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

Kaguya saw cracks of varying sizes appear on these things, and as these cracks broke apart, they revealed messy black lines beneath.

Black lines, and interspersed among those black lines are twisted, blood-red lines.

She also heard the last sounds these things made before they changed.

Friends are supposed to trust each other, but you don't trust us.

You don't trust us, so we're not friends.

If we're not your friends, then what are we?

The next moment, Kaguya saw things with twisted, smiling faces, strangely shaped like children's scribbles, exuding a strong sense of malice.

squeak-

The sound of the door swaying gently could be heard.

Meanwhile, Gao Hai had already opened another door at the entrance of the corridor.

This door leads to a small restroom, a tiny place with urinals and toilet stalls. Hmm, it's a men's restroom. So, the place I saw before, which only had toilet stalls, was the women's restroom, right?

While thinking, Gao Hai carefully entered the restroom, and then he noticed faint noises coming from each of the stalls.

He lowered his head slightly and looked through the gaps in the cubicles. He saw that there were shoes left in each cubicle, all of different shapes and sizes, but they were clearly shoes for children.

Want to open it and take a look? Maybe there's someone inside you can chat with.

A friend behind him offered a suggestion.

"……never mind."

But after frowning and thinking for a while, Gao Hai shook his head and did not adopt this idea.

He had checked his bullets many times. After repeatedly glancing down at the words on his hand, he would wake up and check the bullets again. After repeating this action many times, Gao Hai had vaguely sensed that something was wrong. He would no longer blindly follow his friends' advice, but would have his own thoughts and ideas.

Why don't you listen to your friends? Aren't we friends? Why won't you listen to what we have to say?

But then, his friends behind him asked a question with a puzzled look.

"Stop talking nonsense. We're here to rescue people, not for sightseeing. Unless absolutely necessary, it's best to avoid provoking a place that looks suspicious. What if a troublesome enemy suddenly appears?"

Gao Hai frowned slightly, feeling a little annoyed. At the same time, a strange feeling arose in his heart. When did he have a friend who talked such nonsense and was mentally ill?

So why don't you listen to your friends? Why are you unwilling to listen to their opinions? Don't you consider us friends?

The things behind them drew much closer at that moment, and their voices became even hoarser and stranger.

What the hell? Is your brain filled with shit?

Gao Hai began to think that his teammates in this game might not be mentally stable, and started to suspect that he had been matched with a mole in ranked games.

"It's foolish to blindly listen to your friends without considering anything else. Can't you use your brain? Opening up anything problematic you see in a place like this is suicide. Okay, stop rambling. If you can't think straight, be quiet and stop causing trouble."

As Gao Hai spoke, his tone becoming much rougher, he carefully looked around and noticed another door on one side of the toilet. He hesitated, wondering whether he should go over and investigate.

The things inside these cubicle doors... well, judging from the power of the blessing, they're probably strange creatures, but they're basically not very active. They shouldn't trigger anything as long as I don't go through and open the cubicle doors, which is fine; I should be able to bypass them and investigate the other door.

As Gao Hai pondered his next move, he heard the voice of that thing ring out right behind his head.

Why should I be quiet? Why is everything I'm saying just nonsense? Why are you so rude to your friends? Does that mean we don't—

The thing was unable to utter its next sentence.

Because Gao Hai turned around and slapped the thing directly across the face, making it spin around in place.

【You are for——】

The creature tried to speak, but Gao Hai stepped forward and grabbed its head, almost squeezing it out of shape.

Then, he kicked out with a loud thud, knocking the man to the ground. The man rolled out of the bathroom and into the hallway outside, crashing into the corner of the wall in a disheveled state.

Gao Hai saw nothing wrong with this behavior.

If a friend has a problem with their brain, they need to be corrected; if a teammate's IQ is off, they need to be adjusted. Damn it, they're clearly exploring a dangerous place but they're just spouting a bunch of nonsense that's distracting. If they weren't teammates, he would have shot them already.

Yes, this is normal, this is a perfectly normal action, so Gao Hai doesn't need to hesitate or feel any remorse for it.

