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

Generally speaking, the feel of this kind of thing shouldn't be very good, but the feeling just now...

[...F cup? Or G cup?]

Recalling the sensation of that touch, Gao Hai gestured with his hand in front of him, his expression lost in thought.

The mastermind behind the hospital incident was actually a woman?

Although this new information isn't particularly helpful for the upcoming battle, I'll still jot it down for now.

Regardless of whether the other party is male or female, I will definitely kill this thing before I can feel at ease.

Meanwhile, in another space of consciousness distorted by the power of the curse, the girl opened her eyes and silently watched the scene before her.

Have you ever considered that your statement might actually make you a suspect?

She saw herself staring cautiously at Gao Hai, questioning him.

"...Okay, Great-Grandma, I think this person can be trusted."

She saw herself making her final decision to trust Gao Hai and temporarily team up with him.

"You're Gao Hai, right? You're quite quick-witted. I think you can tell that both I and your aunt possess extraordinary physical abilities and senses. So, as long as you don't have any ulterior motives, we can cooperate, how about it?"

There was also the way she put on an arrogant attitude in front of Gao Hai, deliberately not speaking properly in an attempt to suppress him.

No, is this how I treated Haijun from the beginning?

Princess Zhenfei stared wide-eyed at the sight of this scene, completely unable to believe that she had ever done such a thing.

Given Haijun's personality, he must have been very unhappy at the time. Even if he didn't say anything on the surface, he must have harbored a lot of resentment inside, right? Hmm, so I actually reacted to him like that in the very first playthrough. Suddenly, I feel like I've let Haijun down...

The girl sighed softly as she thought about this, then continued walking forward.

More memories are gradually forming ahead.

Whether it was Kaguya's rapid-fire debate that prevented Takami from speaking at the beginning, or Maki's insistence on opening the refrigerator herself, both were shown to the girl, allowing her to see the past scene once again.

Although for Maki herself, the process was like watching a movie, and she didn't feel any familiarity with it, being able to witness firsthand how she and Gao Hai, who were initially strangers, got to know and get along, still made Maki somewhat emotional. Especially when she saw herself being embarrassed, the thought that Gao Hai must have remembered this scene vividly made Maki unconsciously stomp her foot in dissatisfaction.

Next comes the first time he uses the clock rewind function, which is the moment when Gao Hai truly demonstrates his abilities.

I was in a really sorry state back then, and my great-aunt suffered the same fate. I had initially thought of subduing the other party and wanting to show a higher status in front of Haijun, but after actually encountering the monster, I was immediately brought back to reality.

It was probably from this point that Haijun gradually became the core of the team.

If this dungeon wasn't some upgraded dungeon, but a normal Twilight-level dungeon, and if Haijun could clear it without the power of the Black Watch, my aunt and I would definitely build our team around him, instead of me or my aunt becoming the core. After all, no matter how well we perform normally, when real danger strikes, when we truly face the threats of various strange tales, monsters, and curses, only Haijun can maintain his normal thinking and decision-making abilities under immense pressure, leading everyone to find a way to survive.

Continue walking forward, towards the end of this memory.

Seeing himself and him trapped in a third-floor room, seeing Kaguya, transformed into a monster, come knocking on their door, seeing the two of them escaping in a distorted world...

After the gunshots stopped, he was shot and fell down. He was eventually killed by the strange creature in the room and turned into an ice sculpture. Gao Hai left with the words "I'm sorry, I'm leaving first" and turned to leave. Soon after, he was caught by the porcelain doll and drowned in boiling water.

As the scenes from her memory began to fade, the girl standing in the darkness silently watched everything, and finally just sighed softly.

So from the very beginning, Haijun was carrying everything, and with all this pain, he continued to smile and move forward?

I can feel those memories gradually fading from my mind.

It seemed as if some force was erasing the past memories she had already witnessed, preventing her from truly remembering them.

It seemed as if another force was urging her on, compelling her to cling to these memories, insisting that she could not let go of it all, no matter the cost…

"Well then, it's time to move forward."

Empress Zhen did not stop walking.

The force that surged from her memories, the force that had tried to bind her and keep her in the darkness, was now utterly unable to hold the girl back.

It's time to go back to Haijun's side.

She was just thinking about these things.

No matter what happened in the beginning, the bond they have built together and the story they have written together are real and tangible.

So what I should do is not stay where I am, not continue to stay here, but go back to his side and move forward together with him.

Perhaps forgetting these past experiences is indeed regrettable. But she will not stop, because she knows her Haijun will not stop. So what she will do is move forward with him, to be the one who can support him when he is tired, and to enable him to continue. That is enough.

Without the slightest hesitation, Maki continued walking forward, leaving the twisted darkness behind.

The power of the curse was unable to hold the other party back...

This situation was unexpected...

However, such things do happen; there are indeed rare and unusual individuals...

But this is just a coincidence, a trivial accident, and it cannot change the outcome...

Even if it happens by chance, the miracle ceases to exist when circumstances change even slightly; this is the ugly truth...

[True Princess...True Princess...Are you there...?]

The darkness was writhing.

The familiar voice made the girl in front of him stop in her tracks.

That voice is mine...

"Dad? Mom?"

Chapter Sixty-Six: Even in a world without us, you must live happily.

Looking back on Shijou Maki's short life of seventeen years, there was nothing particularly turbulent until she was drawn into the "Sacrifice Game".

