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

It was in that place that I discovered other people like me, some who had succeeded, and some who had failed.

Those who succeed often leave behind only vague illusions or become rigid puppets. They refuse distortion in their final moments, so their bodies are altered, leaving behind only ambiguous remains. The losers, however, leave behind both their corpses and souls—a complete and utter depravity from the inside out. These losers are ultimately no longer themselves.

But that's not what I care about most. In my opinion, what truly matters most in that nightmarish world is that enormous furnace, into which new corpses are fed every day.

Before I die, I'll try to get close to that place, and if I come back alive, I'll include it in my next tape recording. As for now, it's time for this old geezer to put out his last bit of fire.

[Sizzle…]

The aged voice vanished without a trace.

In that dark room, the last thing Jianzi saw was an old man with a hunched back sitting on the sofa facing her.

As the scene in the dark room shattered, Yotsuya Miko finally stood firmly on the ground and looked around with a clear mind, finally able to confirm her current location.

Could this place be...?

Chapter 30: Alice's Investigation Log and the Reactions of Different Teams

The dim, bloody rain fell softly on the putrid ruins.

Beneath a dark sky, the shadowy colors emanating from various machines illuminate the decaying things and this bizarre, twisted space.

Splash—splash—

A shattered world, far more devastated than any residential area in the real world, no longer even obeying basic gravity rules, was vividly presented to everyone who had entered this realm.

Towering skyscrapers float horizontally in mid-air, sprouting withered trees and eyeballs. Collapsed building ruins mingle together, yet a highway extends from between them, hanging upside down, each streetlamp draped with rotting, shapeless corpses. A tilted school merges with a crematorium, where smiling children leap into the burning furnace as if playing a game, their laughter and cries echoing within…

Everywhere there were broken corpses, twisted smiles, and decaying, dilapidated buildings.

It's as if all sorts of hysteria and mania have come together at this moment, merging and repelling each other, presenting a distorted world in a completely chaotic and insane manner, vividly showcasing a surreal and bizarre scene.

"So, the key point is somewhere here?"

Seeing Zi mutter to himself, his expression had become more solemn than ever before.

Through her perception, far surpassing that of ordinary players, the girl was able to clearly understand the essence of this strange space, and what this "intermediate zone" between the real world and the instance space represented. Therefore, without hesitation, she quickly took action, rapidly advancing along the half-collapsed path she had arrived at.

[Sizzle... sizzle sizzle...]

The phone in my pocket suddenly emitted a piercing noise.

Realizing what was happening above, Jianzi took out her phone and found that the screen of the phone, which contained fragments of Gao Hai's Crimson Domain, was displaying a signal capture icon. At this moment, the signal strength displayed on the screen was only two bars, while the signal strength itself was displayed in a total of ten bars.

Is this... my senior helping me?

Seeing that the signal indicated the distance between himself and that key node, Zi knew that the signal represented the distance between himself and that key node.

With this, the difficulty of searching for nodes will be greatly reduced, at least Miko won't need to constantly use her senses. You must know that even now, with the blessing that can limit the intensity of senses, Miko's talent is still extremely dangerous, and a slight mistake could attract very dangerous enemies.

As for searching for the members of the Sunflower Squad, or for Yurikawa Hana, Miko has no way to do that right now. The spatial structure of this [Boundary Space] is too chaotic; she has no way to sense the exact locations of others here, only barely confirming that everyone is somewhere within this space. Therefore, all she can do now is pray that everyone is safe and sound, and hurry up and try to find the location of the node that needs to be destroyed as soon as possible.

[Sizzle... sizzle...]

The piercing electrical noise changed as the device moved, and the signal strength displayed on the screen also began to rise and fall, gradually changing.

【Sizzling...】

Amidst the sound of footsteps, the few members of the Sunflower Squad who had managed to reunite also began to move, running through the ruins.

"What kind of place is this? It feels like something out of a nightmare."

As Kazama Ren, carrying a curved sword, spoke, she reached up and wiped the bloody raindrops that had fallen on her head, her face showing a hint of disgust.

