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

Kaguya Shinomiya and Maki Shijou returned to their room on the second floor unharmed in the next moment.

After turning the clock, Maeda Miwa screamed at the wall clock in Takami's hand, startling him so much that he stumbled backward and almost lost control of his bladder on the spot.

Sun Dajun, having worked for nothing for the second time, scratched his head, sighed helplessly, and prepared to repair the two doors of room 204 for the third time.

Kaguya reached up and touched her mouth, making sure the wound from her bite had indeed disappeared before she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Maki lowered her head with a slightly complicated expression, looking at the tattered doll, about the size of her palm, lying in her hand. It was a dirty doll that, from its appearance, resembled a sleeping little girl.

"It's good that they're both back safe and sound."

Gao Hai, who was in the living room, breathed a sigh of relief. He had taken off his wet, steaming coat at some point and was standing in the living room wearing only a vest. There were a few burn marks on his arms. His condition was neither good nor bad.

"If Sanchez is right, then we need to bring this doll into 309 next."

After recovering, Princess Zhenfei breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the doll in her palm as she spoke slowly.

"To be precise, it needs to be sent to 309 in two days."

Sitting down on the ground opposite Maki, Gao Hai calmly looked at the shrunken, gruesome corpse in her palm and spoke.

"After dark, when the first dawn breaks and then the second dawn breaks, we have to set off and get the child to 309 before the third dawn. If we can't do that, I don't think we'll have another chance. In other words, the outcome of this cycle depends on this one chance. Failure or success, there is no third way."

In the end, Gao Hai saw that the corpse in Zhenfei's palm seemed to be turning its head to look at him, so he quickly looked away.

"In that case, we still have plenty of time to prepare."

Maki nodded slightly, answering Takahashi with the same earnest tone. Kaguya, standing beside them, checked the items she carried, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that the blood doll and scalpel were back in her hands.

"As for time, to be honest, I'm not sure if the preparation time is sufficient."

Next, Gao Hai showed the two of them a wall clock.

It was the ridiculously fast second hand, the extremely fast minute hand, and the hour hand moving at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"This is……"

Maki and Kaguya immediately realized the problem.

At this very moment, the clock on the wall is ticking away at an accelerated pace.

Nowadays, the second hand only takes about 10 seconds to complete a full rotation, and the hour hand only takes about 4 hours to complete a whole day.

Considering the time already spent, there are now less than 6 hours left to prepare before the "third day" when everyone must take action.

On the crucial "third day," only about two hours are considered "daytime." If everything cannot be completed within the first two hours, it means that the operation must take place at "night," at which point the danger will inevitably increase exponentially.

"This is really a tight schedule. I don't think the clock can be turned upside down now."

Kaguya brushed the dust off her clothes, then stood up as she spoke.

"That's right, the only chance to end all this and achieve our 'perfect clear' is now entering its final countdown."

After saying this, Gao Hai placed the wall clock face down on the table in the room, then turned his head to look out the sealed window at the changing light.

Everything started to accelerate at this moment.

Can it be successful?

Having survived two agonizing deaths and finally reached this point, can he escape from this hellish place in this next playthrough?

Subconsciously, Takahashi looked ahead at Maki, who was discussing with Kaguya how to place the toy doll.

When the other person saw Gao Hai looking over, they smiled at him and then continued their serious discussion with Kaguya.

Gao Hai had already taken a deep breath and clenched his fists, completely reaffirming his will in his heart.

It will definitely succeed.

In this very round, everything will surely be put to a complete end!

Chapter 54: The Arrogant Little Angel, Maki, Refuses to Accept Confessions

I took off my completely soaked clothes and used the tissues from the supply box to wipe the water droplets off my body.

Wearing only boxer shorts, Gao Hai stretched his body, did some basic stretching, jumped up and down a couple of times, and then drank some water.

The clothes, soaked through with boiling water by the power of the curse, were now hanging on a makeshift wire rack in the kitchen, above a stove with a fire burning. Gao Hai was using this method to dry the clothes as quickly as possible, so that he wouldn't have to move around in completely soaked clothes when they had to start their operation in a few hours.

To be honest, Gao Hai was still a little nervous and uneasy, and quite worried.

The hands of this mysterious and eerie black watch had reached the number 3. He only had 9 chances left to rewind. No, considering Maki's existence, he would definitely have to preserve her memories, leaving him with less than 5 rewind attempts. This round of maneuvers had essentially confirmed that there was only one chance to complete the game in one playthrough, so he had to do everything in his power to end everything in this one turn.

"call……"

Gao Hai took several deep breaths, trying his best to calm his emotions, clear his mind, and ensure that he could meet the challenges ahead in the best possible mental state.

Gao Hai had always considered himself just an ordinary person.

Although he is very handsome and dashing, and his physique, while not comparable to that of a bodybuilding star, is still quite angular, and despite being an orphan who started supporting himself after graduating from high school, he has managed to live a comfortable life through writing and other small skills, and now he has even entered the Rules of the Uncanny Death Game... Well, it seems that he is quite extraordinary.

"Shijou Maki, Shinomiya Kaguya, hmm..."

Two anime girls, both from the app "92", were so beautiful that players in the "Runaway" game initially wondered if the other girl was even human. They became teammates, cooperated with each other, and one of them even got the other girl's first kiss.

As Gao Hai reflected on the four days he had spent at the Shirakawa Apartment across his three playthroughs, he couldn't help but feel a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, mixed feelings) in his heart.

