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

Thinking this, Princess Zhenfei sighed again and prepared to stand up and leave.

Anyway, let's go find Great-Grandma first. She and Haijun were pulled down together. If Haijun can return safely, then she certainly can too. So, as long as we're sure Great-Grandma is safe, we don't need to worry about Haijun.

Honestly, I should have thought of this from the beginning, but I still managed to run out of control like this.

I knew absolutely nothing about him except his name.

It's possible that after this, we might never have the chance to meet again...

"Hey, why didn't you change into some clean clothes? How are you going to maintain the dignity of the young lady of the Shijou family looking like this?"

Then I heard that familiar voice.

I originally thought I wouldn't hear that person's voice, or at least not so soon.

"Hey?"

The girl looked up in surprise and saw Gao Hai, who had taken off his sunglasses, waving gently at her.

"Haijun, why did you—"

He was so surprised that he didn't have time to say the words.

The next moment, Gao Hai swiftly stepped forward and reached out to embrace the girl. Ignoring the gazes and words of the surrounding students and teachers, he simply lifted Maki off the ground and carried her away.

"As a celebration of our reunion in the real world, a little hug isn't too much to ask, is it, Maki?"

Gao Hai smiled calmly at the girl.

Under the multiple shocks, the girl, who was stunned for a long time before realizing the situation, blushed almost immediately, and a blush filled her entire face in an instant.

"What are you doing, you idiot?!"

After the cries of anguish came the sounds of other teachers rushing forward to question them, the students' uproar and jeers, and Gao Hai's practiced escape. All sorts of chaotic sounds filled the campus, creating quite a scene.

In a small, empty classroom in a nearby school building, Kaguya, now dressed in a clean school uniform, looked out the window at Takahashi running past on the park path below. The cold expression on her face softened slightly, revealing a hint of relief.

"They all survived."

As she muttered this to herself, she turned to look at the maid who had been picking up her tattered school uniform with its torn collar.

Judging from the worried expression on the other person's face, she would definitely have to think carefully about how to explain the school uniform issue. However, for the moment, Kaguya's heart was filled with the joy of surviving the ordeal and the joy of Maki and Takami being alive, and she felt lighter than ever before.

"This dirty headband... no, it's not a headband, it's just a strip of cloth torn from some t-shirt, right? And it's a men's t-shirt, Kaguya-sama, what's going on here? I hope you can tell me properly."

A maid with long blonde hair stepped forward, holding the piece of cloth with suspicious red and white stains in her hand, and asked a question.

"Is this..."

Kaguya lowered her head and looked at the piece of cloth, her gaze freezing slightly.

Then, as if she had thought of something, Kaguya reached out and gently tapped the fragment.

"A slight change in hairstyle seems like a good idea, hmm. Well then, I'll ask Hayasaka to help me pick out a suitable red headband."

Interlude 1-03: Shijou Maki wants to have a serious conversation.

In the end, despite the security guards' best efforts, they were completely unable to catch up with Gao Hai. He easily outmaneuvered them, leaving them dumbfounded as he leaped three meters into the air, landed outside the school, and quickly disappeared into the residential area.

With Gao Hai's agility and reflexes that are beyond human limits, escaping the pursuit of these security guards would be a piece of cake unless he was already surrounded.

Compared to hiding from those strange entities in the Shirakawa apartment, Takahashi even felt a slight sense of comfort in escaping the encirclement. Of course, he still made sure to wear a mask and hat to disguise himself while running away, and he also used sunglasses as cover when searching for Maki, thus avoiding most of the surveillance cameras.

However, despite this, during his escape from Shuchiin and his use of the residential area to shake off the security guards, Takahashi noticed a figure following him. This person possessed extraordinary physical abilities, far beyond what ordinary people could achieve; it felt like the kind of level only anime characters or gamers who had received power-ups in games could reach. But even so, the person's speed was still inferior to Takahashi's current superhuman abilities, and he quickly outpaced them.

"Phew, the stickers are done. Time to go home."

