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

It's safe to say that players who reach this stage are unlikely to have been forced into it by external forces. They typically have their own reasons, beliefs, and pursuits, which is why they resolutely venture into these perilous dungeons where survival is a matter of life and death. Conversely, the higher the level of the dungeon, the more severe the torment and the more rigorous the test for the player. Under repeated hardships and torment, facing the reality of teammates falling one by one and the road ahead becoming increasingly difficult, those players who have reached this point, whether they like it or not, are forced to continuously undergo self-examination and endure a distortion that is difficult for ordinary people to bear.

Is this really meaningful? After all the pain and sacrifice, has it really brought any good results? Is the reward we've gained from fighting all this way truly better than the price we've paid? Is it really necessary to continue heading in an even more dangerous direction, to endure more agonizing torment for a future and hope that no one can even be sure of, and even to die for it?

If the goal is simply to become stronger, then obtaining a certain number of Red Moon-level Entanglement Items, or one or two Red Moon-level Core Entanglement Items, is perfectly sufficient. Repeatedly participating in Red Moon-level dungeons often doesn't yield higher returns; instead, it can cause a hard-won, powerful team to fall apart.

Just like the once-dominant Red Moon-level player organizations in China, the "Moyu Gang," and in Japan, the "Hongjie She," both were thriving when they encountered an unfairly difficult Red Moon-level dungeon and were completely wiped out. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Before players have obtained the Red Moon-level blessing and truly undergone a qualitative leap, even after significant progress, players can still be easily defeated by the unpredictable and challenging Red Moon-level dungeons; one wrong step can lead to total collapse.

In contrast, the truly beneficial approach is to leverage other players' knowledge of a Red Moon-level dungeon, then enter to seize the core artifact, thereby gaining power far exceeding that of other players. This power can then be used to overwhelm Dark Night-level dungeons and acquire more stable resources. Even if this might jeopardize other players' gains and seem somewhat selfish, no one can criticize this survival method when it comes to the most basic need for safety. Everyone understands that this is the normal way to survive.

The path to truth is arduous, and the pursuit of the end is extremely dangerous; countless people have already died for it. Some, with boundless potential and abundant talent, have tragically perished; others, who should have achieved even greater things, are now merely memories lingering in the mouths of a few; still others possessed leadership qualities capable of uniting many, yet they lost their lives because of this path, causing the power they should have gathered to dissipate. In the end, very few can continue on this path, and how many of them truly understand what they are pursuing is a difficult question to answer.

Cat Brother knew very well that before this, no one had truly seen hope.

Whether it's the "slacking off gang" that once led players forward, the historians on their quest for truth, or the many other fellow travelers, every player who chooses this path is actually groping in the dark, with no idea in which direction the so-called dawn lies.

No one knows whether clearing the Red Moon-level dungeon twice with an A-rank will grant access to a higher-ranked dungeon. No one knows if discovering the true nature of the [Sacrifice Game] will end this bloody game, or bring greater safety and other benefits to everyone. Despite the Red Moon-level players' desperate efforts, if asked to discuss the future, many would likely only show bewilderment. Ultimately, no one knows if this will bring hope, or end this torment. They simply refuse to succumb like others, refuse to surrender to the [Sacrifice Game], and thus persist in the fight.

The experience of groping forward in endless darkness is incredibly painful, especially when fewer and fewer people are around you, and when those familiar figures who once stood shoulder to shoulder with you disappear one by one. This sense of bewilderment and pain, with no future in sight, will repeatedly interrogate everyone who continues to persevere.

Therefore, even Gao Hai himself did not understand that his appearance was of great significance to these players who had persisted for one or two years or even longer in hopeless days (some dungeons had extremely long time loops).

He probably just found being treated like a god distressing, and felt very uncomfortable with it, right? Of course, there was definitely an element of fighting against the [hospital], and preventing them from using some kind of power to lock him down conceptually. But these were all just considerations of practical interests. Cat Brother could see that Gao Hai didn't really understand what he had done. This being, who was practically a miracle, didn't understand what his actions meant in the eyes of others, especially in the eyes of those of them struggling in the darkness.

Being worshipped as a god is perfectly normal, especially since Gao Hai now truly possesses godlike power. Who would believe that someone with such power isn't a god? What a joke!

However, at least for Cat Bro, Gao Hai's current display of abundant humanity, especially her unwavering timidity even after sitting on that seemingly golden toilet (the rumors of Yurikawa's chosen one power have spread among players, and everyone sees her as Gao Hai's next target), still reassures Cat Bro. After all, if Gao Hai truly became a god from mythology, detached from worldly affairs, that would be truly worrisome, making one worry about what the future of humanity would look like.

