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

Then, she cautiously looked at Gao Hai and asked him a question.

"Well, there's nothing to complain about now."

Gao Hai was well aware of the side effects of this stuff, but he didn't hesitate and drank it down in one gulp. After Zhenfei and the others sacrificed themselves, he had no intention of living anymore. Even if this thing would cause him severe backlash, he would accept it as long as he could hold on for a little longer.

Tsk, these fanatics are really trash. They don't even have a single Red Moon-level curse removal item. Even if it's extremely rare, with only three or four known to the entire Red Moon-level player class, you guys should at least try to be more ambitious and drop an SSR-level gold coin for me.

With these thoughts running through his mind, Takami drank the liquid, feeling the changes within his body. He then exchanged a glance with Goto Ichiri, and the two turned away from each other before disappearing into the air together.

Takami used Eriko's blessing for a second teleport, while Ichiri used the first teleport. Both of them set up teleportation points not far from the notice board, but Ichiri's point was a little further away than Takami's, so Takami waited for about ten seconds before she arrived.

{Um...Mr. Hai, is everything alright?}

Although Gao Hai hadn't explicitly stated it yet, she had roughly guessed the situation of Zhen Fei and the others, and still looked at Gao Hai with some concern.

I'm fine. I guess it's because I was prepared, so my reaction wasn't strong.

Gao Hai's tone and demeanor were no different from usual, and he appeared quite calm.

The two of them took a step forward and quickly moved towards the village ahead. Even from a distance, Gao Hai could already see the rising smoke of gunpowder.

The battle for the four rescue team members is basically over.

Howard, who was driving the vehicle, was dead; he had been mauled and dismembered by a dog that had stormed into the car. While the villagers of [Li Family Village] themselves lacked significant fighting abilities, the animals in the village were unbelievably strong, almost as if they were possessed by superpowers.

The officer remained standing, despite being missing an arm. He was still there, and in fact, the entire village was destroyed thanks to his unlimited ammunition.

Yes, the village has been destroyed.

With the police officer's super bullets firing hundreds of rounds per second, the entire village was successfully wiped out. Now, only ruins remain in the village, and even among the ruins, none are higher than a meter.

As for the "teacher," unfortunately, the rescue team member couldn't save it; it has returned to the watch and entered the cooling and repair phase.

The reason why the teacher, who clearly possessed the strongest survival skills, withdrew from the game was quite simple. Gao Hai had tried to send the teacher to rescue the trapped players, and they actually succeeded in rescuing some of them.

This action angered something, something that wouldn't care even if the village were razed to the ground, and was thus enraged by this incident.

"I thought you wouldn't get angry, how come you're getting anxious like a human being?"

Gao Hai strode forward and his first words were sarcastic.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Mountain God's Connection to Shirakawa Apartments and the Smile of the Mocker

silence.

Gao Hai's mockery was met with only silence in response.

Just like its consistent attitude, it completely disregards Gao Hai's existence and what he says or expresses. To any of his reactions or actions, this thing's only response is silence, nothing more.

Using words like contempt or disdain to describe it seems a bit inappropriate; perhaps "ignoring" is a better word to describe this reaction?

It doesn't matter how many villagers are killed.

They didn't care at all even if the entire village was destroyed.

This so-called "Little Black Mountain God" seemed to be a truly high and mighty deity, never giving Gao Hai a real chance to communicate with it from beginning to end.

Even so, Gao Hai finally discovered what this thing truly cared about and valued.

Through the shared perception of the rescue team's badges, Gao Hai was able to clearly see the process of the teacher's death.

After eliminating a large number of villagers, the rescue team member with the power of annihilation quickly located the players imprisoned in different houses. Most of the Night-level players were already in a state of mental breakdown or even brain death, essentially just breathing lumps of flesh. For these poor players with insufficient strength, Gao Hai commanded [Teacher] to bring out as many salvageable and conscious players as possible and gather them outside the village. Those who could not be saved were marked and then destroyed by Hirano Sosuke, giving these players a quick death while completely destroying their flesh and blood to prevent them from being used by the villagers.

It's worth mentioning that none of the ten Red Moon-level players that Gao Hai found in the square earlier were imprisoned; all of them had disappeared without a trace.

It seems these Red Moon level players do have some skill, but given the extremely domineering and benevolent rule of [Li Family Village], Gao Hai is not optimistic about these escaped Red Moon level players and doesn't think they have a chance of surviving in the end.

Ultimately, this instance's malicious intent is essentially a **man-made rule trap**. For players who can't receive advance notice, finding loopholes in these rules on their first encounter is impossible. Even Gao Hai suffered near-total teammate casualties and had to personally intervene to prevent them from suffering further losses. Therefore, Gao Hai estimates that even if those unknown Red Moon-level players manage to escape temporarily, their final fate will likely be grim.

