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

Kaguya softly uttered the names of the two items, a thoughtful expression on her face.

The ashes can prevent the living from becoming part of the supernatural after death, and can also, to some extent, hinder corpses that have become supernatural and barely impede the supernatural's actions for a moment. This item is crucial for the upcoming dungeon, and the little Gao Hai scavenged from Lao Guo is definitely not enough. However, this item is very expensive, and Kaguya only has 100,000 Japanese yen in cash. Although she has a black card that can be used freely, firstly, this item might expose her identity, and secondly, her family would definitely notice if they discovered she had spent a large sum of money.

Even if the eerie nature of the ashes prevents her family from knowing what she bought with the money, it's not impossible that this could actually increase their surveillance of her. Until the boundaries of the player's "information concealment" of ordinary people are clear, Kaguya doesn't plan to take any action.

Maki gets a bit more pocket money than me, around 150,000 yen a month, but that only adds up to 250,000 yen. According to the prices Gao Hai and Maki inquired about, a 500-gram box of ashes produced through special methods typically costs 12 million Japanese yen, and it must be accompanied by a Twilight-level item of obsession; it's absolutely impossible to buy with money alone.

Another item, the Purple Talisman, is said to be made from human blood and special paper obtained from a particular Twilight-level dungeon. This item is even more expensive. Its effect is very peculiar, and many players call it "Burning Luck." To use it, it must be lit. During the burning process, the person who lit the talisman can inexplicably gain good fortune, from escaping certain death to miraculously obtaining items that would otherwise be impossible, or even guiding the actions of strange beings to their own advantage. There are all sorts of effects, and of course, there are also cases where someone who would otherwise die a terrible death can die instantly and smoothly after lighting the talisman. In short, it is a peculiar item that can temporarily increase luck.

However, every player who used this talisman invariably fell into bad luck after it burned. And based on current statistics, this reduction in luck is likely permanent. Therefore, players calling this situation "burning away their own luck" is quite apt in a sense.

3000 million Japanese yen plus a coveted item, or even just a better coveted item in exchange for no yen... This thing clearly has strong side effects, so why is it even more expensive? Kaguya rarely showed a troubled expression. She never imagined that as the daughter of a chaebol, she would have to worry about money.

Forget it, instead of dwelling on this kind of problem, I should focus on the next mission.

There are still more than twenty days to prepare for the second instance.

All the items and props prepared to cope with the potentially complex environment have been prepared. According to the information obtained by Gao Hai and Zhen Fei, it seems that only items within a certain size limit can be brought into the dungeon by players. No player who tried to put cars, tanks, or ships in their pockets, or at least make it look like they were, has succeeded. The largest known item brought into the dungeon was a WWII MK1 cannon left by his grandfather. He carried the recoilless rifle on his back as a shoulder-fired weapon and successfully brought it into the dungeon. Then, when faced with the eerie old woman carrying only a pen, he fired three shots, and amidst the flying sparks, the eerie woman emptied his skull.

In short, the point is not about this matter. The important issue is that all three of them must be in the same instance.

Kaguya, Maki, Takami.

Having already cooperated on a mission and developed a certain level of teamwork, the players' survival rate would undoubtedly increase significantly if they could work together in the second mission. Especially Gao Hai; Kaguya has confirmed that this man possesses a kind of obsessive-compulsive or special ability to rewind time and start over. Although his various actions suggest that this ability has certain limitations and should be used cautiously, there's no doubt that as long as he's present in the same mission, even if the entire team is wiped out, he still has a chance to turn the tide and start over.

Therefore, you must make sure you get three Twilight-level dungeon entry tickets and that all three of you are in the same quest.

The problem is, admission tickets are hard to come by, especially Twilight-level admission tickets... These are highly sought-after items. Even though Maki Takami had tried her best to ask the veteran Goto Ichiri for help, the other party only said that she would provide as much assistance as possible, and it seemed that she would still have to give away at least one item of her obsession.

This is really a troublesome matter.

Kaguya couldn't help but start to feel a little troubled.

I wonder what the other two are doing right now, Maki and Takagi...

As the water gradually cooled, the girl got out of the bath while thinking, wrapped a towel around herself, and covered her beautiful body.

Meanwhile, in a small alley, several brightly colored thugs lay on the ground with long faces, looking at Gao Hai with fear in their eyes, along with a strange feeling of "Why us again?"

"So, you're out of money?"

Gao Hai's expression looked rather unpleasant.

"We really have nothing left. You're the sixth group to rob us this month. We really don't have a single penny left! Because of being robbed repeatedly, our gang went bankrupt and disbanded. Where would we get any money?"

The thug, his face bruised and swollen, cried out in despair. Judging from his grief and indignation, he must have really been beaten up a lot recently.

"Tsk, we got beaten to it..."

Gao Hai sighed somewhat unhappily, shrugged, and turned to leave.

