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

"Kazama Ren, Juju, where are you now? Answer me!"

Without hesitation, Yu Qingshan, ice axe in hand, shouted into his phone as he swiftly began running through the blood pool, constantly shifting positions to try and pinpoint the exact location of the node. Clearly, such undisguised movement made him an easy target for the monster, and Yu Qingshan almost immediately sensed something approaching and quickly turned to face it.

The next moment, a human head loomed larger in his vision—the pale head of a woman with long, disheveled black hair.

boom!

A burst of crimson light erupted instantly, knocking away the incoming head.

Yu Qingshan himself also used the impact to turn around and instantly widened the distance.

[Buzz... Captain... Kazama Ren and I are together... We've encountered an anomaly in space... Buzz... We're surrounded by many strange corpses... Our signal strength here... is around 9.5 bars...]

Seventeen's voice came from the phone. As a player team participating in the rescue mission, the entire Sunflower team naturally had a Crimson Domain fragment each, so there was no need to worry about communication at close range. Everyone was experienced, unlike some complete newbie girl who couldn't even identify the direction of a sound and misheard its true source. Therefore, Yu Qingshan spoke into the phone to understand the situation while speeding up his advance. The screen on the phone also changed accordingly, displaying the directions of two nearby signal points in addition to the signal bars, allowing Yu Qingshan to roughly guess the location of the two people.

The stench of blood continued to permeate the air.

The distortion of space is becoming increasingly severe, and everything is turning in a chaotic direction.

Sometimes, after Yu Qingshan passed through a door, he would find himself in a primary school classroom filled with students whose faces he couldn't see. The blackboard was covered with distorted words that read, "I will be happy." But as Yu Qingshan approached, those words would all turn into "I am not happy," and the students behind him would all become fragmented corpses.

Sometimes, Yu Qingshan would turn a corner in a corridor and find himself in a large office. At each desk sat a figure in a suit with many hands and mouths, but no head or legs. These figures would incessantly type on keyboards, drink coffee, eat instant noodles, and repeat obsequious phrases that were incomprehensible to them. Yet, the computer screens displayed only the single sentence: "I want to be happy."

He could sense that these were bizarre scenes created by combining the memories of the living with the power of ghost stories.

He could understand more clearly that as he came into contact with more and more of this information, the power of the strange creatures in this field was also influencing him more profoundly.

The number of corpses is increasing.

Despite his continued progress and exploration of new areas, the number of rotting corpses secured with wire bandages around Yu Qingshan was constantly increasing. They stood in various places in Yu Qingshan's line of sight, resembling decorative objects.

When they are in sight, they always remain silent, but once you leave the room where they are and they are out of sight, they disappear without a trace and quickly reappear in a more distant area.

Is the body moving?

Or are they simply increasing?

The intense mental erosion continued to overlap as the crimson color spread. Even with Gao Hai's mental fragments protecting him, Yu Qingshan still felt extremely difficult to move, and his head felt like it was twitching as waves of intense pain came from within.

He found himself unable to ignore the corpses, finding himself drawn to them and leaving an ever-deepening impression on him.

This impression itself seemed to possess a kind of curse, to the point that Yu Qingshan himself felt the burden on his mind becoming increasingly heavy, as if he had been thinking about a question that he could not answer for more than ten hours in a row, dragging his mental state to exhaustion.

If even I, protected by Mr. Gao's mental fragments, am having such a hard time, then Seventeen and Kazama Ren's situation must be even worse.

Yu Qingshan suddenly realized something was wrong.

Unlike the Crimson Realm, Mr. Gao provided rescue teams with far fewer Spirit Shards, only a few hundred. This meant that each rescue team could often only equip one or two Spirit Shards, providing protection only to the player who needed them most. For example, Yu Qingshan himself had been cursed by the power of a certain dungeon, causing him to have a strong fear of water exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, and resulting in some mental deficiencies. Therefore, he was the only player in the team with a Spirit Shard, which allowed him to remain calm under such circumstances.

I want to give you happiness...I want to give you happiness...

A gentle voice came from behind.

