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

But is such a thing truly possible? How can they possibly defeat that unknown monster, whose appearance they've never even seen, whose cries they don't know?

Or perhaps, are the clamor outside truly a demonstration of resistance against the monster? Or is it just a deceptive tactic to mislead them?

boom!

Amidst the roar of gunfire, bullets left the barrel, but it was impossible to see what they hit.

Xiong Mi's body was torn apart again in an instant, broken into two pieces, with the wound in the exact same place as before.

Click!

But the next moment, what fell to the ground was a shattered mirror. Xiong Mi, torn in two, landed perfectly intact on the ground, while her reflection in the mirror became a substitute.

The loudspeaker crackled to life again; that narrator, whose purpose was unclear, was about to start again.

However, from these two commotions and the way it tore its prey apart, the two girls hiding in the house could at least know one thing: this monster had sharp claws and teeth, and moved at an astonishing speed, like a ferocious beast.

The narrator's voice rang out again.

But it didn't come from the radio, it didn't come from the loudspeaker.

Instead, it came from Xiong Mi herself, who took out a microphone, put it in front of her mouth, and slowly opened her mouth.

The voice was exactly the same as the voice coming from the radio, and it even simulated the unique static noise of the radio.

zizi...

The black thing appeared in front of Xiong Mi.

The strange creature, which had no specific form in the broadcast description and could launch attacks out of thin air, transformed at this moment into a pitch-black object with sharp fangs and claws, standing on all fours, resembling a bear or lion.

Its body outline is still quite blurry, perhaps because it has not been described in detail.

But for Xiong Mi, that's enough.

boom! ! !

A bullet, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, pierced the monster's body, causing it to almost instantly disintegrate.

Taking a step forward, Xiong Mi charged towards the monster in the next instant.

Of course, it only looks like a wild beast. Ordinary wild beasts would never be so bizarre. What exactly is it? This question probably cannot be answered easily. As the girl was thinking this, she then heard a sound coming from outside—

The narration on the radio quickly resumed after a brief pause.

As the voice inside spoke, Xiong Mi noticed that the thing in front of her was rapidly becoming transparent, and its body structure, except for its claws and teeth, seemed to be showing signs of disappearing again.

But this time, the narration stopped halfway through.

Because the corridor had become quiet.

Crimson blood slowly dripped from the bronze eyes.

The strange creature, forcibly immobilized by the power of the object of obsession, trembled incessantly, yet it could not move an inch no matter what it did.

The voice remained silent, for the monster's true nature had been fully revealed. It could be anything, any form; it could be mysterious or real, all depending solely on the narrator's words. If its rules remained undiscovered, it would be a terrifying and inescapable nightmare for anyone who encountered it. But now that its weaknesses were understood, it was nothing more than an animal whose patterns had been figured out, prey for the hunter.

In a calm voice, Xiong Mi held a dirty piece of chalk and gently sketched a rectangle below the black bear that was fixed in mid-air and unable to move.

Next, she drew a circle in the middle of the rectangle.

Then, Xiong Mi reached out, grasped the doorknob, and opened a door on the ground.

One after another, black, rotting human hands reached out from the door, grabbed the nearest [Black Bear], and dragged it inside.

The black bear, which had been immobilized, seemed to have been stimulated and suddenly broke free from the restraints of the object of obsession, and then tried to break free from these arms to escape.

But it didn't do that.

Because Xiongmi had already activated his blessing, shifting the target of the [black bear] to the inside of the door with its countless wriggling arms.

So this monster, which she had already labeled a "beast," pounced into the doorway without hesitation the next moment, disappearing into the writhing, rotting human hands.

squeak-

As the door closed automatically, all that remained on the ground was a chalk-drawn door that seemed impossible to open.

Although Xiong Mi herself was pale and didn't look well, she still managed to stand still without collapsing. She reached out and took the cigarette that was almost burned down to the filter, and gently flicked the ash off onto the chalk door.

The prey has now been caught.

The next moment, as Xiong Mi gave his final summary into the microphone, the loudspeaker hanging on one side of the corridor suddenly emitted a loud static.

Sizzle... Sizzle... Bang!

Black smoke billowed as the damaged megaphone fell to the ground and slammed heavily.

Having clearly sensed that the danger that had been lingering there had disappeared, Maki and Chika opened the door and cautiously stepped out. They then saw Xiongmi leaning against the wall, touching the bloodstains at the corners of his mouth and eyes, and lighting a cigarette.

"Next time you take an adventure, remember to think about your escape route before you act."

As Xiong Mi spoke, she exhaled a puff of smoke and smiled calmly.

Chapter 33: The Separated Investigators and the Discoveries in the Ruins

"Finally... I made it out alive! Whew, it was so difficult! Thank you so much!"

In the open space outside the affiliated teaching building, Qianhua clutched her chest and let out a long sigh of relief, her words filled with the emotion of surviving a close call. Turning around, she noticed Xiong Mi, who was walking out behind her with a cigarette in his mouth. Without hesitation, she bowed and thanked him, her voice extremely solemn.

"Thank you so much. Um, if it weren't for your help, the two of us probably wouldn't have been able to get out of that broadcasting room."

On the other side, Maki almost instinctively called out "Ms. Kumami," but she held back in the end and bowed solemnly to express her gratitude, just like Chika.

"No need to thank me. We've only barely survived one round. Let's talk about it when we get out of this instance alive."

Xiong Mi herself simply sighed softly, then coughed a few times, barely managing to keep herself from collapsing on the spot.