Unfortunately, he was already dying at the time and didn't get to properly experience what that kiss tasted like.

I really want to do it again if I could.

Wait a minute, why do I feel like I've suddenly become one of those older brother characters who's about to leave the stage, or the kind of standard, doomed character who gets a special scene before their final battle to reminisce about their youth?

No, no, I can't make this promise! I'm going to be the king of the anime harem, I can't stop here, I absolutely can't stop here!

tread--

With nothing to do for the time being, Gao Hai's thoughts began to wander, and at that moment he heard footsteps outside the corridor.

"Haijun, are you in your room?"

With a creaking sound, Shijo Maki opened the living room door, which Sun Dajun had repaired and sealed up, and peered into the room. She then saw Takahashi standing in the room wearing only boxer shorts, his back to her, turning his head to look at her.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you dressed?!"

Startled, Consort Zhen immediately slammed the door shut and began shouting angrily in the corridor.

"I'm clearly dressed, why are you making it sound like I'm not wearing anything at all?"

Inside the room, Gao Hai scratched his head and said in a very innocent tone.

"What's the difference between that and not wearing anything? I'm suing you for harassment!"

Even without seeing Zhenfei's face, Gao Hai could imagine her furious expression as she stood outside the door.

"So, when a guy sees a girl without clothes, it's considered harassment, and when a girl sees a guy without clothes, it's still considered harassment. This is gender discrimination, okay? It's infuriating! When will this world treat boys better?"

Gao Hai, arms crossed, let out a long sigh, which made Zhen Fei outside the house clench her fists.

"What? Saying something like that only proves that Haijun is an idiot who doesn't know how to be considerate of girls. Saying something like that will only deduct points. If my impression of you, Haijun, is 100 points, then just that sentence will deduct 40 points. I can only give you a passing score of 60. Humph!"

Empress Zhenfei's displeased voice soon rang out from outside the door.

The way they deliberately add a "humph" at the end of their sentences really gives off a strong anime/manga vibe.

"So girls' scores fluctuate that easily? But my impression score of Maki is quite high, around 30,000 points."

While inwardly marveling at Maki's personality, Takahashi deliberately dragged out his words, and then, unsurprisingly, heard stomping sounds coming from the corridor.

"Who cares about your 30,000 points as a commoner? I'm the eldest daughter of the Shijou family, destined to be at the top. 30,000 points? Hmph, 30,000 points? Even if your impression score with me rises back to 80, that's barely considered good. I can't give you any higher."

Just by listening to the sounds, you can imagine the girl outside the door stomping her feet and muttering to herself.

Gao Hai had to admit that although people say every year that tsundere characters have fallen out of favor, the genuine, authentic, rich, and adorable tsundere characters, not the trashy, ill-mannered tsundere characters that fill in the gaps in harem toilet paper novels, have never fallen out of favor.

squeak-

While Gao Hai was still slightly immersed in Zhen Fei's arrogant words, the girl outside the door quietly opened the door again and peeked inside. What she saw was Gao Hai facing her directly, arms crossed, revealing his muscular body, wearing only boxer shorts.

"Why aren't you dressed yet...?"

The girl immediately yelled and slammed the door shut again.

"No, my clothes are soaked. I had no choice but to stay like this for now, okay?"

Gao Hai sighed helplessly.

"You're soaking wet. Why? Ah... Is the curse still working? Are you alright? Why didn't you say so earlier? I almost thought you were some kind of pervert with some kind of weird fetish..."

Realizing that the situation was not as she had imagined, Maki opened the door and walked in almost immediately, her worried expression making no attempt to hide it.

Only then did she notice that Gao Hai's body was covered with burns of varying sizes. Although they weren't as severe as in the previous playthrough, they were still quite frightening. Without hesitation, she turned around and went to find the supply box in the room, retrieved all the disinfectant iodine and bandages, and then strode over to Gao Hai.

"Turn around and sit down."

The girl with the serious expression exuded an astonishing aura at this moment.

Gao Hai didn't say anything, but obediently turned around and sat down, letting Zhenfei apply medicine and bandage his wounds.

The room fell silent.

With a serious expression, the girl carefully disinfected Gao Hai's wound and then bandaged it.

Gao Hai kept his eyes closed and remained motionless, quietly feeling the touch of the girl's fingers and cotton swabs on his body.

Why wasn't this explained clearly from the beginning?

Finally, Princess Zhenfei couldn't help but break the silence and asked in a low voice.

"Speaking out would only make people worry, wouldn't it? Anyway, it's fine this time, but you and Shinomiya, you're starting to feel it now, aren't you?"

Gao Hai chuckled softly, then his voice quickly turned serious.

"...Well, this is how it is. Although I haven't actually seen anything yet, I can already sense it."

Princess Zhenfei nodded slightly, choosing not to deny the issue.

Having explored 304 and drawn attention to its eerie atmosphere, coupled with the plethora of clues gathered during their investigation, Maki Shijou and Kaguya Shinomiya now possess a certain understanding of the core mystery surrounding the Shirakawa Apartment and, like Takami, are gradually gaining attention.

Even though nothing has actually appeared before her yet, Maki can definitely sense that something is watching her.

Therefore, the risks and dangers that Maki and Kaguya faced on the third day were no less than those faced by Takami.

"No, that's not the point. Stop trying to fool me."

Then, the next moment, Zhenfei reached out and tapped Gao Hai on the back.