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

Then, he sensed the aura emanating from the night watchman that he had previously failed to perceive.

Chapter 152: The Night Watchman, the Form of the Root, and the Ultimate Fateful Choice

Night watchman.

The most mysterious creature in the entire [Infant Cry Village] instance, whose origin has never been found.

Although it has been parasitized and assimilated by the Blood Flower, it still maintains its monster form, unlike the villagers of Liu Family Village who have become repetitive, afterimage-like figures. It can even perceive the events happening within this instance while in its monster form. From its chanting, it's clear that events up to the complete formation of the [Infant Cry Village] instance are not secrets to it. However, according to the records of the Ghost Suppressor, many of the events it describes occurred after it had already appeared in its monster form.

How could a night watchman who has become a monster know what happens after he dies?

Given that transforming into a ghostly state would essentially preclude any new possibilities, why is this ghostly figure, who is also a night watchman, able to do such a thing? This is abnormal; this is extremely abnormal.

Gao Hai still remembers his first encounter with the night watchman. At that time, he used his own blood to steal the watchman's clapperboard and even used a chainsaw to chop the watchman as a test.

At that time, he judged that the night watchman was a product of the fusion and compromise of the power of the Blood Flower and the power of divine blood. He guessed that the night watchman was a strange creature transformed from a villager, without realizing the biggest suspicious point about this thing. Later, when more information was collected and it was possible to go back and analyze and question this thing, Gao Hai was under pressure from the Blood Flower and could not pay attention to the situation here. He could only do his best to speed up the action to collect the obsession objects, and as a result, he forgot about this matter.

Judging from the characteristics of the supernatural creatures, the night watchman undoubtedly does not meet the criteria for a supernatural creature.

Even though it does possess the aura of a ghost, any player who sees it for the first time without knowing what's suspicious about it will assume it is a ghost. Well, considering the blood vines covering it, it's unlikely any player who actually sees it will survive, but the fact is, its aura is truly indistinguishable from that of a ghost.

But since there are undeniable doubts about the actions, we can only think in that direction.

The night watchman is not a ghost.

{what do you?}

Because he was underwater, Gao Hai didn't speak. Instead, he used his mental energy to ask the night watchman directly.

【…】

no answer.

In Gao Hai's eyes, this was a plant-like person constructed from blood vines. He reached out and tapped on a non-existent wooden clapper, just shaking his head and staying in place, seemingly doing nothing, yet as if waiting for him to take some action.

{You're not actually a monster; you... have self-awareness and reason, right?}

Gao Hai had already realized that the so-called night watchman was probably like Alice from Fujika Middle School—a kind of alien life form disguised as a monster. After all, the Alice he had encountered was a monster that also possessed the aura of a monster, but had the ability to think and break through the limitations of rules.

However, Alice was able to come into being because researchers persistently manipulated life, stimulating and combining the power of strange creatures in various ways, thus creating a monster that crossed the line.

While the villagers in the Black Mountain instance are somewhat abstract and exhibit anthropomorphic behavior one after another, even the Li family hasn't attempted to create any rational monsters—a suicidal act. As for the mysterious Mr. Du, although information is scarce, Gao Hai has gleaned insights into his actions through his empathy with the thirty-eight-sided ornament, confirming that he likely hasn't engaged in such tricks.

So where did the night watchman come from?

If its creation wasn't man-made, then... it was innate? Was it born directly from within this instance? Like a derived obsession? But that doesn't seem right either; this thing and a derived obsession are completely different things, they can't be considered the same kind at all...

Or……

Gao Hai suddenly understood.

He stared at the night watchman before him, and suddenly recalled the hazy world that KP Joker had led him to after successfully cracking the records of Nightfall Mountain Middle School and the Baydos Research Institute, when everything was in ruins, and what the Joker had told him back then.

[...It is incomplete, lacking self-awareness and genuine conviction, like an egg that has been cut open before it is fully developed, essentially equivalent to "nothingness".]

That's right.

He obtained the origin form of the [Campus Ghost Stories].

An unfulfilled conception is essentially the root form of a "stillborn fetus".

At that time, I was not able to see the true Root Form. According to KP, the true Root Form... would have self-awareness and its own obsessions.

Just like the watchman who appears before him now, possessing the dual auras of divine blood and blood flower power that form the foundation of the dungeon, exuding the aura of a strange creature, yet able to know most of the things that happened during the dungeon's creation, observing coldly and making evaluations.

