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

Xiao Hua raised one hand and answered very seriously, as if answering a question from a teacher during class, and asked some questions with some curiosity.

"Hmm, Xiao Hua? That's such an affectionate way to address you, it's like memories of high school English class are flooding back... Ah, it's nothing, don't mind me, I was just making a casual comment. I'll call you Xiao Hua then, and you can call me 'sister,' since I'm a bit older than you."

Li Ling nodded, and it was unclear what she was recalling, but her expression showed a hint of nostalgia.

Then, this hastily assembled four-person team, led by the older woman, began their operation. They quickly crossed the section of road that Xiao Hua had been unable to pass and headed deeper into this bizarre and distorted space.

Incidentally, the team's method for bypassing the traffic lights was simple: they just shot them down with a single shot, temporarily halting their abnormal effects. This brutal method left Xiaohua speechless, stunned and unsure how to react. Then, she learned from the player team that Gao Hai, whom she considered almost godlike, also possessed a supernatural firearm—a weapon capable of sealing away an extremely terrifying Red Moon-level monster with a single shot—a legendary weapon that every player would envy.

Even some local Japanese gamers have started giving Gao Hai's weapon cheesy names like "Divine Punishment Bullet" and "The Empire's Deadly Spear." Of course, Gao Hai himself is unaware of this, or rather, even if he knew, he wouldn't have the energy to care.

[Sizzle... sizzle sizzle...]

Accompanied by the electromagnetic hum of the smart devices carried by the players, the four of them traversed several streets, passing through roads that could not possibly exist in the real world.

The closer you get to that wall, the more noticeably something seems to be changing.

At first, there were just more and more strange passages that seemed incomprehensible. Then the buildings began to exhibit illogical behavior. After that, some terrifying scenes were directly presented to the four members of the temporary team.

During this process, Xiaohua saw a man inside a window force a woman down and then cut her flesh with a knife. But upon closer inspection, she noticed that both the man's and woman's heads were placed on a table, while their headless bodies stood by the window waving at Xiaohua. Next, she saw a row of high school girls in sailor uniforms standing with their heads down beside the railway tracks. With the roar of a train, they jumped off the platform, were crushed, and burst into blood, surrounded by groups of laughing onlookers.

Sometimes, these bizarre scenes don't cause any real harm; they're just scary to look at. But other times, these scenarios can have terrible consequences. For example, when Xiaohua saw people jumping onto the tracks while passing by the platform, she realized that she was just watching them jump from a distance, but in the blink of an eye, she was already at the edge of the platform. It was Li Ling who noticed something was wrong and pulled her back. Only then did Xiaohua notice a bloody mark on her wrist, as if a bloodied hand had pulled her over.

"Don't look around. Make sure your attention is always on us. I won't say much since you're a complete newbie, but you should know a little about what ghost stories and strange things are all about by now. Don't let your attention wander too much. The same goes for everyone else. Everyone needs to do a mental check at any time. The closer we get to that wall, the more obviously something is wrong with the surroundings. At this time, we must not hide anything. If you feel any discomfort, speak up immediately."

As Li Ling spoke, she continued walking forward with her phone in hand. Xiao Hua noticed that the phone screen didn't display the defensive energy data or rule announcements she had seen before, but rather a rather rudimentary signal strength indicator. It seemed that Li Ling wanted to try to confirm the signal's direction again, but after discovering that the signal only increased when approaching the wall of flesh and blood, her expression worsened.

Splash—splash—

A cold wind of unknown origin blew, causing the severed hands and heads hanging from the balconies of houses on both sides of the street to sway, and the sound of singing flashed by.

"Captain, don't worry too much. We made it this far without any problems."

Wang Gui noticed that his captain's expression was off, and guessed what Li Ling was worried about, so he took the initiative to speak up and comfort her.

"I'm fine, but it seems we really have to find a way to get through that wall of flesh. The detection signal from the Crimson Domain is only pointing to that place, which gives me a bad feeling. I'm thinking... since the [Hospital] has come up with something like this to stop us, and they think it's effective, then that disgusting-looking wall might have some kind of terrifying mechanism. Given our team's current condition, getting through it will be extremely difficult."

As she spoke, Li Ling's expression was extremely solemn.

"No matter how difficult it is, there's no way around it. Once you've chosen this path, there's no possibility of an easy one."

Angel spoke calmly. This mysterious player showed no significant emotional fluctuations, and even his words seemed somewhat perfunctory.

"By the way, what is a node?"

Xiao Hua, who was completely oblivious to the situation, raised her hand to ask a question at this moment.

“It’s something very important. If we can find the node and destroy it, the harm these monsters pose to the real world can be greatly reduced. But, as you can see, right now we have to deal with this wall.”

Li Ling glanced at the innocent girl who seemed like a curious child, thought for a moment, and then offered an explanation.

"Is it important...? Well, actually I know a place that might be important too. I escaped from there before."

Xiao Hua, who couldn't quite grasp the significance of the key point, thought about it seriously for a while and then decided that she might be able to offer some suggestions.

