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

{Mr. Gao! Wake up, Mr. Gao! Don't let this force cloud your judgment, don't lose yourself!}

Alice was created by the teacher's imagination, wasn't she? The teacher gave Alice life; everything about Alice originated from the teacher, was shaped by the teacher herself. Therefore, Alice and the teacher were originally one, weren't they?

{Mr. Gao? Mr. Gao? Gao...}

"Hehehehehehehe—"

Gao Hai was laughing wildly.

The 10-minute blessing of immortality had not yet ended. At this moment, covered in blood and looking like a monster, he burst into laughter. In Li Ziyong's eyes, he looked no different from a monster.

He wanted to run away, but he couldn't muster any strength.

The terrifying mental power erupting from Gao Hai almost completely tore Li Ziyong's consciousness apart. At this moment, he could barely maintain consciousness, and his nerve functions that controlled his body were already disordered. He could no longer even stand up.

"You, you, you, you~"

Gao Hai squatted down and gently tapped Li Ziyong's head.

"You keep saying you look down on the Liu family's behavior, but your own actions are even more filthy. Don't you ever realize how ridiculous you are? Hehehe, Alice is starting to like people like you. I bet your screams would be especially melodious if you were a doll! But, but, I've seen plenty of trash. You may stink, but you're nothing to me. You're not worth my attention."

Gao Hai's voice kept changing, sometimes carrying a strange, provocative tone, sometimes overflowing with mockery and contempt, as if he had a split personality. Coupled with his current horrific appearance of being covered in rotten flesh, with even his bones forcibly pieced together using blessed power, it was nothing short of mental pollution for Li Ziyong, who was already under immense pressure.

However, this level of oppression wouldn't kill him outright.

After all, this guy, whose personality and thinking are completely distorted, is still an old man who has lived for almost a thousand years.

Gao Hai could see it very clearly.

The man named Li Ziyong was actually the son of the patriarch of the Li clan who settled in Xiaoheishan back then. He was the oldest and most senior member of the three families in Yingti Village.

The mysterious man known as Mr. Du had long ago found Li Ziyong, who harbored resentment towards the Liu family's arrogant attitude and, disregarding village harmony, insisted on leading the young members of the Li family to cause trouble and escalate the conflict. At that time, Li Ziyong rallied many young people like himself, but his father and a few respected elders opposed the young people's actions, choosing to maintain peaceful relations with the Liu family and even threatening to strip Li Ziyong of his right to inherit the clan headship. Therefore, Li Ziyong collaborated with Mr. Du to kill his own father and also the heir chosen by his father—his own younger brother—before seizing power and orchestrating a further rift between the Li and Liu families.

In this matter alone, the blame cannot be entirely placed on Li Ziyong himself. After all, he only carried out his extreme views because he had the support of more than half of the young people in the village. These Li family villagers, who came from bandit backgrounds, clearly lacked the ability to educate their descendants. They taught them low-moral violence and the ability to plunder others, without considering that the current environment had changed, and that the inherent conflicts between different clans had not been completely resolved, ultimately leading to their division.

But what happened after that was, in Gao Hai's and Alice's eyes, quite disgusting (and interesting).

I don't want to die...

Tell me, Mr. Du, please tell me, how can I survive?

Since Mr. Du, you've remained so young all these years, you must have some way to prolong your life, right?

The elderly Li Ziyong pleaded desperately.

[To prolong one's own life, the only option is to plunder others. Hmph, Chief Li, how far are you willing to go for this?]

Mr. Du chuckled and pointed the old man down a path—a cruel and inhumane path.

Li Ziyong accepted without hesitation.

One day, Li Ziyong's biological son went to Li Ziyong's bedside when he was dying. A few minutes later, Li Ziyong died, and his son quickly held a funeral. The villagers said that his son had grown up and matured, and had become almost exactly like Li Ziyong.

Then came the grandson, then the great-grandson, and so on, generation after generation.

At first, I would only consider this kind of thing after I was over fifty years old, after my body had indeed aged a lot.

