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

What's the situation with Xiaohua now?

In the dark mansion, Miko's brows furrowed even more, and she could no longer suppress the worry on her face.

I can no longer sense the other person's presence.

This feeling was very strange. She could sense that the strange creatures inside the building still existed, and the spatial connection between the building and the dungeon world had not been severed. However, the aura of Baihechuan Hua, who was located in that distorted space, suddenly disappeared without a trace, and she could no longer locate her through the connection of the Crimson Domain.

Could it be that Xiaohua is already...? No, that's not right. The fragment of the crimson domain is still there, just weakened to the point of being almost imperceptible. Xiaohua herself should still be alive, but the signal is so weak that her location can no longer be found.

Just a few minutes ago, I could feel that she was releasing a very powerful supernatural force, equivalent to the Dark Night level. But in the blink of an eye, her aura almost completely disappeared, and she clearly left that distorted space. So where did she go now?

Could it be that she used that space to enter a deeper level, closer to the hospital?!

If that's the case, the situation is extremely dangerous. The surface space is essentially a lower-level Twilight-class instance of the [Hospital], where you only need to face the Twilight-class monsters that form the core obsession. But if you enter the deeper space, what you'll encounter is completely unknown. With Xiaohua's newly awakened, half-baked extraordinary power, even if she possesses a very rare ability to actively attack and suppress monsters, she has no chance of surviving against a Red Moon-class monster.

Damn it, this spatial rift is too fragile. My current strength is not enough to pass through it; even getting close to it could cause it to collapse.

My senior can't get here right now, and it seems that Maki and Chika are also somewhere else. There's no power I can rely on in this area. What should I do?

The more the girl tried to think, the less she could find a solution, and her mind became increasingly chaotic at this moment.

Jianzi suddenly realized that despite experiencing so many instances, she hadn't truly grown much. Unlike the girls who were able to run around fighting and genuinely share the burdens of their seniors, she often didn't need to consider all-around development because she frequently gathered information through her extraordinary perception. She often relied on her teammates, especially her seniors, to solve problems she wasn't good at, while she simply focused on utilizing her own expertise.

Whether this approach is right or wrong may be interpreted differently by different people. However, at this moment, having been forced into a situation of fighting alone, Jianzi must admit that she should have thought about this issue earlier, instead of waiting until such bad things happened before trying to figure out how to cram at the last minute.

hum-

In the distance, it seemed as if some sound could be heard.

Jianzi initially paid little attention to the strange voice, continuing to ponder how to rescue Xiaohua. However, as a chilling aura spread, she realized the problem and abruptly raised her head. Her previously suppressed life force rapidly erupted, directly repairing her gouged-out eyes and causing her golden pupils to shine once more.

"Seeing the child? Your eyes..."

Touko Yotsuya, who had been watching her daughter closely, was stunned when she saw that her daughter could suddenly grow eyes. She was unsure whether to be happy or shocked.

"Mom, close your eyes!"

But before Touko Yotsuya could react, Miko, whose expression had changed drastically, had already shouted a warning and immediately covered her mother's ears with her hands.

hum-

A second, distant, reverberating sound spread outwards.

The ground began to tremble.

The rampant mental turmoil surged in all directions.

Those buildings where people were still inside and whose houses remained closed were protected by the fleeting, invisible force, resisting the sound. As for the living people hiding inside, although most of them were impacted by the mental turbulence, they were not seriously harmed by the red light, at most experiencing only temporary dizziness.

However, those houses that had already been breached and were in a state of internal and external interaction immediately exploded and shattered beyond recognition under the invisible force, making it impossible to rebuild them into complete enclosed structures.

Rumble!

The ground is constantly cracking.

The dim crimson color gradually expanded, and the distorted shadows continued to spread in the torrential rain.

Parts of the ground rose at that moment, while other areas collapsed downwards. The streets were filled with craters of all sizes amidst the roaring explosions. Everything seemed like the arrival of the Last Judgment, with everything heading towards destruction.

This space is becoming increasingly unstable.

Jian Zi could clearly sense that the power of the [Hospital] had established a stable channel here and begun to expand its influence on this area, causing the originally stable real world to experience increasingly severe collapse.

The houses that were protected by our ancestors are still intact and will not be destroyed.

However, if the influence of the [Hospital] cannot be stopped from continuing to expand, this place will likely be completely destroyed soon. At that point, even the sheltered houses will fall into the depths of the instance world. If that happens, there will truly be no hope.

Something has to be done.

Since the impact is growing, it proves that a connection has been established somewhere, and it's a very large passage. There must already be more powerful beings, even those at the Dark Night or Red Moon level, that have descended into this space. If we can trace their movements, we can deduce the location of that passage.

And then... only I have the power to close that entrance.

