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

Having locked onto the direction, the girl immediately took a step, but then suddenly stopped.

whoosh-

Something flashed past me.

With a surge of spiritual power emanating from his body, Jianzi turned his head and saw a figure that had fallen into the ruins. He saw a tall and thin figure slowly rising from the crimson flames.

That was a player, or perhaps it was originally a player.

But now, as that thing raised its head, revealing the mechanical device that occupied its entire head, a twisted aura belonging only to the monster filled its entire body, and it was a terrifying aura that even the core obsession of the Red Moon level did not possess.

Its only goal from beginning to end was itself, and only Yotsuya Miko.

Just a few hours earlier, when she forgot to close the window and was thus targeted and invaded by the enemy, Miko was attacked by this thing and two other monsters that were similar to it. She was at a disadvantage and had to run away and hide.

This one has already caught up, so the other two shouldn't be too far behind. If we could take care of this one now... no, the monsters can't be killed, and this inferno area is already too deeply affected by the [Hospital]. If we can't destroy this key node first, it will be difficult to banish such a high-level monster using the [Crimson Domain]'s banishment. So the key now is still finding the node; we can't let this thing interfere and waste time.

Extend your finger and focus your mind.

Seeing this, Jianzi unleashed an invisible mental wave, causing the monster that was trying to rush towards the bus to stumble. She then immediately turned and charged towards the deformed severed hand attached to the bus. However, the severed hand clearly realized it had been discovered and vanished in the blink of an eye, disappearing somewhere on the bus.

Bangdang—— Bangdang——

Amidst the violent crashing sounds, the strange vehicle traversed an extremely rugged terrain.

Seeing that Zi himself was hanging on the side of the car with one hand to steady himself, he swung out two mental spikes to knock away several strange creatures that emerged from the flames and tried to climb onto the car, while continuing to move, searching for the severed hand that served as a marker.

Meanwhile, the players in the vehicle were also focused on searching for the location of the nodes, trying to find the source of these rampant, blood-red flames.

"Seventeen, concentrate, don't be distracted, focus on finding the source of these flames!"

Yu Qingshan took out a red climbing axe-shaped object, said something to the team member driving the vehicle, then stood up, reached over the driver's seat, and slammed the pen hard into something trying to climb in through the driver's side window, knocking it off the vehicle.

"This is the first time I've ever seen so many strange creatures. That Ms. Yotsuya actually managed to hang out like that without any protection. Tsk tsk, I wish I were a high school girl."

Kazama Ren, standing by the other car window, glanced at the picture of Miko hanging outside the car, shook her head and muttered a complaint. Then she raised a tablet computer that emitted a red light and used the red light to knock back the twisted arms that were grabbing the car window.

"The distance isn't too far. I can feel something about to tear my consciousness apart. Seventeen, that place shouldn't be more than two kilometers away from us."

Holding a bloodstained, eerie book, Angel suddenly spoke. There seemed to be nothing around her, but a closer look revealed numerous inexplicable, mottled bloodstains spreading from beneath her feet, moving like living things on the bus. Any strange creatures attempting to climb onto the bus from Angel's area would inexplicably lose their balance upon contact with the bloodstains, easily thrown off the bus.

Wang Gui, the weakest of the group, did not speak. He continued to watch the car, and when he noticed a mutilated corpse that had silently appeared under a seat, he picked it up and threw it out the window.

However, this time there was something clearly in the direction he threw the body, so much so that the body got stuck in the car window halfway out, and the body itself quickly swelled up and started to emit a foul disinfectant smell.

"Don't come any closer, I'll handle this."

Li Ling quickly stepped forward, stopping Wang Gui's hand as he was about to take out the detonator. She then walked to the corpse, placed her hand on it, and the writhing body instantly froze, ceasing to move, and was easily pushed out of the car. Only then did Wang Gui notice several severed hands, about the size of children, lying on one side of the corpse, instantly sending a chill down his spine.

Rumbling--

In another series of jolts, the previously stable interior of the bus began to feel noticeable vibrations. Clearly, the strange vehicle itself had begun to become unstable due to the external impacts and was at risk of overturning and going out of control at any moment.

"Steady! Steady!"

Yu Qingshan shouted and bit his finger, leaving a mark on the car with his blood, which stabilized the swaying vehicle a little.

Then, an invisible spiritual force spread out from outside the bus. At this moment, Yotsuya Miko released her power, briefly isolating the bus from the influence of external forces, allowing the bus to completely regain its stability.

Even as an even stronger impact struck a second later, attacking the vehicle from all directions, the crew managed to keep the bizarre vehicle, which was actually only at the Dark Night level, stable amidst the flames thanks to their arduous efforts. It continued its shaky journey forward.

"found it!"

