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

So you have to give her what's owed to you.

As the last words fell, the night watchman's footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

It was clear that Zi was almost completely stiff, unable to move his body at all.

That eerie sense of terror seeped into her entire being. Even though she tried her best to control her senses and not perceive anything, it was clear that something had been perceived by the girl. Something that she could not yet see in its entirety, but which had already revealed the tip of the iceberg to Miko herself.

What exactly is it?

It took several minutes for Jian Zicai to gradually regain control of his body.

Only then did she cautiously turn around and look at the small courtyard divided by the earthen wall.

The first thing that came into view in the next second was a coffin.

The black coffin, about two and a half meters long and half a meter wide, was bound by dense lines.

As they got a little closer, Jianzi noticed that black liquid was dripping from the lines sealing the coffin, and he could smell a pungent odor that was a mixture of blood and ink.

Why is there a coffin in the yard?

Seeing that Zi was frowning, he did not rush to approach the coffin placed in the middle of the courtyard, but first observed the surrounding environment.

The yard itself seemed unremarkable; several large stone slabs served as pavers in the middle, with uneven weeds growing haphazardly along the edges and in the cracks of the slabs. A fence stood in one corner, revealing what appeared to be several chicken coops. Near the gate was an empty doghouse, with a broken rope still visible. Several dry bamboo poles stretched across the yard as a clothesline, while the latrine and latrine were separated into a room. On the windowsill of what looked like a kitchen, salted pig's trotters and some dried vegetables hung.

From the various details of the courtyard itself, it is certain that this place was indeed used as a living space. The only question is whether anyone still lives in the house now, or more precisely, whether there is anything in the house capable of normal conversation or communication.

rustle--

Jianzi's footsteps were very light, so light that there was no sound at all, only the faint sound of the gravel and sand on the ground being rubbed together.

Her gaze fell upon the front door of the house, which was wide open, directly opposite the entrance from the courtyard.

After getting a little closer, Jian Zi noticed that the door had actually been smashed by some external force. She could also see that there were various cabinets, beds and other furniture that were originally propping the door open, but as the door itself broke, all of the furniture used to prop it open was overturned and smashed.

It was as if some ferocious beast had smashed the door open and rushed into the building from the outside.

The girl frowned as she looked at the broken door panel on the ground.

One of the door panels lay scattered on the ground, and she indeed found five huge cuts that had almost completely pierced through the heavy wooden door. And after moving a little further into the house, Miko smelled an even stronger stench of blood than she had in the yard.

Under the dim moonlight, Miko couldn't see what was inside the darker areas of the house. But she had a vague feeling that something was lurking in the darkness, and that it was watching her.

Should we continue the investigation?

The girl hesitated.

Being alone in an unknown place, instead of trying to protect yourself, you venture further into the unknown dangers. That's hardly a wise thing to do, is it?

However, staying here indefinitely wouldn't seem to change anything. Considering she possessed Hirano Sosuke's resurrection blessing, as well as Jonathan's blessing specifically for intelligence gathering, Miko felt it necessary to investigate thoroughly and ascertain the situation inside.

He took a cat-shaped candy out of his pocket.

Seeing that Zi no longer hesitated, she ate the candy. Then her eyes began to show a slight vertical pupil structure like a cat's, and her vision in the dark was quickly improved.

This candy naturally comes from the item she's obsessed with, the [Animal Candy Box]. After many tests, Yotsuya Miko discovered that after eating the cat candy in the candy box, she would gain extremely powerful night vision. Even in absolute darkness where there is no light, she could force herself to see her surroundings, and even doing her homework in such an environment was no problem.

And now, this feature has come in handy.

As for why she didn't use a flashlight, while Miko wasn't without such a convenient tool, the red lanterns carried by the paper figures had given the girl a very unsettling feeling. She realized that she had been bathed in the red light of the lanterns, essentially turning herself into a "red person." Flashlights, on the other hand, typically emit white light. If white and red appeared simultaneously and corresponded, and if this were linked to the red and white clash that had occurred during the previous instance's invasion of the real world, it could lead to an immediate and irreversible demise.

step-step-

Slowly, slowly, the cautious girl stepped into the dark earthen house, carefully observing the situation inside.

At this moment, Gao Hai also walked out of the earthen house and silently watched the courtyard outside.

"Giggle-giggle!"

A black and white rooster stood tall and proud, its red comb gleaming, crowing loudly.

Beside the large rooster, seven or eight much smaller hens were pecking at the ground, seemingly pecking at something.

