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

I'll speed things up a bit more now, hurry up!

This prompted Hayasaka to accelerate sharply, and for a moment only his afterimage could be vaguely seen in the forest. This time, in order to escape the forest as quickly as possible, he even activated the power of etherealization to a certain extent, almost flying at low altitude through the forest.

Hayasaka hugged Takami tightly without saying a word, silently feeling the oncoming gale.

Behind the two, in the darkness, a huge creature slowly emerged from the swirling mist and looked in the direction where Gao Hai was.

{That's... a bear? Mr. Gao, watch out, something's coming from behind!}

Kita Ikuyo, who had been monitoring the surroundings for Takami, was the first to notice the problem and loudly alerted him through their mental link.

{Have you arrived? After running through this forest for so long, it's about time you came.}

Gao Hai wasn't surprised. From the moment he had to venture deep into the forest, he had predicted that this thing would come knocking on his door sooner or later.

【Black Fairy】

According to the investigation by the local shaman Jiang, the "Black Immortal" is highly likely to have transformed from a bear. It is an invulnerable evil creature, but its behavior is very similar to that of an animal. Therefore, it can be frightened by any loud noise, whether it's a huge sound, the roar of motors, or any other loud noise. In addition, burning flames can also scare it, so setting a fire in the forest would be a good idea.

[Roar... Huff... Huff...]

The stench accompanied the breath of the thing that was gradually approaching from behind. In just the blink of an eye, the distance between that thing and Takami Hayasaka had shrunk by more than half, and the distance between them was still shrinking.

They're really pressing them.

It seemed that its speed increased after it became aware of the thing's presence?

Gao Hai sensed the rapidly approaching aura, his expression remained unchanged, and his movement speed increased in an instant.

The initial surge of power from the berserk blessing caused Gao Hai's physical strength and vitality to be rapidly depleted, resulting in a power far exceeding his normal level. Following this, the basic enhancements to his physical attributes from various blessings were amplified even further, and Gao Hai also rapidly utilized several potion-like items within a short period.

A strong, sweet, fishy smell also spread at this moment. The animal shadows piled up in the woods seemed to have undergone some kind of change under the power of the [Black Immortal], causing Gao Hai to feel an increasingly strong sensation as if he were being pulled and dragged by something, and his movement speed was also affected and slowed down a bit.

[Huffing and puffing...]

A massive black shadow was rapidly approaching, attempting to tear Gao Hai's body apart.

I felt a strong appetite.

Even before their bodies have actually touched, one can already feel an intense hunger emanating from that body, enough to tear apart reason and drive one completely mad.

hunger.

Filled with uncontrollable desires.

They have completely lost control and descended into utter madness.

It shouldn't have looked like this in the first place.

They shouldn't have ended up in such a disgraceful state.

But whatever once existed within this enormous body has now dissipated into this twisted and insane desire, replaced by the pure beast that is now present.

This thing... what exactly is it...?

Gao Hai frowned. In that brief moment, he seemed to have vaguely seen some images.

People staggering along, their bodies covered in wounds.

A dark figure, appearing and disappearing in the woods, was guiding the way.

Much more could not be confirmed; only a few blurry and incomplete images remained, and only this much information could be discerned.

Did that happen when the refugees arrived at Xiaoheishan?

This being called the "Black Immortal," which Gao Hai originally thought might be a bear monster or something transformed by the power of obsession, might actually have once possessed thinking abilities and emotional intelligence similar to or even surpassing those of ordinary humans, and even guided the initial refugees?

If that's the case, and if this black bear is so extraordinary, then it seems somewhat understandable why it became the "Black Immortal."

tear-

Gao Hai's shoulder was ripped open out of thin air, and a small piece of flesh was missing amidst the splattering blood.

"Well……"

Hayasaka couldn't help but cry out in pain the next moment, and wounds began to appear on her body, as if something had torn several pieces of flesh from her body.

It has come close enough to trigger the rules.

Regardless of what the "Black Fairy" originally was, it is now a murderous monster, and its rules incorporate many human impressions of bears from "legends and tales." Therefore, Takami and Hayasaka, who were trying to escape, began to suffer increasing injuries, much like those people or animals rumored to have been eaten alive by bears. Even though they hadn't been deprived of their mobility, they were constantly being tortured.

