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

Hmm, it's about what I expected.

This very peculiar edge space was likely constructed using the power of the seven-in-one Red Moon-level dungeon. Like those black voids, the [Hospital] utilized something generated during the dungeon's fusion process to gather and condense it, thus forming this strange area.

As for the specific purpose of creating this thing, Cat Bro is still unsure. He speculates that it might be intended to target rescue workers and survivors. However, considering the current behavioral model of the [Hospital], given its arrogance, it shouldn't bother going to such lengths to deal with players. Therefore, Cat Bro judges that this strange space is more likely aimed at the girls closely associated with Gao Hai, and the [Hospital] probably intends to use this space to kill them.

However, I don't quite understand what the other party plans to do.

Based solely on what he's experienced since entering this place, the danger isn't actually that high. The wandering monsters are weak, and the rules governing them are rather ordinary. Although some kind of supernatural power related to cognition has been confirmed, it's not enough to obscure the will of a Red Moon-level player like him.

Unless, as Mr. Gao said, there exists a special core here that absorbs the vast majority of the power in this space, making everything else here very weak, thus creating a false impression for those who come here.

"Anyway, you'll be working with me now. With your strength, you'd be hard to deal with if we ran into anything, but I can protect you. By the way, I've heard of you. You completed the beginner dungeon with Mr. Gao Hai, right? Tell me, what did Mr. Gao look like when he first entered the dungeon?"

Cat Brother, who remained calm throughout, did not reveal his inner thoughts on his face. He patted Sun Dajun on the shoulder and then walked in front of him, chatting with him as they walked.

"Mr. Gao... Mr. Gao back then was quite different from now. At least there was no sense of pressure at all. But he was already very skilled back then; he was already a veteran player. Hmm? Captain, you said that was Mr. Gao's beginner dungeon? But his performance at the beginning was definitely not that of a newbie!"

After saying a few words, Sun Dajun belatedly realized that something was not quite right from Cat Brother's words.

Cat Bro didn't bother to explain, simply saying "You misheard" to brush it off, and continued chatting as he walked on.

Now, the members of the "Touch Fish Gang" and many other high-level players have guessed that Gao Hai has the ability to rewind time. Especially after the end of the Infant Cry Village dungeon, due to Xuehua's actions, many people retained the memories of the penultimate playthrough and noticed something was wrong in the changes and developments of the final playthrough, thus deducing that Gao Hai has the means to rewind time.

However, it's impossible for a low-level player to know such things. Naturally, no one on Sun Dajun's side would proactively reveal this information to him. Therefore, the old man who only has memories of the last playthrough of Baichuan Apartment naturally only knows about Gao Hai's various actions in the third playthrough and cannot know that he was actually a novice player.

In fact, for a time, Sun Dajun wanted to emulate Gao Hai and become a powerful player like him. In his view, even some Dark Night-level players he later encountered who were willing to guide newbies through dungeons weren't as strong as Gao Hai. Meanwhile, while his performance in subsequent Twilight-level dungeons wasn't as good due to the increased workload, he noticed that the danger and difficulty of these dungeons seemed quite different from those in Baichuan Apartment.

It's important to understand that Twilight-level players haven't yet established a significant gap with ordinary humans. In the later three Twilight-level dungeons, Sun Dajun, whose physical strength and mental fortitude aren't particularly strong, is capable of serving as a frontline strategist or support. However, in Baichuan Apartment, aside from assisting with some trivial tasks, he's essentially useless. This puzzles him greatly, as he can't understand why there's such a large difference in difficulty between Twilight-level dungeons, and this has instilled a slight fear of the terrifying difficulty of Dark Night-level dungeons.

In response, some unofficial sources revealed that Shirakawa Apartment had already entered a fixed phase at that time, and the fixed difficulty was estimated to be at least Dark Night level. Cat chose to remain silent and did not reveal the truth, but only sighed inwardly.

