[Stepped on a cat Stepped on a cat]
[Stepped on the napping kitty~]
A child's singing voice rang out from the television.
Accompanied by the sound of many people's cheerfully dancing footsteps, the voice emerged from the TV's speakers.
There was no picture.
Because after the image of that reporter interviewing the school had appeared, Gao Hai had immediately thrown the coffee table at the television, smashing the screen on the spot.
As it turned out, while this was effective, its usefulness was limited. Even without a picture, the broken TV's speakers continued to emit strange sounds, constantly transmitting unsettling and bizarre noises.
[The kitty ran away The kitty ran away]
The cheerful singing continued to sound from the shattered television, accompanied by sharp, nearly deranged static.
The temperature in the living room was dropping, already low enough to make one feel cold.
Outside the window behind them, a row of those things was already standing there.
The corridor outside the living room door was shrouded in an eerie shadow.
Communications were completely cut off; only the mental link with Maki was still usable.
At this moment, Gao Hai and Miko stood on one side of the living room, unsure of what to do for a moment, and could only remain frozen in place.
What now?
Gao Hai's gaze shifted constantly between the room's doorway, the window, and the smashed television.
Miko, beside him, was scared witless. She subconsciously reached out and gripped the hem of Gao Hai's shirt tightly. It looked like she wouldn't be able to come up with any ideas for a while.
What should I do?
Gao Hai asked himself in his heart.
A fatal threat had already appeared before his eyes.
What could be done to break the current stalemate?
There was no doubt he was now entangled in the power of an anomaly.
But, he hadn't been attacked.
Although all sorts of abnormal phenomena had begun to appear around him, he had not yet suffered a direct attack from the anomaly.
So, based on the principle that [anomalies must obey certain rules] in their actions, could this mean that he had not yet violated the killing rule of this invading anomaly, and was still in a temporarily safe phase?
No matter how an anomaly's form and abilities changed, the characteristic of obeying rules would never change. So far, no matter how high-level, difficult, or terrifying the instances Players had encountered, the anomalies within them had never deviated from this principle of action.
Therefore, the fact that he and Miko were not yet dead meant that the [rule of certain death] had not yet been broken.
The appearance of the anomalous phenomena began after Miko mentioned the words "Alice's Game." She must have been entangled by this anomaly's power first, and then he obtained the relevant information from her, triggering a chain reaction of the anomaly's influence and causing him to be drawn in.
Alice's Game... this anomaly that existed in Fujihana Middle School, its rules and patterns of action would often be based on a set of [game rules]. But neither he nor Miko were currently in a [game location] like the Teaching Building or dormitory building, nor did they possess any [game rules]. Understood from this perspective, neither he nor Miko met the activation requirements for [Alice's Game], so it was certain that the one that might attack them was not [Alice] herself.
Following that line of deduction, the [Big Bad Wolf], an anomaly emphasized by the rules, would certainly not attack him and Miko either, because that anomaly only attacks Players who participate in Alice's Game and violate specific rules.
With those two ruled out, what other anomalies on the list of rules had a less direct connection to the game's locations? What other anomalies could possibly appear outside the game area and act according to certain rules, potentially launching an attack?
Gao Hai took a step forward, walking over to the broken television, to the coffee table he had thrown, which now lay toppled on the ground.
He righted the coffee table and set it on the floor.
Then, Gao Hai pulled a candle from the coffee table's drawer, took out a lighter, and lit the candle directly. Maintaining his outstretched arm, he held the candle and slowly stood up.
Miko, standing beside Gao Hai, blinked, not understanding Gao Hai's intention for a moment.
But very quickly, the young girl heard a certain noise and turned her head slightly, and then she saw the thing standing right beside her.
[Shh—]
With a low chuckle, the candle in Gao Hai's hand was blown out.
"Mr. G-Gao..."
At that moment, Miko nearly collapsed to the floor.
"Test successful. Did you see that thing? Where was it just now?"
Gao Hai showed no reaction to the candle in his hand being extinguished; he simply turned to look at Miko and asked calmly.
He hadn't seen a thing just now, nor had he heard any abnormal sound.
From Gao Hai's perspective, the candle going out was an abrupt event; he hadn't sensed the slightest sign before it happened.
But judging from Miko's terrified reaction, something must have appeared just now.
He, a Player, saw nothing, yet Miko Yotsuya, who wasn't a Player at all, saw it?
Could it be that her eyes could see more, more comprehensive things than he, a Player, could?!
