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

No matter how many times the mountain god watches over him, he seems to find it hard to get used to this feeling, like a herbivore being stared at by a carnivore.

This time, however, Gao Hai will no longer stand still and let this thing stare at him.

{Xiao Ai, Maki, stay by my side. Kaguya, Ichiri, Chika, you all head to the village immediately and act accordingly. Next, I'll try to change our identities to ensure that the power of that damn mountain god won't easily affect us again.}

As Gao Hai spoke, he took out a yellowed piece of paper from his black watch.

[Land title deed of Lijia Village]

This was the object of obsession that Gao Hai obtained during his first playthrough when he self-destructed. Because he was unsure of its nature and was wary of the mountain god, Gao Hai did not take it out immediately during his second playthrough. In the end, however, he still caused a major incident because of the mountain god's gaze.

Being timid and hesitant, afraid of this and that, will ultimately lead to certain death.

Since that's the case, let's just be straightforward and get right to it!

{like!}

Gao Hai shouted to Hayasaka Ai through the mental link.

Boom——

Two crimson domains bloomed from Takami and Hayasaka Ai in the next moment, overlapping to form a defense.

The suffocatingly terrifying gaze, accompanied by an irresistible invisible force, struck in the next moment, causing cracks to immediately appear in the superimposed crimson domain.

The mere breath of direct confrontation revealed an absolute disparity in power. Regardless of its true nature, the mountain god standing behind Li Family Village, the Black Mountain God, undoubtedly possessed a strength far exceeding any core obsession Gao Hai had encountered in the first three dungeons. Perhaps only the Blood Pool could rival it. The problem was, however, that the Blood Pool lacked independent consciousness; it merely existed within the dungeon and wouldn't proactively attack anything. This mountain god, on the other hand, possessed the ability to act independently.

However, although the difference in strength is absolute, it doesn't mean they are truly powerless to fight back.

First bomb, activated.

The flames from the explosion pierced through the crimson area in an instant, unleashing a violent burst of light.

Suppression bombs, activated.

The five bullets vanished without a trace, reaching a location unknown to Gao Hai, and striking something.

All of this was done to gain an extremely brief moment.

In order to clearly understand the power of this obsessive object and to complete the timing of its activation and manipulation, Gao Hai made the most intense resistance he could against the mountain god's interference, once again creating a massive commotion.

Perhaps there are more cautious methods that can avoid triggering the mountain god's power. But for Gao Hai at this moment, this is the most convenient, quickest, and most effective method he can think of. Of course, he also admits that he has relied on this method to some extent to soothe his emotions and vent his frustrations.

Rumble, rumble——

In the blazing firelight, the terrifying creature that was staring at them hesitated for a moment.

Thus, a certain force quickly spread throughout the entire instance space, modifying the rules.

Click!

The next moment, as the light in the crimson field shattered and dissipated, Maki and Hayasaka, Kaguya and Chika and Ichiri had already split into two teams and retreated. The four rescue team members who had been summoned also dispersed and disappeared into the woods.

As for Gao Hai himself, he has already closed the door of [Alice's Hut] and entered the gap between the instance and the real world, no longer within this instance.

Boom! ! !

Thunderbolts struck from the sky, flames surged and burned, mountains collapsed, and the earth trembled.

An invisible force swept across the entire primeval forest, but could not find the target that needed to be erased.

The power of the rules has taken effect.

Although the connection between the obsessive's power and the object could not be maintained after entering Alice's cabin, Gao Hai managed to complete the operation before entering the cabin by delaying the process. Therefore, he was able to continue to utilize the changes that had already occurred without any restrictions.

"At this point, things are finally back on track."

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the cabin, Gao Hai spoke while glancing at Maki and Chika through the mental link of his black watch. He then directed the actions of the four pre-summoned rescue team members—no, three—using the rescue team badge that had transformed into a blessing item. Old Guo was dead, gored to death by a deer that charged out of the forest. Seriously, was that thing really a deer? Wasn't that impact a bit too terrifying?

On the old land deed he was holding, the name "Li Ziyong" in the "Landlord" column had been changed to "Gao Hai".

Chapter 44: From now on, this place will be called Gaojia Village!

This feeling is truly magical.

Holding the yellowed land deed in his hand, Gao Hai closed his eyes and could vaguely sense the illusory shadow of a village. He felt as if he were standing in that village, and even had a certain degree of fusion with the village itself.

If he wanted, Gao Hai could now freely see every corner of the village, and observe every house, every piece of furniture, and even every brick and every weed from every angle.

