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

Gao Hai recalled that when the villagers of Li Family Village accused Li Ziyong of bringing in the rebels, it seemed that Gao Hai had given Li Ziyong a "blessing," and the villagers, whose minds were affected, said this in anger. As for the claim that Li Duosun brought in the rebels, it seemed to have come from Li Ziyong himself, from a scene he had seen during a spiritual experience.

Which one is true and which one is false?

The past is just a picture; it's hard to tell whether the speaker is telling the truth or lying.

However, when the power of the blessing altered the villagers' minds, causing them to become hostile towards Li Ziyong, Gao Hai felt that the words spoken by the villagers at that time were very likely true. After all, the blessing could only guide other people's emotions; it couldn't fabricate non-existent memories out of thin air.

If that's the case, then the people of Li Family Village have really maxed out both external wars and internal strife.

Uh...uh...uh oh oh...

Li Ziyong is still struggling.

Under the relentless tearing of the [Black Immortal], a creature a full size larger than the Kodiak Island brown bear and essentially a Red Moon-level monster with overwhelming power, Li Ziyong was now practically reduced to Li Ziyong sauce. Even so, he didn't die. He could still emit piercing screams from the pile of rotten flesh, and even use his torn pieces to continue writhing on the ground, trying to escape.

This level of immortality is clearly different from how he fared after being bombed in the first playthrough. It seems he's made some kind of improvement to his immortality ability. However, it's also possible that after the Mountain God's transformation, Li Ziyong couldn't directly revive like before, and therefore had to resort to a degraded version of immortality. Well, in terms of sheer power, it's not bad; even turned to mush, he can still make noise. But his self-healing ability is practically nonexistent, which Gao Hai considers pure madness. Ever since experiencing the Red Nut Gray Hole, Gao Hai sees any immortality skill without strong self-healing as pure idiocy. But maybe this guy had no choice?

"Have fun with Xiongxiong, I won't bother you anymore. No, I still have to bother you a little, after all, I still need to confirm whether the object of my obsession is with you."

As he spoke, Gao Hai released his mental energy to scan Li Ziyong's location, but he couldn't find any trace of the object of his obsession among the pile of rotten flesh. The small bell that had been previously confirmed to be able to summon and control the corpses of the Zhangjia Village villagers was also not here; it was unknown whether he had hidden it beforehand or whether it had automatically returned to some other place after breaking free of his control.

Gao Hai looked around carefully, cautiously surveying the surroundings.

No trace of the strange creature was found.

The chaotic mountain stronghold appeared to be empty, with no strange creatures moving about inside.

Li Xiaoxiao was nowhere to be found, and Chachai wasn't there either. The two players who were historians seemed to have vanished. However, Gao Hai had confirmed with Tang Yuan before coming here, and Tang Yuan said that his two companions were still alive and could be vaguely sensed through their possessions, but they just couldn't find their whereabouts.

If not here, then where would it be?

After thinking for a moment, Gao Hai restrained himself and released his mental energy to sense his surroundings.

Soon, he detected a signal from a living person, a signal that was hostile and mixed with the aura of a strange creature.

The signal disappeared immediately after Gao Hai detected it, suggesting the other party possessed some kind of reverse detection technique for mental energy. Gao Hai guessed it might be Chen Qiucai of the [Treasure Hunter]. It seemed that when Li Ziyong was attacked by the Black Immortal, that guy likely took the opportunity to break free of control and then fled immediately after Gao Hai discovered him.

It's a bit of a shame. I thought we could wipe them all out in one fell swoop. Speaking of which, is he the only one left among the [Treasure Hunters]? The other members are nowhere to be seen. Were they swallowed by the Blood Flower and therefore didn't reappear in the new playthrough? Tsk, it didn't even swallow them all at once. This Blood Flower seems pretty useless.

step-step-

Under the dim moonlight, after moving a little further away from the giant bear and Li Ziyong, Gao Hai could only hear the sound of his own footsteps.

In the dead silence, only the faint light of a few torches illuminated small areas; most of the place was shrouded in complete darkness, making it impossible to see if anything was hidden there.

Something seems a little off.

He didn't sense any strange creatures or feel attacked, but the silence gave Gao Hai a vague sense of unease.

He did not immediately use the blessing of hearing to expand his scan of the surroundings.

He mentally reviewed Kaguya and Chika's exploration, while his gaze once again swept over the dark corners. After careful consideration, he ultimately decided not to use his hearing blessing and simply continued walking through the deserted mountain stronghold.

I'm currently in the surface space, and the sky here has already darkened. Night has fallen much faster this time around than in the previous three, which is not a good thing. The Mountain God's condition is deteriorating more and more, and the Blood Flower's speed in breaking free of the seal is bound to be increasing as well. Furthermore, the Blood Flower's behavior has become noticeably abnormal this time around.

Where exactly is the last core artifact? Li Ziyong could control those corpses, so it should be on his body. But the Li Ziyong body torn apart by the Black Immortal had nothing on it…

While he was thinking, Gao Hai slowly walked back to the place he had just been.

Oh...oh oh...

The screams of agony from the pile of rotten flesh on the ground had turned into weak, feeble moans.

