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

It's unclear whether she threatened her family with drastic measures or simply chose to uphold justice and disregard filial piety.

In short, Gao Hai is now secretly wary of Lixer. Even though this person seems normal now, and could even be considered a great benefactor by the standards of players' morality, Gao Hai will not let his guard down.

"Now, those of you who are capable and willing to continue, please come with me into the area ahead. If you're not confident, you can change into your rescue team uniforms now and try to reach the guard post, which is a place where you can rest and take shelter."

As he said this, Gao Hai took the lead and walked towards the fire station gate at the end of the cave, but his attention was actually focused on who would follow him.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Kaguya and Chika were walking together in the dark cave, while Maki in the command room stared intently at the screen. The three of them continued their operations on this side.

Chapter 58: New Discoveries Made Deeper into the Land of Remnants

A place of sorrow.

This was actually a name that Gao Hai took upon himself to give to this area.

Fire station, upscale restaurant, office building… all sorts of architectural areas are piled up and intertwined here in ways impossible in the real world, with one obsession after another wandering within, repeating the actions of their past lives. This peculiar phenomenon also occurred in the Shirakawa Apartments, but the situation there was slightly less dramatic; the scene remained within a single apartment building, with only minor changes at different points in time—for example, 109 had two different spaces. In contrast, the changes in the Red Nut Gray Hole were much more varied.

Gao Hai speculated that this might be because the number of people who died in the Red Nut Gray Hole far exceeded those in the Shirakawa Apartments, and the number of people involved in the formation of the ghost stories from the obsessions was also very large. In short, not every deceased person could leave behind a lingering memory in the Red Nut Gray Hole. Judging from the current situation, only those who had a deep connection with this place before the Red Nut Gray Hole completely erupted could leave behind the corresponding lingering memory and leave various things in the corresponding areas of the cave.

The fire station was where the firefighters and rescue team members stayed, the office building was the area where the staff of the Red Nut Gray Hole worked, and the upscale restaurant seemed to be related to Anthony Tovan. This was an area that Gao Hai explored in the previous playthrough.

Gao Hai's purpose in entering this place this time was to search for more areas and see if he could find useful clues to further piece together what happened in the past. Of course, he also needed to retrieve the key he had obtained in his second playthrough but hadn't had time to use, since he still didn't know where the power relay system it could activate was located.

"Are you sure you want to come with me to investigate this place? This isn't a safe place; who knows what might be hidden inside?"

Gao Hai looked at Lixer beside him.

"That's precisely why I'm going. I want to find out what's going on here and how to solve the problem."

Lixer answered very seriously, and under the power of the blessing, Gao Hai could only feel very obvious goodwill from this person, without the slightest bit of malice.

The power of blessing never judged Lixer as an enemy.

But Gao Hai could never feel at ease about this.

Could it be that I'm overthinking things with a cynical mind?

Gao Hai had to admit that he couldn't help but start thinking about this question.

But in the end, he remained silent, still secretly wary of the other party, and thus maintained a superficially friendly attitude before stepping into the fire station first.

Just like last time, this place was as cold and gloomy as ever. The doors and walls on both sides were actually connected as one, and at the end of the corridor, those eerie creatures were still maintaining the actions they had before they died, continuing their training.

Bang!

Holding up a black umbrella and kicking down the door, Gao Hai stormed into the training ground.

All the eeriness turned its head at this moment, looking at the door that had been violently kicked open.

But after the black umbrella erased their existence, they had no way to confirm Gao Hai's location or see where he was.

After a brief silence, these eerie creatures lowered their heads again and continued their meaningless, repetitive training process.

Lixer hid in the corridor, not immediately entering the training area. It seemed he didn't have any means of concealing himself from these strange entities, and therefore planned to wait for the right opportunity to sneak in and check the situation.

Gao Hai didn't care what he planned to do. He simply held up his umbrella and walked step by step to the edge of the training field, to another corner he had never been to before.

