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

But let's think about that later. Right now, Gao Hai can't let the police stop; he's already found his target.

"What's going on? Something's coming? Why can we trigger strange creatures here?!"

From the darkness ahead, the player's somewhat surprised mutterings could be heard.

The power of the object of obsession was triggered by the police officers, but to no avail. Although the officers' lock-on was slightly disrupted, it quickly returned to the players. The methods used against the monsters within the instance could not interrupt the officers' pursuit, and the traps targeting living people were utterly ineffective.

"We're locked on. This thing seems to be immune to target locking mechanisms. Ugh, when and where did this troublesome thing trigger? Wait... this thing is almost unaffected by obsessive objects. Who triggered this weird thing? I've never seen it in this instance before?"

Chen Qiucai's voice reached Gao Hai's ears at this moment, indicating that he was also a member of the [Treasure Hunters] and had a deep understanding of the [Infant Cry Village] instance. Therefore, although he initially mistook the police officer for a monster within the instance, just like the group of fanatics, he was able to immediately sense the anomaly.

It doesn't matter if I notice.

The officers had already raised their guns.

Boom boom boom boom——

The next second, a dense hail of bullets flew out, instantly destroying trees and tearing through bushes, creating a clearing in the dense forest.

Gao Hai controlled his perspective to avoid looking at the sky, only observing the effects and targets of the police officers' attacks. Soon, accompanied by a strange change in light and shadow, several players emerged from the darkness, desperately trying to defend themselves and resist the police officers' attacks.

Rumble, rumble——

In the blink of an eye, the density of the bullets increased by another order of magnitude.

The shockwave, so violent and utterly unreasonable, tore the ground apart, and craters of all sizes collapsed under the bombardment.

Even a slight glancing blow can snap a tree in the woods. Then, before the tree falls completely, a hail of bullets will tear it apart, leaving only fragments on the ground.

"Damn it, what the hell is this thing?!"

Players cried out in shock in the darkness, unable to comprehend how such an attack could have been carried out.

Each of these bullets is incredibly powerful. Although there's no curse or corrosive effect involved, the sheer physical impact is comparable to a small rocket. Without the power of a cursed artifact for defense, physical strength alone wouldn't allow for even a second of survival. While a single bullet's power is enough to threaten a Red Moon-level player, this thing is endless, unleashing a torrent of bullets like a deluge. Even more terrifying is the randomness of the bullets' direction; they come from all directions without any pattern, with different bullets coming from different directions in different seconds. Only a comprehensive defensive system can guarantee safety.

Boom boom boom boom——

Amidst the explosions, a hail of bullets, unleashed from all directions, collided with each other in mid-air, blasting out streaks of fire.

The police officers were marching forward.

The players were struggling to hold on, but soon they were finding it difficult to sustain the continuous consumption of their defensive obsession items and had to try other methods.

hum-

An unknown force activated at that moment, teleporting the player whose voice sounded very similar to Chen Qiucai away.

Then, in a cloud of smoke, the other three players vanished without a trace and reappeared on the top of another low hill in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

The next moment, an endless barrage of bullets pierced through the spatial gaps, continuing to bombard the direction the players had teleported away from.

Neither the player who teleported away first nor the other three who followed could evade the police officers' pursuit. Even before the officers arrived at the players' location, and even though the escaped players immediately altered their appearance and other basic characteristics using the power of their artifacts, the lock-on effect remained firmly in place.

"What the hell is that? Why would there be such a weird thing in this ancient dungeon? Is that bastard holding a close-in weapon system?!"

One player couldn't help but roar in anger and embarrassment at this moment. Then he saw the police officer's figure approaching at high speed from mid-air and crashing down on his location.

Taking advantage of his status as a monster, which makes him immune to physical damage, the rescue team member fired bullets at himself, thus achieving long-distance, high-speed movement and closely chasing after the fleeing [Treasure Hunter] player.

It's worth mentioning that Lao Guo, whom Gao Hai had previously placed in the yard to greet the night, died in less than a second. Now, the police officers, continuously operating at night, must have seen the sky but remained unharmed. This makes Gao Hai wonder if simply "seeing" the night sky doesn't necessarily mean danger. Perhaps when the observer's attention isn't truly on the sky, even if they do see something, they won't notice it and thus avoid harm.

If that's the case, perhaps the night can also become a time for free exploration.

Boom! ! !

While he was thinking, the police officer landed on the ground, creating a shallow crater.

A cursed power fell upon the police officer, but the monster was immune to its harm.

Furthermore, the power of obliteration and the power of attack spirit came into play, but since the police officers were inanimate objects and had no mental activity, they also ignored these attacks.

Finally, the physical binding effect trapped the officer, slowing his movements. However, the level of the Red Moon-class core obsession meant that binding effects not at the level of Red Moon-class core obsessions could not be effective on the officer for long. Therefore, the officer began to slowly release his restraints, and the player using the obsession was forced to withdraw it prematurely because he could not withstand the resistance.

"Conventional methods are useless against it; only a direct confrontation between two strange creatures can trap it!"