Jianzi let out a soft breath. She knew very well that the mark on her body had not been removed yet. If she went back to the street now, those who were tracking her would immediately find her.

Although those things are subject to great restrictions in the real world, if they were to unleash their power without restraint, their strength would undoubtedly surpass that of the Red Moon-level monsters. They are the kind of monsters with divine power that can only be seen in Abyss-level dungeons.

If there were something that could conceal one's presence, or something that allowed for rapid movement, perhaps one could...

Toot-toot-toot-

Suddenly, a piercing car horn sounded from outside the door.

Unexpectedly hearing this sound, Miko paused for a moment, then realized something and stood up to walk to the door. She carefully released her senses and saw a dilapidated bus parked on the road outside, which didn't look like it could be driven at all.

It is an object of obsession.

That entire vehicle was an object of obsession; judging from the intensity of its aura, it was a Dark Night-level object of obsession.

Jianzi suddenly remembered what was going on with this vehicle. It was a coveted item belonging to the Chinese player team, "Sunflower," and was an extremely rare, super-large coveted item. According to information provided by "Sunflower," this bus was cursed; it had been involved in a serious accident. If the number of passengers on board exceeded 13, it would trigger a chain reaction caused by the vehicle's inherent death rule. However, as long as the number of passengers was kept below 13, it could be controlled by the player and possessed superhuman mobility, almost ignoring any terrain.

However, while this item is very useful, its status as a Dark Night-level entity makes it vulnerable to higher-level Red Moon-level artifacts and obsession objects. Furthermore, due to its inherent strange characteristics, even with no more than 13 passengers, it will continuously spawn corpses on the vehicle and treat them as passengers. Therefore, when using this obsession object, players must constantly monitor the vehicle for any extra items and remove them promptly. Otherwise, its death rule might be forcibly fulfilled at any moment by a pile of mutilated corpses crammed into various parts of the vehicle.

The fact that this thing appeared in this place means that...

[Is this Ms. Yotsuya? This is the Sunflower Squad. I am Vice-Captain Li Ling. The Sunflower Squad consists of seven members who have arrived to provide support, carrying the vehicle "Ghost Bus." We are the first player squad to arrive at this spatial fragment. What are your instructions?]

Suddenly, a calm female voice came from the red-glowing phone that Miko Yotsuya was holding.

It was at this moment that, through the connection between the fragments of the Crimson Realm, Jianzi confirmed a fragment located on the Ghost Bus and sensed the presence of the seven players within it.

Is that so? If that's the case, then there's nothing to hesitate about.

“It’s me, Yotsuya Miko. Please send at least one player to stay behind in this mansion. My mother is here and needs protection. Also, a friend of mine was caught in the depths of the instance space within this mansion. She’s currently under protection and alive. If she returns alive, I need the player who stayed behind to meet her. If she doesn’t return and dies… I need this player to destroy the spatial rift in this mansion and banish the monster that established the connection. I myself will accompany your team to destroy the instance passage that appeared within this spatial node. Is that alright?”

Picking up her phone, Miko Yotsuya, her expression calming, spoke slowly.

"Wait a minute, destroy the node, what are you going to do, Zi?"

Realizing what her daughter might be about to do, Touko Yotsuya stood up and tried to go forward to grab her daughter.

[Understood, that's why we're here. Please act quickly, Ms. Yotsuya. We've detected a high-threat entity operating nearby, and it's likely after you.]

During the communication, the player team quickly replied to Jianzi, and immediately a female player got out of the car and ran to the mansion gate.

"I'm sorry, Mom, this is something I have to do; it's a responsibility I need to shoulder."

Miko had already opened the door. She smiled apologetically at her mother, who was trying to catch up, before disappearing from the doorway and instantly arriving at the car door. The player who had arrived used his powerful physique to hold Miko's mother back, leading her back to the mansion before closing the door again, putting the house back into a sealed state.

crunch--

The bus doors, stained with suspicious dirt, opened automatically, and a young woman with black hair, wearing a side ponytail and strangely deep blue eyes, appeared in front of Miko and extended her hand to her.

"Sunflower Squad, Vice-Captain, Li Ling. It's a pleasure to fight alongside you this time, Ms. Yotsuya."

"Savior Team, Miko Yotsuya, hello Ms. Li, please set off as soon as possible, the pursuers will probably arrive soon."

During the brief exchange, Jianzi had already boarded the bus, and the bus quickly started moving, speeding through the broken roads at a speed that was clearly beyond what a bus could achieve.

She could sense that those things that had been pursuing her had noticed her appearance and were beginning to rush towards her from the surrounding area.

Seeing that Zi's hands were clenched tightly but then quickly loosened, she managed to calm herself down after taking two deep breaths and focused her attention on the problem she needed to face at the moment.

