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

The puzzled teacher could only ask a question.

Teacher, we're looking at our friend, at that dark figure standing there.

The students answered happily, all their voices in unison, with only one voice responding.

Dark and gloomy?

Isn't that just a rumor spread among a few children?

But there's nothing around the teacher.

So the teacher turned around again.

So the teacher saw the thing standing on the podium, right next to him.

Disordered red lines spread out.

The scribbling, pitch-black ink was spreading everywhere.

He tilted his head down.

The thing stared back at the teacher.

Then he grinned and smiled.

So Gao Hai raised his head, looked at the classroom in front of him, which was covered with distorted graffiti, and looked at the podium.

The headless teacher stood there, blood gushing from his neck like a small fountain.

The teacher's figure and the clothes he was wearing seemed to be no different from Gao Hai's current appearance.

hum-

Amidst the piercing, sharp sound, Kaguya had already sat up from the grass.

She rubbed her head, vaguely feeling a slight headache.

She couldn't recall exactly when they had separated, but she vaguely remembered hearing the sound of a door opening, followed by a strong attraction that forced her to turn her head and look at the other person.

I can't recall anything else.

But where am I right now?

Kaguya carefully stood up and stepped forward through the grass in the drizzling rain. She found herself in the courtyard of a building complex, surrounded by high walls on all sides, with only a small amount of light shining down from above, accompanied by a cold, continuous drizzle.

Why are we separated like this? Was something triggered in the classroom? But Gao Jun didn't mention anything about these things in Alice's Hut, so has the classroom changed in some way? Or are there hidden mechanisms in that place that we haven't been able to discover?

While she was thinking, Kaguya's gaze fell on a line of inconspicuous words drawn with crayons in the corner of the wall.

[Student Code of Conduct, Article 6]

Do not enter any empty classroom outside of class hours when the "Butcher" is not in the teaching building. If you have already entered, quickly find a familiar-looking place to escape. Do not trust any friends you meet at this time; you have no friends here.

Although the handwriting itself appears immature, it is clear that the person who wrote this rule was very serious and tried very hard to make the handwriting neat.

Just as Kaguya was observing this line of text, footsteps sounded from behind her, and they walked over step by step.

tread--

The footsteps stopped beside me.

Something slowly bent down and began to speak:

What are you looking at?

Chapter 31: Towards a Deeper, Twisted World and the Reunited Teammates

Reaching out, Gao Hai gently wiped his neck, removing the remaining traces of blood.

He looked around at the room, so chaotic that it was almost unrecognizable, with everything torn and twisted beyond recognition, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The power of the rescue team badge was gradually repairing his body, restoring the huge wound that had almost cut open most of Gao Hai's neck and the bloody scratches that had appeared on his body to their original state.

The instant he locked eyes with the headless "teacher," an invisible force nearly tore Gao Hai's neck apart. But at the critical moment, Gao Hai pressed the pistol against his chest and fired hundreds of bullets in an instant. The combined recoil slammed into his chest, sending him flying backward and barely avoiding the fatal attack.

Of course, he was still seriously injured. The attack cut through Gao Hai's skin and severed his trachea and arteries in his neck, causing blood to spurt out instantly.

Faced with such an attack, Gao Hai simply pressed his hand against his head and severed wound, forcibly pinching the wound shut. Then, the power of the rescue team badge quickly activated, restoring his injuries. Both the lost blood and the severed trachea were restored to their original state within seconds.

Then, Hayasaka and Kaguya, who had been behind him, disappeared.

"Spatial teleportation? No... is this... spatial superposition?"

Gao Hai felt a sensation similar to the transformation between the surface and inner layers of Fujika Middle School, but it seemed different. He realized that he was no longer in his original space, but had entered another space, a new area of ​​Hayate Elementary School.

Is it like the surface world and the inner world of Silent Hill? Or is it not just two, but multiple different overlapping spaces?

Speaking of which, the records left by Ji Gang mentioned that the Hayate Elementary School he knew was constantly changing, and he couldn't summarize the terrain and environment in a practical and effective way. Could it be that the man started switching between different spatial levels not long after he entered Hayate Elementary School?

If that's the case, why didn't I encounter this situation when I woke up in Ji Gang's room?

Could it be because he didn't open the window and didn't try to touch that thing outside? If so, it seems that Ji Gang, who unfortunately wandered into this place, was a bit of a restless person, although it might not be very polite to say that about a dead person.

In any case, the situation has changed.

Something new began to unfold before Gao Hai, something unprecedented, and likely something that other Red Moon-level players who had come to this instance had never truly witnessed before—a deeper secret belonging to this instance.

