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

Chapter 99: The Strange Obsession of the Cat and the Abnormal Reactions of Gao Hai

The so-called "obsession object" is an item with extraordinary power formed from the obsession of a strange creature when it was once human.

The formation and outward manifestation of obsessive objects are usually quite different. Some are the embodiment of desires that the object could not obtain in its previous life, some are the most cherished things that the object once owned, and of course, some are things formed from the condensation of pain and hatred.

However, since the word "object" is included in the name of an obsession, it naturally means that these things are basically in the form of props. Obsessions with autonomous activity are usually rare, and obsessions with the vitality that only "living" things have are even rarer.

Not only are they alive, but they can also converse, seemingly possessing a clear sense of self-awareness and obsessive attachment...

【Meow, my name is Nyannai, meow meow meow~】

The dirty, scruffy kitten spoke in a serious tone, its voice sweet, like a little girl less than 1.4 meters tall.

What is this?

Gao Hai was already dumbfounded.

Why would a cat speak human language, and in such an adorable way?

Could this thing be the legendary catgirl, the kind that can transform into a warm, cozy bed sheet?!

Wait a minute, the object of obsession is ultimately the condensation of obsession. In other words, it is because [Koji Morihara] himself has this obsession that this little cat can speak and make such a cute little girl's voice.

So, does that mean Morihara Koji, the bombing expert who blew up Yoroyama Middle School back then, was also a cute anime/manga character?

Was his obsession in life simply to give the cats he raised cute female voices? Isn't that a bit too innocent? Is this what Japanese people are like?!

Gao Hai felt that his worldview had been drastically refreshed.

Kaguya, standing nearby, was equally stunned. She had prepared herself for the kitten to run around frantically as soon as it appeared, and for her and Takahashi to try their best to catch it. However, she did not expect that the first thing the little thing did after appearing was to greet the two of them in Japanese.

The kitten... it can talk, so it is?

Why have all the cats I've encountered before never spoken? Oh wait, no, no, how could a cat possibly speak? This obsession is not only an extremely rare living obsession, but it also possesses the ability to communicate! Isn't that a bit too special?!

"Hello, Miaonai, your name is very nice."

Gao Hai, who was the first to react, began to speak seriously.

Meow~ Thank you for the compliment, meow~

The kitten, as if possessed by a human soul, nodded solemnly and thanked them in a measured and formal manner.

"Who gave you such a cute and lovely name, Miaonai?"

Without hesitation, Gao Hai continued to ask questions, and gestured to Kaguya not to speak for the time being, so that he could talk to the peculiar little cat first.

[This name was given to Miaona by her owner, who has also said that Miaona is the cutest cat in the world~]

The kitten held its head high, its voice filled with pride.

"What is your master's name?"

Although it felt really strange to talk to a cat with a loli voice actress, Gao Hai continued to ask questions very seriously.

[Nyana's owner is named Koji Nyan~]

This scruffy kitten doesn't seem to know how to refuse. It answers every question Takahashi asks, and it doesn't shy away from questions about its owner, Koji Morihara. It seems to have a kind of innocent beauty in terms of intelligence.

Now that we've confirmed that this thing doesn't reject the question of [Morihara Koji], we can try the next step.

"Well, my friend and I heard that your master, Koji, is having some trouble, and we want to help him. Do you know how we can find him?"

Gao Hai slowed down his speech slightly and spoke very seriously to the kitten.

He had considered the possibility that Hatsuyuki would be accused of lying and killed by Chiyo Hachiya during his elementary school years. Therefore, before asking the question, he carefully examined his own thoughts, firmly establishing his belief that "I am here to help free Morihara Koji," and eliminating any distracting ideas before speaking to the cat. He even used Chiyo Hachiya's blessing to slightly limit his thinking abilities, ensuring he wouldn't have any negative thoughts during the questioning.

If he still couldn't get a friendly response, then he'd have no choice but to resort to force. Even though it was a cute little kitten, it wasn't his cat after all. While he wouldn't resort to torture unless in an extreme situation, he was capable of bullying Gao Hai a little.

Okay, then I'll take you to find your owner, meow~

However, that didn't happen. The little mixed-breed cat seemed to believe everything Gao Hai said without questioning it at all, and led the two of them forward.

At this moment, Gao Hai suddenly realized that his first blessing, the one that came from Li Zhaodi's malicious perception, had never been activated when facing this kitten.

