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

Especially the way she looked at me when she spoke...it was really strange, and the things she said were also strange; she had never acted like that before.

Could it be that she actually cares a lot about Alice from Fujika Middle School, and about the origin of her current personality? What is she really like...?

[Get ready, son, I am about to connect your spirit to me.]

Unaware of what was happening here, Gao Hai opened his eyes and looked at Jian Zi earnestly.

"Well, I'm ready."

He composed himself, saw his son nod and spoke earnestly, completely banishing all distracting thoughts from his mind.

Chapter 71: Girls Fighting Inside and Outside the Expanding Domain.

It seems to be getting lively now.

Fujiwara Chika, with her long pink hair, looked up into the distance. All she could see were roaring lightning and blood-red clouds churning and unleashing a terrifying storm.

No, this is not yet a storm. The real storm is still approaching, just like the sweeping dark clouds, which are still gathering and brewing.

The hospital has now completely descended into madness, recklessly eliminating any living person in Tokyo. In response, Ahai's side is gathering the majority of the players' strength to fight against the hospital's final, desperate madness.

Of course, if that's all there is to it, then the confrontation is bound to fail. After all, the [Hospital], hidden within the dungeon world, can create all sorts of monsters and release them into the real world without limit, while players will find it very difficult to truly invade the dungeon controlled by the [Hospital] and continue to fight against it on its home turf.

After all, in terms of control over the instance, the [Hospital], having fully matured to a god-like level, undoubtedly far surpasses Alice's control over Fujiwara Middle School. And the results the players displayed when facing Fujiwara Middle School clearly demonstrate this. Therefore, even with Gao Hai behind the scenes, entering the enemy's home turf is still suicidal. And if they cannot enter the enemy's home turf, completely halting the [Hospital]'s offensive will become extremely difficult, as humanity truly cannot afford a war of attrition.

Fortunately, a solution had already been found before this. The reason Fujiwara Chika is here now is to ensure that this solution can operate safely and stably, and to ensure that the hospital cannot be destroyed before the overall situation is settled.

"Thank you for your hard work, Little Zhenfei."

The girl stepped into the land covered in golden light, looked at the brown-haired girl standing at the edge of the domain, and spoke very seriously.

"...You've arrived."

Maki turned to look at Chika, who had arrived, and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice. It was clear that the girl was not in good spirits and was actually forcing herself to continue.

"Yes, I'm here. I'll be in charge of the other third of the area. Don't push yourself too hard, little Zhenfei."

Chika smiled gently as she spoke, but Maki didn't react much. She simply nodded and then turned to look ahead at the tentacles extending from the darkness into the [Hospital].

Losing memories of her parents must have been very damaging to Princess Zhen.

Seeing the dejected and depressed Princess Zhenfei, Chika couldn't help but sigh inwardly, unsure of what to say.

The victims whose memories are stolen by the hospital through a curse do not completely forget those memories. Instead, they become vaguely aware that they have forgotten something important, which causes them to experience intense and uncontrollable anxiety. They will constantly try to recall the memories, and in the process of trying to recall them, they will feel the pain of losing something important even more.

The horrific experience of this torture was truly terrifying. It was remarkable that Shijou Maki was able to maintain her sanity and continue acting. Keep in mind that the ordinary victims brought back by Toyama Akira were almost all completely broken down; their mental states had to be temporarily suppressed to induce unconsciousness and temporarily quell their mental problems. It was only because Toyama Akira and his sister Toyama Nao had supported each other through this ordeal that they could still feel a sense of intimacy even after forgetting their shared memories, allowing them to persevere.

She's probably only able to keep up her responsibility for protecting the area because of her relationship with Ah Hai and her hatred for the hospital.

Thinking this, Fujiwara Chika felt even more admiration for Maki, but she couldn't help but sigh again.

In any case, at least for now, no one can alleviate Princess Zhenfei's pain.

Until the hospital, the culprit, is truly dealt with, the girl has no choice but to continue enduring it.

hum-

With her mind focused, Qianhua concentrated her energy, allowing her spirit to resonate with the power of the domain.

hum-

With Qianhua's addition, the golden light expanded even further, spreading outwards at an even faster pace, gradually encroaching upon the vast city.

As Qianhua joined in to enhance the domain's power, a fire truck drove up from not far away, with two buses, filled with people, towed by ropes, rushing towards them.

Some dark things could be seen chasing the vehicles, but a firefighter with a blurry face and an eerie aura, standing on the roof of the fire truck, was constantly attacking those things with a shotgun, repelling the monsters that tried to kill the living, and successfully escorting the group of living people to the front of the domain.