After altering the ownership of the village land through the [Land Deed], a recurring object, Takami is now able to observe the village and gain a certain degree of control over it, even though he is currently in Alice's hut and cannot directly spread the power of the object. This is because he can still do so through the connection he established with Chika Maki and the others via the black watch.

That's right.

This feeling is hard to describe, but Gao Hai now seems to be able to control the village to a certain extent. Although only this [Li Family Village] in the initial space can be controlled, he does indeed have control over this place.

Moreover, he is now able to officially confirm the entrances to other dimensions that can be reached from this place.

"The key...I got it..."

With his eyes closed, Gao Hai saw more through his perception of the village itself.

[Those who do not possess an invitation and have not established a benevolent relationship with the villagers of Li Family Village are not considered guests of the Li family. Therefore, they are not permitted to enter Li Family Village without permission. Such individuals will be treated as enemies who must be killed, just like those scoundrels in Zhang Family Village who try to please both sides and refuse to choose sides. Therefore, they will be sent to the "final destination" of Zhang Family Village, to [unclear text - possibly a place name].]

The first confirmed entrance is the junction between Lijia Village and the land outside the village. This entrance is triggered by an invisible line connecting the outermost walls of all buildings surrounding the village, and the outermost corners of the outermost walls of all buildings along the roads leading into Lijia Village. Anyone who crosses this point from outside the village will be teleported to the village in the [Zhangjia Village's End] timeline, the desolate village seen by Goto Ichiri in the first playthrough.

The village whose name could not be found, but which contained many unburied corpses and formless, lifeless entities, was named "The End of Zhang Family Village." Gao Hai did not know the origin of this name, but he was certain that the place was closely related to the "Zhang Family," a family that left no trace in the instance.

[Those who encounter the paper figures after reading the notice and understanding the rules, and fail to avoid them correctly, are likely either rule-breakers or foolish. Such people are extremely dangerous; they may anger the Mountain God or come into contact with the fox demon. Therefore, they are rumored to be sent to Liu Family Village. As this is territory that the Mountain God seized from the fox demon, the paper monsters roaming there can serve as a buffer to deal with potential troublemakers. Even if someone encounters the fox demon here, they pose no threat to us; at worst, we can just give these blood offerings to that greedy fox demon.]

The second entrance is located anywhere outside Li Family Village, and anyone who knows the contents of the notice in Li Family Village could find it. The condition for entering this entrance is simple: make the paper figures you encounter aware that you have been discovered and perform any interactive action that demonstrates their awareness of the paper figures' presence.

Strictly speaking, this entrance is completely outside the control of Li Family Village. Its origin lies in another village, in that [Liu Family Village]. It is the power of Liu Family Village that has infiltrated the space where Li Family Village is located. However, this infiltration has been used in reverse, by these villagers as a screening measure.

These two entrances to villages in other dimensions are the same entrances that Gao Hai and his companions discovered during their first playthrough. This time, by sensing some residual information within the villages, Gao Hai gained a deeper understanding of the information related to these two entrances, but at the same time, some questions arose in his mind.

The desolate village filled with corpses is called "The End," while the village where paper figures wander under the night sky is called "Legend." Do these two different names, to some extent, reveal the true nature of these two spaces? If so, what is the village inhabited by living villagers that players arrive at in the initial stage called?

Gao Hai's thoughts were quickly answered when certain information from the village itself appeared in his mind.

We must not let others know where we are, and we must not let anyone understand where we are now.

That abandoned existence can only be "the end point of Zhangjia Village," it can only be that way; any definition other than that is wrong and not allowed.

You will live on forever, our Li family will live on forever, our family will continue here generation after generation. This is our "now," this is our "present moment," not some "end" that has ended, not the final "ending."

That seemed to be a conversation that took place a long time ago.

The exact time is unclear, and the two parties in the conversation are also unclear... No, one party is clear: it's Li Ziyong. The other person speaking to Li Ziyong is a very old man with a slurred voice, who seems to be nearing the end of his life.

"Now" and "the end"?

More information is no longer available, but even these scattered voices are enough for Gao Hai to think and analyze a lot.

There is a third entrance, located in an abandoned village beside a lake in the valley. It seems like an obvious place worth exploring, but it's actually a trap entrance. Once a player enters the village, they will be immediately teleported to an extremely dangerous space. Gao Hai cannot clearly perceive that space; he can only sense a blurry, chaotic scene and an intensely chilling, suffocating atmosphere.

The fourth entrance is on the mountain road. Both the path leading to the Ghost Cry Cave and the path leading to the Bottomless Lake can trigger this entrance, but the actual location is the mountain god temple that you will inevitably pass on your way to these two places. Simply passing in front of that temple will trigger the entrance, and you will be silently transported to a very dangerous and terrifying space upon arriving at either the Ghost Cry Cave or the Bottomless Lake.

