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

From the direction of [Lijia Village], at this moment, the gaze of the mountain god suddenly appeared.

A cold, indifferent gaze, seemingly tinged with disdain and mockery.

hum-

Then, the second gaze appeared.

Before Gao Hai was fully prepared, another gaze, a gaze full of joy and love, as kind as a mother's, was cast upon him.

That gaze belonged to the Fox Queen.

buzz-

Then, the two gazes converged in Gao Hai's consciousness and looked at each other.

An overwhelming sense of repulsion, followed by a frenzied killing intent, erupted in an instant.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Intertwined Powers and Fragments of History from the Moment of Origin

Almost instantly, Gao Hai's mind went completely blank.

Two completely different and terrifying forces collided violently, and the battlefield was his body and his consciousness.

The Mountain God and the Fox Queen are like mortal enemies, instantly engaging in fierce combat the moment they sensed each other's villages. Generally speaking, this is a great thing for players, since both the Mountain God and the Fox Queen are ridiculously powerful, to the point that players simply cannot fight them. If an opportunity can be found to make them kill each other, it will definitely greatly increase the players' chances of survival.

The problem is that they are now fighting inside Gao Hai's body.

In his last moments before losing consciousness, he struggled to summon Lao Guo and Howard through his rescue team badge, ordering them to lead him up the mountain to find a possible mountain god temple or the [Ghost Cry Cave]. Then, as the power carried by the gazes of the mountain god and the fox goddess surged wildly within Gao Hai's body, his mind went completely blank, and he knew nothing more.

pain.

Even while unconscious, I still felt intense pain.

His thinking ability has been restored once again.

Although his physical functions have not yet recovered, his mental fortitude is enough to allow Gao Hai to retain a certain degree of self-awareness and perceive his surroundings while he is in a coma.

At this moment, consciousness felt as if it were being torn apart alive.

The piercing sounds echoed incessantly. The auras of the Mountain God and the Fox Queen continued to fluctuate violently, causing a strong reaction in Gao Hai's body. Although this impact did not possess physical damage, it was still extremely lethal to players, easily destroying the entire body's cellular structure and causing death. However, for Gao Hai, whose body had already been largely transformed into blood flowers and vines, the damage from this impact was not so severe. The increasingly severe erosion, to some extent, was causing his body to transform into a monster-like form, which ironically gave Gao Hai a glimmer of hope in this extreme situation.

Of course, this would only help him hold on for a little longer. Ultimately, the blood flowers corroding his body were just as deadly as the vines, and Gao Hai was already doomed to a gruesome death no matter what he did. However, he couldn't feel this at the moment, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

Stay alert.

Gao Hai tried his best to concentrate and stay conscious.

At this moment, mind and body seemed to gradually separate. With the impact of two completely different external forces and the gradual erosion within the body, the body began to gradually transform into a monster, and Gao Hai's consciousness gradually became incompatible with the body and was gradually rejected from it.

In other words, could this death have resulted in the soul being expelled from the body and scattered?

This is a novel way of dying that I've never experienced before.

Gao Hai's will will not waver because of this.

Conversely, the clearer one's awareness of one's impending death, the more focused one's mind becomes, and the fewer distracting thoughts one has.

Kita Ikuyo's painful groans echoed beside him. Due to the fusion of her soul with Takami's, the girl was now clearly experiencing the feeling of her soul being torn out of her body. From her voice, one could tell that this process must have been extremely torturous. Unfortunately, Takami couldn't offer her any words of comfort at the moment, so he had to shift his attention and focus as much as possible on the three strange forces that were constantly spreading within his body.

Concentrate... Concentrate...

As long as one hasn't truly reached the limits of consciousness... it's not time to obediently die yet...

Even if my perception isn't at the level of seeing through a child's skin... with her face so close... I should still be able to sense something...

Gradually, it seemed that I could sense something.

I sensed something warm and sweet-smelling, gradually spreading through the soil.

What exactly is that?

The sound of weeping echoed dully, then was drowned out by the sound of flowing water.

What exactly am I feeling right now?

From the moment I became aware of it, my consciousness was unable to tear itself away from this distorted and broken scene.

It was as if some force connected with him at that moment, compelling him to look, to observe, and to feel all of this.

I saw a rotting corpse.

I saw withered trees and fields.

I saw a figure kneeling on the ground, constantly praying and begging.

These fragmented images flicker and appear, then quickly disappear, constantly intertwining.