"A factory? What does that have to do with a hospital?"

Angel frowned; this was the first time Xiao Hua had sensed any emotional reaction from this player.

"Does this godforsaken place even have factories? That's strange. It's reasonable for lower-level dungeons of the [Hospital] to have places like apartments, villas, and sanatoriums, but how are factories related to hospitals? Are there dungeons with 'infirmaries inside factories' or something? Explain yourself."

After a brief moment of thought, Li Ling's eyes lit up. As a Dark Night-level player, and someone who had risen to the position of vice-leader in a player team, her knowledge and thoughts were naturally different from those of ordinary people. Therefore, when Xiao Hua proposed her idea, Li Ling's first reaction was not to deny or question it, but to immediately begin to consider whether this unusual connection between the "factory and the hospital" represented some special significance, and whether tracing this path might lead to a way to reverse the current situation.

As for Xiaohua, although she was a bit slow-witted, she was very straightforward. Since Li Ling wanted her to speak, she told everything she knew and could say, revealing without any concealment all about her actions and experiences in the factory.

After hearing her words, Angel's expression darkened, while Li Ling fell into deep thought and decided to have the team rest for a while by a public bench on a street corner.

"A factory... corpses... capable of being absorbed by fragments of the Crimson Domain... and after it was discovered, they even sent out what might be a Crimson Moon-level monster to maintain order... Something's wrong, very wrong. Corpses that can be absorbed by fragments of the Crimson Domain must have died recently. Could it be that those corpses were gathered together... Such a discovery is truly unusual..."

Whether Baihe Chuanhua lied or not, this point cannot fool Li Ling, who is already a veteran player.

Therefore, she was clearly aware of the unusual nature of that factory, knowing it was probably a very powerful, potentially deadly entity. Even if it seemed unrelated to the spatial nodes, belonging to a side story unrelated to the main plot, if that place truly held significant importance for the [Hospital], Li Ling felt they should perhaps try changing their course of action to thoroughly investigate this possibility.

"Vice Captain, are you planning to change the course of operations?"

Angel walked up to Li Ling and asked in a serious tone.

"If this information is true, we should indeed change our course of action. We have no way to deal with that wall, and there are far too many suspicious things about that factory."

Li Ling nodded, making no attempt to hide her intentions.

"...The node should be behind that wall."

Angel said in a cold tone.

“I know, after all, it seems that the signals from the fragments are all pointing to the inside of the wall. But our team only has two players who are genuinely at the Dark Night level. Old Wang is lacking in both experience and strength, and that little girl is a complete newbie. The difficulty of getting through that wall is still too great for us. On the contrary, according to the little girl, as long as we are protected by the fragments of the Crimson Domain, the monsters active inside the factory may not even be able to see us.”

"Besides, you must have seen the relevant information, right? Now is not the time to focus on your affairs, and I think you should understand that very well. Our primary goal right now is to fight for the life and death of this entire city. So if I had to choose, I wouldn't choose to continue."

Li Ling sighed, but her tone was very firm.

Angel, whose thoughts had been seen through, didn't say anything more. He simply turned his head away expressionlessly and stopped discussing the operational issues with Li Ling.

"Let's rest for 5 minutes, then we'll proceed in the direction Xiaohua gave us. As for that wall, we can only hope that Lao Yu or that Miss Yotsugu can solve it. Our group's combat strength is indeed not high, so we still need to be careful."

Such an easy change of course clearly caused dissatisfaction among her teammates. But since Li Ling had made the decision, Angel wouldn't say anything more. Both of them knew very well that in the perilous dungeon space, following orders and acting together was a crucial principle. If they split up or started fighting amongst themselves because of differing opinions, that would truly be a path to death.

"Vice Captain, Xiao Yuan, and this little... little girl, sit here, who knows how long we'll be walking later."

Wang Gui, who didn't participate in the discussion at all, took out a towel from somewhere, wiped the bench by the roadside, and then gestured for the others to sit down and rest.

Angel and Li Ling, who had just had a minor disagreement, came over and sat down to rest after hearing Wang Gui's words. Li Ling even took out a thermos and started drinking water. Xiao Hua, having eaten quite a bit, felt energetic and didn't sit down, instead standing beside the chair. Wang Gui, on the other hand, conscientiously moved to the other side of the chair and stood guard, seemingly to keep watch for the three of them.

Strange noises could be heard occasionally from the dark buildings or from some unknown place at the end of the street. However, after the four stopped, the noises stopped approaching and continued to echo from a distance, as if testing them.

"that……"

Some of the restless girls hesitated for a moment before turning their gaze to Li Ling.

"Do you have anything to ask?"

When Li Ling saw Xiao Hua looking over, she asked directly.

"Well, I'm just a little curious. Why is it called 'Sunflower'?"

Xiaohua honestly raised her question. She didn't quite understand why a player team would have such a name, and it felt a bit strange.

"Oh, this name is actually Lao Yu. Oh, you don't know him. It was just something our captain came up with randomly."

