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

As he was thinking this, Takahashi turned his head and looked at Yotsuya Miko, who was lying not far away, with her usual peaceful expression, as if she were falling asleep.

And lying next to Yotsuya Miko, there were Shijou Maki and Shinomiya Kaguya.

"what?"

The unexpected situation left Gao Hai slightly stunned.

However, he then realized that the method Kaguya and Maki used to kill him was, in a sense, the same as the method Alice used to absorb him through Yotsuya Miko at Fujika Middle School—essentially, a complete fusion of his blood and bones into himself. Therefore, just like Miko, Maki and Kaguya, who were already trusted and relied upon by Takami, also gained the opportunity to sneak into the Crimson City, becoming brand new ★★★ level furniture.

Is this good news?

Gao Hai slowly got up, walked over to Maki and Kaguya lying on the ground, and looked at them, his feelings slightly complicated.

The Blood City, which was initially only open to me, has now welcomed two new residents. Well, those in the fire don't count; they're just trash to be used as firewood. Speaking of which, these two girls mutated and ate me to gain entry, so why didn't the Butcher's cooking of me and Kaguya Hayasaka work? Was it because I was turned into a dog and thus mutated, or is simply eating not enough, and a deeper connection is necessary?

Regardless, these three girls, lying quietly on the ground as if asleep, were simply staying there. Unfortunately, they were still only in their [furniture] form, unable to open their eyes to talk to Takahashi or play games. They could only be displayed like the Wakazama hovercraft's total power battle trophy, offering little in the way of fun.

Because Miko had undergone two fusion experiences, her skin felt real to the touch and possessed some warmth, like that of a living person. In contrast, Kaguya and Maki were like stones sculpted into human form, cold and solid to the touch.

"..."

He poked Kaguya's face, patted her stomach, and then patted the girl's legs, which were clad in black stockings, twice.

Although this felt no different from touching a stone to Gao Hai, don't mistake it for him playing around. He already knew from Jian Zi that she could retain her senses of being in the Crimson City to some extent. Therefore, his real purpose in touching Kaguya was to increase the stimulation and see if he could make Kaguya retain her senses related to the Crimson City sooner and faster, thus gaining the same ability to retain reverted memories as him.

Considering that his relationship with Kaguya is still in its early stages, Takahashi didn't touch her in any impolite places, but instead focused his touch on her cheeks, neck, lower abdomen, and thighs and calves.

"Did you hear that? Moshi moshi, I like you, Kaguya."

"Your legs are so beautiful, and they feel really nice to touch."

"Next time we ride the Ferris wheel, can I lie on your lap?"

Then he tried speaking into Kaguya's ear, saying all sorts of provocative things for a while, things that Kaguya would definitely find unbearable given her personality.

After a short while, Gao Hai came to Maki's side again, intending to give Maki a little stimulation like he did with Kaguya, to see if he could speed things up and allow her to retain more memories.

Ok……

After hesitating for a moment, Gao Hai placed his hand on Zhenfei's thigh and then reached inside her skirt.

Would the other person really feel anything if they did that?

Feeling rather strange, Takahashi simply touched Maki's cheek and whispered "Mama Maki" in her ear a few times.

The figure struggling in the inferno was actually located underground, beneath the collapsed area of ​​the plaza, and the collapse opening was nearly a hundred meters away from Gao Hai's location. Therefore, the villains being tortured inside could not possibly have seen or heard Gao Hai playing with the ornaments lying on the ground. Of course, considering that these items were forever engulfed in flames, they were already incapable of sensing anything.

As for the "writer" who was being tortured, its location was even further away from Gao Hai's side. Moreover, as the central area of ​​the square was obscured by many huge, blank stone tablets, it was even less likely that the writer could see what was happening in Gao Hai's area. In fact, the corner of the square where Gao Hai and the three girls were located was completely cut off from any direct visual contact with those being judged and punished. Just by staying there, Gao Hai couldn't even hear the screams of the humanoid creatures in the fire pit.

Although there was no need to worry about being spied on or eavesdropped on, playing with stones was still too strange, so Gao Hai quickly lost interest and stopped bothering the two newly arrived girls.

when--

The bells were already ringing in the blood-red city, now deserted.

Gao Hai looked up at the items falling from the sky.

The quantity... was even greater than expected.

Whether it's a burning cross, a small music box, or a domino with its contents obscured, there are all sorts of odds and ends. Some of them don't seem to have any particular aura and probably resemble Dark Night-level obsession objects, while a few feel quite different and are likely Red Moon-level obsession objects.