Of course, this is a different issue altogether, and not something Gao Hai needs to focus on right now.

Compared to players who are destined for tragedy in their first playthrough, this so-called mountain god is someone to be more wary of.

Based on the observations made by the teacher before his death, Gao Hai has confirmed that what the Mountain God of Little Black Mountain truly needs is the vitality and soul of the players.

All the player flesh and blood sacrificed undergo a transformation of some nature. The teacher didn't understand the specific principles behind this transformation, but through observation, he could confirm that not only were the players' souls forcibly sealed within these special flesh and blood, unable to escape, but the vitality within the flesh and blood was also forcibly preserved by a strange force, essentially becoming a special kind of obsession. During the process of the statue absorbing flesh and blood through the sacrificial ritual, the teacher could also hear the players' souls being drawn away. Through the teacher's perspective, he could feel the players' consciousness and thoughts gradually flowing into the statue, being sucked into some unknown area along with the life force within the flesh and blood.

Judging from the pitiful screams of those who lost consciousness, Gao Hai estimated that the other side was probably not a good place.

After the sacrifice, most of the flesh and blood would be absorbed by the statue on the altar and sucked into some unknown place. The remaining flesh and blood would no longer contain the player's soul, but would retain a certain amount of vitality. Gao Hai estimated that the villagers were resurrected by these flesh and blood.

Life and soul—these are the things that the Mountain God of Little Black Mountain values ​​most.

So no matter how Gao Hai destroyed the village and killed the villagers, that thing didn't react at all.

But after the "Teacher" rescued a considerable number of players, the thing couldn't help but make its move. The specific method of attack could not be confirmed, but it was certain that the "Teacher" was attacked while in a state of nothingness, and the attack was extremely powerful, annihilating the rescue team member almost instantly.

The strange thing is that although that force easily destroyed the [Teacher], the players who were rescued and hid on the outskirts of the village were not killed. They were not even attacked. The villagers were busy fighting the rescue team and did not care about them. The strange animals in the village completely ignored their existence. The most mysterious [Mountain God] also had no intention of making a move.

Is it because this thing disdains to harm living people?

No, that's impossible. If that were the case, Ichiri and I wouldn't have been attacked by the mudslide.

So, is it because the Mountain God cannot directly kill people?

Even if this thing possesses unimaginable power, it still has rules that cannot be violated. So, must it accept sacrifices? Must the villagers offer flesh and blood through a certain sacrificial process before it can absorb the life force and soul within?

Gao Hai speculated on possible reasons, but he didn't have much information at the moment, so he couldn't draw a definitive conclusion directly.

Therefore, taking direct action is more effective.

tread--

Gao Hai has already stepped into [Li Family Village], or rather, into the ruins of [Li Family Village].

No villagers came to greet him this time, and there was no spatial transfer. The ruins destroyed by the rescue team remained silent, quietly waiting for Gao Hai's arrival.

Goto Ichiri followed beside him, carefully holding the guitar. Although she wasn't quite sure what Takami wanted to do, this socially awkward girl was always very obedient and followed instructions perfectly, and she was already on alert without Takami saying anything.

Hmm, if no spatial transfer occurred, does that mean that the team's previous dispersal was actually a deliberate, clandestine operation, and not just a simple violation of the rules?

Or perhaps these villagers have a deep understanding of the rules of this instance, so whether a player should trigger a certain effect after violating a rule requires the villagers' confirmation?

While he was thinking, Gao Hai walked toward the only intact building in Lijia Village.

It was a small building that looked like a small temple, but also somewhat like a family ancestral hall in a traditional mansion.

During the police bombardment just now, this building was the only one that remained completely undamaged. No matter how many bullets were fired, they had no effect whatsoever and could not truly destroy the building.

Through the open wooden gate, Gao Hai can see the mountain god statue on the altar in the center of the ancestral hall.

It has to be said, this thing really looks like the Guanyin Bodhisattva who grants children. The kind-faced, slightly bowed female figure, combined with the sleeping child she is holding in her arms, really resembles the traditional Guanyin Bodhisattva statue.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that while this object imitates a deity statue, there are significant discrepancies in its details. Indeed, Gao Hai feels that "abnormal" is a more accurate description than "different."

For example, the woman with her head bowed, looking at the child in her arms, has her mouth slightly open, as if she wants to say something... or wants to eat something. Furthermore, according to Gao Hai's recollection, the children held in statues of Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy) are usually awake, either sitting quietly in Guanyin's lap or in a very lively posture. But this child... not only are his eyes closed, but one hand is clearly hanging down; it's hard to say whether he's asleep or dead.

