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

Kaguya looked at the player's state and felt a little suspicious. At this moment, she couldn't help but miss Gao Jun's iron will. She believed that if he were affected or attacked in terms of memory and cognition, he would definitely react quickly, realize where the problem was, and forcibly overcome it through willpower, instead of staying here switching between confused and clear-headed states.

Kaguya muttered a slightly annoyed comment to herself before turning her gaze to Chika beside her.

The usually cheerful pink-haired girl was now completely focused, intently observing the corpse that had crashed into the door, so absorbed that she didn't even notice Kaguya's voice beside her. Her gaze lingered on the villager's bluish-purple skin, wondering if it was lividity or something else entirely.

{The clothes were worn very neatly}

Chika whispered in the spiritual link.

Despite the fact that her clothes and appearance were old-fashioned, worn out, and outdated, Chika still said this in the mental link after careful observation.

{There was hardly any dust or mud on his body, and his clothes looked quite clean, though there seemed to be some deliberate care involved. Did someone take care of the villagers for a while after they became like this, or did this person know how their body would turn out before they died and prepare accordingly?}

Thinking of a possible Chika, she suddenly looked up and peered through the crack in the door into the darkness outside.

However, regardless of which possibility exists, there should be more than just this one example; there can't be only one, right?

Then, as if to confirm her words, something gradually emerged from the darkness.

Boom--boom--

One by one, the villagers, their bodies stiff and only able to hop forward, emerged from the darkness in dense, jostling crowds, and approached the people inside the house.

Each of them had a bluish-purple face, no breath or heartbeat, and simply hopped forward step by step with their feet together.

In less than half a minute, the area outside the small house was crowded with people, all of whom were villagers from Zhangjia Village.

{The number is over 50, and there are many more outside the line of sight, so the total number may exceed 200?}

Kaguya closed her eyes and used her auditory blessing to sense her surroundings, not daring to spread the blessing's power too far. Even so, she could hear an astonishing number of footsteps, and judging from the changes at the source of the sound, the number of villagers was probably still increasing.

{So many villagers, even if they're not very strong, it'll be troublesome. How come there are so many...? Could it be that they're all looking for you, Miss Li, wanting you to repay a debt of gratitude?}

Upon hearing this, Qianhua couldn't help but complain in the temporary mental link, while Li Xiaoxiao turned her head away slightly embarrassed and didn't respond.

Chapter 124: The Despairing Echoes of a Remaining Body and the Promised Path Ahead

More than two hundred zombie villagers surged in from all directions at that moment, completely surrounding the hut.

Although these villagers emanated almost no strange aura and posed perhaps less of a threat than a core-level Twilight-level monster, the sheer number of corpses gathered together was unsettling in itself. Not to mention the unhurried, ever-approaching unknown entity.

Considering that even if they were truly driven to desperation, she and Chika could be teleported directly to Takami's side through Andres' blessing, Kaguya wasn't particularly nervous. She was simply puzzled by the current situation, silently pondering why these incredibly weak corpses were appearing in such clusters, and whether they had some special connection to the thing gradually approaching from behind.

According to Gao Jun's investigation, the Li family villagers, who worshipped the mountain god, successfully gained immortality and were able to use the mountain god's power to achieve various goals, even controlling strange creatures that would otherwise have posed a great threat to them. Conversely, these villagers were also highly bound to the mountain god, and some suffered backlash due to the mountain god's transformations. The Liu family villagers, who worshipped the fox goddess, were corrupted and transformed after the fox goddess herself was corrupted, becoming something neither human nor ghost. Then, somehow, they came into contact with the sealed "that thing," resulting in their complete absorption and assimilation, making it impossible for them to return to their original form.

It could be said that both the Li and Liu families met similar ends. The Liu family, however, reached their demise before the players arrived because their deity had been corrupted. The Li family, on the other hand, had their mountain god, whose special condition allowed them to endure for a longer period, until Gao Hai's arrival accelerated the process, ultimately leading to their own demise.

So, how did the Zhang family, who simultaneously worshipped the Mountain God and the Fox Goddess and even attempted to worship a third unknown deity, come to their demise, and what did they leave behind? This family, which tried to be a middleman, was the first of the three clans to perish, according to the investigation.

Dong-dong-dong——

With each impact, the strange creatures continued their relentless assault on the house, even though their attacks were easily deflected and had no effect whatsoever.

What's going on with all this stuff?

Night had fallen outside, and strange changes were occurring within the village. For safety reasons, Kaguya didn't intend to leave the house before thoroughly investigating the village, even though she and Chika had previously used the [Historian]'s cognitive shield to avoid triggering anything in the sky. But these piles of corpses blocking the doorway, preventing them from investigating, couldn't continue like this; they had to do something.

How about we try putting one in?

Kaguya turned around and glanced at Li Xiaoxiao, who wasn't in a good state.

Since this player claims to have connections with Zhangjia Village and came here to "repay a debt of gratitude," perhaps letting a Zhangjia Villager's corpse in to interact with her might produce some unexpected results.

