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

Since the other party has shown a willingness to communicate, it's definitely necessary for Ryo to try. However, Ryo herself isn't particularly good at communication, so it might be more suitable for Nijika to do it. Therefore, Ryo has to rack her brains and try to find suitable words to say.

"You... want to see Mr. Gao Hai?"

After thinking it over, since the other party's purpose was very likely Gao Hai himself, Liang directly asked the question.

[Gao Hai...Gao Hai...Is that the name of a god? That is...the god of mankind...]

Murmurs echoed from the darkness, and more things began to emerge in the safe house.

Liang smelled the pungent odor of ink and paint. She looked around and saw spots of all sizes and colors appearing in every corner of the room, as if someone was using the room as a canvas to create freely.

Could these characteristics belong to Isidorkos? The mysterious painter that Mr. Gao Hai and Hong Xia investigated?

Where is he? Tell me...where is he? If it's him...it'll be possible...

A twisted arm emerged from the darkness, followed by colorful paint flowing from its fingers, falling to the ground and gradually spreading.

There are other flavors mixed in.

Although it wasn't particularly clear, Ryo was certain that she could smell something else.

It was a nauseating, rotten smell, like something was decaying. A common stench elsewhere in the instance, it was now clearly masked.

Liang knew this was the aura of a ghost. The painter standing before her, though still retaining some ability to communicate, was probably not much different from a real ghost in terms of mental state. Perhaps just a small provocation would turn him into a ghost, and the fatal flaw was that she had no idea how to judge him.

"He... went somewhere else, he's not here now."

After a moment's thought, Ryo decided to tell the truth and was prepared to use the chaotic dominoes at any time.

[Not here...not here...He? A male god? Why isn't he here? Why...why...You have his scent on you...You must be favored by him...Are you his beloved concubine? Or his lover? Tell me...tell me where he is...]

The chill swept over us almost instantly, nearly freezing our blood vessels.

The voice in the darkness grew frantic, and more arms emerged from the shadows, merging and intertwining, like the grotesque structures found only in horror stories.

He seems to be more than just a painter.

Liang saw more eyes and blurry faces among those twisted limbs.

This bizarre monster, although it is dominated by the painter himself, seems to have also incorporated other things, with the flesh and blood of more than one person fused together with it.

"This place is sealed off, and he can't get in right now. His...wives are trying to break the seal, but they haven't succeeded yet."

Although she somewhat wanted to refute the monster's claims about favored concubines and lovers, considering that this thing wasn't normal, Ryo decided to clarify the important matter first. However, Ryo wasn't sure how to express the relationship between Chika Ichiri and the others and Takami, and since this thing had just touched on the topic of favored concubines and lovers, she accidentally misspoke and said "wife."

[Blocked...blocked again...I see, so you're his mistress...Blocked...What to do...What should I do...]

The monster seemed to have calmed down a bit. Its voices overlapped, as if it were talking to itself, or perhaps there really was more than one consciousness in the darkness, and they were now talking to each other, trying to reach some conclusion.

But... why are you so sure I'm Mr. Gao Hai's secret lover? This thing's main consciousness is definitely a painter, right? Is this the kind of awareness a proper painter should have? Even after becoming this kind of monster, you're still getting hung up on these gossipy questions. Is this person really okay?

Liang wanted to defend her innocence, but after looking at the thing's grotesque and twisted appearance, she decided to remain silent and wait for its reaction.

Tell me... tell me what you know... the lovers of the new gods... those things that use the name of doctors... those filthy things that falsely claim to be salvation... what are they doing now... are they here now...?

The monster asked again, its voice noticeably clearer.

"There are psychologists and internists here, and they have been temporarily sealed away thanks to the efforts of Mr. Gao Hai's wives. It's just unknown how long the seal will last. They are all trying to break the blockade here..."

Fujiwara Chika did not hide any crucial information from Ryo, so the girl knew more or less about the overall situation within the instance.

As she explained the general situation to the deformed creature before her, Ryo gradually noticed that its aura was becoming unstable again.

[How despicable... How hateful... They were so close to succeeding... But of all times... And now, they're being blocked...]

The darkness spread once again, more paint spread throughout the house, and the pungent smell of blood could no longer be masked by the paint.

Feeling intense pressure, Liang had to take another step back, her back almost touching the small bedroom door behind her.

But suddenly, the chill began to fade, the darkness began to recede, and the monster's voice became calm again.

It's time for us to pay the price... It's time to end all of this... So many years have passed since we were trapped here... It's time to end this...

A sense of nostalgia seemed to rise with the monster's voice.

Liang blinked. For a moment, she seemed to see several figures appear in the room. She saw several dirty men and women talking and laughing, crying and sighing, or turning away, or disappearing without a trace from the room.

"You...you are survivors, survivors who were trapped here after this place became a dungeon and you were separated from the real world?"

Liang's eyes widened suddenly. She realized the true identity of the monsters and understood that they were the fusion of the consciousness and flesh of survivors who had struggled to survive here.

No... I didn't wander in by accident...

The monster's voice sounded like many people overlapping each other.

The so-called "accidental survivors"... are merely victims deliberately placed into the dungeon by the Keeper (KP) for the players' convenience...

Otherwise... without people dying in the dungeon first... where would the clues come from... where would the rules come from... where would the experience come from for players to learn from...?

We are merely... chosen sacrifices... Even if Mr. Koz joins us... leads us... and tries to break free from our predetermined fate... we, unable to reach the realm of the gods... are still destined to die... it is our destiny...

At that moment, the girl felt as if her heart was about to stop beating.

What did she hear?

The monsters within the dungeon revealed the existence of the Keeper of the Priest (KP) and the Sacrifice Game, and highlighted the group of "players".

