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

After Gao Hai understood what she meant, he immediately nodded and summoned the land deed, using the power of this object of obsession to sense other players.

It should be noted that although this land deed undoubtedly reaches the level of a Red Moon-grade artifact in terms of strength, Gao Hai discovered through its use that it doesn't actually utilize the power of the artifact itself when it takes effect. The land deed is like a key; Gao Hai uses it to directly unlock the power of the concept of [Li Family Village]. Gao Hai isn't entirely certain about the specifics, and he strongly suspects that he has actually used a portion of the power belonging to the [Little Black Mountain God]. However, it's undeniable that it is precisely because of this that he now has the opportunity to change the situation within the instance.

The first room Gao Hai observed was the room where the three players from the "Slacking Off Gang" were located.

There was no knocking, no one appeared to inquire, and Cat Brother and Xiao Guo were simply resting in the corner of the bedroom in the earthen house. The "Taoist priest," on the other hand, was sitting on a straw mat bed at the edge of the bedroom, deep in thought with a troubled expression, seemingly preoccupied with something.

After communicating with the "teacher" who was placed in the room by Gao Hai to protect the three members of the "Slacking Off Gang" through the rescue team badge, and confirming that the "teacher" had not encountered any abnormalities, Gao Hai turned his attention back to the building where Chen Qiucai was located.

There are... two people in the room?

Gao Hai frowned after confirming the situation inside the house.

There were clearly four people before, and Chen Qiu was with three Dark Night level players, right? How come there's only one player left now?

Close your eyes.

Gao Hai focused his consciousness and began to sense the situation inside the room more carefully.

pat-

The dark red die landed on the table, spun once, and came to a stop, revealing the number 4 at the top.

Chen Qiu raised his head, looking at the door with a relaxed expression, humming a tune whose lyrics and melody were unknown, before turning his head to look at the other player standing beside him.

The room reeked of blood.

On the table where the blood dice were placed, there were three severed right hands.

Clearly, Chen Qiucai had somehow killed the three Dark Night level players and turned them into some kind of usable tool. This man seemed friendly in front of Gao Hai, but his demeanor was completely different in private. Although Gao Hai didn't intend to morally condemn Chen Qiucai's cruel exploitation of his weaker teammates, considering the survival pressures and immense power of the player community, the man's inconsistent behavior and attitude towards other players still made Gao Hai more wary. After all, if this guy suddenly stabbed him in the back during an operation, it would be a real problem.

Unfortunately, the land deed doesn't allow us to see what happened before; it only confirms the other party's current state. We don't know how he killed the three players or what he did with their corpses.

Thinking this, Gao Hai shifted his focus to the next building, this time to the room where the "Historians" team was located.

No one was in the house.

Ok?

Gao Hai was taken aback by this unexpected turn of events.

Upon closer inspection, the door had been opened. Judging from the marks inside, the three Red Moon level players must have left the room three or four hours earlier and entered the outdoor area under the cover of night.

Seriously?! You guys are really that brave?!

Even though Gao Hai already knew of the historian's team's great reputation from the "Slacker Gang," he still didn't expect these guys to be so blatant in violating the rules and committing such a dangerous act that could very likely lead to their deaths.

He immediately extended his senses to the entire Li Family Village, quickly confirming the construction of one building after another through the land deeds.

Apart from the two buildings that the historian and Chen Qiucai entered, no casualties occurred.

The vast majority of people remained obediently inside the house. Even those who were getting restless didn't act rashly. Gao Hai observed several groups and noticed that they seemed to believe that until the powerful Red Moon-level players took action, these filler Dark Night-level players should do nothing. Even with the situation clearly amiss, they wanted to remain restrained and avoid causing trouble for the powerful players. Therefore, no matter how unwilling they were, these players obediently stayed inside the house.

They're quite self-aware, which makes them very easy to take care of.

It must be said that the honest and unassuming manner of these players did win Gao Hai some favor.

So, where did those three historians go?

According to the rules, if they're still within the boundaries of Li Family Village and haven't run out into the wilderness, then I should be able to find them. But what's wrong with these guys? They ran out at night, even though I've repeatedly warned them, and Old Guo was instantly killed before. How did they survive?

With this in mind, Gao Hai quickly surveyed the village using the land deed.

There was no one on the roads surrounding the village.

The village's central square was deserted.

There was no one in the central part of the village.

The village's artisan quarters were deserted.

The village's main clan's ancestral settlement area... found it, right here!

Gao Hai finally saw the three players.

Right now, they're—climbing over the wall?!

Gao Hai subconsciously turned his head to look beside him, towards the gate of the Li Family Compound.

That's right.

Those three people are outside right now.

They were climbing over the outer wall of the Li Family Compound. One person was still outside the wall, another was already on the wall, seemingly observing something, and a third had jumped down and landed in the courtyard.

Tuk-tuk-tuk——

As Gao Hai focused his senses on this location, he heard a knock on the door once again.

However, unlike before when there was a door between them, this time, with the land deed as a medium, Gao Hai was able to clearly hear the sound without any obstruction, and realized that there really was something standing in front of the main gate of the Li family compound, knocking on the door again and again.

In other words, the three players who were "historians" who had rashly entered this place immediately came face to face with that thing.

Tap tap tap—tap tap…

The knocking, which had been going on for a while, gradually stopped.

It was obvious that the thing that was knocking had noticed the person behind it and had changed its target.

Should we say these players, the "Historians," were bold or just unlucky? Gao Hai didn't know how to describe it, but although there were still many unknowns about this strange creature knocking on the door, according to the rule sheet, as long as they didn't interact with it, they shouldn't be too badly off—

"Hey, hello there, uncle."