Of course, since it's an unexpected outcome, there are good and bad aspects. On the one hand, the villagers might develop a special connection with the player and obtain very useful information; on the other hand, this whole thing could potentially kill the player, Li Xiaoxiao. On this point, Kaguya wondered if, in her past life at the Shirakawa Apartment, she might have hesitated only slightly before taking action. But now, she felt she needed to consider it more carefully. For one thing, Tangyuan, also a historian, was still conducting collaborative research in Gaohai. If she really betrayed their team, it would inevitably damage their future cooperation.

How about we put one in?

But then, Chika made a suggestion in the mental link.

{Um? }

Kaguya was somewhat surprised by Chika's words, and she noticed that the other party did not say it through the mental link of the black watch, but directly through the temporary mental link between the three of them present and Ichiri, who was remotely controlling the clone through the guitar.

While the appearance of these corpses might bring unforeseen changes, there's no doubt they're connected to Ms. Li in some way; perhaps they came specifically for her. In this situation, I think Ms. Li could try contacting them; who knows what unexpected discoveries might be made? Besides, letting only one in would make the danger relatively manageable, and there shouldn't be much of a problem.

Chika glanced at Kaguya, then turned her gaze to Li Xiaoxiao, and earnestly offered her advice in the temporary mental link.

Since letting them in directly might harm their teammates, wouldn't it be better to just ask and be upfront about it?

Although Chika didn't say anything during that exchange of glances, Kaguya naturally understood what she meant. This made her slightly embarrassed. When thinking about her actions just now, she had subconsciously neglected to communicate her thoughts with Li Xiaoxiao. This habitual way of thinking, which didn't consider the other person's opinion, left Kaguya momentarily confused. It was only after Chika reminded her that she realized there was no need to hide anything in the first place.

{Okay, let's do it that way. Although my memory of this is still a bit hazy, perhaps this is the right approach.}

Li Xiaoxiao nodded gently, having no objection to Qianhua's suggestion.

{Also, I apologize to both of you. I was originally going to lead the operation to protect you, but I ended up being the first to get into trouble. I'm truly sorry about that.}

After she finished speaking, she apologized to Kaguya and Chika very sincerely.

In the hidden village protected by the land deed, Goto Ichiri, having confirmed the three's plans, gently plucked the strings of his guitar. As a result, the clone that had been acting alongside Kaguya had its behavior altered on timeline. It opened the door the moment the first zombie villager crashed into it and let him inside, thus completely changing the rhythm of the actions of the people inside for the next few minutes.

Unimpeded, the villagers hopped up to Li Xiaoxiao, their bruised and expressionless faces staring directly at the pale-faced Li Xiaoxiao standing to the side of the house.

Just as expected, these corpses were indeed aimed at Li Xiaoxiao herself. Kaguya and Chika were completely out of their sights and were ignored as long as they weren't in their way.

But what will it do?

This thing, which looks completely dead no matter how you look at it, is still being driven by supernatural forces. What is its intention in finding Li Xiaoxiao and coming to her at this moment?

After Kaguya's clone brought in a villager, she immediately closed the door, tied a bell to it, and then turned with Chika to face the villager's corpse. She took out her Soul-Stealing Bow, ready to shoot an arrow at Li Xiaoxiao if the villager tried to attack her.

However, what happened next was somewhat unexpected for the two of them.

Click——click——

With a series of heavy thuds, the sound of cracking came from the corpse's knees, and indeed from the bones throughout its entire body.

Then, its legs, which were originally difficult to bend, bent, its stiff back bent, and its arms twisted into an unrecognizable shape.

Even now, the corpse still doesn't exude the eerie aura that a ghost should have.

Its body swayed precariously amidst the continuous cracking of bones, appearing to be in rather dire condition.

thump!

Then it knelt down.

After swaying and preparing for a good twenty seconds, the thing knelt down directly in front of Li Xiaoxiao, its head hitting the ground, and its seemingly clumsy hands pounding the ground several times before stopping.

Help me...

It seemed like they heard a sound coming from the corpse.

It was difficult to determine whether the hoarse sound came from the corpse's mouth or from somewhere around it.

"Help me...help us...didn't we agree that we'd help you get out of here safely...you need to find someone to rescue us..."

[Since we made a promise, we can't break it... We have to find it quickly... Come back and save us... Save us... Save me...]

"Hurry...hurry up...get us out of here...I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place anymore...what bullshit mountain gods and goddesses...whoever wants to believe them can believe them..."

The corpse's face remained expressionless, and its mouth was tightly closed, making it appear as if it were not speaking at all.

But the desperate murmurs echoed clearly inside the house. In a daze, Kaguya and Chika even felt as if they really saw a villager with a desperate expression huddled in the house, desperately praying for a savior to arrive, fantasizing about successfully escaping the village, until death came for him.

There was no outburst of supernatural power, nor any signs of curses or corruption.

