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

The situation is indeed dire. One shelter has been breached, and at least several thousand people are out of contact. You're very likely to encounter these survivors soon. As for returning to provide aid, no, there's no need to do so for now.

The more intense the hospital's reaction, the more it proves the correctness of our actions. Finding the core obsession is the most important thing now. However, I must warn you that the situation you encounter will likely become increasingly troublesome. I can sense that this instance is undergoing further mutations, so let me provide you with some support for now.

Gao Hai didn't offer much explanation. After briefly describing the situation, he began transmitting power and intelligence information.

Through these memories, Xiong Mi learned that at this moment, numerous black voids had appeared out of nowhere in Tokyo. These voids were directly connected to the chaotic instance she was currently in, constantly releasing various strange creatures and flesh-and-blood monsters into the outside world, causing very serious casualties.

According to Gao Hai's investigation, the reason this instance could achieve this is likely because the [Hospital] utilized the [Reality Descent] power inherent in Red Moon-level instances, synchronizing the Reality Descent times of several instances. This allowed them to simultaneously influence the real world at crucial moments. Furthermore, to enhance and solidify the effect, the [Hospital] further allowed this hybrid instance to absorb a portion of the structures within the [Edge Space], thus creating an even closer connection between this instance space and the real world.

In other words, this is no longer just the vast space formed by the merging of seven Red Moon-level dungeons, but also includes a considerable portion of the [Edge Space]. Its overall size has expanded once again, making it significantly more difficult to thoroughly investigate this area in a short time.

This is truly a reckless approach. Is it no wonder they are considered god-level beings? If it were a few months ago, I probably would never have imagined that the Red Moon level dungeon could be assembled like Lego bricks. This is just too outrageous.

Despite feeling deeply moved, Xiong Mi did not slow down her actions.

Gao Hai's power was spreading through her senses. The positions of the lawyer and Shao Ye, which she could only vaguely perceive before, had become incredibly clear, and their distances could be measured down to the centimeter.

In addition to a clearer perception, Xiong Mi now has a second source of support from Gao Hai.

To save the world, to save happiness, to save tears, I am ready!

Amidst the resounding voice, a figure holding a submachine gun, wearing a bulletproof vest and rescue team uniform, with a blurred face, appeared before Xiong Mi.

Lao Guo.

To be precise, this should be considered a rescue team member who was once Lao Guo, but has now been truly transformed and turned to good after being empowered by the rescue team badge. She has even been strengthened to the level of a Dark Night-class monster. Now, Gao Hai has airdropped her to Xiong Mi to guide her and provide combat support.

No matter how outstanding his strength is, Xiong Mi is still human after all. In terms of perceiving chaotic space and fighting against various dangerous and strange creatures, humans still have shortcomings and various limitations.

As for Lao Guo, who is also a strange creature, he has absolutely no such problem. After all, no matter how much this thing looks like a human, it is not human at all. The nature of strange creatures allows it to perceive the characteristics of other strange creatures more accurately and deeply. Its difficulty in killing also makes Lao Guo more suitable for dealing with completely unknown strange creatures. Not to mention that after Gao Hai's slight modification, this thing can now also be used to sense spatial anomalies, thus making it easier and faster for Xiong Mi to guide the route to find teammates and targets.

This thing seems a bit too emotionally charged, like it's about to throw its head in blood at the slightest provocation.

"Let's go, let's save the world."

Xiong Mi, a Red Moon-level player who had no idea who this newbie killer Lao Guo was, saw that the rescue team member looked like he was about to explode at someone. After thinking for a moment, he waved his hand, indicating that the other party could start the operation.

For a beautiful blue sky and a bright future!

So Lao Guo raised his submachine gun and strode forward.

Xiong Mi silently followed behind the strange creature, carefully sensing the surrounding situation.

She could sense that Lao Guo's appearance had alleviated the chaotic and distorted phenomena around them to some extent. This seemed to be because the eerie aura emanating from Lao Guo had some special effect, calming the space to a certain degree.

This feeling is really strange. The strange creatures have calmed the space to some extent, as if they've received some kind of soothing effect... Wait, could this be the [Hospital's] method? This thing changes the degree of spatial distortion within the dungeon by detecting the activity level of the strange creatures, thus targeting the players? After all, a normal player will always subconsciously want to avoid the actions of the strange creatures and actively stay away from danger. Could it be that the [Hospital] is taking advantage of this and doing the opposite, which is why my team and I were inexplicably swept away by the spatial turbulence and scattered in different parts of the dungeon?

Tread - Tread -

While I was thinking, Lao Guo suddenly sped up and started running.

Without hesitation, Xiong Mi immediately followed the other person, while raising her vigilance to the highest level.

Bang!

A dull thud was heard as rescue workers smashed open a door and rushed inside.