"Enter the area covered by the golden light! Once inside, you will be completely safe!"

One player, blind in one eye and covered in blood, roared at the survivors and, supported by other players, walked toward the edge of the area.

Led by this person, the survivors who had arrived by vehicle quickly disembarked and entered the area covered by the golden domain. The next moment, as soon as they entered the domain, their bodies began to emit a faint golden light, and the domain began to expand further, spreading outwards at an even faster pace.

Buzz-buzz-

Amidst the continuous fluctuations, the land corrupted by the contaminated monsters released into the real world by the [Hospital] was being gradually restored to its original state, repaired to its uncorrupted condition, as the golden domain approached. Meanwhile, the survivors who successfully arrived were also receiving continuous healing, both physically and mentally. The player who had lost an eye quickly grew a new one, and the injured survivors recovered to full health, including their chronic ailments like back and leg pain, all of which were cured.

This is the only correct way to fight against the hospital's final madness.

The domain, which continuously releases Takami's power and was constructed using the combined power of Shijou Maki and Shinomiya Kaguya, has now been further modified by Alice and Yotsuya Miko to be compatible with Takami's "House Rules" to a certain extent, thereby further enhancing the domain's power.

As long as a living person steps into the domain's area, the [Rules of the House] are triggered, achieving the safety threshold of being in a closed environment. Therefore, as more and more survivors enter this place, Gao Hai's domain will continue to strengthen, increasing its spread speed and intensity. Ultimately, when Gao Hai's domain completely covers the entire real world, no matter how frantic the [Hospital] becomes, it will be impossible to continue projecting power into the real world under such circumstances, and this war can be truly declared over.

Therefore, the hospital will now definitely focus all its efforts on destroying this area.

However, given Gao Hai's current strength, even if the hospital used all its power, it would be impossible for them to completely destroy the domain.

Therefore, it can be predicted that after successfully withstanding several confrontations, the enemy, eager to destroy the domain's [hospital], will likely turn their attention to the survivors who have come to the domain for refuge. At that point, the enemy will truly be everywhere, potentially slaughtering the survivors in the city from any time and place.

Hopefully, we can save as many people as possible before that moment arrives.

This city has already paid too high a price; it's about time this absurd and terrifying farce came to an end.

hum-

As I pondered, the domain trembled once again.

Following the direction of the tremor, Fujiwara Chika saw that more than a dozen survivors had successfully reached the interior of the domain, further strengthening its power.

If we continue with this momentum, there definitely won't be any problems.

While secretly praying in her heart, Chika quickly began to focus her attention on protecting the survivors and resisting the invasion of the strange creatures.

Boom!

Another loud bang came from not far away.

This time, however, it seemed that it was not the domain itself that was shaken, but an explosion occurred in the distance. Chika could even see the burning flames and Kaguya Shinomiya flying out from the flames and landing steadily from tens of meters in the air.

[Notify all survivors in the city! Notify all survivors in the city!]

[Please go to areas covered by massive golden light at all costs, and to city areas covered by extremely large amounts of golden light at all costs!]

[Once you reach this area, all anomalies within the city will no longer affect you, and no supernatural phenomena within the city will be able to harm you! This is currently the only safe house; this is the only area that can guarantee your safety!]

[Notify all survivors in the city! Notification...]

A hysterical roar was coming from the radio, along with a message from an unknown source.

With Chika's arrival, Kaguya Shinomiya, who had finally been freed from the area and was able to leave the territory to assist the survivors in their movement, was now running forward, traversing many contaminated city areas, and arriving in front of another group of survivors who were evacuating.

Before these victims, twisted monsters blocked their path, intent on killing them. These ordinary people, utterly powerless to resist, had to exert every ounce of their strength just to think of escaping, or they would succumb to the intense mental corruption and descend into madness, losing all sense of their own location.

"Unbalanced!"

Kaguya uttered her first words upon arriving at the battlefield.

The twisted monster instantly lost its balance and crashed heavily to the ground. At the same time, the pollution it released began to spread, attempting to launch another attack on the survivors not far away.

"disorder!"

So Kaguya, running towards the monster, uttered her second sentence.

The monster that had just been releasing pollution began to convulse violently. Its body seemed to become uncontrollable, and the twisted power forcibly injected into it by the [Hospital] began to scatter and collide within its body, continuously damaging itself and rendering it unable to have any impact on its surroundings for the time being.

"exile!"