After a series of failed attempts, these "treasure hunters," true to their Red Moon level status, quickly identified the police officer's true weakness. One player threw out a huge red coffin, from which a stiff corpse dressed in ancient official robes emerged, ignoring the bullets and charging straight at the officer.

bang——

In the next collision, the police officer pinned the body to the ground, then stepped over it and continued chasing after the players.

"Are you kidding me? A corpse at the core level of Dark Night's obsession couldn't even hold out for a second? Is this thing some kind of Red Moon-level core?!"

Realizing the vast disparity in strength between them and the enemy, all the players lost the will to continue fighting. Although they weren't truly without options, it was simply not worth fighting to this point against a mysterious creature of unknown origin, so they began to consider scattering and fleeing for their lives.

Once the players who were originally cooperating malfunctioned, the police officer, whose mobility was already astounding, could immediately find an opportunity. This time, it rushed towards the nearest player, who was moving somewhat slowly due to an injury to the head or somewhere else, and grabbed him.

"No! Mr. Brin! Help me, please help me—Pfft—"

Boom! ! !

Several bullets pierced the player's body at point-blank range, all avoiding vital organs and not killing him, but enough to disable his combat ability.

The officer raised a hand, made a fist, and smashed it into the player's head, who had coughed up blood. The punch slightly dented the skull, sending the player into a deep sleep.

The attack has stopped.

The bullets flying everywhere vanished without a trace.

Without a word, the police officer turned and left, dragging the injured player along, leaving a long trail of blood in the mud.

"Does this thing... only attack one person at a time?"

The other players, who were still unsure of the device's true nature, breathed a sigh of relief when the barrage of bullets finally stopped and the officers ceased their attacks and lock onto them.

This thing, so terrifying, like an overpowered boss created by a poorly designed, haphazardly configured game planner, would be reasonably limited if it only attacked one person at a time. After all, even a Red Moon-level monster has to be reasonable, and this kind of thinking is normal for players. Especially when they tried to get closer to remove the object of obsession from the captured player and found that the police didn't stop them at all, they became even more convinced that this thing was a rigid monster that would only attack one target, so they stopped paying attention to it and quickly ran away to find a new location.

"Back then, those fanatics at Nightfall Mountain Middle School probably faced a similar situation when dealing with the police, right?"

Having witnessed the entire process, Gao Hai was somewhat uneasy when he saw those players who thought they had figured out the police officers' rules of conduct, unaware that this was an arrangement Gao Hai had made in advance.

And it was at this moment that the village, which was surrounded by darkness, finally disappeared completely in the overflowing dim light.

Gao Hai returned to the very first place, [Li Family Village], to the place where Maki Kaguya and the other players were.

Maki, who was the first to notice Gao Hai's return, quickly turned around and looked over. After confirming that it was indeed Gao Hai, she breathed a sigh of relief and then quickly reminded the other teammates of the situation.

Having already cleared away all the wreaths with his clones, Goto Ichiri stretched his slightly sore wrists, cautiously looked up and met Takami's gaze, then awkwardly shrank back before focusing his attention back on his clones.

At the same time, on the road outside the village not far away, the three players of the [Historian], led by their clone, had already crossed the farmland area and arrived at the road leading into the village, where they were about to return to the village to reunite.

Chapter 68: Players Called "Historians" and the Hypothetical Level 4 Dungeon

dark night.

It was pitch black, as if the entire earth was shrouded in a night of heavy pressure.

However, whether it was truly pitch black cannot be confirmed. After all, no one has ever actually looked up at the sky, and no one has ever used their naked eyes to definitively determine what the night sky in this space actually looks like.

Beside the burning furnace, Gao Hai's team members, the players from the "Fishing Gang" and the historian's three-way organization sat on the ground, holding their first round of cooperation meetings.

It was only at this point that Gao Hai was able to formally observe the three players who were historians for the first time.

"Hello to everyone in the 'Slacking Off Gang' and Mr. Gao's group. I hope our previous actions didn't cause you too much trouble. My team members sometimes do not consider other people's feelings. If we offended anyone before, I apologize here."

The first one who seemed to be the leader of the three players was a Tyrande named Chatchai. He was a short, thin man with a bald head and a fierce-looking face. Although he claimed to have been a monk, Gao Hai thought he looked more like a thug from a gangster movie.

However, despite his unappealing appearance, this man was actually the most approachable of the trio. He spoke softly and gently throughout, exchanging pleasantries with everyone without a trace of menace. According to Cat Brother, this man was already a renowned and powerful player before joining the historian group, a trustworthy and reliable individual.

Unlike other eccentric individuals who joined the Historians' organization, Chatchai left his original team with the attitude that "someone has to do this, why can't it be me?" After becoming a member, he also took on the responsibility of vetting new members. In a sense, Chatchai's addition significantly ensured the purity of the Historians' player group, preventing it from deteriorating during its succession like the Treasure Hunters, and allowing it to maintain its fundamental principles.

In short, he's a reliable teammate, which is a good thing.

But then again, is his name Chatchai or Chatchai again? This Thai guy's name is a bit hard to remember...

