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

So it really won't be that easy for them to leave?

Gao Hai quickly moved towards the corridor on the second floor of the dormitory.

Even when danger was approaching, his steps did not falter; he maintained a swift yet quiet manner of movement.

There seems to be a sound.

The sound came from those tightly closed doors.

It sounded as if someone was hiding inside the door, making faint noises.

Did those things appear after the students left?

Or perhaps they've always been there, just hiding and never being discovered.

For example... hiding under the dormitory bed, waiting until everyone in the room leaves before quietly coming out and starting to move around in the room.

Just like that fleeting face I saw under the bed?

There seemed to be some kind of sound approaching from behind.

Gao Hai didn't turn around, but he had already noticed that the already dark corridor was now becoming even darker.

He was starting to have trouble seeing the road around him, and he couldn't make out the room numbers on the dormitory doors.

However, this did not prevent Gao Hai from walking to the door of dormitory 212, to the starting point of his game at Yeluoshan Middle School, to the door of the room that did not belong to the "other people's dormitory" in the rules.

squeak-

It seems someone has already opened the door and come out.

In the pitch-black environment, someone seemed to have spotted Gao Hai and began to slowly walk towards him.

The blood key in Gao Hai's hand had already been inserted into the lock.

Before opening the door, Gao Hai first transmitted a message to Jianzi through a mental link, telling her to quickly move away from the door that had been removed earlier, and to stand in a position where she could not see what was happening inside the open door. She was also told not to make any noise until he returned and closed the door.

Then, Gao Hai gently turned the key and opened the door.

The next moment he saw a faint light shining from behind the open door.

No, that's not where I put another door behind this door. The lighting is wrong.

Gao Hai, realizing the key was malfunctioning, remained expressionless, immediately closed the door, and turned the key again.

【May I have your name?】

It seemed someone was whispering something behind them.

The door has been opened once again.

But this time, Gao Hai noticed something was wrong as soon as he opened the door a crack. He saw a strange student sitting in a seat on the other side of the crack, and the student's gaze had clearly already noticed him. Gao Hai immediately realized that the key was connected to a door in the main teaching building and quickly closed it again.

【what are you doing here?】

A hand was placed on Gao Hai's shoulder.

The voices behind him gradually increased, and Gao Hai felt that several people were standing behind him, staring at him.

He turned the key for the third time and opened the door.

Under the bright sunlight, Gao Hai stepped out of the door and walked out through a door leaning against the outer wall of the dormitory building.

He didn't turn around, but closed the door with his back to it. Only after making sure the door was locked did he slowly turn around to confirm that there was nothing following him.

He looked around and soon spotted Yotsuya Miko standing not far away.

Jianzi's gaze did not fall on Gao Hai, but rather on what was above him.

Above?

Sensing something, Gao Hai also looked up.

Then he saw a twisted figure and a pale, distorted face fall from the sky, crashing down directly in his direction.

Chapter 49: The Atmosphere and Behavior Imitated by the Strange Objects and the Points of Confusion

ding dong -- ding dong --

As the bell rang, the teacher stopped lecturing, turned around, and walked out of the classroom.

One by one, the students got up from their seats, either going out of the classroom in twos and threes to go to the toilet, or gathering in different parts of the classroom to discuss various topics such as the weather and desserts. Soon, the noise echoed in every corner of the classroom.

Just like the perpetual cycle this place has always been in, these students, who are essentially long dead, appear lively and youthful, but in reality, they are nothing more than corpses clumsily imitating the living. If a real person were in this place and carefully observed their ambiguous "liveliness," they might truly experience the uncanny valley effect. Even though they are indistinguishable from real people in appearance, this behavioral "simulation" is what is far more chilling.

However, this time, things seem to be a little different.

In what appears to be an ordinary, unremarkable scene, something different seems to be emerging on the edge.

Will this really happen?

Shijou Maki, who remained seated, was carefully observing the students in the classroom.

She had keenly noticed that these people's gazes would occasionally sweep over a corner of the classroom, followed by expressions of extreme rejection and disgust on their faces, as if there was something disgusting in that corner.

In reality, those sitting in that corner were just a few students with fearful and nervous expressions, their heads bowed.

At first glance, these disliked students seem no different from the others. But upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that their previously normal hairstyles have been ripped and messy, clearly distinguishing them from the other students with neatly styled hair. Of course, it's only this subtle difference.

Without a doubt, this was the work of the players, a small test conducted by Xiong Mi and Jianbing and others.

In almost every classroom, a select group of individuals were deliberately chosen and manipulated by the players using their hidden objects of obsession. This included things like messing up their hair, splashing dirty water on their clothes, or stealing their textbooks and throwing them in the trash. In short, they did all sorts of little things to make these strange students behave in various ways.

Then, just like those students who weren't wearing their school uniform jackets, these students who showed "differences" were all met with contempt and disgust from others. All the strange students who hadn't changed naturally regarded those who had changed as outcasts.

This feeling is so familiar; Fujiwara-san was right about everything.

Consort Zhen sighed inwardly.

To be honest, it feels disgusting.

In her past school life, Maki hadn't felt anything particularly amiss about such things. After all, regardless of her background or abilities, she was exceptionally strong, and in the school's atmosphere, she was always the one being flattered and cooperated with; no one else had the chance to bully her. Therefore, although she was somewhat aware of the issue of school bullying, witnessing bullying being simulated by the monsters in such an undisguised, third-party manner today still brought Maki a considerable degree of disgust.

