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

whoosh-

Then, she heard a gust of wind brush past her ear.

After the next blink, she saw the cleavage-eyed monster in front of her vanish without a trace.

Has it left?

The moment this thought crossed my mind, an intense aura of terror erupted beside me.

The monster was right beside her, in her blind spot, watching her intently, reaching out to kill her on the spot. She had no time to react; she could only…

boom! ! !

A crimson light emanated from Liang's hand, repelling the figure.

"Uh...uh cough cough! Cough cough cough!"

Xingge suddenly fell to the ground. Unlike Hongxia, who was having difficulty breathing, Xingge's breathing was actually forced to stop due to the oppressive aura of the monster. She couldn't catch her breath until Liang struggled to release the power of the blood-red domain. She only returned to normal after the enemy was defeated and immediately collapsed to the ground coughing violently due to lack of oxygen.

Clearly, Xingge couldn't attend to Liang on her back while she collapsed from lack of oxygen, so Liang was thrown to the ground. The already injured girl turned deathly pale, and her broken leg bent abnormally after hitting the ground, looking extremely gruesome. But she had no time to worry about her injuries. Even though Liang wanted to just lie there and give up, after sensing the creature's presence, she knew that defeating it would be no easy task, and it was far from time to rest.

"Hongxia, come closer, come closer quickly..."

Amidst a weak roar, more crimson light appeared around Liang, who struggled to sit up and looked around to find the location of the cleavage-eyed monster.

whoosh-

A gust of wind swept past her ear, coming from behind her, from a direction the girl couldn't react to in time.

boom! ! !

The power of the Crimson Domain erupted in the next second, but not from Liang's hand, but from Hongxia's hand, repelling the enemy who attacked again.

"It moves so fast, I can't pinpoint its location."

Hongxia, who had rushed to the front, shouted loudly.

"Stand back to back, don't give that thing a chance. It has completely locked onto us, and it won't be so easy to drive it away."

Liang coughed up a mouthful of blood and struggled to her feet. At this moment, Xingge caught her breath and, hearing their conversation, realized the situation was critical. She quickly got up and helped Liang lean on her shoulder to keep her standing.

No one spoke again.

Faced with a life-or-death crisis, the three of them widened their eyes, carefully observing their surroundings, trying to find the figure of the terrifying monster and capture its traces so that they could use the power of the Crimson Domain to shatter it.

The invisible forces are still slowly expanding behind us.

The three had no choice but to continue moving forward, advancing to avoid the threat behind them while keeping watch for any trace of the cleavage-eyed monster.

But it just disappeared, and no matter what we do, we can't find it.

whoosh-

The sound of wind could be heard from not far away.

Hongxia turned her head, but saw nothing; the empty corridor was completely deserted.

"Has that monster already left?"

Looking left and right but unable to see any enemy, Hongxia asked in a low voice with some doubt, while the power of the Crimson Domain continued to gather around her, not daring to relax for even a moment.

"No, that monster is probably observing us. It's incredibly fast and possesses some kind of ability to conceal itself. Right now... I think it's hiding somewhere, searching for our weaknesses. Although it doesn't seem to be around right now, if we're even slightly distracted, it will likely appear and attack immediately. This type of monster... I've heard Mr. Gao mention it before. Their behavior is somewhat similar to that of wild beasts, but more ferocious, more violent, and they never consider retreating or giving up when injured. Once its rules are triggered, it's either it or us who die; there's no other possibility."

Yamada Ryo's voice sounded terrible.

Considering what has already happened to her, it's already quite remarkable that she can speak so clearly and logically at this moment, so we can't ask for too much.

"So, we need to find a way to find it, to find the flaws in the opponent's rules of action, and to find the places that we can exploit to break through them, right?"

Hongxia forced a smile as she spoke, carefully making her way down the white corridor.

“That’s right, Hongxia has grown up too. She’s gone from being a mom to a capable and effective mom.”

As Liang said this, he reluctantly gave a thumbs up.

"Stop being so sarcastic at a time like this. Try to recover your strength first. I'm afraid you'll be gone before you even escape."

Xingge finally couldn't help but interject. Looking at Liang's body, which was covered in blood, yet he was still trying to speak, she couldn't help but show a worried expression.

"That won't do. If we don't criticize, the bassist will be completely invisible. Even if he's about to die, he has to make his presence felt right now. That's the band's philosophy. Also, that thing should be following behind us. Judging from the flow of that energy, it should be—watch out!"

