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

Do you want to quit?

The voice on the phone seemed to have been provoked, and its tone suddenly rose.

The money you paid me isn't enough to make me get involved in this mess. I advise you to give up sooner rather than later.

The man's voice hardened, clearly indicating that he hadn't said such a thing on a whim.

[...You know I can't shut down the Red Nut Gray Hole]

This time, the voice on the phone hesitated noticeably.

[Is it because it's a nationally renowned emerging scenic spot? Because it can bring you countless riches every day?]

The man on the phone, who hadn't expected the other party to use such a term, paused for a moment before continuing.

[...Because it became incredibly popular during the mayor's term and was subsequently designated a national scenic area, it cannot be shut down before our mayor leaves office. It must be maintained and continue to operate as one of the shining achievements of his term. This is not a decision for you or me to make, understand?]

【…】

So, forget about quitting. None of us can quit now. The Red Nut Gray Hole issue must remain a secret. This place must remain "normal," and those of us who know about the problem must stay in our positions. Do you understand what I mean?

【…Damn it】

In his last few words, the man sighed deeply, his tone becoming weary.

The voice on the phone also fell silent, and you could hear a deep sense of exhaustion in the last few words the person said.

Gao Hai slowly lowered his hand from covering one of his ears.

The echoes from that scene have faded away.

The content recorded by that echo was now imprinted in Gao Hai's mind.

"Is the reason why the Red Nut Gray Hole was not shut down after the anomaly occurred, but continued to operate, because of pressure from higher-ups?"

"The person making the call must be a leader in the fire department, and the person he contacted is Pei Di, right?"

"As early as when the large slide was initially closed off, tourists began to go missing. Security guards and firefighters from the rescue team also reported missing persons at that time."

Now fully awake, Gao Hai realized what kind of information was contained in the voices he had just heard.

We need to leave here.

Gao Hai had realized that as he continued forward, he would likely see even more echoes.

Those who were closely connected to the changes and development of the Red Nut Gray Hole were dragged into this hellish place after it was completely transformed into a haunted wonderland. Although they have become obsessions wandering here as well, he will surely be able to unravel the truth step by step based on the fragments of their remaining memories.

A nauseating odor wafted into my nasal cavity.

Gao Hai turned his head and looked at the wall with rows of clothes hanging on it... and firefighters with blank expressions hanging on it, exuding a cold aura.

All of them hung with their heads down, motionless, like commodities whose fates had been predetermined and whose transactions had already been completed, simply placed there waiting for customers to take them when needed.

Their bodies gradually swelled up.

Water droplets dripped from these people.

As Gao Hai observed these people, he suddenly understood the situation.

Those people trapped in the cave were actually still alive; they never truly died.

Regardless of what these trapped individuals encountered in the eerie place behind the giant slide, they were not completely dead and still had the possibility of leaving alive.

Until a torrential rain flooded the cave.

Everyone floated up in the water.

Everyone was submerged in the accumulated water.

The breathing gradually stopped.

Instead, there was the sound of water rushing through.

And the sound of water droplets falling after the water flow gradually disappears.

Tick-tick-tick-

The sound of dripping water seemed to come from a very far place, yet also as if it were right beside you.

And hidden within it, faintly, was the sound of someone sobbing softly.

Gao Hai did not respond to this.

He simply maintained his composure, strode away expressionlessly, avoiding the area where the items hanging on the wall were located, and quickly walked out of the house.

Tick-tick-tick-

The sound of water droplets falling continued to echo behind me.

Meanwhile, Gao Hai himself had already reached the door of the house, and walked to the side of the warehouse door guarded by Fujiwara Chika.

But the girl wasn't there.

The area outside the door was not the training area he had passed through at the beginning.

At this moment, what appeared in Gao Hai's field of vision was another corridor, one that he was somewhat familiar with, but which was a bit dilapidated.

He knew this place because he had seen it in another echo during his first playthrough. This was the office building of the Red Nut Gray Hole Tourism Development Company, a place where both Austin, the first director of the attraction, and his successor, Pete, had appeared.

Now, Gao Hai can see that familiar window at the end of one side of the corridor, the place where, in the echo, one can directly look out over the ground area facilities of the Red Nut Gray Hole.

At the other end of the road was a large red door.

The blood-red door, with its deep, unsettling color, seemed to glow in the darkness.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Gradually Pieced Past and Powerless Anger

A red door.

Like room 304 in the Shirakawa Apartments, the door was a deep, blood-red color.

