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

Gao Hai thought to himself.

Gao Hai was never sure if killing Lao Guo and the female traitor would invite revenge, especially after discovering the mysterious and tragic death of Maeda Miwa. Originally, he just thought it best not to reveal the two players' obsession items he possessed, but now it seemed that perhaps it was best not to reveal even which mission he was participating in.

But then how can they obtain the necessary game information?

"Go find that girl you met before."

Gao Hai said after some thought.

"Hey, should we go find her?"

Maki was taken aback when Gao Hai mentioned the guitar girl, and couldn't help but take another look at Gao Hai.

"Hmm... she doesn't seem like a bad person at least. In this situation, we can only choose someone we might be able to talk to."

Gao Hai said with a hint of helplessness, while praying in his heart that his understanding of that Pochi-chan wouldn't be too far off, and that he wouldn't encounter a super-modified version of Pochi-chan, a demonic and wicked woman.

So the two of them continued along the corridor, observing their surroundings as they searched for the girl they had met on the ground.

Gao Hai carefully examined the stalls and found that the main goods fell into two categories. One type consisted of props that didn't seem to be objects of obsession, but appeared to have a peculiar effect. For example, there was dust in a glass bottle, somewhat similar to what Lao Guo had used, and some purple papers with blood-written words, which gave off an unsettling feeling. The second type consisted of stalls that sold or exchanged objects of obsession. This was very simple: I would bring out my object of obsession, and you would bring out yours, and we would see if we could reach an agreement to exchange them.

It seems that these players' transactions are basically still at the simplest level of bartering. Considering that the player community seems to have started to be established two years ago, it appears that the players are still operating on a small scale and their development is not going smoothly.

"Have you heard? All the admission tickets for Shirakawa Apartments have been invalidated."

Gao Hai overheard some of the players' conversation, which made him take notice.

"It seems like that's true. It seems that the dungeon was undergoing a [fixed] process around this time, right? I wonder which player got the core artifact ahead of time. I hope that guy is a normal person. I don't want to see the terrible thing of core artifacts going out of control in the real world happen again."

"Who knows? We can't predict the actions of such powerful people. I heard that the [Female Face Gang] seems to have failed. Those guys seem to be looking for people who participated in the Shirakawa Apartment instance. A few days ago, they even killed a newbie who survived the instance."

"Ha, so it's those crazy women who use [substitute flesh and blood], right? Tsk tsk, just hearing about it makes me sick. I hope they don't come here and cause trouble in the market."

"That's true, but who do you think would have stolen the core artifact of that instance?"

After their conversation, Gao Hai and Zhen Fei walked away without stopping, seemingly unconcerned about the matter.

After they left, the two who had just been talking stopped, glanced at the departing Takami Maki and the other woman, whispered to each other, "It doesn't seem like it," and then stopped paying attention to them.

Are they deliberately revealing information they're interested in to test if we're the two players who cleared the Shirakawa Apartment mission? What the hell is going on?!

Gao Hai, who sensed the malice in the two men and knew they were suspicious, maintained his composure but inwardly began to complain.

I'm not sure if the information they deliberately revealed is true or false, but the "Female Face Gang"? And the name of that obsession item, "Substitute Flesh and Blood"? Come to think of it, I didn't find the obsession item she used to replace Maeda Miwa on that woman. So that thing is some kind of flesh and blood? Could it be something she inserted into her own body?! Should I say it's fortunate that we locked that woman in room 205 and used the mechanisms of a corpse to seal her off? Otherwise, if her obsession item went out of control and something escaped, who knows if we could have successfully completed that mission?

As they continued onward, passing by the players selling their wares, Gao Hai and Maki spent some time finding the pink-haired girl who was also in this abandoned underground shopping plaza.

The other person doesn't seem to be in good condition.

She went into a shop, unlike the stalls, that looked well-maintained, occupying a small, empty room. She stammered with the owner for a long time before finally leaving, clutching a small jar and sighing. She seemed lost in thought, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you again, miss."