It's like a real monster, blending into the dungeon without any noticeable problem, and even acting according to certain rules.

This thing is essentially an anomaly, a new life born from the convergence of the supernatural power of the [Sacrifice Game]. For hundreds of years, it has silently watched everything happen, neither stopping nor joining in, but simply observing.

The Li family, the Liu family, the Zhang family... it witnessed the rise and fall of these three twisted families.

The mountain god, the fox goddess, the blood flower... all the traces left by the gods, whether dead or alive, in this world are within its sight.

I should have thought of that sooner.

Even though Chachai had already shared some of his deductions with him, and even though he had considered the possibility of the Root Form existing within this instance, he hadn't expected it to be mixed in with the other creatures, appearing indistinguishable from any ordinary one, never revealing itself from beginning to end. Not only that, this thing even managed to emerge when the instance invaded the real world, almost causing him and Miko to encounter it head-on.

{You are the origin form of this instance, aren't you? For so many years, you've observed everything from the sidelines. Now you've come before me of your own accord. What is your purpose in doing so?}

After a brief moment of thought, Gao Hai decided to treat the other party as a legitimate intelligent being, and so he asked it a question with a serious expression.

【……hey-hey】

Then, Gao Hai heard a strange, inexplicable laugh.

The night watchman got up and gently tapped the clapper, as if the clapper that Gao Hai had taken from him was still in his hand.

Once Gao Hai realized what this thing meant, he didn't waste any words. He took out a clapper from his watch space and threw it over. The night watchman caught it and then struck it hard.

when!

Even in deep water, the sound of the clappers remained incredibly loud.

This night watchman, he once had a name, Li Qigou, a good-for-nothing carpenter in the village.

Then, Gao Hai heard the night watchman's melodious voice, as if he were telling a story.

He's nothing like a typical member of the Li family. He's not greedy, doesn't rob, doesn't kill, doesn't get angry, and is always mild-mannered. He just looks like someone who's been bullied.

But this man was good for nothing else, but he was incredibly brave. People said there were ghosts in the Ghost Cry Cave, but he refused to believe it and insisted on going in. As a result, he brought out the mountain god's black stone.

[Hehe, that Li Qigou didn't know anything. His parents told him to worship the Goddess, so he did; the village chief told him to worship the Mountain God, so he did; the village chief told him not to reveal the origin of the stone, so he kept quiet; the village asked him to be a night watchman, so he actually became a night watchman. Then, the village chief said he was killed by a bear, and everyone just assumed he was killed by a bear, hehe.]

As he spoke, the night watchman gently tapped his clapper and walked around the high sea once.

{You...are Li Qigou?}

Gao Hai, who didn't quite understand what the other person meant, paused for a moment and tried to ask.

[Li Qigou was a night watchman, but the night watchman wasn't actually Li Qigou, hehehe, it's just that the man is dead, so his skin can still be used for a while.]

Then, in the next sentence of the night watchman, Gao Hai roughly understood what was going on and realized that the Root Form had taken over the body of the already dead Li Qigou and disguised it as a strange creature with the characteristics of a night watchman.

What joy is there in living, what sorrow in dying?

This play, repeated over and over again for a thousand years, ultimately turns out to be nothing more than a beastly performance disguised in human skin.

The night watchman stopped, continuing to strike the clapper, then turned to Gao Hai. The body, entirely constructed of blood vines, had no face, no eyes, or any other distinguishing features, but Gao Hai had a strange feeling; he seemed to sense the other's gaze. It was as if the night watchman was staring right into his own eyes.

I've watched this terrible show over and over again, and I'm already fed up with it, but I was born into this show, so I can't leave even if I wanted to.

Whether it's harming or saving people, I'm trapped in this drama, unable to escape, and can only watch it get worse and worse.

If you're going to ruin this show, then I'll applaud you. But to really ruin this centuries-old rubbish, it won't be that easy. Can you even manage it?

After the last sentence was uttered, the night watchman's clapper gently tapped Gao Hai's chest.

He could already vaguely sense the thoughts belonging to this non-human being.

As the form of the origin, walking through the dungeon in the guise of a night watchman, what it has witnessed over thousands of years is the division and conflict of three families, the successive destruction of the Zhang and Liu families, and the Li family's continuous distortion and madness for hundreds of years afterward.

It is not human, so it has no moral concepts. Appearing in the dungeon as a monster, it has even killed some guilty or innocent people. Occasionally, it will try to communicate with people and try to increase its understanding of people in order to further improve itself.