Inside a small hole made of scrap next to the front door, a large, tan-colored dog lay listlessly. A rope was tied around its neck, and it didn't bark at Gao Hai; it just lay there blankly, as if it had lost its soul.

The noise from the kitchen had escalated a few minutes earlier, interspersed with the voices of Li Eryang and Li Xiaoju. It seemed the farm-style meal they had prepared for Gao Hai and his companions was almost ready.

Now is not the time to hesitate. To avoid being put on the defensive, we must gather as much intelligence as possible.

Step by step, Gao Hai walked to the door and looked out at the dirt road.

Then Gao Hai saw the villagers standing on both sides of the road, seemingly waiting for something. These people had been standing there since they entered the village, and hadn't changed positions. However, unlike before when they had all been staring intently at Gao Hai and his companions, now they were all seriously watching the end of the road, each of them displaying a devout and humble posture, as if waiting for the arrival of some noble being.

According to Li Eryang, these people are standing here for the most important welcoming ceremony on the first day of the festival.

It is said that when the statue of the mountain god of Xiaoheishan is brought into the village, the first villager to see it will become lucky and receive unexpected benefits in the following year.

The "first" in this legend doesn't just refer to the first person to see the mountain god statue, but rather to the first witness in each household. For this reason, every year during the welcoming ceremony for the god, the men of the village would voluntarily step forward, even if they were bored, to wait at their doorsteps, wanting to see the statue with their own eyes before sighing and uttering blessings in words they themselves couldn't quite understand. Then, that afternoon, they would go play mahjong to try their luck...

Yes, that's right. Although Li Family Village, with its thousand-plus residents, looks like it did many years ago, it still has a variety of entertainment options. People play mahjong, chess, and even poker—I wonder where these things came from. Some of these forms of entertainment are clearly beyond the comprehension of the villagers. And now that Gao Hai has seen these things, it means either the instance itself absorbed something from the dead players, or… no, thinking about that is pointless. Let's focus on the present.

Thinking this, Gao Hai looked at both sides of the road again, but still couldn't find anything special.

When will the statue of the mountain god of Xiaoheishan be brought into the village?

The next move... hopefully it will go smoothly. Gao Hai doesn't want to have another early kill, even though his teammates are so scattered now, it seems almost the same as an early kill.

{Nothing was found inside the house, and no useful clues were found in the living room. The blessing power test was also performed, and it was successful. There are no surveillance personnel.}

A second investigation of the bedroom still found no abnormalities, and the blessing power test showed no problems.

Maki and Chika's voices rang out one after the other through the mental link, and judging from their voices, both seemed to be in good spirits. As for the [Blessing Power Test], it was a reverse application of the [Asamoto Eriko] blessing's [teleportation is possible when unobserved]. After all, if spatial teleportation could be performed without being detected, then conversely, the inability to teleport using the blessing's power meant that something was watching everything from some unseen corner.

If both of them have verified it, then at least it can be said that there really are no spying people in the house. So that little house... might be a temporary resting place when the time is right, although Gao Hai still feels that those three beds look strangely like coffins and are quite unlucky.

Well then, I'll give it a try too.

Gao Hai's expression remained unchanged. He withdrew his gaze from the road outside and silently activated the power of the blessing, preparing to return directly from the current spatial node to the teleportation point he had set up when he was still on the mountain.

"...!?"

The power of the blessing failed to activate.

At this moment, Gao Hai is not in a state of being "unobserved".

Although he didn't actually intend to teleport out of the village and run anywhere, at that moment, the instant the blessing power failed to activate, Gao Hai suddenly realized the source of the gaze watching him.

He lowered his head.

Silently watching the stray dog ​​lying quietly on the ground beside the gate.

Just now, when he was about to use the power of blessing, this thing changed its original dull state, like a lazy dog ​​that had suddenly transformed into a spirited hunting dog, its eyes fixed on Gao Hai without blinking.

Even though Gao Hai himself didn't actually see that scene, at the moment the blessing power failed to activate, he did have such a premonition, as if he had just been being watched like that.

What's wrong with this dog?

Is this thing actually a real dog?

While thinking, Gao Hai tried to get closer to the thing, looking it over from left to right and observing it for a while, but still couldn't figure it out.

"Dinner is ready, three guests!"

At that moment, the woman named Li Xiaoju came out of the kitchen, stood behind Gao Hai, and grinned at him.

boom!

And just as the woman finished speaking, a loud bang suddenly rang out from a certain direction outside the courtyard.

