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

But the bodies of those who died for him, those who fell, will forever be displayed in Gao Hai's memory. One after another, they fill every corner of his memory in the ever-thickening blood.

Gao Hai had also thought that these were all fake, and that once the timeline was reversed, they would cease to exist, so there was no need to care.

But Miko's death made him question this way of comforting himself again. After all, even if he could go back in time, could he really consider all those lost interactions and collaborations as non-existent? Maki shielding him from a bullet, their first kiss in the apartment, teaching the clueless Chika how to become a player in the cave, Miko's calls, the warmth of Ai leaning against him, and Kaguya resolutely standing in front of him to help him notice his unusual emotions...

These experiences are not fake. Even if others may not remember what happened, for Gao Hai, these experiences are definitely real.

So he was very unhappy.

So, as his teammates fell one by one, and as fewer and fewer people remained, he felt extremely unhappy.

"What are you doing..."

Gao Hai sighed softly.

"I hate owing favors to people the most."

"You all place such high hopes on me and believe in me so firmly, I'm under a lot of pressure."

"If there's a next time, at least please, don't die before me..."

Stand up.

The surging, distorted spiritual pollution has completely covered this land.

Zhenfei fell to the ground, but was caught by Gao Hai.

Come to think of it, I had a feeling that after she woke up from her coma, she wanted to say something to me, but because of the emergency, she didn't have time. I wonder if she'll have time to say what she wanted to say now.

Thinking this, Gao Hai lowered his head, only to find that Maki had lost consciousness once again. It seemed she had only been conscious for a very short time, and it was unlikely she would wake up again.

{She found the method to start the observation program in Bydos...}

But the next moment, Gao Hai received a mental link communication with Zhen Fei.

After Maki lost consciousness, and her mind sank into a coma on the side of Yoruyama Middle School, Takahashi received another communication from her. At this point, such a mental communication could only be coming from Baidos.

She found... the key structure of the inner region... whether it was the device controlling memory... or the device initiating the observation process...

{They've all been found... but... if she were alone... she couldn't successfully activate it...}

Gao Hai was perfectly aware of who the person Zhenfei was referring to was.

He turned his head and looked at the spot where Hayasaka was lying, but all he saw was a lump of rotting flesh.

As expected, she couldn't have survived without special protection.

Thinking this, Gao Hai looked in the direction of Aoyama Nanami again, only to find that the other person's figure had completely disappeared, leaving only the remnants of clothing in the place.

No recovery? No, that's not right. These traces... Did she intentionally stop recovering after regaining her cognitive abilities and choose to self-destruct?

Why would she do that? Was it because she saw what was happening around her, or... wait, if Goto Ichiri was able to have her seed planted by [Takamagahara] in secret, could those [Takamagahara] have also done something to her when they were cooperating with the fanatics to attack Aoyama Nanami? After all, what those madmen need is the body of a player who can escape the dungeon; logically speaking, killing players is never something they want to do.

Could it be because of this? Because she realized her resurrection would be tampered with, she committed suicide after regaining her thinking ability. Ah… she can't wake up and tell me the truth anyway, so there's no need to consider that anymore.

After sending the message, Maki lost response again. We don't know what's going on with her, but judging from her physical reactions, it probably won't be long before she suffers brain death like Kaguya.

In silence, Gao Hai picked up Maki and wrapped one arm around the girl's waist to hold her securely. Then he looked at Kaguya sitting on the other side and picked her up with one arm as well. With one arm on each side, they began to walk through the ruins.

The ethereal figure holding the guitar did not stop Gao Hai. Perhaps because his fusion with the "Void" deepened over time, the surrounding ethereal figures did not take any action against him, and completely ignored Maki Kaguya and the other person he was with.

Gao Hai was heading towards the room where the flesh-and-blood fusion machine was located.

He kicked open the door, stepped into the room that was completely stained with blood red, and walked all the way to the machine.

For Gao Hai, who had already operated the machine before, starting it was not a difficult task. So he quickly inserted one of the injection ports into his arm and the other into Kaguya's body.

Activate the machine and merge the other person's flesh, memories, soul, and everything else into your own body.

Gao Hai closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes within himself, and only opened them after confirming the fusion was complete. He then turned his gaze to Zhen Fei.

Although he personally didn't want the two girls to retain their memories like Miko Yotsuya, remembering the agonizing pain of each death, he needed to maximize his advantage and increase his options to better solve the puzzle and conserve the watch's usage. Therefore, he needed more people to share in the power and pain of time travel.

hum-

The machine has stopped operating.

Gao Hai has received all the memories and emotions belonging to the two girls, and has incorporated their existence into his own.

This feeling is really quite awful.

I felt like I had become a voyeur, spying on two girls from birth to high school.

However, the contrast between these two is quite striking. Maki's family life is carefree and incredibly happy. But perhaps that's why she developed such a tsundere personality? Furthermore, Kaguya's family life…shouldn't they really purge her family? Is this really treating Kaguya like a human being? It's more like raising a pet, treating her like a commodity for sale. But if I remember correctly, in the original work, Kaguya was intended for use in trades by her family, so calling her a commodity isn't entirely wrong. Heh, it's understandable that this girl has become so twisted, but she actually wants me to confess my feelings? She's even planning some kind of strategy to make me fall for her. How should I put it, it's kind of strangely funny.

However, it's really impolite to spy on other people's memories like this. I should just delete those memories. I just want them to have the ability to retain and recall memories like me. I don't plan to see them naked, even though I already have.