Bang! Bang, bang, bang—

Without hesitation, Gao Hai summoned his pistol and pulled the trigger, activating the power of the [Suppression Bullet] at that moment.

The first suppressive round barely stopped the behemoth chasing the two, but the second to fourth suppressive rounds followed, causing the thing to slow down rapidly, and the wounds spreading on Takami and Hayasaka stopped increasing.

The inky, shadowy animal figures trembled violently at that moment.

Bright light could now be seen in front of the woodland.

tread!

One second Takami and Hayasaka were in a dense forest, and the next moment they landed on a dirt road in a farmland.

If you look back now, you can still see slightly distorted, curved spatial traces.

But Gao Hai's attention wasn't on that.

He was now looking at the Li Family Village, which had been transformed into a fortress by the players, and at the three people standing not far in front of him—Mao Busi, Li Nianyou, and Tangyuan—who seemed to be mobilizing some kind of ritual power. It seemed that it was through the efforts of these three players who had left the village and set up some kind of ritual in the farmland area that Gao Hai and Hayasaka were able to overcome the spatial barrier and arrive here so quickly.

Is that the case?

Gao Hai stopped and looked at the three of them with a smile.

Then, he casually tossed a small cross onto the ground, and immediately three large, burning crosses rose from the ground, each bearing a human figure. None of those three figures matched the three people standing in front of Gao Hai.

Chapter 84: Another Gambler and the Time to Return to Safe Zone

"Tsk..."

With a disgruntled click of his tongue, the three players in front of Gao Hai vanished without a trace, and the burning figure on the cross also disappeared.

Unsurprisingly, the three friendly players from earlier were actually players from the [Treasure Hunters] team, disguised using some means. Gao Hai's early suspicion was simple: although Maki informed him of this through a mental link with her black watch, such a large-scale spatial manipulation ritual couldn't have been completely without leaving a trace. Since the [Treasure Hunters] were highly likely cooperating with the villagers within the instance, they would have discovered what the villagers were doing and realized that Gao Hai's side was in trouble and unable to return to the safe zone immediately.

Of course, although he had anticipated this, Gao Hai couldn't be completely certain that things would go in this direction. He was just guessing that his opponent might use this opportunity to cause trouble. After all, although it might sound a bit narcissistic, Gao Hai believed that as the strongest fighter in the entire team, his opponent would definitely try to eliminate him first if they could find an opportunity. So, he could simply test his opponent in the opposite way.

As it turned out, his thinking was indeed correct, and the opponent's tactics did not exceed Gao Hai's limits of response, so he easily broke through the opponent's moves.

Who will be coming this time? Is it Chen Qiucai? Or someone else?

While contemplating, Gao Hai used his mental power to carefully protect Hayasaka, who had dismounted from his back and was now standing to the side. At the same time, he silently invoked the mountain god, requesting the god to help him pinpoint the enemy's location.

Without the mountain god needing to use his power, and merely through his perspective, the Alice persona implanted in the mountain god was surprisingly responsive to requests, requiring no cries of "Alice, help me!" from Gao Hai. Thus, Gao Hai quickly locked onto a scarecrow in a nearby field. As he looked at it, the scarecrow, clearly aware of its exposure, readily removed its disguise, revealing its true form to Gao Hai.

"Oh, Jacka, so when you went through the [Well] earlier, you went ahead to contact Li Ziyong?"

The moment Gao Hai saw the other person, he connected some of the things that had happened before.

"Yes, yes, I bet my partner that I could take you all down in one go, but I didn't manage to take any of you down and lost terribly. It's all your fault, Mr. Gao."

Jackta grinned, but his words were full of sinister and twisted emotions.

"You're gambling again, isn't gambling all you do in life? Isn't that a bit pathetic?"

Gao Hai frowned slightly and spoke with a hint of disdain.

"How could that be? Gambling is one of life's greatest pleasures, especially for us players who live one day at a time. Shouldn't we enjoy gambling even more? In my opinion, people like you, Mr. Gao, who are so cautious and struggle for their own and others' survival, are the most boring. What's the difference between living like that and being dead?"

Jackta's face was full of mocking smiles.

You could tell from his voice that he genuinely pitied Gao Hai and felt that his way of life was more noble than Gao Hai's.