Well, of course, some Red Moon-level players might have seen these things, but considering the intense malice he's feeling in this place, Gao Hai thinks it's unlikely that those Red Moon-level players who've reached this point are still alive. In fact, he feels there's a good chance he'll suddenly die somewhere, since that's how he always gets through dungeons. Only the inner areas of Fujika Middle School were manageable because Hirano Sousuke was less aggressive and he received various forms of assistance. And this time, if the core obsession of the dungeon is indeed that child, it's probably not something you can get along with peacefully.

"The terrain has changed."

With a soft sigh, Gao Hai stood up and slowly looked around.

Everything around us has changed.

The headless teacher and those eerie figures had vanished without a trace.

On the wall next to him, the classroom graffiti he had seen before reappeared, but the content had changed.

Each child's doodle head was covered with messy black and red lines. The meaningless scribbling marks, like a venting of frustration, appeared in various areas of the doodle. Gao Hai could even smell a faint, faint bloodstain from those red lines.

Most of the desks and chairs in the classroom had been completely destroyed, some half-melted into the floor, others resembling crushed fragments pieced together. Only one desk and chair remained intact, as if waiting for someone to inspect it.

The podium had completely disappeared, replaced by a passageway that looked like a sports track. At this moment, Gao Hai could vaguely see several blurry black shadows appearing and disappearing on the red plastic track.

The ceiling disappeared after extending a short distance into the track area, replaced by a pitch-black sky and a steady drizzle.

The door they had entered through had disappeared, replaced by thick walls covered with all sorts of messy graffiti, mostly blurry human figures drawn with black and red crayons.

On the other side, the door that Gao Hai hadn't had time to investigate had been replaced by a high-end wooden door with a window, through which one could vaguely see some light flickering.

Gao Hai strode forward and quickly walked to the only intact table in the dark classroom, where he saw the line of words carved with a knife.

[Student Code of Conduct, Article 1]

Stay away from any rooms or areas marked with a red smiley face. If you hear something laughing and approaching you, do not try to run away or find the source of the sound. Crouch down, close your eyes, cover your ears, and hold this position for a while. After a while, you will be safe.

The handwriting itself shows a childish feel, and it may have been written by a child.

However, the content of the text seems to be the result of careful consideration, and it's unlikely that it was something a child came up with on their own. Or even if a child did come up with it, it wouldn't be described in this way. In other words, did an adult guide the child to write it this way?

As I pondered, something seemed to be gradually approaching.

Before he even turned around, Gao Hai sensed the presence of that thing. His blessing—the one that could distinguish between humans and non-humans, and judge malice—reacted extremely strongly at that moment, causing Gao Hai to quickly become aware of the thing's approach.

If Alice's existence weakened the power of the blessing, making it difficult for him to make a judgment without direct eye contact, then this thing that has appeared now seems to possess the characteristic of [strengthening its own existence]. This caused Gao Hai to feel intense malice even before his conscious awareness had detected the other party.

Even breathing became heavy, and every hair on his body stood on end at that moment.

That thing seemed to be deliberately emphasizing its own existence, deliberately making others aware of it, and instilling fear in them.

Even without looking at it or paying attention, this feeling was still vividly transmitted to Takami when it approached someone. And immediately, Hirano Sosuke's third blessing began to take effect, making Takami aware of what he had to do.

Hehehe... Hahaha...

Squat down.

Gao Hai covered his ears with his hands.

He lowered his head, closed his eyes, and remained motionless in place.

The sound of children running passed by him.

The sound of someone laughing softly surrounded him and wouldn't leave.

The noise quickly subsided, followed by the faint sound of breathing.

Hehe... Haha...

The laughter seemed to come from above Gao Hai's head.

But it seemed as if it were directly in front of him, right in front of him, staring right into his eyes.

The footsteps gradually became disordered.

The sounds of breathing and shouting became more and more frequent.

Gao Hai remained squatting on the ground, silent, seemingly oblivious to the commotion.

Look at me...

Finally, he heard a voice in his ear.

Look at me... Look at me... Look at me! Hehehe... Hahaha...

The voice, indistinguishable between male and female, young and old, and of unknown origin, rang softly in Gao Hai's ears, slow and unhurried, without any discernible emotional fluctuation.

"..."

Gao Hai's silence did not waver in the slightest.

And so, in the end, all the voices fell silent and disappeared completely.

Slowly, remove your hands from your ears.

He looked around and saw a large number of footprints surrounding him, some clear and some blurry. Judging from their size, they were mostly footprints that only children would make, and they didn't seem to be wearing shoes.

He slowly stood up.

Then, realizing something, Gao Hai turned his head and looked at the door with the viewing window.

The head that peeked out from the window in the door seemed to be a woman's head, and at the same time, it met Gao Hai's gaze.

boom!

Amidst the deafening gunshot, the head was sent flying by the immense impact and rolled behind the door.