Although the presence of this blessing has weakened considerably now (due to the excessive and frequent encounters with malice), it is still, in any case, an object of obsession, formed from condensed obsession, and thus, it inevitably contains some degree of malice. After all, it is the property of the dead, and mostly the form of obsession left behind by those who died unnatural deaths; it is unrealistic to say that there are no negative emotions involved.

But this kitten doesn't have that.

From the moment Takahashi took it out, through their conversation, to now the little cat hopping and skipping along, leading Takahashi and Kaguya forward, it showed no malice whatsoever, nor did it doubt Takahashi's words. It displayed only pure kindness and innocence, like a child who had never experienced pain or malice.

What exactly does this object of obsession represent about the boy named Koji Morihara?

To be honest, despite being the second most important core obsession in the Yoruyama Middle School area, past players haven't actually been able to uncover much information about [Morihara Koji] himself. They only know that he detonated a bomb and destroyed the school, that he was likely bullied, and that the kitten he once raised became his core obsession—that's all.

Compared to Eriko Asamoto, who is the first core obsession, and [Void], who is the third core obsession, this seemingly ordinary second core obsession is actually understood less and is less clear by players. Although many Red Moon-level players have tried to catch the cat that represents Koji Morihara's own obsession, no one knows what kind of person this boy who died at the age of high school was, what kind of life he lived, or what desires and ideals he had.

"..."

Without a word, Takami took a step forward and gestured for Kaguya to follow the kitten silently with him. The two of them and the kitten then began to move forward through the abandoned wind farm.

Soon, the kitten led the two to a small room they had searched before. Kaguya hadn't found any valuable clues in this room before, but this time, when they opened the door, they found a broken little cabinet.

Meow~ This is the entrance to Master's secret base, meow~ Master loves staying in the secret base, and Nyannai and Master often play in the secret base, meow~

Like a real little child, the scruffy, lame kitten squeezed through the bottom of the cabinet, excitedly talking to Takami and Kaguya.

So Gao Hai stepped forward and moved the cabinet aside, revealing a broken wall hole behind it, pitch black, with no idea where it led.

The kitten had already disappeared deep into the hole in the wall, and there was no trace of it except for faint meows.

Gao Hai paused in front of the hole in the wall, not immediately climbing inside.

Should we go down too?

Kaguya noticed Takami's pause and asked him a question in a low voice.

"……Um."

In response that seemed normal, Gao Hai crouched down, took a deep breath, and then lay completely prone on the ground, crawling into the hole in the wall. This was the only way for someone of his size to enter, and even so, the hole blocked him completely, requiring considerable effort with each step.

"call……"

With heavy breathing, Gao Hai took about half a minute to crawl into the cave. Then Kaguya followed him in, carefully cleaning up the traces of their entry into the room before entering. She put the cabinets back in place to prevent any potential enemies from discovering the place too early. Then she continued to follow Gao Hai and crawled through the pitch-black cave.

This appears to be a natural cave. The cave itself is very dry, and there are many small pieces of gravel in the passage.

Kaguya then used her flashlight to examine the cave, confirming that it was likely formed by geological activity such as an earthquake. She then quickly noticed that Takami, who was crawling ahead of her, was breathing rather rapidly.

"Huh...huh..."

His body seemed to be trembling slightly?

The blessing that sensed malice didn't detect anything approaching, but Kaguya was quickly alerted by Gao Hai's subtle abnormality. She suspected that he might be being corrupted by some kind of power of rules. However, Gao Hai himself made no move, and Kaguya dared not do anything rashly. She was unsure whether taking action without knowing the full story would lead to worse consequences, so she simply followed Gao Hai silently. They crawled in silence for about three minutes before finally reaching a larger area.

As Kaguya crawled out of the hole, she could see that Takami's movements were somewhat impatient, as if something was chasing him and he was desperately trying to crawl out, so much so that the shoulders of his clothes were quite worn, and one shoulder was completely rubbed raw, revealing the skin.

"...Finally out."

However, Gao Hai himself didn't care about this minor injury at all. He just muttered to himself with a sense of relief, and then turned around and pulled Kaguya out from behind.

Meow~ You guys are so slow~

Kaguya really wanted to ask Takami what was wrong; judging his emotional state shouldn't be difficult at this point. But the kitten's meow rang out from afar, immediately diverting Takami's attention. In this situation, Kaguya didn't say anything more, silently shining her flashlight around to observe this new underground area.

