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

So what's going on here, buddy?! Can you explain this clearly before you leave?!

Just before Tangyuan's expression was about to contort into the iconic "Scream," she sensed a familiar presence approaching from above. Looking up, she saw Chachai and Li Xiaoxiao, their expressions still clearly bewildered, leading a group of Dark Night-level players as they drew near. Simultaneously, a little further away, Cat Brother, Xiao Guo, and Li Nianyou were also arriving with a group of people. The six Red Moon-level players, while not exactly renowned figures in the gaming world, were certainly among the top tier. They exchanged bewildered glances, each displaying shock and confusion in the others' expressions.

As for those Dark Night level players who hadn't participated at all, and were suddenly informed that the core obsession of the dungeon had been broken and that everyone could soon safely return to the real world, well, their reaction wasn't as strong as that of the Red Moon level players. After all, these people genuinely didn't know how outrageous the dungeon was; they even thought that the Red Moon level players who had led them had worked together to break it.

Chachai: "So Mr. Gao explained the general situation to you, right? It's unbelievable. I clearly remember being killed, yet he managed to bring me back to life. This can't be explained by a simple rewind. Even a rewind power at the core level of the Red Moon would find it difficult to do this, right?"

Tangyuan: "Yes, so I'm still very confused. And I have absolutely no memory of dying or being seriously injured. I just remember opening a door and then, in the blink of an eye, I'm like this. What on earth is going on?"

Li Xiaoxiao: "Aren't we...on our way to Zhangjia Village?"

Xiao Guo: "Ah, wait a minute, shouldn't we be fighting with that Mr. Du? And he even took over your body, Miss Li."

Li Xiaoxiao: "...?"

Li Nianyou: "We're alive...we're alive...we're alive! We can all live, I foresaw it, we will all survive!"

Xiao Guo: "What?! You fake Taoist priest can actually say the word 'alive'?!"

Cat Bro: "So is this really the end? This has been... a really bizarre experience..."

The players, reacting in various ways, could no longer catch up with Gao Hai, who was rapidly diving.

Having received the blessing of the Blood Flower, Gao Hai was able to feel the enhancement he had gained more and more clearly over time.

Even though he didn't have time to stop and truly feel the specific principles of this power, Gao Hai was able to confirm the first effect of the blessing bestowed upon him by the blood flower based solely on his most intuitive physical reaction at this moment. Gao Hai named this effect himself as "Anchor of Life Sea".

This blessing granted Gao Hai a kind of [authority]. This blessing, combined with the power of [Chiyo Hachiya's Blessing] that he had obtained, made the power that he originally needed to draw from the life force released through the Crimson Domain a permanent function. Moreover, this function is no longer limited to the blood of humans or other higher animals, but can draw from the power of the [Sea of ​​Life].

Gao Hai doesn't yet have a particularly clear understanding of the concept of the "Sea of ​​Life." Generally speaking, it seems that only planets that have given birth to life can possess such a thing, and in a sense, it can be regarded as the source of life force for the entire planet. That is to say, from the life force of various plants and animals to microorganisms and even basic organic matter, Gao Hai can directly draw power from it, greatly enhancing his basic abilities. Furthermore, this power is called the "Anchor" because it also gives Gao Hai the characteristic of stabilizing his own life force. This characteristic allows Gao Hai to regenerate his cells within the enemy's body even if he is torn apart and eaten alive, rather than being easily digested or assimilated.

In a sense, this blessing essentially and completely isolated all forces that could corrode flesh and blood. From then on, any strange or bizarre attacks specifically targeting flesh and blood were no longer lethal to Gao Hai. And right now, it was because of this power that Gao Hai was able to draw upon the strange and divine power emanating from his surroundings to amplify his own strength, thus enabling him to maintain high-speed movement in this churning darkness and chaos.

{Sea King?! Hmm, have you successfully cracked the dungeon?}

A familiar sound came from the broken building floating below.

Maki leaped out of a half-collapsed, floating mud house, her expression still somewhat dazed, seemingly unsure of her situation as she had just been freed by the Blood Flower and was not yet fully awake. Beside her, Chika and Kaguya also appeared to have just woken up, but they seemed to be in relatively good condition.

Moreover, this aura... Although the blessing of the Blood Flower was only given to me, did this blessing also enhance them to a certain extent through the connection between me and them?