Without turning around, Yu Qingshan knew it was the same thing that had been sitting on the sofa watching TV. It didn't seem to be a monster, but rather a living person modified by the power of supernatural tales, therefore relatively weak and not worth excessive vigilance. The real trouble was the eyeball that had appeared on the television. Yu Qingshan suspected that thing might be the true Red Moon-level monster controlling this place, a truly formidable enemy that their team was currently unable to contend with.

【happiness……】

The withered arm stretched out, about to touch Yu Qingshan's shoulder.

click-

But the next second, the monster's head was viciously pierced by the climbing axe. It was Yu Qingshan himself, who was running ahead, who turned into a phantom. The real Yu Qingshan descended from the sky, pinned the thing to the ground, and then twisted the axe to tear off its head.

I am... happy...

The murmured voice turned into a painful sob.

But Yu Qingshan wouldn't hold back. He kicked the headless, deformed corpse away, then swung his pickaxe violently. The head flew off and landed among the twisted corpses.

They were whispering something to each other.

It sounded like she was talking to Yu Qingshan, but it also sounded like she was just talking to herself.

The crimson light suddenly burst forth, instantly enveloping the player. Only then did he realize he had been attacked by a supernatural force, but he couldn't find the creature that attacked him, nor could he detect the direction from which the attack originated.

[Sizzle... sizzle sizzle...]

The signal flashed for a split second, jumping to ten bars in an extremely brief period of less than half a second, before dropping back to nine bars.

What just happened?!

Yu Qingshan, who was constantly monitoring the signal changes, looked around but could only see corpses standing like statues on either side of him.

Then, realizing something, he suddenly looked down at his feet, at the scene reflected in the pool of blood.

“…Is that so?”

The blood reflected the normal corridor, a very ordinary corridor inside an apartment building.

In that corridor, twisted corpses were pieced together and sewn together. No, they didn't seem to be corpses, but living flesh and blood, constantly screaming and struggling, yet unable to break free from each other, still forcibly fused together by the power of the supernatural, enduring endless pain.

That thing must be a node!

"Is the apartment's interior space divided into a surface layer and an inner layer, with the node hidden within? No, wait, the signal changed so many times before, could it be that the node's location can switch between the surface and inner layers at any time?"

Upon discovering the players who had come to investigate, they devised a plan to throw all the players into the inner space and then move the nodes to the surface space. This sounds somewhat unbelievable, but Yu Qingshan thought it might actually be true.

"team leader!"

Kazama Ren's shouts came from not far away. Yu Qingshan looked up and saw his two other teammates running over, panting.

"Is everything okay?"

Judging by the crimson area, it is genuine.

Yu Qingshan could tell that the two of them weren't in good condition, so he called out to them as he approached, while simultaneously pondering how to return to the surface space.

Without any rules or intelligence to refer to, finding a way out will likely be quite difficult. However, the team members successfully reunited after only a short separation, so it seems we're quite lucky. Of course, it's also possible that the reunion itself...

Happiness...for everyone...

An eyeball slowly opened above the three people's heads.

A bloodshot, seemingly nonexistent, ethereal eyeball suddenly enveloped the three players present.

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Sunflower Squad's Burning Fragments and Desperate Time

Consciousness blurred in an instant, as if falling into deep water, everything lost its outline and was gradually shrouded in darkness.

Then, I saw a blood-red eyeball.

At the end of that darkness, looking towards me, are eyes that seem to see through everything about me.

How pitiful!

The eyeball spoke softly to itself.

Your life was filled with darkness. Before becoming a player, you never saw a ray of sunshine in your life. You were always being hit and experiencing setbacks.

[Once you become a player and truly gain extraordinary power beyond most people, you will no longer be able to show your achievements to the person you wanted to prove yourself to, and from then on you will never be able to return to a peaceful life, forever trapped in pain and killing.]

These pains have been tormenting you, haven't they? You've always wanted to get rid of these sufferings, haven't you?

It felt like a hand was gently stroking me.

I could feel such a warm and comforting feeling, and even though I knew I shouldn't get caught up in it, it was still hard to shake it off.

Yes, my life is absolutely terrible.

