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

Thinking this, Gao Hai distanced himself slightly from the others and walked to the entrance of the village. He then carefully observed the village and compared it to the village covered in blood-red vines from his memory. He found that it matched almost perfectly, and could be determined that it was the same village.

The ultimate fate of Liu Family Village is to be assimilated by the blood-red flowers and completely disappear from the real world.

But for a long time before this group of villagers reached the final step, they coexisted with Li Family Village. Although that history is now hidden and almost impossible to find relevant clues in the instance, Gao Hai believed that since such a period of time existed, he would definitely be able to find key information from it.

step-step-

Before we even stepped into the village, people had already gathered there.

One by one, the villagers stood ready, holding sticks, hoes, pitchforks and other tools, surrounding Gao Hai who was walking at the front, looking at him as if he were facing a formidable enemy.

What are those lackeys of the Li family doing here? Get back home!

The first thing the leading villager said was a curse, and his attitude was extremely unfriendly.

The sense of repulsion in the air became even stronger.

So, the reason this place is rejecting me is because of the Li family patriarch status granted by the land deed?

However, I can still sense something else.

Although not very obvious, it does exist within me and is connected to something in this village.

Now that we can confirm this connection, let's just tell the truth.

"I am not a member of the Li family."

Gao Hai raised his hands and gave a French military salute in response.

[Nonsense! The stench of the Li family is practically overflowing from you! Get out of here! If you dare take another step forward, we'll tear you to pieces!!!]

The young villager who was leading the group roared again and swung his pitchfork fiercely.

“I am indeed not a member of the Li family, and I am a follower of the Fox Queen. I have already wiped out the Li family. The reason I still have their aura on me is simply because I took their things as spoils of war.”

Gao Hai continued to answer calmly, not caring at all about the young man wielding a pitchfork.

[You pig and dog of the Li family, how dare you insult the Empress?! You scoundrel, you dare to worship our Empress? Die!]

Clearly, this remark had a huge provocative effect on the young man. He almost immediately roared, brandishing his pitchfork and charging towards Gao Hai, thrusting the sharp tip of the pitchfork straight at him.

Then, Gao Hai, who seemed to teleport to his side, casually patted him, and he quietly lay down on the ground and fell asleep.

Their physical abilities and reaction speed are significantly better than those of ordinary humans, roughly equivalent to what a Twilight-level player could achieve. Such strength is already quite impressive for these villagers, but compared to Gao Hai now, it can only be described as "weak."

However, he wasn't there to fight; there was no point in trying to take down everyone. Moreover, after dealing with this hothead, Gao Hai noticed that the others were noticeably slower. They didn't seem to intend to join the young man in attacking Gao Hai; instead, after realizing that Gao Hai could easily defeat the young man, they clearly started to back down and began to retreat.

To be honest, Gao Hai felt something was a little strange.

If they were truly fanatical believers, there would be no reason for them to react this way just because one person fell. For example, if the mountain god were insulted in front of the Li family villagers, Gao Hai was certain that the group of lunatics would react much more violently, even if the Li family didn't genuinely believe in the mountain god but rather profited from its power. But these villagers were, in a sense, far too cunning. They immediately began calculating gains and losses after just a slight setback, and every single one of them, regardless of age or gender, exuded a clear and profound thoughtfulness. It seemed that they were all actually of the same age, differing only in appearance.

Is this the strange thing that Mr. Chatchai mentioned before?

With just a brief initial observation, Gao Hai noticed many problems.

"Everyone, please don't get agitated. I'm not lying. I possess the Fox Queen's blessing of still water, allowing me to freely enter and exit still water. I believe this should be enough to defend me, right? As for verification, I don't think it's difficult. Just put a basin of still water in it, and if I step in and nothing happens, that will prove I'm fine, right?"

While signaling his teammates behind him not to rush to catch up through mental links and temporary mental links, Gao Hai continued to talk with the wary villagers ahead with a smile.

"You... regardless of whether you truly believe in the Goddess or not, you are not allowed to enter the village now. We cannot let the Li family into the village. How about this, we'll send someone to consult the clan chief. If the clan chief has no objections, we can test you. If you... if you really step into the still water... well, we'll see then!"

Another villager came out and cautiously communicated with Gao Hai.

This guy was much more normal. He didn't launch a personal attack right away, nor did he rush over to try to have a 1v1 solo with Gao Hai. Instead, he agreed to Gao Hai's testing method.

Zhenfei and Tangyuan hid behind a rock not far away, observing Gao Hai's situation. The cat brother, on the other hand, used an invisibility-type artifact to get to a more concealed spot closer to Gao Hai, so that he could act more quickly in case of an accident.

Put your hand down and shove it into your pocket.

Gao Hai stood there calmly, casually observing the villagers.

There was almost no sense of hostility.