The corpse merely knelt and kowtowed to Li Xiaoxiao, simply reproducing the desperate prayers of its last moments before death; nothing more.

{...In this situation, what's the best way to respond? It feels like neither answering "help" nor "don't help" is quite right; both could easily lead to problems.}

Chika and Kaguya hadn't expected that the corpse would actually show no signs of harm, and for a moment they didn't know what to do in this situation.

No, there's no point in answering; whatever you say will be useless.

Li Xiaoxiao, however, seemed to have recovered somewhat by this moment. She stepped forward, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and helped the corpse up by the shoulder. She continued walking forward, while the corpse swayed and followed behind the player.

{I didn't realize it before, but now that I'm really close, I can see that this corpse is just an empty shell with a few lingering resentments. It doesn't even possess the power of rules that should be present in a ghost story, and it can't even be considered a ghost at all.}

The reason they turned out this way is because the Zhang family did it intentionally. They realized long ago what the consequences of trying to please both sides would be, and they had been trying to save themselves. These ambiguous corpses were one of their ways of doing so.

{...Now I can clearly remember that it had nothing to do with the ghost-suppressing spirits. The Zhang family disappeared even before the old Taoist priest Ge Yuan entered the village. The third god they worshipped was actually something they fabricated themselves. Just like these ignorant remains who died in despair, it was their own choice, their "self-salvation." Everything was just a desperate attempt to survive, a desperate gamble.}

squeak-

Li Xiaoxiao opened the door, walked out of the house, and stepped onto the ground illuminated by the night sky.

Before entering this place, she also blocked her perception, so she was unable to perceive the state of the sky and could safely walk in the nighttime instance.

Kaguya and Chika noticed that the player's condition had clearly changed again. They exchanged a glance, discussed it briefly in their mental link, and then followed the player.

Li Xiaoxiao now resembles a dungeon NPC more than a player, and it's uncertain whether this abnormal state will eventually kill her. However, for the two girls who came to investigate and search for the fourth core's obsession, such concerns are irrelevant. Finding the fourth core as quickly as possible to help Gao Hai overcome the current difficulties in the dungeon is the most important thing. If things really go wrong, they can only wait until the next playthrough to try and save this player.

{I think... I know where to go next. These things, they know where I should go...}

Li Xiaoxiao continued walking in the darkness.

The villagers' corpses appeared stiffly from all around, then, amidst the sounds of bones cracking, they reformed into something resembling a normal person walking, but with their bodies twisted like rag dolls, and followed behind her.

Kaguya and Chika walked among the corpses, feeling a strange sense of participating in a parade of a hundred demons. To avoid disturbing Li Xiaoxiao at the front, they remained silent and continued on their way, simply keeping a distance from the corpses to avoid physical contact.

{Huh?}

It was at this moment that Kaguya was somewhat surprised to discover that Li Xiaoxiao was moving in the same direction as the powerful monster she sensed. Furthermore, as Li Xiaoxiao advanced step by step towards it, the monster, which had previously been heading their way, began to slowly move away, maintaining a constant distance between them.

Could it be that the reason the strange creature initially appeared in the distance but slowly approached was to guide us and lead us in its direction?

Kaguya's pupils constricted slightly upon realizing this. She realized that the Zhang family, seemingly the weakest and first to leave among the three families in this instance, might not be as foolish as it appeared. This family village, with the fewest members, which always tried to remain neutral in the conflict between the Li and Liu families, might actually have come up with something remarkable in order to survive.

However, considering past practices, Kaguya did not believe that the Zhang family would ultimately succeed. On the contrary, they were likely to not only fail but also cause a major upheaval after their defeat.

After all, setting aside the old Taoist priest Ge Yuan who later became the door-knocking ghost, the key words used by the night watchman—whose identity remains unknown but who, like the ghost-suppressing person, possessed both divine blood and the power of "that thing"—to evaluate the Zhang family, namely, "self-righteous" and "digging their own grave," are enough to illustrate the problem. Given such an assessment, Kaguya didn't believe anything good awaited them at the end of this path.

{Be prepared. If we get direct access to the core obsession, we can only attempt one confrontation between the obsession object and the blessing at most. If we can't gain a significant advantage or suppress the opponent in the first confrontation, we should immediately relocate. After all, our purpose here is only to confirm the situation of the core obsession. Once we have a general description of its characteristics, Gao Jun can use the [Obsessionist's Pen] to locate the core obsession object. Forcibly confronting a Crimson Moon-level core has never been our goal.}

After a moment of careful consideration, Kaguya spoke earnestly to Chika through their mental link.

{Yeah, don't worry, Kaguya-kun. I'm not good at fighting, and I don't plan to fight monsters like those with a Crimson Moon-level Core Obsession. Of course, I also don't want Akai to worry about me. So if we really encounter them, I might just run away immediately.}

Chika's reply was somewhat teasing, but her expression was very serious, clearly indicating that this playful girl also knew exactly what time it was.

Tread - Tread -

Under the dark sky, a group of twisted corpses and a few players cautiously made their way forward together.