Originally, I wanted to be like those typical novel protagonists, asking petty thugs for money to supplement my family's income.

But as Gao Hai walked along, he discovered that many people had already done this before. It seemed that quite a few players had come to these thugs to test their skills after obtaining extraordinary powers, which greatly disappointed Gao Hai.

Tonight, just like before, there are things that people can't see wandering everywhere.

Inquiries with Goto Ichiri and searches on that strange website, seemingly built with the aid of some kind of obsession, revealed that no other player in the real world experienced these things like he did. It seemed to be merely a hallucination of Takami, another world only he could see.

But Gao Hai always felt that if these eerie sights continued to develop, perhaps sooner or later, more people would see them.

Or... at that time, it will no longer just be something that can be "seen".

"What's the point of worrying about things that haven't happened yet? Let's think about how to survive until next month."

After a self-deprecating chuckle, Gao Hai strode forward, taking out his phone to reply to Zhen Fei's message from a minute earlier, "I'm going to take a shower," with the comment "Add me." He then casually strolled around the streets, passing by a ramen shop. The aroma made Gao Hai feel a bit hungry, so he went inside.

tick-

During the process, Gao Hai received a reply message on his phone. He looked down and turned on the screen, and saw Maki's reply: "Pervert! There's no way I'd add you." He could almost picture her voice and expression.

So Gao Hai replied, "It's okay, you can make a reservation first," and then looked up at the not-so-big shop in front of him.

And immediately noticed a girl with a bow tie who was happily slurping noodles.

Interlude 1-14: A chance encounter with a curious girl and a man overflowing with malice

Chika Fujiwara.

He is 154cm tall, and his mouth size is estimated to be over E.

He is a second-year high school student at Shuchiin High School and a close friend of Kaguya Shinomiya; in fact, he could be considered Kaguya Shinomiya's only friend.

In the original work, this girl has a rather unique personality. She can be described as a wonderful being who does whatever she wants. Her personality has a somewhat naive side, but at the same time, she also has a cunning side and a destructive side that likes to have fun. In a sense, she is almost the opposite of the relatively old-fashioned Kaguya.

Incidentally, although he earned the title of "Cancer of Earth" in the early part of the story due to his chaotic personality and caused a lot of trouble for the protagonists, he later became one of the targets of persecution, which is quite an interesting point.

However, that has nothing to do with Gao Hai now.

Faced with this cute girl with a magnificent figure, Gao Hai only glanced at her before naturally shifting his gaze to the ramen shop owner. He casually ordered a bowl of tonkotsu ramen and sat down to wait.

He didn't even glance at the cute girl slurping noodles not far away.

Of course, this wasn't because Gao Hai had changed his personality; that was impossible. Gao Hai was still a perverted lecher, the kind of guy who would try to push a girl down if she didn't refuse a passionate kiss (though he ended up getting dumped). The reason he wasn't interested in Fujiwara Chika was because he was certain that he and Fujiwara Chika belonged to two completely different worlds, worlds that couldn't intersect, and there was no need for them to get to know each other.

His life can now only be calculated month by month. Once he runs out of rollback opportunities in a certain game dungeon and still can't pass it, his life will be over, and there will be no follow-up.

The girl before him was the daughter of a political dynasty, the descendant of a diplomat, enjoying a life of luxury—completely from a different circle. While Kaguya and Maki were in similar circumstances, they were at least players like him, and this equal status granted Takami the right to interact and cooperate with them on an equal footing. As for Fujiwara Chika, he couldn't find any common ground between them, and therefore had no intention of making contact.

However, just like some visual novels where branching events suddenly unfold and forcefully confront the player, even if Takami doesn't initiate a conversation, Fujiwara Chika, who has already noticed him, won't just sit still; she'll immediately focus her attention on him.

Gao Hai could sense the other person's gaze; it wasn't malicious, perhaps just curiosity.

After all, he had caused quite a stir in Xiuzhiyuan back then, and looking back now, there were indeed many things that were inappropriate. But at that time, he really couldn't think about that much. He just wanted to see Zhenfei as soon as possible to make sure she was alright so that he could feel at ease.

The ramen was quickly served on the table.

Following the style of the Japanese people he had seen over the past few days, Gao Hai said, "I'm starting," and then began eating ramen.

He prefers milder flavors, doesn't add garlic, and doesn't eat noodles that are too firm, but he still drinks the broth thoroughly. After a satisfying meal, feeling refreshed, he paid and prepared to leave, only to turn around and see Fujiwara Chika staring at him with a serious expression.

When Gao Hai entered the store, she had already eaten more than half of her bowl of noodles. Logically speaking, she should have finished eating and left long ago, but she was still sitting in her seat. Especially with the impatient expression on her face, it was obvious that she was suffering for the gossip to come.

"Excuse me, are you Shijou's boyfriend?"

