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

It's as if this guy's technique has changed, but why would it suddenly change?

Shijo Maki was very confused by this.

And it wasn't just the way they touched my body; when they kissed, it seemed like things had changed a bit too.

Previously, Gao Hai would kiss Zhen Fei very forcefully, often leaving her breathless. But today, his kiss was much more restrained, more in sync with her, giving her a wonderfully pleasant feeling of her heart racing even faster.

So why did this change happen?

The girl couldn't help but think of the fat woman with the bow tie who had been pestering Gao Hai.

Probably not...

No matter what, that woman had only known Takami for a few days, and Aunt Kaguya had said that Fujimoto himself had no dating experience, so it was impossible for him to teach Takami any kissing or touching techniques. Impossible, impossible, this kind of thing is impossible!

As Maki kept repeating these words in her mind, her mind had completely drifted away from the classroom.

As for Gao Hai in the grove, he was about to return to the guard booth when he was stopped by Hayasaka Ai, who came out from one side of the grove.

"Oh, you're out now. I thought you were planning to follow us a little longer, Shinomiya's maid."

Gao Hai, unsurprised by this, said casually.

"...You knew I was here?"

Hayasaka Ai's eyes widened slightly. She thought she had hidden herself very well, but she didn't expect that she had already been seen through.

However, if it's this man, it's understandable. After all, a month ago, he easily shook off the person who was trying to follow him. Although he may seem like just an ordinary person, in terms of physical abilities and perception, this person is definitely at the pinnacle of humanity, and should never be underestimated.

"Mr. Gao, the elders of the Shinomiya family wish to invite you for a chat tonight. Would you be willing to accept the invitation?"

Hayasaka Ai, her expression unchanged, bowed slightly and spoke respectfully to Takami.

"invite?"

Hayasaka's words startled Takami slightly.

Takami, who was quite familiar with the original author of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, knew very well who Hayasaka was representing in extending the invitation.

Have Kaguya's brothers started making their move? Come to think of it, I haven't done anything, so why did they suddenly contact me? And this was definitely done behind Kaguya's back, right? Normally, Hayasaka wouldn't be used so casually, so what reason could there be for her to extend the invitation?

"Shinomiya-kun doesn't know about this, right?"

Without intending to beat around the bush, Gao Hai looked directly at the blonde girl in front of him and asked.

"...Yes, this invitation was initiated by an elder of the Shinomiya family. I hope you... will not tell Lady Kaguya about this."

Hayasaka lowered her head slightly, but she still tried her best to keep her voice calm.

"Tonight? What's the exact time and location?"

Gao Hai watched the girl's reaction quietly, and after a moment of silence, he asked again.

"7 p.m., Room 8 on the 19th floor of Dongminglou."

Hayasaka continued to answer calmly.

"Okay, then I'll go take a look."

Gao Hai nodded casually, not particularly concerned about the matter.

Unless a player emerges from among Kaguya's brothers, they are ultimately just ordinary people. Furthermore, while Gao Hai's strength was still lacking after clearing the Shirakawa Apartment and he might have been captured by ordinary people, he now has virtually no such concerns. Even facing a fully armed army, Gao Hai is confident he can escape unscathed, or even defeat them.

Speaking of looking for him, shouldn't it be Shinomiya Hikaru? Takami doesn't really have a strong impression of him. He just knows this guy looks a bit like a transport captain, bald with a mustache. When he first appeared, he seemed like a traditional villain, but then Akasaka's brain-draining aura turned him into a mad, impotent clown. Other than that, he doesn't seem to have any other notable characteristics. Oh, right, this guy appeared in that masterpiece from the original Kaguya-sama manga, "I Want to Be a Photographer," so in a sense, he's a big celebrity in that work, right?

I have no idea what this person wants from me. Is he planning to treat me to a meal and then take me in as a dog?

If that's really the case, well... it's probably better to tell Kaguya in advance. If they can't reach an agreement and she kills her brother, things will get complicated. It's best to inform the family first so they can prepare properly whether to go through the proper procedures or just have a feast.

