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

The vice-captain's self-introduction was very brief, so Jianzi didn't quite know what kind of person she was. However, from her words and actions, the girl vaguely sensed that the player's emotional reactions remained almost unchanged throughout the entire conversation, maintaining an almost indifferent and unwavering state.

Perhaps it's because he truly possesses an extraordinary mindset, or perhaps it's due to the influence of some special force. In any case, since he's a team member, and was able to venture alone into this sealed-off area, it's enough to show that he's a capable person, and Jianzi is still willing to trust him.

"Angel, how's the situation?"

Yu Qingshan, the middle-aged man with a short ponytail who had been sitting in the passenger seat, and the captain of the Sunflower team, turned around and looked at a young woman who appeared to be of mixed Chinese and Western descent, who seemed to be resting with her eyes closed.

"They're still chasing us. It seems those things have some way of pinpointing Miss Yotsuya's location. Even with various methods of concealing our presence, as long as they can still maintain contact, we can't truly shake them off. However... this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Although what's following us is extremely dangerous, in the grand scheme of things, danger and opportunity coexist. If we're lucky enough, we still have a good chance of surviving."

As for the mixed-race woman called Angel, her full name is Francis Yuan Angel. She is of Central European descent, hence the somewhat Western features on her face, and her eyes are green rather than brown. As one of the Dark Night-level players from the [Sunflower] team who came to Tokyo to provide support, she possesses the peculiar title of [Mystic], seemingly related to some kind of divination-like power she has. At the same time, her demeanor is what makes her the most unapproachable to Miko. Even though Angel doesn't seem outwardly unusual, Miko instinctively feels that this player is abnormal and that getting too close might cause problems.

"I actually think this is quite fun. It's a pity Sai stayed behind to protect Yotsuya-san's mother. Hehe, I'll take a couple of pictures. If I manage to get back alive later, I'll show them to her and make her envious. Oh no, did I set a flag?"

The other team member sitting next to Miko was a young girl who called herself "Kazama Ren." Compared to the others, this player looked the youngest and had a very lively personality. Even knowing that there was a monster of a level higher than Red Moon following behind the car, she showed absolutely no sense of danger, and could even laugh and joke while taking out her phone to take pictures.

It's unclear whether this strange name is her real name. According to Ms. Kazama Ren's self-introduction, she seemed to be an online streamer before becoming a player, and even a VTuber virtual idol who debuted with a two-dimensional avatar. It sounds quite impressive, but Kazama herself doesn't usually pay attention to this kind of thing, so she was completely confused and couldn't understand what it meant at all.

The "Sai" she mentioned was a player who stayed behind at the mansion to protect Miko's mother, Touko Yotsuya. Her full name was Sai Saki, a legitimate Japanese university student. It's said that she was protected when she was first caught up in the dungeon because the [Sunflower] team was having a team-building vacation in a twilight-level dungeon. Recognizing her talent, she was recruited and trained. However, due to a lack of combat experience, Sai Saki was only a mediocre Dark Night-level player, which is why she stayed at the mansion instead of going to do the most dangerous work.

squeak-

With a piercing sound, a middle-aged man sitting in the back seat of the car opened the window and threw out a blood-soaked corpse that had appeared out of the car at some unknown time. He then closed the window, sat back down, scratched his head, and yawned.

The man, who looked to be in his forties, was none other than Wang Gui, the newbie player Gao Hai had rescued from the Red Nut Gray Hole. Wang Gui hadn't forgotten what happened nearly two months ago and was still thinking about finding Gao Hai to properly thank him. As for why he was there, the reason was simple: his background as a demolition engineer perfectly matched a recently acquired item by [Sunflower], so the team accepted this older man and helped train him. However, due to the short time they'd been together, Wang Gui was currently only a Twilight-level player, with little room to maneuver in a real battlefield.

However, regarding the supposedly perfect item, Jianzi asked a few more questions out of curiosity and learned that it was an item that could infinitely generate detonators and explosives. Although the item itself limited the maximum amount of explosives that could be taken out at once, and required that all the taken-out explosives be used up before new ones could be taken out, preventing the possibility of taking out tens or hundreds of thousands of explosives at once to create a large bomb, it was indeed an incredibly useful little tool for Wang Gui, who had a background in demolition and whose abilities had been enhanced in the dungeon.

Clang—Thump—!

With another roar, the bus drove directly onto a half-collapsed tower crane, then leaped off the crane and landed on the roof of a dilapidated building, before continuing its reckless driving forward.

Perhaps due to the inherent characteristics of this strange vehicle, even with such a long-distance leap, the six members of the Sunflower group and Yotsuya Miko inside did not feel any bumps at all, as if they were watching a VR movie with ease.

If it weren't for the cold air constantly blowing in from the broken car windows around the vehicle, Miko might have thought she was watching a 4D movie.

"We've found a trace."

Seventeen, who was driving, spoke seriously.

"Everyone be careful and on guard. The traces are here, and the main body might be here too. Also, Miss Yotsuya, if any enemies that are too strong appear, I'll leave it to you."