Now, should he call it repaying a debt, or something else entirely? After all, he was practically dead already. Without Mr. Gao's help, he wouldn't be seeing this day, nor could he imagine what the future would hold. In this respect, Cat Brother felt it was necessary to repay him. Moreover, compared to the hopeless situation of the past, the feeling of having the enemy out in the open and everyone knowing that victory would bring a bright future was simply too wonderful. He couldn't accept the possibility of this situation being disrupted, everything returning to the way it was before, or even worse.

"The probe is expected to reach a depth of 10, and the current depth is 3. Continue forward to find a way to a deeper depth."

As he stepped down from the ruins, Cat Brother spoke in a low voice. Toyama Akira and Ishido Masaaki followed him forward, while Kobo Osamu, who was in charge of bringing up the rear, got down on all fours, lowered his head and carefully sniffed the ground around him before following the group with a serious expression like a husky.

The concept of "depth" was temporarily proposed by players after they confirmed the detonation mission, in order to more conveniently and effectively determine their current location.

To ensure the detonation's effectiveness, players must release the bombs at a sufficiently critical spatial node. This node, in today's increasingly distorted spacetime, is like the load-bearing pillar of a skyscraper or the center of a spider web; only here can the optimal destructive effect be achieved. Finding such a node is obviously not easy, so after discussing with the players, Gao Hai accepted the "depth" setting proposed by several players. This involves digitizing the spatial stability and surrounding spatial correlation strength data detected by detection equipment, allowing players to check the current spatial stability strength at any time during exploration, thus enabling faster and more convenient target searches.

It sounds like a game, but these people are "players" after all, so making the missions sound like playing a game actually sounds quite normal.

Previously, everyone was playing the game while yelling in the dungeon world of the "Sacrifice Game." Now, it's in the real world—well, not exactly the real world, more like a place close to it—while still playing the game while yelling. All in all, it's probably a bit more relaxed now, right?

"Are the rest of the 'Slacking Off Gang' almost here?"

Yuanshan Ming looked at Cat Brother and asked.

"They've just confirmed that the last remaining fragment of the Red Moon-level dungeon area has merged with this distorted space to some extent, and now they're looking for the fusion point. If we're lucky, we should encounter them soon; if not, they might appear in a very, very far place. After all, this place is quite large, and no one can say for sure where they'll appear."

Cat Brother shook his head slightly, speaking with a hint of helplessness.

"I think we're pretty lucky. We haven't been wiped out yet, we can revive after we die, and Mr. Gao even helped us find our lost family members. I don't think there could be a better start than this."

Masaaki Ishido immediately took over the topic with a serious expression and gave a reply that didn't sound very serious.

"Alright, alright, let's not dwell on these things now, let's move on."

Akira Toyama interrupted Masaaki Ishido, his expression showing some discomfort.

Despite surviving the curse of the "hospital" and even leading several other survivors to safety, Akira Toyama still felt uneasy about losing his memories of his loved ones. Although he couldn't recall those memories, he still instinctively felt a vague emptiness, as if he had lost something.

On this basis, Takami confirmed that Nao Toyama, whom he had rescued, was his biological sister. Ironically, after their reunion, he and Nao had developed a strange intimacy, almost leading him to suspect a classic anime-style romance. Under this series of shocks, Akira Toyama felt somewhat dizzy and unsure how to face his family who had lost their memories. Hearing his captain subtly bringing up the matter again, he immediately changed the subject, clearly annoyed.

"Currently at depth 5, this should be the right way. Everyone, please be careful. Although there haven't been any monster attacks yet, I did encounter monsters under the [Hospital]'s name when I was exploring here before. Those things are failures that couldn't become [Doctors]. They are often stronger than ordinary Red Moon-level monsters, and their rules are very strange and bizarre. They are definitely not easy to deal with. We need to avoid contact with those things as much as possible. With our current strength, it would be very difficult to fight against them."

After Toyama Akira spoke, Cat Brother's tone changed immediately, and he became serious and businesslike.

"So, was it really love at first sight? I actually looked up some cases after hearing about this, and it seems that such situations do exist."

Then, right after he finished speaking, before Yuanshan Ming could say anything, Cat Brother quietly asked, his expression clearly showing great interest.

"..."

Akira Toyama chose to keep a cool expression and didn't say a word.