However, this practice ended a long time ago.

As the origin of the instance, its essence is inextricably linked to it. Under the influence of the Li family for centuries, the [Infant Cry Village] instance has become firmly established as an instance filled with ignorance, cruelty, and madness. A series of related instances have also been tainted by this power, so every world it can access and perceive is equally distorted. Everything is stagnant in endless darkness, nothing but decay and rot.

Therefore, it also stagnated, no longer seeking further evolution, no longer seeking to improve its own cognition, but simply wandering around with the copy for hundreds of years, merging into it as if it had truly become a strange creature without self and consciousness.

It has come to a profound understanding that it is the origin of [Infant Cry Village], the source of village-type dungeons.

It has come to understand that because the [Infant Cry Village], its source, is a corrupt and insane place controlled by the Li family, it, born there, can only turn the world it comes into contact with into the same filthy and ignorant world. This is its essence, its own origin that it cannot defy. And it was only after understanding this that it chose to stagnate, that it refused to attempt further self-improvement like other Root Forms, and to try to truly release its power into the real world.

If the root of "Campus Ghost Stories" is an underdeveloped, stillborn child...

So what appears before Gao Hai now is the origin of this "Infant Cry Village," a severely deformed newborn. Moreover, it is a newborn that became deformed because it deliberately stopped growing.

As the Root Form, its instincts drive it to constantly renew and evolve, releasing its wildly twisted self. However, the closed and rigid nature of the [Infant Cry Village] instance itself causes its existence to change, leading this Root Form to grow in a self-isolating direction, ultimately becoming the crippled form it is today.

In a sense, it could be said that it defied its destined fate and chose a different path, even though if it were to actually follow that path, the only result it could achieve would be death.

Gao Hai couldn't help but think of the doll's KP again, and the word "fate" that the other person always mentioned. Although he didn't believe in absolute fate, now that he had come into contact with this Root Form, he couldn't help but think of those words again.

However, these thoughts did not distract Gao Hai for too long.

Having made up his mind and decided to fight to the death for a chance to survive, no other thoughts could distract him. So, after confirming the night watchman's true intentions, he took a step forward and extended his hand.

puff--

The next moment, Gao Hai's hand pierced through the night watchman's chest, and his powerful spiritual energy began to absorb the power of this Root Form, drawing it all into Gao Hai's body.

Whatever your reasons for making this choice, thank you.

As Gao Hai said this, he closed his eyes, withdrew his hand, and what was originally the night watchman's thing was now just a pile of withered, dark gray vines, which gradually dissipated in the water and disappeared.

It is enough.

Gao Hai clenched his fist, his bones cracking at that moment.

The ascension provided by the [Form of Origin], while not as powerful as the [Essence], is still sufficient for Gao Hai to control this power.

If he were to fuse with the [Essence] now, he would definitely be able to unleash power far greater than in the previous timeline. Gao Hai even had a vague feeling that if he were to fuse with the [Essence] now, he might be able to display combat power several times greater than in the previous timeline, achieving various forms of power manipulation that were previously impossible.

This feeling… I see. Unlike the [Essence], the Form of Origin is extremely stable. It has been specially regulated and is truly the most suitable supplement for human advancement. In contrast, the [Essence] does not have strict quality control. The native gods of Earth have infused this thing with too much power, so a complete [Essence] is something that ordinary people cannot withstand under any circumstances. Even a Red Moon-level player would die if they encountered this thing.

From this perspective, the existence of the "Sacrifice Game" is truly helping humanity, as a lower civilization, to gradually ascend to a higher level.

There's no time for sentimentality anymore.

When the water body begins to exhibit increasingly strong instability.

When the silt at the bottom of the lake was stirred up by the violent tremors of the earth.

When Gao Hai once again felt that familiar yet terrifying aura spreading outwards.

He knew that victory or death depended on this last bit of time; there would be no more chances to rewind and start over. The crimson flower, having escaped at a speed far exceeding any previous playthrough, would not give Gao Hai any more chances, and Gao Hai, having already made his resolute choice, did not intend to leave himself any way out.

{Come on, then come on. Since you want me so badly, and you want this world so badly, then give it a try.}

In his mental world, Gao Hai calmly murmured to himself.

Then, in the next moment, with the help of the power of [Essence], Gao Hai directly opened a spatial rift at the bottom of the lake. Surrounded by the instantly surging water and the blood-red vines spreading from all directions, he directly entered the rift.