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

Zhenfei muttered softly, avoiding Gao Hai's gaze.

Her face was even redder than before.

Giving a male lap pillow was clearly not as easy for this young woman as she made it sound. She had only just found an opportunity to tear off Gao Hai's badge, and seeing his extremely poor condition, with the room in such a state that there was nowhere to rest, she had no choice but to reluctantly offer him her lap pillow.

At least in Princess Zhenfei's eyes, this was indeed the reason she convinced herself.

But seeing this guy's strange expression, she couldn't help but feel her heart race, and she started to wonder if the atmosphere was a little odd.

Idiot, why am I thinking so much?

Just because he knows the version of me from the last time I regressed and knows things I don't know now, does that mean I have to treat him differently and give him special treatment? This is clearly just a reward from a superior to a follower. Hmm, that's right, a reward... Does a superior really reward a follower with something like a lap pillow?

"I don't have much time..."

The jumbled thoughts came to an end with Gao Hai's next sentence.

Maki suddenly turned to look at Gao Hai, only to find that half of the man's body was beginning to show severe burn marks, as if his entire body was about to melt away, while the other half of his body began to twist and transform more and more, as if he was about to become another person.

"This is how the same thing?"

Kaguya, who was not far away, stood up while clutching her injured arm and cautiously approached. Maki, on the other hand, asked in a somewhat flustered manner.

“I went into a place I shouldn’t have been to and was afflicted with a severe curse, which forced me to use dangerous tools. My time is running out; I will die soon and become a member of the rescue team. At that point, I should automatically go to the first floor, and these obsessions will remain.”

Gao Hai knew he would be rewinding time, but the two girls in front of him couldn't possibly know, so he decided to adopt a dying posture to give them his final words. Although, given his current physical and mental state, he could indeed be considered to be in the final stages of life.

"How could this happen... I finally made it back..."

Caught off guard by this scene, Consort Zhen's voice trembled slightly.

"That woman destroyed all the clocks on the second floor before she acted. If you die here, there's no way we can save you. So, if you have anything else to say, say it all now."

Kaguya Shinomiya, standing to the side, also showed a change in expression, but in the end, with her more composed personality, she simply closed her eyes and then spoke in a calm tone.

"...Hmm, I guess I was right? This so-called game is really picky when it comes to choosing teammates."

Gao Hai sighed. He had long suspected that the woman disguised as Maeda Miwa must have been prepared beforehand to dare to launch an attack at that time. The fact that there had been no rewinding since then confirmed his suspicions. Before revealing her true identity, she destroyed all the clocks on the second floor, and then destroyed the clocks that were in the room during the attack that killed Green and severed Gao Hai's right hand, thus ensuring that Gao Hai's people could no longer use rewinding.

This is easy to understand. After all, the other party is not mentally challenged. Since they know that something like time travel exists, how could they not have made contingency plans for it when taking action? That's why Gao Hai quickly judged that it was impossible to catch up with the other party in the conventional way, so he chose a suicidal strategy.

Judging from the final result, these two troublemakers, whether it's Maeda Miwa or Lao Guo, have truly been killed by his methods, which makes me feel much more at ease.

We now know pretty much everything about these two. If we rewind... they'll still be very difficult to deal with. The woman disguised as Maeda Miwa has two incredibly sharp scalpels, a doll of unknown purpose, and the ability to completely replace a person—whether it's acting or some kind of strange prop effect is unknown. Old Guo's current obsessions include a cannibalistic human head, a flesh-and-blood puppet, a box of strange ashes, and a blood key. In addition, he has weapons like firearms and explosives. The only way he can find to fight back is to get a badge from the rescue team on the first floor, but badges have huge side effects, so it's not as good as Ultraman who can fight for a full three minutes.

If only there were a way to take away those things I'm obsessed with...

Gao Hai stared at the blood-red key lying in the puddle and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Consciousness has begun to blur once again.

He knew that his second cycle would end here.

Is there anything else you'd like to say in closing?

Empress Zhen asked softly at the end.

Gao Hai turned his head with some difficulty to look at the girl's face, which had become blurred and indistinct.

Her voice seemed to be trembling slightly; could she be crying?

What a sentimental girl! In her eyes, I'm just a stranger she's only known for less than three days.

At this final moment, Gao Hai suddenly couldn't help but have a slightly wicked thought.

"My final words... should I call them a wish, or just wishful thinking?"

Gao Hai slowly began to speak.

"What is it? I will do my best to help with anything I can do."

Upon hearing this, Consort Zhen hurriedly replied.

"Well, to be honest, I've never been kissed by a girl in my life. If I were to die all alone like this, it would be really lonely. So... if it's possible, could you kiss me? I really like you, Maki, so if it's a kind and lovely girl like you, I think I'd have no regrets."

So Gao Hai struggled to raise his left hand and gently tapped the side of his cheek.

