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

Thinking back to the last mission where he fought alongside Maki in the apartment building, but this time he was cooperating with Chika, Takahashi had a slightly strange feeling. However, he quickly composed himself and carefully stepped into the building.

The indoor temperature seems to be a bit lower than the outdoor temperature.

The white floor looked stark white under the white light, which reminded Gao Hai of the thing that had dragged him into the crack and killed him.

The long, narrow corridor was lined with rooms on both sides. Judging from the signs above them, they should be different offices, but for some reason, the text on these signs was all blurry. Gao Hai could only barely make out the word "office" but could not clearly determine the specific ownership and purpose of these rooms.

Just like those who were once here, they can no longer remember these details, so much so that the restored things have gradually become distorted.

Gao Hai tried to open one of the doors, but to no avail. It wasn't that the door was locked; rather, it was merely a decorative door. Gao Hai realized after trying to open it that the door and the wall were essentially one piece, making it an unusable, fake door.

Because of these doors, because this place is essentially a re-enactment of the obsession with its existence, does that mean that places whose specific details are no longer remembered do not exist in essence?

Fujiwara Chika, who was guarding the door, was still cautiously peering out from behind.

Gao Hai had already walked along the corridor and soon arrived at the end of it, where a door, distinct from the others, was also ajar.

He heard sounds coming from inside the door: whistles, breathing, and the sounds of synchronized movement.

After thinking for a moment, Gao Hai took out a black umbrella, opened it to make sure he was covered by it, and then quietly approached the door, peeking inside through the crack.

It looks like a training ground.

Gao Hai saw a running track with various obstacles, which looked quite messy. There was also a wall with windows that looked like a three-story building, which seemed to be used for climbing training. In addition, he could vaguely see the corner of a swimming pool, which looked much deeper than a normal swimming pool.

A dozen firefighters were training here, doing push-ups to the sound of whistles, led by a firefighter standing nearby.

In Gao Hai's perception of blessings, none of them were human.

In other words, is this the site where the memories of the rescue team who perished here were formed?

Gao Hai frowned.

A similar rescue team once existed within the Shirakawa Apartments, but their obsession only resulted in one floor being flooded, a stark contrast to the obsession of the firefighters who have created an entire area out of thin air. Admittedly, this is because the core of the Shirakawa Apartments rescue team's obsession, the illusory being, maintained self-awareness and was able to exercise restraint. However, this also implies that the rescue teams existing in the Red Nut Gray Hole instance are likely more dangerous than those in the Shirakawa Apartments.

Shall we try going in and taking a look?

Gao Hai pondered and weighed the options.

It seems these firefighters are repeating what they've done before, and with the black umbrella providing cover, there shouldn't be any major problems; he can blend in for a while.

However, when the obsession and the strange power interact, the obsession will lose control much faster. To be honest, he wasn't sure if he could hold on until he found the next path in the training base.

Perhaps it would be better to first find a way to bring these things out?

If he could lure the firefighters away from the building, he wouldn't need the artifact to conduct his investigation and exploration inside.

As Gao Hai was thinking this, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He then realized that something had happened over there with the rag doll. He quickly switched his view and saw a group of tourists walking on the top of the cave opposite the building entrance, approaching the fire station one by one.

At the very front of these tourists was Dennis, who was holding up his phone and talking while moving the screen around as if he were broadcasting live.

That reckless newbie turned into an elite monster so quickly, is he now able to lead a group of monsters into team battles?

Gao Hai quickly retreated to a distance where Qian Hua could see him clearly, then gestured for her to run over quickly and not to stay at the doorway any longer.

The two players who had been staying in the stone pillar square had already run up, clearly forced to act by the group of tourists. Seeing Chika preparing to enter the fire station, they quickly waved to her, probably worried she might lock the door and trap them. However, Chika didn't do that; instead, she ran quickly towards Gao Hai, carefully controlling the noise of her footsteps to avoid causing too much disturbance.

Following Qianhua was the player named Susan. As she entered, she glanced around subtly before revealing a somewhat surprised expression. Lixer, who ran in even later, showed no unusual reaction; he simply locked the door without hesitation before carefully backing away from it.