There was also a large door here. After opening it, Gao Hai went inside and found that it was a garage, where a fire truck was parked.

Sure enough, the garage area was something the firefighters who lost their lives deep in the cave would never forget, since they had to drive there whenever there was an emergency in the cave.

With these thoughts in mind, Gao Hai walked around the garage, and after confirming that there were no other passageways, he went straight to the fire truck, opened the door, and got in.

Let's rearrange the seats.

Put the black umbrella back into the watch's storage space.

Gao Hai slowly leaned back in his seat.

Then she turned her head and looked at the man sitting next to her.

You know I can't let you go; we need you now.

Gao Hai heard the voice of the person sitting in his seat, who was now in the same sitting position as him.

[If this continues, more and more brothers will die, and we won't even be able to tell their families how they died. We can't go on like this. This whole thing has been a mistake. It's all spiraled out of control since Andres died. We shouldn't go back into that cave.]

Howard, sitting to the side, shook his head dejectedly. He was unshaven and looked somewhat unkempt, with bloodshot eyes.

"So what can we do? With you here, at least we can avoid a few deaths. If you leave, you should understand what will happen next. Mr. Anthony Tovan's men are keeping a close eye on the Red Nut Grotto. Even if you give up, someone else will take your place. Can they do as well as you?"

The man sitting in Gao Hai's seat then spoke, his tone filled with helplessness.

This is just going to go on and on...

Howard finally let out a deep sigh.

It won't be long. After this year's election is over and the mayor is dismissed, there shouldn't be any problems.

The man shook his head, lit a cigarette, and continued speaking.

I don't think so.

Howard shook his head, his brows furrowing tightly.

I still feel that something is wrong; I still feel that this whole thing doesn't make sense.

[A person had already died in that hole, and then that bizarre incident happened. What were they after? Are those high-ranking officials all fools? Is the profit from packaging such a problematic tourist attraction as a national-level scenic spot really worth the cost?]

These words were clearly not something that came to mind on the spur of the moment, but rather something that had been brewing in his heart for a long time. Howard was very excited, and his voice was even a little off-key.

Stop with the conspiracy theories. That's something those stupid rednecks like to play with. You should know that none of the policies implemented in this state before have succeeded. The fact is, in the past thirty years, not a single successful tourist attraction has been developed and promoted. Red Nut Grotto just happened to ride the wave of cave tourism, which is a rare opportunity. Of course, those big shots would take advantage of this opportunity, even if it's full of flaws.

The man took a deep drag of his cigarette, exhaling dismissively at Howard's idea.

Even so, I still find it very illogical; this whole thing is just too strange...

Howard, however, persisted in his own ideas, muttering to himself with his head down, his eyes flickering uncertainly.

Okay, don't think too much about it. Things have calmed down a bit lately, haven't they? Just don't worry about it anymore. Just stay here. Work your way through this mess in a few years, and you'll have a long road ahead of you.

The man shook his head, opened the car door, and got out.

Howard remained in the car. After a long silence, he opened the small drawer in front of the passenger seat, took out a notebook, wrote a few words on it, put the notebook back, shook his head, and got out of the car.

Gao Hai opened his eyes.

Of course, Howard wasn't in the car, nor was the man who had been talking to Howard.

He simply saw some things that had happened in the past at that moment, more clearly and vividly than he had seen in the second time.

This seems to be related to his direct encounter with the core obsession, Andres. He knows about this core obsession, so when he gets close to the lingering remnants related to it, he can see more and clearer phantoms of the past and understand what happened.

However, to be fair, this core obsession is actually quite benevolent in every sense. Even though I have witnessed the entire process of its death, after starting a new cycle, that thing still did not attack me, nor did it even cast a gaze upon me, as if it was completely unaware of my existence.

A core obsession with virtually no information pollution.

To be honest, if this thing hadn't been able to suppress the power of the rescue team badges and a bunch of other obsessions, and hadn't used such outrageous and terrifying methods of execution, Gao Hai would have had to wonder if Andres was really the core obsession.

