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

"Help us! You're a 'player' too, right? Quickly find that monster and destroy it! Use your superpowers to take it down! Hurry!"

"You have a responsibility to protect us from harm. If I get hurt, I will definitely hire a lawyer and sue you. I will never let this go!"

If when Xiaohua first started speaking, no one paid any attention to her and she wouldn't get a response no matter what she said, now these people have completely changed their attitude. They all want to squeeze in front of Xiaohua, some respectfully, some roaring, and they all care about her a lot.

For Yurikawa Hana herself, dealing with this situation was clearly beyond her capabilities. Fortunately, her parents and Yotsuya Touko immediately came forward and surrounded Hana, preventing others from getting close. Hana was then able to continue focusing her attention on the strange creature and try to track it.

No, it can't be tracked.

The chaotic crowd had begun to press forward. Xiao Hua wasn't the type to specialize in perception, so she had no way of finding the strange creature she had attacked once in the dense crowd, and couldn't determine where it had gone.

This can't go on. The second basement level is quite large. If the other party continues to hide in the darkness, it's impossible for us to find them with our current abilities. We must gather everyone in one place to minimize the chance of an attack.

"Please follow me, everyone. Please go down to the basement level. We may need to evacuate this shelter to another location."

After a brief moment of thought, Xiao Hua called out to those around her and, under the protection of the three adults, began to make her way towards the stairs on the first basement level.

The crowd quickly grew. At first, it was just the hundred or so people who had witnessed Xiaohua defeat the monster around the body. As they walked, several hundred more people, who hadn't actually seen anything but had followed because of the commotion, arrived. Some thought it was safe outside and everyone could leave the shelter, others thought someone had been sent to take them to collect free supplies, and a few even heard an older woman talking about Jesus being alive and that they should all go see a miracle—utterly nonsensical things.

More and more people gathered, and the strange creature that the girl had repelled had returned once again.

Xiao Hua first heard a scream that was almost completely drowned out and indistinct.

She tried to find the direction of the sound, but the noise around her prevented her from doing so.

The crowd continued to surge forward, oblivious to the monstrous creature killing people, even as corpses were trampled underfoot. Whether any survivors were trampled to death in the crush was uncertain. After all, no one noticed, or even if someone did, their reaction and voice would be drowned out by the overwhelming crowd, forced to continue moving forward by the throng.

It was only then that Xiaohua noticed that almost all the survivors on the second basement level had gathered together. They had all inexplicably huddled together, crowding around Xiaohua as they headed towards the stairs leading to the first basement level. Even though the crowd far exceeded the stairs' capacity, and even though most of these people had no idea what was going on, they still gathered, like conformists who instinctively follow what others are doing, without thinking about the situation itself, simply following along instinctively.

"Everyone, stop right there! The stairs can't hold this many people at all. If this continues, we'll all be crammed together!"

Xiao Hua shouted anxiously, but she could no longer stop the crowd in front of her.

It seemed that some force was influencing everyone, silently gathering these survivors together and luring them into danger without their knowledge.

Even though there were people like Xiaohua in the crowd who noticed something was wrong, their cries were ignored. The vast majority of people continued to move forward blindly, without even thinking about what they were doing.

"Let's push forward, don't fall into the crowd!"

Yurikawa Hana's father was a strong, middle-aged man. He glanced at the crowd and quickly made a decision. He signaled to his wife and Yotsuya Touko to protect Hana. The four of them sped forward, pushing through the crowd to grab the frontmost position.

This caused some chaos, but it was negligible in the already chaotic crowd. The four people, who were already in a good position, did not have much trouble and quickly reached the front of the crowd, arriving at the entrance of the first-floor staircase.

An eerie atmosphere quickly gathered at that moment.

Noticing something, Xiao Hua turned around and saw figures in hospital gowns mixed in with the crowd, each one covering their eyes and walking forward with their hands over their hands.

Looking further ahead, she saw a figure standing at the top of the stairs, a person without facial features or hair, whose head was just empty skin, dressed in a doctor's uniform.

These people were deliberately lured here; the monsters that infiltrated the shelter wanted to use this narrow staircase to kill the survivors!

"Be careful--"

Golden light was released once again.

The girl dashed forward in the next moment, and with a flash of light, she knocked down the strange creature standing at the top of the stairs, sending it flying and crashing into the wall, causing golden flames to begin burning its body.

Amidst the piercing screams, the twisted monster rapidly merged with the wall, then vanished directly into it. The things mixed in with the crowd also disappeared quickly, their locations impossible to find.

