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

No, I'll have to use the watch's suicide function...

In a daze, I seemed to see stones growing on my body.

The black stone, like that cave that echoed with cries, gradually spread across my body.

Oh God... Oh God... Please save me...

I heard someone's voice murmuring their story amidst the sobs.

Please help us...

Please... save our village...

Whatever you want to take from me... if you truly exist... if you are truly God... please save us all...

It seemed as if someone was kneeling in that endless darkness, praying devoutly and desperately over and over again.

But there was no response.

No matter how many times the cries are heard, no matter how many times the prayers are repeated, in the end, the only response is silence, only the same old stillness.

click-

Cracks appeared on Gao Hai's body.

His consciousness did not dissipate, nor did it collapse after he was powerless to resist.

The force of the gaze that followed him began to alter his physical structure, turning him into cold stone and fixing his consciousness in place.

The ability to think gradually diminishes, while the capacity to feel pain intensifies.

Every chip of stone that peels away brings excruciating pain, like having your skin torn off; every crack that spreads is torture no different from being slowly sliced ​​to death.

Before the dark stone shattered, Gao Hai could only endure this pain, gradually losing his personality and thoughts, slowly transforming into a low-level neural structure that could only react to pain... as if the human nervous system had been isolated and maintained its activity without the brain. At this moment, Gao Hai clearly felt this condition spreading throughout his body, transforming him with an unstoppable force.

Is this the power that the mountain god possesses?

Do not……

Something seems off...

Even if the source of the power is indeed the mountain god... this strange sense of incongruity...

The same indifference... the same contempt... no... the latter showed no contempt...

The difference between these two... yes... these two forces... are different...

Or is it that... there is more than one mountain god...?

……

The black watch's suicide function has begun its countdown.

Gao Hai's thinking ability is also nearing its end.

Close your eyes.

open one's eyes.

The blurry surroundings suddenly became clear in the next moment.

"hiss--"

Gao Hai instinctively took a deep breath, and his body involuntarily took a few steps back.

Several brightly colored banknotes flew out from behind him and landed on the ground. At first glance, they were banknotes with a face value of over one trillion, crudely made and resembling cheap toys.

It's the aura of a possessed object, and it's the aura that only a core possessed object of the Crimson Moon level has.

"Damn, that cost so much! What did you trigger?!"

A startled male voice rang out from not far behind Gao Hai. He turned around and found that three figures had appeared in the open space outside the ancestral hall, where there had been no one just moments before. The young man standing at the front smiled at Gao Hai, and then a voice echoed in Gao Hai's mind.

{Hey, you're Gao Hai, the guy Xiong Mi mentioned, right? (Hey, you're from the "Slacking Off Gang," Cat Doesn't Think.)}

Are these three members of the "Slacking Off Gang"? What a coincidence!

The unexpected situation startled Gao Hai for a moment, then he couldn't help but feel a surge of joy. Gao Hai undoubtedly had a high opinion of the player team [Moyu Gang]. In his eyes, both Xiong Mi and Jian Bing were very reliable teammates, so Gao Hai believed that these three players could also become his good helpers.

Was the cat the one who used that paper money-obsessed object?

Although the specific process was unclear, Gao Hai speculated that the red moon-level obsession object, paper money, seemed to possess a special [trading] function. It could cancel the strange power erosion that the player was suffering from by consuming a certain amount of paper money, or even reverse the erosion that had already occurred. This was why Gao Hai was able to stand here unharmed, and all the damage he suffered in that infinite loop of one second had been canceled by the power of this obsession object.

Is it really true that it is a core object of obsession for the Red Moon class?

Gao Hai took a breath, first canceling the one-minute countdown to self-destruct, and then planned to leave the ancestral hall as soon as possible. But before he could make a move, Goto Ichiri, who had been keeping watch over Gao Hai and whose attention had not been distracted even when Cat Brother and the others appeared, suddenly narrowed his eyes and stared straight at Gao Hai's back.

"Be careful, it's not over yet!"

The power of the guitar quickly took effect, and a clone pushed Gao Hai away, causing him to fall to the ground.

A strong sense of being watched came over him at that moment, but then it was abruptly interrupted. It seemed that because he had just been saved by the paper money object, Gao Hai still had a protective power that had not completely dissipated, so the next moment the gaze turned to the people outside the ancestral hall.

boom--

Police officers had already strode over, and dozens of bullets fell into the ancestral hall in an instant, striking the statue.

Then, Gao Hai saw a hand.

A hand made entirely of black stone, a pitch-black, twisted and struggling stone, stretched directly out of the ancestral hall.

Bang!

The officer's body was crushed in an instant.

Bang! !

The three members of the "Slacking Off Gang" were crushed in an instant, reduced to mangled flesh. In a flash, they seemed to attempt a counterattack, trying to resist using their artifacts and blessings, but their actions were forcibly halted by some unknown force. Gao Hai only saw the cat-like figure and the young man beside him display stunned expressions, while another seemed to utter something like, "So this is the dead end," before they all turned into a bloody pulp.

Bang! ! !

Goto Ichiri, who wanted to continue manipulating the guitar, was crushed in an instant. At that moment, it seemed as if several clones appeared beside her, performing different actions. But all the clones, along with the girl, were crushed into fragments. It seemed that no matter how time changed, the final outcome was fixed by that rocky hand, bound to a predetermined conclusion.