Seventeen, his eyes bloodshot, shouted loudly, his gaze fixed on the writhing blood fire in front of him, and beyond the flames, a sudden empty space without any firelight.

It was a dilapidated building, but it maintained its basic structure and had not completely collapsed or been destroyed.

Furthermore, the shop signs on the ground floor of this building, along with the electricity, were still lit up with white lights. Seventeen could clearly see the open glass door of the shop and the bright red lettering on the sign under the white light:

[Happiness Clinic]

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Moment of Explosion and the New Players

The blood-red lettering seemed to glow in the firelight, causing players who saw the sign to momentarily lose their senses, as if their minds were being sucked into the crimson characters, never to escape the dazed feeling.

"Well...this is..."

Seventeen, who was driving the bus, swayed and momentarily lost his balance, unable to continue driving. At that moment, he could no longer clearly distinguish whether he was in a sea of ​​fire, struggling to move forward, or lying at home, lazily passing the day without having to do any work.

It's like truly experiencing the fulfillment of past pursuits, earning enough money for a lifetime, no longer needing to work and able to play all day long, living the life you want without restraint—there's a feeling of being completely immersed in it. Even if you vaguely understand that these things are fake, that you haven't actually achieved that kind of life, it's still hard to escape, impossible to truly break free from it.

Of course, he wasn't the only one; the other players in the car were also unable to resist this force. In an instant, the group, who had been working together, were all staggering and no one could keep their composure.

"Is...is this me?"

Li Ling, who had always been self-conscious about her thin figure, stared wide-eyed at her reflection in the mirror, where she saw her own curvaceous figure.

"..."

Angel, who lost his entire family due to the power of ghost stories, silently looked at the relatives and loved ones beside him, and the twisted emotions that had been churning in his heart began to subside.

"Ah... my son's mortgage... car loan... school district housing... my grandson got into a top university... and even married a PhD..."

Wang Gui, on the other hand, was more down-to-earth. All he saw was his family's future troubles being resolved smoothly, and them living a peaceful and happy life.

"I'm a top streamer now...wow..."

However, relatively speaking, the player who calls himself Kazama Koi sees things in a more snobbish way.

brake--

Amidst the ear-piercing noise, the out-of-control bus wobbled and crashed into the ruins of the burning building.

Jianzi, who was hanging on the side of the car with one hand, noticed that the car had lost its balance and then realized that all the players inside the car had suffered extremely severe mental shock.

However, before she could make a move, the steering wheel inside the car was gripped tightly again. Yu Qingshan, the captain of the Sunflower Squad, expressionlessly spat out a mouthful of blood and a small piece of his own tongue that he had bitten off, and stabilized the car again, causing it to speed towards the clinic.

The distorted phantom naturally surfaced in his consciousness, constantly attempting to influence him and immerse him in it. This power was far beyond what a mere Dark Night-level player's mental strength could withstand. However, unlike the others, a fragment of mental energy originating from Gao Hai was planted in his mind, granting Yu Qingshan mental strength far exceeding that of the others. Embraced by this power, he forcefully resisted the erosion and successfully stabilized the vehicle at the crucial moment.

"Wake up, everyone!"

Jianzi's voice contained powerful spiritual energy, and in the next moment it rang in the ears of all the players who had lost themselves, instantly waking them up.

At the same time, grotesque monsters swarmed around, frantically trying to burrow into the vehicle the moment the players' defenses crumbled. These charred, broken creatures howled, reaching out desperately to grab the players inside, like victims yearning for rescue. However, the moment they touched the players, they could feel the overwhelming malice emanating from these twisted beings and immediately suffer severe injuries.

"Ugh!"

Seventeen had just regained consciousness when an arm reached in through the window next to the driver's seat grabbed his arm, and in less than a second, his entire hand was charred.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Qingshan, standing beside him, swung his ice axe and severed Seventeen's arm, then knocked the arm off the vehicle.

Next, Angel, who was at the back, couldn't stop a strange creature that suddenly rushed onto the vehicle. However, she quickly used a human skin book-shaped object of her obsession to shield herself, causing the creature's hand to grab the book instead of her body. Even so, Angel's fingers holding the book began to disintegrate and turn into charred, mangled flesh, failing to completely escape the creature's curse. After repelling several more strange creatures, Li Ling rushed over from behind, first severing Angel's fingers, and then knocking the invading creature back off the vehicle.

"Huh...huh..."

Panting, Wang Gui put on gloves, picked up Angel's finger that had fallen to the ground, and threw it out of the car to prevent the power of the curse from continuing to accumulate inside.

Upon noticing that her two teammates were injured, Kazama Ren immediately took out her healing artifact and approached Yu Qingshan and Shiqi, who were more seriously injured.

