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

These words seem to be spoken from a human perspective, and they also seem to be neither from a divine perspective.

If it is neither a god nor a human, then what kind of being could have uttered such words and conceived such thoughts? Like an observer, someone who has watched everything unfold from beginning to end, someone who has witnessed the entire process.

{KP?}

Gao Hai recited this in his mind.

Alice did not respond to Gao Hai's words.

At this moment, Gao Hai's mental energy had completely penetrated into the dark void inside the statue. In a daze, he found that he could no longer see his surroundings clearly. He felt as if he had walked into a dark void, into the interior of an endless, cold and deep dark cave.

Lower your head and slowly squat down.

The darkness should have been empty, but Gao Hai reached out and touched something.

They are two dry wooden sticks, one large and one small.

He closed his eyes, feeling the cold aura permeating the darkness, and the faint echoes that seemed to come from a distant past.

Then, he placed the large wooden stick on the ground, stood the small wooden stick on top of the large wooden stick, and then held the stick with both hands and gently rotated it.

Little by little, Gao Hai increased his speed. The small stick spun rapidly in his hand, rubbing against the large wooden stick, and sparks and dust began to spread.

chap——

Then, the flames ignited.

The flames illuminated Gao Hai's blurry figure beside him and the ground covered with black stones.

He realized that this was the first time the mountain god of Xiaoheishan had seen a human.

Then, the darkness and the flames subsided.

Gao Hai felt the connection once again, and felt the profound connection that had been established between him and the mountain god.

He turned his head and saw Consort Zhen, who was slightly out of breath.

Several more villagers fell and disappeared with the help of Maki and Kaguya. By utilizing the camera artifact, Maki and Kaguya had now racked up the most kills. In a game, a notification would probably have popped up by now, but unfortunately, there was only a group of enemies with bloodshot eyes. It seemed they wouldn't retreat until most of them were wiped out.

Okay, then let's kill them all.

{Haijun, you can move now?}

Zhenfei noticed the change in Gao Hai's side and immediately inquired through the mental link.

{I can move now, but I still need to be more careful next time. When my mental energy enters the statue, it feels like I'm being pulled inside; it's impossible to defend against!}

Gao Hai's voice rang out in the mental link and the temporary mental link, his tone heavy with a touch of emotion.

{So do you have any ideas? These guys are like they've gone berserk. If this keeps up, the obsession within me is going to go out of control. While you were investigating clues here, we were risking our lives.}

Tangyuan noticed the situation and immediately spoke in the temporary mental link with an annoyed tone.

{That's just how it is. After all, I'm doing intelligence gathering, so I have a lot to consider, while you guys only need to deal with a bunch of crazy people who want you dead. Just kidding. Anyway, they're no longer a problem.}

While making jokes in the mental link, Gao Hai knelt down in front of the flesh and stone statue and bowed slightly.

I sensed a response.

That's certainly a valid option. After all, these people have done it before, so it's definitely a reasonable thing to do.

"Hey, that guy, could it be that he..."

Having noticed Gao Hai's actions, Li Duosun's expression changed drastically. Before he could warn the other villagers, he was about to disappear from the spot and escape. But Zhenfei, who had been watching the commander closely, was not about to let him get away. She immediately activated the power of the camera artifact, and Li Duosun's disappearance began to slow down, putting him into a 0.1x speed mode.

The surrounding villagers also realized something was wrong at that moment, and their faces showed expressions of disbelief and horror.

But Gao Hai wouldn't give them any more time to lament. An invisible wave spread from the statue, and the crimson domain maintained by Kaguya shattered under its power. The attacks that had been closing in on the players from all sides also disappeared, and the paper figures had long since vanished in the chaos.

bang——

One villager's body exploded, turning into a cloud of blood mist, and was then sucked into the ground by an invisible force.

bang bang bang-

More villagers burst and disappeared like balloons.

They began to flee, running in all directions in fear, or collapsing to the ground in despair, or desperately kowtowing and begging the mountain god for forgiveness.

But it's no use.

In less than 10 seconds, all the villagers' bodies exploded and vanished without a trace. Their flesh, blood, and consciousness were all absorbed by the earth, along with Li Duosun's final, unwilling howl, and were sucked underground.

These villagers of Lijia Village thus became sacrifices to deepen Gao Hai's connection with the mountain god. Just as they had countless times offered their own people or kidnapped outsiders as sacrifices, Gao Hai allowed this to happen naturally because it was considered a reasonable act.

Sometimes, the way things unfold is truly thought-provoking, making one wonder if an invisible destiny truly exists, preordaining the ending of a story and determining what everyone will experience and encounter. Some events can even seem incredibly dramatic, making one feel that reality is truly unreasonable, and even leading one to question whether there really is such a thing as divine will? This can cause one to doubt their own life and values.

Teacher, how do you view the concept of "fate"? Do you think it's self-hypnosis for the weak? Do you think it's a helpless fact that can only be acknowledged? After personally burying these villagers who have trapped themselves for countless years without making any progress, do you think they deserved it?

[Although I don't know if you've noticed, teacher, these villagers actually have a strong belief in so-called "destiny," specifically, they believe they are destined for it. They almost never doubt that they've made any mistakes, perhaps in the past, but no longer so. Even until their death, they won't feel it was their fault. What do you think of such people, teacher? And, regarding what's about to happen, something that's already deeply connected to you, are you prepared to face it?]