"Yes, the dungeon is nearing its final stages. Let's go together, find everyone else, and finish this. Oh, and it's great to see you all back, Maki, Chika, and Kaguya."

Clearly feeling the power transmitted between them through the deep connection of the black watches, Gao Hai was no longer worried about whether there would be any problems if they acted together. So he stopped, smiled, and said to the girls, and directly grabbed the hand of the closest girl, Maki, pulled her into his arms, and hugged her tightly.

Chapter 156: The Reunited Girls and the Changes Between Themselves

Jianzi felt like she had a very long dream.

At the beginning of the dream, she felt endless madness and terror. She felt as if she had fallen into an endless abyss, sinking deeper and deeper into absolute darkness, with no way to escape.

A distorted, frenzied voice howled around her, and her mind was constantly under unbearable pressure. At times, Jianzi felt that her soul had been torn to shreds, but some unknown force was constantly piecing her shattered soul back together, restoring her to a normal state, which was why she had never truly died.

Then, as the nightmare continued, for some reason, Miko suddenly felt those chaotic howls begin to subside. The terrifying, swirling vibrations that had threatened to tear her consciousness apart slowly softened until they disappeared completely, until she could no longer sense the presence of those mad beings.

At this moment, she began to feel a gentle warmth, as if she were lying in her mother's arms, at home.

This incredibly relaxing, irresistible feeling briefly clouded Miko's senses. But she quickly remembered that she should be in a dungeon, and that not long ago, she seemed to have encountered some terrible threat, so much so that she was defeated before she could even react.

Senior... is in danger... We must find a way to warn him...

Driven by a strong will, Miko tried desperately to find Takami's presence and warn him. With her own consciousness completely blurred, Miko honestly had no idea whether her attempt had succeeded, because as the gentle presence became more and more pronounced, Miko quickly lost the ability to distinguish between reality and illusion and entered a deep sleep.

How much time has passed since then?

While asleep, Jianzi was unable to discern time and could only try her best to prevent her consciousness from slipping into this gentle aura of unknown origin.

When she finally felt that aura leave her, felt that she had regained her freedom, and opened her eyes again, what appeared before the girl was a chaotic and distorted world that was really hard to describe in words.

What's happening here?

Staring at the surrounding darkness, which seemed to be pure blackness, yet also some kind of solid, constantly churning black matter, and the various broken ruins that could be barely identified as being related to Little Black Mountain that occasionally surfaced within this matter, the girl was momentarily bewildered, not knowing what situation she had encountered.

Of course, even if she herself didn't understand what was happening, her perception would quickly tell her the answer. Therefore, it wasn't long before Miko, through her perception which had unknowingly evolved once again, understood that all the core obsessions supporting the existence of this instance had disappeared. In other words, this instance should theoretically be in the process of collapse, breaking and crumbling like the Fujika Middle School and the Bydos Research Institute she had seen before. However, something outside of the core obsessions, and whose power was no less than, or even greater than, that maintained the instance space, but this non-core obsession power could not ultimately replace the obsessions, resulting in the increasingly distorted and chaotic changes of the entire instance space.

The senior is here...

Although Takami had not yet arrived at Miko's location, Miko's senses had changed again, and she could directly see what would happen some time later, confirming that Takami would meet up with her.

This feeling... um, my power seems to have changed?

Only now did Miko notice the changes within herself. She closed her eyes and frowned slightly. She was certain that the powerful, chillingly gentle aura had vanished and would never return. But before leaving, it seemed to have bestowed upon her some kind of gift. This gift manifested in her sensory talent; she now seemed to possess a degree of control over the intensity and range of her perception, and the ability to see more.

It was like some kind of fragment, vaguely displayed in one's consciousness.

She saw herself in the child.

She saw herself standing there, waiting for Gao Hai to come over.

She also saw herself trying to swim upwards, which led to her meeting Gao Hai ahead of schedule.

In the previous scene, Gao Hai landed in front of her, at the same height, and said, "Welcome back." In the next scene, when she stepped forward to greet him, Gao Hai accelerated slightly, then reached out and hugged her, saying...

whoosh-

Despite floating in the empty darkness, it was as if she were swimming in water. Jianzi gently kicked her little feet and then quickly floated upwards.