"We've received newly released data on our phones. It must have been transmitted after Miss Yotsuya summoned Mr. Taka's consciousness. There's nothing in this data that's been deleted or altered. You'll understand once you take a look. Hmm, we're currently in an area where the projections of several Twilight-level dungeons are intertwined. We don't need to worry about monster attacks here for now. Seventeen, you'll be in charge of scouting the right side. Sigh, I hope the others have the same good luck."

Yu Qingshan, the leader of the Sunflower Squad, spoke while holding a climbing axe, and instructed his teammate Seventeen, who had joined them, to scout the surrounding environment together.

Looking around, there were dilapidated buildings in a state of decay, and rusty barbed wire, some intact and some broken, interspersed among the ruins.

The roadside stalls and shops were mostly blocked off, some simply sealed off with tape, others bearing various gruesome marks, as if obstructed to suppress some terrible fear. Others were blocked by all sorts of debris, and some even had pleading messages left on the walls, suggesting these places had once been used as refuges. Regardless of the situation, the players who entered were quite certain there were no "survivors" here. After all, the nauseating stench in the air alone was unbearable for ordinary people.

"New information? That means Mr. Gao already knew about this place. We've only just begun our formal investigation of this space, and Mr. Gao has already sent us the strategy guide. That guy is truly terrifying to the point that you can't help but kneel down and worship him."

Even seasoned player Kazama Ren, who had seen it all, couldn't help but sigh upon hearing Yu Qingshan's words. She couldn't help but sigh, because from the moment the rescue mission officially began, what Gao Hai had shown each player was simply too astonishing, far exceeding their wildest imaginations. So much so that many players already regarded Gao Hai as a god-like being. For example, Kazama Ren genuinely believed he was a deity incarnate, and even considered using a special item to transform herself back into a high school girl (JK) and see if she could catch his eye.

Well, of course, this is just wishful thinking. She would never actually do it, and now is not the time to do such a thing.

[Sizzle…]

As Kazama Ren tapped her finger on the red-glowing phone screen, the screen image that originally displayed ten signal bars quickly changed, and a text survey report popped up.

Alice's Exploration of "Marginal Spaces"

The report's title was in a very cute font, which looked crooked and had a bunny emoji around the edge.

Alice...

Kazama Ren knew this name, a name that was originally associated with a certain high-difficulty dungeon in the eyes of high-level players. Even though that dungeon has long been destroyed, and it has been confirmed that it was Mr. Gao himself who destroyed it, when this name appears in this deliberately cute way, it still arouses fear in many players and makes them feel uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Kazama Ren was relatively inexperienced and couldn't handle the Crimson Moon quest, so she didn't have that kind of psychological trauma and naturally began reading the report.

The real world and the alternate world—these two different worlds should represent two completely different concepts of the universe.

The former is a materialistic world, where planets, stars, and various substances constitute the universe itself, measured in light-years; the latter is a spiritual world, a distillation of the emotions and memories of the deceased, a bizarre and unreal world created using "humanity" as its material.

These two worlds should have been clearly distinct. Even if the "Sacrifice Game" could break down this barrier, and even if dungeons of Red Moon level or higher could actively project their power into the real world, these were only temporary effects and could not last. In other words, the ways to break down this barrier that were originally perceptible to humans and discovered by players were merely establishing a temporary passage. This passage itself could not last and would dissipate on its own after reaching its limit.

However, an investigation into these "marginal spaces" extending from the "hospital" into the real world yielded a completely different conclusion. This time, the passage is capable of existing for a long time. These entities, which should be rejected by the real world, have constructed a persistent connection between the two worlds, simultaneously embodying the characteristics of both. This is highly unusual. Ultimately, no matter how powerful the "hospital" is, it is still essentially just a copy. It cannot avoid the inherent characteristics of a copy, so this irregular phenomenon must be explained.

However, given humanity's fragility, finding the answer while still alive is far too difficult. Therefore, Alice will assist everyone in this investigation. This is a result of Alice's considerable effort, so please read with gratitude!

"...You don't need to read those few lines of nonsense aloud as well."

In a dilapidated street, Li Ling looked at Wang Gui, who was reading documents behind her, with a complicated expression. She held back for a while, but finally couldn't help but speak.