Disregarding their own lives, they only sought more enjoyable and dangerous gambles. For this, they were willing to stand against the majority of players and even join forces with the villagers within the instance. Originally, Cat Bro from the "Slacking Off Gang" thought these "treasure hunters" and villagers were compromising and engaging in underhanded tactics for survival, but now it seems, at least Gao Hai can confirm, that this "Jackta" was simply doing it for fun.

In short, she's another delightful villain, like Alice in Wonderland with a less-than-pure purity.

【How could you say that, teacher? Comparing adorable Alice to a man who doesn't even dare show his true colors! Teacher, you're hurting Alice so much. *sobs* Alice tries so hard to help you, but in your heart, is she still practically an enemy? That's too much! *sobs*

Tsk, I forgot that this guy is now mentally connected to me. It's really annoying to get roasted for making a rant.

Gao Hai frowned, his expression turning somewhat displeased.

Of course, he wasn't concerned with what Jackta said or did. To Gao Hai, a twisted and crazed enemy player was nothing, even if the opponent was a genuine Red Moon-level player; they were utterly worthless in front of Gao Hai now. The difference in strength meant these guys could only cause Gao Hai some trouble indirectly, like rats in a gutter, and starting from the next playthrough, they wouldn't even be qualified to cause such minor trouble. Therefore, he was only annoyed by Alice's incessant chatter, since it was something that was genuinely difficult to get rid of.

But clearly, his reaction gave someone the wrong impression.

"Looks like I went too far with my words. Should I reflect on that? But compared to verbal sparring, I think it's more fun to make a bet. For example, how many of those Night-level players in [Li Family Village] are actually spies who have been turned?"

Jackta grinned as he spoke.

no respond.

There was no response because Gao Hai was no longer there.

Realizing the problem, the man's figure instantly became ethereal and vanished in the blink of an eye. He had only dared to jump around in front of Gao Hai because he was using a fake body, and even so, he was prepared to cut off contact and run away immediately if any problems arose, so his reaction was quite swift.

However, after severing the connection, the man was puzzled to find that Gao Hai did not seem to have attacked him. He did not sense any attack or erosion at the last moment of severing the connection, and did not even come into contact with any strange power.

What's going on? Were you scared by what I said and are in a hurry to go back and investigate the inside agents, so you don't have time to deal with me?

If that's the case, it just means that although this guy is very strong, he's not a very good person. He was misled by just a little bit of verbal deception. It seems he's not a worthy opponent.

The man, who was thinking this, suddenly felt a little dazed and realized that he had received something.

It was something transmitted directly into my mind through the transfer of mental energy. I didn't notice it at first, probably because the other party's mental energy was much stronger than mine, and the other party did nothing except for this insignificant thing that was injected into me. Therefore, it was like transmitting a piece of data of less than 1kb in size, which failed to attract my attention.

No, not only that, but the transmitted data didn't involve the power of the supernatural entity. If it were information related to a supernatural entity, he would definitely have issued a warning. While the method of tricking people by transmitting information might not be widely recognized among low-level players, as a Red Moon-level player, the man was quite experienced in this. Therefore, he was quite certain that Gao Hai hadn't transmitted any special information involving supernatural entities to him.

Even so, he didn't intend to look at what the information was. Without even a moment's hesitation, the man immediately erased the information from his memory.

Although he claimed he wasn't afraid of death and didn't care about life or death, the man wasn't planning to die until he actually won the bet. Or rather, he wouldn't obediently die until he felt he had won enough times to be satisfied. He said one thing and did another; that was just the kind of person he was.

Hmm... but something seems a bit strange...

I keep feeling like I'm hearing my mother, who passed away a long time ago, calling my name.

The man frowned, a strange feeling inexplicably rising in his heart.

Unbeknownst to him, his mental energy had already undergone a subtle change under Gao Hai's influence, as if the signal had been disguised. While this disguise might seem meaningless, it could subtly mislead the target that had been tracking Gao Hai.

Of course, this level of misleading is something the other party can immediately recognize.

But whether or not it recognizes him, it makes no difference to Gao Hai. Because he knows that the crimson flower treats everyone with boundless love. So even if it discovers that the person is not Gao Hai, it will still find them and give them infinite love and eternity.