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

Hayasaka stared wide-eyed, unable to comprehend Takami's reasoning for doing this.

But she didn't have time to think any further, because Gao Hai pulled the trigger the instant he turned the gun around.

boom--

After a clear gunshot, Hayasaka had no injuries or signs of being hit.

But the sound of staggering footsteps came from behind her.

Something was forced to detach from her, and under the suppressive force of the suppression bullet, it had to break free of its possession.

In the dim light, Gao Hai seemed to see an umbilical cord and a blurry figure falling to the ground with a purple, translucent umbilical cord attached to its body.

The next moment, Takahashi saw Chiyo Hachiya, the girl whose facial expressions had completely changed, suddenly appear in front of the figure, raise her knife and chop down.

【Ah ah ah ah ah--】

This time, the screams sounded more like human voices, and were much more pleasant to hear.

Just as Takami had predicted, things from "Takamagahara" had a much higher priority in triggering Chiyo Hachiya's murder rule than players. Even when Takami was already targeted by this thing, it would still immediately shift its target and begin the execution because of the people of Takamagahara.

Now is the only chance to escape.

Gao Hai grabbed Hayasaka's hand, pulled her into his arms, and rushed out of the office back into the corridor. During the process, he also casually searched the office and took several "Dismissal Notices," discovering that these things could actually be stored in a watch; it seemed to be a consumable obsession item.

In the corridor filled with crimson light, the Butcher's tall figure approached from afar. Now, without Chiyo Hachiya by his side, Takahashi immediately noticed some differences between it and the one he had encountered before, such as several obvious gunshot wounds on its body, the blackened and rotting marks on the wounds, and the Butcher's face, which looked as if it had been damaged by some kind of drug and was completely ulcerated.

Its movements were stiff, like a marionette.

It was able to see Takami and Hayasaka, but instead of turning them into dogs like it would in the surface space, it did not.

It is not actually the same entity as the Butcher in the surface space. It is just a corpse, a corpse that has been dead for some time and is no longer able to move. It is just a corpse that a girl who has lost everything is mistaking for someone who is still alive and pretending to be alive.

Therefore, while Chiyo was still by its side, Takami was unable to recognize the thing's true state.

Therefore, only when Gao Hai was able to face this thing alone was he able to confirm the true appearance of the corpse and to know and complete the judgment of the truth or falsehood of one of the sentences in the game prompt.

[Tip 4: I don't need anything, and I'm no worse than anyone else]

A girl who needs nothing wouldn't bring a dead corpse back to life to keep her company, let alone manipulate it to touch her head. She pretends everything is normal; she deceives herself by acting as if everything is fine. That's why she's filled with longing; that's why she needs love, someone who can truly understand her, support her, and cherish her. This self-emphasis-like statement is undoubtedly false; the obsession in the heart of the little girl named Chiyo Hachiya is probably just this.

tread--

The moment his foot landed, Gao Hai was directly facing the stinking butcher.

"Mr. Gao?!"

Hayasaka, who was already terrified of the monster, never expected that Takami would actually approach it. He trembled violently and almost fainted on the spot.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here."

But Gao Hai simply replied calmly, then quickened his pace and approached the butcher.

As Gao Hai got closer, he could see a third type of injury on the butcher's body, in addition to the gunshot wound and disfigurement. Judging from the size and type of the wound, it was likely caused by bayonets, and possibly by several bayonets piercing him at the same time.

He could roughly picture the scene: several soldiers shooting at the Butcher, wounding him, then closing in and stabbing him repeatedly with bayonets, finally killing him and disfiguring his face with something. However, he wasn't sure under what circumstances this would happen. Was it dealing with an uncontrollable old experimental subject? Or was it to provoke Chiyo Hachiya? In any case, the Butcher's death must have occurred before that little girl destroyed the entire school. Hmm… and it must have happened after the orphanage was vandalized.

In the blink of an eye, Gao Hai had already closed to within three meters of the butcher.

Even at this distance, his body remained unchanged, showing absolutely no signs of being affected by the power of the rules.

The next moment, Gao Hai reached out and grabbed the stiff, walking corpse.

Then, it was placed inside the watch compartment.

"It actually succeeded..."

Even Gao Hai himself was stunned for a moment, completely unexpected that the butcher's corpse was actually an object of obsession. He had originally prepared to run away with the corpse.

Immediately following, the moment the butcher's body disappeared, the entire corridor trembled violently, and all the scenery blurred as if it had lost some kind of sustaining force and began to dissipate.

Like the surface space, the existence of the Butcher itself also acts as a stabilizer in this area, which was exactly what Gao Hai had expected.

A piercing scream came from behind.

Turning around, Gao Hai saw the girl with a ferocious expression, who appeared in front of him in an instant.