"It... it walked past me, and then it blew out the candle you were holding."
Her face pale, Miko tried her best to maintain a calm expression as she answered Gao Hai's question.
"Are you sure it walked directly past you?"
Gao Hai asked again to confirm.
"Mmm..."
The girl nodded heavily, subconsciously averting her gaze to the floor.
The [bad children] were right here.
And according to Miko's words, either the [bad children] had the ability to teleport, or, the [bad children] had actually been here all along, following them the whole time. It was only when Gao Hai lit the candle that the [bad children] manifested due to a corresponding rule, and even then, it was an incomplete manifestation. Perhaps this was because Gao Hai was not currently participating in [Alice's Game], so the candle in his hand lacked any special properties. But if Miko could see the [bad children] in this state, then she might play a significant role next.
"Where is it now?"
Gao Hai scanned the living room, which appeared completely normal—at least, perfectly normal to his eyes—and then looked at Miko to ask.
"..."
But the girl didn't answer Gao Hai's question, merely continuing to avoid his gaze.
Gao Hai understood what Miko meant.
His gaze swept his surroundings, but he couldn't see any phenomenon out of the ordinary.
But the girl beside him could see the blood, reeking of decay, dripping from Gao Hai's body.
If one were to lift their head just a little, they could see the rotting, stinking arm hanging down from Gao Hai's waist—an arm that had been skinned, its bloody flesh, covered in knife marks, teeming with squirming, rotten maggots.
Only half a ribcage was draped over Gao Hai's left arm, with a few sinews connecting it to the intestines wrapped around his waist and legs. With every movement Gao Hai himself made, one could see the hanging internal organs swaying slightly.
That thing's head was right beside Gao Hai's shoulder.
Its jaw had been torn off and was stuck on Gao Hai's neck, the sharp, broken bones poking at his throat, yet Gao Hai himself felt nothing at all.
More than ten very thin steel needles pierced through the thing's temples and penetrated its eyeballs, nearly popping them out of their sockets. Yet fine blood vessels and threads of flesh still connected them to the eye sockets, gripping the eyeballs firmly like a spider's web.
A tongue that had been half cut off drooped down, while its remaining arm, which had only three fingers, was gently raised, its forefinger—with the nail pulled off—held to its half-remaining mouth.
[Shh—]
The voice was like a whisper in Miko's ear.
Don't say it.
Hearing that voice, Miko realized she absolutely could not speak of the situation she was seeing.
If she spoke, she would...
Gao Hai was still looking around.
He guessed that the [bad children] were standing right beside him, perhaps even clinging to his back.
But Miko could see with perfect clarity that the [bad children] had practically merged with Gao Hai, one could even say it had grown onto his body.
But Gao Hai couldn't be bothered with that right now. After all, based on the existing rules, the [bad children] wouldn't pose any danger to him and Miko for the time being. In comparison, confirming the other anomalies was the key.
The television was very noisy, but it hadn't attracted anything in, so things like [Mother Sheep] and [Teacher Duck] shouldn't be here.
This wasn't a stairwell, so there was no need to worry about [Teacher Turtle] and [Grandpa Ox] for now.
In the darkness outside, there might be things like [Sister Flashlight], but so far, nothing abnormal had been discovered inside. Right, there was a very strange rule in the rules about turning lights on during the day and off at night. Perhaps this meant that [lights on is daytime, lights off is nighttime]. Therefore, being in the living room, under the lights, he and Miko couldn't see anything in the dark corridor, because that was an area that could only be seen at "night."
Wait a minute, since I've verified the existence of the [bad children] from the rules, that proves the anomaly that has appeared does indeed come from [Fujihana Middle School].
But whether it was the girl who passed by in the corridor just now, or the group of students standing outside the window, none of them had any obvious features that could correspond to a certain identity, right?
Gao Hai rummaged through the drawer again and found two flashlights. He tossed one to Miko, then took out a standard-issue pistol from the drawer. He took it out along with its holster and strapped it to his waist, then took out two loaded magazines and put them in his pants pocket.
"You... you have a gun?"
Not expecting to see this, Miko was stunned for a moment.
"It's better not to expect this thing to be very useful. This is mainly for treating the brain-dead."
Gao Hai said in a very serious tone, then released the safety on the firearm in his hand, turned, and aimed at the knee of a student outside the window who had their back to him.
Bang!
Following the sharp gunshot in the next moment, that student's knee exploded in a spray of blood. The person staggered a step and fell directly to the ground.
It seems... they're human?
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