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

Dean Jonathan's blessing activated automatically at this moment, and as Gao Hai recalled these complex and intertwined voices, it activated the filtering function, allowing Gao Hai to forcibly identify various information from them.

...I'm afraid I have to retract my previous dismissive attitude towards this blessing, thinking it didn't seem like a Red Moon-level blessing. The information is so vague, yet it can still activate? This thing is just too outrageous!

Gao Hai sighed inwardly for a moment, then focused his attention on the information he had perceived.

Because he didn't actually enter the cave, Gao Hai heard very vague things, and only a few sentences were recognizable.

【■Seven Dogs, you're here too■■】

【■, what a terrible thing, how could she be such a woman■】

[Mysteriously, what did you go to?]

Alright, stop crowding around, this isn't a safe place to go.

【That can't be taken by Li alone, it has to be done by all of us, Li!】

It sounds like some people are talking to each other, but each sentence seems to come from a different historical period, only preserved together because of the special nature of this cave.

However, if I heard correctly, these words contained a name, something like "Seven Dogs"? Seven Dogs? Seven Dogs?! Is that the Li Seven Dogs we learned about when we were searching for clues in the desolate village? The one the Li family patriarch said was too impatient, and the one the human trafficker surnamed Du said had discovered some treasure?

Could the "treasure" they discovered be inside this [Ghost Cry Cave]?

Gao Hai's brows furrowed even more.

Although Gao Hai was unable to enter the Ghost Cry Cave in his second playthrough due to the intense pursuit by the Blood Flower Monster, the information he obtained even from the outer area was enough to make him take it seriously.

The problem with this cave might be bigger than I expected.

Next time, I must find a way to explore it more deeply.

After making up his mind, Gao Hai then turned his attention to the "teacher's" perspective and looked towards the group of people who were slacking off.

In their final moments before being killed, the three players from the "Slacking Off Gang" successfully reached the area of ​​the "Bottomless Lake." Among them, the man called "Cat Brother" took the lead and walked directly into the water, intending to test what was going on with this quiet and deep lake.

The other party seemed completely unafraid of anything emerging from the lake. Considering the paper money and other items the other party had brought out during the first playthrough, Gao Hai suspected that this cat-like guy must have some means of transferring damage and rules to the target, which was why he was able to act so recklessly.

As Gao Hai expected, the cat-like man's body dissolved shortly after entering the water, suddenly disintegrating into several banknotes. He then appeared out of thin air on the lakeside, without a trace of water on his body, making it impossible to tell that the man had just stepped into the water and swam around without even taking off his shoes.

"Those things are coming out, let's see what they are."

Then, Cat Brother spoke in a serious tone, and the originally calm lake water began to ripple more and more intensely.

Something is floating up from underwater.

Pale fingers, a short and deformed, swollen body, and an uncontrollable wail.

baby.

The baby is floating in the water.

It looked like a tiny, wrinkled newborn baby.

It had turned deathly pale, and its body was more or less swollen and deformed. It was also filled with a strong eerie aura, causing the three members of the "Slacking Off Gang" present to subconsciously take a step back and not dare to approach it.

Then, more and more white babies floated to the surface of the water.

More and more, large and small, fat and thin, all resembling newborn ghost infants, floated up in dense numbers, almost completely covering the surface of the lake.

They all cried out at the same time.

These things cried together in the water, accompanied by constantly rising bubbles and the violent surging and changing of the water, howling madly in their desperate cries.

The crying brought with it an extremely strong mental pollution effect; even though the three players present were undoubtedly Red Moon level players, they were forced to retreat in the face of this power. Then, Gao Hai died due to the collapse of his consciousness, and nothing could be known about what happened next.

"After being in the dungeon for so long, I've finally seen a baby-shaped monster? I have to say, its design isn't actually that eerie, or maybe this piece of crap from the [Sacrifice Game] has raised my aesthetic standards?"

Upon seeing this, Gao Hai couldn't help but complain, then turned his attention back to the girls lying beside him.

Chapter 42: Preparations Before Starting Again and the Forgotten Blessing

No matter what difficulties lie ahead, all we can do now is to do our best to overcome them.

Having experienced several instances of this, Takahashi had a deep understanding of it, so Miko's disappearance did not leave him at a loss. After forcing himself to calm down, Takahashi immediately used Chiyo Hachiya's memory blessing to seal and erase the parts of the memories of the blood-red flower in the memories of Maki, Kaguya, Ichiri, and Kita, who were now lying in the Blood Castle. He also processed his own memories of this matter, sealing away the dangerous ones.

