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

Some people are praying silently that things will get better, some are hoping things will get worse and looking forward to some fun, some are indifferent, some are waiting to see what happens, and some who have lost something are wondering what happened.

Regardless, this matter has already attracted a great deal of attention.

As for the culprit of the incident itself... no, it should be said that he is currently in a state of idleness, not knowing what to do.

The Shinomiya family has mobilized all their resources, selecting a suitable location to build a stage, recreating a place exactly like the courtroom in the Fujika Middle School replica. Case records that had been buried in history and forgotten by everyone are now being rediscovered one by one.

Most of the players who gathered first went to greet the little river tree, and then began to discuss what to do.

This kind of communication obviously needs to be left to the more professional Xiongmi. Therefore, Gao Hai himself, Yotsuya Miko, and "Goto No. 1" who came as off-field support all became idle and temporarily became useless superfluous people.

This is a really strange feeling. I was just struggling desperately in a life-or-death crisis, but now I've suddenly become a very idle person who doesn't need to do anything but sit and wait for the wine and food.

No, there's still no food or drink. That means I haven't eaten for a while. I'm a little hungry, but to be honest, I don't dare to eat anything in the dungeon, especially since I felt dizzy for a bit after eating in the mental hospital...

[Hey, teacher, don't you think what you said is a bit too Versailles-like? For an ordinary person, eating that kind of food, even if they don't immediately lose their sense of self, the subsequent brainwashing would be instantaneous. But the teacher only felt dizzy and uncomfortable after eating it. Is there really anything in this world that can break a teacher's will?]

Laughter reached my ears.

Gao Hai frowned. The ghostly thing wandering beside him was incredibly infuriating, and he had absolutely no way to eliminate it. He had previously tried using his imagination to target Alice, but it was completely ineffective. The root of this thing seemed to lie in his own subconscious, so no matter what his conscious mind thought, it couldn't work against Alice.

However, he had almost gotten used to it by now. To put it bluntly, it was just something that no one else could see was talking incessantly. At worst, he could just imagine it as the Joker from Batman: Arkham Knight and ignore it.

Can the teacher really ignore Alice? The teacher is actually quite worried, and can't really calm down, can he? After all, even if he eventually defeats Alice using the power of the black watch, the teacher has essentially lost every battle against Alice, except for the final death in each loop to gain an advantage, right? Having experienced so many defeats, can the teacher really just ignore Alice now, and continue waiting with the thought that "she's just a harmless chatterbox"?

The next moment, that face, which had surpassed the appearance that humans could possess, was almost completely pressed against Gao Hai's face.

[Playing the judge, the adjudicator, the audience—reenacting everything that happened in a subversive way—can this really solve the problem? Teacher, you know the answer, don't you? There are still many unanswered questions about this replica. Where is Hirano's real teacher? Will "Takamagahara" somehow stop your impending ritual? If they do have such means, how can we deal with it? And even if this replica is destroyed, will Alice disappear from your sight, Teacher?]

[These are questions the teacher doesn't actually have answers to, do they? The teacher knows very well that everything seen and heard at Fujika Middle School is just the tip of the iceberg. The teacher is gradually encountering hidden history, encountering various dark truths unknown to anyone, and at the same time, is sinking deeper and deeper into it, isn't that right?]

[Can the teacher, now trapped by the power of the Black Watch and unable to escape, truly find peace? Putting everything else aside, the teacher's greatest strength lies in the fact that no one remembers what happened after the rewind, allowing them to gradually gain an advantage through repeated attempts, right? But now the teacher has seen Alice, has come into contact with Alice—someone who can know the truth about the teacher's rewind through a mental curse. So, in the future, forced to constantly challenge increasingly difficult dungeons under the power of the Black Watch, won't the teacher encounter someone who can counteract them? The mysterious KP alone is already enough to worry the teacher, isn't it?]

As Alice spoke, the smile on her lips gradually became more unrestrained.

Gao Hai took a deep breath, his fists still clenching involuntarily.

This strange creature, like a demon, brazenly voiced all his worries and anxieties, adding to his stress in this way. It made him so annoyed that he wanted to chop it in two on the spot. But he couldn't hit it, so his rage built up.

"Mr. Gao?"

However, it was at this moment that Gao Hai heard a girl's voice coming from beside him.

Turning his head, he saw Yotsuya Miko cautiously approaching.

Are you bored too? Want to sit with me for a while?

So Gao Hai casually asked.

"Um, is it alright? Will I be disturbing Mr. Gao by sitting here?"

Seeing that Gao Hai hadn't expected him to bring this up, Jian Zi hesitated for a moment before sitting down after Gao Hai nodded.

She subconsciously and somewhat awkwardly pulled away a little, then realized what she was doing and sat closer, then hesitated and adjusted her position again. Finally, the girl sat about half a meter away from Gao Hai, and they sat together on the steps in front of the courthouse.

Outside the hospital, in the dilapidated buildings, there are a large number of strange creatures, but these things have no intention of harming people at all, and simply remain silent in an almost autistic state.