Reach out and open the small drawer on the passenger side.

Gao Hai took out a notebook from inside.

These are the notes of Howard Smith, the firefighter who witnessed the Red Nut Grotto transform from a tourist attraction into a death trap.

[Notes related to the Red Nut Gray Hole]

[These are notes I left behind after entering this cave several times; they might be helpful for people's survival.]

[Key Point 1: The identity one plays on the surface may be more important than one's true self]

Two of my friends disappeared inside the cave. Joel's clothes were torn open by the rock wall, and George took off his jacket after his clothes got dirty. The others didn't encounter anything like theirs, so we managed to get out of the cave.

[Perhaps it's because we're wearing intact costumes, and we're playing the role of "firefighters" normally. How could such a strange thing happen?]

[Key Point 2: Try to avoid walking on gentle slopes]

[It's getting increasingly strange there. Team members keep falling in and getting stuck. On both of my round trips leading the way, people fell into the crevice. Other team members also tend to get stuck if they take the gentle slope.]

[I remember that bastard Pei Di saying that tourists used to frequently climb over the railings and fall into the large crevice in the slope. What on earth is that place? Why does this keep happening? It's like something's pulling people down there. Andres was supposed to be inside the "blood vessels," that's the dangerous area where strange things often happen. Could there be something there on the slope too?]

[But if there really is something on the slope, there's no reason why no one has ever died there, and people have only ever been trapped inside. Including those unlucky security guards, the unluckiest one of them was only stuck in the crack in the slope for ten hours, much luckier than those security guards who disappeared behind the big slide.]

[Key Point 3: Never enter the side paths within the "blood vessels." To date, no one who has gone in has returned. Perhaps Andres kept them there.]

[I emphasize "don't go into the side paths" in every operation, yet people still disappear within the "blood vessels." To be honest, I don't really know how they entered the side path area, arrived at the body, or what happened there that led to this outcome. But based on my two experiences venturing deep into the "blood vessels," the problem lies with that side path. There are many drag marks on the rocks there. Could that have been Andres's intention? Or has he been possessed by a demon?]

[Key Point 4: Make sure the rescued person knows their identity and their name]

[All those who couldn't remember their own identities were rescued with only a set of clothes left. The exact reason behind this is completely unknown, but it's a point worth noting. We must determine who can be saved and who cannot; we cannot waste time and lives on futile efforts.]

[Key Point 5: Write only when you have an idea. Maybe if I lead another team to the Red Nut Grotto, I'll know what to write about. But it's also possible that this time I'll be the one left inside.]

I think I should organize these things and write them into a rules and regulations table.

[That way, even if someone else leads the team into the Red Nut Grotto, at least they'll know what to do, instead of just dying in that godforsaken place in complete ignorance.]

It seems that this document records a rough set of rules that Howard summarized through continuous observation after leading teams into the Red Nut Grotto several times. This man seems quite extraordinary. Gao Hai believes that the rule sheet held by the firefighters during the flood rescue team must have been Howard's final summary.

However, Gao Hai did not see Howard himself in the Red Nut Grotto during the flood. Considering that Maki mentioned in the previous playthrough that she found an interview transcript of Howard himself in the research base, Gao Hai couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic about that person's fate.

Turning the page further, it seems there's nothing left; all that's left are empty pages.

Is there nothing left to say?

After thinking for a moment, Gao Hai turned the notebook upside down and started flipping through it from the last page.

This time he successfully saw the written record, another record left by Howard that could only be seen by flipping through from back to front.

This record is... a record of the investigation into Antoine Tovan?!

Chapter 59: Chika's Little Secrets and the Big Explosion Plan

"Fujiwara-san, what's wrong with you...?"

In the dark cave, Kaguya Shinomiya's gaze was fixed on Chika Fujiwara.

To be precise, it was locked onto Fujiwara Chika's chest.

too small.

Kaguya's gaze was incredibly sharp.

It's really too small.