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

A signal of thirst and hunger came from my throat.

The flies and maggots on my body were still wriggling around.

The pain has lessened considerably.

Perhaps it was because they could already sense that time was running out.

It's because I realized I'd finally reached the end.

A person who is about to die but has not yet died.

They no longer had the strength to struggle.

Aside from lying on the ground, taking a breath in and out, he was no different from a dead person.

So all you have to do is wait to die.

You don't need to do anything, just wait for death to come.

Once you're dead, you won't need to think about anything anymore, you won't have to suffer any pain, and you won't have to endure any torment.

Ah, so if you die, can't you find true happiness?

It would be better if he just died...

It would be better if he just died...

"..."

Are those remains?

No, those are people who are still alive.

Players and survivors lay together in a dark room, their bodies rotting, their minds clouded, on the verge of death, with no possibility of a final flicker of life remaining.

That thing was among them, among those who had been almost completely drained, reduced to mere chunks of flesh on the verge of death.

Thin, almost completely dehydrated, it was nothing more than a skeleton wrapped in human skin.

The source of that coldness was in it.

The toxins spread outwards from this desiccated corpse, which looked as if it could be grasped with one hand, continuously seeping into the bodies of those on the verge of death, bringing them even greater torment.

It's certain that this is the strange object, the one secretly manipulating this distorted space.

But... isn't this a little off?

Is the thing I'm seeing now the same entity as the one I encountered before?

The unexpected situation caused Cat Bro to stop his immediate attack and instead frown, wanting to observe the surrounding situation more carefully.

Judging solely from their aura, this mummified corpse and the blurry creature are undoubtedly the same. In fact, if any player were to be blindfolded and try to perceive them, they would all believe they are the same entity, and would never think they are two different creatures.

However, the difference in appearance is too great.

The information about emotions and memories obtained from sensory feedback is also so different that it doesn't seem like the situation of the same individual at all. This has reached a completely abnormal point.

This is how the same thing?

No, something's not right. Something's definitely not right.

Did I do something wrong? What exactly is the problem? What should I do now?

【careful! 】

When you realize that you are hesitating because of the unusual situation and thus revealing a weakness, the attack has already begun.

In the midst of the crisis, Cat Bro only had time to defend himself and avoid vital points before a blurry figure approached him. The figure's outstretched hand pierced his chest, leaving a gaping wound on his chest and abdomen that nearly severed him at the waist.

“Pfft—”

The cursed power of the ghost story, even with Gao Hai's power of defense, still caused serious damage to Cat Brother's body and soul, instantly rendering him unable to fight.

Just as the monster that had launched the attack was about to strike again to finish off Cat Brother, the golden flames covering Cat Brother's body suddenly erupted, instantly destroying everything within a hundred meters. At the same time, it sent the blurry monster and the dried-up corpse monster flying. The heavily injured Cat Brother fell with the collapsing ruins, landing in a place he could not have predicted.

I saw it.

Amidst the intense pain, Cat Brother's eyes widened, and his senses became clearer than ever before.

The secret that had been hidden has finally been exposed.

In the moment of that strange creature attacking him, in that instant of close contact once again, he finally saw the truth.

Click click click——

The shattered ruins are rapidly coming together again, solidifying back into their original form.

It was a dark alleyway.

Those were alleyways, one after another, spreading out in a dense network.

The overlapping passages, both in the same place and not in the same place, split into countless alleyways.

"We've been scammed, Mr. Gao, we've been misled..."

As he fell, Cat Bro finally understood the truth and grinned.

"This isn't a single edge space; it's countless overlapping edge spaces. The living people who come here are constantly in a state of overlapping with each other. We are all in the same place, yet we are all not in the same place—that's the real key..."

He can see it; he can clearly see the composition of this place.

Countless identical dark alleyways overlap in the spatial structure, and each player is actually assigned to a separate space and is in a completely isolated state.

However, because these spaces are completely overlapping, a player in one of these spaces simultaneously has a corresponding projection in all the other overlapping spaces. And under the influence of the supernatural forces, the power intensity and clarity of this projection are manipulated.

Therefore, players will be scattered for no reason, and then suddenly reunite.

In reality, everyone is in the same place, just isolated in different spaces. Whether they can see it or not is not something the person in the space can control. It is for this reason that the avatars of the supernatural can intervene in the player's life at any time. After all, even if it is standing right in front of them, as long as they are in different spaces, the player cannot truly detect its presence.

The reason Gao Hai couldn't pinpoint the location was precisely because the overlapping spaces appeared identical from the outside. Therefore, Gao Hai's perception, observing from the outside, would find that the living person existed in one space while simultaneously not existing in any of the infinitely many other overlapping spaces, resulting in a loss of precision due to this overlapping observation.

It's hard to imagine how such a distorted space was created.

However, if you were to analyze it, Cat Bro could actually uncover the key points.

【doctor】

It's not a real "doctor," but it is something that is close to being a "doctor."

Whether it's that blurry, short figure or that dried-up, dehydrated corpse, these things are all "doctors"—failures, things that didn't reach the final stage, things that didn't truly become "doctors."

Cat Brother wasn't quite sure of the specific reasons for the failure. He couldn't obtain all the clues with just one perception; only a certain girl discovered by Gao Hai could do that.

But he could vaguely confirm that the key to the failure of these things might lie in their lack of purity.

The key to creating the monster lies in an obsession that even death cannot erase, in distorted emotions and pain.

The key to creating a "doctor" seems to lie in a certain pure characteristic. It seems that the person being created needs to reach a certain unprecedented extreme cognition, which must not be mixed with anything else. If it cannot be achieved, it will become a failure.