But the guitar playing hadn't stopped when the clone that appeared next to Gao Hai transformed into Goto Ichiri himself in the blink of an eye.

The lucky pendant dangled around the girl's neck. With almost impossible luck, Goto Ichiri managed to break free from the hand's lock by using her clone and ran to Takami's side.

Bang! ! !

Then, she and Gao Hai were crushed into pieces by the black hand.

The shattered flesh and blood fused together under an irresistible force.

The village outside the ancestral hall had been restored to its original state. Li Ziyong respectfully stepped into the ancestral hall, not even glancing at the meat pie made up of Gao Hai and Yi Li on the ground, but went straight to the statue of the god, knelt down and kowtowed three times.

Many villagers appeared outside, some carrying earthenware basins, skillfully scooping up the flesh and blood patties of the three Red Moon level players. The rotting flesh trembled a few times as it was shoveled, as if the players were not completely dead, but bound by some force and unable to recover, remaining only as a pile of rotten flesh.

Another group of villagers followed into the ancestral hall, first kneeling down to kowtow to the statue of the god, and then taking out another earthenware pot to scoop up the meat patties that Gao Hai and Yi Li had turned into.

They took the earthenware pot containing the two men's flesh from the ancestral hall and carried it to the courtyard of a tall building.

Some female villagers were already waiting here.

They chatted and laughed as they chopped scallions, ginger, and other seasonings, kneaded the dough, poured the earthenware pot containing scallions and ginger into a large bucket, mixed it with the seasonings, and then started making dumplings.

It was like a festival; everyone was chatting and laughing happily.

One moment they were talking about this family, the next they were talking about another family's affairs. They were all getting along very well, and it seemed like a happy and harmonious extended family.

The dumplings were wrapped very quickly.

So everyone put the dumplings into a big pot to cook, and once a batch was cooked, they took them out and arranged them on a porcelain plate.

Gao Hai and Yi Li combined made a lot of food, making several hundred large dumplings, which were steaming hot.

Then, the dumplings were brought back into the ancestral hall and placed on the offering table in front of the mountain god statue.

Long tables have been set up in the open space outside the ancestral hall, and an outdoor banquet has been held.

"Although there were quite a few unexpected events, the welcoming of the god festival was finally held smoothly. Folks, come, let's celebrate together for the happy and prosperous Lijia Village under the protection of the mountain god, and for our wonderful lives. I'll drink first!"

Li Ziyong raised a glass of baijiu, laughed heartily, and drank it all in one gulp.

The villagers laughed heartily and raised their glasses, all looking happy and cheerful.

"..."

Gao Hai was still watching.

Eriko's blessing was about to reach its limit, but he still couldn't find a chance to teleport back to life.

He could sense a gaze, not directly directed at him, but rather fixed on the villagers outside. However, he remained within that gaze's range, preventing him from activating the blessing's power and escaping again.

He could also sense Goto Ichiri's faint consciousness. The girl wasn't completely dead; she was still alive under some strange power, even though she was already ripe. Perhaps it would have been better if she had died. But he wondered if this state of mutual interdependence would be recognized by the black watch.

The three players from the "Slacking Off" gang, along with the other players rescued by the "Teacher," were now seated at the villagers' banquet.

The villagers who were resurrected were noticeably thinner than before, and many were even mutilated. However, as they celebrated and ate and drank, all the villagers quickly recovered and returned to their original state.

"I almost thought they were going to take the meat from the warehouse this time. These outsiders are really troublesome."

One villager was drinking his wine while complaining.

"Hey, no matter how much trouble they cause, they can't escape the eyes of the Mountain God. These outsiders are like monkeys trying to escape from the Five Fingers Mountain, useless, hahaha."

Some villagers burst into laughter, their words filled with disdain for the players.

“They always have to cause trouble. Can’t they just go die quietly? Seriously, they don’t know how to put themselves in others’ shoes. Those outsiders are disgusting. They ruined the sweater I just finished knitting yesterday.”

Some villagers were indignant, looking as if they had been greatly wronged.

"Well, thankfully no fools went looking for the fox demon statue this time, otherwise things would have been even more troublesome. Hehe, it's all thanks to the clan chief's good handling that those fools from the outside world were fooled by a 'fake village' and died without ever knowing where they were."

Some villagers ate and drank while showing expressions of pride and satisfaction.

Gao Hai simply continued to watch in silence.

Only when I began to feel my mind dissipating, and when the power of the blessing could no longer sustain me, did I finally stop observing and listening.

Has consciousness... reached its limit?

The countdown to self-destruction has restarted.

In the final moments before his consciousness was about to dissipate, Gao Hai tried his best to gather his self together. Then, he began to try to engulf Goto Ichiri's consciousness, attempting to cover the girl's consciousness, which was almost merged with his own, and to integrate her existence into himself.

"Haha, although it was a bit of a hassle, the quality of the meat this year is really good. These outsiders who know sorcery and evil magic are truly extraordinary. Next time, we must make the welcoming ceremony for the gods even more grand, so that the mountain god will be pleased!"

Outside the ancestral hall, Li Ziyong, with his arm around Li Duosun, smiled and said with a hint of drunkenness.