Those survivors closer to the stairwell witnessed Xiao Hua exorcising the monster. They either screamed in terror or tried to retreat and escape. This sparked another disturbance at the stairwell, which quickly escalated into chaos. However, the cause of this chaos lay not with those who had witnessed the exorcism, but with those behind them, with those who had not seen it.

The crowd's march did not stop.

Those who hadn't seen the monster at all continued to crowd forward, and those in front who wanted to stop could no longer halt the pace of those behind.

"Wait, wait a minute!"

"No! Don't push any further forward!"

"No, no, no! What are you doing?! No, no, don't step on me!"

As the first person was pushed to the ground and trampled on, the stench of blood quickly filled the air.

Xiaohua could hear the chaotic sounds coming from behind. She wanted to turn around and try to help these people. But the three adults, who knew they absolutely couldn't get involved in the crowd at this time, simply pulled her up and ran quickly to the basement. Many other survivors, who had also sensed the danger, followed behind them, running upstairs together.

"Those people behind..."

As Xiao Hua was being pulled forward, she could hear screams coming from behind her.

More and more people fell, were trampled, and died in agony.

The stench of blood was building up, drawing in whatever was hidden among the crowd, and those lurking in the darkness were eager to commit more killings.

How did they get in here?

Xiaohua was very confused. She couldn't understand how this originally very safe shelter had been breached, and she tried hard to think about the key to it. Then she quickly noticed a place.

The girl didn't know who the first victim was, the strange corpse that no one had approached after death; she couldn't possibly remember the more than two thousand people in the shelter. But at this moment, a faint intuition made Xiao Hua realize that the "unknown person" might be the key reason, the very person who became the key to the monster's breakthrough, turning this originally safe shelter into the terrifying place it is today.

It's pointless to realize that now; this place is no longer safe, and figuring out how to escape is the most important thing.

Screams, cries, and roars mingled together.

The girl, already on the basement level, continued running forward, led by the three adults. Many people on the basement level, unaware of what was happening, saw the crowd scattering and fled, and joined in. Of course, there were also those who, out of curiosity, didn't run and instead went against the flow, but few cared what became of them.

"We have to open the gate! More and more monsters will come up from below! We have to open the gate so everyone can escape!"

Xiao Hua, finally regaining some of her senses, called out and looked back again towards the stairwell. By this time, even more people had escaped from the stairwell. Although it was difficult to count how many people were trampled, seriously injured, or even killed in the crowd, at least for now, there were more survivors who had made it to the basement level.

The monsters that broke into the shelter weren't too strong, at least not very fast at killing people, so most people still had a chance to survive.

But this is contingent on opening the gate; otherwise, even if everyone manages to hold on temporarily, the final outcome won't change. The only option now to save the people here and ensure their survival is to open the gate.

Yurikawa Hana isn't a particularly bright or assertive girl. Even after experiencing a life-or-death crisis, she can't immediately transform into a leader, unable to command others or know how to maximize the rescue efforts in such a chaotic situation. However, she does possess the courage to analyze and consider what she can do at that moment and act immediately.

"Go this way!"

Because she had been staying on the basement level, Xiaohua knew the location of the control room. So, she led three adults forward, while many clever people followed behind, unintentionally creating a team of at least several dozen people.

【■■■■■……】

Faint sounds of arguing could be heard ahead. There were already casualties, but the managers still seemed unable to reach a conclusion and were wasting time arguing amongst themselves.

Wait, even at this distance, we still can't hear their voices clearly? And this faint aura...

As we turned the corner, several pale faces rapidly approached.

The managers who were arguing with each other not long ago have now turned into pale, grotesque creatures, floating rapidly from one side of the road, repeating incoherent, noisy words as they approach.

boom! ! !

Then they were defeated by the dazzling golden light, burned beyond recognition by the flames released mercilessly by Xiao Hua, and quickly retreated and disappeared into the darkness.

The monsters that had just been transformed from living people were indeed easier to defeat.

The girl watched the rapidly receding creatures, then deactivated her power again, estimating the remaining time she could use it. Having experienced extreme hunger once before, Xiaohua knew her extraordinary power consumed a great deal of stamina; reckless use would quickly render her unable to fight due to extreme hunger. Therefore, from the moment she encountered the strange creatures until now, she only activated her power upon contact with them, and immediately deactivated it after confirming the enemy had been defeated, thus conserving as much time as possible.

"We're in the control room. Where are the mechanical switches?"

Upon arriving at the control room next to the main gate, Xiaohua anxiously searched the room. Unfamiliar with the mechanical facilities inside, she couldn't distinguish the devices, which all looked similar to her, or which one was the main gate switch. In her panic, she called out.

"This...this...it's already been smashed?!"