As long as Gao Hai and the others don't actively provoke these things, they won't reveal their ferocious and monstrous side. In fact, within the Red Moon-level dungeon, their strangeness is so harmless that it's almost endearing. However, it's precisely because of this that Gao Hai and Jian Zi are able to rest and avoid having to deal with various dangers while waiting for the scenario and other preliminary preparations.

After a long and arduous battle, such a long rest is truly wonderful, and it would be even better if that nagging Alice weren't around.

Thinking this, Gao Hai turned to look at Jian Zi and noticed that her expression was slightly downcast and somewhat confused. He then knew what she was probably thinking.

"Don't worry too much. This kind of dungeon is an extremely difficult one that players will almost never encounter. Even if you enter the dungeon world in the future, things won't be this terrible. Besides, don't forget my abilities. As long as I'm here, there will never be a moment of true failure."

Gao Hai spoke calmly to Jian Zi.

Xiong Mi obtained the answer to the question of what happens to an ordinary person who accidentally enters a dungeon and survives, through other Red Moon-level players.

A Red Moon-level player who had been deeply researching dungeons extracted the soul of an ordinary person from their body, sealed it, and brought it into a Red Moon-level dungeon, successfully bringing it out alive (this player had failed three times before this success). As a result, the ordinary person immediately gained player status after leaving the dungeon, and immediately became a Red Moon-level player, meaning that if you didn't buy a ticket to enter a random dungeon, you would definitely enter a Red Moon dungeon.

[Campus Ghost Stories] Although the actual difficulty is no different from the Red Moon level, it has been classified as "Dark Night level" by the Sacrifice Game. Therefore, after Yotsuya Miko leaves this instance alive, she will skip the two game assessments of the Twilight level and directly obtain the Dark Night level player qualification, and will be judged as a veteran player who has already completed one Dark Night level game. It can only be said that this damn game is really good at being ruthless. Although for Takami, this can be considered good news in a sense, since this means that Miko can be sure to join his player team.

But for Yotsuya Miko herself, the hope of escaping hell was followed by an endless, never-ending journey through hell once a month, and the blow of this was simply too great.

Moreover, even if she manages to leave this instance alive, she probably won't be able to continue attending her original school.

After all, almost the entire class was dead, leaving only her magnanimous best friend. Gao Hai was at a loss for words. But honestly, he had no choice. Even if he could do it all over again, he had no confidence in saving Jianzi's classmates. Those were twenty-three ordinary people without any supernatural powers. And even knowing that "seeking help from the core obsession" could solve the monsters, the problem was that he'd have to ask the core obsession on the stage beneath the hospital. Reaching the stage while ensuring the female students were alive was no easy task; after all, those girls were gone shortly after the start of the fourth playthrough.

If it were Miko or Ms. Kumami who sacrificed themselves, Gao Hai would rewind the game without hesitation. But those girls, even those like Ichino Rika and Ogawa Kyoko who had followed him before, risking their lives to save them, and even then, there was a high chance of failure, possibly requiring several rewinds. To be honest, Gao Hai couldn't make that decision. Just like at the Shirakawa Apartment, although Grimm played a role in the team, when Grimm was killed, Gao Hai never even considered whether to rewind the game to save him.

His kindness, in the end, could not reach the great goodness of people like Xu Sheng. Perhaps... if the black watch could rewind an unlimited number of times, Gao Hai could give it a try, but the number of rewinds is limited, and what awaits him after he runs out of rewinds is something Gao Hai simply doesn't have the courage to try.

Isn't this just hypocrisy? The teacher clearly played the role of a righteous and incorruptible person in front of Alice, but in reality, she couldn't do it at all. She even deliberately imagined an unrealistic scenario to comfort herself. The teacher is really adorable; she clearly never intended to help ordinary people who aren't really of any use.

Hypocritical? Perhaps, I truly cannot be. However, this doesn't conflict with my desire to eliminate Alice. It's true I'm not kind, but when faced with something as vile as you, I won't hesitate to strike. I know very well what kind of people I absolutely cannot let go, those who only bring darkness to this world, and that's someone like you.

Hmph, is that so...?

Alice's figure appeared and disappeared, clearly showing that even the fake Alice still despised those who punished evil, just like the real Alice. Therefore, this time, when Gao Hai firmly expressed his intention to plunder her gold coins, this Alice was so disgusted by Gao Hai that she temporarily disappeared and stopped talking to him.

"Mr. Gao, you are really amazing."

While Gao Hai and Alice were exchanging barbs, Miko sighed softly and spoke slowly on the other side.

"Despite suffering such torment, being able to immediately recover after starting over is something I think I could never do. It was just too painful, like when Mr. Gao used that machine on me. Even now, thinking back on that time, I can still feel the pain."

As she spoke, Jianzi's shoulders trembled involuntarily, and her voice began to shake.

"I don't want to adapt to this kind of thing... However, since I have this ability, I should at least do my best within the limits of what I can do. Even so, many things still can't be perfect."