A sharp pain shot through Gao Hai's abdomen, leaving a gaping wound that nearly severed him at the waist.

And just as that thing reached out to do something else, the blood-red corridor suddenly collapsed, and everything was instantly covered by complete darkness.

Chapter 55: A Kiss Offered by a Confused Young Girl

hum-

Tinnitus again.

It was more painful and agonizing than ever before, accompanied by a sensation like sharp needles piercing his head, as if something was drilling into his skull, making Gao Hai feel like he was going crazy.

However, he was not insane.

Just like every torment he had ever experienced, no matter what the experience or what the encounter, he never went insane.

Even though sometimes he actually wished he could go crazy, that thing still wouldn't happen.

Why do I possess these traits?

Gao Hai never felt that he had anything special about him.

He had never met his parents and was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage. Of course, he was infinitely luckier than someone like Chiyo Hachiya. Although the aunties and uncles in the orphanage couldn't be said to be particularly kind to him, they at least took care of him as he grew up and taught him how to live in society.

After graduating from high school, I was admitted to university but didn't go. Instead, I went to work and then tried all sorts of normal or strange things out of interest. But in the end, I couldn't stick with any of them for long. The only time I stayed was when I was just passing the time and writing some novels.

His high school homeroom teacher always felt that if Gao Hai studied hard, he could find a good job, marry a financially well-off wife, and the down payment on a house wouldn't be a big problem. The teacher felt very sorry for him and couldn't understand why Gao Hai would make such a self-destructive move. But in reality, Gao Hai himself couldn't figure these things out for a long time either. He just instinctively didn't want to do that. He had no longing or realistic feeling for the kind of life others described—going to get off work on time, getting married, having children, and waiting for retirement—and even felt a certain aversion to it.

Looking back now, perhaps it's because I lacked that experience, or perhaps it's because I didn't grow up in a normal family like most children, that I felt unfamiliar with such things and was unwilling to embrace that kind of life.

Or rather, he didn't really have any real feeling about "living" itself.

They can support themselves and avoid hunger, but they have absolutely no motivation to strive for a better life; they can study hard to improve themselves, but they have no idea what the point of doing so is. They don't care about honors or have any ambitions; apart from games, movies, and animations to kill time, there's nothing else that can keep their minds active. In the end, it seems they have no interest in anything and don't even know what they're living for.

From this perspective, the "Gao Hai" he replaced in this alternate world after transmigrating might, in a sense, be a reflection of his own inner self. Hmm... however, this situation has changed now; it's different from before. After all, he's met wonderful girls who are important to him and whom he can't ignore, and more than one at that. Only after truly meeting these girls has he finally come to understand people's desire for marriage and starting a family.

It seems I'm thinking a bit too far ahead.

Although my consciousness was still relatively clear, I had a persistent feeling of being in a dream, and I didn't know what was going on with me.

But thinking about it carefully, he realized that he had never shown any talent in mental power before entering the sacrifice game, and he had never known that he had this kind of talent. Especially after passing through the Red Nut Gray Hole, the hellish experience was unforgettable, but to be honest, Gao Hai himself found it incredible that he could persevere in that situation.

And this watch too, this incredibly powerful and mysterious artifact whose origins remain unknown, the so-called "cheat code" in my possession. What reason could such a powerful thing, capable of manipulating time and space, have for choosing me? Why was I chosen to experience all of this?

I can't figure out the answer.

However, the answer isn't actually that important.

After all, I've chosen to accept all the suffering I've endured, and I've decided to protect the safety of everyone who's been good to me, and... Maki and Chika, I can't let down these two good girls who entrusted their lives to me. Uh, and there's Miko too. Speaking of which, I'm still a little unsure how far her feelings for me have gone, since my experiences with her are quite different from Maki and Chika's. Oh right, and there's Kaguya, my comrade-in-arms. We've fought side-by-side through life and death; I came to rescue Hayasaka this time for her too.

Hmm, why does this feel a bit strange, like Kaguya herself has become an extra, and Hayasaka has become an extra of the extra?

"Well……"

I opened my eyes groggily.

Unsurprisingly, I was met with an unfamiliar ceiling.

Wait, this isn't entirely unfamiliar. I think I've seen this ceiling somewhere before... That's right, it's an orphanage. I've finally arrived at the orphanage.

Realizing the crucial point, Gao Hai immediately sat up, but then had to lie down again due to the intense pain and exhaustion emanating from his body.

Something's strange; I feel weak all over. It's like I've had a six-hour sparring match with Chika Maki and then went for a 30-kilometer run. What's going on? The pain is in my stomach. Right, Chiyo Hachiya stabbed me in the stomach with a knife before, but the power of the rescue team badge should have healed the wound long ago. Why does it still hurt so much? And this feeling... is something draining my strength?