Alice's voice rang out once again.

Or rather, something, through Alice's medium, spoke to Gao Hai once again.

Then, before Gao Hai could respond to Alice, he heard a wail, a wail of utter despair, as if he had encountered something more terrifying than death.

"It's coming...something's coming...something I can't see clearly but feels incredibly terrifying is coming..."

The Taoist priest was about to collapse to the ground, his condition had deteriorated to an extremely bad state, as if he would suddenly die at any moment.

The spatial distortion around us has disappeared, and things have returned to normal.

But Gao Hai knew that now was the time when real trouble was coming his way.

After all, he had already heard the voice that resonated in his heart.

...Mom's here...

...Mom's here to pick you up...

...Let's stay together with Mom forever...

Chapter 97: The High Sea's POWER and the Pursuing Crimson

"No...no no no what is this...cluck cluck ah...ah ah ah ah ah..."

A grotesque, almost inhuman sound echoed through the dark fields and bushes.

At the same time as the screams rang out, there was also a very faint, almost indistinguishable sound, like something slightly wriggling.

Gao Hai couldn't see where the [Treasure Hunter] player was hiding in the shadows, but from the voice, he could tell that Blood Flower had already found the other party, and that the most deadly thing had arrived somewhere in this space.

The screams lasted only a short time.

In fact, Gao Hai was already somewhat surprised that the other player could still make a sound after seeing the blood flower. He guessed that the player might have some kind of method to create a safe zone similar to [Alice's Hut], but such a trick would probably be meaningless in front of the blood flower. As long as the two sides could still exchange information, that thing could easily break through.

However, the fact that it can still be called out is actually a good thing.

After all, in this way, the other party could be said to have done their best to give them a hint before they died, even if they themselves might not have had this intention.

{Get out of here! Everyone, get out of here right now!}

Gao Hai shouted in the temporary mental link, signaling everyone to take action immediately.

...Mommy's here...

You can hear those soft, murmuring sounds.

Even though the other person should be quite far away, it felt as if they were right beside me, speaking in my ear, and gently stroking me with their hand.

This chilling gentleness caused Gao Hai's entire body to tense involuntarily. He realized that even though the power of the parasitic blood flower had slowed its growth and spread under the Fox Queen's suppression, the connection between his body and the blood-red flower had deepened considerably over time, especially after the occurrence of that time disorder. If the blood flower were to approach him in this state, he would likely be captured even faster.

The historian Tangyuan moved the fastest at this moment, and she also took Maki and Kaguya with her. While carrying the two of them, she ran even faster than Takahashi without the Berserk Blessing or the Void Transformation.

The flesh-and-stone statue was handed to the Taoist priest by Gao Hai. The priest trembled slightly upon receiving the statue, seemingly stimulated by some power within it. However, he then noticed that Gao Hai was lagging behind, clearly intending to cover the rear for everyone.

{Mr. Gao, are you going to be the last one? Well… I'll cover the rear. Although I often predict I'll die, I'm generally tougher than others. In the Lazy Fish Gang's missions, I'm usually in charge of covering the rear.}

Although he often talks about this and that dying, putting pressure on everyone, Li Nianyou is clearly a very reliable teammate in team operations. Therefore, he seriously expressed his desire to cover the rear.

{Stop thinking about it. You guys would be instantly killed if you saw that thing; only I can hold out for a while. Stop dawdling. We absolutely have to bring this thing back and figure out what its purpose is.}

Gao Hai didn't waste words with the fake Taoist priest. He reached out and shoved the man, causing him to stumble, and then got to work.

...Don't...leave Mom...

A gentle voice kept echoing in my ears.

I can feel the blood flower vines parasitizing my body slowly becoming more active.

To be honest, Gao Hai was still a little unsure, not quite sure if the power of the land deed could withstand the Blood Flower's clone.

There was no point in thinking about it now, so Gao Hai hesitated for a moment before refocusing his attention on the road ahead.

The players, moving at full speed, traversed several kilometers of uphill road in less than a minute.

Prior to this, Gao Hai had already notified Qianhua via mental link, instructing all players to relocate away from the village's outskirts and gather inwards. This was to prevent any unlucky soul from accidentally overhearing Bloodflower's murmurs and dying.

We've entered the village!

Tangyuan, who was at the forefront, shouted in the temporary mental link. She led Maki and Kaguya into the village first.

{Space is distorting; the distance between us and the village is increasing. Mr. Gao, why don't you take the statue back with you?}

The Taoist running ahead of Gao Hai noticed that the distance between himself and the village entrance was obviously abnormal. After thinking for a moment, he looked at Gao Hai beside him.

Stop talking nonsense, just run ahead when I tell you to!

But Gao Hai just pushed the other man harder, and seeing his resolute attitude, the Taoist shut up and said nothing more.

The distance is gradually closing.

Despite the approaching call of the blood flower behind them and the increasingly severe spatial distortion of the road ahead, both of them were Red Moon level players. By accelerating their run, they managed to keep up with the speed of the spatial distortion and gradually approach the village.

"Mr. Gao, there's something ahead!"

At this moment, Li Nianyou suddenly shouted in the temporary mental link, and Gao Hai also noticed the thing in front of the dirt road.

That was a coffin.

A pitch-black coffin, riddled with cracks.

The black coffin stood on the ground, with nothing strange around it, appearing there abruptly and alone.