Gao Hai smiled at Jianzi and spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Gao. Without you, I don't think I would have been able to leave here alive."

Seeing that Zi also smiled, he then thanked her very solemnly.

"Without you, I wouldn't have made it this far. No need to thank me; we found our way out by working together. And... well, how should I put it, you keep calling me 'sir,' which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. I'm only around twenty years old, not much older than you."

As Gao Hai spoke, he finally found a suitable opportunity to complain about the way Jianzi was addressed.

"Oh, is that so? Well, Mr. Gao, um, Gao, uh... so how would you like me to address you?"

Jianzi was taken aback when Gao Hai brought this up. She thought for a while but couldn't think of a suitable way to address him, so she asked him directly.

"Well..."

Gao Hai fell into deep thought.

Or should I just call you "Kai-kun" or "A-kai" like Chika Maki does? No, no, no, that's something only close friends use, it doesn't feel right.

Speaking of which, I've played Azur Lane a few times recently. Should I call him "teacher"? No, no, no, that's just a playful way of addressing me. After all, I'm not a teacher at all, and that would be the same as Alice's title. I really don't want anyone calling me "teacher" anymore.

"Speaking of which, would you consider me a senior who guided you through these bizarre games?"

After thinking for a while, Gao Hai looked at Jian Zi and asked.

"That's true. And if we go through other dungeons or other strange games later, I'll definitely join your team. I can't go alone or find a stranger's team to join. Thinking about it that way, you really are a senior."

Seeing that Zi was thinking, he nodded and spoke, a slight, barely noticeable curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.

She took a soft breath.

Then, she raised her head, her golden eyes meeting Gao Hai's gaze.

From those golden eyes, Gao Hai could see a hint of hesitation, as well as the courage that the girl herself subsequently mustered.

Her pink lips trembled slightly, and slowly, she uttered a single word.

The slightly hesitant girl blushed shyly on both sides of her fair cheeks.

As for Gao Hai himself, the other party's gentle call had already drifted into his ears and deeply settled into the folds of his memory.

"Senior~"

Chapter 85: What I Saw in the Dream and the Key Missing Condition

Close your eyes and let your body slowly relax.

Ignore the body's instinctive rejection of the surrounding environment as much as possible.

Try your best to ignore the figure that keeps smirking around you.

Little by little, Gao Hai slowly sank into a dream.

Finding a place to sleep and rest in a dungeon is actually very dangerous for players. Not only is finding a safe and peaceful place to rest difficult, but even if you do find a place, entering a dream state within the dungeon world is inherently problematic. In some dungeons, players have even been silently replaced in their sleep, becoming avatars of those eerie creatures.

Many players will stay awake in dungeons, relying on their physical strength or special items to get through. This can indeed mitigate the risks to some extent, but only if too much time has passed in the dungeon. It's fine for short dungeons that can be finished in a few hours, but for dungeons that last for more than a day or even several days, this method is not suitable for everyone.

At least for Gao Hai right now, he still needs to get proper rest.

"Well then, goodnight, senior."

Miko Yotsuya, who was sleeping not far from him, spoke softly to Takami before closing her eyes.

The two were lying in an open space behind the courthouse. Gao Hai was lying on a table, while Jian Zi had used several chairs to create a small space to rest. Before deciding to use this place, Xiong Mi had thoroughly scouted the area to make sure no strange creatures were wandering around. Even so, he still had "Goto No. 1" on standby to monitor the area and prevent any unexpected situations from occurring.

As for Xiong Mi herself, she's going to stay up all night. In her own words, "As a former office worker who has gained all-around physical enhancements, staying up for a day and a night is just a piece of cake," or at least that's what she says.

Zhenfei has already disconnected from the mental link; she has a lot to do, and connecting with a group of top-tier Red Moon level players is no easy task. However, Qianhua is still connected, but because she hasn't connected to the watch's mental link, Gao Hai doesn't dare let her connect to a regular mental link, as it might be corrupted by some strange power. Therefore, Gao Hai can't communicate with her right now and can only keep to himself, closing his eyes and letting his mind wander.

He thought it would take him a long time to fall asleep, or that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep at all.

But Gao Hai seemed to be in better spirits than he had expected, and he fell asleep soon after lying down.

……

In a daze, I seemed to feel a sense of falling.

Dream.

I could vaguely sense that this was a dream.

Ahead of the dream lies Fujika Middle School, now a ruin, devoid of any vitality.

He saw a figure holding white flowers, walking step by step towards the school.

He looked at another figure... He looked at himself, holding a red candle in his hand, also walking forward.

You didn't come last year, and I thought you wouldn't come this year either.

The figure standing beside him said in a low voice.

[...This is the last batch of red candles. I thought we had run out two years ago, so I wasn't planning to come anymore. But I didn't expect to find that there were still some left.]

Gao Hai saw himself speaking and heard his own voice, which showed no emotional fluctuation.