At the same time, Gao Hai's figure suddenly emerged from the writhing darkness above, falling down along with Zhen Fei and the others. At this moment, Gao Hai noticed Jian Zi, who had taken the initiative to rise, and immediately went to meet her, gently embracing her.

"Are you alright, Jianzi?"

Gao Hai asked very seriously, just like the scene in the shattered image she had seen a minute ago.

So that's how it is. What I saw back then was actually the future?

Realizing this, Miko frowned sharply, suddenly feeling a strong sense of emptiness and a headache. Only then did she notice that her mental energy, which had been fully recovered and more than three times stronger than before after waking up, was now almost completely exhausted. She had only seen a few possibilities for the future a minute later, and it had almost drained her dry.

"Um, I'm fine..."

Because of the pain caused by mental exhaustion, Jianzi subconsciously lowered her head and leaned on Gao Hai's shoulder, resting her whole body in his arms for a while.

"So enthusiastic after just reuniting? I should have done the same to Ahai."

Chika's somewhat regretful voice rang out from behind at this moment, and Miko also realized that there were other people here. She blushed and looked up again, then lowered her head and crawled out of Gao Hai's arms.

"It's okay, it's fine to hug him for a while. Anyway, this guy likes to be hugged by pretty girls, so it's no harm to let him have his way."

Maki's face clearly showed jealousy, but she said the exact opposite of what she meant. Beside her, Kaguya, even more jealous, remained silent, only puffing out her cheeks in dissatisfaction. Of course, even so, neither of the two girls showed any intention of objecting, truly allowing Takami and Miko to be intimate.

As for why they chose to restrain themselves at this moment, firstly, Gao Hai had hugged each of them beforehand, and secondly, they could all see Gao Hai's exhaustion and knew the effort he had put in to achieve this result. So even if they were dissatisfied, they would still endure it.

"Um, shall we continue next?"

However, being too shy, Miko couldn't bring herself to hug him again. So, after trying to suppress her newly acquired precognitive abilities, she turned her attention to serious matters.

"Well, after all, we still need to meet up with the remaining few, and there are still some things to finish."

Gao Hai nodded slightly, signaling the girls to continue descending with him.

From time to time, strange, deformed creatures, devoid of normal structure, emerge from the surroundings. These are all derivative creatures, chaotic remnants born from a situation where the instance should have collapsed but was forcibly maintained by some force.

Even though they were quite a distance apart, Gao Hai could still sense the activity of the players above fighting against these lingering spirits. Although several Red Moon-level players had intervened, considering the considerable strength of these entities, Gao Hai could only pray that the Dark Night-level players caught in the crossfire wouldn't die before this final hurdle. As for the things appearing around him, there was no need to worry at all; he didn't even need to lift a finger. With a simple wave of her hand, Kaguya quickly dissipated the approaching lingering spirits, returning them to their original molecular structure.

This power originally originated from the Crimson Domain possessed by Kaguya herself, but the power of the Blood Flower made some adjustments to Kaguya's blessing. The specific results of these adjustments are currently unclear to Gao Hai, but it's evident from the appearance that Kaguya's Crimson Domain has lost its original crimson effect, becoming completely invisible. Furthermore, the opening and closing of this domain is now essentially costless, although its power has been slightly weakened, it has gained a powerful special attack against derived monsters. Therefore, given the current state of the dungeon's partial destruction, Kaguya could even instantly kill those derived monsters that are gradually losing their source of power.

In fact, not only Kaguya, but everyone received a significant boost. However, due to a lack of time to investigate, they are currently unaware of the specific areas where they have been strengthened. To be honest, Gao Hai is quite pleased with this overall improvement, as a stronger team means greater survivability, combat prowess, and puzzle-solving abilities. Well, how should I put it… considering past patterns, Gao Hai can't help but wonder if his team's significant boost will make the next dungeon even more challenging.

However, the [Infant Cry Village] dungeon has already gone so far as to feature Blood Flower, an Outer God avatar that can defeat the entire world at the drop of a hat. Honestly, what kind of thing will the next dungeon bring to put even more pressure on our team? Gao Hai couldn't quite imagine it, and precisely because he couldn't picture it, he felt very uneasy, extremely uneasy.

However, the future can only be considered later. Right now, all he can do is bring this all to a close and clean up the last remnants. Gao Hai was aware of this, so he didn't let these chaotic thoughts distract him and quickly focused again.

