will and body were on the verge of utter collapse.

Given Gao Hai's mental strength, he suspected that if other Red Moon level players encountered such a situation, they would probably die without even knowing how they died.

Then again, why me again?

Both Jianzi and Xiaoboqi left the teaching building safely, but when it was my turn, I was pulled back. What kind of treatment is this? Why am I the unlucky one? Could this be the black watch's doing too? That's unlikely. This watch likes to make things difficult for me, but there's no reason for it to suddenly change things halfway through like a writer would, right? Or is it because of... my identity?

"Huh, what's this?"

After moving away from the main teaching building and finding an open space to stop temporarily, Miko breathed a slight sigh of relief and turned her attention back to Takahashi, where she noticed a clear hickey on his neck.

This mark... was it there before you even entered the teaching building?

Seeing Zi blink, she recalled with a confused expression.

As time passed, the three people on the open ground decided not to explore any further and stayed to rest, exchange information, and confirm whether there would be any differences in their different perspectives.

7:00

As the sky brightens once again, as the morning bells and music ring out.

Shijo Maki opened her eyes, yawned, and sat up in bed.

Strange, why do I feel a little weak?

Zhenfei blinked. She had no recollection of having any dreams last night. In her memory, she lost consciousness immediately after lying down in bed, and when she woke up, it was already dawn. However, her body reacted as if she had run a marathon all night. Her arms and legs ached terribly, yet she couldn't find any signs of fatigue on her body.

It's really strange. Did something happen after I fell asleep last night? And thinking about it carefully, it's strange that I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the bed. How could I possibly do something so out of place in a dungeon? It must be a problem with the Nightfall Mountain Middle School dungeon itself.

"It's time to go down. The others are ready to assemble."

At that moment, Kaguya Shinomiya walked up to Maki and whispered something to her.

After washing up, making my bed, putting on my school uniform and packing my books and stationery, I left the dormitory and went downstairs.

The feeling of this well-organized student life was actually reproduced in the dungeon, and Maki felt like she didn't know what to say.

I walked down the stairs and out of the dormitory.

All the players participating in this instance mission had gathered together in the open space outside the dormitory.

Kumami, Kenmochi, Hayashibe Kenta, Nanakawa Ren, Aoyama Nanami, Fujiwara Chika, Shinomiya Kaguya, Hayasaka Ai, and now Shijo Maki who just arrived, these are the nine players participating in this mission.

Wait a minute, all players?

Princess Zhenfei, who had walked into the group, suddenly froze.

"Everyone's here, so let's discuss today's investigation tasks."

Xiong Mi's calm voice rang out.

"Wait, wait, wait, are all of us here? Are you sure no one is missing?"

Zhenfei stepped forward, interrupting Xiong Mi with a puzzled expression, and said...

"Everyone's here, what's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Xiong Mi paused for a moment, scratched his head, and didn't quite understand what Zhenfei was talking about.

The others also looked confused at this moment. No one felt that there was anything wrong with this. Everyone believed that the players who were going to participate in this instance had gathered, and no one doubted it.