She glanced at Kaguya Shinomiya, who was in the same second year of high school (08) as her, but found that the other girl's expression did not change much. Her great-aunt seemed to have a deep understanding of this bullying behavior, so much so that she could watch all of this happen without expression or being moved.

Oh, right, speaking of which, Haijun mentioned before that my great-aunt didn't have a good life in the past due to family reasons. Although Haijun didn't talk much about it because it was my great-aunt's family matter, and I didn't ask further out of politeness, I suppose my great-aunt's cold personality was probably due to...

Of the other two veteran players in the same classroom, Aoyama Nanami simply observed the changes in the students' behavior on both sides silently, without saying much.

The woman named Nanakawa Ren clearly showed a look of disgust, and seemed to have her own story to tell.

The players did nothing; they simply watched silently.

Because they could more or less see that this state of rejection wouldn't last forever.

Soon, the players noticed that several strange students walked up to the changed individuals and said something arrogantly to them.

A burst of laughter suddenly erupted, and it was unclear what was so funny, but all the students in the classroom who were still in a "normal" state joined in the laughter, and their expressions toward the altered individuals became even more disgusted and contemptuous.

Some students noticed that the players in the classroom weren't laughing along, and then their expressions began to change slightly. This was quickly noticed by Nanakawa Ren and Shinomiya Kaguya, who hurriedly reminded Maki and Aoyama Nanami. The four of them forced a smile, which finally made the monsters that were paying attention to them look away again.

Hahaha, look at them, look at how stupid they are!

[That's ridiculous, trash.]

[It's embarrassing that this guy is in our class.]

Soft sounds echoed among the students.

Those who had been altered shrank back even more, their fear intensifying, and they didn't even have the courage to meet the eyes of those who mocked them.

This kind of thing is happening in every classroom that has been tampered with by players.

And judging from the students' behavior, it probably won't be long before simple rejection evolves into violence, and the students' attention won't be diverted until these changed individuals disappear.

The situation is exactly as expected, so we can try to take the next step.

Consort Zhen pondered this in her heart.

She went to Class 10 of the second year of high school and secretly divided the students there, causing Eriko Asamoto, who was hiding among them, to emerge.

In addition, we need to investigate and explore the Class 1 (03) further to see if Koji Morihara will be in this class.

I wonder what the situation is like with Haijun now. Hmm, it would be best to contact him again.

While pondering, Maki activated the mental link and sent a message towards Takahashi.

{Shijo Maki: Kai-kun? How are things on your end? Is it convenient to contact you?}

After the message was sent, it took about half a minute to get a reply. From the reply, it was clear that Gao Hai was somewhat listless.

Gao Hai: We haven't received any investigation results yet. There was a slight mishap, but the situation is okay for now. I need to rest.

{Fujiwara Chika: Hey, what happened to Umi? Is he alright?}

{Yotsuya Miko: Senpai is alright. He's with me now. He encountered something in the dorm building, but he wasn't in any danger.}

Before Maki could even ask what was going on, Chika and Miko's voices rang out one after the other in the mental link, causing the girl to frown.

Although I know that connecting more people would be beneficial for increasing survival rates and improving the efficiency of information exchange, this feeling... ugh, it's really unpleasant. It's like something that originally belonged to me has been taken by someone else.

The girl, who was feeling a little annoyed, sighed and quickly suppressed her dissatisfaction, no longer dwelling on the matter.

{Gao Hai: To be precise, after running out of the dormitory building, I was hit hard. A female ghost jumped down from the building and hit me directly in the face. I can only say that the ghosts in this place are quite creative when it comes to causing trouble. Um, by the way, if you are going to investigate Class 10 of Grade 11, be very careful. The information about [Eriko Asamoto] might be a bit problematic...}

{Shijo Maki: What's the connection between the female ghost you mentioned and the core obsession?}

{Gao Hai: Yeah, how should I put it, those two... they look like the same person...}

On the grass behind the dormitory building.

Gao Hai lay on Jianzi's lap, taking a break from the impact of the strange object that fell from the sky at the last moment.

He recalled that pale face again, and compared it with the girl's appearance drawn on the notebook paper provided by Xiong Mi during his first playthrough, as well as the appearance of Eriko herself that he drew with his obsession pencil. He finally concluded that the female ghost who jumped off the dormitory building and Eriko Asamoto, one of the three core obsessions of [Yoruyama Middle School], were indeed exactly the same.

But that doesn't make sense, does it?

The girl named Eriko Asamoto, who suffered from mental illness, should have died by being buried alive.

Its obsession exists in the teaching building and has been confirmed to be located in the second year of high school (10) class. In order to confirm this information, Xiong Mi, who had only been in the first year, even died in the classroom. It can be confirmed that this information is correct.

But now, the female ghost who jumped off the building has an appearance exactly like Eriko Asamoto.

During my first playthrough, when I dealt with that thing in the dorm building, it appeared broken into pieces, so I couldn't tell what it looked like in its previous state. But this time, it inexplicably appeared above my head, and it took on Eriko's appearance... Tsk, what's the workings of this? Could there be more than one Eriko Asamoto?