Under the repeated tearing of the Black Immortal, Li Ziyong's will seemed to have reached its limit, on the verge of complete collapse. To be honest, compared to the enemies Gao Hai had tortured before, Li Ziyong's willpower was quite average, at most comparable to the group of inhuman psychopaths in Takamagahara, and not even as long as the [writer] could hold out.

Would someone who has lived for hundreds of years and seems to have had many remarkable actions within the Li family be such a weak and incompetent person who would be exhausted after being tortured a few times?

Gao Hai silently scanned the pile of rotten flesh on the ground with his mental energy, but still found nothing unusual.

Then, he looked at the huge black bear that was tearing Li Ziyong apart and showed no signs of stopping.

This giant bear, once worshipped by the faith, eventually died because the Li family wanted to weaken the Liu family's power. Its obsession was to exterminate the residents of Li Family Village.

Even though it has become a strange creature, the criteria for judging this thing are still very strict. Putting aside the "Black Immortal" that has been distorted based on the villagers' impressions and rumors, at least the complete Black Immortal will only target members of the Li family, so it won't even attack Gao Hai, who holds the Li family's land deed.

The fact that it is repeatedly vilifying Li Ziyong here proves that this is indeed the real Li Ziyong.

However, it's also possible that this is just a disguised fake, imbued with Li Ziyong's true aura. After all, strange creatures aren't intelligent; as long as they know how to find loopholes in the rules, they can always find a way to deal with them. Even an unconventional monster like Alice can't completely avoid this; at most, she can only get stuck for a while after violating the rules and then break free.

So, which scenario is it here?

Gao Hai took out 20 golden dice, tossed them gently, and then caught them in his hand.

If you open your palm and the number on the die is 17, then...

hum-

The dice, which should have remained still, seemed to be disturbed by some force and started moving again after the result had already been shown.

Realizing something was wrong, Gao Hai wanted to put the dice away immediately, but the external influence changed the outcome before he could act, causing the face-up side of the dice to directly become the number 1.

The worst possible dice roll result—a result that would significantly increase my presence in the presence of the monster and bring misfortune, triggering all sorts of terrible events. How could the dice roll produce such a result, and is there another force influencing this obsessive object with this anomalous change?

Gao Hai immediately recalled what Kaguya had said before, about her use of the 20-sided die to influence Chen Qiucai's blood die. To be honest, thinking about it carefully, it was quite absurd. After all, the golden die was a Dark Night-level artifact, while Chen Qiucai's blood die was clearly a Red Moon-level artifact. For a Dark Night-level artifact to be able to deflect the power of a Red Moon-level artifact was itself unbelievable. But now, Gao Hai sensed interference from the changes in the golden die earlier. Could it be…

【roar?】

The giant bear, which had been focused on the pile of rotten flesh, raised its head and looked at Gao Hai with some confusion.

After a brief moment of thought, Gao Hai began to speak.

"Could these two dice be from the same copy, and possibly part of a set of obsession items?"

As he spoke, the malevolent blessing from Morihara Koji was activated. His words, imbued with the power of this blessing, produced a special effect, causing any living person who would harm others without cause, or any evil spirit who had murdered innocent people in their lifetime, to involuntarily focus on Takami and generate a strong urge to eliminate him.

"Very likely, although I don't actually know where this die came from, since I got it by killing someone. Heh, I wonder if I'll get anything interesting after killing you."

Chen Qiucai couldn't help but answer Gao Hai under the influence of the blessing power, and his voice clearly contained a twisted negative emotion.

"So, this is considered a trap?"

Gao Hai raised an eyebrow.

"So many changes have happened in the instance, we're not stupid. It seems you're the key point right now, right? By the way, has the timeline of this instance been rewound? Have you and the people you sent out seen me before?"

In the darkness, Chen Qiucai's voice continued to echo. Compared to the half-dead state that Kaguya and the others had seen before, he seemed much more normal now, but Gao Hai could still vaguely sense that this player's condition had not improved, but rather that he had undergone a deeper transformation.

"It really was a trap. Was it a clone or something? But it's not surprising that it turned out this way. After all, this guy is as tough as a cockroach and really disgusting. I didn't think he would die so easily from the beginning."

Gao Hai did not answer Chen Qiucai, but continued to speak in a provocative tone, while maintaining the power of blessing in the process.

Only then did he slightly loosen his mental energy to probe outwards, and immediately observed a large number of strange creatures gathering towards him. Judging from their previous positions, they must have been waiting there all along. Whether Gao Hai used mental energy or some other means to probe, it would likely trigger them, causing them to gather. The same applies to the dice rolls being affected and the power of the verbal blessing.

Furthermore, space itself seemed to be distorted, clearly interfering with the transmission of blessings; it was likely a force specifically designed to target spatial teleportation. However, with his blessings enhanced by the Form of Origin, combined with the alternate dimension ability of the Void Transformation Blessing and his mental power capable of influencing the real world, he should still be able to break through. This level of restriction could at most limit Crimson Moon-level teleportation blessings and spatial obsessions.