Despite her stubbornness, Liang Zui showed no sign of backing down and continued her rant. But before she could finish, a faint gust of wind swept past the three of them. Sensing the approaching danger, the girl quickly unleashed the power of her crimson domain, but the enemy's figure merely flashed past them and vanished without launching any attack.

There was no attack?

No, it's that they realized there was no need to attack anymore.

Yamada Ryo frowned. She noticed that the crimson domain power she released was noticeably weaker than before. Clearly, with the spatial disorder and weakened connections, Gao Hai's power could no longer replenish her at will. Excessive use of power in a short period would weaken the crimson domain, potentially rendering it unusable temporarily. At that point, the three of them would become lambs to the slaughter, unable to mount any effective defense.

"With the power of our domain reduced, the replenishment rate has slowed down, so we need to conserve our strength."

Liang whispered to Hongxia, who was still a little nervous, and then looked around again.

Before the strange creature could act, a faint breeze would always pass by first. It seemed that they had to hear the wind before they could be attacked. So, if they covered their hearing and couldn't hear the wind, was it possible to avoid the creature's attack?

It's an interesting idea, but it's not suitable for testing. If this thing goes wrong, it could be fatal.

While thinking, Liang Wei looked up and gazed at a ventilation duct near the ceiling, hidden by a fine iron fence.

Unlike the ventilation ducts in movies and games where people can crawl or even crouch, the ventilation ducts here are extremely narrow, barely wide enough for an adult man to put his arm inside. Therefore, the three of them couldn't possibly escape their current situation using this. However, Ryo's intention in looking at the ventilation duct wasn't that; what she was paying attention to was the faint sound of wind coming from inside the duct, the cold air from the air conditioner that was constantly being sent into the corridor along the ventilation duct.

She listened carefully to the sound.

No matter how you listen to it, it sounds incredibly similar to the wind before the appearance of that monstrous creature with split eyes—the faint sound of the wind flowing.

whoosh-

The blood-red figure reappeared beside the three of them.

It's faster than before.

Despite being on high alert and fully prepared, the creature's speed when it reappeared still far exceeded their expectations. Only then did Liang realize that this cleaving-eyed monster didn't need to deplete their crimson domains; it only needed to force a momentary opening in their defenses for it to penetrate and inflict irreparable damage.

boom! ! !

The crimson light erupted once more.

However, this time the girls' defensive actions were clearly not as fast as the monster's.

Amidst the explosion, Xingge felt as if she had inhaled something into her nose, and intense pain immediately spread. Liang, just before releasing her blood-red domain, saw a crimson mist rushing towards her, and a sudden, intense sense of disorder overwhelmed her nerves, causing her to almost instantly lose consciousness.

Click!

The next second, the light bulb shattered, darkness enveloped everything in an instant, and the eerie creature vanished without a trace.

It was Hongxia. She hadn't noticed the details of the sounds coming from the ventilation ducts, but she had noticed the eyeball peering at them from beneath the monster's torn skin. This made her wonder if the monster needed visual abilities to lock onto them, so she chose to smash the lights in the corridor, trying to escape the danger that way.

This approach has indeed been successful to some extent.

The sound of the monstrous creature with the split eye vanished instantly, and its figure appeared in the distance, in an area illuminated by lights. It stood still, silently watching the three people in the darkness with its single eye, then turned around and disappeared without making any further moves to attack them.

This is how the same thing?

Hongxia didn't quite understand the strange creature's actions and didn't understand why it suddenly gave up the chase.

However, she quickly noticed that the crimson domain she had released was being rapidly consumed. After she and Xingge Liang were plunged into complete darkness, even though no monsters were attacking her anymore, the crimson domain, which she hadn't had time to retract, seemed to be under extremely intense pressure and was being consumed at a very fast rate. It was estimated that it would be completely depleted in just a few minutes.

Oh no, I remember now. Liang said before that the dark area of ​​this subway station is abnormal. If you step in, you might not be able to get out!

"Sister, we need to hurry and get back to the light!"

Finally realizing they had stepped into another deadly trap, Hongxia hurriedly pulled Xingge forward. Liang, who had fainted, was carried on Xingge's back; it was unknown how long it would take for her to wake up this time.

click-

The lights at the front of the corridor went out.

As Hongxia and Xingge ran forward, the light that should have allowed them to step into it vanished without a trace, and darkness began to envelop more areas.