Chiyo Hachiya's spiritual blessing activated swiftly, erasing all of Takami's memories of Kaguya and Maki. Hmm... only a very small portion remained, mainly for refined artistic appreciation; it's not a big deal, don't worry about it.

Then, sitting on this flesh-fusion machine, Gao Hai briefly fell into a daze, playing with the pistol given to him by Hirano Sosuke's blessing, and just sat there blankly for a while without thinking about anything.

At that moment, some sounds rang out from the surroundings.

Some voices that he really didn't want to hear at this moment, but still came knocking, started to rang out.

Hello, Mr. Gao Hai

Would you mind talking to us again?

open one's eyes.

In the room bathed in a dark red hue, several indistinct shadows emerged.

Gao Hai didn't speak, but the act of opening his eyes seemed to give the shadows some confidence, so the one that had spoken earlier continued to talk on its own.

With things having developed to this point, I think there's no need for us to continue the confrontation, is there?

Mr. Gao Hai, all your teammates are dead, and we have also paid a heavy price.

This instance has now entered an irreversible state of distortion; neither you nor we have much time left.

I think we can call a truce now. Regardless of all the unpleasantness in the past, let's at least work together to figure out how to survive, shall we?

【This is a sincere invitation, Mr. Gao Hai. We just want to live; we're just a group of pitiful people who don't want to die. You certainly don't want to die either, otherwise you wouldn't have chosen to devour your companions. We can think of a solution together. I think we can put aside our previous conflicts for now. Or if you have any requests or grievances, you can tell us now.】

The shadow's voice sounded quite sincere.

Well, how should I put it? It was so sincere that Gao Hai almost threw up.

Li Zhaodi's blessing and Hedar's blessing continued to sound the alarm, reminding him that these guys still had ill intentions. However, if it were these guys, he wouldn't really need the reminder of the blessing power; after all, he knew all too well what kind of people they were.

"Sometimes, I really don't understand people like you."

Gao Hai spoke slowly, gazing at the black shadows in the dim, blood-red light, his face expressionless.

"When they do bad things, they are incredibly powerful and more ruthless than anyone else."

"When it finally became unavoidable and the price had to be paid, they started to play the victim and put on an act."

"I've been thinking about this since just now: what kind of species are you people? How can you be so disgusting?"

As he spoke, Gao Hai pressed the pistol against his forehead and smiled at the shadows in front of him.

What are you doing? Don't do this, don't hurt yourself. We just want to live. Whatever you want, we'll give you!

The shadows began to shake violently.

They panicked, they were terrified, because Gao Hai was the only living person left with any hope of leaving the instance. For these now-dying members of [Takamagahara], only Gao Hai, the sole player, could possibly lead them out of the instance. This is why they did the absurd thing of running to Gao Hai to ask for his cooperation—they were truly driven to desperation.

In any case, everyone is struggling to survive right now, so there should still be hope for cooperation, right?

With this in mind, these half-human, half-monster beings devised a plan and, with considerable composure, approached Gao Hai, intending to negotiate terms. Unexpectedly, the guy immediately pressed a pistol against his own head, displaying an attitude of not caring about his life.

How could you do this? No, you can't do this!

The shadows' fear was so intense.

"Then the only thing I can think of to compare with you is the livestock like chickens and ducks in the slaughterhouse."

But Gao Hai just kept talking to himself, completely ignoring their reactions.

“Those things that, until the very last moment before being slaughtered, can still leisurely peck around in their cages looking for food, completely oblivious to the screams of their companions nearby.”

"A mentally challenged animal that only begins to scream and struggle when the butcher grabs it by the wings and lifts it by the neck, and only then does it realize what is about to happen to it."

“You are nothing more than a bunch of livestock waiting to be slaughtered.”

In the end, Gao Hai's voice was filled with only a sinister chill.

We can surrender to you, say whatever you want, please don't do this.

The stiff shadows conveyed anger; these self-proclaimed nobles clearly could not accept Gao Hai's insulting words. But faced with the desperate desire to survive, they still adopted a humble posture, even their voices carrying a hint of pleading.

"Ah, I did think about setting conditions for you, like having you fight each other to the death, and then cooperating if only one of you is left."

Gao Hai smiled.

"But then I thought about it and realized it was pointless. You wouldn't remember it anyway, and in the end it would just be me entertaining myself, which would be really boring."

Gao Hai's smile suddenly vanished, and his gaze became even colder.

“You disgusting creatures deserve eternal punishment and endless suffering.”

“If the garbage can’t be thrown into the landfill or incinerator all at once, it will start to smell bad. It has to be done in one go.”

"So I'll leave the bills I owe you for next time. Next time, you won't have another chance, so just you wait."

Extend your hand, extend one finger.

Gao Hai pointed at the black shadows and spoke slowly, his tone calm and his voice without any fluctuation.

But at that moment, all the members of Takamagahara who heard his voice felt an overwhelming chill. Even if they didn't understand what this man meant by "next time," they could clearly feel his unwavering determination to annihilate them completely.

【You—】

boom!

Without further tedious conversation, Gao Hai pulled the trigger, and the bullet pierced his skull.

The power of the Undying Blessing was forcibly suppressed by Gao Hai.

Consciousness quickly faded, and the familiar feeling of facing death became clear again.

In the third playthrough, Gao Hai's team suffered a complete wipeout, with not a single member left alive.

The black watch worn on one wrist, its hands beneath the cracked dial, began to tremble slightly again, slowly moving toward the next tick.

Click!