It's really strange that a grown man in his forties would seriously read out Alice's cutesy lines. It's so strange that Li Ling felt an urge to dig out a three-bedroom apartment with her toes.

"Uh, I'm sorry, I sometimes read my granddaughter's essays, so I've gotten into the habit of reading these words aloud as well."

Knowing he was wasting time, Wang Gui scratched his head and smiled, then continued to quietly read the information. This time, he tried to omit some of Alice's deliberately cutesy lines to make the information less like anime, though he still occasionally read them aloud. Not far from Wang Gui, Angel, another member of the Sunflower Squad, had no intention of listening to the information at all, simply staring intently at the distorted and bizarre space.

"..."

Angel opened his mouth, but no sound came out; he simply smiled silently.

I felt it, I felt it very, very clearly, those echoing cries were just like the cries my family used to make.

Is this the truth I've been searching for? No, not entirely, but there are similarities. It's too similar, far too similar—to this extent is quite unusual. So there must be a connection; there must be an extraordinary connection between this place and the truth I'm seeking!

Angel's eyes had already taken on a fanatical glint.

For the player named Francis Yuan Angel, she would never forget her folklorist father's investigation into a strange relic, and the utter destruction that relic brought to her family. On that day, Angel's entire family died; their skin was peeled off, inscribed with words, and merged with the relic. Of course, it wasn't actually a relic, but rather a powerfully cursed object of obsession, discarded by some unknown player.

Angel was the only one who survived after coming into contact with the out-of-control artifact. She successfully took control of it and became a player, a mystic. Although a part of her body and soul was permanently altered after that day, and the changes she experienced throughout her playing career continued to accumulate, Angel never forgot her original intention, nor what she wanted to find through the artifact called the "Book of Mystery," a book made of human skin.

Now, I've finally found a clue.

The next step is to pinpoint the exact location of the clues, to find the place that will bring us closer to the truth. Everything else is no longer important. Hmm, it's...no longer important? Hmm...

Angel remained silent and ultimately did not show any unusual behavior.

Li Ling listened to Wang Gui's words with a furrowed brow, her head lowered and eyes closed as she silently pondered.

First, we need to define these "edge spaces" and clarify what they are. The answer is simple: they are copies; in essence, they are also copies.

But just like a bug that caused the game to spawn incorrectly, these things that should have appeared in the instance world ended up in places where they shouldn't have.

The reason for this lies in the "hospital's" act of "deceiving the world," a rather ingenious tactic. If I weren't non-human and capable of understanding everything through means beyond human senses, I too might have been fooled. But I am not; I am the adorable Alice, so I finally found the key. (Li Ling: Didn't I tell you not to read these kinds of sentences aloud? Aren't you embarrassed at all?!)

The existence of the "marginal space" is essentially a trinity, a resonance between three different nodes in the real world, the dungeon world, and the boundary between them. The node in the real world is the environment in which the monsters within the dungeon once lived as humans; it is the material world they left behind. Typically, this node has a very deep connection with the monsters, such as the hospital they stayed in when they were alive, their home, or the shop they ran. While these anchors in the real world are not particularly powerful, through decades of deliberate cultivation by the "hospital," they have ultimately acquired a certain degree of power.

As for the key anchor points in the dungeon world, it's quite straightforward: the core object of obsession. Only the core object of obsession, which serves as the crucial foundation for the dungeon's existence, can exist as a node. And one thing is certain: the real-world scene that resonates with this core object of obsession, which acts as the key corresponding point, must be a place of great significance that this core object of obsession cherished in its lifetime. Only in this way can sufficient resonance be generated, just like how the Red Moon-level dungeon always absorbs ordinary people in its corresponding scene.

Finally, the third key point that bridges the gap between the real world and the instance is the core obsession: the corpse of a living person.

Corpse?

Sitting amidst the ruins, Kita Ikuyo scrolled through the text on her phone, a thoughtful expression on her face.

The living person was transformed into a monster, but left behind a corpse as a medium of communication.

Memory and emotion, under the power of ghost stories, also become the medium of ritual, and the combination of multiple mediums forms this distorted, unreal space.