The player standing in the courtyard calmly stretched out his hand and waved to the knocking ghost in front of him.

Chapter 54: The Special Methods of Special Players and Their Reappearing Names

silence.

Gao Hai fell silent at that moment.

Even Gao Hai, the only one to have ever cracked a Red Moon-level dungeon and completed what many players considered impossible challenges, had to remain silent at this moment after confirming the actions of the [Historian].

No, bro, that's a ghost, okay? That's not a person, that's a ghost!

They are devoid of humanity, incapable of pity or flexibility. If the rules apply, they will kill you or subject you to a state worse than death. The only way to completely eliminate them is to find the flaws in their lingering memories and emotions from their past lives, thus allowing them to rest in peace. They are truly monsters that are absolutely incomprehensible to humans.

You're a Red Moon level player, so you should know a lot about this stuff. But you actually came up and greeted a monster? You're facing something that could kill you if you're not careful, and you're greeting it?

To be honest, if Cat Bro from the "Slacking Off Gang" hadn't told Gao Hai beforehand that these players, including the "Historian," were a bit mentally unstable and incredibly strong, Gao Hai would already know how this player was going to die. Even though he guessed that this player probably had some special countermeasure against monster attacks, Gao Hai still felt that this direct, head-on attack was a bit too absurd. He certainly wouldn't do that to an opponent he knew nothing about; at most, he'd probably just use aerial bombs to drop them on them.

However, even though that's what I said, now that a player has taken the initiative to step forward, I can take this opportunity to find out what this knocking ghost is all about.

Thinking this, Gao Hai first reminded Zhenfei and the others that he needed to concentrate and that they should be careful to be on guard about their surroundings. Then he focused his mind entirely on the connection between himself and the land deed, and put his eyes on the courtyard outside the main building.

Do you know how to get to Yingti Village?

The next moment, Gao Hai heard the sound made by the strange creature, which was no different from the previous knocking sound—a calm and indifferent voice.

"I don't know, where is Yingti Village?"

The player who greeted him answered calmly, and even asked a question in return.

What's going on? Are they really communicating directly?

This frank conversation made Gao Hai frown, finding the current situation even more difficult to understand.

[Yingti Village... I want to go to Yingti Village, the children want to go to Yingti Village... The children's home is in Yingti Village... I need to go to Yingti Village, do you know where Yingti Village is?]

But what shocked him even more was that the strange creature actually answered the player's question.

No instant death rule was triggered immediately.

There was no immediate spatial teleportation that would directly transport the player to another location.

The strange creature, which Gao Hai hadn't specifically observed and whose exact appearance he didn't know, didn't cause any unusual phenomena. Instead, it honestly answered the player's questions, only to reiterate the same question it had asked at the beginning. It was like a program that had malfunctioned and was trying to restart, constantly shifting between normal and abnormal states.

Something is wrong.

What could this be...? Could it be related to this?

Gao Hai realized the problem.

This Red Moon-level player from the [Historian] faction seems to possess a special ability akin to "word magic." She forcibly extracts desired information through verbal communication. Gao Hai speculates that this is some kind of blessing power, possibly combined with the power of a possessed entity. Even so, the ability to directly communicate with a Red Moon-level entity and obtain information is still quite incredible. Gao Hai is very curious about the exact level of effectiveness of this power.

"Whose children are they? Where are the children you speak of?"

While they were thinking, the player asked again.

"Children...children...in the water, in the cave, in the forest...the children want to go home, Nightingale Village is their home, I must take them home, I have to take them home, do you know...where Nightingale Village is..."

The strange creature answered the question once again.

This time, the thing's reply made Gao Hai's expression turn serious.

Gao Hai understood the phrase "the children are in the water." During their second playthrough, the three members of the "Slacker Gang" had reached the location of the "Bottomless Lake," where they encountered a large number of pale infants emerging from the water, creating a chaotic scene reminiscent of demons dancing wildly.

If I think back carefully, it seems that all the babies that floated out of the water back then were baby girls?

Gao Hai couldn't help but recall the Shirakawa Apartment again, remembering the figure he had seen there that resembled a Guanyin statue granting children. But now it seemed more likely to be a mountain god or something else disguised as a Guanyin statue, taking root in the apartment and coldly observing the formation of all sins, and perhaps even fueling them.

The "Infant Cry Village" instance has undoubtedly undergone a long and complex period of change. Who knows, while the villagers were busy with their various activities, several reign titles or even dynasties might have changed hands outside. The village's extremely isolated state further confirms this. Perhaps those ugly things that should have disappeared with modernization in history have been preserved here in their original, and even more blatantly.

The children are in the water.

The baby drowned.

The children are in the forest.

Children were abandoned in the primeval forest.

The children are in the cave.

The young children were led into a rugged and complex cave, left there, and forever lost within it.

So, the name of this strange cave, "Ghost Cry Cave," contains the word "crying." Does this mean that the eerie creatures that once lingered in this cave for a long time were those children who were still crying until their deaths?

In less than three sentences, the strange creature knocking on the door made Gao Hai notice many things he hadn't noticed before, and some of his thoughts and speculations began to connect with each other.

However, this alone is not rigorous enough to be considered reliable. After all, although this provides information, if we cannot determine the identity of this strange creature, the authenticity of the clues cannot be fully confirmed.

"So, who are you? What's your name? What's your relationship with these children?"

As Gao Hai was pondering, the player spoke up again without hesitation, asking a question that Gao Hai was very concerned about.