But as he gradually adapted to this situation, Li Ziyong began to choose younger and younger offspring. After all, the younger the life, the more attractive and captivating its vibrant energy. As for those who called him "Dad," those who believed in and depended on him, he had handled them very skillfully, without ever making a mistake.

Later, he couldn't resist playing some tricks. He would choose one son in advance and declare that he would be the heir to the position of clan leader. Then he would take over the body of another son and seize the position of clan leader from the original son, making the other son bear all sorts of blame, plunging him into the pain of self-doubt, and even driving him insane or to death.

As for the purpose of doing this, it might sound a bit strange, but it's actually for nostalgia. It stems from a lingering resentment stemming from Li Ziyong's father's decision to disqualify him from inheriting the clan chief position. He deliberately reenacts these events as a form of entertainment. Each time the villagers of the Li family accept him as clan chief, and the child who originally thought he would become clan chief is abandoned, he experiences an unparalleled, perverse pleasure, becoming insanely excited.

However, occasionally there would be truly capable individuals, those who earned the trust of the Li family villagers, individuals even difficult for someone as shrewd and intelligent as him to deal with. When encountering such people, he would not hesitate to kill them without hesitation, and would make sure the victim knew before their death that it was their trusted father who had carried it out. Such situations were rare, but each time they enraged Li Ziyong; he simply couldn't tolerate such trash who ruined his entertainment. Even now, hundreds of years later, he still remembers the names of those children, and every night before falling asleep, he curses them, wishing them no peace in their next life, and that they will be torn to pieces for eternity.

Just like the time he deliberately lured in a mutinous army, Li Duosun actually proved to be quite capable. Since conventional methods weren't working, Li Ziyong deliberately attracted a mutinous army, causing chaos and heavy casualties in the village. Then, he had Mr. Du mislead the villagers, making them believe that Li Duosun was responsible, not Li Ziyong. Through this method, Li Duosun was beaten, insulted, and completely abandoned by the villagers, allowing Li Ziyong to regain his position as clan chief—a truly fantastic experience. However, Li Duosun was also resilient. Although deeply affected and unable to understand why he had committed such a bizarre act of luring in a mutinous army, he persevered, serving as the clan chief's deputy and assisting Li Ziyong in many ways.

Li Ziyong didn't care about this. He had never treated his descendants as human beings; there was only a difference between those he liked and those he didn't. Originally, he didn't like Li Duosun, but now that he was working obediently for him, he was somewhat more agreeable, so he let him be.

In any case, the Li family has its own leader, and will inevitably continue to exist forever. He is right, he is the correct one. All the members of the Li family need to do is listen to him, all they need to do is submit to him, and that is enough.

Collaborate with Mr. Du to destroy the Zhang and Liu families.

Establish a deep connection with the mountain god and truly master a certain extraordinary power.

By continuously offering sacrifices to enhance their extraordinary power and gain true longevity, they led the entire village into the realm of the inhuman.

Li Ziyong was immersed in this pleasure.

He believed that this would continue forever, and would never stop.

Until those damned ghost hunters appeared...

The biggest threat they'd faced before was nothing more than those foolish Taoist priests, whom they easily killed after a few mischiefs. But these demon-suppressing people—their organization is incredibly tight-knit, and they dared to kill someone after just a slight probing. What audacity! Do they even know whose territory this is?!

Ordinary villagers can't deal with these sorcerers; only the Mountain God can help.

Tsk... Even the Mountain God's power isn't enough? How is that possible? Is it because they discovered and disrupted the ritual beforehand, so the Mountain God's power wasn't truly unleashed?

Wait, why are there more and more of them? These people... are they planning to completely eliminate the ghosts? What are ghosts? Damn it, I can't let these lunatics run rampant anymore. Since the mountain god ritual will be discovered, I'll break the seal left by Mr. Du and release all the truly powerful ghosts!

Hahaha, aren't you all so righteous and indignant? I'd like to see just how capable you really are!

What? Breaking the seal might cause problems? Are you the clan leader or am I? Don't forget, I am the most respected person in Li Family Village!

Release all the seals and kill all those ghost-suppressing people!

That's right, that's exactly how it should be, hahaha, good riddance!

Wait, what's going on?