Li Zhaodi's perception of the blessing was minimal, which meant that the villagers' hostility towards him was actually very low. In fact, including the young man who rushed up, although the villagers initially showed strong hostility, this hostility rapidly decreased after Gao Hai showed a willingness to communicate, quickly dropping to almost nothing.

Even when that young man roared and charged at me, it was the same.

Despite his tense muscles and angry roar, the young man was actually quite calm, judging from the feedback of the blessing he received, and did not show any strong hostility towards Gao Hai.

However, while the hostile blessing didn't elicit a strong reaction, its other side—the ability to perceive and distinguish between humans and non-humans—had been subtly reacting. This reaction, though not intense, was at least clearer than a malicious perception. In other words, these villagers couldn't be considered entirely human; their existence in some unknown place had deviated from the realm of humanity, becoming tainted with impurities.

Then, compared to the little girl's perception blessing, Gao Hai's other perception blessing, which belonged to Hedar, had been constantly alarming since he saw the group of villagers, sending out strong warnings in his mind.

Abnormal personalities…abnormal personalities…everyone is, every single one of them has an abnormal personality. All the villagers here, in that blessing perception that judges normal and abnormal people, are all abnormal individuals who must be guarded against. They are all severely deviating from normal humanity, deserving the description of antisocial and antihuman beings, just like the villagers of Li Family Village.

This is really an interesting thing, isn't it?

After silently sharing his perception results with his teammates, Gao Hai stood there and continued to wait until a commotion arose from the villagers blocking the road ahead, and then a group of villagers who were dressed differently and seemed to be more noble came out.

Hello, sir. You may call me Liu Qigui. I am the village chief of this village.

The middle-aged man leading the group walked directly to a distance of no more than ten meters from Gao Hai and smiled at him calmly.

Are you about to test me?

Gao Hai's expression remained unchanged; he simply looked at the man and asked.

No, you don't need to do that.

But the man who called himself Liu Qigui smiled and shook his head, directly denying the matter.

I can assure you that you are a devout follower of the Goddess; perhaps no one here shares your faith in her.

"It's just that everyone in this mountain village has been living a hard life for too long, and their minds are inevitably dulled. They can't realize or distinguish between real and fake, so they need me to take a look. And I can tell at a glance that you are indeed the real deal."

"So, on this matter, please allow me to apologize on behalf of everyone. We are truly very sorry, sir. We warmly welcome you and your three companions, after all, you are guests from afar, not those bastards from the Li family, right? Hehe, our Liu family is different from those beasts of the Li family who like to sacrifice guests. We always welcome guests. So, please come in~"

With a smile on his face, Liu Qigui spoke gently to Gao Hai and directly pointed out the existence of the three teammates hiding behind Gao Hai, who had even used artifacts to conceal their whereabouts.

He didn't sense any power being activated at all, so how did he detect the other three? Did he observe them through the Fox Queen's high-level divine power?

And judging from what this guy said, he seemed to know something about what was happening outside, including that he had sacrificed all the villagers of Li Family Village. The problem is, weren't they trapped in a fixed space, belonging to a region of the "past" that the villagers of Li Family Village were trying to forget? If this place is indeed located in the distant past on the timeline, there's no reason why they could still sense the outside world, right? Or is my assumption about this place inaccurate?

In any case, this person is quite different from the other villagers.

"In that case, I'll trouble you to lead the way."

Gao Hai also laughed and spoke to Liu Qigui in the same calm tone.

The villagers quietly made way, and none of them expressed dissatisfaction with Liu Qigui's decision, nor did they show any further hostility or suspicion.

After a brief mental exchange with Gao Hai, the three teammates who had been hiding also came out and the four of them entered the area of ​​Liujia Village together.

Please~

Liu Qigui, who was walking at the front, simply waved and walked ahead with a smile on his face, like a tour guide leading the way step by step.

The entire Liu Family Village gradually came into view.

Chapter 115: The Words of Liu Qigui, the Clan Chief, and the Distortion Within Liu Family Village

In the third hour of the fourth playthrough, four players, Gao Hai, Zhen Fei, Tang Yuan, and Mao Ge, entered the area of ​​[Liu Family Village].

Before actually entering the village, Gao Hai had anticipated what he might see, and based on past experience, he naturally imagined all sorts of terrible scenarios. But once he was inside, he found that it really was just an ordinary little village. From stepping into the village to sitting down in the village chief Liu Qigui's house, Gao Hai used his senses to scan the entire village several times, but he still couldn't find anything that could be described as twisted or eerie.

The only thing that could be considered unusual was the way the villagers observed him. Along the way, Gao Hai noticed the gazes of at least a hundred villagers. They were either openly staring at him from the roadside, or secretly observing him from behind windows, rooftops, or behind bushes and shrubs.

