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

It seemed to get colder around us.

Normally, water should freeze if the temperature drops below zero. But at this moment, in this flowing water, Gao Hai felt a bone-chilling temperature of sub-zero, as if he had been thrown into an iceberg in the polar night and was experiencing a raging storm.

What's going on?

He realized that as he moved the statue, something unusual seemed to be happening at the bottom of the lake.

It seemed that something had been awakened by him.

Something that had been quietly dormant at the bottom of the lake was awakened after the statue that sustained its life force was moved.

Wait, the statue releasing life force... Right, ever since I came into contact with this statue, it has been continuously releasing life force. Although this should just be the effect of some kind of automatic response mechanism of the residual power of the gods, the fact that this mechanism can still function proves that it has had an effective target from the beginning.

"call……"

Gao Hai was stunned.

Did it have a target audience from the very beginning?

Thinking back carefully, from the first time he encountered Li Family Village, although the villagers seemed to be smiling but harboring ill intentions, it was clear during their hospitality that they were definitely not lacking in food and clothing. The same went for the farmland; although Gao Hai didn't understand agriculture, he could still tell from the lush and abundant state of the various vegetables and plants filling the fields. In other words, even without the sacrificial rituals, Li Family Village should still be a prosperous and wealthy village, meaning that the surrounding fields should have been receiving the life force radiation from the lakebed from the very beginning.

However, at this point in time, the Li Family Village should no longer be able to perform the sacrificial rituals of the past. Although the cause and effect of this part is still uncertain, after the curse existing in the stagnant water erupted, the past sacrifices could no longer be carried out. In other words, these villagers could no longer obtain the vitality boost from the land through sacrifices, so why were the crops still yielding abundant harvests?

Unless the last sacrifice is still alive.

Or rather, one of the offerings, near the final stage, survived for an extremely long time after being sunk to the bottom of the lake. Long enough that even after the villagers stopped performing the sacrificial rituals, the life force radiating from the lake bottom remained vigorous, allowing the villagers to continue living their good lives even after the curse of the still waters erupted.

"call……"

Is this even possible?

Gao Hai knew how terrifying it was to be confined in darkness. After experiencing 45 days of claustrophobia in the Red Nut Gray Hole, he might not have much of a grasp on other forms of torture and pain, but he could feel the agony of imprisonment with unparalleled depth. The fact that these girls, sacrificed as offerings, ultimately died with their consciousness broken showed that humans could not endure such absolute confinement for long.

But what if someone actually succeeded in doing it?

Even if she ultimately dies, if there truly is such a unique individual who endured long enough in the confinement of the lake's bottom—long enough for her pain to merge with the pain of countless others who perished in the lake, long enough for her obsession to resonate with those similarly imprisoned there, long enough for her to empathize with the despair that permeates and grows within this lake of death—even if her final fate was still death, through this continued resonance, her power might still resonate with the instincts of the divine, allowing divine power to continue radiating outwards, continuing to nourish her body, continuing to radiate upon the surrounding land, greatly enhancing the vitality of the land around Little Black Mountain.

He remembered that among the core obsessions of this instance identified by the Red Society, there was a female paper doll dressed in a red wedding gown.

It's difficult to determine now whether the paper figure encountered by the [Red Society] was the core obsession itself, but one thing is certain: one of the core obsessions in the [Infant Cry Village] instance is definitely a female ghost dressed in a wedding gown. And since the environment within the instance has undergone drastic changes, Gao Hai has yet to truly encounter this ghost or find its location.

Perhaps, he has finally found the other person?

Glug glug—glug glug—

Bubbles rose and fell in front of Gao Hai.

After he moved the enormous statue of the god, something that had been hidden next to the statue seemed to be dragged out along with it and exhaled, causing bubbles to rise from the bottom of the lake.

Death is approaching.

A chill ran through his body, and even before he could see the thing clearly, Gao Hai could already feel the terror.

Finally, it appeared. It was not a god, but a strange creature in human form, possessing an aura that could only be obtained through the core obsession of a Red Moon level being. It was a terrifying aura.

"call……"

After another steady breath, Gao Hai removed his mask and put the object of his obsession back into the space of the black watch.

It is not insurmountable.

After clearly sensing this terrifying aura, his body and his senses immediately told Gao Hai that he could fight against it.

The difference is huge.

To use the Demon Slayer: Pillar Training Arc, which is currently airing, as an analogy, Takahashi feels like he's going to challenge Kokushibo's Wind Pillar one-on-one. Winning a proper battle is probably wishful thinking, but maybe he could actually give it a try and have a match.

Gollum-

The twisted, terrifying figure had already appeared in front of Gao Hai.

The tattered, dark red wedding dress, almost completely black, floated gently in the water.

Strangely, its eyes weren't sewn shut, its mouth could open, and its nose and ears didn't seem to be sewn shut either.

At this moment, this thing silently emerged from among the surging silt particles, staring at Gao Hai with its swollen and deformed face, and slightly opening its small mouth as if to say something to him.

Gao Hai didn't listen to what this thing was trying to express.

The instant the thing appeared in front of him, he took out a blood-red chainsaw from his black watch, pulled the switch, and a muffled "buzzing" motor sound spread through the water.

Knowing that he had triggered this thing and that it would be difficult to escape in the short term, at least not while carrying the statue, Gao Hai knew that all he needed to do now was to fight back.

The power of the rampaging blessing has been activated.

Blood-red light filled Gao Hai's eyes, bringing him an all-round improvement in physical fitness and a further increase in resistance to the power of strange creatures.

buzzing-

From a scientific point of view, a chainsaw should not be able to function properly underwater at a depth of more than 400 meters.