My childhood was spent under my father's heavy pressure. If my grades slipped even slightly, or if I focused on playing games, I would be subjected to beatings and verbal abuse. He always wanted me to succeed, always hoped I wouldn't end up like him, working odd jobs and constantly having to watch my boss's face. But wasn't I living my entire childhood and adolescence at his mercy? I remember how angry he was when I told him these things. I also remember his desire for me to become a respected doctor, but I deliberately chose forensic pathology—a profession that involves working with the dead. He got old, he couldn't beat me anymore, so in the end he compromised and gave up. But I didn't feel like I had won anything.

My mother was always very considerate, always trying her best to ease the tension between him and me. Over the years, through all the struggles and uncertainties of life, I've come to understand that his intentions were good; he simply wanted me to escape the kind of life he led. But he chose to hurt me, so I don't regret my final act of rebellion. Beyond that, I think I also wanted to prove to him that following my own path was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, it wasn't until I became a player that I had the power to obtain everything I wanted, and by then, he was already gone. All my resentment, all my pain and obsession, in the end, can only be spoken to a tombstone; he can hear nothing anymore.

Perhaps I should have rebelled sooner, but what's done is done, and no matter how much I think about it now, I can't change anything. Now all I have left is my elderly mother, who can barely walk. She never had high expectations of me, only that I be happy. And the high-level player organizations in the country have dedicated family care agencies with people to look after her, which is why I dared to participate in this mission. But ultimately… it's only because I have no worries that I can make this decision, that's all. I'm not the kind of person who would sacrifice everything for a cause.

However, I am still unwilling to accept it, and I still cannot let it go.

Even after all these years, I still can't escape my past. Especially when I became a player and my inner wounds were torn open by various forms of mental pollution in dungeons, as I examined my inner weaknesses again and again, I found that no matter how I tried to let go or how I tried to console myself, I couldn't truly forget everything.

Because the person who brought me suffering, whom I hated, whom I wanted to deny, yet who was ultimately an important part of my life, is gone. Before I could even let go, he had already disappeared from my life.

Yes, no matter how hard you try to change, no matter what results you achieve, the person you hoped would witness it all is ultimately gone. Aside from letting time heal everything, and from helplessly letting go, you have no other way to heal yourself, do you?

By now, you no longer look forward to your future; you no longer hold any expectations for your life. Because any hopes and dreams you once had have been extinguished, transformed into negativity under the influence of that deceased person.

Even so, you still chose to join this operation, this mission with its near-certain death. Did you want to sacrifice yourself? Or did you want to believe in something again? Or perhaps, you simply wanted to use this opportunity to escape all of this?

I do not know……

I don't know the answer, I...

Let me help you, let me heal your wounds, let me help you find the answers.

Haven't you noticed? You're sick, very, very sick. Your heart is riddled with holes, your soul is filled with confusion.

I am a doctor, I am your therapist. Entrust everything to me, let me heal you, let me repair you.

I felt the gentle caress once again.

Thoughts grew increasingly sluggish, and consciousness uncontrollably sank downwards, falling toward the eyes in that abyss.

Unable to distinguish between reality and illusion, unsure whether they are in a dream or in a corrupt and collapsing reality.

click-

I think I heard the sound of glass shattering and cracking.

Click——click——

It took only a very short time for the roar to explode in my ears, going from blurry to clear.

boom! ! !

The intense golden-red light filled the vision in an instant.

The blood-red eyeballs staring at him trembled violently as if they had been strongly stimulated. Cracks could be clearly seen on the eyeballs, and something like parasites was flowing out of them.

Wake up, don't let it hold onto your pain.

A majestic voice resounded from the depths of his heart.

"Uh...oh...I...I..."

Yu Qingshan's eyes widened, veins bulged on his forehead, and his whole body tensed up in an instant.

He finally regained full consciousness and clearly saw the threads of flesh connecting him to his body, and also to Seventeen and Kazama Ren, who were connected by the same threads. He saw them both with their eyes closed, unconscious, their faces showing extreme pain. Seventeen was muttering softly about various painful experiences in his life, while Kazama Ren was talking about something related to the live stream. It was clear that both of them were enduring immense mental torment, probably close to a mental breakdown; if they weren't saved soon, they would both become mentally impaired.