Gao Hai identified the object of obsession belonging to Garisto, who was killed by Xiong Mi, and the object of obsession belonging to Evalist, whose body was covered in his blood. In addition, there were some other objects of obsession belonging to people whose identities were unclear, but which were not from his own teammates. In total, there were more than 30 objects, including several space storage objects that Gao Hai could equip for his teammates.

"A huge amount of gold coins!"

With a sigh, Gao Hai reached out and took the blank teacher qualification certificate, glanced at it, and then put it back into his watch.

Then, as each of his coveted items fell, he found the little thing he had been most looking forward to, the one he had been praying for to be delivered ever since these coveted items first appeared.

It was a scruffy kitten curled up in a ball, seemingly sleeping.

In the second playthrough player team battle, he was successfully hit by Gao Hai's technique of splashing blood over a huge area, and at that moment he was dragged into the blood-red city. He is the core obsession of the second core obsession of Yelu Mountain Middle School, [Morihara Koji].

"Jackpot (I've won the lottery)."

At this moment, Gao Hai smiled like a giant seal that had just gotten a great loot in a single pull.

Eriko Asamoto, the core obsession of the Yoruyama Middle School area, is now controlled by Ichiri Goto, and her last wish has been confirmed. Many secrets behind her apparent identity have also been basically confirmed.

The location of Lord Urian's core obsession, the primary core obsession of the Baidos region, is unknown, but his dying wish has been confirmed. Based on information obtained through the sacrifices of Maki and others, the key to fulfilling this mad scientist's wish may lie in imbuing the third core obsession of Nightfall Mountain Middle School with reality, filling this illusory entity with a real inner essence, and further altering its fundamental nature. To achieve this, the crucial object of the third core obsession has already been successfully obtained by Gao Hai.

And now, the second core obsession of Yoruyama Middle School, Morihara Koji, who has never had any presence from beginning to end, has also had his core obsession object successfully obtained. The opportunity to find, understand and crack this core obsession has arrived.

Finally, only the situation of Dean Jonathan, the primary core obsession of Bydos Academy, remains unclear. However, Gao Hai already has some guesses about this mysterious core obsession, so there's no need to rush.

"So, the main focus of the third cycle is to unravel the last wish of the second core obsession of Nightfall Mountain Middle School, find a way to let him rest in peace, and how to give an inner method to that illusory core obsession that is connected to both Bydos and Nightfall Mountain Middle School."

The road ahead is gradually becoming clearer.

From being completely lost in a fog at the beginning, with no idea which way to go, to now, after two cycles and three days of investigation and exploration, Gao Hai finally has the confidence to achieve victory.

when--

The second bell rang out.

Gao Hai lowered his head and looked at the watch hands, which had reached [3].

"Five core beliefs and multiple different directions of exploration. It's impossible for me to handle everything on my own. I must ensure the combat effectiveness of my teammates."

In my second playthrough, I was able to successfully investigate so much, thanks in no small part to the strong support of my girlfriend and the reliable assistance of experienced players. However, the game ultimately failed. While the fact that the ceiling area was a minefield that no one knew how dangerous it was before was partly due to not having triggered it, the root cause was the lack of teamwork and effective information exchange. Now that Chika and Miko have a mental link, communication issues have lessened considerably, but their abilities still need to be addressed.

Now is not the time to be frugal; we need to have the courage to treat every rollback as if it were the last!

Click! Click!

With a series of mechanical friction sounds, the watch hands moved to position [5], then to position [7], and went directly over half of the dial.

Maki and Chika thus gained the ability to share their cherished possessions and blessings with Takami, forging a deeper connection between them.

Unfortunately, Hayasaka's intimacy level is still a bit lacking, and Kaguya's is also quite low, so a fully-fledged team isn't possible yet. But we can leave those things for later; eventually, memories will allow us to strengthen everyone to perfection.

when--

As the third bell rang, everything around gradually faded in color, and everything began to fall into darkness.

Gao Hai took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and felt his consciousness sink into oblivion once again, awaken, and open his eyes again to welcome the start of the game, which was already repeating itself for the third time.

Then he saw the empty dormitory room under the dim red light, where there was no one else but himself. He heard what sounded like a girl sobbing softly coming from the corridor outside, gradually approaching him.

Chapter 93: The beginning of a new cycle is always different from the last one.

This isn't the first time Takami has experienced this scenario: after painstakingly gathering a lot of information in a previous playthrough, only to have the new playthrough introduce completely different events.