Gao Hai realized that these were historical fragments mixed in with the power of the Mountain God and the Fox Goddess. These things came from the past, just like the fragments that emerged from the burning blood flowers. They were things that could only be felt and interpreted under specific circumstances.

To decipher the historical fragments hidden within the blood-stained flowers, it is necessary to burn them on a large scale.

To decipher the historical fragments of the Mountain God and the Fox Goddess, it is necessary to understand the conflict between the two.

So that's how it works. It repeats events that happened in the history of this instance, thus unlocking related historical information. Looks like I've stumbled upon something quite extraordinary.

Consciousness gradually sank, sinking deeper and deeper into these fragments.

More and more images and sounds began to appear, fragmented, blurry, or just remnants of memories, constantly flooding Gao Hai's mind at this moment.

Under the gloomy sky, refugees, their clothes tattered and their bodies filthy, were making their way in a panic.

Behind these men, black smoke billowed into the sky, and the laughter of marauding soldiers echoed from the burning village. The soldiers looted and murdered indiscriminately, completely destroying the village and leaving the farmers with nothing to survive. And these marauding bandits were far more numerous than just one or two groups; even if they survived this raid, they wouldn't be able to endure the next. Fleeing became the only option, and the survivors could only take a few dry rations, seeds, and easily portable belongings, helplessly fleeing their homes.

The refugees were not in a single group.

Gao Hai watched as these people passed through abandoned villages and crossed rivers piled with rotting corpses. Along the way, they would occasionally encounter bandits and fleeing soldiers. Whenever this happened, they would scatter and try to regroup, but each time someone would be captured and never be found again.

Sometimes these people would encounter other refugees or smaller groups of rebel soldiers. At this point, these seemingly miserable refugees would suddenly change their expressions, grab knives and clubs, and without hesitation, attack those weaker than themselves, stealing their food and weapons, and even... using them as food.

Unlike those disorganized refugees who were simply scattered groups of displaced people, this group of refugees, all from the same village and led by a clan chief who still held considerable authority, retained a degree of fighting strength. However, in a sense, these refugees had essentially become bandits, not much different from looters.

As they fled, and as more and more refugees gathered, they moved away from the stronger rebels, absorbed the weaker refugees, and went their separate ways when they encountered those of similar strength, or sometimes traveled together under certain conditions.

Finally, three groups of refugees with different surnames came together, forming a small group of two to three thousand people. Due to their escape, the old and children had all died, leaving only able-bodied men and young women. With the addition of weapons such as knives, spears, and shields stolen from the battlefield and a dozen or so horses of varying quality, this group had gained some strength and successfully escaped from various battlefields, finally arriving at a wild and primitive mountainous region.

They ultimately chose to venture into the treacherous primeval forest, venturing deeper and deeper until they reached a frigid river. By then, fewer than a thousand of them remained; many had perished from hunger, disorientation, and the threat of venomous insects and wild beasts. But with these survivors, the villagers slowly established themselves in the area, felling trees to build earthen houses, replanting the seeds they had kept, and thus continuing their lineage generation after generation.

That was a very, very long time ago.

It was much older than all the twisted and bizarre things that roam the village today, much more distant than all the darkness and madness that pervades this village today. Back then, the village had no name, it wasn't called Li Family Village or Liu Family Village, it was just a refuge built by refugees.

Back then, the villagers were generally quite close and united with each other. Even though they came from different surnames, clans, and beliefs, they didn't fight each other. Instead, they tolerated their conflicts and tried their best to coexist. Considering the harsh living conditions in the primeval forest at the beginning, the villagers probably didn't have the luxury of thinking about anything other than survival. How to stay alive was the most important thing.

So how did they gradually become who they are today?

The villagers of Lijia Village became vassals of the mountain god, a strange and monstrous creature, and transformed into something akin to a cougar.

Liu Family Village was covered by blood-red flowers and completely transformed into monsters trapped in a cycle, which was tantamount to total annihilation.

The Zhang family... this mysterious family still leaves no trace, but judging from the behavior of the Li and Liu families, Gao Hai doesn't think this family will escape disaster; they've probably turned into something terrible.

Speaking of which, after I met the night watchman, he said something. That thing was different from the two I had heard before. It didn't mention any mountain god of Little Black Mountain or fox goddess. Instead, it focused on the word "choice".