Muttering to himself, Gao Hai slipped away from the surveillance cameras at various intersections and returned home. He changed his clothes, then simply lay back down on the bed, closed his eyes, and slept soundly until dusk.

Sitting up in bed, feeling all the pressure that had accumulated in the Shirakawa apartment completely dissipate, Gao Hai let out a long, comfortable sigh and then looked at his watch.

The watch's markings are currently firmly on the number 2.

You have 10 chances to start over.

After dismantling the core of the ghost story at Shirakawa Apartment, causing the entire apartment to collapse and dissipate, his watch absorbed all the derivative existences that had lost the support of the ghost story core, turning them into nourishment for the watch, thus restoring one tick mark.

In other words, to restore his rollback count, Gao Hai must destroy the core of the dungeon's mystery and break the key obsession of the entire dungeon. Only in this way can he use the power of the watch to absorb those derivatives, thereby increasing his rollback count.

That doesn't sound like an easy task at all.

But now that things have come to this, we can only take it one step at a time.

Gao Hai couldn't help but recall the moment when the watch activated its ability. At that time, he felt as if he was being influenced by something. His emotions and the words he uttered at that moment were less about him wanting to say those words or do those things, and more about something using him to accomplish them.

"...Do you actually possess self-awareness?"

Gao Hai couldn't help but look at the black watch on his left wrist and ask.

no answer.

Unsurprisingly, no answer was received.

But Gao Hai became increasingly suspicious that there was some kind of consciousness inside this mysterious watch.

He longed to start over, and thus gained the power to rewind time.

He wanted to annihilate those two veteran players and didn't want the people he cared about to forget him, so he gained the ability to reclaim items of obsession and bring people back to their previous save file.

Then, at the crucial moment of escaping the instance, his watch gained the ability to absorb entities derived from the ghost stories.

Just right.

Everything was just right.

But why?

Gao Hai didn't think that all of this was just a story of "Deus Ex".

The moment the watch activated, he knew he would ultimately pay the price for this power. Once the scale reset to zero and he had used up his twelve chances, he would have to pay the price and remain forever in that city of death. Although he didn't yet know what would happen upon entering that city, Gao Hai didn't think it would be a good thing.

What exactly are you?

As Gao Hai pondered this, he couldn't help but think of the box he had picked up in the small house.

When I woke up, the box was gone.

The note left on the box also disappeared.

Don't let anyone know where you come from.

He could still remember the words on that note clearly, so clearly that they sent chills down his spine.

Ah, I feel like I'm caught in a conspiracy.

Gao Hai scratched his head.

Furthermore, this "Sacrifice Game" lacked any beginner's guide or anything like that. He still didn't know the characteristics of the three difficulty levels—Twilight, Dark Night, and Red Moon—or whether the game itself had any basic rules summarized by other players. The only three players he encountered in the dungeon who had experienced the game before were: Old Guo and the traitorous woman—pure idiots who couldn't communicate and could only be killed; and Green… well, his various reactions made Gao Hai suspect that he had only managed to pass the level by luckily hooking up with a super-powerful player, leaving him completely ignorant of any information about the Sacrifice Game.

There must be places where players gather and communicate.

There must be some way to find a place where other players can interact and communicate with each other.

Both Old Guo and the female mole were specifically targeting Shirakawa Apartments. They likely had prior knowledge of the apartment complex, probably obtaining intelligence from somewhere. Furthermore, the system notification mentioned trading entry tickets, meaning there's probably a trading market or similar place among players.

That brings me back to the point: why didn't I get an entry ticket after completing the game? Could it be because I messed up the game's dungeons?

Various thoughts swirled in my mind.

Gao Hai decided to get out of bed and search on the computer to see if he could find any clues. He picked up the cell phone he had found in the room, which should belong to the former "Gao Hai". As soon as he turned on the screen, he saw several missed calls.

Hmm? Whose number is this?

Gao Hai, who hadn't thought of it for a moment, called back. The call was answered almost immediately, and the next moment, a girl's voice, suppressing her anger, rang out from the phone.

"Haijun, do you know how much I've been suffering by waiting until now?"