The surrounding scenery changed again, and before Xiong Mi knew it, she found herself in another corridor. This corridor looked like a prison, or perhaps a mental hospital. On one side of the corridor were windows sealed with iron bars, and on the other side were heavy iron doors. Of course, one of these doors had already been forcibly broken open by the rescue team, leading to a very narrow, seemingly empty room.

No one in need of rescue could be found.

After looking around, the rescue team member standing inside the door spoke in a cold tone.

"..."

Not quite understanding the logic behind this thing's behavior, Xiong Mi didn't speak rashly. Instead, she followed the others in, observed the surroundings, and quickly noticed a piece of paper with mottled bloodstains pasted on the wall.

This appears to be a letter, a letter that was originally intended for someone.

Reaching out to take the note, the pungent smell of blood enveloped her. In her slightly distorted state, Xiong Mi vaguely heard someone whispering beside her, someone pacing back and forth in the room, constantly pleading and calling out something.

I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry I haven't been able to leave yet.

They want me to accept everything, just like everyone else has made their choices.

I think I'll eventually have to jump into that hole; I still can't escape this place.

Perhaps you can make a different choice, or perhaps none of us have a choice at all.

No one will come to our rescue. We are completely trapped, and we have no way to escape.

Accept everything, accept the hole in us, jump in, and you will find happiness.

I'm sorry we weren't able to find a second option.

But I still hope you can find a different path.

[—To Masafari Yamashita]

【——Masashige Yamashita】

The letter was simple, with few words, but the content was somewhat incomprehensible and difficult to understand.

Masafumi Yamashita? Masashige Yamashita? Are they twins? Twins in the dungeon world always represent a special meaning, and the core obsession is very likely to be born from one of the twins, or even both of them.

Although there are not enough clues yet, Xiong Mi carefully put away the note and wrote down the names of Yamashita Masafumi and Yamashita Masashige in her heart.

There are still people waiting for rescue; I must keep going.

The rescue team member, having apparently found no trace of any living people, left behind these words, turned and left the room, heading towards one side of the corridor.

Did it enter the room on its own because it heard cries for help coming from inside?

As Xiong Mi continued forward with the rescue team, she saw this thing stop every now and then, occasionally ramming or kicking open the door next to it, going in to take a look around, and then leaving.

For the glory of humanity and the planet!

And every time it stops and then starts again, it lets out a couple of roars, and I don't know why.

However, Xiong Mi noticed that in those prison-like rooms, every room that the rescue team had entered had a blurry record on the doorplate. Although the record was so blurred that the patient's name and specific information were not visible, the doctor's section had a very clear record.

Surgeon, internist, psychologist.

Currently, only these three doctors' titles have appeared on the confirmed ward signs, and each one is very clear and easily identifiable, unlike other information that is blurry and difficult to understand.

Could these be traces of the doctor's actions?

Bear continued forward, silently gathering any potentially useful information while speculating about possible scenarios.

For the Second Reich!

Meanwhile, Lao Guo, the rescue team member whose slogans were becoming increasingly abstract, continued to move forward. Unbeknownst to him, the surrounding space shifted, and the man and the ghost found themselves in a completely new, dark environment.

This time, as soon as Xiong Mi entered, he immediately sensed an astonishing number of eerie creatures, completely different from before.

Chapter Thirteen: The Subtle Effects of Faith and the Investigation of the Cave.

The taste of blood.

For the players, this smell was all too familiar, so familiar that Xiong Mi could even tell how much of the blood was her own and how much came from the monsters that had launched the attack.

Well, the vast majority is still his own. After all, the backlash from using multiple obsession objects in succession is quite severe. Although he has become much stronger now, defeating at least thirty Red Moon-level monsters in a short period of time has consumed a lot of energy.

"Huh...huh..."

With heavy breathing, Xiong Mi slowly stood up from the ground, wiped the blood from her nose, and then looked around at the things lying on the ground, some trembling and struggling to get up, and others lying motionless like real corpses.

Burn marks spread across their bodies, across these naked, contorted creatures.

The source of this mark lies in Xiong Mi's own palm, in an ugly scar on her hand.

[Punishment Brand]

This is a Red Moon-level artifact from a certain American-style Red Moon-level dungeon, one of Xiong Mi's previously owned exclusive artifacts. After being captured following his failure at Teng Hua Middle School, this artifact left Xiong Mi and returned to the dungeon. Until recently, when Cat Brother and others met Gao Hai in [Infant Cry Village], Xiong Mi himself returned to the dungeon where he originally obtained this artifact, reclaimed it, and thus completed the reconstruction of his own combat system.