Her wealthy and powerful parents provided her with a comfortable life, and her innate high intelligence and high-quality education further shaped her elegance and pride. Of course, there was also the arrogance and low emotional intelligence that gradually developed from being spoiled; otherwise, she wouldn't have done things like refusing to acknowledge Gao Hai as her boyfriend after kissing and hugging him, nor would she have let Qian Hua get ahead of her. Now, Maki doesn't want to comment on or recall this matter; she has become indifferent to these things. Hmm, probably…

In short, if she had to describe her past life, Princess Lizhen would probably only be able to think of the word "ordinary".

However, blandness is not synonymous with dullness.

A mundane life without much excitement is the life journey of the vast majority of ordinary people in this world.

And it was precisely this ordinary period of the past that shaped who I am today. Similarly, it was thanks to these parents who truly loved me that I was able to grow into the person I am today, instead of going astray like my aunt.

Therefore, I will never give up, and I will definitely rescue them from the hospital.

I will do everything in my power to save my parents, and I believe Haijun will also do everything in her power to help me accomplish this. We can definitely do it. Mom and Dad... I will, I will, bring you back.

【Mahime...we're here...】

Then I felt the breath of life.

Come over here... come over here...

Such a familiar voice, such a familiar scent.

Come to Daddy's side... Come to Mommy's side... Our family... will always be together...

It was as if all the disasters and suffering had never happened, as if the experiences in the "Sacrifice Game" were just a nightmare, and that she had simply opened her eyes on an ordinary day, gotten out of bed, and started another day of her normal life.

However, this feeling shouldn't be here.

There was not a trace of confusion in the girl's eyes.

Such a level of mental manipulation could not possibly affect Zhenfei, who now possesses willpower and mental strength far exceeding human limits.

"I see. There are actually two key factors in activating the curse."

Maki stood in the darkness and spoke calmly.

"One is the desire to trace back memories, which is an instinctive human reaction to forgetting."

"You believed that players, a group whose mental state is generally unstable and whose memory is generally impaired, would inevitably have a strong desire to revisit the past, so you designed this curse."

"Next, after completing the creation of the curse, just in case, you added a backup condition. And that condition is the emotional connection between people, which is why you kidnapped my parents."

That aura doesn't lie; it's the aura of one's parents.

Although the words emanating from that aura were false, clearly intended to lure her into a trap, the aura itself was undeniably real. Therefore, Maki was certain that the second effect of this curse was to exploit those closely connected to the cursed individual, using their emotions and memories to launch an attack.

In terms of disgust and malice, it's reached the point where it makes you want to vomit.

Furthermore, the choice of the target of the curse reveals the hospital's cowardly and opportunistic nature. After all, among the girls, including Maki, the closest person to the cursed individual is undoubtedly Takahashi himself. However, choosing Takahashi as the target would have created a direct confrontation between him and the hospital. The mastermind, unwilling to let things escalate in that direction, resorted to kidnapping Maki's parents, demonstrating their disgusting and incompetent nature.

"I will not be trapped here. This level of curse power is not enough to stop me."

The girl walked towards the end of the darkness.

What's a curse that's difficult for a Red Moon-level player to resist is hardly a threat to Shijou Maki now. As long as she remains conscious and unwavering, she can easily step out of this darkness and is unlikely to be truly corrupted by the curse. And if she does break free from the curse's control, Takahashi can completely destroy it, rendering all the arrangements the [Hospital] made for Maki utterly futile.

tread--

Footsteps stretched on and on in the darkness.

Little by little, Maki could sense that she was about to reach the exit.

The calls from behind her, seemingly from her parents, continued one after another. Knowing full well that these were false, Maki remained unmoved, continuing to walk forward, towards the path that seemed to lead out from the darkness.

Next, after leaving this place, we need to rely on Haijun's power to see if we can pinpoint our parents' location.

I've confirmed my parents' presence here. If I can use their real names to pinpoint their location, then theoretically I should be able to get some clues, right? My father's name is Shijou Takaaki, and my mother's name is Shijou No... is it called Shijou...? Huh?

Empress Zhenfei stopped in her tracks.

She suddenly widened her eyes, trying hard to recall the information she should have memorized, but no matter how hard she tried, she still couldn't remember it.

Can't remember.

I can't remember my mother's name.

No, it's not just that.

It was only then that Princess Maki realized that, without realizing it, she had forgotten many memories related to her parents. The experiences of those carefree childhood days had become blurred, and many parts were now just vague impressions.

Thus, Maki was able to confirm the third, and final, most terrifying power that the hospital had planted when designing this curse.

When the power of a curse is successfully implanted into someone and spreads through close relationships between people, if they cannot resist the erosion and transformation of the curse power, they will naturally be controlled by the [Hospital] and become yet another shell controlled by the [Hospital].

If one of the cursed infected individuals manages to break free from the curse's control, then the curse will have another effect: erasing the memories that connect the escapee with the other infected individuals.

If Maki chooses to break free from the curse, she will completely forget all memories of her parents.

Conversely, her parents, who are now under the control of the hospital, will also forever lose their memories of their daughter.

The key to the spread of the curse lies in the connections between people, and one end of these connections is held in the hands of the [Hospital]. Even Gao Hai cannot change this; he has not yet truly ascended to godhood, nor has he deeply studied the power of supernatural tales. Preventing the [Hospital] from further distorting and strengthening the curse's power is already his limit. Therefore, if Maki truly leaves this cursed space and completely rejects the [Hospital], she and her parents will definitely lose their memories of each other, with almost no chance of regaining them.