Ordinary people who lack knowledge and don't scrutinize statues closely would definitely not notice the difference at first glance and would certainly mistake it for a Guanyin statue that grants children. Perhaps the mountain god statue was deliberately shaped this way to deceive ordinary people who don't understand these things.

From the moment Gao Hai saw the statue, he paid special attention to its appearance and thus quickly discovered these unusual features.

However, the reason he paid attention to this statue was not out of caution, but because he was familiar with it.

Yes, Gao Hai was certain that he had seen this statue before.

While at [Shirakawa Apartment].

Gao Hai had already seen this statue in his first mission, a sacrificial game instance that was ostensibly at the Twilight level but was actually at the Night level.

He saw the statue while exploring the first floor and discovered it being worshipped in the living room.

Considering that the [Baichuan Apartment] in the instance is actually constructed based on the memories of the poor girl Li Zhaodi, the statue could only appear if it was brought into the apartment by a previous victim or if Li Zhaodi had seen it with her own eyes.

In his message, Lin Xusheng said that he discovered an unknown entity within the [Baichuan Apartment]. This entity witnessed Li Zhaodi's family tragedy and provided some very subtle guidance to ensure that this instance could truly take shape.

Even after the illusory being passed away peacefully, Gao Hai was still unable to figure out what this unknown thing was. At first, he thought it was a Keeper of the Priest (KP), since, as far as he knew, the KP's task was to guide the creation of instances. But now it seemed that might not be the case. KPs were, after all, beings beyond the dimensions of reality; unless they actively revealed themselves, the illusory being shouldn't have been able to perceive their existence. In other words, the illusory being at that time might have discovered something else entirely.

And the answer to that mystery may now be right in front of Gao Hai.

tread--

Gao Hai stepped into the ancestral hall.

The benevolent-looking deity continued to bow its head, gazing tenderly at the sleeping child in its arms.

On the altar before the statue, incense and candles burned silently. Amidst the swirling smoke, neatly dissected human anatomy was placed in plates, with crimson blood seeping out and merging into the dark red altar, extending all the way to the ground.

Even after Gao Hai arrived at this place, the statue remained silent.

Gao Hai simply looked up at the other person silently, at the gentle-looking statue, and then drew his pistol and pointed it at the statue.

Still no response.

They couldn't even feel any gaze directed at them.

This appears to be merely an empty statue, and it does not produce any unusual reactions.

But Gao Hai still raised his gun and aimed at the other person with a blank expression.

What is this guy doing? Is he trying to threaten the stone statue?

{Ugh... I can't see it, I still can't see it. No matter how I look, the only outcome is death. We're doomed, we're all doomed...}

{That little Black Mountain god statue looks familiar. Have either of you seen the captain's Twilight-level dungeon summary report? Are there any similar statues in other dungeons in the Chinese server?}

{Huh? Cat Bro, who cares about Twilight-level dungeons? Generally speaking, isn't it considered disrespectful to attempt Twilight-level dungeons after reaching Red Moon level?}

{I've seen that booklet, but that was a year ago when I was writing the "Newcomer's Handbook" with the captain. This statue... it does look familiar. There should be at least three... no, at least five similar statues in the Twilight-level dungeons. The appearance and posture of the statues in different dungeons shouldn't differ by more than 10%.}

{It has to be you, you fake Taoist priest. But now we can be sure we've really entered a pretty high-level dungeon. This Red Moon-level dungeon—no, is it really a Red Moon-level dungeon? Anyway, this thing might actually be something that can be traced back to the early history of the [Sacrifice Game]!}

Not far away, out of Gao Hai's sight, in a gap in space, three figures were observing Gao Hai inside the ancestral hall and engaging in discussion.

It was obvious that these three were Cat Brother, Xiao Guo, and the Taoist from the "Slacking Off Gang." Their method of avoiding the crazed villagers after the explosion was very simple: they used a Red Moon-level spatial artifact to escape and hide in an alternate dimension, making it impossible for the villagers to find them.

Compared to Gao Hai's blessing, "Alice's Hut," this spatial artifact created a safe zone that couldn't block out sound or completely prevent the intrusion of strange forces; it was merely a simple and crude safe house with some defensive capabilities. Even so, this thing successfully helped the "Slacking Off Gang" avoid a crisis. In a sense, it could be said that this thing more profoundly revealed the limitations of these villagers' power.

However, to know and deduce this, Gao Hai would need to meet these players and understand why they survived.

{Be prepared, if anything happens to him, we'll step in.}

The young man, known as Cat Brother, stared at Gao Hai inside the ancestral hall and made a conclusion after a brief moment of thought.

Since Sister Xiong has emphasized this man's special nature, we cannot ignore his existence.