Gao Hai remembers the night watchman saying, "Those who are dogs will always be dogs, those who go mad will never wake up, and those who think they are clever will only dig their own graves." If there is some kind of hint in this statement, "those who are dogs" seems to match the situation in Lijia Village, "those who go mad" can be used to describe the people of Liujia Village who have become monsters, and the last one, "those who think they are clever," could refer to the Zhang family?

After all, simultaneously worshipping both the Black Mountain God and the Fox Goddess, and also a very mysterious third deity, does seem like someone deliberately wavering when choosing sides, trying to offend neither while expressing their opinion on both. And since the Black Mountain God and the Fox Goddess are so irreconcilably opposed, to the point that they immediately use my body as a battlefield the moment they meet across different dimensions, their attitude towards the Zhang family probably isn't much better, is it?

As Gao Hai pondered, he tried to continue observing more profound information.

But at that moment, the auras of the mountain god and the fox goddess that had been entangled in his body suddenly disappeared, and both sides withdrew their gazes almost simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, Gao Hai regained control of his body.

However, although consciousness returned to the body, there was basically nothing that could be done.

As for why, Gao Hai's body had been riddled with holes from the continuous torment by the three strange forces. Even the power of the rescue team badge could not repair such severe damage, and could only barely keep him alive to prevent him from dying immediately.

"Aha……"

After only a slight attempt to control his body, Gao Hai staggered and fell to the ground, where he was then helped up by the rescue team members beside him.

In Li Family Village, with the help of the "Teacher," the three players from the "Fishing Gang" had successfully slipped out of the venue and were heading down the forest path where the mountain god statue had been carried. After contacting Gao Hai and confirming some information, Cat Brother readily agreed to Gao Hai's request to cooperate in checking the situation at the "Bottomless Lake." They had already ventured deep into Little Black Mountain, but hadn't yet discovered any "forks in the road."

Then, I should head towards the [Ghost Cry Cave].

The two rescue team members who had been staying by Gao Hai's side grabbed his shoulders again and helped him move forward.

Because of prior orders, the rescue team had already helped Gao Hai into the depths of the forest, where the village below could no longer be seen.

Crimson flowers bloomed all over the mountains and fields, covering the surrounding trees and bushes. Only the dirt road underfoot was not covered, as if it had been deliberately left as a passage for people to come and go.

When Gao Hai raised his head and looked up, he immediately saw clearly a girl whose head had been replaced by blood-red flowers and whose body was covered with vines, standing in the woods about two or three hundred meters away, facing his direction.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: I love you, ...

Four grains see the child.

No, that's no longer Yotsuya Miko.

Such a strange and twisted aura undoubtedly indicates that what is controlling that body at this moment is some kind of will residing within the blood flowers and vines.

While Kaguya Maki and the others were killed by the power of the Blood Flower, only Miko Yotsuya was transformed into some kind of monster. Not only can she continue to move, but she will even relentlessly pursue him to the death?

Wait, speaking of which… back when Miko was transformed, she… it only attacked me, tearing out my heart. While Kaguya's immediate use of her domain to blast her away was also relevant, its focus seemed to remain solely on me afterward; it never targeted anyone else. Thinking about it carefully, there are actually quite a few suspicious points about this matter that shouldn't be easily ignored.

But no matter what, it's back now.

After Gao Hai left the village and entered another space through the power of the Fox Queen, the thing that had been controlling Yotsuya Miko's body reappeared and blocked the road ahead.

Something is wrong.

Even without sensing anything unusual, Gao Hai was already clearly aware that something was quite wrong with the current situation.

Regardless of how this thing managed to cross space to get to this place, it seems that its hostility is likely only directed at Gao Hai. Considering that this hostility might originate from some kind of will within the blood flower, Gao Hai couldn't help but feel an extremely ominous feeling.

He couldn't think of anything he was particularly targeted for. Could it be because he kicked the paper doll? Impossible. There was no obvious connection between the blood flower and the paper doll, especially since this thing originated from the Black Mountain God. But aside from the paper doll, Gao Hai hadn't done anything special. Could it be that he was being targeted because he maintained his self-control after being parasitized by the blood flower and didn't die immediately? But the problem was, when that thing killed Jianzi and attacked me, the power of the blood flower hadn't even spread to me yet.

"call……"

In less than a breath's time, the distance between that thing and Gao Hai immediately shrank by half.

A sharp chill spread rapidly throughout his body. Gao Hai was certain that, regardless of the situation, he had to act immediately and not let this thing grab him. To be honest, dying here now would be a huge loss; he had to struggle and live as long as possible.