Then, Gao Hai suddenly appeared in front of the other party with Zhen Fei and greeted them in a very serious manner.

"..."

The girl was unable to respond immediately.

The moment Gao Hai and Zhen Fei suddenly appeared, she was almost frozen in shock. Her whole body seemed to turn into a two-dimensional form in an instant before returning to normal. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she managed to say "Hello." Although the voice was so soft that even Gao Hai, whose hearing was enhanced by the S-class, could barely hear it.

"I hope to get your help."

Gao Hai, with a solemn expression, continued speaking.

"Hey?"

The girl's face showed shock, and she subconsciously took a step back.

"My girlfriend and I are facing some difficulties. After thinking about it carefully, among all the players I've met, you seem to be very capable and a kind person, definitely someone who can help us. I hope you can help us solve our problems. May I ask if we can get your help?"

Gao Hai bowed deeply, making a very earnest request to the pink-haired girl.

Zhenfei's brows furrowed deeper and deeper, but she still bowed with Gao Hai without hesitation. She did not contradict him at this time, but obediently followed his lead.

"Hey?!"

The girl took another step back, and Gao Hai felt that her face was almost turning blue.

Open your mouth.

Judging from the change in their lip movements at that moment, it seemed that the other person wanted to refuse.

He tried to open his mouth, his lips trembling slightly, as if he wanted to refuse, as if he didn't want to help Gao Hai and Zhen Fei.

Then, the girl spoke.

"Okay...Ok..."

He lowered his head as if deflated, no, it was as if his whole body was about to melt into the ground and turn into slime, and answered in such a deflated manner.

"...Are you really not bullying her?"

Maki turned to Gao Hai in confusion and asked in a low voice. She had noticed that there were tears welling up in the corners of the girl's eyes, and it looked like she might cry at any moment.

"Well, at least we're asking for help sincerely. Anyway, miss, my name is Takami, and this is my girlfriend, Shijo, not Akane. Cough cough, sorry, I unconsciously made a mistake and got mixed up with the show. Anyway, could you please find a quieter place? We really have something very important to ask, and we're a little worried about being overheard by other people."

Gao Hai clasped his hands together once more, earnestly pleading.

The girl, who had already given up on treatment, simply nodded and said "okay" before leading the two forward.

The three of them arrived at the so-called hidden location without taking too long.

This is a small room at the end of the abandoned underground plaza, with a cat pattern on the door. Goto Ichiri, nicknamed "Pochi-chan," first opened the door and looked inside. After confirming that someone wasn't there, she became even more dejected before leading Takami and Maki inside.

"Here...that...is affected by the power of an obsessive entity, so the sound can't travel out..."

Goto Ichiri, who was the first to enter the room, turned around and spoke softly to Takami and Maki.

On the way here, the girl had already told the two her name, and by the way, it took her 30 seconds to say it.

"Well then, Ms. Goto, I'm asking for your help because I trust you intuitively and believe you can help us understand a lot of things. I'm sorry to trouble you, since neither Maki nor I have any entry tickets to trade, and we don't know how to communicate with those players."

Gao Hai noticed that the room resembled a classroom, with many desks and chairs piled up in the corner. While talking, he took two stools, dusted one off, and handed it to Maki. He casually dusted off the other stool before sitting down. As for Goto Ichiri, she was already sitting in the only single seat in the classroom. The way all the desks and chairs were piled up at the back, leaving only one in the middle, gave Gao Hai the feeling that someone would occasionally return here to rest. However, this wasn't the focus at the moment, so he didn't pay too much attention to it.

"No...admission tickets? Huh, huh? You...you're from the group of players at Shirakawa Apartment?"

Goto Ichiri, who was listening to Takami's words, kept her head down, but she quickly realized something and suddenly looked up at the two of them.

Although she seems to be so socially anxious that she can hardly communicate normally, she can still react quickly when faced with questions related to ghost stories. If so, she does seem to be a veteran. I hope I made the right choice.

