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

In other words, is a connection not a necessary condition for establishing a relationship? As long as the trust between the two parties is deep enough, it can still be achieved?

I have a feeling this ability is more suited to the military, since the camaraderie among soldiers built through shared hardships is relatively easy to cultivate and can reach a very deep level. But I also feel like this would make the scenes a bit too homoerotic, since this link would allow them to connect on a deeper level... Wait, what am I thinking? Delete it, delete it, this kind of thing definitely needs to be deleted!

Gao Hai patted his forehead, regaining his focus and concentrating on the watch's mental link function.

Previously, few people connected to this feature, so Gao Hai didn't pay much attention to its shortcomings. But now, with more and more people connecting, it's necessary to adjust its functionality. It can't continue being used as a group chat; it needs to be divided into public and private channels. Otherwise, if I'm flirting and joking with a girl using this feature, other people will be listening in, which feels really awkward.

Soon after, at Gao Hai's request, the black watch's function was modified in detail. It was changed from a single, interconnected mental communication band to separate public and private bands. The public band is like a chat group, a place where everyone can communicate, while the private band requires communication between the connectors and cannot bypass Gao Hai himself as the primary linker.

For example, if Maki wants to establish a private channel via the mental link, she can establish a channel that only she and Takami can communicate with each other if she wants to communicate with Takami. However, if Maki wants to say something to Kaguya via the mental link, she needs to establish a private chat involving herself, Takami, and Kaguya. In other words, the establishment of a private chat cannot bypass Takami, since he is the holder of the Black Watch, and the watch's power cannot take effect without his participation.

In this respect, this watch is also a stubborn thing. Although it seems that it can take care of Gao Hai's harem when it is using various functions, in fact it does not recognize anyone except Gao Hai. Once you want this thing to work without Gao Hai, it may not obey you.

"In any case, we've solved one of the problems."

Gao Hai took a light breath and then focused his attention again.

There's another feature that needs to be modified, a feature that would be extremely dangerous if not modified: the self-destruct feature.

The parasitic problem of the crimson flower was already troublesome, but at least now he knew it could be suppressed through the Fox Queen. The problem was that the black watch's self-destruct function could be forcibly suppressed by the crimson flower, and in the end, he could only escape by having to heal Gao Hai to death because he couldn't control the amount of force it exerted. This was extremely terrifying.

This time, Blood Flower's inability to maintain the balance of power killed him, but what about next time? He could accumulate intelligence and find a way out through repeated rewinds, but the problem was that this thing couldn't be reset by rewinds. It could also refine its various methods through repeated contact with Gao Hai, constantly weaving an increasingly intricate and difficult-to-escape web. Therefore, he had to act on the premise that if he were captured by Blood Flower in the fourth playthrough, his original self-destruct rewind method would become completely ineffective.

The first thing that needs to be changed is the method of suicide. We need to use a more decisive way to die, one that is less likely to be intercepted by blood.

Then, on this basis, I also need to make sure that I am not the only one who can commit suicide. I need to set up a suicide function that can be activated at any time for the girls who have already established a connection with me!

As Gao Hai pondered, his thoughts were reflected in the black watch, causing its sixth function to change. Originally, this function was meant to cause Gao Hai to self-destruct, but now it transformed into the black watch directly pulling Gao Hai's soul from his body and drawing it into the watch's internal structure before detonating his body, thus creating the illusion that Gao Hai was attempting suicide. Furthermore, Gao Hai could also activate this function on the girls with whom he had established a deep connection, while fully conscious and unaffected, to directly kill them.

It sounds crazy and inexplicable—why would Takahashi insist on killing the girls he likes? But with the Crimson Flowers already taking everything from Miko and Hayasaka, he simply couldn't bear the cost of more people being captured. Therefore, Takahashi activated this function to kill the girls at crucial moments, when he couldn't save them from the Crimson Flowers' plunder, thus ensuring they could continue to act alongside him at the start of the next loop.

...I really don't want to wish for such an ability.

To be honest, Gao Hai's feelings were very complicated.

He had to admit that his fear was becoming increasingly intense and profound.

Even though he could still feign composure, deep down he couldn't help but imagine the blood-red flower taking away all his lovers, his teammates, all the other players and villagers, leaving him alone to explore a desolate village.

He couldn't accept that such a scene becoming a reality.