If Gao Hai had been a little slower during his second playthrough, he would have witnessed how the three players from the "Slacking Off Gang" were tormented to death. In a sense, it's better that he died quickly; at least the others suffered less.

In short, the villagers of Li Family Village used the third entrance as a trap, a trap to filter out those with an adventurous spirit who couldn't be obedient. The fourth entrance was similarly a trap, designed to prevent anyone from actually reaching the [Ghost Cry Cave] and [Bottomless Lake] from the Li Family Village side of the space. In other words, Gao Hai's action of going to the Ghost Cry Cave from within Blood Flower Village in the second playthrough was actually correct; it was the three members of the Fishing Gang who went down a dead end.

So, is there a fifth entrance?

Gao Hai quickly got the answer and saw the entrance located inside the village that he had not noticed before.

So that's how it is. I hadn't thought of it before; after all, the ancestral hall was so conspicuous that I naturally overlooked the unusual surroundings. So, where does this entrance lead... I see. It seems necessary to send Zhenfei and the others into the village to search.

At this moment, Kaguya Shinomiya, Ichiri Goto, and Chika Fujiwara, who had acted first, had arrived near the entrance to the village.

With the notice board destroyed, no more villagers spawned around, and the paper figures didn't appear because Gao Hai had adjusted the three's memories through his blessing. Therefore, the three arrived at the village entrance without any problems.

The chaos among the villagers had not yet subsided.

More than a third of the villagers have given up welcoming the players and have instead begun hunting down Li Ziyong.

Through his unique perspective after establishing contact with the village, Gao Hai could clearly see a large group of villagers wielding sickles, cleavers, hoes, rolling pins, pitchforks, and other such weapons, frantically chasing after Li Ziyong as he fled, leaping and bounding around the village to try and stop him.

Even though Li Ziyong had shouted to the crowd several times, "Something terrible has happened, stop arresting me!", "Stop! Something really terrible has happened!", and "If you don't stop, we're all doomed!", no villager was willing to slow down.

To be honest, while the power of the blessing was indeed strong, the intensity of the reaction made Gao Hai suspect that Li Ziyong might have done something bad to his own family, leading to such a strong reaction from the villagers. This didn't seem like something someone without deep-seated hatred would do, especially with his younger brother Li Duosun among them. However, on the other hand, "Ziyong" and "Duosun" didn't seem like names that people of the same generation should use.

Forget it, we don't need to consider that for now.

Let's take a closer look at the accounts from the first playthrough first.

Gao Hai closed his eyes, merging his senses more deeply with the village itself.

He could already sense it, sense the rules that had seeped into the village over the long years, and confirmed that he was now able to change the objects of these rules.

After all, the master of this village now is Gao Hai, not someone else.

Definition modified.

From now on, Shijou Maki, Shinomiya Kaguya, Fujiwara Chika, Hayasaka Ai, and Goto Ichiri are the village residents. All other players are temporarily recognized village members. The original Li Family Village residents have all been changed to guests invited to participate in the welcoming of the gods festival and will become offerings to the mountain god.

The definition changes will take effect immediately.

"From now on, this is Gaojia Village, not Lijia Village."

Gao Hai, muttering to himself, reached out and snapped his fingers lightly.

The next moment, all the villagers stopped in their tracks, their expressions filled with horror as they realized the changes within themselves. They discovered that a power that had always been present within them had suddenly vanished, and that the ground beneath their feet seemed to be "rejecting" them.

You can feel the mountain god's gaze sweeping over you in an instant, constantly scanning the entire space, searching for its target.

However, Gao Hai is no longer considered part of the instance, so no matter how the Mountain God observes, he cannot find Gao Hai's location.

That thing... didn't target Zhenfei and the others, and it didn't even care about the players who had only obtained temporary identities.

Gao Hai, who had already prepared to transfer Zhen Fei and the others, frowned. He noticed that the Mountain God was completely ignoring the players whose identities had changed within the instance. Based on previous observations, this Mountain God should have possessed self-awareness, but now it seemed like a strange creature that only mechanically followed the rules, ignoring those players who had incongruously acquired specific identities, and only constantly searching for Gao Hai.

Perhaps my previous guesses about the mountain god being a "split personality, arrogant version of Alice" were not comprehensive?

Mountain God, please save us!

[Mountain God, please save me! Please save me!]

Mountain God, please don't abandon us!

The villagers had already knelt on the ground, weeping and screaming, their faces filled with terror.

Being stripped of their village privileges seemed to instill a deep fear in these guys, and it was unclear what they were afraid of, but they looked as if they were about to die, almost frantic.