These people who once struggled to survive in the Sheep Nest Apartment, they actually knew the truth about the [Sacrifice Game]? They actually knew everything? This... how is this possible? Where did they get their information? It couldn't all be from that painter's psychic abilities, could it?!

You're confused...you're shocked...you think we shouldn't know this...right...?

The monster simply continued speaking calmly to Liang.

We couldn't do it... We were just sacrifices... We had no way of knowing any of this...

But... it appeared. The KP appeared... a being that brought us misfortune... actively sought us out... before it was controlled...

Everything here has deviated from the original script... so it couldn't escape... so the Keeper of the Priest (KP) became a sacrifice... so it, still struggling to escape... actually chose to seek help from us...

And so we learned the truth…and so we were furious…and we were desperate…and neither we nor it…could escape this place…but…there was a path…that was indeed successfully left behind…a path leading to the outside world…a path left in advance…that no one knew…

Find that path... the new god... and you will surely reach this place... Go find that path... the new god's lover... you passed through there together... you will surely feel it... you will find that path...

The monster's voice became excited again, but this time, Liang didn't feel the eerie chill of the creature, but rather the desperate wails of many people.

It was as if I had actually witnessed the survivors before they died, and saw the utter despair on their faces after the KP personally revealed the truth to them and they learned that they could not possibly survive.

But...that road? What is that road?

Liang was somewhat confused.

She did indeed travel to many places under Mr. Gao Hai's conscious guidance, but she had absolutely no idea what "that path" was. The monster's unwavering confidence only confused the girl more, making her unable to understand why it was so certain that she could find a path.

"That's right, there is indeed such a road."

Then, Ryo heard a sound coming from behind him.

Hongxia pushed open the door and came out on her own.

Liang was taken aback when her friend suddenly appeared, then realized that the other person must have been eavesdropping on her conversation with the monster, which was why the friend had come out at this moment.

“Mr. Gao Hai and I have been to Mr. Koz’s gallery, so I’ve always had a vague feeling about it. I couldn’t understand this feeling before, but after listening to your conversation just now, I’m slowly starting to understand what this feeling is all about, and I also know what ‘that road’ is.”

Hongxia smiled at Liang and spoke in a very firm voice.

She did indeed see that blurry scene from the past, the painter and the survivors he led.

Several survivors used knives to peel off chunks of flesh from Isidore's back. Then, the painter, who could directly communicate with the dungeon in the real world, used his own blood as fuel to paint on his own flesh, leaving behind his last work before his death.

Unlike the replica world he painted when he was in the real world, the only painting that Koz left in the replica world was a depiction of the real world.

After Koz and the other survivors merged into the twisted monster that exists between the living and the dead, his paintings acquired extraordinary power. This is why Gao Hai and Hong Xia were able to return to their apartment through the paintings in the Zhenyang Apartment. Therefore, the painting that uniquely depicts the real world must truly lead to it and break the current blockade set up by the [Hospital]. This is because it's a dungeon rule of the [Sacrifice Game], the most fundamental thing acknowledged by this world, a rule that no being born in a dungeon world can violate.

[Find that road... Let's go home... Let's go home...]

Amidst the sighs, the darkness gradually receded, and the monster vanished without a trace, leaving only paint stains all over the room.

After a moment of silence, Ryo looked down at the walkie-talkie in her hand and found that it was not working. It seemed that something had happened to Fujiwara Chika, who had already left, which prevented her from making calls and thus from knowing what was happening on their side.

"In that case, do we have no choice but to try it ourselves?"

Liang sighed and looked up at the exit of the safe house.

They barely made it back alive from Dansu Company, and now they're going to run off to another dangerous place before they can even rest for a few minutes?

"Well, that's the only way. I'll lead the way this time."

Hongxia nodded seriously. Although she was also afraid of the situation outside, after experiencing it just now, the girl knew what she should do and would never choose to back down.

hum-

It seemed as if a sound could be heard from afar.

Both girls looked around in confusion, trying to find the source of the sound.

Boom——! ! !

But the next moment, a violent earthquake struck, throwing them to the ground, and cracks of varying sizes began to appear in the walls of the safe house. It seemed that this alternate dimension, which theoretically did not exist in the real world, was actually in danger of collapsing.

What's happening outside?

Ryo and Nijika, completely unaware of the situation, were puzzled.

Unseen by them, amidst the constantly twisting and collapsing ruins of a city where everything seemed to have melted and merged, Goto Ichiri looked up at the sky with a solemn expression, while Kita Ikuyo beside her was already tensely preparing for defense.

The seal has broken.

No one knows how the [Internal Medicine Doctor] managed to do it. It was supposed to be transmitted to the future several hours later, but it broke free from the blessing's shackles and reappeared in the real world.

And this time, it reveals a third form, completely different from before. It is a bizarre creature with a roughly humanoid shape, whose gender is difficult to discern, resembling both male and female, entwined with scarlet things, and with strange postures where large and small twisted humanoid figures can be seen wandering around.

I... am the messenger of the plague, I am a doctor, I am the doctor who brings you happiness.

A gentle voice slowly emerged from the monster's mouth.

Both Ichiri and Kita could clearly sense from that thing that the now-changed [Internal Medicine Doctor] would be very difficult for them to seal away again.

Chapter Seventy-Nine: The moment of harvest for evil, but I told you I am not a god!

A terrifying force is spreading.

Unlike the power displayed in the previous two stages, at this moment, Goto Ichiri and Kita Ikuyo felt unparalleled pressure from the thing that appeared in the sky, as if their consciousness and bodies would be completely torn apart in the next second, and they had no way to resist such a powerful enemy.

"Woo..."

With great difficulty, Ichiri raised his hand and placed his fingers on the guitar strings, only to find that he did not have enough strength to pluck them.