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

While pondering, Ichiri manipulated the clone to approach the corpse that served as the core of his obsession. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that the corpse maintained a tense posture and had an abnormal bluish-purple skin, Ichiri would probably have mistaken it for an old man who had fallen asleep standing up. It's also worth mentioning that while the corpses emerging from the two rows of coffins around them were recognizable, there was no corresponding phantom for this old man with his eyes closed. Neither Kaguya nor Chika could find a corresponding individual among the phantom villagers of Zhangjia Village.

Could this be the clan chief of Zhangjia Village?

After all, shouldn't the big boss be the highest-ranking officer? Just like in fantasy games, the most powerful soldier in the army is definitely the general, and the most powerful demon is definitely the demon king. Most works are set up like this.

Jingle Bell--

As the girl pondered and observed the corpse, a barely perceptible bell suddenly rang from behind her.

Something's behind me!?

Almost instantly, Ichiri became alert and manipulated her clone into a defensive stance, but did not immediately turn around to look. In contrast, Ichiri herself, who was in the hidden village, suddenly had a small mirror in her hand, and the image that appeared in the mirror was behind the clone, as if an invisible eye had grown on the top of the clone's head.

At first, in the darkness, nothing was displayed on the mirror.

But then, as the power of this obsessive object that could display "the real thing" began to take effect, Ichiri clearly saw the fluctuations of spatial distortion, and from the gaps in those fluctuations, a face that was already obviously distorted emerged.

{Li Ziyong?}

Gao Hai, who shared the image through a mental link, called out the person's name.

Wait, is that person?

Yili was stunned for a moment. She had obtained information from Gao Hai about previous playthroughs. She knew that the patriarch of Li Family Village had used the power of the mountain god to kill her and Gao Hai in the first playthrough. In the third playthrough, after Gao Hai retaliated against Li Family Village, she tried to attack Gao Hai, but to no avail and could only flee in a sorry state again. After that, the patriarch's whereabouts were unknown.

Although Gao Hai successfully sacrificed the entire village of Li Family Village by communicating with the flesh and stone statue in the later stages of the third playthrough, he suspected that Li Ziyong might have survived and not been killed along with the villagers because Li Ziyong was not present in the group. After all, he was the one who controlled this eerie village in the instance, and it was impossible for him to have no trump cards up his sleeve after so many years of accumulation.

Jingle Bell--

Through the mirror's perspective, Ichiri confirmed that Li Ziyong, who seemed somewhat out of sorts, was holding a small golden bell. It was he who was gently shaking it that Ichiri had heard the faint ringing.

The other party is not in this space.

Through those ripples, Yi Li could confirm that Li Ziyong herself was not in the deathly space where her clone was located. She had used the power of some kind of obsessive object to transmit the bell's sound across space to the Ghost Cry Cave.

hum-

All the corpses began to sway at that moment.

The previously still and quiet corpses began to tremble all over, then returned to their coffins, which then closed automatically with a dull thud.

One after another, pale paper figures appeared, lifting the coffin, scattering paper money, and playing shrill funeral music.

What happened next is unknown.

Because the previously quiet old man's corpse started moving, grabbing the clone in less than a second and throwing it into its coffin. According to the last senses transmitted by the clone, the power inside the coffin first drained the clone's blood, then instantly stripped the clone's flesh and internal organs, crushing the bones into pitch-black stone, completing the division at an extremely fast speed.

Was that flesh and blood offered to the Fox Queen? And then the bones were transformed into black stones imbued with the power of the Mountain God?

Yili reached out and covered her throbbing, dizzy head, let out a long breath and recovered a little, then closed her eyes and began to think again.

She had no way of knowing what happened after that. After this clone was destroyed, the girl was nearing her limit and could no longer continue investigating and exploring. Of course, there was no need for her to continue doing so, since the information she had observed was enough for Gao Hai to begin searching for the core obsession object, not to mention that according to the information transmitted through the mental link, the other party seemed to be heading towards Gao Hai's direction.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

With each heavy step, the Zhangjia Village villagers, now twisted and grotesque, appeared around Gao Hai.

Amidst the stench of decay, intense resentment and a death wish quickly spread.

Unlike the corpses Kaguya and Chika had seen before, the corpses now emanated the aura of Red Moon-level monsters—monsters that posed a genuine threat to players. Even Red Moon-level players facing enemies of this caliber in a one-on-one situation had to proceed with extreme caution and could not completely avoid defeat. The number of monsters appearing before Takahashi now exceeded twenty and continued to increase.

