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

If it really was a night watchman, then what it said, in a sense, represents the survival rules within the ghost story instance. Instead of waiting until we actually enter the instance to try this out, why not... give it a shot now?

"call……"

In complete darkness and silence, only one's own breathing and heartbeat were clearly audible.

Gao Hai didn't know where those things were, or whether they had already passed by him, or had stopped and were watching him from both sides.

He simply kept his head down, shutting down his senses and compressing all his perceptions inside his body, refusing to cause any damage to the outside world.

One minute, two minutes...

Gao Hai silently counted the seconds, recording the time that had passed.

Nothing unusual happened.

Logically speaking, the red and white teams should have already arrived in front of them by now.

So what exactly are they doing now?

A strange curiosity began to surge up, urging Gao Hai to open his eyes and look around as soon as possible.

But Gao Hai didn't move.

As the impulse grew clearer and more intense, Gao Hai himself remained completely still, not even blinking.

Thirty minutes... an hour... an hour and a half.

Gao Hai remained squatting in place, and with the support of his extraordinary strength and physique, he didn't even budge his leg.

It wasn't until a hand patted his shoulder, a familiar presence, and the confirmation of Andres's blessing of perception, that Gao Hai finally opened his eyes.

Before them was a scene of bright lights and bustling activity, a group of people chatting and laughing under the warm streetlights, completely oblivious to Takahashi's situation. Fujiwara Chika and Shijo Maki, who had just arrived, were on either side of him. One of them helped Takahashi up, while the other cautiously observed their surroundings, wary of anything else that might appear.

However, there's really no need to do this.

After all, Gao Hai had already seen the unopened invitation card placed in front of him.

Interlude 3-67: Issues concerning invitations and group accommodations

Late at night, in Gao Hai's living room.

At this moment, a considerable number of people have already gathered here.

"Well... so, the current situation is... well, that's the situation."

As Gao Hai spoke, he glanced at the worn, bright red invitation card on the table, which looked somewhat old-fashioned.

"Is this another case of a Red Moon-level dungeon invading the real world and forcibly pulling me in? This is the second time already. According to the [Market], this kind of thing should be very rare, so why has Haijun encountered it twice in a row?"

Empress Zhenfei sighed helplessly, her gaze towards the invitation filled with apprehension.

"After all, it's Ah Hai, so it's understandable that something like this happened. But compared to last time, this time is much better. At least Ah Hai escaped smoothly and wasn't really dragged back in."

Chika smiled as she spoke, a hint of relief in her voice. To be honest, when she first received Gao Hai's message through the mental link and learned of his accident, Chika was actually quite terrified. She was afraid that Gao Hai would suffer the same fate as in the Fujika Middle School instance, finally escaping to their side only to be inexplicably dragged away. The girl really didn't want to experience that feeling of helplessly watching someone disappear before her eyes again.

"So, why leave this behind? If it really is left behind by the power of that Red Moon-level dungeon, wouldn't there be some hidden dangers?"

Kaguya pointed to the invitation that Takami had placed on the table. In her opinion, it was a complete source of danger and there was no need to keep it by her side.

"Because it's an invitation, right? Lady Kaguya might not have noticed, but this invitation is probably an old-style invitation from the Celestial Empire. Hmm... I've never seen this style before, but it looks very old, perhaps from hundreds of years ago or even earlier. And an invitation, once it appears before you, represents an attitude, represents a rule. If you accept the invitation, keep it with you, and attend the appointment on time, then the situation won't be too bad. But if you lose the invitation, that's the so-called 'refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit,' which will inevitably lead to a more dangerous and terrible situation."

Hayasaka carefully examined the invitation before explaining the situation to Kaguya.

"...This invitation is impossible to throw away even if you want to. It has already established a certain connection with you, and it will follow you wherever you go. If you accept it and choose to take it with you, that's fine. But if you refuse it, this connection may have a very bad influence on you."

Jianzi said in a low voice that because Gao Hai had used the Void Blessing to teleport her to several hours later, her connection with those strange creatures had been forcibly severed, so nothing was wrong at the moment.

However, the feeling of traveling through time was truly indescribable. At that moment, Miko clearly felt as if something was binding her entire body, making it almost impossible for her to breathe. Her consciousness was in a state of confusion, and she was in intense pain amidst an extremely strong pulling sensation. Although this feeling only lasted for a very brief moment, for Miko, it was already a disgusting experience so bad that she couldn't even vomit.

But as the girl completed her time travel and arrived several hours into the future, this feeling abruptly ceased, as if it had never existed. This made Miko realize that the unsettling sensations she had felt were not actually caused by time travel, or at least not entirely by it.