"Hey?"

As expected, he heard a gasp from the Empress.

Haha, I feel like I'm being a bit awful, but since I'm already in such a bad situation, I guess if I play a little prank on someone, they won't treat me too badly, right?

With darkness falling and nothing visible, Gao Hai lay there quietly. He was prepared for the mocking Zhenfei to either punch him in her rage or push him off her lap.

But in the end, what he heard was the girl taking a deep breath and speaking softly:

"I understand, Hai."

That delicate voice felt as if it were ringing in my ear.

No, the voice was definitely right next to my ear, and I could even faintly hear her breathing and feel her breath on my festering cheek.

The girl bent down, showing no disgust at Gao Hai's face, which was extremely horribly ugly after being soaked in boiling water. Instead, she spoke softly in his ear.

"Thank you for liking me, Hai, thank you."

"If I had known you more, if we hadn't met in a place like this..."

Then, a gentle touch lingered on Gao Hai's lips.

Gao Hai had lost his last sense and could no longer feel her touch.

But at that moment, he felt as if he could actually touch it, feel the warm breath that the other person was sending to him.

It fascinated him.

Chapter 42: New features are being gradually unlocked.

Click——

The hands of the black watch moved from 1 to 2 at that moment.

Everything was plunged into darkness at that moment, as if sinking into a bottomless ocean chasm.

The pain has subsided.

The wounds were also healed.

Everything that ever happened is now back to zero.

Until I regained consciousness, until I opened my eyes again, and saw the city I had arrived in at that moment.

A desolate city, devoid of any human life.

"On the second playthrough, I managed to make it to the third day."

Gao Hai took a deep breath, then patted his cheeks and shook his head, trying to relieve his mental fatigue.

It was just too difficult.

Green, who was fairly reliable during the first playthrough, almost ruined the entire team with a disastrous mistake.

Miwa Maeda is a seasoned player who deliberately hides and reaps the benefits.

Old Guo was the worst of the worst. The fast-forwarding time on the first day was already enough to give people a headache, but on the second night he had to use a different method to torment people. And this bastard really had a lot of stuff on him. He almost turned himself into a part of the monster, but it still took a lot of effort to deal with the other party.

What should I do if there's another rollback?

Kaguya and Maki will forget me again. Maki... will no longer remember what happened between us, whether it was our escape together in the first time loop, or the lap pillow and first kiss in the second time loop, she won't remember...

It's really a pity.

If it happened a third time, I feel like I wouldn't be able to handle this kind of forgetfulness. It's really unsettling to feel like we've built such a great relationship, but you remember nothing about it.

So what should we do?

Standing in the silent city, Gao Hai silently pondered what he should do when the next playthrough began. He mentally planned various paths, then wearily realized that no matter what he did, he would likely have to repeat the mistakes he made in the previous two playthroughs. Whether it was gaining trust or exploring the first floor, having to do all of these things again, even though he had already experienced them, filled him with a sense of frustration in every way.

when!

The bells rang out at that moment.

Gao Hai raised his head and looked at the huge clock tower in the city.

Then, he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked towards the sky with some surprise.

Something flew down from the sky.

The transition from blurry to clear takes only a few very short seconds.

Gao Hai could see what those things looked like.

A rescue team badge soaked through.

A scalpel that can cut through bone like mud.

A blood-red rag doll.

A human head whose face has been cut off.

A doll made from a living person whose joints have been removed.

Five objects of obsession descended from the sky, circled Gao Hai twice, and then flew directly toward his left hand.

Gao Hai saw a black gap suddenly appear on the black watch he was wearing on his left wrist, absorbing all of these things before slowly merging back together.

The next moment, Gao Hai understood what was going on.

All objects of obsession that have been stained with his blood can be taken away by the black watch after it activates its rewind ability, absorbed and transformed into Gao Hai's possessions, allowing Gao Hai to directly hold this item after the rewind.

The woman who disguised herself as a useless new player, and all the items Lao Guo used—anything he had direct contact with—were brought over. After all, he had suffered severe burns at the time, his body covered in festering wounds and bloody gashes; it was inevitable that his blood would get on these objects of obsession. The only thing they didn't get was the blood key obsession item in Lao Guo's possession, but that couldn't be helped, since that guy was taken away by the teammates summoned by the rescue team badge.

when! !

The bell has already rung for the second time.

Gao Hai knows that he now has 10 chances to start over in his life.

"The next playthrough will be the decisive one."

Gao Hai let out a soft breath, his gaze hardening at that moment.

Although the secrets hidden in Shirakawa Apartment have not yet been fully revealed, the clues from all sides have almost completely come together, leaving only the most crucial details.

The situation of each player who entered Baichuan Apartment has been basically figured out. Although each of these amazing teammates is more amazing than the last, to the point that Sun Dajun seems a little cute, Gao Hai has experienced all of their special skills.