However, for a Red Moon-level obsession, this kind of problem is not a concern. As long as it can withstand the crazy ravings and mental erosion constantly released by this thing, it can still function normally even if Gao Hai is standing on the moon.

The next moment, with the chainsaw in the water resounding like a subwoofer, Gao Hai swung it down suddenly.

boom! ! !

The immense force brought about a violent explosion, and even the still water was pushed aside in that instant, creating a brief vacuum.

Then, Gao Hai delivered a powerful downward slash with his sword, slamming the thing onto the head of the strange creature in front of him. With a muffled cracking sound, the sword cleaved through the creature's head, almost splitting it in two.

Chapter 94: The Moment of Surfacing and Those Who Attempt a Suicide Attempt

In the instantaneous violent tremor, the monster whose head had been almost split in two by Gao Hai took a step back, staggered by the force of the blood saw.

Gao Hai followed suit, pushing off the ground with both feet and leaping up while holding the giant statue in one hand, rapidly ascending upwards.

A chilling aura swiftly pursued them, and in the blink of an eye, the grotesque creature with its head already split in half was right behind Gao Hai. Following closely behind, all the skeletons at the bottom of the lake began to move, one after another, heading towards Gao Hai. In an instant, the entire lakebed was densely packed with fragmented, intertwined skeletons, making it impossible to tell whether all the bones had come to life, or whether one or a few living beings had pulled the entire grotesque creature to the surface.

Bang!

With a dull thud, Gao Hai kicked the wedding-dressed ghost directly, sending it flying backward and using the recoil to accelerate its ascent.

The speed can't be increased.

Even with all my efforts, I couldn't increase my speed much, and it even started to slow down.

The gravity seemed to be getting stronger, or rather, the feeling from below, as if something was pulling at his body, was getting stronger. Gao Hai even felt as if countless hands were reaching out to grab him, as if he were being violently pulled by an almost irresistible force.

The clamor incessantly filled my ears.

It is something accumulated over time by the obsessions that have settled at the bottom of this deep lake. It is an invisible yet real rule with terrifying power, one that allows no living person to escape.

so painful...

It's as if you can hear someone speaking to you like that.

If you look down, you can see those open-mouthed skeletons, talking non-stop.

So painful...so painful...so painful...

I can't see anything... I can't hear anything... I can't move... I can't die... I can't die...

I'm going crazy... I'm going crazy... I'm going crazy... I'm going crazy... I'm going crazy...

At first, the voices varied slightly, each retaining a degree of difference. But eventually, in this pitch-black world, they gradually converged, becoming similar to one another, or rather, they became so similar that only one thing remained, and everything else ceased to exist.

"Desperate?"

Gao Hai spoke softly, exhaling a few bubbles.

This feeling is all too familiar.

The mind is worn down by endless suffering, and personality and memory are gradually broken apart until nothing is left but the feeling of despairing pain.

These tragic victims, through human malice and God's unintentional actions, experienced true hell and were ultimately assimilated into it.

It was precisely because Gao Hai survived and was rescued from such hell that he was able to understand what it felt like so deeply, and was able to remember the darkness he had tasted so vividly after welcoming the light again.

For a moment, he even felt that what was pulling him down was not the monster that had been killed as a sacrifice, but himself.

It was the corpse of one after another who did not survive, who did not make it to this point, his own body.

Countless fragmented remains of Gao Hai, destroyed by despair, are desperately pulling themselves together in this deep darkness, trying to drag him, the sole survivor, into the same darkness and plunge him into a hopeless hell.

Of course, Gao Hai knew very well that this was just his illusion, merely the result of his inner feelings being touched.

No matter what pain he experienced in the process, he has overcome that despair.

In the months he'd spent as a player, a period far more exciting and painful than the past twenty-odd years of his life, he was no longer troubled by the difficulties he had already overcome.

"I'm sorry, you can't keep me here."

He looked at the countless skeletons spreading out from the darkness, at these things that were already dead, leaving only deformed remains, and spoke again in the water.

After removing his oxygen mask, it was clearly irrational to waste oxygen by talking underwater. However, Gao Hai didn't care. At this point, being attacked by such a dense number of strange creatures and being targeted by a creature with the core obsession level of a Red Moon, it was no longer worth being cautious.

Think back to how miserable I was back in Hayate Elementary School when I was chased around like a grandson by the core obsession, Chiyo Hachiya. Now, in just one month, the situation is completely different. If this kind of change were in a fantasy work, there would definitely be a story about my power level rising too fast and becoming unstable, right?

With these thoughts in mind, Gao Hai looked down at the intertwined skeletons and the outstretched fingers of the wedding-dressed female ghost who had caught up with him again and was almost grabbing his ankle.

The finger was mostly broken, the nails were all broken, and there were some strange bruises on the palm, as if it had been gripped by a huge force.

Third bomb, activated.

The next second, an aerial bomb appeared out of nowhere between Gao Hai and the strange creature, and the warhead hit the creature's face directly.

boom--

A dazzling display of fire, accompanied by a powerful shockwave, spread out in an instant.

Gao Hai crashed into the flesh-and-rock statue, and the immense impact sent the statue flying high into the air, accelerating rapidly upwards.

Meanwhile, the unnamed, unharmed skeletons and the female ghost who truly bore the full force of the bomb explosion were slammed to the ground and completely suppressed in the silt at the bottom of the lake by this extreme violence, unable to move an inch.

The suppression effect of aerial bombs appears to have increased.

As Gao Hai rapidly rose to the surface, he noticed that these strange creatures seemed to be trapped by something, struggling and unable to move in the mud.

No, that's not right.

It was the impact of the aerial bombs that knocked these things down into the mud, triggering specific rules.