To be honest, being stared at like this wasn't a pleasant feeling, but even with these people watching them so warily, Gao Hai still didn't sense much hostility.

In fact, these villagers hardly experienced any negative emotions, to the point that Gao Hai actually sensed a degree of friendliness from them.

To be honest, this goes beyond just being strange.

Gao Hai really couldn't understand what was going on with these people. Their behavior and consciousness seemed to be disconnected, which meant that even though they showed strong vigilance and suspicion, they couldn't generate genuine negative emotions from the depths of their hearts.

This made Gao Hai wonder if he were to attack these villagers, would they still be unable to sense any hostility? Or, if they were to ambush and attack the players like the villagers of Li Family Village, would they still not be able to detect any hostility? It was as if these senses had disappeared from them, making it impossible for them to sense anything.

Gao Hai couldn't be sure which answer was correct for the time being. But the village that hadn't shown many abnormalities at the beginning now seemed quite strange to him.

If something really goes wrong... well, immediately deploy the second bomb, then deploy the police officers, and we can also use the blessing that will be delivered in the future. In short, be prepared to bring out all the strongest attack methods.

While he was thinking, Gao Hai had already followed the man named Liu Qigui to the man's house and sat down on a chair in the lobby.

Compared to the Li family ancestral home, the Liu family patriarch's house was much smaller. Although it was also clearly different from ordinary villagers' houses, it was just a two-story house built mainly of mud and wood. Moreover, the house was obviously very old, with many places showing signs of repair, and the roof was even leaking a bit.

[This is a small mountain village; we apologize for any shortcomings in our hospitality.]

Liu Qigui also sat down and gestured to a young woman standing next to him to serve tea to Gao Hai and the others. Then, he smiled apologetically and said...

"This place looks pretty good."

While cautiously observing his surroundings, Gao Hai casually spoke to the Liu family patriarch.

[Thanks to Her Majesty's protection, if it weren't for Her Majesty's generations of protection of our Liu family, we would have been gone long ago.]

Liu Qigui grinned, revealing a mouthful of dark yellow teeth.

"Was the Fox Queen already protecting you before you settled here at Little Black Mountain?"

This question was asked by Tangyuan. While the others were still observing, this "historian" had already impatiently interrupted and joined the conversation.

Gao Hai could tell that the girl was a little excited.

Finding truly communicative native life forms within the dungeons is undoubtedly a significant undertaking for these researchers. After several dungeons, Gao Hai has only managed to conceive of Alice from Teng Hua Middle School as a native creature capable of communication. The problem is, Alice is not someone who can be approached in a friendly manner; even if the historians were to find her, they wouldn't obtain any useful information. And aside from anomalies like Alice, normal monsters are even less likely to be able to communicate effectively. Therefore, in a sense, the [Infant Cry Village] dungeon represents the first opportunity for players to encounter rational, communicative dungeon creatures.

Well, actually, it should be said that these are the humans living within the instance... but Gao Hai is very suspicious of these Liu Family Village people who seem to be normal humans. After all, his blessing has been constantly warning him that none of these villagers are normal, but who can be sure that this standard of abnormality is limited to mental or also includes physical abnormalities? What if, like in Warhammer 40k, they say it doesn't matter if the skulls are human-like, but then a genetic test reveals that the human content is less than that of a banana? That would be ridiculous.

"That's right. The Fox Queen has always protected our Liu family, and it has been so since long ago. It was through the Fox Queen's guidance that we were able to come to Little Black Mountain, settle down here, and thrive. It can be said that without the Fox Queen, there would be no Liu family."

Liu Qigui's smile widened, and he nodded in response with great pleasure.

"Were the Li and Zhang families also guided here by the Fox Queen, just like you?"

After thinking for a moment, Gao Hai asked again, observing the other party's reaction.

This time, he quickly saw anger and hatred on Liu Qigui's face. The middle-aged man's face twisted instantly, then slowly returned to normal. Finally, after being silent for about two or three minutes, he laughed again.

Yes, back then, the world was in turmoil, and war raged. The Goddess guided us on our escape to Her abode at Little Black Mountain. Along the way, we took in the beasts of the Li family and the fools of the Zhang family. The Goddess taught us to be kind, so we kindly accepted other refugees like ourselves. But it was precisely because we chose to extend kindness that we brought about the later calamities…

With a long sigh, Liu Qigui seemed to be recalling something from a long time ago; his expression was indescribable, whether it was nostalgia or regret.

Two teenagers ran past outside the lobby, laughing and joking. When Liu Qigui saw the two children, he blinked, as if he remembered something. He then gestured for the young woman standing not far away to come forward. After saying a few words to her, the woman walked out of the lobby and led the two children away.

There seemed to be nothing wrong with the scene, but Maki, who was sitting next to Gao Hai, still frowned and stared at the direction the woman and child left in for a while before looking away.