"You know this place?"

Having already moved far from the entrance to the training area, Gao Hai carefully confirmed that nothing was eavesdropping before quietly asking Susan, while keeping a close eye on the half-open door of the training area so that he could immediately spot anything and open his black umbrella to hide himself should anything happen.

"This is the fire department of Y City, Y Prefecture. Their renovations haven't been done much for decades. I've been there a few times, so I remember it."

Susan nodded to Gao Hai and spoke with great certainty.

Has this player been to a fire station?

Gao Hai couldn't help but start thinking about the other person's profession in real life, but before he could ask, the player told him himself.

“I’m an explorer, I mean, a real-world explorer. I’ve been to many places and encountered all sorts of accidents. Because of my experience, I work with some fire departments and attend conferences, such as exchanging cases with firefighters about extreme rescue operations like mountain rescue, cave rescue, and underwater rescue. I’ve been to this fire department, at least three times, because they have many caves there, and my experience is very useful for their new recruits. I just never expected that I would see this fire department again in a place like this, or at least part of it…”

As Susan said this, a somewhat puzzled expression appeared on her face.

She seemed to feel a sense of familiarity, not only with the fire station, but also with the stone pillar square she had been in before, and with the heart, arteries and large spaces she had walked through.

However, she didn't mention it. For Susan, who was in the sacrificial game for the first time, the shock she experienced today was too much. Although the veteran player, Lixer, gave her some pointers, she could only calm down and explain her familiarity with the place. That was about the best she could do.

"Let's leave the rest for later. We should be going now. You'd better have a few life-saving items, because I can't protect you."

Gao Hai really wanted to ask more questions to see if he could get any valuable clues. But the tourists not far away had already passed through the door and entered the corridor, approaching while chatting and laughing on the ceiling. Closing the door didn't seem to stop them, and Gao Hai noticed that some of these seemingly normal tourists had their eyes fixed on their group, as if they had already noticed them but were just too crowded to come over immediately.

We must take action.

tick-

A barely perceptible sound of water droplets falling rang in Gao Hai's ears, but he didn't have time to confirm the source of the sound. He could only speed up and run towards the entrance of the training area.

The tourists were still approaching at a leisurely pace, and with each step they took, the temperature in the entire corridor seemed to drop a little.

Gao Hai had already run to the half-open entrance to the training area. He approached it, first confirming that the whistling and exercise sounds inside hadn't stopped, and then carefully peered into the doorway.

The next moment he saw more than a dozen expressionless faces staring at him indifferently through the crack in the door.

Chapter Thirty-Four: What have we done? What have we accomplished?

To be honest, although Gao Hai had experienced firsthand how the Weird would use deceptive methods to lure players into killing him several times, he still genuinely felt that such tricksters were utterly disgusting.

bang——

The pitch-black umbrella suddenly opened.

With his superhuman reflexes and explosive power, Gao Hai dodged before those things could open the door and reach out, and concealed his presence.

"Hey, hey, hey?!"

The jet-black umbrella, a "gift" from the [Female Mask Gang], not only helps Gao Hai become invisible in the face of the supernatural, but it's even more effective for ordinary people. Therefore, Fujiwara Chika, who had been watching Gao Hai closely, immediately noticed his disappearance and let out a gasp.

Of course, the girl's exclamation immediately disappeared, because Gao Hai had already run up to her with an umbrella, pulled the girl under the umbrella, and roughly hugged Chika in his arms, making Chika's breath catch in her throat.

"Don't move. This umbrella has a limited range. If you move outside the umbrella, those things will likely see you."

Before Qianhua began to struggle, Gao Hai had already given her a serious warning, which made the rosy-faced Qianhua stop moving and obediently let Gao Hai hold her in his arms with one hand, as if she were a large doll being manipulated by him.

Rapid heartbeat.

Even knowing the situation was extremely dangerous, Fujiwara Chika couldn't help but feel her heart race at that moment.