Although the previous battle in the corridor seemed like a crushing victory, the use of multiple obsession objects and blessings in a short period of time still put a considerable burden on Xiong Mi, especially since the cost of one or two of the obsession objects was quite high. Therefore, Xiong Mi's condition is not actually very good at the moment.

Moreover, that thing in the corridor just now was undoubtedly a mechanism of "creating something out of nothing." Shouldn't this mechanism belong to the unsolvable "Third Core" mechanism of Nightfall Mountain Middle School? How could it appear here? And that broadcast voice was also very strange, completely inconsistent with the previous investigation records of Nightfall Mountain Middle School, belonging to something completely new that had never been seen before.

Of the three life-saving items I brought this time, I used two just to deal with that thing in the corridor. Although one of them can be used again after a few hours, after using several of them, if something else happens now, my ability to cope will undoubtedly be much worse.

Tsk, if only I still had my original obsession, instead of having to borrow some from my buddies in the "Slacking Off Gang"...

Forget it, what's the point of thinking about these things? I should just think about what to do next.

This instance has already revealed enough surprises, especially the cognitive blocking mechanism. I had witnessed its capabilities when I investigated [Early Rift Elementary School] before, so I should have been on guard. However, I only managed to find the flaw by examining myself after two teammates inexplicably left the group.

Before this, she may have seen similar "opportunities" more than once, but due to cognitive blockade, she was completely unaware of the problem. Even though strange phenomena were happening around her, she still thought that "everything was normal" and continued to play house like an idiot.

However, it has now been realized that although the cognitive blocking mechanism at Yelu Mountain Middle School seems to be more outrageous than that at Zaoli Elementary School, with the continuous breakthrough in cognition, this mechanism should be unable to forcibly turn players back into idiots who know nothing.

It seems that everyone except the person in question will likely be overlooked due to this mechanism...

"Tell me what you all know and what your next steps are. I doubt anyone else knows the current situation; we're mostly on our own now."

As Xiong Mi said this, he casually tossed away the cigarette he had finished smoking, letting it fall into the grass.

"Although there are no particularly specific plans at the moment, we do have some general ideas."

Shijo Maki slowly let out a sigh of relief, her expression quickly turning serious.

Through prolonged mental link communication, she had roughly recalled some things, and through Gao Hai's account of the three people's experience last night, she had roughly deduced part of the situation in this instance.

Following the rules is likely the only way to break the deadlock.

Breaking the rules can put you in a very difficult situation.

This is precisely why multiple communication channels are necessary. Someone needs to break the rules to obtain information that would be impossible to obtain if the rules were followed. Then, from among those who follow the rules, another person who breaks the rules is selected to trigger the next clue. However, this instance introduces a "cognitive blocking" mechanism. This rule prevents those who break the rules from being correctly perceived by those who follow them, and even causes a certain degree of spatial misalignment between the two parties. This causes a situation that could have been resolved to begin heading towards a dead end.

Just like Haijun's previous comments on [Fujihana Middle School] and [Hayatei Elementary School], this kind of dungeon was never intended for players to complete from the beginning; it was deliberately designed to create traps to kill people.

However, compared to those players who can only rely on their obsession objects and blessings, Haijun possesses that mysterious black watch, so even when faced with this seemingly impossible situation, he can still find ways to exploit the flaws.

Now, as the only teammate who has established a spiritual connection with him, Maki knows that she is one of the key points that Gao Hai can rely on now.

and so……

"I'm the only one who can contact those 'missing people' right now, so please make sure I'm safe no matter what."

Zhenfei spoke to Xiong Mi very seriously.

"no problem."

Xiong Mi nodded slightly, not finding anything wrong with what he said.

"Then, we're going to Class 10 of the second year of high school to look for Eriko Asamoto."

Then, Princess Zhenfei slowly explained the next course of action.

Xiong Mi simply nodded again, then started walking, signaling Zhenfei and Qianhua to follow.

As Haijun had said, this senior colleague was a woman of action who did what she said she would do. There was no need for any nonsense when communicating with her; as long as the conditions and requirements were clearly explained, she would immediately get to the steps of action.

Working with teammates like these is incredibly reliable and reassuring.

"Going to the second year of high school? That's a year ahead, does that mean starting a year early? Hmm, I feel like there's still a lot I don't understand..."

Chika sighed softly. Although she felt a little envious and jealous of the mental link that Maki possessed, she knew very well that this was not the time to focus on such things. She quickly adjusted her attention and prepared for the next action.

At this moment, the road was deserted in the sunlight. It seemed that Xiong Mi's companion had come up with a way to successfully restrict all the students and prevent those things from leaving the teaching building.

In other words, all the students are currently in the teaching building, while the three of them are about to face those things head-on.

I hope I can survive. Even if I can't, I should at least gather enough information and try my best to convey it to Haijun through the mental link.

Thinking this, Princess Zhenfei took another deep breath, already prepared to die.

rustle--

Amidst the squeaks of their feet rubbing against the grass and bushes, Gao Hai and his two companions on the other side finally arrived at an unusual place.

"this place……"

In front of the overgrown weeds was a dilapidated small square, cracked and filled with puddles.

Further ahead, a dilapidated building, abandoned for who knows how many years, stood among the trees. The upper floors had clearly collapsed, with only floors 1 to 3 remaining intact. From the 4th floor onwards, it had completely turned into a collapsed ruin, making it impossible to tell how many floors it originally should have had.

The air was very humid, as if it had just rained.

In the cracked concrete ground, where some areas are completely covered by vegetation, some gray-white painted lines can be seen. Judging from the general direction of these lines, this ruined little square may have originally been a sports field for students.

A little further away from this small square, you can see a bicycle lying on the ground, its surface rusted to a dark red color.

"So...this is where it is?"