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

Lift your foot and take another step forward.

The seemingly unaffected, hollow object once again walked towards the players.

【…】

Then, after taking a step, it suddenly stopped.

There was no sound, and no unusual movement.

The thing stopped and stood there for a good ten seconds.

Just as the players were beginning to wonder if the thing had crashed or stopped working, the holes on the monster's body suddenly began to contract and expand violently, moving like a living person's respiratory tract, or like it had eaten something wrong and was in a state of severe nausea and vomiting.

Pfft—vomit—

The next second, the three players stood there, watching the black, hollow creature standing not far away. Suddenly, a large amount of black viscous liquid gushed out from every hole in its body, and the stench instantly filled the entire ruins.

Chapter 34: Locating the Core Obsession - Part 1/30, and an Unexpected Encounter.

A foul stench spread everywhere.

A murky, black, slimy substance, seemingly mixed with human tissue remains, began to gush out continuously from the numerous holes in the monster's body, gradually forming a muddy, writhing mass on the ground.

The first time, without any external pressure, the monster swayed a few times, then knelt on the ground and fell straight down, becoming temporarily unable to move.

"call……"

Only at this moment did Shao Ye finally let out a long breath, using the long sword in his hand to prop himself up and barely manage to stand still and rest.

"Sure, was it successful?"

Lin Bujian ran forward trembling, still somewhat hesitant to confront the terrifying creature.

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and find the core obsession object!"

Then he was slapped on the back of the head by Nanakawa Ren who caught up from behind, and the two of them hurriedly approached the strange creature in front of them.

Fortunately, the Void Demon had indeed lost its ability to move and did not get back up because of Hayashibe Kenta's words of setting a flag.

Enduring the intense stench, Kenta Hayashibe approached the strange creature, pulled out a small knife, and slashed at it, drawing out some black blood. He then poured this blood onto a pocket watch that appeared to be completely rotten.

"I hope it works, I hope it works, please don't let anything go wrong..."

As he muttered to himself, Hayashibe Kenta opened the pocket watch and saw the hands spinning rapidly, pointing in a certain direction.

It worked? It seems this thing has indeed been temporarily suppressed.

Kenta Hayashibe's face lit up with joy. This pocket watch, named the "Treasure Pointer" by the players of the Red Guild, had a simple effect: after being soaked in blood, it would point to the most important thing in the heart of the person whose blood corresponded. It was arguably the most suitable tool for finding objects of obsession and for gathering crucial intelligence. However, this thing had a very troublesome drawback: its level was only Dark Night. Therefore, when using it to guide targets in dungeons, it would often become ineffective once the target's strength increased to Dark Night Core level, not to mention Red Moon level and above.

If this thing hadn't seemed to be malfunctioning, Kenta Hayashibe would never have considered using it. Seeing that it was working properly now, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly began checking the pointer's direction, searching for places where the core artifact might be hidden.

One step, two steps.

As Kenta Hayashibe changed his direction of travel, the pointer also changed direction rapidly.

What's going on? Why is the direction changing so quickly? What went wrong? Or is that thing just nearby? But there are ruins all around! Are we going to have to dig it out by hand?!

Kenta Hayashibe's expression gradually turned serious; he realized that the current situation might not be so simple.

"Why are you circling around this thing? Wait, let me see, isn't this obviously pointing to that strange creature? The object of obsession is definitely on this thing! Okay, okay, can you stop circling around here?"

Having long been familiar with his teammate's personality, Nanakawa Ren immediately came over, snatched the pointer to check, and then returned it to Hayashibe Kenta, grumbling as he approached the strange creature lying on the ground.

At this moment, the hollowed-out monster has not made any movement, but the stains on the surrounding ground have dried considerably, and it's possible that it will recover at any time.

Without the slightest hesitation, Nanakawa Ren sliced ​​open the creature's flesh, making a deep incision. But all she could see were withered and dried muscle tissue, and incomplete, seemingly damaged internal organs and skeletal structures.

I couldn't find the object of my obsession... Was the cut in the wrong place?

Qi Chuanlian, who wasn't particularly good at sensing auras, was thinking with some difficulty when suddenly footsteps came from behind her.

"……I come."

After resting for a moment, Shao Ye walked over, squatted down, pushed aside Qi Chuan Lian, and then grabbed with both hands, tearing open the wound that Qi Chuan Lian had cut open, almost ripping the monster in half on the spot.

Strangely, although the creature's skin was covered with dark holes, there were no corresponding openings visible beneath the torn flesh. It was as if the holes only existed on the monster's skin, while its internal structure remained completely unaffected.

"……found it."

Reach out.

Shao Ye pulled a thin, silver metal needle from his torn flesh, which was almost completely fused with the flesh.

I can sense the presence of the object of my obsession.

However, it doesn't seem to be a core obsession object; its aura is significantly weaker than that of a normal core obsession object.

"Is this it?"

Qi Chuanlian asked somewhat uncertainly.

"...Not entirely, there's too much, not enough time...not enough to remove it all..."

Shao Ye shook his head and added in a hoarse voice.

She looked down at the thing's flesh and blood once again.

It appears to be merely a dry, cracked body, like a mummified corpse.

In reality, it is densely packed with countless thin metal needles that are almost invisible to the naked eye, piercing through the skin, flesh, internal organs, and bones, constantly inflicting excruciating torment on the victim, and even after death, it does not let go of the torment, becoming a terrifying instrument of torture that carries the deepest nightmares and obsessions of the victim.