However, according to the Explorer's Second Rule, the man named Wilbo is inside this room. He seems to retain a certain degree of self-awareness, just like Xusheng, and those rules were likely also projected by this man in some way; otherwise, it's hard to explain why players can always quickly obtain the relevant new rules when changing identities.

That being said, the research base should have nothing to do with Wilbo. The situation at that base is somewhat unusual, and Gao Hai still doesn't dare to draw any conclusions.

In short, according to the rule sheet, he should be able to find the man named Wilbo behind this red door.

Thinking this, Gao Hai took a step toward the blood-red door, then stopped.

Then, he turned around and, without the slightest hesitation, quickly moved away from the door.

A strong sense of malice is spreading.

Almost the instant Gao Hai turned around, he heard the sound of the door opening behind him.

tick-

Water droplets fell to the ground.

The sound of hurried footsteps came chasing from behind.

At this moment, Gao Hai unleashed all his potential, running with all his might, covering a distance of 15 meters in a single second, and quickly crossing the corridor at a speed exceeding the world record.

The soft, rustling sounds spread outwards.

It's like two people raising a glass to celebrate, laughing together.

It looked like two people were having a heated argument, throwing various things on the ground.

It's like two people having a cold conversation, then going their separate ways and never finding a trace of warmth again.

The thing behind them was catching up at an extremely fast speed.

Without his S-rank physical attributes, Gao Hai had no doubt that he would have been caught up immediately. But even with a physique exceeding human limits, he was still being constantly closed in on by his opponent, and had no way to shake off that thing.

Should I use the object of my obsession? No, there's no time to turn around. He'd probably be caught before he could even throw it away.

The corridor was almost at its end; from this position, I could see there was no way forward. Was jumping out the window my only option?

Gao Hai's gaze swept quickly across the doors on both sides, using his enhanced dynamic vision to observe them. However, he found that the doorplates on these doors were also blurry and unclear, clearly indicating that they were not meant to be entered and were merely decorations.

No, the door number on one of the doors is clear!

Boom!

Gao Hai suddenly stopped, his body slammed into the side of the corridor, smashing open a door. Then, before his body landed, he hooked his foot on the doorknob, twisted it, and slammed the door shut.

The thing that had been chasing them stopped at the doorway and didn't come in.

Just before closing the door, Gao Hai got a clear look at the thing. It had lost its human form, resembling a pile of chopped and mixed minced meat, with a barely human-like structure. Dark red blood kept flowing from the thing, dripping onto the corridor.

tick-

It was as if such a sound had been emitted, a sound that rang out both vaguely and clearly, from an unknown distance and from right before one's eyes.

Click!

The door was closed, keeping the thing outside.

Gao Hai could hear heavy breathing, the sound of the thing's footsteps lingering, and finally, the sound of it slowly leaving.

He got up from the ground and turned around to look around the room.

This is a small office. On one wall is a large bookcase filled with all sorts of documents and reference books on various professional subjects, which seem to be about how to build infrastructure for tourist attractions and security and defense work.

On the desk in the middle of the room sat a miniature model of the Red Nut Gray Hole scenic area, a safety certificate, and two documents. On the other side was an open cabinet containing tools such as wire cutters and screwdrivers, which looked somewhat old and had been used for some time.

Gao Hai knew where he was.

This is the office of Wilbur, the head of the security department at Red Nut Gray Hole Tourism Development Company.

As he ran into this place, he made out the words "Security Supervisor's Office" on the doorplate, and the name "Welbor" posted below. This meant that this was Welbor's office at the company when he was the security supervisor.

If you can't find the entrance to the blood vessel, go to my office. I'm behind the red door; they've always kept that door open for me. I'll leave a key inside...

Gao Hai recalled the contents of that rule list and suddenly realized that this thing had actually set a trap for him.

If you can't find the entrance to the [blood vessel], you can go to Wilbur's office to look for clues.

However, Wilbur's office doesn't necessarily mean "the red door." These two things are completely different, yet they're conflated in the last paragraph, creating a misleading impression. If Gao Hai hadn't been cautious enough to hesitate after seeing the blood-stained door resembling 304, he might already be on his third playthrough by now.

"The second type of rules is intended for players who have more information, so the content will be more precise and cover more topics. But at the same time, are these rules themselves somewhat corrupted, containing traps and malicious intent in their content?"

Gao Hai, realizing this, let out a long sigh and felt a sense of indescribable fatigue.

This distorted, chaotic instance spanning different timelines is already exhausting enough. If it were just a simple, toxic information exchange like in Shirakawa Apartment, that would be one thing, but if the information itself contains various traps, it will likely only get more and more difficult.