The game started in darkness, the third in the crimson moon, and now in the fifth, we must become gods and fight against another god. If we lose, all of human civilization will be wiped out...

In the end, Mr. Gao has only been a player for less than four months, right? To grow from an ordinary person to a god-level being in just four months is a terrifyingly rapid leap. And how much suffering did he endure along the way? Even with the ability to rewind and start over, finding a way to survive these extremely difficult dungeons is probably no easy task. It's truly admirable; that man's spirit must have been forged in iron.

"..."

During the conversation, Sun Dajun's expression suddenly changed. He subconsciously looked in a certain direction, then looked away in fear, and carefully observed Cat Brother.

He might think his actions were fairly discreet, since Cat Brother was walking in front of him and theoretically couldn't see him behind him.

But for Cat Bro, a Red Moon-level player, observing his surroundings from all 360 degrees using his perception was never difficult, especially since he was already prepared for what was about to happen. Therefore, the moment Sun Dajun's expression changed, he guessed what the other party might have seen.

"Is that my corpse? Lying right in front? Is it against the wall?"

Cat Brother spoke up, his question as calm as ever. His gaze was fixed on the path ahead, a road piled with various kinds of trash, but generally clean.

"Ah...you, you know what's going on?!"

Sun Dajun, who was immediately exposed, froze for a moment. Then, realizing that there was no hostility in Cat Brother's words, he quickly sensed the possible situation. His tense mood relaxed a little, but he still couldn't suppress his nervous and fearful emotions.

However, there was nothing that could be done about it, since at this moment, Sun Dajun could see two Cat Brothers in front of him at the same time.

There was someone standing perfectly fine in front of him with their back to him.

The other, however, had already been disemboweled and lay on the ground, its blood gushing out as it turned its head, its lifeless eyes fixed on him.

Chapter 47 Childish Monster Tricks and the Moment of Impact.

Cat Bro, being a veteran player, is naturally very knowledgeable about the various methods that monsters commonly use to torment and torture the living.

From the moment he first encountered Sun Dajun and saw the body, to Sun Dajun's panicked reaction upon seeing the corpse, Cat Brother could easily understand the underlying issues without much thought. In fact, in his view, this level of tactic was incredibly naive, bordering on contemptible.

First, the survivors are scattered, forcing those who stray into the area to act alone. Then, when a survivor encounters others, cognitive distortion is used to create the corpses of those they've met, frightening the survivors and making them unable to distinguish whether they've encountered a monster or a living person, thus creating rifts among them. Later, this monster might even infiltrate the living, performing various maneuvers while appearing normal on the surface, gradually leading the players to fight each other.

Ha, what a low-level tactic. Such a simple and brutal method is rarely seen even in Dark Night-level dungeons. I never expected to encounter it here again; it brings back a sense of nostalgia. It seems my opponent this round might not be the smartest one.

"What you're seeing is my corpse, isn't it?"

Cat Brother's gaze swept across the corridor ahead, and he casually asked Sun Dajun behind him.

While it's not impossible to have some fun, the mission is more important right now, so Cat Brother didn't plan to delay and directly asked the question.

“Hey, that… yes, that corpse, it looks exactly like you, and it’s looking at me…”

Upon hearing Cat Brother's question, Sun Dajun trembled. He was clearly in a state of extreme fear and anxiety, but his accumulated experience from multiple dungeons still came in handy at this moment. Even though he couldn't be sure whether the Cat Brother in front of him was real or not, Sun Dajun ultimately didn't choose to turn around and run away. Instead, he stood there for a while, and after trembling a few times, he honestly told them what he had seen.

As expected, the body existed only within the observer's line of sight. However, the old man could see the body turn its head? So, this time, the body could interact with the observer? This is somewhat surprising.

Generally speaking, if this happens, it's either a pure hallucination or it means Mr. Sun's mind is already quite deeply entrenched. After all, not long ago, Cat Brother also saw Sun Dajun's "corpse," but at that time, Cat Brother didn't interact with the corpse in any way. This difference represents the varying degrees of influence hallucinations have on thought.