But faced with Blood Flower, a terrifying enemy that was utterly insurmountable, Gao Hai simply couldn't bring himself to say anything like, "This time, there's absolutely no problem." He had no confidence in defeating such an enemy, and he couldn't think of any way to deal with an opponent of this scale.

Ha, because the enemy is too powerful, I had to resort to such methods with my teammates. How despicable and disgusting. However, I doubt Maki and the others will blame me for this. They might even comfort me and say it's okay, although that would only make me feel worse.

Despite hesitating for a long time, Gao Hai ultimately did not take back his wish and made the same decision.

Then, sensing something, he turned around and saw Kita Ikuyo struggling to turn her gaze toward him.

She's finally recovered! She pulled through this time, which is quite remarkable.

Seeing that Kita was clearly in extremely poor condition—if he weren't physically unable to move, tears and snot would probably be streaming down his face—Takami smiled gently, then waved and said:

"Hey, Kita, good morning! The weather's great today, don't you think?"

Chapter 105: Changes at the Start of the Fourth Playthrough and the Detective Girl's Reflections

When-when-when-

After three heavy chimes, Gao Hai slowly opened his eyes and looked at the forest path he had seen three times before.

After a brief moment of confusion, Maki immediately looked at Takami, clearly intending to share some investigative clues she hadn't been able to tell him last time. Kaguya, on the other hand, immediately turned to look for Hayasaka, then fell silent upon failing to find him.

Because Goto Ichiri only merged with Takami once, her connection to that blood-red city wasn't deep. Therefore, she couldn't retain memories like Maki and the others. She only had vague impressions of the previous timeline and vivid memories of some past events. For example, the finger-licking incident—Ichiri still had a vague memory of it and remembered doing something very shameful with Takami.

Because Chika hadn't yet undergone the flesh-blood fusion with Takami, her initial reaction was similar to the previous three loops. However, she quickly noticed the disappearance of Miko and Hayasaka and realized that not only was this no longer the initial loop, but some kind of abnormal phenomenon had also occurred.

Of course, she and the other girls also noticed the change in their mental link. After Kaguya and Ichiri successfully connected to the black watch's mental link network, they also realized this. However, only Ichiri curiously tried to activate the function, while Kaguya was completely flustered because of Hayasaka's disappearance. Takami had to hold her in his arms and comfort her, assuring her that he would definitely find Hayasaka, before Kaguya calmed down a little.

{That thing we can't even understand... will it continue to attack us? If it discovers we're traveling with you, Haijun, will it attack us and try to capture us?}

After listening to Gao Hai's brief description of what had happened, Zhenfei softly summarized in the mental link, and then couldn't help but sigh.

{If that's the case, then to ensure safety, we must separate from Ah Hai from beginning to end, otherwise we might be targeted by that thing. Hmm... but Ah Hai wouldn't be able to fight back against that thing, would he? If only Ah Hai faces that thing alone, the outcome won't be much better. After all, Ah Hai himself said that once that thing enters pursuit mode, no matter where Ah Hai runs, it can catch up, and the distance between them is constantly decreasing. Therefore, separating might gain some advantage at the beginning, but the cost is that Ah Hai will definitely be caught by that thing, and because it is unaffected by time rewinds, every time it catches him, there is a high chance that he won't be able to escape, and in the long run, the situation will only worsen.}

After pondering for a while, Chika shook her head slightly and gave the opposite opinion.

{...If you get caught by that thing, there's no way to fight back, not even by rewinding. What exactly is that thing? How can something like that exist...?}

Kaguya was still somewhat distraught because of Hayasaka's disappearance, but she managed to pull herself together and join the discussion.

Including the rescue mission at Hayasaka Elementary School, this is the second time Hayasaka has disappeared.

Despite the difficulty in accepting this fact, after experiencing so much, Kaguya wouldn't truly panic or lose her composure over the disappearance of her companion. However, even after calming down, she still found it hard to suppress her emotional fluctuations. After all, Hayasaka was arguably her most trusted friend, and she simply couldn't suppress the worry in her heart.

In short, staying still is pointless; thinking too much without moving is the same. Let's take action!

Gao Hai concluded the discussion in the mental link with these words, thus temporarily ending the topic.

However, although his facial expression remained unchanged, his mood was just as heavy as Kaguya's. In fact, compared to Kaguya, who could still comfort herself by trusting Takami, Takami's anxiety was even stronger.