Yu Qingshan and Li Ling respectively reminded the team members and asked Jianzi for help.

To this, Jianzi simply nodded slightly, then stood up and slowly extended her senses to the surroundings.

I could feel it; that nauseating, twisted aura.

The living and the bizarre merge together, the power of the supernatural and the souls of the innocent twist and contort, piecing together a hideous monster. A grotesque nightmare, seemingly deliberately imitating something, or perhaps mocking something, lurks somewhere here.

"At least a thousand people, possibly more than ten thousand... How many victims are there in this area already?"

The girl murmured to herself, and as she spoke, an invisible force enveloped the car, creating a small domain that could resist external mental erosion.

This power originates from the blessing bestowed upon Miko Yotsuya after being enhanced by the Blood Flower Blessing; it's an evolution of Hirano Sosuke's blessing's weakness analysis function. This enhanced blessing allows Miko to use her mental power to create a domain capable of resisting the power of ghost stories and enhancing her ability to analyze and interpret supernatural objects. At this moment, she has already sensed that extremely dangerous and terrifying thing, so to ensure the safety of the players in the car, she must filter the surrounding environment to prevent some unseen force from corrupting them.

bang-

With another muffled thud, the dilapidated bus had once again crossed a higher pile of ruins, revealing the "traces" that Seventeen had just mentioned to the people on board in a more complete manner.

The fire is burning.

Blood-red flames, writhing and twisting like some kind of living creature, spread across the ruins.

"Wow, is this some kind of hellish Asura?"

Kazama Ren opened her mouth slightly in a slightly exaggerated manner and whispered, her eyes genuinely showing shock. The other players remained silent, but their expressions were also quite grave. This was to be expected, given that the crimson flames had already spread a considerable distance, and in the boiling environment, even the enclosed buildings protected by the rules were undergoing strange changes, as if the buildings themselves were slowly coming to life.

Seeing that Zi felt nauseous.

In her view, these strange, writhing flames were not flames at all, but rather surging blood that mimicked the burning of flames.

It was clearly blood, yet it burned like fire, even generating high temperatures to achieve a real scorching effect; the power of the supernatural was truly unreasonable. However, it was clearly perceptible that the areas touched by this blood-fire were severely contaminated. Even if the buildings where ordinary people were hiding remained intact and sealed, the power of the supernatural would still cause severe mental damage to the survivors within the range of the blood-fire; given enough time, none of them would survive.

Splash—splash—

The bus drove directly into the inferno of the ruins.

The distorted flames transformed into indistinct faces that screamed in agony before quickly dissipating.

One deformed little hand after another gently patted the car window glass, trying to reach into the car through the cracks in the window, but was firmly blocked by the invisible spiritual force. It was impossible to really penetrate it, and it could not even leave the slightest trace of corrosion. Even the scorching heat could not really enter it.

"..."

Having easily withstood the flames that Yurikawa Hana dared not touch, Miko now concentrated even more of her spiritual power. Through the spiritual cone effect of Jonathan's blessing, which had been enhanced by the blessing, she created twenty or thirty cones in different directions and launched them decisively.

In an instant, the surrounding crimson flames surged wildly, as if stimulated by something, and swept up, almost completely engulfing the dilapidated little car.

Then, Jianzi, who had attached his own perception to those spiritual spikes, frowned deeply.

The southern spikes disappeared without finding anything, and the eastern ones yielded no results either. So, the western one… hmm? That’s…

Snapped!

After a louder, more distinct thud that shook the car, Jianzi turned his head and saw a twisted, deformed, charred hand emerge from the crimson flames and gently press against the side window of the car.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Rampagers in the Raging Sea of ​​Blood and Fire

The chunks of meat were wriggling.

The putrid smell and the acrid smell of smoke spread together.

The enormous hand that covered half of one side of the bus window, if you look closely, you'll find that it is actually a patchwork of many hands of different sizes, and each hand is constantly wriggling, trembling as if trying to break free from the fusion, but it can never truly break free from its constraints.

Looking back from this enormous hand, towards the monster's massive arm, one can see an even more obvious structure made up of different human limbs pieced together and fused together.

The piercing cries rang out incessantly, tormenting Miko's hearing.

It rang out from the burning crimson flames, from the shattered flesh that was forced to merge back together.

She could feel the pain those people were experiencing.

She could feel the despair of those victims.

Under the merciless transformation of the supernatural forces, all those captured by the "Hospital"—those who are torn apart alive and then fused back together, neither alive nor dead, endlessly enduring torture—are subjected to relentless extraction of their pain and despair. This relentless extraction strengthens the monsters forged from their flesh and blood, which are then released into the real world to harm even more innocent people.

After a brief moment of silence, Miko Yotsuya, who was watching all of this and truly feeling it, simply sighed softly.

"How dare such a vile creature claim to be here to save the world?"

Recalling the promotional video produced by the "hospital" that she had seen not long ago, and comparing it with the monster in front of her, Jianzi felt an overwhelming sense of irony and a strong feeling of nausea welled up in her chest and abdomen.