Thinking this, Gao Hai strode out of the grove and back into the guardhouse.

The guardhouse at Shuchiin was quite large, basically a complete one-bedroom apartment suitable for living, a stark contrast to the small guardhouse in the Red Nut Gray Cave. Two guards were already inside. Upon seeing Gao Hai arrive, they greeted each other, introduced themselves, and then went about their own business.

These security guards all seem to have undergone quite professional training. Even if they don't look particularly conspicuous, they must all be quite formidable when it comes to actual combat.

However, in Gao Hai's view, these people were nothing special. After all, no matter how well they trained, in Gao Hai's eyes, who had already surpassed the limits of human beings, they were just kids who could be taken down with a single punch.

In other words, I've unknowingly stopped seeing myself as one of these security guards.

Gao Hai has already noticed the change in his mindset.

The significant enhancement of his physical abilities, along with the extraordinary power brought by the blessing and the object of his obsession, has to some extent altered his thoughts and self-perception.

Ordinary people are unable to understand anything related to the "Sacrifice Game" for unknown reasons. Even if they encounter players using items of obsession to commit massacres, they will forget about it and no longer care. They are like NPCs operating according to a certain program, becoming two completely different kinds of beings from the players.

If Gao Hai wanted, he could pull out a scalpel at any time and kill everyone present without bearing any responsibility, even if it was done under surveillance. In fact… if he wanted, he could wipe out the entire Shuchiin Academy, massacre this school brimming with Japan's elite talent, and no one would bother him afterwards.

Of course, Gao Hai would never do such a thing.

But what about players who lack the strength but have to face Dark Night dungeons because they've participated in too many Twilight-level quests?

Although his two dungeons were labeled as Twilight level, they were actually Night level, and Gao Hai knew firsthand how difficult dungeons of that level were. He had also asked players like Qingshan Qihai how they tackled such quests, and the answer was that players constantly suffered casualties to retrieve data, barely managing to find a way out. Then, based on this path, capable and courageous players would continue to explore and investigate further. Finally, after the clues were completely compiled, they could try to retrieve the core artifact to lock down the dungeon, or break free from the obsession and obtain the blessing.

Typically, a relatively easy Dark Night-level dungeon, assuming experienced players survive the first run, will usually be cleared after about 8 to 10 runs before a player manages to obtain the core artifact. However, these are invariably single-core dungeons. In contrast, the dual-core dungeon, Red Nut Gray Hole, which Gao Hai experienced in his second mission, has only eight similar dungeons that have been definitively solved to date. As for the higher-level Red Moon-level dungeons, only three dungeons worldwide have been recorded as having their core artifacts obtained. One well-known example is [Campus Ghost Stories], which is believed to contain eight core artifacts, seven of which have been discovered, and three of those have been successfully obtained, leading to the dungeon being downgraded to Dark Night-level.

This dungeon is also the most misnamed Dark Night level in the [Sacrifice Game] so far. It is called the Pseudo-Red Moon, and Dark Night level players are basically doomed once they enter.

Even though almost all relevant information about this instance can be found on the forums, and even though the Red Moon-level player teams who successfully seized the core artifacts from the instance shared virtually all the security information they could, Dark Night-level players with this information still wouldn't survive. Entering this instance would mean certain death. The reason is simple: insufficient raw strength, an inadequate quantity and variety of artifacts, and insufficient blessing levels. Even knowing the rules beforehand would make survival extremely difficult.

In fact, even though it has been downgraded to Dark Night level, the conditions for clearing [Campus Ghost Stories] have never changed, only with a slight adjustment.

Survival time: 3 days, survival time: 72 hours.

Once this goal is achieved, players can clear the [Campus Ghost Stories] dungeon.

When this dungeon was still at the Red Moon level, the condition for clearing it was to survive for one day. After the downgrade, it was extended to three days, and that was all.

That was enough to make the selected players despair.