Perhaps in that instant, during her journey through time, the connections that had originally bound her to the strange creatures were forcibly torn apart. This had a strong negative impact on her mind, and if it weren't for the new blessing that protected her mind and accelerated her recovery, Jianzi doubted she would even have the strength to speak.

Hmm, this is probably a special feeling that only Miko herself can have. After all, besides her, even Takami doesn't have such a high level of perception, so it's impossible for her to feel anything too complex from this brief experience of time travel of less than a second. To be honest, this kind of special feeling is quite unpleasant. If I could, I really wish I didn't have this ability... No, that's not right either. Although I really dislike it, I still need this power to help my senior right now. Ah, it feels so contradictory...

"..."

Goto Ichiri did not speak.

The girl who had come to sleep at Gao Hai's house sat trembling in the corner. She had no idea what had happened, didn't understand why everyone was on high alert, and didn't understand why the atmosphere had suddenly become so serious.

Has something happened to Mr. Hai?

A Red Moon-level dungeon invading the real world? Isn't that a rare and unusual event that's hard to encounter?

What? This is the second time Mr. Hai has encountered this situation? Oh...right, the last time Mr. Hai encountered this, they even came to me for help.

So Mr. Hai successfully escaped the instance invasion and wasn't pulled in? Ah, although he wasn't pulled in, he still received an instance invitation? Because of this invitation, Mr. Hai's next mission has to be in this instance that invades reality? Are there really such strange Red Moon-level instances?!

Unlike Goto Ichiri, who had experienced many abnormal instances on Takahashi's side, the more she listened, the more confused she became, and the more she felt like she didn't know where she was or what she was doing.

"In short, that's the situation. Now that we've got the invitations, nothing else should happen. Everyone can leave in peace. It's nothing, just another challenge letter. We'll get through it together."

Before Goto Ichiri could figure out the current situation, Takami clapped his hands to end the discussion, indicating that there was no need to continue.

It was already 1 a.m., and for these girls who were used to the sleep schedule of high school girls, it was definitely past bedtime. They yawned frequently, and their faces showed signs of drowsiness. Of course, this was just a natural reaction caused by their biological clocks. In reality, given their current physical condition, they could easily stay up for days and nights without any problems; it was just a matter of habit that they couldn't break overnight.

"Yes, that's true. After all, something similar happened to Kaguya's family before, and they also got the item that allowed them to enter the dungeon. Generally speaking, once you get the item, there shouldn't be any more problems."

Chika nodded. She still remembered what happened before Takami and Kaguya entered Hayate Elementary School. Although she didn't see the thing that came to Takami that night, just hearing Takami's story was enough to leave a deep impression on her.

"...The host hasn't opened this invitation yet, right?"

Hayasaka hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly.

"This invitation doesn't have any content written on it, meaning we don't know who invited me or who sent it. Although as a dungeon item, its purpose is obviously to enter dungeons, this kind of formal invitation should have some information written on it, right?"

"The host received this invitation and established some kind of connection with it. I'm wondering if we could get any information in advance if we opened it? Would it have the host's name on it, or someone else's name?"

Hayasaka stared intently at the invitation on the table, her expression very serious as she spoke.

"However, if I open the invitation, I might be immediately pulled into the dungeon, right? After all, opening an invitation could be considered as 'accepting the invitation.' Although Haijun's strength has increased significantly, being pulled into a Red Moon-level dungeon alone is still very dangerous. It's best not to take the risk, isn't it?"

However, Princess Maki quickly refuted her after a moment's thought.

Chika and Kaguya shared the same opinion, but the former was mainly wary of such dungeon items because of what had happened before, while the latter noticed that Takahashi didn't want to continue the conversation and realized that he was probably planning to rest because it was already late at night.

"...That is indeed possible. After all, this invitation doesn't represent real social customs but rather the rules of supernatural tales, so it's normal for there to be changes. But the reason I'm bringing this up is because I suspect there might be a problem with the name on the invitation. If we choose to ignore it, I'm worried that something bad might happen as well."

But Hayasaka did not give up, and continued to express her ideas forcefully.

The girls' ideas clashed slightly at that moment, but they weren't foolish enough to actually argue. In a very short time, they discussed with Gao Hai about finding a place at the [Market] the next day to conduct their experiment, just in case something went wrong and they couldn't escape. As for now, well… normally, they should have gone home separately, and the night would have passed peacefully.

However, from the moment Fujiwara Chika appeared here, some things were destined to have a difficult ending.