Meanwhile, as the players continued to delve deeper into the distorted space, the lower and middle-level players outside, led by [Market], were engaged in a chaotic battle with flesh-and-blood monsters, while the [Surgeon] in the inner layer was held back by the girls. At the same time, the entire surrounding city was completely engulfed in chaos. Within that golden domain, beside the bloody throne hidden in the darkness, Yotsuya Miko slowly opened her eyes, her gaze gradually focusing from a scattered focus.

Did you see anything?

Gao Hai immediately asked.

"I still can't see it, but... I think I vaguely understand what's missing."

Seeing that Zi reached out and rubbed his throbbing head, he lowered his head and pondered before speaking.

“I’m missing a matching key. To truly crack the secrets of the Surgeon and find a way to destroy it, I need to find this special key. And if I want to find out where that key is, it probably won’t work without getting close to it.”

"So I think I need to get closer to the past, I need to go to the battlefield over there."

The girl who spoke these words had a determined look in her golden eyes.

Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Police Officers' Accumulated Reputation and Information from the Dark.

It's already quite obvious that this place is no longer the same as before.

The distorted feeling that had lingered here, the inducing force that had penetrated deep into the mind, had transformed into an invisible fluctuation that blatantly eroded the ability to think. The twisted and mixed buildings collapsed completely, turning into fused ruins, and the rate of collapse continued to intensify with the passage of time, as if the entire world was marching toward destruction.

No, it's not that it looks like it, it's exactly like it.

For Cat Brother, who had been exploring this place for quite some time, this was an easily identifiable fact. As the [Hospital] recklessly mobilized all its available resources, forcibly mixing together elements that were originally incompatible, the previously rational order began to crumble. This distorted space, which had been self-contained, was now beginning to disintegrate due to its violent collision with the real world.

This is definitely not a good thing.

Although not many players besides Gao Hai's team know about the existence of [Disorderly Chaos] so far, Cat Brother, as one of the few top players, is more or less aware of the importance of the rules and order of the dungeon itself.

Therefore, even without witnessing it firsthand, he understood that if something so fundamental to the dungeon were to completely spiral out of control under external forces, the resulting harm would be unimaginable. It was for this reason that they had to destroy this place before the truly unstoppable destruction arrived, allowing it to undergo a so-called "euthanasia" before it spiraled out of control, thus shortening the process and preventing problems from arising.

Gao Hai was the mastermind behind this plan, and Cat Brother could tell that he made this decision knowing certain secrets. As a Red Moon-level player, Cat Brother was well aware of what such a mission, where teammates wouldn't explicitly state their reasons, often meant. Therefore, he didn't raise any objections to the plan from beginning to end. He followed Gao Hai's suggestions exactly as they were, without considering any other factors.

"Current depth 7, thankfully, we haven't encountered any enemies even after going this deep, so this mission might not be too difficult."

"Ishido Masaaki, who was standing next to me, said casually, with a hint of teasing in his tone.

"Could you please not make such bold statements at this time? Aren't you afraid we'll be attacked immediately after you say it?"

Akira Toyama frowned and looked at Masaaki Ishido beside him, saying to his captain with a hint of helplessness.

"There's no need to worry too much about encountering enemies. The strange creatures that are active here are all failed products of the [Doctor], and at the very least, they are at the Abyss Domain level. If we really run into one of those things head-on, we basically won't have much power to fight back. We can just think of our last words in advance."

Cat Brother, who was walking at the front, heard the conversation between the two behind him and made a joke, which successfully made Toyama Akira sigh again.

step-step-

The footsteps continued to echo.

Looking around, darkness had enveloped everything.

Even though everyone present had lighting means, the lighting equipment they used could not penetrate the darkness well. At most, it could only illuminate a range of about five or six meters around them. They could not see anything beyond that, no matter what method they used. It was as if the darkness itself had some kind of physical effect, completely blocking the light.

The aura of the eerie creature intensified, and the faint smell of blood and the persistent, lingering mental force continued to assault the four players present. However, for them, who were already seasoned in countless battles, this level of erosion was hardly a problem, and each of them could easily endure it.

As for the difficulty in penetrating darkness to determine the safety of their surroundings, this isn't a major problem. After all, while living people can't easily extend their senses into the dark, there's a dead person traveling with them, possessing equally strong sensory abilities. With this person present, as long as they monitor its reactions, any unusual movement will naturally indicate the enemy's arrival.

【…】

The police officers, their faces blurred, were moving slowly forward.

After confirming that the "Teacher" was less suited for this kind of challenging mission and more inclined to rescue people, Cat Bro was able to let the other party go without hesitation. Ultimately, this was because of the more important "Police Officer" in the team. With her there, even without the "Teacher's" assistance, Cat Bro still maintained strong confidence in the operation. It's worth noting that the "Police Officer's" strength is now well-known among players; often, the "Police Officer's" presence is even more enviable than the girls surrounding Gao Hai.