Clang—clang—

The violent jolt then spread throughout the vehicle, nearly throwing the players inside into the air.

Seventeen, who was trying to drive the bus to the clinic, frowned and discovered that the thing's direction of travel would be forcibly changed after the bus was fifty meters away from the clinic, making it impossible to reach that area.

"The space is sealed off, Captain, you drive."

"it is good!"

Without needing further communication, Yu Qingshan sat in the driver's seat after a few brief words. At the same time, Seventeen used a healing artifact to regrow his hand, and then took out an artifact that exuded a sinister aura.

A chilling aura spread rapidly from the moment the object was taken out. Even as the surrounding charred corpses attacked, and even as the terrifying aura of blood and fire filled the car, the object held by Seventeen remained stable, unaffected by any suppression.

That was a Dark Night-level core artifact.

It is the only core item that the [Sunflower] team is obsessed with, and it is the strongest item they can bring out.

This object of obsession is a camera, which, based on the information obtained from the copy, can be called the "corpse camera." In appearance, it is a black instant camera covered in scratches, with a strap that can be hung around the neck; it looks very much like an ordinary camera.

To use this device, simply point it at the strange object you want to photograph and press the shutter. As long as the subject is a strange object or a phenomenon created by supernatural forces, this device can impact it, temporarily slowing or stopping the object's movements, or even damaging or suppressing the supernatural forces themselves. Furthermore, the camera will take two photos and output two images. The first photo is the one taken by the user, and this photo of the strange object will include some information to aid the team's investigation.

The second photo emitted by the camera is a picture of the user, specifically a photo of the user at the moment of death, with a time recorded on the back down to the second. This photo itself is a curse; if the user doesn't take precautions, the photo will cause them to die in the same manner as depicted in the picture within the recorded time, and their soul will not find peace after death, being captured by the camera—a very troublesome side effect.

Seventeen is the seventeenth owner of this camera. Its previous sixteen owners are dead, their souls trapped within the camera, emerging each time the curse expires to attempt to kill Seventeen. Seventeen himself lost his real name due to the camera's curse. He doesn't seem to care much about it, as this level of difficulty is commonplace for a player. However, the considerable effort required to escape the curse's pursuit each time is quite frustrating. After all, even when not in use, the camera will still emit a death photo of him every midnight, giving him no time to rest.

Click!

Point the camera at the clinic and press the shutter.

With a flash of light, two photos appeared from the side of the camera.

Seventeen took out the photos, immediately looked at the first one, and said after just one glance:

"The space around that clinic is chaotic; you can't just rush in from the front. We actually have to go around it and approach from the right!"

bang-

Upon hearing this, Yu Qingshan immediately turned the steering wheel, causing the dilapidated car to drift and turn around in the sea of ​​fire, then suddenly rushing towards the right side of the clinic.

"This information is only valid for 10 minutes; you must find the correct entry point within that time."

Seventeen then added a sentence before looking at the second photo, and then discovered that his whole body in the photo was burned to a crisp, and the time recorded in the photo was 15 seconds after the time it was taken.

Such a short time?! If that's the case, then I'll be in immediate danger—

hum! ! !

The raging blood-red light protected Seventeen's entire body in the next moment, blocking the several arms that emerged from the camera and tried to grab Seventeen.

Originating from the high seas, the blood-red domain, which had undergone some unknown adjustments to become the fragmented pieces it is today, saved Seventeen at this critical moment. The cursed photograph, after losing its power, burst into flames and vanished into ashes in the blink of an eye.

bang-

Another violent tremor came as the enormous monster, formed from fused flesh and blood, emerged from the flames and reached out to grab the vehicle.

Although the creature's outstretched limbs were severed by a mental spike from Miko in the next second, unlike last time, this time the monster's true form was not far away. Therefore, it almost immediately emerged from the sea of ​​fire, letting out a hoarse howl with its writhing head, which was formed from the fusion of countless human heads, and stretched out more limbs to try to grab the vehicle completely.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly! Don't go into that thing's attack range!"

Standing on the roof of the car, Jianzi shouted into the car while releasing another wave of mental spikes, which repelled the monster and the surrounding monsters.

Yu Qingshan quickly reversed the car, abruptly creating distance to avoid being grabbed by the skyscraper-sized, fleshy monster. But as he reversed, a terrifying aura approached from behind. It was far more terrifying than this flesh-and-blood fusion-derived monster; it was a creation sent to kill Yotsuya Miko. Even before it actually got close, even from a distance, everyone in the car could feel a strong sense of suffocation, and it was almost impossible to maintain their conscious minds.

We were only delayed at the entrance for less than a minute before that thing caught up with us?

Yu Qingshan, who was driving the car, hesitated for less than a second before stepping on the gas and charging fiercely toward the flesh-and-blood creature in front of him.