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

[The Ghost Stories Club is hiring! Welcome to join us!]

Do you find the world too bland and boring?

Do you feel like your life has never had any ups and downs?

Do you believe that people should pursue extraordinary things?

Do you find enjoyment in those little-known secrets?

If this is what you've been waiting for, then join the Ghost Stories Club!

Everyone here, just like you, no longer wants to repeat their unchanging lives and has decided to forge a different path!

Join us as we uncover the buried past and the hidden secrets no one knows!

[How to join: Between 1:00 AM and 4:00 AM, enter the affiliated teaching building. The kitchen door on the second floor of the cafeteria will be opened by us. You only need to find a locked disc in the audio-visual section of the library on the first floor, and play it in the multimedia classroom on the fourth floor to complete the challenge and officially become one of us.]

Reading this recruitment notice didn't take long.

However, the content above is really not a good thing.

Sneaking into the locked-down affiliated teaching building between 1 and 4 AM, and then having to play a locked disc... I have a feeling this recruitment notice's real purpose is to lure players into committing suicide in front of a ghost story...

In any case, we must inform Haijun about this.

The girl quickly transmitted what she saw to Gao Hai through the mental link, and then opened the door and walked out of the toilet stall.

She then noticed that the restroom was unusually quiet; her three teammates seemed to have vanished, completely undetectable. Maki remained calm, silently walking out of the restroom and back into the school corridor.

The clamor once again reached Zhenfei's ears.

Why are you suddenly spacing out?

Kaguya Shinomiya appeared from the side, looking at Maki with a puzzled expression.

"...Did we come out of the restroom together?"

Maki turned around and looked at Aoyama Nanami and Nanakawa Ren. After confirming that the four of them had come out of the restroom together, she hesitated for a moment before asking.

"That's right, that's how it is. What's the problem?"

Upon hearing this, Aoyama Nanami immediately sensed something was wrong, frowned, and looked at Maki, asking a question.

As a player, it's perfectly normal to immediately realize something is wrong with a single sentence during communication; there's nothing strange about it.

But her gaze wasn't fixed on the incredibly conspicuous recruitment poster for the Ghost Stories Club that she was holding in her hand.

Maki was certain that her three teammates wouldn't overlook what she was holding. Even if they sensed something was amiss but dared not speak, their expressions and demeanor would at least reveal what they had seen.

So, is this what Gao Jun meant by "cognitive blockade"?

Even though the thing is right in your hands, and it's right in front of everyone, everyone ignores it. Only you can see it, touch it, feel it, and understand its existence.

She still couldn't figure out why this thing could bypass mental protection and prevent other players from realizing it.

What exactly is going on with this instance?

What should I do next?

Maki tried her best to control her emotions, replied to Nanami with "I'm fine", and then went back to the classroom with the three of them.

The students continued doing their own thing, chatting and laughing, discussing all sorts of topics.

They didn't seem to notice the four people on their side.

Although these students would give way or stand aside and wait for them to pass if they encountered each other at doorways or in narrow, crowded places, these strange students, who seemed no different from ordinary people, were always just doing their own thing.

Just like a neon school in the real world, the students formed small groups, everyone acted relaxed and carefree, and everyone seemed perfectly normal.

It was only at this moment that Maki suddenly realized that she had not seen a single student acting alone along the way.

Every class and every student in the entire teaching building has formed a team, with at least two people moving together. So far, no student has acted alone; everyone has banded together as if playing some kind of friend game.

if it is like this……

"Ahem, are you sure there's no problem on the other side?"

Shijo Maki turned to look at Aoyama Nanami and asked with a serious expression.

After Gao Hai's warning, all players now refrain from addressing each other by name when communicating. This has caused some minor inconvenience in communication, but for Aoyama Nanami, this level of hint is enough for her to understand who Maki is referring to.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine."

Aoyama Nanami answered with great confidence, and she seemed to have no doubt that Goto Ichiri, who was still acting alone, was in trouble.

Are you sure it's okay? If I remember correctly, Ms. Goto is also in a separate class right now, isn't she?

Somewhat worried, Maki returned to the classroom and looked at the timetable for the last class of the morning.

Meanwhile, in Class 12 of Grade 11, Goto Ichiri looked at the rows of numbers on his workbook with a troubled expression, feeling that his brain was about to crash.

In her class, the third and fourth periods were consecutive math classes, so the teacher assigned a short exercise during the break. The plan was to have the students complete it and then discuss it at the beginning of the next class.

The teacher's intention was naturally to help students learn more deeply and apply various theorems and formulas. But for Goto Ichiri, it was the second biggest nightmare after social problems.

It's completely unsolvable.

Despite being a Red Moon-level player, and despite her physical and mental abilities being significantly enhanced, far surpassing her former self as an ordinary person, Goto Ichiri still has a major flaw: her intelligence is not particularly outstanding.

To put it bluntly, she's the kind of person who studies very hard but still gets the lowest score in her class; she's genuinely a fool who's not suited for studying.

If a year ago, before she was a gamer, she could score 10 or even 0 points on a test out of 100, now she scores around 20 to 25 points, more than doubling her previous level, which is a huge improvement.

But this does not change the current predicament.