In his view, there was nothing strange about beating his teammate to the ground, since this teammate wasn't exactly a pretty girl. Besides, none of the pretty girl teammates he'd ever met were useless; they weren't even in the same league as this babbling idiot.

"If you spout nonsense here again, I'll just rip your tongue out. Be glad you're my friend. If you weren't, I would have thrown you right into a toilet stall, you idiot."

Gao Hai, who had just muttered a curse, turned around and went back into the toilet stall.

Those indistinct humanoid figures following him seemed to freeze for a moment, as if they were unable to provide a standard response due to Gao Hai's unconventional approach.

As for Gao Hai, he felt that his teammates were normal and his own behavior was normal, so there was nothing to worry about. He should continue exploring and find Hayasaka as soon as possible.

Chapter Seventeen: The Foul-Smelling and Bloody Scenery of the Dark and Filthy Land

【■■……■……】

What sound did I hear?

【■……■■■……】

I couldn't make out what the sound was.

It was noisy.

Hoarse and shrill.

A sharp, piercing sound at that moment.

Consciousness was in a state of confusion.

Thoughts cannot function clearly.

Where am I right now?

What happened to you before?

I can't fall asleep...

I can't just fall asleep like this no matter what...

Wake up...wake up quickly...you need to wake up immediately...

I……

I have to...

"Woo...Woo..."

In a daze, Kaguya finally opened her eyes.

It was very dark around us, extremely dark.

She can't see anything.

In the pitch-black darkness, Kaguya couldn't see anything, only a stuffy, oppressive feeling and a strong stench.

This stench... seems familiar. Have I smelled it somewhere before?

Where is it...? It's...it's a place I've been before, it seems like I just went there...

Am I still there...? Did I not escape?

The girl could barely organize her thoughts clearly anymore, as if her brain function itself had deteriorated, and even her own memories were becoming blurred and gradually disappearing from her consciousness.

What’s wrong with me?

Struggling, Kaguya tried to stand up, but felt as if heavy forces were pressing down on her from all directions.

The intense pressure made it hard for her to breathe.

What's going on here?

Her body was completely immobilized, with virtually no room to move.

Those things around her must be some kind of living creature, because she could feel their warm body temperature and the texture of their fur.

The texture didn't seem human; it felt more like that of an animal, one with thick fur. What kind of animal could it be? If it was about the size of a human, perhaps a cow? Or a sheep or something similar?

And this feeling... has it caused any changes within myself?

"Woo..."

With each breath, Kaguya let out another short, mournful cry.

She found herself unable to speak, only able to utter some vague, indistinct sounds.

Have I been deprived of my ability to speak?

And... am I also covered in fur?

The girl couldn't help but recall what she had seen while collecting information on various dungeons: a dungeon where people had fur sewn onto their bodies to disguise themselves as animals. That dungeon possessed a powerful cognitive manipulation ability; many unprepared players were transformed after entering it. Even those who successfully reverted later often suffered complete breakdowns and went insane, truly regressing to animalistic levels of intelligence and cognition.

Has something similar happened to me?

"Woo..."

I still can't speak.

Furthermore, the voice he made seemed somewhat familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

crunch--

A piercing noise momentarily drew Kaguya's attention away.

She turned her head slightly and saw the faint light shining into the room.

It was an open door.

It is located among a series of cages, at the end of a path left out by many cages of different sizes, leading to a door.

The door opened at that moment, and the light from behind it shone into the room.

Oh, so this is the place. It's the dog kennel we visited before.

Kaguya recalled what had just happened, and how she had come to this place on the advice of her "friends," only to discover that the puppies in the kennel were likely all transformed from living people. She then noticed that her so-called "friends" seemed to have undergone strange changes.

She planned to use Hedar's berserk blessing to forcefully break through those things' obstruction, but instead of attacking her, those "friends" shouted.

Some of them were shouting "Teacher!", some were shouting "Someone has sneaked into the kennel!", and some were shouting "Someone is trying to steal your dog!" The sharp voices almost pierced her eardrums. Then Kaguya found that her legs were being grabbed by those things, and she couldn't break free for a moment.

Then, the door deep inside the kennel opened.