Fortunately, one of the survivors who had followed them raised his hand and stepped forward, and quickly found the security device used to open the door.

However, when he opened the protective cover of the device, the people present could clearly see that the device was dented and obviously damaged by external force, making it unusable.

"How could this happen... What are we going to do if this continues? We're not going to get out?"

Some survivors immediately cried out in terror, while most others turned their gaze to Xiaohua, the high school girl they had completely ignored not long ago. Ever since she demonstrated her power to exorcise the monsters, this group was now entirely counting on the girl to lead them to safety.

"Oh no, what are we going to do if this continues..."

However, such a question was too advanced for Xiaohua. Her golden flames couldn't blast open the shelter's protective door, which was designed to withstand truck impacts.

If only we could summon Mr. Gao, but he's currently focused on the safety of the entire city and is unlikely to notice our situation. We were only able to summon him before by using a large number of corpses; now, that's simply not an option.

Subconsciously, the girl reached into her pocket and gently grasped the cell phone that housed the fragments of the domain and emitted a faint red glow.

[Sizzle... sizzle...]

The next thing that caught Xiaohua's attention was the loudspeaker in the room, the one that should have stopped working after the power outage, but was now playing again.

[Please, everyone... spare no effort... to... ZHI...]

At first, the voice coming from inside was hoarse and filled with noisy background noise, making it impossible to determine the speaker's gender or age. Moreover, Xiaohua sensed an unsettling strangeness in the indistinct words.

[All shelters, upon hearing the following message... *beep*... check for survivors... and evacuate in an orderly manner... *beep beep*...]

Then, the broadcast changed. Although the static became more intense, as if it had been severely interfered with, Xiaohua could now make out that the voice on the broadcast this time belonged to the girl who called herself Alice. However, when the girl was broadcasting information before, there hadn't been such severe static interference, to the point that the broadcast had completely stopped after a short while.

I see. If the interference is this severe, then I can understand why there has been no news this time.

Xiao Hua took out her phone, turned on the screen, and unsurprisingly saw that the blood-red screen was now full of gibberish, with no useful information appearing. The unknown interference force was stronger than ever before, completely blocking what was originally a valid communication method. This was probably why the shelter's management was in chaos, confused and unsure of how to act, ultimately leading to the current situation.

But now that things have turned out this way, what should we do next?

"They're here! They're here! Quick, drive those monsters back!!!"

The crowd that had rushed in from behind shouted again, and before anyone knew it, some pale figures began to slowly approach.

Under the swaying beam of the flashlight, everyone could see these people, covered in blood and with unnaturally white skin, floating as if weightless, slowly and unhurriedly approaching the gathered survivors.

Without hesitation, Xiaohua stepped out of the control room and stood at the forefront of the crowd, unleashing her power once more. Golden flames erupted from her body, rapidly attacking the approaching monsters. With flashes of light, their bodies were charred black, and they convulsed and retreated as if having an epileptic seizure.

It took the girl about half a minute to successfully defeat all the monsters.

Although their numbers have increased considerably, they are not difficult to repel. These are likely monsters transformed from living people, with relatively low strength and weak resistance to supernatural forces, so they do not pose a threat for the time being.

This time, however, the monsters did not completely retreat. Xiao Hua could clearly see them floating in the darkness, unwilling to leave. Even though their bodies were burned beyond recognition, the monsters still watched Xiao Hua from afar, gradually gathering and preparing for their next attack.

No, the key issue isn't with these things.

Although it wasn't very clear yet, Xiao Hua could vaguely sense that the corpses weren't actually floating, but rather being pulled along like puppets by some kind of string. Behind these things, there should be a more powerful, eerie entity capable of constantly assimilating and manipulating the living; that thing is the truly dangerous enemy, and one that hasn't yet truly revealed itself.

[Shelter number confirmed... Contact lost... Preparing to force entry...]

The broadcast started again from the control room behind us.

Unlike before, Xiaohua noticed that the broadcast volume was significantly louder this time, the interference noise was not as noticeable as before, the sound quality of the broadcast was much better, and the strange discomfort that had been present before was gone.

Could this feeling be...?

"Hang in there, everyone! The rescue will be here soon!"

Realizing what the change in voice meant, Xiao Hua shouted again, and the corpses, seemingly sensing something, swarmed around once more, rushing densely towards the survivors gathered at the entrance of the shelter.

The girl no longer cared about the cries and chaos of the ordinary people behind her. She simply stepped forward once more, unleashing her power again, and gripped her phone tightly, prepared to throw it away if she couldn't stop these things, using the fragments of the crimson domain within to buy herself a little more time.