However, this wasn't the first time I'd seen something like this.

Whether it's Fujika Middle School, Nightfall Mountain Middle School, the Bydos Research Institute, or Li Family Village, the reason why a dungeon world is a dungeon world is precisely because of these distorted phenomena and the existence of these disgusting guys.

So let's treat it the way we've always taken for granted, just like our predecessors have.

"what!"

The girl took a step forward and gathered her spiritual power with a loud shout.

The invisible spiritual force instantly condensed into a semi-transparent, gigantic spiritual cone, which pierced fiercely towards the hand that had grabbed the bus.

boom--

The next second, with a deafening explosion, the giant fleshy hand was blasted apart by Jian Zi's attack, along with the arm behind it. The burning crimson flames were also forcibly cleared, creating a vacuum area. A skyscraper a hundred meters away was instantly leveled by this attack, and large sections of buildings collapsed and disintegrated.

"Wow, is this the skill level of Mr. Gao Hai's teammates?"

"Even a Red Moon-level player would find it difficult to create such an exaggerated effect with a casual strike..."

"I see. If that's the kind of power, then we definitely have to rescue them. But even with such strength, we're still forced to hide. Just how powerful must those monsters chasing us be?"

"So she's that strong. No wonder..."

The reactions from the players from [Sunflower] varied, but they all shared a common thread: their attitude towards Jianzi became much more respectful.

This subtle change in attitude made Jianzi realize that before she demonstrated her current formidable abilities, these players probably still harbored some prejudice against her. After all, she was one of Gao Hai's girlfriends, so they all suspected that someone might have ulterior motives for sending them here for the rescue. But as she displayed her considerable strength, coupled with her initiative in leading the charge into the dangerous area, these players who had braved danger to reach this residential area finally came to truly admire her.

hum-

A sound began to rang out, faint and gradually growing more piercing, as if it were approaching the bus where the players were.

“Miss Yotsuya, I think we’ve been completely locked on. We received intelligence from other rescue teams about that sound before we entered this area. It was an order from the enemy to assemble and gather towards a certain target. I think the direction they’re gathering in is this place.”

Upon hearing the strange sound, Li Ling immediately realized something and turned to Jianzi to explain.

“I know, I can sense the approach of those malicious forces. But we can’t leave this area. The flames formed by these strange powers must have a source, and that source must be the anchor point of the passage between the [Hospital] and the real world.”

As she spoke, Jianzi walked to the spot where the hand had just covered the area. After sensing the surroundings briefly, she realized that although she had repelled the fused flesh and blood monster, it had left an invisible mark on the vehicle. If the mark wasn't removed in time, all the strange creatures in the vicinity could likely pinpoint their location at any time.

That mark… the mark is moving. It’s some kind of living thing, and it’s probably attached to somewhere on the car’s exterior. Damn, this thing’s presence is too weak. Although I can sense its presence, with so many sources of interference around, it’s difficult for me to pinpoint its exact location.

In that case, let's just physically shorten the distance.

"I'll be in charge of clearing the markings off this vehicle and repelling any overly powerful monsters. Please find the entrance to the passage as quickly as possible. These flames have a certain direction of flow; as long as you pinpoint the source, you'll be able to reach it. However, just to accurately locate the markings, I might not be able to clear all the approaching monsters in time, so if you encounter any danger that you can't handle, please honk the horn to let me know."

Jianzi spoke to the people inside the car, then opened the window, took a deep breath, and climbed out.

The scorching airflow that swept in from all around, along with the gale and vibrations caused by the car driving on the broken ground, made Miko's body tense up and tremble slightly uncontrollably.

She knew that her body was instinctively resisting this dangerous behavior. After all, she was different from her predecessor Gao Hai. She was never an adventurer who liked to actively approach danger. Her pursuit was to live an ordinary and peaceful life like a normal student.

But now is not the time to consider such questions.

In the current situation, things that are merely superficial shouldn't be considered anymore. What I need to think about now is how to survive, how to fight for my own survival and that of others, how to give it my all—that's all.

"call……"

After being blessed and empowered, the girl, who had reached her peak, easily grabbed the car window, flipped over, and landed steadily on the roof amidst the raging wind and fire, then looked around.

At this moment, the bus was traveling at over 200 kilometers per hour, yet Jianzi was able to walk freely on the roof as if on flat ground, seemingly completely unaffected by the strong winds and heat.

The spiritual energy was spreading rapidly.

Still somewhat unfamiliar with the extraordinary power she now possessed, Miko squatted down and swayed slightly, but she quickly adjusted her balance and returned to normal.

The marker is still moving.

I can sense that thing is nearby, but where exactly is it?

The girl frowned, squatted down and felt around for a moment, then suddenly turned around and looked behind her, towards the side of the car roof, where a small, inconspicuous thing stood against the backdrop of writhing crimson flames, something she herself hadn't immediately noticed.

That's a hand.

A hand that was clearly severely deformed, with at least ten fingers, was broken off at the wrist, yet it could still move freely, climbing walls and jumping with incredible agility.