However, Gao Hai didn't pay attention to this, because he saw the training area gate slowly open and people in fire suits or rescue suits walking out one by one, expressionless and with blank eyes, stepping into the corridor and moving towards the approaching tourists.

Seeing Gao Hai and Fujiwara Chika disappear in an instant, Lixer's eyebrows twitched slightly. Then, without hesitation, he took off his backpack, took out a security guard uniform, and tossed it to Susan on the other side.

"Just put it on, it'll be faster."

As he said this, Lixer took out a second security guard uniform and quickly put it on. The two of them then disappeared down the corridor.

Are you wearing a security guard uniform?

It seems that this veteran player named Lixer is quite decisive. However, although the world on the other side of the security guard uniform leads directly to the exit, it is extremely dangerous. To be honest, Gao Hai is not optimistic about these two players.

It's a bit of a shame that we didn't get any more information from Susan.

Before the game was fixed, the game prompts for this instance mentioned that the "actors taking their final bow" had not all arrived. From then on, Gao Hai began to suspect that there might be someone connected to the Red Nut Gray Hole instance who did not die in the instance and successfully escaped the pursuit of the supernatural forces in some way.

Someone directly connected to this instance, someone of vital importance to its core, continues to live somewhere in the world after the legend was formed. It is precisely because of that person's absence that the Red Nut Gray Hole instance remains in an unsettled state, preventing all secrets from being revealed and keeping the core obsession dormant.

Now, after Gao Hai and his group participated in this instance, the person who should have been here, the actor involved in the "Curtain Call," also entered the instance.

It might be one of the players.

Gao Hai believed this conjecture was very close to the truth, which is why he was so concerned about what the player named Susan had just said. Unfortunately, the moment had been too urgent, and his umbrella couldn't guarantee that three people wouldn't be discovered.

However, there must be other ways.

Gao Hai thought of the blood key he got from Lao Guo.

During his first playthrough, Gao Hai was completely clueless about the intelligence gathering and investigation process, and since most of the locations he encountered were caves, he couldn't find a way to use the blood key. But now, in his second playthrough, with much more information, this key might play an unexpected role. For example, connecting a door to the guard post in the security world, or directly connecting it to a door in the research base… Well, that won't work, at least not on Gao Hai. That would only cause the thing watching him to go berserk prematurely, resulting in a happy party wipe and the start of the next round.

If there were any way to shield the gaze of the core obsession... no, forget it, I absolutely cannot afford the price of such a wish.

While he was thinking, Gao Hai had already stood by the wall, his body pressed tightly against it.

As the rescue team members approached, Fujiwara Chika clung even closer to Gao Hai, her entire body practically sinking into his embrace.

Although it wouldn't make much difference even if she didn't do it. After all, at this moment, Chika, who was only 1.5 meters tall, had already been lifted up by Gao Hai with one hand, and both her feet were off the ground. For Gao Hai's current physical condition, lifting Chika with one hand was an easy thing, so much so that he didn't even notice Chika's posture at this moment.

tick-

In the distance, I seemed to hear the sound of dripping water again.

This time, Gao Hai noticed the strange sound, but the increasingly eerie presence forced him to focus on the present moment and prevented him from paying attention to the sound.

【call……】

You can hear those things breathing.

People with blank expressions passed by, bringing a chill to the air.

Gao Hai, carrying Qian Hua, carefully made his way through these things without encountering anyone.

The tourists behind them continued to move forward step by step amidst laughter.

The rescuers at the forefront had already come into contact with the tourists.

Tick-tick-tick-

The sound of dripping water became clearer.

【call……】

The sound of breathing became even heavier at this moment.

Gao Hai turned around and saw a group of rescuers whose bodies were bloated and emaciated.

Their entire bodies were wrapped in rescue suits, which swelled up as if inflated, giving them a deformed appearance.

Water dripped continuously from the rescuers, spreading throughout the corridor. The tourists had vanished; there were hardly any left. Only clothes floated on the water, and only corpses drifted in the water.

No, that's not right...

There were no bodies, no...

Gao Hai slowly backed away, moving away from the corridor that was becoming increasingly eerie.

The walls are becoming more and more like the rough rock structure of a cave.