"This is it. Even players who have explored [Campus Ghost Stories] many times rarely reach this underground base area."

Gao Hai, who was also holding a flashlight, spoke while shining the flashlight around him.

Slogans in neon signs and numbers spread across the walls.

There are already some cracks in the walls and the ground, which seem to be due to some damage caused by the earthquake.

The two found themselves in a gloomy corridor. The temperature was extremely low; taking a breath felt like filling their lungs with ice water. Furthermore, being a closed underground area, there was no light source other than their own lighting equipment; once the lights were off, it was truly pitch black.

The little cat with a limp was waiting for them on one side of the corridor.

Chapter 100: Hayasaka Ai's Escape Moment and Successful Reunion?

{Yotsuya Miko: So, you're also in an underground base now, senpai? Hmm, it feels like we're in similar situations, both of us are in military bases. Although Hayasaka-san hasn't found a way to escape the cage yet... Ah, she's already started taking action, I'll stop here for now.}

Because she wasn't in the group chat of Takami's girlfriends, Hayasaka Ai didn't know that Yotsuya Miko, who was temporarily controlling the same body as her, was still chatting. She was just sitting on one side of the cage pretending nothing was wrong, looking like she was asleep, but in reality she was paying attention to the situation around her, her body always tense, ready to jump up and act at any moment.

She was waiting for an opportunity.

Waiting for a chance to escape this place.

Her gaze swept across the cold iron bars in front of her, the bars that stretched out along both sides of the large room, divided into small cages, and the silent creatures patrolling the area.

Jianzi recognized this place as the [Experimental Subject Detention Area] next to [Human Experimentation Zone No. 1], which they had investigated during their second playthrough. However, it was different from the second playthrough; there were significantly more people being held here, and the number of patrolling soldiers had also increased. Although describing a dungeon area in this way might seem strange, at this moment, this place was, in a sense, more lively and more human.

However, precisely because of this, escaping from this place has become much more difficult.

The cages in the entire holding area were made of solid iron bars about the thickness of two fingers. There were no thin wires to tear off, nor any other handy tools. Therefore, Hayasaka was unable to use his lock-picking skills to escape the cage and could only continue to wait quietly for an opportunity.

To find the blind spots in these things' actions, we need to understand that they are ultimately the remains left behind by living people, and no human being can be without any flaws.

As Hayasaka pondered this, he observed the soldiers' actions again and again, silently memorizing the patterns of each patrol, noting the intervals between the soldiers entering and leaving the room, and their possible purposes for each visit.

Hehe...hehehe...

Across from the cage, a dirty old man was chuckling nervously in a low voice, his eyes glancing at Hayasaka every now and then.

Unlike the other test subjects sitting in cages with obvious craniotomy marks on their heads, who all looked dazed and blank, as if their souls had left their bodies and gone elsewhere, this creature clearly retained its senses and strangely kept glancing at Hayasaka's group. Hayasaka and Miko had both carefully observed the old man, but found nothing particularly unusual; he seemed to be just a neurotic old man. Therefore, without more information, Hayasaka decided to temporarily ignore him.

I hope this thing won't interfere with my actions.

After observing for a sufficient period of time, Hayasaka reminded Miko, who was connected to him, in his mind. His previously lazy sitting posture began to slowly adjust and he began to sit upright.

She had a small box in her hand, which she had hidden to her side.

The [Mysterious Toy Box] was one of the three Dark Night-level Obsession Items that Gao Hai obtained through a trade with Xiao He Shu. Because this Obsession Item never truly demonstrated any power, Xiao He Shu even advised Gao Hai to reconsider after learning that he had decided to choose it. In fact, throughout the entire Hayate Elementary School instance, this peculiar little thing was completely useless, becoming nothing more than a toy.

Hayasaka, however, had a different view. She had Miko bring over this object of obsession through the link between her and Takami, and then kept it hidden under herself, waiting for the right opportunity.

Click——

A patrol team opened the door and left the cell.

Another group of patrolmen not far away turned around, making sure they weren't looking in Hayasaka's direction.

This was the only chance she could guarantee she wouldn't be seen by any soldiers, her only opportunity to strike, a mere 0.7 seconds. Once that time was up, the patrol that had turned away would turn back, and then a new patrol would enter three seconds later. In that situation, if she made even the slightest unusual movement, the soldiers would immediately turn their guns on her, aim, and put their fingers on the trigger.