We can't afford to have our entire party wiped out in the second playthrough.

It would be one thing if he died alone, but Gao Hai really didn't want to come back to this world with everyone lying on the same bed.

The corrupting power of that eerie blood flower was the most extraordinary, terrifying, and unstoppable thing Gao Hai had ever seen. But thinking about it carefully, this thing couldn't be found at all on the surface of the dungeon. It was as if Jian Zi's eyes had somehow performed a super-successful, lead-filled operation, seeing right through the seal inside the Little Black Mountain God, and then everyone happily typed "GG."

So what's wrong with Miko's eyes? While they've been strange before, nothing like this has ever happened. Could it be that with the collapse of the [Campus Ghost Stories] instance, her already unreasonable sensory cheat has received a further upgrade, undergoing a super evolution into something of an even higher level?

If that's the case, at least we should strengthen her mental and physical abilities as well. I really don't want to experience that embarrassing situation again where our reconnaissance accidentally becomes the enemy's Achilles' heel. Sigh, anyway, we need to find a way to control her abilities, like temporarily sealing her senses. Hmm… with Chiyo's blessing and my greatly enhanced mental strength, I should be able to do that. Anyway, as soon as the new loop starts, I'll immediately hug her and perform a mental seal to see if I can seal her senses, and then erase her memories to prevent the blood flower from coming back.

With his eyes closed, Gao Hai slowly conceived a plan in his mind to protect Jianzi at the beginning of the third playthrough, and gradually adjusted some of the details of the plan.

However, despite thinking about it very seriously, Gao Hai actually avoided one question.

A possibility he hasn't thought about deeply even now, or rather, a possible situation he refuses to think about or consider.

Although he was well aware that what he was doing was somewhat self-deceptive, Gao Hai would not consider, no, he had to deny, the possibility of such a situation unless he actually saw it happen.

It's about time, really.

Gao Hai raised his head and looked towards the other side of the huge square.

Despite the many obstructions in between, Gao Hai knew that on the other side of the square, the [writer] was still enduring unbearable torment, still serving as the vessel for Gao Hai's three extra rollbacks, and continuing to suffer endless pain.

The reason Gao Hai is paying attention to the other party now is because he wants to use the eighth function of the black watch, and use that power that is almost like divine guidance.

That's the most resource-intensive function of all the watches Gao Hai owns so far. Activating it requires three rollback attempts, after which Gao Hai will obtain a special coordinate. At this coordinate, Gao Hai will definitely obtain an item that will help investigate the truth of the instance, facilitate breaking the core obsession, and ultimately destroy the instance.

Back in the [Campus Ghost Stories] instance, Gao Hai used this function to obtain an access card, which provided him with considerable convenience in the three areas of Fujika Middle School, Hayate Elementary School, and Yoruyama Middle School, proving to be a significant help. Now, after two playthroughs and having gained some understanding of the [Infant Cry Village] instance, Gao Hai felt it was time to activate this function and explore new directions for investigation.

hum-

With a barely perceptible sound, Gao Hai could feel that the three rollback slots the writer had been carrying had dissipated, and it was time to recharge them.

At this moment, Gao Hai was still in the Crimson City and could not immediately sense the location of that coordinate.

However, he was already prepared to step into the terrifying dungeon [Infant Cry Village] once again, a dungeon that was very likely to have exceeded the Red Moon level cap.

when!

As if in response to Gao Hai's thoughts, a heavy bell rang out from the tower of Blood City.

Gao Hai took a few deep breaths, stretched his body, thought for a moment, and then sat down on the ground next to several girls lying on the ground.

Maki, Kaguya, and Ichiri were still asleep, but because the bells of Blood City had already rung, their eyelids seemed to tremble slightly, as if they were about to wake up from their dreams.

Kita Ikuyo had her eyes open, but this time she wasn't looking in any particular direction. She was just staring blankly at the sky, blinking occasionally, as if she had temporarily lost the ability to think.

In fact, when Gao Hai used the power of blessing to erase the memories of the Blood Flower for Kita, her reaction was even more severe. She couldn't even blink, and her mental activity completely stopped. She had almost become a vegetable.