Even now, he can still sense Miko's presence through the mental link of the black watch.

However, Hayasaka is not in the mental link.

During his third playthrough, although he tried to communicate with Hayasaka, the mental and deep links ultimately failed to connect because the girl herself was consumed by the blood flower. This means Hayasaka was likely not protected by the power of the black watch. Whether she could be saved after being captured by the blood flower is something Takami simply couldn't be sure of.

No, there is definitely hope.

He said this to himself in his heart.

We must think this way now, we must believe that such an opportunity still exists.

Sigh, there's no point in wasting time thinking nonsense. Let's just make Li Family Village a safe zone first, like we did last time.

Thinking this, Gao Hai summoned his pistol, then activated Eriko's blessing, intending to find Li Ziyong to give him a "blessing," and then destroy all the notice boards in the instance like he did in the previous playthrough.

"Ok?"

However, Gao Hai stopped his actions as soon as he had this idea.

No one is there.

The villagers from the first three playthroughs are not in the village at this time.

Including Li Ziyong, who theoretically failed to be eliminated by Gao Hai in the third playthrough, the entire Li Family Village was deserted. Only the fires under the stoves in each house were still burning, and the cooked food was still steaming, as if everyone had only left for a short while and would be back soon.

Why did this change occur?

Previously, wasn't it only the Crimson Flower that possessed the ability to remain unchanged across game runs? Could it be that the Mountain God can do the same? Speaking of which… the Mountain God's gaze towards me during my second playthrough was very strange; logically, there was no reason for Him to gaze at me at that time. Perhaps anything that reaches the level of a [God] isn't completely affected by save files? It's just that my actions in the first and second playthroughs didn't significantly alter the dungeon, so the special abilities of the Mountain God and the Fox Queen didn't manifest. But in the third playthrough, I truly wiped out almost all the villagers, resulting in a distortion that even save files can't erase?

If that's the case, wouldn't that mean that the mountain god in this cycle is very likely to enter a deteriorating state at a faster pace, and then experience a loss of spacetime control?

[Hehe, it seems the teacher has already figured it out. Actually, it's quite easy to think of, isn't it? No matter what, bearing the title of "god," their existence is fundamentally different from that of humans. Even though a planet's native god, like the KP, is basically unable to resist time travel, some deeply connected elements will still be preserved. In other words, while the mountain god will return to its normal state with your time travel, none of the villagers who originally had a ritual relationship with it—those villagers whom you sacrificed to the mountain god in the name of sacrifice—will be able to return. From now on, in every time travel, the mountain god will appear in a state where it has lost its stabilizing mechanism at the beginning~]

Alice's voice echoed in Gao Hai's mind.

Just as she said, Gao Hai had already sensed the connection he had established with the mountain god, a connection inherited from the previous cycle. At the same time, through this connection, he could also sense the mountain god's aura, which was beginning to spiral out of control again.

The Fox Queen's mark is still inside him, which means he can still enter still water without having to search for the Fox Queen's mark again.

However, Gao Hai was unable to bring out the fused statue of flesh and rock.

After all, it had already been confirmed that this thing wasn't an object of obsession, but rather likely some kind of ritual prop. So even if Gao Hai smeared blood on it, the black watch wouldn't take it away, meaning it would still need to go underwater again to retrieve it in the new playthrough.

Of course, this is not a big problem. Although it has been confirmed that there is a Red Moon-level core obsession-level monster underwater, Gao Hai now sees this cute little monster as no threat. At worst, he can just use a chainsaw to open its skull.

Take out the "Li Family Village Land Deed," this object of obsession.

Open it up, then use a blood pencil to erase Li Ziyong's name and write your own name on it.

Gao Hai thus regained control of the village once again, and this time the mountain god did not react to his actions. The transfer of power ended very quietly.

They removed the potentially dangerous signs, notified other players to gather in the village, and contacted the historian and the members of the "Slacker Gang." These basic preliminary actions were completed smoothly and without any mishaps by Gao Hai and his group.

Even before entering the village, Gao Hai went into the water and retrieved the statue. During the process, the strange creature in the wedding dress tried to attack Gao Hai several times, but he smashed it into the lake bottom with a chainsaw each time. Finally, after Gao Hai left the lake area, the creature chased him for a distance in the river beside him, but stopped chasing him and returned to the lake after he entered the village.

