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

Hongxia was also checking the surrounding doors, while quietly describing what she was sensing.

The girl struggled to describe her perception; unlike Yotsuya Miko, she couldn't perceive things with the same clarity. For her, everything was vague and indistinct, even when the plastic bags were right in front of her, even when she was aware that something was moving in the shadows. Without directly entering the dark area, Nijika couldn't see what those things truly looked like.

Of course, considering the typical appearance of these strange creatures, this might be considered a good thing. After all, Hongxia hasn't yet developed the composure to remain unfazed by various bloody and terrifying scenes; if she were to actually see what those things looked like, it would greatly affect her mental state.

But this time, things seem to be different.

It was completely different from what I had felt before. It was so cold and terrifying, as if I were being stared at by something extremely horrible. Even just a glance from it was enough to make me feel like I was falling into an ice cave, and my skin and nerves even started to sting.

What it is?

Hongxia couldn't discern the details with her senses; the only thing she was certain of was that the thing's attention was on her, and it seemed to have come specifically to find her.

But why? Is there something special about me? Did I accidentally trigger some strange killing rule during my escape, and that's why it's chasing me? That can't be that inexplicable, can it?!

Click——

The reason for this has not yet been determined, but Hongxia is very clear about the action that should be taken: to run away.

Although the true nature of the pursuing entity was unknown, its strength was undeniable. Hongxia had no doubt that it was far more powerful than any of the strange creatures she had ever encountered in the apartment, and she had no idea where such a creature had come from. In short, if such a thing were to get close, Hongxia estimated that even with the protection of the fragments of the Crimson Domain, she and her sister wouldn't be able to hold out for long. The power of this unknown entity was far beyond what the fragments could withstand for an extended period.

Open the next door, enter it, and then search for new area passages.

Hongxia and Xingge sped up, burning the last bit of strength in their bodies. They switched between four or five areas in one go before finally exhausting themselves and wanting to stop and rest for a while.

“Hu…Hu…”

As Hongxia struggled to breathe, she began to feel her throat burning, so dry that she couldn't even produce saliva.

"Hang in there a little longer... Phew... Are we getting away from that thing?"

Xingge was also in very poor condition at this time, but she still managed to put on a brave face in front of her sister and asked Hongxia as if she were full of energy.

"Phew...we really have...wait..."

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Hongxia looked up, intending to say that they were indeed far enough away from each other and could rest for a while. But just then, she clearly felt that thing approaching, and felt the distance between them rapidly shrinking.

The urgent movements seemed to be triggered by something, but Hongxia didn't notice anything suspicious, and recalling her previous actions, she couldn't find any obvious problems. Yet, the unknown creature's speed had increased considerably; the distance that was at least four zones before had now shrunk to two, and it would probably catch up in no time.

There's no time to lose; we have to act now.

With little strength left, the girl took a difficult step forward and tried to regulate her breathing.

squeak-

But before she could actually take any action, what nearly stopped the girl's heart was the sound of a door opening behind her.

The sound is coming from the door my sister and I just came through. If there's something wrong with that door, doesn't that mean the other side has already arrived? But I didn't sense anything like that. Could I have been tricked...?

In her panic, Hongxia turned around and saw Yamada Ryo peeking out from the crack in the door, looking in her direction. After their eyes met, Ryo made a peace sign and then walked in naturally from behind the door, even moving his somewhat dirty clothes.

"Hey, I've found you."

The blue-haired girl spoke calmly, her mature demeanor suggesting she had recently experienced the vicissitudes of life, as if she had just come across the meaning of birth, aging, sickness, and death.

"Liang? What are you doing here?"

Completely unexpected to see her friend, Hongxia, who had been on high alert, froze on the spot. Xingge, standing to the side, didn't know what to say at this moment, but the latter quickly noticed a pink-haired figure flashing past behind Liang, who looked very familiar.

Is it one li?

Seeing Xingge with pink hair immediately reminded me of a certain socially awkward girl.

"Finally found it. This means we've found the vast majority of the survivors. Whew... It was really tough. This place has become so distorted. I wonder how many illusions were pieced together, and how many of them are nightmares hiding strange creatures."

However, it is clear from the other party's fluent speech that this visitor could not possibly be Goto Ichiri.

So who could it be? Are there any other pink-haired girls?

Xingge was momentarily stunned. She had no idea that she would run into Liang, who had already left the apartment, here, let alone the pink-haired girl behind her who resembled Ichiri.

hum-

The shadow is approaching.

The piercing pain once again eroded Hongxia's senses.