Ultimately, marrying a talented and powerful beautiful girl is too unrealistic, and many players don't really care. But a properly controlled monster with extraordinary combat power is something to be envied. Especially after witnessing firsthand the sight of this monster fighting, with bullets raining down on everything, many players, especially male players, felt extremely envious and jealous of Gao Hai. They couldn't accept how he could so easily command such a cool and handsome monster without worrying about side effects or counter-damage.

Where are you... approximately now?

It seems like I received a telepathic message?

Cat Brother suddenly stopped in his tracks, his mind instantly becoming highly focused.

Receiving a mental communication here is hardly normal. The spatial distortion here has even blocked high-level communications, let alone lower-level ones. Yet, he has indeed received a mental communication message, making its reliability and source highly questionable.

Have you received any psycho-communication messages?

Immediately after confirming the information, Cat Brother spoke to the people beside him, while also carefully sensing the surrounding situation.

"I didn't hear anything. The environment here shouldn't support the long-distance transmission of mental information."

Akira Toyama's expression immediately turned serious. He shook his head in denial and looked at Masaaki Ishido and Kobo Yuki beside him. After receiving the same negative answer from his two teammates, he looked at Neko again. At this time, Neko had closed his eyes and was probing the mental communication more carefully.

[This is...troublesome...I'm afraid we won't be able to contact...anyone else for the time being...]

Very familiar feeling.

Although the remaining information in these mental communications has become very blurry and difficult to identify due to obvious information loss, Cat Brother can still vaguely sense that this mental communication should have come from one of his acquaintances.

No problem... There are rescue teams over there... Mr. Gao has made arrangements... Nothing will happen...

So where did the lawyer go...? Could it be that he really intends to...?

We can't be sure right now... Let's try to find a way to reunite... As long as we keep going deeper... we'll eventually...

It's becoming more and more familiar—this feeling, this voice, this tone. Yes, these are Xiong Mi and Jian Bing's voices; they're talking to each other.

So they've successfully arrived at this distorted space? They've found the boundary between the duplicate space and the distorted space and successfully crossed it? And the lawyer got separated during the process? So, that means Xiong Mi, Jian Bing, and Shao Ye should be there now, right?

Cat Brother didn't doubt the truth of what he heard, since he still had quite a few items of his obsession that he was certain of were genuine. And since none of these items had shown any unusual activity, it meant that the information he was receiving was most likely the information that Xiong Mi and the others were exchanging.

The problem now was, why was he receiving this kind of message? At first, he thought it was mental communication, but after carefully examining the content, Cat Brother was certain that it wasn't mental communication at all; Xiong Mi and Jian Bing must have been talking face-to-face. Yet now he was hearing these conversations and sensing information that he shouldn't have been able to perceive, information that should have been erased by this dark space. This really puzzled Cat Brother.

"Wait, I think I heard something too."

It was at this moment that Masaaki Ishido suddenly widened his eyes and looked around in surprise. Akira Toyama and Koyo also showed similar reactions, but this time, Cat Brother didn't hear a sound.

"What sound did you hear? Was it talking?"

After confirming several times that he hadn't heard anything this time, Cat Brother looked at the three members of the Red Knot Society and asked.

"...It's the voices of Kenta Hayashibe and Ren Nanakawa. I heard them searching for us in the ruins, and I heard them moving deeper into the area, chatting as they went. It's strange, is this telepathic communication? There's no reason for it, is there?"

Masaaki Ishido spoke quickly. Compared to his somewhat carefree demeanor earlier, the unexpected sound of his teammates' voices made the captain's expression much more serious. Having experienced many terrible situations, Ishido was sometimes more pessimistic than Neko-san. Therefore, he immediately began to suspect that Kenta Hayashibe and Ren Nanakawa were dead, possibly transformed into some special state by a strange creature to deceive his side, and he prepared for battle.

Are they hearing the voices of their teammates who have gotten separated?

After hearing the reply, Cat Brother, after confirming that Toyama Akira and Kobo Osamu did not intend to refute Ishido Masaaki's words, had a vague guess in his heart.

"Try saying something. I don't mean responding to the other person, but just talking to the people around you. For example, the three of you can have a chat."

After thinking for a moment, Cat Brother looked up at the three people behind him who were still being careful and said something.

“I tried several times just now, and I found that I can only hear the voices of the other members of the [Slacking Off Gang], like they are having a real-time conversation. And you can only hear the voices of your own team members, right? There must be a reason why we can't hear each other.”