"Sigh, introducing myself is such a hassle. Just call me Tangyuan. My personal hobbies are paranormal events and solving mysteries. I apologize if this affects you in any way. Of course, I know what I'm doing and won't do anything reckless. Don't worry, I've set up a chain annihilation curse on my soul and body. If anything really happens, it definitely won't affect you."

The second member of the historian team was a female player named "Tangyuan." This player was quite short, only 150cm tall, much shorter than the girls on Gao Hai's team, but her overall demeanor exuded a distinctly adult aura. Gao Hai didn't know exactly what this aura was, but he could immediately recognize a girl like Kaguya Maki as a youthful and beautiful cute high school girl. This player, who didn't reveal her real name, despite her good looks, gave Gao Hai a sense of being a "street smarts" at first glance.

This player, named Tangyuan, is a relatively innocent member of the historians. According to Cat Brother, this player has abandoned his former identity as an ordinary person, relinquishing his original self through some kind of ritual, to the point that he even had to choose a new name, which is Tangyuan. The reason this player did this is simply to avoid implicating his family by exploring any secrets. Indeed, before joining the historians, Tangyuan was a ruthless individual who dared to delve into Red Moon-level dungeons to investigate various hidden information, having already narrowly escaped death multiple times for it.

Of course, because Tangyuan had twice successfully smuggled out important information without ever implicating others, Cat Brother had a fairly good impression of him. In his private words, players who were both strong and willing to be cannon fodder for trial and error were extremely rare, and making friends with such players was very valuable.

"Li Xiaoxiao, 18 years old, is a student."

The last member, this young woman with a cold expression, was a bit more troublesome. She had only cleared the Red Moon-level dungeon in the last two months, and immediately left her original team to join the Historian after clearing the Red Moon dungeon once, so no one really knew her.

Because Chachai and Tangyuan had collaborated and communicated with the Moyu Gang a few times, even though Gao Hai didn't know them, they could still chat and introduce themselves through Cat Brother, giving them a better understanding of future collaborations. However, only the two players from the Historians organization had some knowledge of Li Xiaoxiao's background. Due to the nature of organizations like the Historians, newcomers who actively joined generally had a certain degree of self-destructive or self-sacrificing tendencies. While the latter, like Chachai, were cooperative, the former, like Tangyuan, who knew not to implicate others, were already in the minority. It was unclear which side Li Xiaoxiao was on.

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that both Chachai and Tangyuan were trustworthy and willing to vouch for Li Xiaoxiao, Cat Brother would definitely have advised Gao Hai against engaging in deep cooperation with Li Xiaoxiao.

"I joined the ranks of historians to find answers to some questions. I will not easily commit suicide before I find the answers, nor will I implicate or harm others."

"If you two are going to cooperate, I will cooperate with Mr. Chachai and Sister Tangyuan and won't cause you any trouble."

"These are my honest words. I haven't concealed my spiritual power. You can judge for yourselves whether they are true or false. Does that put you at ease a little?"

Fortunately, judging from the ensuing exchange, this player was able to communicate normally, unlike some of the historians I've met who came in just to die spectacularly in the dungeon, completely disregarding whether other players would be affected.

"In that case, we've established a temporary cooperative team. A team of 12 people can be considered a large investigation team."

Thus, the cooperation was finalized, and the next step was the exchange of information.

Gao Hai revealed some of the information he knew, excluding the information about the Blood Flower. Both Gao Hai and Cat Brother also shared some details about their own blessings and obsession objects. In return, the historian explained his team's capabilities and the information they had gathered.

"How do you manage to move around normally at night? We tried to test it using methods like creating clones, but the things we tested died instantly. Later, we found some ways to move around outside, but they were quite limited. We had to keep our vision completely obscured from the sky at all times, which was very inconvenient."

Gao Hai, who asked the first question, raised the question that concerned him the most.

"The answer to this problem is quite simple. I possess a Dark Night-level blessing that erases conceptual understanding of the mind. The dangers of the night primarily come from the sky. Although we don't know exactly what that danger is, our tests have confirmed that as long as we don't look at it, we're safe. So, through the power of this blessing, I temporarily erased my team members' cognitive concepts of the 'sky.' This means that even if we look up and see the sky, we'll be spared because we can't comprehend the information coming from the 'sky.'"

Cha Cai answered Gao Hai's question, and Gao Hai could have imagined the answer. However, the ability to selectively erase a player's cognitive ability regarding a certain concept, thus preventing them from receiving relevant information, was truly powerful. No wonder these three dared to warn against reckless behavior on nights with problematic intentions in the rules.

"This must be a blessing that Mr. Chatchai received recently. It's quite an amazing ability."

Cat Brother couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, while Xiao Guo showed a somewhat envious expression.

“Mr. Chatchai, how did you manage to communicate with that knocking ghost? If this question involves any secrets, there’s no need to answer. I’m just curious; I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Zhenfei, who was standing nearby, also asked a question, helping Gao Hai to ask another question he wanted to ask.

"This was achieved through a special Red Moon-level obsession object, which is no secret; Mr. Cat knows about it too."