Because of Ryo and the person behind them who hadn't fully entered yet, Hongxia and Xingge were delayed and naturally couldn't leave in time, so they were truly caught up by that thing.

finally coming?

But before the group could take any action, the cheerful pink-haired girl standing outside the door turned to face the direction of the shadow.

"So you were being chased? No wonder it took you so long to find someone. Well then, I'll handle things here!"

With a powerful voice, Fujiwara Chika extended her fingers, and the power of blessing swirled and lingered within them.

From the darkness, a twisted shadow finally emerged and launched an attack on Chika, who was blocking its way.

Chapter 74: The Beginning of Top Players' Physical Strategy and Clue Interpretation.

"Don't worry, this is Fujiwara Chika, a true top player. With her here, there won't be any problems."

After giving a brief introduction to Nijika and Hoshika, Yamada Ryo quieted down, stood in front of them, and looked ahead at Fujiwara Chika, who was already walking towards the direction of the shadow.

In a sense, this could be considered the first time the two sisters had witnessed a battle between top-tier players.

Although they had seen Gao Hai unleash his power before, it was only a negligible amount of power transmitted remotely, and its outward appearance was not particularly terrifying. At most, the visual impact of the explosion of the blood-red domain fragments was more impressive.

This time, Hongxia finally got to see firsthand how a player with top-tier skills dealt with the monsters.

Glug-glug-glug-glug

A thick, foul-smelling liquid was slowly spreading.

Countless garbage bags rolled out of the darkness, bursting open and spilling out rotting entrails and flesh fragments, making the air even more polluted.

I can already feel it, I can feel the arrival of that thing.

From the shadows, the terrifying thing that had been chasing after Hongxia had now reached out from the darkness, extending its festering, paint-stained hand.

Hongxia noticed that the hand seemed to have no skin left; some force had cruelly and brutally peeled off the skin, even cutting off a finger. But what bothered her even more was that the arm was covered with strange, twisted colors, like various paints seeping into flesh, forming spots of varying sizes. And as the hand stretched out, those spots seemed to come alive, constantly expanding and contracting, even slowly wriggling and crawling along the arm.

The intense cold almost made the girl stop breathing.

hum-

The next moment, however, the sound that rang in her ears was not the sound of the monster approaching, but rather the sound that came from Fujiwara Chika, who stood in front of the monster and whose expression had remained unchanged throughout.

The blood-red color covered the pupils.

Her long pink hair danced as she turned around.

Clenching your fist, an invisible stream of air immediately condenses, producing a piercing sound.

"Although I don't really like solving problems with violence, I'm in a hurry right now, so please, for the time being, stay away from me."

Then, Chika, having activated the power of berserk blessing, politely nodded to the monster that emerged from the darkness and then punched it.

boom! ! ! ! !

In the next moment, amidst a violent explosion, Hongxia only saw Yamada Ryo, who was blocking her way, take out a cell phone, followed by a burst of blood-red light that transformed into a shield.

The monster in the darkness, along with the darkness itself and the surrounding room structure—the floor, walls, ceiling, and furniture—were all blasted apart by the force of that punch. Fujiwara Chika's seemingly casual punch created a crater with a radius of about three meters, and the creature that had intended to attack vanished without a trace, sent flying and crashing through countless walls, its whereabouts unknown.

"Hey?"

The unexpected situation caused Hongxia's mind to freeze for a moment, and she subconsciously tilted her head, revealing a blank and adorable expression.

Is this... is this the combat power of a top player?

This seems a little different from what I imagined. Is this some kind of superhero movie set that's gone to the wrong place? The scene I just saw should normally be played by characters like the Hulk or Superman, right?

At this moment, Hongxia's mind was in chaos because what was happening before her eyes was so surreal that she didn't even know what she was thinking.

"Phew, that's it for today. Is everyone alright?"

Withdrawing the power of the rampaging blessing, Qianhua clapped her hands, turned around, smiled at the three people behind her, and walked forward in a carefree manner.

“Um, you… hello, I am Ijichi Hoshika, and this is my younger sister, Ijichi Nijika.”

Subconsciously, seeing that the other person was obviously very young, Xingge used a rather casual form of address. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she remembered that this was a top player, a powerful individual with extremely strong supernatural abilities, who was incomparable to an ordinary human like herself, so her attitude immediately became respectful.

"puff--"

The person standing to the side, Liang Mian, couldn't help but laugh out loud despite having no expression on their face.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't do that, don't do that. I'm not the type to be particularly proud or arrogant. Besides, I'm only 17 years old this year, far from being someone you would use honorifics to describe. That's going too far. And I'm also a friend of your sister's band members. I know Ichiri-chan and Kita-chan, and we're very close."