"Ah Hai, Ah Hai, I'll stay here tonight. I often stay here anyway, and I have my pajamas and toiletries here, so I won't go back. Going home this late would definitely wake up my family, and there's no need for that."

As she said this, Fujiwara Chika stretched and then headed towards Takami's bedroom.

"Well, I'll stay here then. It's so late, I really don't want to go back. Anyway, I have backups of my clothes here."

Upon hearing this, Shijou Maki, who was walking towards the door, immediately stopped and decided to stay the night as well.

"You're going to stay overnight at Gao Jun's house? You... when did things get to this point?! You've actually progressed to the point of staying overnight at someone else's house?!"

Kaguya was shocked. She stared at Chika and Maki with the same sharp gaze she would give two cats that had stolen cream. But before she could say anything more, Hayasaka patted her on the shoulder.

"Then, Miss, why don't you go back by yourself? I'll stay here tonight to serve my master."

When Hayasaka said these words, his face was expressionless, but the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, as if he was trying to suppress a laugh.

"Hayasaka, you actually... Then I'll stay too!"

And naturally, Kaguya, having been provoked in this way, had no chance of escaping.

"So it looks like we'll be staying together tonight. Are you staying too, Miko? There's still a mile left, where are you going to sneak off to? It's fine if we all sleep together for one night."

Seeing that no one was planning to leave, Gao Hai grabbed Miko, who was hesitating and trying to slip away, and Ichiri, who had already started to try to escape, and suggested that they have a big night together.

Ahem, of course, it was a pure and innocent night of sleeping together under the same quilt; no new battles took place.

After all, neither Jianzi nor Yili had progressed to that stage yet. Moreover, after what happened last night, Gao Hai no longer had the mind for such romantic pursuits. Getting a good night's sleep and resting to prepare for any potential problems ahead was, in Gao Hai's view, the most important thing.

However, when Qianhua discovered the makeshift bed she had been sleeping on for the past few days, a subtle smile immediately appeared on her face. Judging from this, Gao Hai guessed that when he and Qianhua were alone together later, this girl would probably play some tricks on him.

However, this doesn't matter. Gao Hai has never been afraid of fighting.

"Ugh... I just don't feel used to this..."

Because the girls, including Chika Maki, who had already tasted the sweetness of love, were somewhat wary of each other, the girls who ended up sleeping next to Takami were Miko and Ichiri, who hadn't actually had any intimate interactions yet. Ichiri, having been in a group for the night, already had a peaceful expression on her face, while Miko's face was flushed, and she was curled up, unable to fall asleep for a while, occasionally turning her head to steal a glance at Takami.

At this time, no one was sleeping in Takami's bedroom because it was too small. To ensure that everyone could fit, Takami pushed aside the table in the living room and moved the beds from the bedroom and guest room out to lay on the floor. From left to right, there were seven people: Maki, Kaguya, Ichiri, Takami, Miko, Hayasaka, and Chika.

Goodnight, everyone.

Gao Hai, who was sleeping in the middle and enjoying the sweet fragrance of the girls around him, remained expressionless. After saying those words, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Then, under the tense gaze of Kita Ikuyo, who was floating in mid-air, the seven people quickly fell asleep one after another, and nothing discordant happened.

Was it really just sleeping?

Kita, who had prepared himself to witness an extremely depraved and pathetic scene, was stunned for some reason and felt a little disappointed.

Interlude 3-68: The Beginning of a New Day and What I Want to Protect

Another morning arrives, people go to work to continue their jobs, and children go to school to continue their studies; everything is no different from yesterday.

But for Gao Hai, such days are becoming increasingly rare.

After receiving the invitation and feeling the pressure of the next dungeon mission, he felt even more acutely the scarcity of his free time and realized that he would soon be entering the dungeon again to engage in a life-or-death struggle.

Ugh, this feeling is really awful.

Just imagining what he would face in ten days or so made Gao Hai feel a stomachache.

The first girl to get up in the house was naturally Hayasaka, who always worked as a maid. After getting up, she quickly washed up, then called the Shinomiya residence to have some food ingredients delivered by their servants, and then busied herself in the kitchen.

Next to get up were Maki, Kaguya, and Chika. These three girls had regular schedules due to their upbringing, so they got up very early.

Takami was already awake when Hayasaka woke up, so when the three girls got up next, they whispered among themselves and playfully teased each other. For example, Maki and Kaguya were annoyed because Chika stretched and showed off her figure, Chika teased Kaguya, and Maki whispered to Chika and Kaguya to be quiet so as not to disturb the others... In short, they were all trivial and ordinary conversations, but they were quite interesting to listen to.