Overall, the operation went smoothly.

However, considering the blood-red flower that was hidden somewhere and in what form it might appear, Gao Hai couldn't feel at ease.

Regarding the investigation of the statue, I did make some new discoveries after entering an abandoned village space inside a well.

After settling the Dark Night level players and having a preliminary conversation with the Red Moon level players, Zhenfei quickly found Gao Hai and explained some information that she hadn't had time to tell him before.

{Firstly, the reason we determined the statue's formation went through two stages was because after we and the other players investigated the statue using our senses, we discovered that the sensory effects on the stone and flesh parts were different. From the stone parts, we perceived something sinking in the darkness, eventually settling completely at the bottom. However, the sensory result from the flesh parts was that the flesh actively moved in the darkness, eventually finding the stones and wrapping itself around them.}

{Then, Mr. Chachai, with his exceptionally keen senses, attempted to deeply perceive the Fox Queen's flesh and blood. He nearly lost his life, but in doing so, he gleaned a piece of information. That is, when the flesh and blood fell to the dark bottom of the lake, the "Fox Queen" uttered a few words to herself: "The final backup plan is ready," "How we choose in the future is no longer up to us," and "It's truly regrettable that I will not be able to see the day the end arrives."}

{It is precisely because we perceived this information that we deduced that the Fox Queen actively fused her flesh and blood with the black stone representing the Mountain God, thus consciously leaving behind something. I believe that since that terrifying enemy, whom the Sea King could not defeat, was indeed sealed away, the Fox Queen and the Mountain God must have known about the relevant procedures and had a way to reseal it once it escaped, thereby buying more time for human civilization.}

As the Dark Night-level players once again began to modify the village structure, building a bunch of large roofs to block out the sky, Zhenfei and Gao Hai sat together on one side of the village square, explaining the situation sentence by sentence in their mental link.

After making our deductions, we tried to investigate the statue more thoroughly. During this process, some strange changes occurred in the abandoned village; many players who had evacuated with us were inexplicably killed, as if something unseen had infiltrated our ranks. I originally intended to try and stop it, but Miss Tangyuan believed we didn't have much time and had to decipher the statue as quickly as possible, so… well, in the end, we did decipher something else: the statue was missing four parts.

{Of the four missing parts, two have been confirmed. One is related to the wedding dress-themed artifact, and its aura corresponds to the gap. I believe we need to find the core obsession of that artifact and place it on this statue. The second part is the black coffin that blocked our path; that too is a core obsession, and its aura corresponds to a gap. Based on this, I think we need to find the obsessions of the four humans who became the core obsessions within the instance. Only after gathering these items can the statue be activated through some special ritual. However, we cannot confirm the effect after activation, since we are not even certain about the statue's true nature.}

{However, this is currently the only feasible direction we have. The space within this instance is unpredictable and complex, with various intelligence reports scattered and disorganized, making it almost impossible to extract useful information or determine a course of action. Now, with the four gaps in this statue, at least we know what to do. In short, that's all I know. Haijun, do you have any ideas for our next move?}

After exchanging information, Maki and Takami talked for a while about their thoughts and ideas. They decided that Maki would continue to explore the well, while Takami would go into the lake area alone to find the core object of obsession, and then they would meet up again to decide on their next move.

After speaking, because the reconstruction of Li Family Village was not yet finished, Zhenfei helped supervise the work for a while. Gao Hai continued to sit in place, thinking about the next steps, when a private communication suddenly came through.

It was Qianhua's message; she seemed to have thought of something, so she came to Gao Hai to discuss it.

Curious about what she was up to, Gao Hai waited where he was. A moment later, the pink-haired girl appeared from the roadside, came up to him, and gave him a "hehe" laugh.

So, has our great detective found a new approach?

Seeing the girl's still lively demeanor, Gao Hai felt somewhat relieved, and joked with her.

{That's right, although I don't know if it's a useful idea, I came to find Ahai the moment it came to my mind.}

Qianhua stood tall and proud, her voice radiating confidence.

{So what came to your mind?}

Gao Hai asked curiously.

{I was thinking about the name of the instance we're participating in this time. Ahai, don't you think the name "Infant Cry Village" is strange?}

Chika blinked, then spoke very seriously in the mental link.

{Strange name?}