Rumbling--

Amidst a series of loud bangs, the bus defied gravity, passing through an area almost perpendicular to the ground, and continued to accelerate forward.

Unseen by the players on this side, deep within the dark space, a young girl is struggling to crawl, slowly ascending through a vast, intricate mechanical structure.

"Huff...huff...how much further...huff..."

With a small lump clearly visible on her head, Yurikawa gritted her teeth and climbed for quite some time through the metal objects that were almost perpendicular to the ground, finally reaching a platform.

The girl, who had never experienced such extreme climbing before, was panting heavily. After climbing onto the platform, she immediately collapsed on it. It took her a while to catch her breath before she finally managed to sit up and observe her surroundings.

It seemed that I had climbed to a place that resembled an observation platform, but I didn't know where it would lead.

He lowered his head and glanced down at the blazing sea of ​​fire.

Feeling a slight pang of fear, the girl took a step forward and carefully proceeded along the passageway connected by the platform. She soon arrived at a strange area that looked like some kind of industrial park, yet the red cross symbol of a hospital was visible everywhere.

Bangdang—— Bangdang——

Various machines, the purpose of which is incomprehensible, are constantly roaring and running.

Amidst the cold, monotonous sounds, Xiao Hua, noticing that there seemed to be no strange creatures active in this area, continued to venture deeper and soon discovered several gruesome corpses on a stationary conveyor belt on one side of the passage, which looked like they had undergone some kind of torture.

They look so pitiful and terrifying. Were these corpses created by this space? Or are they victims from the real world?

Xiao Hua glanced at the corpses with some reluctance, then turned and left to continue exploring the area.

"..."

But she quickly withdrew her foot after taking just one step and returned to the corpses.

If I'm not mistaken, once a certain number of corpses have accumulated here, this conveyor belt will activate and throw them into the sea of ​​fire below to burn.

Although I don't know the specific reason for doing this, I have seen those twisted monsters crawling out of the sea of ​​fire before, so it should be okay to use them as a means of feeding and cultivating some kind of dangerous monster, right?

Does this mean that these corpses are actually "special"?

Taking out her dilapidated phone, whose light was already very faint, the girl's eyes revealed a hint of wisdom at that moment.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Members of the [Sunflower] Player Squad and the Crimson Embers

Dong-dong-dong——

With a dull thud, a dilapidated bus that looked like it should have been scrapped sped along the potholed road, kicking up clouds of dust and gravel.

Despite the fact that the entire residential area has been drastically altered, resembling something straight out of the movie "2012," this dilapidated bus moves forward with ease, as if traversing flat ground.

No, this can no longer be explained by simply walking on flat ground. After witnessing this broken-down car drive directly up the wall of a skyscraper and travel through various cliffs without any resistance, even though there was not a single flat spot along the way and the car did not feel any bumps, Jianzi had to admit that he was somewhat shocked.

Of course, she managed to conceal her shock quite well. After all, she was currently the nominal strongest member of the team, a "Red Moon-level player" whose strength was unfathomable, and respected by these people. If they discovered that she was actually a country bumpkin who had barely cleared any dungeons and hadn't even seen many proper coveted items, Jianzi felt that things might be a little bad.

"This place has become like this. Tsk, I'm afraid the spatial boundaries around us have been severely disrupted. I seriously doubt that our team will be able to get support."

The bus driver was a middle-aged man who looked lazy and unremarkable, the kind of person you'd easily blend into a crowd with. When Jianzi boarded the bus, she learned about him from the team's introductions and discovered his name was Seventeen.

Of course, this isn't his real name. The reason he has this name is due to the influence of the supernatural forces. This phenomenon of losing one's real name isn't too unusual for players. As for the specific reason, Jianzi has heard the vice-captain named Li Ling mention it. It seems to be related to a cursed artifact he possesses. The reason his name became Seventeen is because he is the seventeenth holder of that artifact. The previous sixteen players who obtained the artifacts have all died and become remnants within the artifacts, occasionally trying to harm him, the seventeenth holder.

It sounds terrifying. What kind of obsessive object could erase the owner's real name and turn more than a dozen players who once owned it into vengeful spirits?

"Focus on driving. We don't need to think about that now. Let's figure out how to get Ms. Yotsuya to her destination first."

The vice-captain, Li Ling, standing beside the driver's seat and gripping the railing, was a sharp-looking Chinese woman. Based on her self-introduction on the way, this player, like her predecessor Gao Hai, was a web novel writer. However, unlike Gao Hai, who, after being caught up in the sacrifice game and meeting anime girls, stopped writing altogether and spent all his time thinking about his girlfriend, Li Ling was extremely dedicated. Even in this dangerous moment when the world was on the verge of destruction, she carried a laptop and occasionally wrote something.