Kaguya, having finally reached the monster, unleashed the power of the [Disturbing Words] for the third time, uttering her third sentence.

Space was torn apart in the next instant, and the distorted monster was seized by the spatial turbulence, dragged away from the real world, and torn to shreds in the depths of darkness. As for the vicious curses it carried, they were utterly insignificant to the universe itself, and there was no need to pay them any attention.

"You are safe now. You don't need to worry about anything. Go to the area covered by the golden light immediately. There you will find true safety. Once you get there, you will never have to be afraid again, and you will never have to worry about being hurt by anyone again."

Next, facing the survivors who had been corrupted by the monsters and whose mental states were more or less affected, Kaguya breathed a sigh of relief and soothed them with the gentlest tone possible. At the same time, she continued to activate the blessing effect of [Disturbing Words], causing these survivors to gradually give up thinking, stop paying attention to the pollution and curse on their bodies, and only know to wholeheartedly head towards the area where Takahashi's territory was located.

The road has been mostly cleared; they should be able to reach the territory safely and then move on to the next enemy territory.

There is no time to waste on rest.

Kaguya took a breath and continued moving, landing in a shelter area that had been corrupted by the power of the [Hospital] in less than half a minute.

Rumble—rumble—

The violent explosions continued to spread as the supernatural forces clashed with them.

The monsters in the darkness continued to howl, desperately fighting against the divine intervention of Kaguya Shinomiya, but they could only be defeated and banished by the absolute difference in power, and were cleared out of the sanctuary by Kaguya in their unwilling struggle.

"Protect these people. Use your lives to ensure their safe arrival in the territory. Set off now as soon as possible. Your safety won't last long. Before long, those things will come back to the surrounding neighborhoods!"

Turning her head, Kaguya looked at a member of the Shinomiya family on the side of the shelter, gave him an order without any politeness, and then left as the other person nodded and bowed, heading to the next area in urgent need of assistance.

Splash—splash—

Above the dark city, now a wasteland, the storm and torrential rain continue.

Kaguya, who had once again assisted several local firefighters and a player in evacuating hundreds of people, simply wiped the water droplets from her face while panting in the downpour before turning her attention to the next area.

Are those monsters we sensed this time heading this way?

Kaguya's gaze fell on a street some distance away, which had fallen into dead silence after the power outage.

If I remember correctly, Yotsuya marked that shelter in that neighborhood once not long ago. Apparently, one of her friends lives in that shelter.

Chapter 72. Ordinary and unusual situations that occurred in the refuge.

Something seems to be happening outside.

Yurikawa Hana raised her head from the crowd and looked towards the entrance of the shelter. At that moment, several shelter guards were gathered together, whispering something. Although she couldn't hear what they were saying because of the distance, Yurikawa Hana suspected from their solemn expressions that it might not be good news.

Those people... seem to be arguing about something? Everyone looks very agitated, and they keep glancing this way—are they afraid of being overheard? Could it be some terrible news? Or has there been some new situation or order outside that needs to be carried out, but it might be dangerous?

If it were Xiao Hua a dozen hours earlier, she probably wouldn't have noticed these things. But for Xiao Hua, who has now experienced a life-or-death moment and awakened extraordinary powers, these subtle changes in her surroundings are hard for her to ignore. In fact, even after resting in the shelter for at least fifteen hours and waking up from a nap, Xiao Hua still occasionally feels paranoid, wondering if some strange creature might suddenly jump out from some corner and attack her.

In fact, because she hadn't completely shaken off the feeling of constant danger she had when she was in the edge of space, Xiaohua hadn't slept well, waking up several times from nightmares before she could barely rest and recover her energy. When she noticed the shelter staff suddenly gathered together, discussing something with grave expressions, the girl almost instinctively began to suspect something was wrong and immediately became restless.

"Xiaohua, what's wrong?"

A gentle voice called out from beside her. The girl with short orange hair turned her gaze and saw Yotsuya Miko's mother, Yotsuya Touko, who was nearly forty years old, looking at her with a worried expression. In the woman's hands, Xiaohua also saw two steaming buckets of instant noodles, indicating that she had just gone to get supplies from the shelter.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm just a little worried, but it'll be fine."

Not wanting the other person to worry, Xiao Hua smiled and said, trying her best to appear as carefree as usual.

It was clear that Xiaohua wasn't very good at acting, and seeing her like this, Touko Yotsuya became even more worried. Seeing that the girl seemed reluctant to speak, she simply nodded, placed Xiaohua's instant noodles on the table, and then turned to find someone else she knew.