But no matter how many times this happens, he always has to say "Go to hell" because Gao Hai really, really hates games where there's no safe period at the start, where the intensity goes straight up and in different ways.

Fortunately, it wasn't the "writer" jumping out of the watch to intensify his abilities and play dirty tricks on him. It seemed that Gao Hai had simply triggered some mechanism because he retained too many memories from previous instances. Therefore, this time there was no big mouth flower that was about to kill him or a little loli who was laughing and chopping him up with a knife. Instead, there was just... well, just a strange creature that reached out from under the bed the moment Gao Hai got out of bed, trying to drag him under the bed.

Help me... Help me...

With weak murmurs, an astonishing force, so immense and utterly irresistible, dragged Gao Hai's body, pulling him little by little toward the darkness beneath the bed.

Without any warning, just as Gao Hai woke up in his empty dormitory room with the red lights on and was about to get out of bed, something suddenly reached out from under the bed and grabbed his leg before he could even react.

The force of the attack was clearly at a disadvantage, but this strange creature seemed to have some special rules of its own, so it couldn't pull Gao Hai into the dark area under the bed all at once. It could only drag him slowly, so Gao Hai still had a chance to resist and struggle.

Help me... help me...

That sounded like a very weak girl's voice, so weak that she couldn't make a clear sound.

The small hand, pale and bruised, with several fingers clearly broken, was now completely embedded in Gao Hai's flesh, gripping his calf so tightly it was almost broken on the spot, and blood was flowing uncontrollably.

Click!

After a shattering sound, Gao Hai tore off his own leg without hesitation.

Amidst the splatter of blood, new legs have already begun to regrow under the power of the rescue team's badge.

After pulling Gao Hai's legs under the bed, the thing under the bed then stretched out its hand, struggling to reach out in Gao Hai's direction.

However, Gao Hai himself had already jumped up on one foot and landed on the ceiling, avoiding the thing's attack from a great distance. As Gao Hai dodged, the thing stretched its hand forward even further, exposing its head and a small part of its body to the dim red light.

That face... it really was Eriko Asamoto's face.

Despite being emaciated, with obvious signs of tearing in its hair, and covered with numerous wounds and scars, Gao Hai quickly recognized the face, confirming that this strange creature shared the same appearance as the mutilated corpses in the forest, and was very likely the same person.

Her body... was wrapped in duct tape?

Although only a small part of her body was exposed, Gao Hai keenly noticed that this "Asamoto Eriko" had thick tape wrapped around her mouth and body, and there were obvious signs of bruises and falls on her face. Considering that several fingers of her outstretched hand were broken, Gao Hai had a very bad feeling.

Help...help me...

As the girl whimpered in pain, laughter began to erupt from all around.

The girl who fell to the ground was beaten until her bones broke and she bled profusely.

The boys and girls, who were the same age as the girl, muttered things like, "We're just taking it out on her, what if she really dies?" and decided to hide her under her bed in the dormitory.

Even though she was on the verge of death, the girl still struggled and refused to give in. So everyone took out duct tape and forcibly bound her already broken body, then taped her mouth shut as well, before stuffing her under the bed and covering her with cardboard boxes and various other items.

It was as magical as magic; the girl really did disappear.

There was no stench of rotting corpses, and no blood flowing from under the bed.

When people looked under the bed to search for the girl, they found that she had vanished without a trace.

Some people say this is due to the power of ghost stories, that monsters lurk under the beds in the dormitory, and that the girl was taken away by a monster. Therefore, when sleeping in the dormitory, you must carefully check under your bed to find out if a monster is lurking there.

In the end, it was revealed that a monster did indeed exist under the beds in the dormitory building.

However, the monster was not some indescribable thing, but simply that poor girl, the girl whose bones were broken, who was sealed with tape, and who died under the bed.

Help...help...

A muffled sound came from under the tape.

Gao Hai had already landed on the large table in the middle of the dormitory room and quickly moved towards the door, completely ignoring the thing that had crawled out from under the bed.

The power of this ghost story is confined to under the bed; once you leave its reach, you don't need to worry about its attacks.

However, this is still quite a distance from truly getting out of the predicament.

{Yotsuya Miko: Senpai... where are you? The lights here are red, I... I'm afraid to get out of bed, there's something under the bed...}

A voice from Miko, tinged with panic, echoed in his mind. Clearly, this girl, who, like Gao Hai, had retained too many memories, had also woken up in the lower level of Yelu Mountain Middle School, and had encountered the same problem of the strange creature under the bed as him.