No, no, no, this shouldn't be happening! No, I don't want to die! No! Ahhhhhhh!

The seal has been broken.

The demons were wiped out by this reckless action.

The last remaining villagers of Xiaoheishan were also affected by the backlash and all died from the power of the strange creature.

No, they didn't really die.

The mountain god's power brought them back to life, forcibly turning these villagers, who had died and become monsters, back into humans.

However, from then on, they were never able to leave this place again.

With the divine power responding to the sacrificial rituals performed by the villagers themselves, the villagers who had been resurrected were no longer qualified to make any decisions. They were completely trapped in Little Black Mountain and had to constantly offer fresh flesh and blood as sacrifices, or they risked being swallowed up.

This development has nothing to do with the mountain god; it is simply the result of generations of choices made by these villagers themselves.

From then on, the Li family was no longer the same as before. They became dogs with their own necks tied by the rules they had created, and there was no longer any possibility of changing their own fate.

Well, how should I put it? After so many years of distortion, these people no longer feel that there's anything wrong with it, and they've even become proud of it after getting used to it.

Gao Hai understood everything, which is why he found Li Ziyong utterly disgusting, and the Li Family Village, which had been led to its current state by Li Ziyong, was equally disgusting. In his eyes, these people couldn't be called human; they were nothing more than beasts, completely succumbing to their desires, unable to see any long-term future, and incapable of empathy or compassion. Such people shouldn't live in this world; they should all be exterminated!

Alice understood everything, and she found it all incredibly amusing. The unbridled release of desire and folly had created a wonderful synergy, much like the rotting corpses of Takamagahara who thought themselves gods. Such fools were everywhere. But those who caused such a massive disaster and such a catastrophe were rare indeed. Alice found it fascinating to encounter such a person, and she even considered becoming friends with them.

"It's over now. You can go to hell and think about your reaction, hehe~"

Amidst the overlapping, splitting sounds, Gao Hai reached out his hand to Li Ziyong.

It was at this moment that a strange feeling stirred within him.

Realizing that something might have happened somewhere, Gao Hai turned around and looked in the direction from which the feeling was coming from.

The next second, his pupils narrowed slightly, and his body tensed up instantly.

Chapter 145: The Bloodstains Gradually Devouring the Foundation of the Dungeon and the Players' Resistance

Saw nothing.

There was nothing in sight.

No matter how closely we observed, we could not detect anything unusual.

But it shouldn't be like this.

It shouldn't be like this no matter what.

Such a heart-pounding feeling...

Such a profound sense of terror, as if the gates of the abyss had been opened...

The other party is right here.

Even without being able to see the other person clearly, Gao Hai could understand that the other person was currently in this place.

No, it's not just that.

Every space, every piece of land, the entire realm of this copy world.

That which he could not see was hidden within the entirety of his vision.

It's as if the entire world has been eroded, transformed, and turned into something else from its very foundation and deepest core.

But he can't see.

Even though I could feel that thing so clearly, I still couldn't see anything.

It was as if his senses had become disoriented at that moment, and under the influence of some incomprehensible and terrifying force, he was being deceived, causing him to lose the ability to recognize that thing.

But this shouldn't be the case.

Under normal circumstances, Gao Hai, as a human, admitted that such a situation was still possible. But now, he had merged with the Mountain God to a certain extent, and he was beginning to gain a divine perspective. Having reached this level, there should be nothing in this instance that could continue to deceive him.

Unless... it's that thing?

The moment he realized the truth, Gao Hai had to admit that every cell in his body began to tremble.

He finally understood.

Why haven't I been tracked by the Blood Flower throughout this cycle?

Why is it that no matter what I do, the scent of blood never appears in the real world?

Even as he gradually collected the items of obsession and slowly worked towards unlocking the secrets of this instance, Blood Flower never hindered him.

Compared to what this thing does, my own efforts are really not worth caring about.

Even though Gao Hai endured immense effort and pain, and even though all his teammates did their utmost to help him, none of that mattered compared to what the Crimson Flower had done. Because once it had accomplished its task, the [Instance] itself ceased to exist.

has already started.

The moment Gao Hai realized the truth, he knew that His actions had already begun.