As a Red Moon-level artifact, the [Mark of Punishment] is actually a piece of human skin with charred scars. To use it, Xiong Mi needs to tear off the skin and flesh from his own palm and then stick this thing on his hand, allowing it to fuse with his own flesh as a substitute.

This object of obsession has two different uses. The first is direct contact, which can only be used on enemies with physical forms. Once contact is made, the mark will burn physical enemies. If it is a living thing, it will be charred within two or three minutes. If it is a monster, the burning force will forcibly leave a mark on the target, sealing it for several minutes to several hours. The second is a wide-area release. This function requires Xiong Mi to cut open the object of obsession's skin to let blood drip out. Her blood will then boil and burn, igniting a large area. The burning flames will react strongly to intangible monsters, harming enemies that could not be directly touched and imprisoning them in flames.

Such powerful functions come at a price: extremely harsh conditions for use. First, this thing will constantly erode the mind of the user, Xiong Mi. Second, this object will cause continuous damage to the body during use. Furthermore, to use this object, Xiong Mi must make a vow, and if she has even the slightest subjective tendency to violate this vow, even if she doesn't actually do so, this thing will immediately go out of control and kill her.

However, Xiong Mi never doubted her own beliefs, so she didn't care about the side effects of this obsession item at all, and used it for a long time without any problems.

Well... until Alice captured me at Fujika Middle School, where she sliced ​​off all my flesh and stuffed it into a doll. Perhaps because she thought the skin was too ugly, Alice deliberately threw it away, leaving only the bronze eyeballs. I wonder what the reasoning behind that choice was.

"Hopefully, there won't be another wave anytime soon."

Xiong Mi flexed her fingers, feeling the burning pain emanating from her skin, and took another deep breath.

Justice...will prevail...

The sounds of struggle coming from not far away belonged to a rescue team member who was missing an arm and had fractures of varying degrees in both legs, as he struggled to get up from the pile of fallen monsters.

"So you're still alive."

Xiong Mi was somewhat surprised. When the horde of monsters first attacked, she saw the rescue team member raise his submachine gun, firing as he charged forward, only to be knocked down in the first round and then swallowed up by the tide of creatures, disappearing without a trace. To be honest, she had already prepared herself for the enemy to be wiped out and was already thinking about how to rejoin her teammates if she was the only one left. The fact that these things had actually gotten back up was truly unexpected.

Living up to the name of the rescue team...

The rescuer, whose condition was clearly not good, pounded his chest hard, his tone filled with loyalty.

So, isn't this thing a bit abnormal? I remember the strange creatures summoned by Gao Hai's rescue team badge weren't originally supposed to look like this, right?

Could it have been hacked by something? That can't be...

I channeled some of the faith power projected onto myself into my summoned creature. This will enhance its vitality and resilience, grant it a degree of self-healing, and also alleviate my own leveling issues to some extent. As for side effects, its personality might change slightly, but this is mainly because the creature's level is too low, making it susceptible to external influences. This shouldn't pose a significant problem.

Gao Hai's voice suddenly came, and he gave Xiong Mi an explanation.

"Looks like you've reconnected. The signal seems pretty good this time. How long will it last?"

Xiong Mi raised an eyebrow, ignoring the gradually healing body of the rescue team member not far in front of her, and started talking directly to Gao Hai.

A few minutes ago, as the surrounding environment changed again and strange creatures attacked, Gao Hai's communication with this side was also interrupted. At the time, Xiong Mi was too busy dealing with the attack to think about the reason, but now, judging from the changes in the strange creatures' aura, she could roughly guess that as the distortion of this instance deepened, each large-scale activity of the strange creatures would negatively impact Gao Hai's power transmission, temporarily cutting off her signal. In other words, once she engaged the enemy, she might lose contact with the outside world until the enemy was defeated.

It's bad news, but not too bad, since Gao Hai is the only one who can transmit his power for communication right now. Even without his communication, the situation won't change much, so they can just continue their operation.

[It's alright for now. The lawyer is very close to you, but because there are many chaotic spatial nodes nearby, he can't come directly. He needs some time to scout and assess the situation. You can rest here for a while. I can remotely project power to stabilize the suppressive effect of your obsession objects on these monsters. You don't need to worry about them getting up again for several hours.]

Gao Hai's voice quickly responded, and as faint golden light spread through the space, Xiong Mi saw that the strange creatures that had initially struggled had completely fallen silent, each becoming like a corpse.

Across an immeasurably vast spatial barrier, he could suppress dozens of Red Moon-level monsters for hours with just a tiny bit of power. With such power, how could he not be worshipped as a god by others? Sigh, I really don't know what to say.

Xiong Mi sighed with some emotion, then stretched her body a few times and began to observe her surroundings.

At first, I didn't notice because there were too many and too powerful enemies attacking us. But now that I look closely, this place seems to be an underground cave.