There is more than one failed product in this unknown space.

The reason why they are perceived as having only one strange object is because these things are all failed products of the same "doctor". Therefore, their auras are almost identical. Moreover, the main body of each failed product is in a different overlapping space, and it also uses avatars to move in other spaces, resulting in extremely chaotic auras that are completely overlapping and the strength cannot be judged normally.

Cat Brother no longer has the mind to think about how the hospital managed to do this.

He simply did his best to send the information he could to Gao Hai so that the other party could understand the true situation of this strange space; he had no more strength left.

Unable to even control his falling body, the severely injured Cat Brother crashed into the ruins a hundred meters below. He didn't even have the strength to get up and change his position before falling unconscious due to the damage caused by the monster's power.

All Gao Hai could do was try his best to heal the other party's injuries, while hiding his presence to avoid being discovered and killed by the monsters that were chasing after him. The rest was up to waiting for the other party to wake up.

One problem after another. This place, this awful place, is it really this complicated? Now rescuing them is going to be even more difficult…

Amidst a sigh, a blurry figure, under Gao Hai's command, arrived beside the unconscious Cat Brother, reached out and grabbed him, and the two vanished simultaneously.

Gao Hai, sitting on the throne, only had time to utter a single thought before being overwhelmed by even more news, leaving him no time to do anything else.

The next critical issue that urgently needs to be addressed comes from that 7-in-1 super dungeon, and the team requesting support is none other than the members of the [Red Knot Society] player squad.

Chapter Fifty: The Red Society's Exploration of the Resort Begins.

hum-

A booming, resonant sound emanated from the real world outside the instance.

While it's unclear what such a voice means, this unexpected change is usually not a good thing. After all, if something truly beneficial to the players had happened, Mr. Gao, given his personality, would certainly have spoken up. But now, Mr. Gao in the mental link remains silent, which means the situation is inevitably heading in a bad direction.

However, no matter how things develop, their task remains unchanged. Locating the hidden Crimson Moon-level core artifact, marking it so Mr. Gao can remotely activate the fragments of the Crimson Domain to purify it is the most pressing matter. As for anything else, it may be important, but that's not their responsibility right now. Unless Mr. Gao himself, who issued the order, confirms that something else is necessary, nothing will alter their team's key mission.

Ishido Masaaki wasn't sure if the other squads thought the same way, but he himself was very firm in his belief. In this man's view, everyone's capacity to bear responsibility is limited. Given differences in strength and experience, it's enough to fulfill the responsibilities one can shoulder and obediently follow orders from above for those one cannot.

Now, at this very moment, after a considerable period of arduous exploration, he has finally found a relatively stable area within the instance. According to the existing investigation records of the "Lazi Gang," discovering such a stable area means that they are approaching the deeper parts of the instance. In other words, they are finally close to the location of the core object of obsession and have finally found a clue to completing the mission.

"We must be as careful as possible in our next steps. The opportunity to find a stable area is extremely rare, and we must not make any mistakes."

Masaaki Ishido turned around and spoke earnestly to his two teammates.

"Don't worry, Captain, there won't be any problems. Don't forget that those two juniors successfully helped solve a core problem. As seniors, we should have even more confidence."

Akira Toyama, the current vice-captain of the Red Society, looked at Masaaki Ishido and smiled as he spoke.

"Victory is certain!"

Standing on the other side, team member Hu Baoxiong also gave a thumbs up and said in a voice as enthusiastic as a golden retriever, with a faint bark at the end of his words.

At this moment, the three players are standing in an indoor hall that appears to have been abandoned for some time.

Judging from its appearance alone, this place must have once been quite luxurious. From the enormous chandelier to the various decorations on the walls, and even the carpets whose material felt exceptional underfoot, everything exuded the aura of a "high-end club." Of course, I'm referring to a proper club, not one with some strange added features.

Well, in a sense, this place can indeed be considered a high-end club, after all, its name is directly hung on the wall, and it is in an obviously designed artistic font.

Spring Mist High-End Hot Spring Resort

Following the large characters downwards, they arrived at the club's reception area. Here, the three players saw a somewhat blurry price list, where even the most basic one-day vacation package cost around 100,000 Japanese yen, while the high-end packages cost as much as 500,000 to 600,000 Japanese yen, making Akira Toyama, who came from an ordinary family, shake his head.

"It's hard to imagine that soaking in a hot spring costs so much money. I still find this kind of consumption very difficult to understand."

As he said this, Akira Toyama sighed.

"No, this is actually a rather low-end place. There are many more upscale places. But in my opinion, those places are nothing more than empty shells, extravagant and boring places. In terms of fun and meaning, they are far inferior to when I was with the international rescue team or as a war correspondent."

Captain Masaaki Ishido also felt a bit emotional. Unlike his vice-captain Akira Toyama, this captain came from an extremely wealthy merchant family and had traveled around the world with his parents since he was very young. Therefore, he was well-traveled and knew very well what truly high-end places were like. However, compared to those who comfortably enjoyed their wealth, Ishido, having traveled the world since childhood and witnessed the suffering of impoverished and underdeveloped areas, always harbored a deep aversion to pure pleasure. Later, as an adult, he took the initiative to do volunteer rescue work and war correspondent work, making him a person with ideals, ambitions, and the courage to take action.

However, something still feels a bit strange. How did a hot spring resort get involved with a hospital, and even develop into a Red Moon-level dungeon?

If we were to compare this place with other similar scenes in the "Sacrifice Game," a place like a resort would at most be considered a Dark Night-level dungeon. What major event happened here that allowed it to reach the Red Moon-level rating?