Of course, we must also consider the possibility that it's not a hallucination. After all, these are irrational creatures, and it would be troublesome if they were cognitively disruptive enemies. Therefore, if we intend to make a specific and accurate judgment, we need to confirm it carefully again.

"Besides looking at you, does it do anything else? For example, does it say anything to you?"

Cat Brother asked, his fingers silently tightening around a blood-red paper money.

"It doesn't...no...it..."

Sun Dajun originally wanted to say that the thing was very quiet and hadn't made a sound from beginning to end.

But just as this thought crossed his mind, he saw the "Cat Brother's corpse" stand up from the ground, making a "hehehe" sound, and slowly walk towards Sun Dajun.

An intense chill spread instantly, and in a flash, Sun Dajun felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his hands and feet went numb and he could no longer control them.

Why did it suddenly stand up? Why is it walking towards me? Did my action of staying put and speaking trigger an interaction, causing it to start moving? Should I have turned and run away immediately instead of staying? Am I now in a desperate situation, about to die?

Even though he had come prepared to sacrifice himself, Sun Dajun still couldn't help but feel tense and fearful when he actually faced the terrifying creature. The horrific scenes of the creature killing people, which other players had told him about, involuntarily flashed through his mind. He couldn't help but imagine himself being grabbed by that thing, being tortured to death, or even being unable to die.

"That...that thing..."

Even so, Sun Dajun still did not choose to run away.

It was too late to run away at this point. Even though all four dungeons he had experienced were twilight-level dungeons, and he had never been a leader but always a subordinate who cooperated, Sun Dajun now understood that he could not escape on foot once he had triggered some kind of rule.

With no other options available, all he could do was trust Cat Brother and believe that this powerful veteran player could handle the current crisis.

suck-

A sound like sucking on jelly followed.

Sun Dajun's eyes widened, and he felt his body go limp as he was about to fall to the ground.

The corpse's fingers pierced Cat Brother's head from the back, and with a gentle pull, it plucked out the pinkish-white brain matter. Then, the corpse that looked exactly like Cat Brother, but was covered in blood, leaned in and sucked the plucked brain matter into its mouth.

A sharp, stinging pain was spreading from my head.

In an instant, Sun Dajun felt as if something cold was pressed against the back of his head, as if the monster had already walked behind him, as if the next second it would be his turn to have his brain ripped out. He even felt that he could see that scene, see something standing behind him, doing this to him.

"what!"

With a suppressed scream, Sun Dajun's body moved, driven entirely by instinct to escape.

However, before he could take action, what erupted first was the ghost money that flew out from the cat brother, whose brains had been "sucked away," and enveloped the strange creature that was trying to approach Sun Dajun in a flashing dark red light.

"So that's how it is. By distorting the player's perception, and then using that distorted perception to reverse reality, the player is killed directly. That's a very clever method. The problem is, how could you think that the perception of a Twilight-level player could reverse the life and death of a Red Moon-level player? You're underestimating me too much, aren't you?"

Amidst the calm words, the strange creature that had been walking towards Sun Dajun was enveloped in huge sheets of blood-red ghost money, fell to the ground, struggled in vain for a moment, and then disappeared along with the paper money.

The chill disappeared silently, just as it had appeared without warning.

Sun Dajun took several deep breaths until the unharmed Cat Brother walked up to him, only then was he able to calm his racing heart.

"Not bad, I thought you would faint or turn around and run away."

Cat Brother was somewhat surprised. In fact, after learning that Sun Dajun had participated in four consecutive Twilight-level missions, he knew that this player's strength and mental fortitude were definitely not that great. He had originally prepared for Sun Dajun to turn around and run away or faint on the spot, but he didn't expect that the uncle, apart from letting out a shout, would stand still the whole time until he came over.