The reason why these things were not discovered when suppressing the monster in the previous battle was that, under normal circumstances, the aura of the obsessive object would be completely covered up because it would be integrated into the monster. It was impossible for Shao Ye to break through the power of the [Hospital] to know the truth in that state.

Now... it seems we have to remove all 60,000-plus metal needles from this monster's body to form a complete core artifact. Otherwise, the needles will quickly return to the thing's body, making it unusable for players. But right now, this thing is clearly recovering quickly, and they don't have the time to do that.

Fortunately, they don't need to do such things.

Reach out.

A very cute-looking white goat doll appeared in Shao Ye's hand.

"This thing..."

When Nanakawa Ren saw the label on the back of the doll and the words "[Alice's support item?]" on the label, she couldn't help but shudder.

"..."

Shao Ye, who didn't like to talk, didn't explain this time. Instead, he stuffed the doll into the monster, closed up his torn wound, and then let go of it.

hum-

Amidst the subtle sounds, Shao Ye could clearly see that the doll, upon contact with the monster's flesh and blood, and then with the metal needles mixed within it, melted away like water and vanished.

Hehehe...hehehehe...

It seemed as if a girl's laughter was spreading through the darkness.

Sensing a strange aura, Qi Chuanlian looked around and only saw the figure of a little girl with long golden hair flash past from the ruins before disappearing without a trace.

Then, all three present could feel an aura entering the hollow monster's body, marking all the metal needles hidden within it, allowing Gao Hai to remotely control it anytime, anywhere, in order to forcibly purify the core monster corresponding to the object of obsession.

"Mr. Gao Hai, you are truly remarkable. You were able to subdue such a ferocious being as Alice and add her to your harem, and even get her to willingly do things for you. You are truly an extraordinary person."

With a genuine sigh, Nanakawa Ren shook her head. As one of the few Red Moon-level players who hadn't died at Alice's hands and had successfully survived, she was terrified of that illogical, clearly sentient being. Now, with Tokyo becoming a battlefield between gods and monsters, and with Alice appearing time and again under Gao Hai's orders, Nanakawa Ren had come to the conclusion that Gao Hai had completely subdued the terrifying Alice, turning her into one of his own.

"Indeed, he was clearly a monster who killed people at will for fun, but after Mr. Gao came, he completely changed. It was as if he had been purified and reformed. It makes people wonder if Mr. Gao has some kind of supernatural power called 'Evil is Immediately Appears'."

Kenta Hayashibe, standing to the side, nodded seriously and subconsciously uttered some discordant, but knowing, speculations.

"……time to go."

Because Xiong Mi had been frightened by this new version of Alice and had questioned Gao Hai about it, Shao Ye, who then learned the truth from Xiong Mi and realized that this Alice was not the same as the original Alice, opened her mouth, wanting to explain a little. However, because she had never been a talkative person, she ultimately remained silent, only casually saying something to the two of them before turning and leaving.

Generally speaking, when it comes to matters involving romance, men usually don't care even if they don't explain it clearly, right? Although Mr. Gao is very powerful, the fact that he has so many girlfriends shows that he is also the type to be quite promiscuous, so he probably wouldn't care... right?

Thinking this, Shao Ye signaled to Hayashi Kenta and Nanakawa Ren to follow him, and the three of them quickly headed toward the exit that Takahashi had marked in advance.

Go up a flight of stairs and then around several corridors.

A hidden door appeared at the end of the dark road.

The eerie aura of that hollow creature reappeared from behind, and within about half a minute, it had fully regained its mobility and was chasing after the players again. This time, however, the players, having already achieved their objective, saw no need to waste any more time with it.

No...no...why is this happening...?

It seems I heard a sound.

Shao Ye turned his head and saw an open door and a blurry scene inside.

It seemed to be a scene from the past, a reenactment of something that happened here at some point in the past.

[Hert, your research project is terminated effective today.]

We've invested so much in you over the years, but we've gained nothing in return.

[Going forward, the military's support will focus on the Red Nut Gray Hole project, which has at least produced some interesting stuff. As for you, your days of leeching off America are over; you will not receive any more investment.]

Inside the doorway, there seemed to be two figures facing each other, one standing tall and arrogant, the other hysterically roaring.

[Impossible! Impossible, impossible! How could my research be inferior to that idiot Follen! I am right, I am the one who has truly found the power of the gods! Don't believe that guy, I am right, I am right!]

boom--

A gunshot rang out, silencing the crazed man's roar. He stumbled to the ground, gasping for breath, unable to utter another word.

General Shegela has decided to shut down the vast majority of ghost story research projects. None of your fancy stuff is actually useful. Heh, but don't worry too much about it. That Folneng should be coming down to join you in a few years anyway, since you guys are all...

Shao Ye didn't hear anything more because she had already reached the exit, opened the door, and walked out.

As for one of the sources of this copy, the one who caused countless tragedies, most likely the hospital director and the research institute director Hert, Shao Ye had no interest in learning about it.

If the other party deserves to be tried, she is certain that Mr. Gao will not let them off the hook; if the other party does have some kind of hardship, she feels that Mr. Gao, who is almost divine, will surely be able to understand.

In any case, this is not something I need to focus on right now.

All she needed to do was fulfill the task assigned to her by this being, to do what she could to ensure humanity's victory, nothing more.

Click——

The only security door opens, then closes.

The hollowed-out monster finally reached the exit, but could no longer find any trace of the players. It could only linger there for a moment before reverting to its wandering state due to the loss of its target, and slowly turned and left.

One marker has been completed.

Gao Hai was able to clearly sense this matter.