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

The last sound seemed to be whispered in his ear.

Gao Hai finally opened his eyes.

The clock showed 8:50.

The sky outside the window darkened completely, and the living room was pitch black except for the faint light from the lighter in Kaguya's hand.

In the dim light, Gao Hai saw Zhen Fei crouching on the ground, covering her forehead, and indistinct, shadow-like arms reaching out from the darkness around her, as if they wanted to grab the girl away.

"Hey--"

The chaotic sounds in my mind had not yet completely subsided.

His body, which was still slightly stiff, had regained its ability to move.

After hesitating for less than a second between the two options of remaining still and offering assistance, Gao Hai, who was closer, reached out and grabbed Zhenfei.

He grabbed the backpack she was carrying, which contained two wall clocks.

For some reason, Maki, who seemed to be in a dazed state, remained unmoved and let Takahashi take off her backpack.

Without the slightest hesitation, Gao Hai turned around and threw the backpack at Kaguya, who was not far away.

I'm truly sorry I didn't choose to save her, but if Maki's current condition is due to the power of the ghost story, she's probably already beyond saving. In comparison, the wall clock that can turn back time is the most important life-saving item; we must preserve it!

The next moment, Gao Hai felt a cold touch.

Those indistinct arms grabbed him too.

"quick--"

Before he could even utter the words "Quickly turn the clock," Gao Hai, along with Zhen Fei, was dragged into a pitch-black area.

Before my vision was completely obscured by darkness, I seemed to faintly hear the laughter of children.

Boom!

With another muffled thud, Gao Hai fell straight to the ground, and then four petite bodies of Zhenfei landed sideways on his stomach.

The intense, tingling sensation at that moment, as if his internal organs were about to burst from his mouth, was truly thought-provoking.

"Holy crap...what's going on here...?"

He helped Consort Zhen sit up.

There's no time to marvel at the soft, fragrant embrace of a young girl.

Gao Hai looked around and saw the cute table lamp lit up on the small table, as well as the cozy room that was decorated around him.

This is not room 208 from before.

Although the houses are similar in size and structure, the current house is clearly not the same as the previous one.

Gao Hai stood up and glanced around the room. It seemed to be a woman's residence. Although the walls, floors, and ceilings were obviously dirty and dilapidated due to its location in the run-down Shirakawa Apartments, the owner had tried hard to put up many cute stickers, furnished various tables and chairs, and made the bed a fairytale style in pink and sky blue, as if trying her best to make the place more ceremonial.

Unlike the previous rooms, the windows in this living room were simply covered with semi-transparent gauze, allowing a faint light to filter in, although it was already nighttime and no light could be seen at all.

"Ugh... My head hurts so much. It feels like I've been forced to go shopping with Nagisa and Tsubasa for three days and three nights. I'm so exhausted from head to toe, I feel like I'm about to collapse. What's going on... Huh, where am I?"

Amidst some painful sobs, Shijou Maki sat up from the ground, looking around in confusion.

"No matter where it is, it's probably not a good place. We can only rely on Miss Shinomiya now."

Gao Hai, feeling a slight unease, chuckled dryly. He looked around carefully again, and only relaxed a little after noticing anything unusual for the time being.

Whatever Guo's intentions, after forcing that black guy to turn the clock, he no longer has any other cannon fodder to do his bidding. As for Kaguya, she has four people, any one of whom could turn the clock back and restore everything to the beginning. With their memories intact, they could then react much better. It's believed that Sun Dajun and Maeda Miwa, those two burdens, would also somewhat realize the current situation.

Takami believed that Kaguya Shinomiya was a rational person.

If it were her, she would definitely take out the wall clock and get to work immediately.

So he just stood there and waited.

Having understood Takami's meaning, Shijou Maki nodded slightly and waited quietly for the time to turn back time.

1001,1002,1003...

Gao Hai silently counted the time, counting the agonizing moments that were consuming him.

1598,1599,1600...

But even after he counted to 10 minutes and 600 seconds, the rewind still hadn't come.

No way?

He really wanted to ask that question.

No backtracking occurred.

Even after he counted for 20 minutes, it still didn't happen.

There was no noise, no unusual sights.

The dimly lit room, illuminated only by the light of a small desk lamp, maintained a tranquil atmosphere, remaining unchanged and undisturbed, with nothing happening, thus enveloping Takami and Shijo Maki within it.

Chapter 17: There is always a gap between theoretical experience and practical experience.

An hour later, Kaguya Shinomiya still hadn't started the clock to rewind.

There's no way of knowing what happened on her end.

The agonizing wait yielded no results; the room remained the same, the surroundings still quiet and still.

It was already night, and neither Gao Hai nor Zhen Fei dared to venture out to explore. So, after briefly exchanging information about each other, they sat down against the wall, about a meter apart, quietly waiting for the moment of rewind that might come at any time.

One minute, two minutes...

They turned off the only small lamp in the room, and sat quietly in the otherwise silent little house.

The house itself had already been searched, and nothing unusual was found, neither in the living room nor the kitchen, such as a corpse. However, there were rule sheets and supply boxes in the house, so the two of them ate some compressed biscuits, which temporarily solved their hunger problem.

As for opening the living room door to check the hallway, Gao Hai found that the living room door seemed to be locked from the outside and could not be opened, so he could only sit inside.

dark.

silence.