Moreover, several pale white hands emerged from the darkness in the sky, and the core obsession that had been lingering in the abandoned village now came knocking. At this moment, due to the overwhelming aura of the strange creatures around him, Gao Hai's perception was disrupted, and he couldn't even determine whether there was a real body within those hands. He could only endure the increasingly intense mental erosion.

Of course, this scene did not make Gao Hai panic.

"I was wondering if someone was hiding behind this and causing trouble, and it turns out there really is. Li Ziyong, aren't you going to show your face?"

He even whistled, and after receiving the information from Goto Ichiri, he called out the other person's name directly.

【...Do you know me?】

Li Ziyong's voice rang out in the darkness.

Completely different from the previous playthrough, she had lost all confidence, suppressing fear and confusion, her voice trembling and hoarse.

Even before seeing the other person, Gao Hai could imagine their disheveled appearance. Especially when recalling and comparing this person's confident and arrogant demeanor during the first playthrough, Gao Hai had to admit that it was strangely comical.

"I do know the village chief of Li Family Village. No, you should be the former village chief now, since I'm the one who holds the land deed. Speaking of which, how did you survive? Logically speaking, all the villagers of Li Family Village should have been sacrificed, right? I'm very curious how you escaped."

After subtly gesturing to Chachai behind him, Gao Hai maintained a relaxed expression and continued speaking into the darkness.

The Li family...were they really sacrificed...? Why...how did you do that...?

Unsurprisingly, after Gao Hai's self-destruction, the voice in the darkness trembled even more, as if it had suffered severe mental trauma.

[We've clearly...we've already prepared a new festival for welcoming the gods...]

Everyone was joyfully anticipating the new ritual... Everyone was happy... chatting and laughing... and then suddenly they disappeared...

The village suddenly became deserted... Everyone disappeared... The mountain god also became abnormal... became extremely weak... My authority as the village chief also disappeared... This... all of this... these terrible things... it was all you... did you do it...?

A phantom slowly emerged, and Li Ziyong appeared in Gao Hai's sight with bloodshot eyes and a distorted expression.

His body trembled, his eyes fixed on Gao Hai, as if he were looking at an incomprehensible, terrifying monster rather than a person.

Considering that this guy probably couldn't retain his memories of the past like Blood Flower, Mountain God, and Fox Girl, he must have been completely unaware of what was happening when he suddenly discovered that the entire village was gone. The mental shock he suffered must have been quite severe, especially after discovering that there were problems with the Mountain God and the land deed, and that all his assets had been wiped out. It's safe to say that it's quite impressive that he didn't go insane.

Who...who are you...are you even human...what grudge does the Li family hold against you...why are you making things difficult for us innocent people...?

With his mouth agape and his expression contorted with rage, Li Ziyong was about to question Gao Hai.

boom!

But before he could finish speaking, Gao Hai, who had finally confirmed the other party's location through his mental power that he could project after the mutation, fired his gun directly. Then, Li Ziyong's phantom wave flickered, and one of his ears was instantly smashed and turned blood red.

Tsk, did it just happen to tilt its head slightly just as the bullet was about to hit?

Gao Hai frowned. He realized that this sure-hit pistol still had a small flaw. Although it could aim at the target and hit the opponent out of thin air, if the opponent moved at the moment of being hit, it was still possible for the target to deviate from its position.

However, this kind of minor problem is easy to fix.

Ugh...you heartless bastard...

Bang bang bang bang bang bang——

Li Ziyong, clutching his bloodied ear, tried to say something more, but Gao Hai pulled the trigger repeatedly, and dozens of bullets struck Li Ziyong from all angles in an instant. The impact of each bullet was equivalent to that of a small rocket, instantly shattering the man's body into pieces, leaving not a single fragment larger than a fingernail.

Such attacks might not be effective in truly killing the opponent, given that Li Ziyong seemed unusually resilient. However, Gao Hai felt that a few more strikes wouldn't be enough; he figured he might as well collect some interest in advance, and besides…

"I've seen enough of you utterly despicable idiots who always turn the tables and blame others. Seriously, don't do this kind of boring, rubbish stuff in front of me. You may not find it disgusting, but I do."

After making a casual remark, Gao Hai summoned the police officers and turned his attention to the surrounding corpses and pale hands.

Chapter 134: The Defenders at the Front and the Explorers at the Rear

Being besieged by two Red Moon-level core obsessions at the same time is something that is undoubtedly unimaginable for any player.