The reason for this situation is quite simple: she and Gao Hai were both affected by the blood flower's corrosive power. However, the difference lies in their willpower. Gao Hai, despite having his defenses shattered by the blood flower, managed to hold on for a while before dying, but his spirit and soul were completely torn apart. Kita, even with Gao Hai's mental protection, died instantly, completely unable to resist, and her soul was scattered. Ironically, she suffered less from the corrosive effect, only losing her cognitive abilities and becoming a vegetable after the time rewind.

To this end, Gao Hai not only deleted the memories related to the blood flower, but also the contaminated memories from the last moment of the second playthrough, and helped the girl recover. She has now almost regained her neural reflexes, and it's estimated that once the complete rollback is complete and the third playthrough officially begins, the girl will be back to normal.

She'll probably be very confused then, troubled and bewildered by the fragmented and roughly pieced-together parts of her memory. Also, Takahashi didn't erase Kita's memories of the nearly three months she spent in Blood City, but whether she'll remember them after regaining consciousness is uncertain. After all, Takahashi doesn't know if everything a person sees and hears in an unconscious state can be recalled after regaining consciousness.

when! !

As the second bell rang, the blood-red city began to fade, and everything slowly returned to darkness.

Gao Hai could feel a subtle upward sensation, and he knew he was about to wake up.

"Ok?"

But before that, something else seemed to have triggered his senses first.

That was something Gao Hai hadn't noticed before, but now that his mental strength had grown further and undergone a qualitative change, he was able to discover it.

Take a step forward.

Gao Hai arrived at the edge of the collapsed area in the square.

After the two bells rang, the firelight here had dimmed, and the villains struggling within were reduced to mere shadows, making it nearly impossible to identify who was who.

Except for one person.

Only one figure could be recognized amidst the sea of ​​fire.

Urian, Director of the Baydos Institute.

This is the first "villainous" core obsession Gao Hai has encountered so far, and also the only one whose core obsession, after fulfilling its last wish, was imprisoned by the power of the black watch and dragged into a sea of ​​fire.

There seems to be something within him, something that Gao Hai hasn't yet recovered.

Is this... the power of blessing?

Reach out your hand.

Despite the great distance, Gao Hai immediately made contact with that thing through his now-powerful mental energy, which was capable of substantially detaching from his body.

Yes, this is undoubtedly the power of blessing.

This is the blessing power that Urian, the core obsession of the Red Moon class, should have given to the players after his passing.

If the black watch hadn't swallowed Urian prematurely, the power of this blessing should have been given to Miko Yotsuya and Ai Hayasaka.

The blessing that Urian was originally supposed to send out contained the following content...

[Greatly enhances the Blessing Holder's visibility among monsters, making them a prime target for monsters at all times and in all places. It also grants the Blessing Holder the ability to permanently sacrifice their lifespan and luck for a temporary burst of power, and makes them more likely to arouse the hatred and framing of others.]

what?

Can this even be considered a blessing?!

Gao Hai was stunned.

Then, he quickly realized that the so-called blessing was essentially the result of the obsession, having found peace and regained its humanity, voluntarily bestowing its power upon the player. In other words, while the strength of the blessing was locked by the dungeon level and the intensity of the obsession, the content of the blessing was actually more based on the will of the obsession itself.

While Urian, thanks to the actions of Miko and the others, finally had his regrets fulfilled and found peace, he felt no gratitude towards these players. On the contrary, after finally achieving peace, he felt only disgust and contempt for those who had granted his last wishes. Therefore, he had no intention of offering his blessings. However, since he was about to be reincarnated, and the power of his unwavering commitment to blessings could not be taken with him and had to be given to others, Urian, forced to offer his blessings, decided to deliver a gift full of malice, intending to use it to frame the players who had helped him.

"...You fucking said, you can do this?!"

It is certain that such a purely malicious blessing has never occurred in the more than two years since the [Sacrifice Game] was launched.

After all, if there were a precedent for this, players would inevitably spread the word, making the dungeon raid even more taboo. In other words, even if someone's core obsession in life wasn't necessarily a good person, under normal circumstances, the player who grants that obsession peace would generally receive a positive blessing. The fact that no player has encountered a similar situation with Urian, which is too abstract, suggests that it was likely intentionally designed beforehand.

It turned out to be the case.

Gao Hai then realized that, in order to ensure that the Bydos region was not cracked by players, the original [writer] not only designed a series of traps in the dungeon, but also secretly guided the core obsession, so that players who could crack Urian's core obsession would inevitably receive completely negative blessings, thus eliminating any potentially powerful players.