Upon hearing this question, Li Ling's lips curled into a slight smile.

“I don’t remember exactly what happened at the beginning. It seems that the team leader wanted to register a name for the team, but several names he came up with had already been registered. Then, just then, his mother called him, and he noticed that the senior citizens’ choir that his mother usually played in was called Sunflower, so he registered that name.”

"Kazama and I even argued with him about this lousy name, but he got more and more worked up and thought that a middle-aged and elderly team name would be more recognizable. Sigh, I thought that we might all die someday anyway, so a weird team name might be easier to remember, so I just let him have it."

“But Angel probably doesn’t know much about this, since you joined later.”

Li Ling spoke with great enthusiasm, even casually mentioning an embarrassing incident involving Yu Qingshan, the captain of the Sunflower Team. She said that he used the power of his obsession to celebrate his mother's birthday, but forgot that ordinary people forget the effects of obsessions. As a result, he celebrated at noon, but his mother forgot about it in the afternoon. That evening, she deliberately called Yu Qingshan to ask about his birthday, causing a misunderstanding.

Realizing he had made a foolish mistake, Yu Qingshan had to celebrate his mother's birthday again that night. Because he was not well prepared, he also brought along Li Ling, Shiqi, and Kazama Ren, who were already in the group. In short, he made a lot of jokes in his haste, but now it seems quite heartwarming.

Xiao Hua, who always loved lively conversation, listened to these stories with great interest. Wang Gui also laughed out loud and told her about how his granddaughter had found ten four-leaf clovers in the grass to celebrate his birthday.

Angel remained completely unresponsive and did not participate in the conversation, but her initially tense and unhappy face softened considerably by the end.

"Alright, enough chit-chat, it's about time we moved on. Xiaohua, are you sure the direction is right? If it is, then we'll get ready to set off."

It was unclear whether she had been talking for a few minutes or ten minutes or so, but Li Ling stood up from her seat first, smiled at Xiao Hua, and said...

"Yeah, no problem."

Xiao Hua's response was very serious, so Li Ling didn't say anything more and took the lead.

This journey was noticeably easier than before. Perhaps because approaching that wall of flesh and blood inherently meant some kind of danger, the density and danger of the monsters around them decreased significantly after they started to move away from the wall.

However, as the group advanced a certain distance, the ruins of buildings that had clearly been severely damaged, as if the Hulk had wreaked havoc, began to appear noticeably denser. They even discovered low-level monsters torn to shreds, seemingly unable to recover anytime soon. It was unclear what these things had been blocking their path, leading to this state.

"The strange creature that appeared in this area is extremely dangerous, at least at the Red Moon level, and possibly more."

Angel, holding the book in human skin, frowned as he spoke.

"It's clear, but if that thing has appeared here, it proves that Xiao Hua's direction is correct. And although we don't know if that thing is still nearby, with this destruction, the strange creatures that we originally needed to deal with in this area have been suppressed, so it's not a bad thing."

Li Ling didn't seem to care much; on the contrary, she was quite optimistic.

Xiao Hua was genuinely afraid that the monster shrouded in darkness would suddenly emerge; the girl really didn't want to experience that overwhelming sense of loss again.

We passed through a devastated wasteland and then through collapsed buildings.

Gradually, the vibrations of heavy machinery could be heard coming from the direction of the factory.

A heavy atmosphere began to spread, quite different from the palpitation brought by the wall of flesh and blood. It was as if the awe-inspiring presence of something beyond imagination was rising in the hearts of everyone.

"I've never felt this way before."

Xiao Hua muttered to herself, surprised by the changes upon returning. Then, she suddenly sensed something and looked to the side, at a gas station with a collapsed roof amidst a cluster of dilapidated buildings.

There seems to be something there.

The aura was very familiar, very dangerous, yet it seemed to carry a strange quality.

"Xiao Hua, what did you find?"

Li Ling noticed the change in the girl's expression and immediately looked over.

"I think I sensed something, hmm, it must be something."

As she spoke, the girl followed her strange intuition and took a step, walking step by step to the edge of the half-collapsed gas station, in front of the basket of a bicycle lying in the pile of rubble.

Here, she clearly saw the thing that gave her that strange feeling. It was a trophy, a trophy that seemed to shimmer like crystal, very exquisite, yet with a somewhat illusory quality, not like a real trophy.

Xiao Hua was certain that she had seen this trophy before.

Moreover, it must have been not long ago, at least within an hour, that I saw it, or even had contact with it, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to leave such a deep impression on this aura.

This is a really strange feeling. What's going on?

As she pondered, the girl's gaze shifted slightly downwards, looking at the base of the trophy and the inscription on it.

[Best New Voice Actor of the Year]

[Winner: Nanami Aoyama]

Huh? This thing...

"Aoyama Nanami? How could that be the name? Wasn't that [player] missing for a month?"

Before Xiao Hua could speak, Li Ling, who had also seen the inscription on the trophy, exclaimed in astonishment and bent down to pick it up.