Chika was somewhat confused by Hoshika's unexpected attitude, so she quickly waved her hand to signal that the other party should not speak like that, and brought up Goto Ichiri and Kita Ikuyo.

The detailed explanations didn't take too much time. Having already experienced various dangers, Hoshiga and Nijika's understanding of unrealistic topics had improved significantly. Furthermore, given the current many emergencies, they talked as they walked, keeping things brief with just a few sentences.

Nevertheless, when Chika openly discussed her relationship with Takami and the fact that he had several girlfriends, Hoshika was still greatly shocked. Her worldly wisdom made her want to say something, but considering the power Takami had displayed and the protection he had effectively given her and Nijika, Hoshika ultimately convinced herself to accept it. After all, he was such a god-like figure; having many girlfriends wasn't a problem. But… Ichiri and Kita… were they both in his harem? Could it be that Ryo and Nijika were also targets?

No way? If it's Nijika, if Nijika becomes the target, then what am I...?

"I think it's better not to think too much about it right now, manager. We're not even sure if we'll be able to leave this place alive."

Before Xingge's thoughts could wander in the wrong direction, Liang leaned in and said something that snapped her out of it.

"In other words, something terrible is happening outside right now. Chika, did you come here to gather and protect the survivors you can, and then find a safe place to examine the clues you obtained earlier to see if you can find a solution from them?"

Hongxia didn't dwell on Gao Hai's personal issues, since she had already heard about them to some extent beforehand. She was more concerned with escaping her current predicament and returning to the real world, so after hearing Chika and Ryo's explanation, the girl quickly grasped the key points.

"Yes, that's right. The Sheep Apartment area in this instance should have been a separate area. But the [Hospital] must have used some kind of power to influence this place, causing some kind of abnormal change, making it able to capture and materialize the inner thoughts of people. It is this change that has come into contact with the minds of living people, which is why you are seeing the scene you are seeing now. Hmm, to be honest, this has caused me quite a bit of trouble. After all, under the premise of mental materialization, it is not easy to distinguish between living people and monsters. You should have already felt this, right?"

Chika nodded earnestly in response. Walking at the front of the group, she was completely unconcerned about the safety or danger of her surroundings. At the same time, as if she knew the way in advance, she could accurately find the survivors every time she opened a door, and after hypnotizing them into sleep, she would put them into a prepared space-type obsession object that could store living people.

According to Chika herself, the dead would strengthen the enemy and cause trouble "for something," so she should try her best to save the living. As for Nijika, because Ryo could protect her and Hoshika to some extent, and because Chika said she needed those who had been to the safe house to "lead the way," she didn't put the three of them into the Obsession Pocket. And it was precisely because of this that Nijika was able to witness the player's devastating actions.

No matter what kind of strange creature it is, this seemingly soft pink-haired girl can easily slap it away.

Even things that seem to have no physical form can be forcibly fixed in place with a wave of her hand, and then slapped.

During this process, Nijika was even led by Chika back to the area where Ogiyama Shizuko had been active. Then, the bespectacled girl who had turned into a monster walked up and was kicked away by Chika. Chika then easily defeated the few followers around her. After confirming that they were all beyond saving, Chika sighed and turned to leave.

Yes, during this process, the old man, Yuyu Hisaya, even asked for help, but Chika could tell at a glance that he was already dead, but he just refused to accept it. Therefore, after Chika casually pointed out that he was dead, Nijika saw the old man start to cry in despair and then quickly go berserk and attack the group. Then, Chika kicked him away, sending him crashing through several walls and falling into a pile of rubble.

"Even if Ah Hai saves this place and reverses time, he can't bring you back to life because you're so clueless."

After leaving that assessment, Chika left for the next area. Following her, Nijika saw Hondou Haruka completely transformed into a monster, as if she had just been pulled from a pool of blood, her body covered in blood. In a dark, blood-soaked passage, the sight of a blood-soaked figure howling and charging forward was undeniably terrifying; at least Nijika was startled. Well, before Chika slapped it away, she had to admit she was quite frightened.

"The power of blessing has stopped guiding us. We've pretty much finished saving everyone and can move on to the next step."

Chika herself paid no attention to the monsters she had defeated along the way. She didn't even bother to glance at these low-level monsters that couldn't withstand even the physical attacks after being blessed by the berserk mode. For the girl herself, completing the most important task of protecting the survivors was enough.