Why did the light suddenly explode? Could it be...?

Click—click click—

More and more lights exploded, and the light kept disappearing. In a very short time, no light could be seen anywhere, and everything was plunged into absolute darkness.

"Tsk, this is going to completely trap us."

Xingge had no idea what else she could do, and gritted her teeth, muttering angrily in a low voice.

"Not yet, it's not time to despair yet, we can definitely escape!"

After a brief moment of thought, Hongxia decisively took out her phone, the device containing the fragments of the Crimson Domain, and turned it on.

The crimson light illuminated Hongxia's face, as well as Xingge's tense expression beside her, and Liangna's face, which, after falling into a coma, revealed a touch of static beauty on Xingge's back.

At the same time, the crimson light also illuminated their surroundings, illuminating the layers upon layers of densely packed figures that surrounded them, their faces pale, their expressions twisted and filled with pain, and the eerie creatures that had long since died but could not find peace.

"...Passengers were put into brightly lit carriages. Under the light, colorless and odorless poison gas seeped out from the ventilation ducts, killing them and causing them to collapse in excruciating pain, struggling for a long time before finally dying. Therefore, the attack would come under the lights and was difficult to defend against, with almost no way to resist it."

"Then, the lights in the carriage were turned off, and in the darkness, the passengers' bodies were transported to a designated location and disposed of haphazardly. Therefore, the dark environment was inescapable; once you stepped into the darkness, it was almost impossible to leave, just like those passengers who had already died."

"I think these passengers must have been buried. The train will enter some underground area, after all, this is a subway station. It might be a natural cave, and there might still be a lot of water inside. It must be big enough that even if thousands or even tens of thousands of corpses are buried, there won't be any problems. And this instance was born in these killings and transports. The reason we are trapped in this subway station now is because this platform can lead to that place that has disappeared and establishes a connection with the area that has become an instance."

Liang, who had woken up at some point, spoke slowly in a slightly weak voice, calmly gazing at the distorted passengers around her.

Liang had no interest in thinking about why such a thing happened back then, or why such a terrible thing could be calmed down without any commotion.

During her unconsciousness, she witnessed many things after touching the monstrous, ripped-eye creature that was actually a manifestation of poison gas. Even while unconscious, her consciousness remained sharp, allowing her to clearly see past events and the origin of this instance. Knowing she lacked the ability to rewind time and could not alter the terrible events that had already occurred, Liang diligently searched for usable clues among the fragments of the past after regaining full consciousness. It was during this search that she indeed saw something unusual—things that, while not directly related to the instance, had been successfully recorded by it and discovered by her.

That was a conversation, a record.

A conversation between two figures that didn't belong on a stage, which somehow survived.

One of them always has a cynical laugh, its face is obscured, and its gender is indistinguishable. It always seems to enjoy everything within its sight with ease.

Another one of them was a very strange and bizarre thing. Its head looked like an old-fashioned television set, its body was covered with sockets, and all kinds of wires were intertwined on its body. At the same time, there were more screens of various sizes distributed on its torso and limbs, making it look like a robot with an extremely chaotic structure.

What are you pursuing in your creative process? With such reckless abandon and such intense burning desire, perhaps the final product you create is beyond your control.

The faceless figure seemed to be sighing, or perhaps mocking.

The stage is meant to be this way, the script is meant to be this way. If you and I are destined to be a part of this script, then let us play our roles well. This is preordained. The script of the sacrificial game is a miracle from above the gods; it cannot be completely controlled by beings like you and me. It should develop in any form under the performance of these mortals, these actors. Yes, moving forward uncontrollably and without restraint, whatever the final result may be—beautiful flowers or venomous serpents—it is all justified, something we should sing praises to!

That robotic presence loudly proclaimed itself, seemingly with immense pride and fervor. Every face appearing on its screen roared, laughed wantonly, and twisted into a chaotic mess.

[In pursuit of your own aesthetic ideals, you've utterly distorted yourself; you might even surpass that self-proclaimed "writer." While it was foolish, at least it didn't want to jump onto the stage as an actor, preferring to manipulate everything behind the scenes to achieve its desired ending. You, on the other hand, decided from the very beginning to become one of the actors in this play, even willing to use your own death to portray a story completely out of control. That's truly...brilliant!]

The faceless figure also burst into laughter. It seemed extremely happy, and it was unclear what it had seen that made it so excited.