The fifth girl found was Hayasaka Ai. Unlike Miko, she seemed to be in a state of brief confusion due to gaining some new ability, or perhaps she was confused for other reasons. In any case, when Takami was about thirty meters away from her, this perceptive girl finally noticed his presence and slowly swam over, seemingly expectant yet hesitant. Only when Takami took the initiative to hug her did the blonde maid finally breathe a sigh of relief and collapse into his arms.

Well, the others didn't react much to this scene, but Kaguya had a very complicated expression, perhaps recalling the time when she asked Hayasaka to help her win over Takami.

Next to be found was Goto Ichiri, hiding in the corner of a half-collapsed mud house, huddled inside a double-layered cardboard box, with five or six clones wielding offensive artifacts for defense. The girl's location was quite secluded, and it took Takami considerable time to find her. Strangely, even after noticing Takami's presence, Ichiri was still reluctant to emerge from the box. Only after Takami had cleared away all the wandering, derivative monsters did she finally, somewhat unwillingly, crawl out of the cardboard box, and even then, she still blocked the outside of the box.

"Um, Kita-san, it's a little inconvenient for her to come out."

Only then did she finally reveal the reason.

Kita Ikuyo, the girl separated from Takami's spirit by the power of the Blood Flower, has now regained a physical body. Clearly, this was a gift from the Blood Flower before its departure. However, unlike the other girls, Kita was in a soul form when absorbed by the Blood Flower, so essentially she was naked. The other girls had clothes after their recovery because they were clothed when they were absorbed, so the Blood Flower could simply restore them as they were. Kita, however, didn't go to any extra trouble for her; she was left exactly as she was, meaning…

"Actually, it's not a big deal to come out. I've already seen it. The others are all girls and family members, so it's okay if they see us, really."

After learning about Kita's situation hidden in the cardboard box, Takami gave this advice in a righteous and stern manner.

"I won't come out! You think I don't know what you're thinking? You pervert!!!"

Unfortunately, Kita had spent a lot of time with Takami, so he knew exactly what Takami was thinking, and therefore refused to come out of the cardboard box no matter what.

Feeling somewhat regretful for not being able to appreciate the red-haired girl's real body, Gao Hai could only turn his attention to the important matters that still needed to be completed.

Teammates who needed to stay in a safe place to await evacuation and the Night-level players who were caught in the crossfire had all gathered, as had their own "wife team." Next, in the deeper levels of this dark space, the remaining presence belonged to those filthy things that needed a good dressing down. Only by overcoming those creatures could they truly reach the core of this world, now teetering on the brink of destruction, and confront those broken entities still awaiting the "answer."

Chapter 157: People Fighting Like Dogs vs. People Settling Blood Debts

Li Ziyong opened his eyes, staring blankly at the churning darkness around him.

Around him, the villagers of Lijia Village, just as clueless as he was, floated together. Whether they were ordinary villagers like Li Eryang and Li Xiaoju, or clan members like Li Duosun, everyone was gathered in the same place, completely bewildered as to what was happening.

"Chieftain, what... what's going on?"

Panicked villagers shouted at Li Ziyong while struggling and swaying frantically, unable to maintain their balance.

"Weren't we besieging those damned outsiders? Why did it suddenly turn into this? Wait, I remember now, those outsiders... I don't know what happened, they... they offered us up to the mountain god? Are we all dead? Are we on our way to hell now?!"

Some villagers, recalling what had happened before, showed expressions of hatred and anger, looking around as if trying to find the players and seek revenge.

"Wait a minute, why can't I feel the connection between myself and the mountain god anymore? Chieftain, what's going on? You'd better think of something quickly!"

But some more perceptive villagers had already found the real, crucial, and deadly problem, and at that moment, they trembled with fear.

Amidst the commotion, each of the villagers floating in the pitch-black world was filled with terror.

They were completely unable to maintain their balance in this low-gravity floating environment like players at the Dark Night level, so much so that in the chaos, many villagers bumped into each other, and many were overturned and unable to straighten themselves, creating a distorted scene of a chaotic dance of demons.

Li Ziyong paid no attention to these things.

Despite the villagers crying out in fear and trying their best to gather around him for reassurance, Li Ziyong completely ignored them and showed no intention of paying any attention to the words of his own blood relatives.