Even though he couldn't see the girl's face, Gao Hai could sense her burning anger.

"Ah, Maki?"

At this moment, Gao Hai suddenly realized that when he hugged Maki at Shuchiin earlier, before letting go of her and preparing to run away, he had whispered his phone number to her—the number of the cell phone he had found at home.

When he got home, he didn't receive a call for a while, and since he was quite tired, he simply took a nap.

I didn't realize I'd missed their call while I was asleep. Oh, and this phone was on silent! I hadn't even noticed. Come to think of it, aren't Japanese phones supposed to be non-silent? Or is mine a special edition?

"I'm so sorry, I was very tired when I got back so I took a nap."

The thought flashed through his mind quickly, and Gao Hai began to apologize without the slightest hesitation, his tone and attitude extremely sincere.

"Don't you think I'm tired too? I struggled to escape from that awful place and still have to go to school all day. And do you know what's going on about me at school right now? A pure girl was deceived by some delinquent outside of school, all because of that hug you. In broad daylight, a strange man tightly embraced a girl whose clothes were covered in stains and tears. Do you even know how much trouble you've caused me—"

The girl's voice grew louder and louder, like an angry lioness roaring through the phone.

Gao Hai was already considering whether to send a photo of himself bowing deeply as an apology, but after the other party roared, he quickly returned to his normal tone.

"In short, don't barge into the school anymore. Even if you do come in, at least wear something tasteful and take care of your appearance. Don't sneak in like today and steal a teacher's clothes again. Since this is the real world, pay some attention to your image."

“I’ve kept all the items you gave me safe and sound. These things can still be used in the real world, but I’m worried about the risk of them getting out of control. So we need to meet tomorrow to transfer these items to you, who can contain them through that black watch. I’ve also contacted my great-aunt. She has some helpers she can mobilize to help her search for other players. Don’t go looking for them randomly, or you might be tracked back.”

"Old Guo and that woman disguised as Maeda Miwa gave me a very bad feeling. Perhaps the player community itself is not united, and may even be in a predatory state of the strong preying on the weak. As new players, although we seem to have made great progress so far, it is definitely not a good thing if we are being secretly targeted."

"In addition, I found that my body has become much stronger. My strength, speed, and coordination are all completely different from before. The strange voice talking about the sacrifice game said that I got an A-level rating. Then I heard a little girl saying goodbye to me. I also found that I can sense the kindness and malice of the people around me. As long as someone stands in front of me, I can instinctively know whether they will be good to me or not. Although the judgment is a bit vague, I think this must be the blessing that child gave me."

"You've gained this power too, right? You should still be careful. We need some time to control our powers after they've been enhanced. I accidentally pulled off the classroom doorknob during class this afternoon. Hey, are you listening? Why haven't you said anything for so long?"

It was obvious that Maki really had a lot to tell Gao Hai, so much so that she talked on and on for a while before noticing that there was no sound from Gao Hai's side, and she immediately started to complain.

"I'm listening. We should meet tomorrow, right? When? Morning or afternoon? Around what time?"

Gao Hai spoke quickly, his voice full of focus and enthusiasm.

"After all that talk, all you heard was 'meeting,' right?! Ha, that's enough, you're really something else. Today, because of you, I've suddenly become the focus of the whole school, and even my dad called to ask if I'm dating some weirdo. It's all your fault."

The girl's voice carried a hint of resentment at this moment.

“You can answer your dad and tell him I’m not a weirdo.”

Gao Hai thought for a moment and then tentatively spoke.

"Do you think you can get me to admit we're dating by beating around the bush like this? You idiot, how can you become boyfriend and girlfriend after knowing each other for only four days? Things like this... you should be more careful. Don't always rush things like this, can't you give me a little... a little time to think? My mind is still a mess, I can't think about this kind of thing right now..."

From anger to embarrassment, to shyness and hesitation, the entire process took less than ten seconds.

Gao Hai didn't know whether to say that this girl was doing it on purpose or that she was just born that way; all he could say was that anime girls were truly amazing at being cute.