"After all, Captain, you're someone who can stand with Mr. Gao. I think trusting you is definitely the right thing to do..."

After taking a few more deep breaths, Sun Dajun regained his composure, forced a smile, and earnestly addressed Cat Brother.

"Is that the reason? Then I will try my best not to let you down, and not to disappoint Mr. Gao. Alright, let's keep going. What happened just now was only the beginning. There will definitely be even more important things to come."

Cat Brother didn't react much to what the man said. He casually ended the conversation and turned to continue walking.

He was certain that what had just happened was only the beginning.

The strange creature, invisible to Sun Dajun and existing only within his own vision, was merely a derivative of the Dark Night level. Therefore, after the Blood Paper Money successfully locked onto its target, it destroyed and eliminated it in less than three seconds.

The real monster hasn't appeared yet; these are just derivatives. It's meaningless to eliminate as many as possible.

Thinking this, Cat Brother led Sun Dajun a little further, and the dark, narrow alleyway underwent more and more distorted changes in the process. More and more dried bloodstains appeared on the walls and the ground, and a lingering stench accompanied by a chill spread. At the same time, Cat Brother felt increasingly strongly that he was being watched and followed by something, but he could not find the source of this feeling.

hum-

There seemed to be some kind of vibration coming from a distance.

Cat Brother wasn't sure what was going on, so he stood still without making a move. Then, he suddenly sensed a fluctuation in Gao Hai's aura. For some reason, Gao Hai, who had been providing support in various areas of Tokyo, had become very unstable, as if he had experienced some kind of strong emotional change.

"Mr. Gao, what happened?"

Realizing something was likely wrong, Cat Brother quickly asked.

[The hospital has taken action; the impact is imminent; be prepared.]

Gao Hai responded quickly.

Cat Brother could tell that he was trying his best to suppress his irritable emotions.

In fact, Gao Hai was in a very, very bad mood at that moment.

After finally rescuing Miko, destroying the edge space connecting the residential area and the factory provided by the hotel to the hospital, and eliminating the psychologist's clone, Gao Hai was originally in a pretty good mood.

Unexpectedly, the hospital quickly turned the tide, using the internal medicine doctor to trap Goto Ichiri in the instance space, and then creating a series of chain events that almost caused Takahashi's hard-won advantage to collapse. At this moment, they could only do their best to try to salvage the situation.

If it weren't for the assurances made by Chika and the others before losing contact, Gao Hai estimated that his mood would have been even worse. But now was definitely not the time to be angry or upset, because with the [Hospital]'s operation that caused the entire Shimokitazawa area to fall, every area in Tokyo, whether in the real world, the virtual world, or the peripheral space, was affected by the [Hospital]'s power.

The monsters gained greater power in the process, became more proactive, and some of the original rules began to change.

Players in the real world suffered psychological shocks to varying degrees. Even if some lucky ones managed to escape unscathed, they were still likely to encounter misfortune in the ensuing spacetime anomalies and strange creature behavior. Therefore, he had to issue warnings as much as possible and help those survivors in dire straits. For a time, he was so busy that his brain was about to explode.

"Impact?"

Cat, being in the edge space, naturally missed the impact that erupted in the real world. Although the extraordinary power was also transmitted to the edge space where he was, its intensity had weakened considerably, making it impossible to analyze what the original situation was.

Of course, the next second, Cat Bro wouldn't need to think about this problem anymore.

As the distortion occurred, the entire alleyway instantly shattered into pieces, only to reassemble itself in the next second, unleashing a terrifying shock that immediately sent Cat Brother and Sun Dajun, who were inside, flying.

"What the hell?!"

Cat Brother, who only had time to utter a single sigh, immediately summoned a large amount of blood-stained paper money, turning it into chains that linked himself and Sun Dajun behind him. After absorbing the kinetic energy transferred to them, the chains pulled the two of them to the ground.

The aura of the strange creature drew closer in the next moment.

You can't see what the other person looks like.