No wonder this place is so distorted and chaotic. Just how many copies of the projection are fused together?

However, no matter what, the things that need to be done will not change.

Thinking this, Kita Ikuyo lowered her head and turned her gaze to the remaining text in the document.

I was unable to pinpoint the exact location of the body, but it is certain that the "hospital" used some means to preserve the core obsession of the creature, which had become a human, and it is very likely that the body still retains a considerable degree of activity, and may even be alive in a physiological sense.

Therefore, all of this is interconnected from beginning to end, and is the result of the "hospital's" own actions.

[The "Hospital" used its power to lure humans in the real world, causing them to die after experiencing various pains and torments. They were then transformed into monsters and fell into the dungeon world, becoming the core of one of the "Hospital's" lower-level dungeons.]

At the same time, the "hospital" retained its core obsession with the human corpse, creating a third node out of thin air, and placing this node in the void outside the dungeon world and the real world through some means, thus establishing a passage to the void for the other two nodes.

[I haven't been able to fully decipher the specific methods used or how this effect was achieved. After all, while Alice is very powerful, she's not human, so there are some things that only humans can understand that she can't confirm. Therefore, this is something that you players will have to investigate. Of course, before that, Alice will definitely tell you everything she can.]

The "hospital" created numerous portals, and clearly, individual portals are unstable. The boundary between the real world and the instanced world is not easily broken. Therefore, to achieve sufficient effect, the "hospital" resorted to brute force, fusing the corpses of core obsessions from different instances together to directly establish portals. After successfully constructing the portals, the "hospital" continuously channeled its power into the real world, gradually pulling it towards the instanced world, creating the massive disaster that now covers the entire human civilization.

Because the "hospital" uses a brute-force approach, destroying the passage is incredibly easy: simply find the corpses that act as nodes and destroy them. Corpses, after all, are carbon-based structures; whether burned, bombed, or subjected to any other method, they aren't as difficult to destroy as monsters. Therefore, once enough node corpses are destroyed, the passage will naturally crumble. At that point, players who ventured into these edge spaces to cause destruction, will you be able to successfully return to the real world during the passage's collapse? Alice has serious doubts.

[If you don't survive, or if you came here intending to sacrifice yourself, why not try praying to Alice or Gao Hai? Perhaps your prayers can truly transcend the barriers of space and bring you hope for salvation. Alice means it sincerely. (Li Ling: Enough, enough, don't read this part aloud!)]

The brief mention of sacrifice at the end of the document did not elicit a strong reaction from any players who read the text.

Miko Yotsuya and Ikuyo Kita were confident. Having already possessed strength surpassing that of Red Moon-level players, neither of them believed they would die along with the collapsing passage after destroying the node. Or rather, even if they did die, they had the possibility of starting over. Of course, the latter scenario should be avoided as much as possible, since the damage to Takami accumulated with each rollback, and this time the enemy wouldn't easily crumble due to repeated rollbacks; on the contrary, the rollbacks might create even bigger problems.

As for the players in the Sunflower Squad, and those from other areas who had also entered this vast space, they were already prepared to sacrifice themselves. Therefore, they simply smiled and dismissed the final words in the document. Ultimately, from the moment they chose to become rescuers and voluntarily come to the most dangerous Tokyo, these players were prepared to disregard their own lives and fight with all their might.

And... besides these two, there are also third parties, who are people who don't understand the situation.

"Is something displayed on this? But I can't see anything at all."

Baihechuan stared intently at her phone screen for a long time, but still couldn't see any clear information.

The reason for this is simple: her phone screen was completely shattered during the incident, riddled with cracks, making it impossible to read. Therefore, Xiaohua couldn't see a single word of Alice's message. Even if she had, she probably wouldn't have understood it anyway.

"Forget it, never mind. Let's keep moving forward. It's not time to stop yet."

Soon, realizing that the phone was no longer able to display any information, Xiao Hua gave up and turned her attention back to the dark space ahead, to the factory that trembled slightly amidst the roar of the machines.

She had been traveling in this area for quite some time, and had gone to a place where she herself no longer knew where she was.