"Ugh... I don't understand at all. Why do we have to learn advanced mathematics when we're already in a dungeon?"

The girl was crying out in sorrow.

The students in the classroom were watching the girl.

The students' laughter and chatter did not disappear.

But everyone in the classroom was watching Goto Ichiri, who was sitting in his seat, still trying to solve the problem.

Whether they were facing directly towards Yili or with their backs to Yili, regardless of their location or direction, everyone turned their heads to look at the girl. Their gazes were fixed on her, yet they continued their conversation with the others around them.

Is someone watching me?

Sensing something, Goto Ichiri looked up in confusion, only to see the students still laughing and joking with each other.

everything is normal.

Just like the previous three classes and the break between classes, there was nothing unusual.

Is it really?

No, that can't be!

Although there is no evidence, the fact that players feel something is wrong but cannot find the problem is definitely because they have not found the problem. It is impossible for the problem not to exist and it to be just an illusion.

This is one of the three laws of players summarized by Goto Ichiri.

Incidentally, the second law the girl summarized is that the core obsession must belong to someone who is extremely miserable. She hasn't thought of a third law yet, but calling it the Three Great Laws sounds more impressive, so she'll just reserve that position for now.

He lowered his head again.

This time, Goto Ichiri pulled out a small mirror.

This is one of the dozen or so obsessions she owns, a Dark Night-level obsession that allows her to establish a free-viewpoint within a 5-meter radius centered on herself.

When using this object of obsession, Goto Ichiri can create a pair of invisible eyes out of thin air, which can freely roam anywhere within a 5-meter range. This perspective can pass through various obstacles such as brick walls, iron blocks, and stone piles at will, helping Goto Ichiri to see things behind walls, see the internal details of various objects, and other things that are difficult for her to see.

On that simple little mirror, the glass surface gradually changed from pitch black to reveal various colors.

This time, the perspective was established by Goto Ichiri from above his head.

Then a small pink head appeared in the mirror, and the mirror's perspective began to shift, looking around.

Then, Goto Ichiri saw those students chatting and laughing, but their eyes were fixed on the mirror, and they were looking into her eyes through the mirror.

Snapped--

The sound of shattering echoed in my mind.

Gao Hai, who was in the fourth period of class, was slightly startled and suddenly turned his head to look at the corridor outside the classroom.

One of the mental fragments he had placed on someone, whose exact location was unknown, shattered.

Chapter Fourteen: Discussion on the Atmosphere and Bullying Issues in Japan

ding dong -- ding dong --

The fourth period of the morning has finally come to an end.

It was now 11:40, and there were still two hours and 20 minutes left before the start of the first class in the afternoon at 14:00, which was the fifth class of the day.

For players like Gao Hai and Xiong Mi, who have already entered the workforce, this genuine return to campus life is an indescribable experience. It seems to carry a touch of nostalgia, yet also a difficult sense of pain. Especially when it comes to math class, the feeling of being intellectually crushed, recalling how they couldn't solve problems even after reading the theorems a hundred times, is extremely unpleasant.

In a sense, the Nightfall Mountain Middle School instance brought Gao Hai a different and novel kind of torment.

However, compared to this, there are more important things to pay attention to right now.

"In other words, what she (referring to Goto Ichiri) still remembers is that she used an obsession object that could create a free perspective and an obsession object that could erase her short-term memories. Everything else has been forgotten through the power of the latter, right?"

Gao Hai's gaze was first focused on Goto Ichiri, who was extremely uneasy because he was surrounded by players. After looking at him for a while, he turned to Aoyama Nanami sitting next to Ichiri and spoke in a serious tone.

At this moment, all 12 players who had entered the instance had gathered together and sat around a long table.

Clearly, this is the cafeteria, specifically the first-floor area connected to the affiliated teaching building. Incidentally, the first floor of the affiliated teaching building on the other side is the library, the second floor is another area of ​​the cafeteria and multimedia classrooms, and the third floor and above are entirely dedicated to special classrooms within the affiliated teaching building.

On the table lay a variety of dishes: small portions of sashimi and soft-boiled eggs, typical of Japanese cuisine; large pot dishes and rice, typical of China; and some that didn't seem like they belonged in a cafeteria. Kaguya's plate contained some rather high-end items, while Takami's plate held two lobsters the size of a human hand and a plate of stir-fried pork with green peppers and sweet potato noodles. Fujiwara Chika wasn't even holding a plate; in front of her was a bowl of Japanese tonkotsu ramen.

The reason for this strange situation is more or less known to everyone. The Nightfall Mountain Middle School instance area, which has undergone obvious abnormal changes, clearly combines the perceptions and memories of different players, thus presenting some strange and absurd situations. The cafeteria located in the affiliated teaching building is one of the most prominent examples of this anomaly. This large two-story cafeteria has been transformed into a strange place that combines Japanese and Chinese cuisine, ranging from the culinary disasters of the lower floors to dishes prepared by top-tier chefs.

Around the players who had occupied a cafeteria table, they could see students coming and going, each in a group, chatting and laughing as they selected their lunch. Everything seemed quite ordinary.

However, these students disguised as monsters are not currently on the players' main focus list; figuring out the problem with Goto Ichiri himself is more important.

"Woo..."

The girl did not appear to be in good spirits at this moment.