Perhaps because she had observed Gao Hai's interaction with the shop owner and confirmed that he was not a potential danger, the girl, who had been waiting for a while, mustered up her courage and leaned closer, asking him with great curiosity.

This girl is really big.

Because they were face-to-face, Gao Hai's gaze involuntarily shifted slightly, but he quickly looked away again.

"Yes, I am Zhenfei's boyfriend, and my name is Gao Hai."

Gao Hai answered Qianhua's question without hesitation.

"So honest... It really is love. Is this the pronunciation of your name? Then I'll call you Gao-kun. You can call me Fujiwara. Um, are you a student at a school or already a working professional? Your hug at school the other day has become the hottest topic in the whole school."

Seemingly because the topic of romance was brought up, Fujiwara Chika's eyes lit up noticeably, and her voice became slightly excited.

"I suppose you could call me a member of society, someone who does work that can't be made public, a guardian hidden in the shadows, bearing the weight of the future of human civilization. Um, that's a joke. The way I met Maki was rather unusual, I guess. Don't look at me like that. I have no interest in discussing my relationship with my girlfriend with outsiders."

Not intending to have much to say to this girl who loved gossip about love, Gao Hai just said a few words casually and then left with a cold expression, inwardly marveling once again at her voluptuous figure.

Although I've seen this kind of figure in adult films before, this is truly the first time I've seen it in real life.

I didn't think much of it at first, but now, comparing them, it seems that both Maki and Kaguya are quite weak in combat. Ah, of course, I'm not a boob fetishist, so this kind of thing doesn't really bother me.

Gao Hai felt that the food in the bowl was more fragrant than the food in the pot.

"Oh, I see. What a pity..."

Chika sighed from behind. Although she really wanted to keep asking about the gossip, the girl, who knew how to be polite in front of strangers, did not chase after Takami. She just frowned and thought about whether she should try to ask Shijou Maki when she went to school tomorrow.

drip-

The phone received a message at that moment.

When Gao Hai opened the message, he saw it was from Zhen Fei, a message full of her own personal style: "I won't give you a reservation opportunity."

With a few taps of their fingers, they quickly typed in a message and sent it over, and the two of them started chatting.

[Gao Hai: I ran into a student from your school at the ramen shop. Looks like quite a few people are interested in our relationship.]

[Shijo Maki: How dare you say that! If it weren't for that hug you, things wouldn't have gotten this big!]

[Gao Hai: There was nothing I could do about it. I really wanted to see you back then. Even security guards, access control, the law, and societal norms couldn't stop me in that state. Please understand.]

[Shijo Maki: Stop your form properly! You should really consider my difficulties! Seriously though, it's so late, why are you at the ramen shop? Did you just finish dinner? By the way, was it a guy or a girl you met?]

[Takami: It's a girl, Fujiwara Chika, do you know her?]

[Shijo Maki: A Fujiwara girl? I vaguely remember her, she's from the games club... Wait, why are you running into her here? Did we arrange this? When did you get to know any of the other students besides me and my great-aunt?]

[Gao Hai: No, it was just a chance encounter. I wouldn't even know her name if she hadn't initiated a chat with me and asked about our relationship.]

[Shijo Maki: Something seems suspicious, and I haven't even acknowledged you as my boyfriend yet!]

They've held hands, kissed, and hugged—they're just one step away from being boyfriend and girlfriend. How could they not be? This guy's personality is just so awkward.

Knowing that Zhenfei was just being stubborn, Gao Hai smiled and didn't care. He then prepared to send some more teasing messages.

He had just walked out of the ramen shop, walking slowly because he was texting as he went, and was still near the shop's entrance. Behind him, Fujiwara Chika, still inside the shop, was saying goodbye to the owner. It seemed she had eaten at this shop several times and was already familiar with the owner.

I seemed to vaguely sense a chill.

Gao Hai stopped in his tracks.

At that moment, news of Shijou Maki also arrived.

There's a very obvious hostile approach. I might be having some problems on my end. How's the situation on your end?

There was no time to reply to the message, because Gao Hai had already seen the figure walking out of the alley ahead.

And they felt an extremely strong malice emanating from the other party.

"You're clearly a newbie, yet you refuse to sell entry tickets in the market. Although it seems unlikely, I'll ask anyway: kid, was your first game the [Shirakawa Apartment] instance?"

A heavily made-up woman with a very charming smile exudes a malice that seems like a venomous snake ready to kill at any moment.

"Hey, is Gao Jun still at the door? Waaah—"

As Fujiwara Chika was about to leave the shop, she spoke with some confusion, when Takahashi, without turning around, grabbed her head, pushed her back into the shop, and threw her to the ground. Ignoring her cries of pain, Takahashi reached out and closed the shop door. Then, he picked up an iron shovel from the side of the door, inserted it through the hollow doorknob, and jammed the door shut. He then took a few steps forward, stood in front of the woman, smiled, and said:

"you guess."