Therefore, none of the Night-level missions are easy for ordinary players to handle. Players who can conquer Night-level dungeons either have a well-rounded team or are truly top-tier experts.

The rest of the ordinary players who could only survive by forcibly staying in the Twilight-level dungeons faced a near-certain death situation when they entered such dungeons. For example, in the research base hidden in the Red Nut Gray Hole dungeon, Kaguya Maki later reviewed the events and concluded that at least 10 players had entered, but only she and Kaguya Maki left alive; all the others perished.

For these players who only faced the Dark Night-level dungeon when they had nowhere else to retreat and were pushed to their limits, their lives were already on a countdown.

Can such a person really remain indifferent in the real world and not do anything at the last minute?

No, madness born of despair is perfectly normal.

But I didn't know about this, I didn't see it...

Or is it simply that I haven't seen it before?

A chill ran through Gao Hai's heart.

He didn't think about it any further.

Calm yourself down and shift your focus away from things that are beyond your control.

What's the use of thinking too much? There are really crazy players who won't care unless it harms Gao Hai or his companions' interests and safety.

That being said, since [Campus Ghost Stories] is already the most famous and extremely difficult death zone among the Dark Night level, will this broken watch throw me into this school?

Gao Hai was stunned when he suddenly realized the problem.

It shouldn’t be... that serious, right?

We should at least pay attention to the most basic step-by-step approach, right?

And as long as I get tickets to other instances in advance, this broken table shouldn't forcibly deflect my destination, right?

Gao Hai felt somewhat uneasy.

Just then, he suddenly heard a knocking sound on the glass.

Looking up, he saw Fujiwara Chika in her school uniform, standing outside the window, making a face at him.

-

A bustling city.

A remote alley.

And the little river tree, leaning on a cane, standing expressionlessly in the darkness.

Two disheveled, unkempt men, looking quite wretched, knelt before him. In the corner, a humanoid figure was struggling in agony, with a constant, muffled chewing sound emanating from its body.

"I'm glad you chose the normal reporting process instead of rushing into the school with the intention of causing chaos like this idiot did."

The little river tree, its face covered in black insects, spoke gently.

"So, here are 10 shipping containers: 1 small container, 3 large containers, 3 medium containers, and 3 old containers. These are the 'containers' that the market has allocated to you. You are free to use them, but please do not take the 'containers' out of this building. Can you do that?"

"We all understand what you've been through; we all have to face this moment eventually. However, disrupting order will cause trouble for those who are still alive, and that's not allowed. So, as long as you submit an application, [the Market] will try its best to accommodate you, but you can't act recklessly on your own. There are many eyes watching you in this city, understand?"

The man's voice remained gentle.

The struggles and chewing sounds of the humanoid creature wriggling in the corner never stopped.

The two players simply nodded in agreement, then turned and walked away somewhat absentmindedly, entering the abandoned building next door.

As for the sounds that followed in the building, Xiaoheshu had heard them many times before, and he had no interest in listening to them again.

"After they're done, clean up the traces."

After giving an instruction to one of his followers, Koga turned and left.

At the end of a nearby alley, Goto Ichiri watched this scene unfold with a pale expression, her small hands gripping the hem of her tracksuit so tightly they almost tore it apart.

How did you get here?

At that moment, Aoyama Nanami walked over from the other side. She was surprised to see Goto Ichiri, then quickly came up and pulled her away.

"They...those people..."

The pink-haired girl didn't seem so socially awkward in front of Nanami, and could even speak softly.

"Those are players who have participated in more than five consecutive Twilight-level missions. They... this kind of thing is wrong, but the [Market] has made the rules, and we can't change anything. Don't look, don't listen, don't care. We can't do anything about this. Mr. Xiaohe... can only try his best to choose a compromise to maintain stability..."

With a voice filled with helplessness, Nanami sighed deeply and quickly left with Goto Ichiri.

The stench of blood in the air grew stronger.

In the city under the sun, the oblivious people continue to spend their days, whether busy or leisurely.

Interlude 2-12: Chika's Subtle Changes and Information on School Ghost Stories