That sound, could it be...?

Just as Gao Hai had a few guesses forming in his mind, a series of crackling firecrackers exploded and spread throughout the village.

He knew that this so-called welcoming of the gods festival was probably only just beginning.

Chapter 8: A Disguised Meal and the Gathered Players

In the living room, dim light streamed in from the window, illuminating the steaming, worn-out wooden table.

Gao Hai sat on a three-legged, backless wooden stool, frowning as he stared at the rough chopsticks in his hands, the bowls of rice on the table, a piece of salted pig's trotter, a plate of shredded potatoes, and a plate of stir-fried wild vegetables whose contents were unclear.

This is the meal that villagers Li Eryang and Li Xiaoju provided for Gao Hai and his two companions; the variety wasn't extensive.

However, none of the three people present dared to actually eat these seemingly normal dishes.

After all, based on the intelligence gathered beforehand, the three could confirm that the [Infant Cry Village] instance contained some kind of rule regarding "acquisition and cost." The experience of the [Red Guild] was a good example. This unfortunate Red Moon-level player team suffered heavy casualties after entering the [Infant Cry Village] instance at a fixed stage. Although those who managed to escape alive received new entry tickets for the instance, they could not use them to re-enter because they had "already repaid their debt." In contrast, other player teams that obtained items from within the instance received completely different treatment.

As for why none of the other players who should have entered the instance were visible, Gao Hai didn't dwell on that for the time being; it was more appropriate to address the immediate problem. In short, after careful consideration and discussion, Gao Hai, Zhenfei, and Qianhua decided that they couldn't actually eat the food.

Although this would violate the "Seven Welcomes" rule in the rule list, Gao Hai now felt that there must be a deep problem with this rule list, and it should not be followed hastily, especially the things that the rules strongly encouraged players to do.

"Eat up, eat up, it's all fresh and delicious food."

"Please eat, gentlemen. The food is all very fresh. Such fresh and delicious food is truly a wonderful thing."

The two villagers were smiling happily, gently persuading the villagers.

The two of them didn't sit down at the table to eat. Instead, they stood to the side, staring intently at the three people sitting at the table. It seemed they wouldn't leave until they finished eating.

To be honest, the two of them kept talking back and forth, giving Gao Hai a strange feeling of doubly triggering a scene from a famous drama. But he couldn't actually make the two villagers eat and die from poisoning like in that scene, so he could only suppress his urge to complain and continue sitting in his seat.

However, if we only consider the issue of food, it's not a difficult problem.

Gao Hai looked up and glanced at Zhenfei and Qianhua beside him. The three of them nodded to each other in perfect unison. Then, Gao Hai picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and swallowed it.

Then, Princess Zhenfei also picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks, ate it with rice, chewed it, and then swallowed it.

Finally, Chika ate her food with a serious expression. The number of times she chewed and the time it took to chew and swallow were exactly the same as those of Takami and Maki.

As for why they were exactly the same, it's because the chewing and swallowing of food wasn't done by the three of them, but by something else entirely.

The "Gluttonous Dentures," one of the coveted items donated by cult followers, appear to be ordinary toy dentures. However, once worn, they completely integrate with the user's teeth unless actively removed. Furthermore, they generate new flesh and blood structures within the mouth and esophagus, effectively diverting all ingested food. In fact, wearing these dentures eliminates even the chewing process, rendering the entire eating experience essentially unrelated to the user, except for the act of putting food into their mouth.

According to Jianzi's observation, this bizarre and peculiar Dark Night-level artifact seems to belong to a woman who died tragically after failing to lose weight. As for why a woman who failed to lose weight could become a Dark Night-level artifact after death, Gao Hai couldn't figure it out. It should also be noted that although the fanatics did possess this artifact, they had never used it; Gao Hai obtained it without even opening the outer packaging. As for why they didn't use it, that's easy to guess—they probably couldn't think of any suitable occasion to use such a strange thing.

Hmm, Gao Hai has figured it out now.

Using the deep link function of the black watch, Gao Hai, Maki, and Chika ate in turn. However, each of them used the [Gluttonous Dentures] to eat, and then used the watch's function to transfer the dentures to the next person's mouth. In this way, the three of them ensured that all the food they ate did not actually enter their bodies, but was all consumed by this special object of their obsession.

About 10 minutes later, all the bowls and plates on the table were empty, and there was hardly any oil left.

"Guests, are you enjoying the food?"

Li Eryang, who had been standing still the whole time without swaying, asked with a smile.