During this silent wait, Gao Hai could feel his body tense almost constantly, as if every nerve in his body would snap at any moment.

Even so, he still dared not turn on the light, dared not speak, and dared not close his eyes to rest; he simply continued to sit in the same spot.

That outdated rulebook, which couldn't accurately address the current situation, specifically emphasized the dangers of nighttime. After 9 p.m., no lights should be turned on, no talking should be done, and no sound should be made. In short, everything should be kept as quiet as possible, making the whole house look like an empty house that no one lives in.

Upon realizing that the anomaly in Shirakawa Apartment was caused by some external stimulus that caused it to deteriorate from its original stable state, Gao Hai was certain that most of the safe places mentioned in the rule list were now problematic, but the dangerous places mentioned in the rule list would definitely still be just as dangerous, or even more dangerous than before.

Therefore, both Maki and Takami are now sitting quietly in place, waiting for Kaguya Shinomiya to start the time rewind, or... waiting for a new day to arrive, waiting for that still uncertain morning.

Maybe I won't even make it through tonight?

Gao Hai couldn't help but have this thought in his mind.

There are quite a few things that have been summarized so far. For example, after learning about the strange blood-written words that Maki saw in those records, Gao Hai can basically confirm that the most important medium for the strange occurrences in Shirakawa Apartment and the ghost stories to take effect is [information exchange].

This interaction can be through the senses, such as sight, hearing, and thought. For example, the Three Evils nearly wiped them out through auditory and sensory interaction, while the anomaly encountered by Zhenfei was generated through text-based interaction. Furthermore, compared to direct sensory interaction, the anomaly produced by this secondary interaction, such as text, is not as intense. Therefore, Zhenfei wasn't killed on the spot and remains conscious. However, considering that she caused Gao Hai and Zhenfei to be trapped in some unknown, eerie place, her survival time is uncertain.

However, if text-based interaction could have such an effect, then Xu Sheng, the guy who was explicitly recorded as dead by the previous generation of survivors and theoretically should have become a monster along with Refrigerator Guy and Bedside Guy, left behind so many rule sheets and supply boxes, and even changed the layout of every room in the Shirakawa Apartment in some unknown way. Theoretically, their interactions with Xu Sheng should have been quite numerous, so why didn't Xu Sheng harm them?

Perhaps that man didn't die? Perhaps he still retained his will? And that's why he resolutely refused to harm anyone?

Or did he make some kind of arrangement before he died to ensure that he would not harm anyone after his death?

So, that man's design was also part of the clock with the human head on it. By turning the hands, I gained the ability to see others turning clocks, and my senses underwent some abnormal change; I could even see the dying message left by the deceased. So, in this completely out-of-control Shirakawa Apartment, has this powerful figure who once single-handedly organized all the survivors truly vanished without a trace, unable to take any further action?

Gao Hai thought of many things.

But as he thought about it, he couldn't help but sigh silently, and then stopped these random thoughts.

He is now trapped in this place.

If we don't survive, all the clues we've gathered so far will be meaningless.

That's so lame.

This feeling of having to carefully struggle to survive is just too lame.

Can't I become one of those handsome heroes?

As Gao Hai was lost in thought, he heard a barely perceptible noise beside him.

That's the voice from Consort Zhen's side.

what is she doing?

Gao Hai instinctively became alert, but then he thought that if Zhen Fei really turned into something terrifying, what could he do in this small house where there was nowhere to hide? So he remained silent and motionless, letting the other party do as it pleased.

Then, he heard Zhenfei quietly walk up to him and sit down at a distance of less than three centimeters, with their shoulders and arms occasionally touching.

A tiny finger was placed on the back of Gao Hai's hand, and then he began to write.

In this dimly lit environment, it's hard to notice if anyone is acting strangely when we're sitting too far apart. I'm sure you're quite panicked, aren't you? Don't worry, I can protect you. With me here, everything will be alright.

Although the Japanese characters were written with fingers, Gao Hai, who had acquired a language cheat, could easily understand what the other person meant.

I understand. Maki was afraid to be alone in this dark and desolate environment, so she came to him. And because the rules require quiet at night, she resorted to writing on her hand to communicate.

Having read the original work, I know that the characters' personalities are indeed a great advantage. Someone who doesn't understand Maki's subtext might find her annoying.

Thinking this, Gao Hai suddenly had a mischievous thought, so he grabbed Zhen Fei's small hand and touched the back of the girl's hand with his index finger.

Soft and warm, it's the kind of hand a young girl takes good care of.

I could feel her trembling slightly. I guess my action had startled her a bit, making this girl, who wasn't very brave to begin with, quite nervous.

Come to think of it, this seems to be the first time I, a guy who's never been in a relationship, have ever touched a girl's hand.

Oh no, suddenly I'm thinking being Yoshikage Kira wouldn't be so bad...

While reflecting on his feelings, Gao Hai used his index finger to write on the back of Shijo Maki's hand.

Following the logic of horror movies, you'll soon discover that I actually only have one hand left, and you're interacting with a suspended, severed hand.

After writing down the content smoothly, Gao Hai successfully felt Maki's hand stiffen instantly, and even showed signs of trembling slightly.

Several minutes later, he heard Zhenfei take a deep breath. Then she quickly placed her hand on Gao Hai's hand and began to write quickly with her fingers.

[This joke isn't funny at all. You need to work on your emotional intelligence, you idiot!!!]