"That's right, both Maki and I are players who have completed the Shirakawa Apartment game."

Gao Hai nodded slightly, neither denying nor denying the matter.

"They actually told me that directly... Am I really that trustworthy?"

The girl, who hadn't expected things to unfold this way, seemed quite shocked. She took several deep breaths before managing to calm down, then pointed to herself, seemingly unable to understand Gao Hai's choice.

"This is just my first impression. And, Ms. Goto, are you familiar with this thing called 'Blessing'?"

Having confirmed the other party's goodwill through his blessings, Gao Hai decided to be more direct and spoke directly to the girl in front of him.

"Blessings... to you... newcomers? Wait, blessings? You've fulfilled your obsession? Newcomers? Received blessings??? Wait, wait... and you even dealt with the [Female Face Gang]?!"

Gao Hai found it difficult to describe the wonderful changes in the girl's expression at that moment.

Shock? Fear? Sadness? Despair? Pain? Life is meaningless? All sorts of emotions appeared on the girl's face, like a pie chart, but then instantly crumbled, as if Goto Ichiri was about to melt on the spot, turning into a mosaic of rotten things on the ground.

And as expected, she cried again.

“You... are not newcomers.”

Goto Ichiri wiped away the tears on both sides of her cheeks and spoke in a trembling voice.

"Huh? Isn't that right? But we've only just completed the first mission."

Gao Hai didn't understand what Goto Ichiri meant. After a moment of surprise, he spoke with some confusion.

"You... are the big shots..."

After that sentence, Goto Ichiri disappeared. Ah, no, she didn't disappear; she just huddled in a cardboard box on the side of the room, muttering her reply to Takami from inside, as if she had suffered a blow and become withdrawn.

When did that box appear in that place?

Are you absolutely sure it's okay to find this person?

More and more confused by Pochi-chan's stream-of-consciousness performance, Maki couldn't help but turn her head and express her doubts to Takami again.

"I guess they're reliable, at least they've always been kind to us, right? Hey, Ms. Goto, could you come out for a second? It's really hard for us to communicate like this."

Equally embarrassed, Takami forced a smile and then tried to summon Goto Ichiri to continue the current conversation.

In short, after a few minutes, the three of them finally returned to their original state, sitting together in the middle of the classroom, looking at each other, and continuing their initial conversation.

"So, that's the situation. We're in a bind right now, not knowing how to get something like a beginner's manual. We know practically nothing about the Sacrifice Game; we can only speculate based on snippets of information from that voice. Ms. Goto, could you help us with this? We can use the items that those two veteran players are obsessed with as payment."

After explaining his difficulties and confirming that Goto Ichiri, who knew about these things, still harbored no ill will towards them and was still kind and willing to help them, Takami felt relieved and earnestly stated his request.

In stark contrast to his previous attitude, Goto Ichiri now became extremely serious and solemn, nodding gently to Takami and Maki before standing up.

Is she going to get that new employee handbook for them?

Seeing her proud and arrogant demeanor, Gao Hai couldn't help but wonder what the girl was up to.

Then, Takami saw Goto Ichiri pick up a guitar.

Gao Hai:?

True Concubine:?

Goto Ichiri: !!!

Deng Deng——

Her slender fingers suddenly fell.

A crisp melody rang out at that moment.

Meanwhile, Goto Ichiri, with an extremely focused expression, forced himself to mutter in a powerful voice that resonated in the ears of Takami and Maki.

Thump thump thump—thump thump thump thump—

"A sacrifice game, three difficulties, twilight, dark night, and a red moon~"

"Twilight is easy, tickets are in high demand; Dark Night is troublesome, Red Moon is suicidal; if you die in a dungeon, you're dead; to escape, you only need one ticket!"

"A false hint from Dark Night, half a false hint from Red Moon, advance to the next level after just two A-level attempts, forcing yourself to stay in your current position only makes you vulnerable to being targeted~"