"Indeed, although I've been cooperating with these people for a while, I never expected something like this to happen. That Li family patriarch has become so disgusting; it's really...—"

"Save your words, you dangerous fellow must be eliminated immediately!"

This time, Chen Qiucai's words were interrupted by Li Ziyong's venomous voice before he could finish. It must be said that it was quite remarkable that someone without willpower enhancement could endure for so long under the influence of the Red Moon-level mental blessing before finally speaking. However, before Gao Hai could even internally evaluate this, Li Ziyong, clearly deeply affected by the mental influence, continued speaking:

"Your hiding place is in those hidden spaces, isn't it? Heh, that's a good idea. No wonder I couldn't find you at first. But that trick won't work now. Your people will be wiped out soon, and you beast, I'll deal with you right now."

So that's how it is. Did you trace it back to the hidden space?

Gao Hai, who had maintained a mental link with the Black Immortal, did not panic. He simply walked to the pile of rotten flesh on the ground and squatted down, under the confused gaze of the Black Immortal.

This lump of rotten flesh doesn't seem to be Li Ziyong's original body, but the fact that it could be mistaken by the Black Immortal and trigger the rules, and that it could talk and communicate with Gao Hai before, demonstrating a complete thought process, shows that this fake is quite well made.

Well then, let's give it a try.

Reaching out, Gao Hai touched the still-growing lump of flesh before the surrounding monsters could gather around him.

Then, he activated the blessing of nothingness, but not the nothingness itself or the transmission to the future, but the blessing that alters perception.

Chapter 140: Gao Hai: "I am Alice!"

Cognitive Modification is one of the blessings given to Gao Hai by his teacher after the liberation of Yeluoshan Middle School, and it is also a special effect that he has not used yet.

Through physical contact, one's will is superseded by the other person, thus distorting their perception and changing their image of Gao Hai to something else. After the modification is complete, even if Gao Hai acts in ways that don't fit his disguise, he will generally not be detected, unless the person he is impersonating appears at the same time as him—that's roughly the situation.

As a Red Moon-level blessing, this ability isn't particularly powerful, at least not compared to Voidification or Future Transmission. Because of this, in the current extremely difficult dungeons, Gao Hai hasn't found a use for this skill and has never used it.

But now, he's come up with a method that might work.

This lump of rotten flesh, which is not essentially Li Ziyong, is inevitably judged as a villager of Li Family Village according to the rules, and may even have replaced Li Ziyong's identity. Moreover, based on previous contact, this thing seems to possess a certain degree of thinking ability and can be judged by the power of blessing.

Putting aside everything else, the fact that it could cause a strange entity like the "Black Immortal" to make a wrong judgment is enough to illustrate the point.

Therefore, the blessing of cognitive modification will definitely work on this thing.

However, this raises another question: what's the point of using cognitive modification on this thing? Ultimately, it's just a lump of minced meat right now. Even if you change its mindset, what effect will it have? First, changing the [Black Immortal's] judgment is impossible; such rules don't change with a shift in consciousness. Second, even if its judgment changes, it won't affect the approaching monster soldiers or finding the real Li Ziyong. From this perspective, it's a complete waste of effort, simply a pointless waste of energy.

Yes, if it's just about arbitrarily altering one's perception to become someone else, then that's certainly true.

However, Gao Hai did this because he had other ideas.

{Alice, I sacrificed the villagers' flesh and blood to the mountain god during my third playthrough, which means I now bear a deep imprint of the mountain god and have a very close connection with Him, right?}

In the world of thought, Gao Hai asked the mountain god who had been given a false Alice personality.

[Hehe, it seems Teacher has some bold ideas again? What are they? If Teacher asks Alice for help, Alice might be able to help you. Ah, of course, it can't be about Alice harming the Li family patriarch, after all, they are believers too.]

In the clear response, Gao Hai seemed to recall the smile Alice gave him when they were in Fujika Middle School.

Ah, it was definitely a mistake to give this thing an Alice personality. It's so annoying. Why did I even put this thing in the first place?

Gao Hai was helpless.

But he wasn't going to waste time dwelling on that right now, so he quickly regained his composure and started speaking again through mental connections.

{I'm going to attempt a ritual that may have mystical power, so during this process, I need your gaze upon me. I need you to focus your attention completely on me, to project the gaze and power of the Little Black Mountain God onto me as much as possible. Can you do that?}

Thinking about what he was going to do next, Gao Hai couldn't help but smile.

Mingming had just realized the gap between himself and the remains of the Fox Queen, a deity, and clearly understood the vast difference between humans and gods.

However, what he was about to do was far more dangerous, more blasphemous, and more presumptuous than venturing into the bottomless lake to confront the Fox Queen.

But he felt that it might work.

Even if his body might not be able to withstand it and he would face a tragic destruction, Gao Hai felt that his will alone was enough for him to have a slight chance to contend with the power of the gods, or at least to try and clash with the local gods.

[…Teacher, you really are amazing! Wow, you're incredibly clever. Even Alice has to admit you're brilliant to have come up with such a method. Hehehe, and Alice can already picture the teacher's miserable death. Is this really a good idea? Is the teacher trying to commit suicide?]