Even Chachai, known as the "Historian" and a notorious daredevil among Red Moon-level players, rarely attempts to provoke two Red Moon-level core obsessions simultaneously. On the rare occasions he has provoked them, he has always had an escape route planned beforehand and only dares to do so when he is confident of escape. A situation like this, where he is confronted by two core obsessions, especially with their rules and abilities not yet fully explored, and without any concrete countermeasures, is something Chachai has never done before.

"call……"

My breathing has become heavy involuntarily.

The pale hand that appeared in the dark sky stretched out slightly, and invisible lines spread out from its fingers, connecting to several blurry figures crawling out of the mud.

The zombie-like creatures leaped up and landed steadily on the ground, hopping forward with heavy thuds. Their movements appeared incredibly slow, but in reality, they could cover more than ten meters in the blink of an eye, closing the distance to the players at an astonishing speed.

These inhuman beings are unleashing their power with unbridled abandon.

The hand floating in the sky was undoubtedly an extension of the power of a Red Moon-level core obsession. Even if the object present here was not necessarily the original, this twisted and terrifying power would not change. The same was true for the corpses that were closing in from all directions. Chachai could clearly feel a core obsession-level power spreading within these things, waiting for an opportunity to be released.

If he were to face this situation alone, the only possible outcome would be death.

Chachai couldn't help but ponder this in his heart.

However, he wasn't particularly nervous.

Although the current situation was a death sentence for a player like him, the problem was that he wasn't alone. Standing in front of him was the unpredictable Mr. Gao Hai. Behind this man, whose power was beyond description, to the point that he sometimes couldn't help but wonder if he was a Buddha reincarnated, or the ultimate powerhouse sent by heaven to save the world, Chachai himself felt absolutely no tension.

{I'll handle this. If you have the resources, try searching for those two core objects of obsession. If not, protect yourself and avoid being affected by my attacks.}

Gao Hai's calm voice rang out in the temporary mental link. He stepped forward and headed directly towards the twisted corpses.

This situation was within Chachai's expectations. He didn't make any grand pronouncements about fighting alongside Gao Hai. Instead, he nodded slightly, turned around, and quickly disappeared into the dark village.

Fighting against the core obsessions of the Red Moon class is pointless. After all, these things are indestructible, and even if you win, you won't gain anything. In comparison, finding the core obsession object as soon as possible and thus completing the key objective of this operation is more important.

So, where are they hidden, these last two core obsessions?

While they were thinking, Chachai had already disappeared into the darkness. Meanwhile, Gao Hai and the police officers he had summoned were facing the strange creatures around them, one on each side.

The third bomb hasn't been used yet, and there are still four suppression bombs left. We still have quite a few things that can quickly suppress the Red Moon-class monster, but using them all here probably wouldn't be a good idea. After all, neither the ghastly white hand nor the zombie seems to be the monster's true form. It's best to save these crucial measures for when facing the real thing.

So let's use items that can be used continuously to deal with these things.

buzzing-

Amidst the piercing buzzing sound, a blood-red chainsaw appeared in Gao Hai's hand.

The corpses howled, and the power of the curse spread rapidly, the intense pollution beginning to erode Gao Hai's consciousness.

It seemed as if invisible lines were trying to control Gao Hai's body, to establish a connection with his flesh and bones, and even to invade his soul.

But none of this matters.

The power of the Void Transformation Blessing protected Gao Hai's body and consciousness, while the Berserk Blessing further propelled his already formidable physique to an even higher level. Coupled with his now-upgraded and powerful mental strength, even the rule power of the Red Moon-level monster could hardly interfere with Gao Hai himself.

Moreover, he is not fighting alone now.

Bang bang bang bang bang——

Amidst the continuous roar of gunfire, police officers followed Gao Hai as they charged towards the grotesque corpses, constantly pulling the trigger to launch attacks. For a moment, the dark village was filled with explosions, as if it had turned into a chaotic battlefield of World War II.

Rumble--Rumble--

Amid the violent explosion, the other players, who were also in this abandoned village, began to take action.

Wow, that was quite a commotion! He clearly hadn't rested much at all. Mr. Gao's physical and mental strength is terrifying!

Tangyuan gazed at the distant village, where flames were already burning and crackling incessantly, and couldn't help but shake his head and click his tongue in amazement, remarking in the temporary mental link.

Did Ahai come straight here without resting?

Upon hearing this, Chika's expression changed, and she immediately realized that Takahashi was probably forcing himself to continue fighting.