Looking down, Gao Hai glanced at his abdomen, which was now stained a dark red.

He noticed that his stomach was wrapped in strips of cloth, with obvious bloodstains on it.

Enduring the pain, Gao Hai reached out and slightly untied the strip of cloth, discovering that the wound on his abdomen hadn't actually healed, though it wasn't as large as when Chiyo Hachiya had slashed it open. The wound itself had been stitched up with fine gold thread, and there was no more bleeding. Without hesitation, Gao Hai grabbed the incision on his abdomen and pried it open, and in a sharp pain, he saw his intestines.

Hmm, it's pink and quite tender.

As the wound was closed, the power of the rescue team badge quickly took effect, causing the torn flesh to regrow, but for some reason, it could not completely heal the wound.

This time, Gao Hai had a clear feeling that there was something he couldn't see in his wound. That thing not only prevented his wound from healing, but also drained his strength and mental energy, constantly putting him in a state of weakness.

"So that slash was cursed, huh? Tsk, what a loss..."

Muttering to himself, Gao Hai looked around and finally confirmed that he was indeed in the orphanage.

This room must belong to a child. The bed Gao Hai was lying on was so small that his feet were dangling off the edge.

Judging from the state of the room, it was preserved in this way after the orphanage was vandalized, so the whole room was extremely messy. Cabinets, drawers, wardrobes and other items were all opened, and the bed where Gao Hai was lying had no mattress, so he could only sleep directly on the hard wood.

As for Hayasaka Ai, she is currently lying on the floor next to the bed.

To be honest, she was practically lying under the bed, otherwise Gao Hai wouldn't have missed her when he got up. The little maid was curled up in a ball, trembling slightly with her eyes closed, a slender waist visible beneath a torn piece of her clothing. Judging from her appearance, she was probably too nervous and scared, coupled with exhaustion and injury, so she was sleeping soundly and hadn't been woken up by Gao Hai's earlier commotion.

Why is she sleeping on the floor? Is this some kind of respect for hierarchy that Shinomiya's family taught her?

Gao Hai was still weak, but the power of the rescue team badge was inexhaustible. It seemed that the balance of power was enough to purify the curse of that attack, but it would take some time. After a brief moment of thought, Gao Hai released the first rescue team member, who had already cooled down and respawned, and sent it to explore the entire house. Once he was sure there were no problems, he recalled it. Then, Gao Hai bent down on the bed, reached out and grabbed Hayasaka Ai's shoulder, pulling her from the ground onto the bed.

"Um... Mr. Gao? Mr. Gao, are you alright?"

Although she was sleeping soundly, the physical contact and movement still woke Hayasaka up. However, when she saw Takami as the first thing she saw after waking up, the girl's tense body quickly relaxed, and she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"I need a little more time to rest and recover. Tell me about the situation, how did you bring me here?"

As they spoke, Gao Hai secretly spun the dice. The number that came up this time made Gao Hai breathe a sigh of relief, and his tone when speaking to Hayasaka became noticeably more relaxed.

Subconsciously, Hayasaka moved slightly closer to Takami, unaware that she was becoming increasingly dependent on this man. Then, the girl thoughtfully organized her thoughts and roughly recounted how she had brought Takami here.

The situation was roughly as Gao Hai had guessed. Due to the curse caused by his injury, he wasn't the first to wake up after this spatial transformation. So, Hayasaka carefully searched the orphanage corridor with him in her arms and found a room with a still-intact, lockable door, choosing it as a temporary base. Then, because Gao Hai's stomach wound wouldn't heal, Hayasaka Ai mustered her courage and searched the corridor again, finding a box of needles and thread in a larger bedroom. She then used her own hair as sutures to stitch up Gao Hai's stomach wound.

"This place... doesn't seem to have any monsters, so I went out to look for something. But on my way back, I kept feeling like someone was watching me, I don't know if it was just my imagination or what..."

By the end, Hayasaka was almost leaning against Takami, and she was completely unaware of this movement.

Gao Hai reached out and gently patted the girl's head. He didn't say anything more, just sat there waiting for his body to recover and for the power of the rescue team badge to completely remove the curse.

However, upon realizing this, Gao Hai understood that he had been wearing the rescue team badge for more than a day, yet this item, specially preserved by the power of the illusory being, had not shown any corrosive effects. He couldn't help but wonder if it was because the badge had absorbed Howard and Hirano Sosuke's obsessions, causing it to undergo a kind of "evolution," thus further weakening its corrupting effects.

If that's the case, I have a feeling that if this badge continues to evolve, it might eventually evolve into something like a divine artifact.

"Mr. Gao..."

While he was thinking, Takahashi heard Hayasaka's cautious voice.