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

This is the last thing Kaguya can remember. After that, she wakes up and finds herself trapped in darkness.

Now, with the lights on, she could finally see where she was.

She was in a cage.

Right now, she is trapped in a cage with a group of puppies, surrounded by countless puppies and unable to move, forced to curl up inside the cage.

I... turned into a dog?

Kaguya, whose mind was becoming increasingly confused, tried to make a sound, but could only let out soft, mournful whimpers.

At that moment, a tall figure slowly walked out of the door and stepped into the kennel, which was filled with a foul stench.

At that moment, Kaguya smelled an even stronger stench.

The tall figure that stepped into the kennel emitted a smell even more offensive than the kennel's feces, urine, and rotting odor.

What is it?

The power of the blessing seemed to be weakened to some extent in this state, but Kaguya could still vaguely sense the strong malice emanating from that thing, and feel the terrifying side of that thing as a monster.

The kennel had fallen silent.

After this thing stepped into the kennel, all the sounds disappeared without a trace.

tread--

Only the sound of that thing's footsteps remained, the sole sound at that moment.

tread--

The footsteps were slow and deliberate, yet they instilled a strong sense of fear in the girl, causing her to unconsciously lower her head and tremble.

tread--

At the sound of footsteps, every dog ​​in every cage fell silent, trembling with fear.

What are people afraid of?

Kaguya quickly found out the answer.

[Awooooo—Awooooo—!!!]

Amidst a piercing scream, a puppy was lifted out of its cage.

Hands stained with oil and blood opened a cage, reached inside, and grabbed a puppy's head.

The puppy seemed to know what was about to happen, so it struggled desperately, making sharp, piercing cries, but it was still firmly held by that huge hand and could not break free. It was dragged back to the door that let in a little light.

What... does that thing want to do?

Kaguya could see what the thing was wearing: a coat and apron covered in blood and grime.

She had a vague idea of ​​what might happen next.

But when she actually heard the puppy's pitiful cries in the room and heard the vibration of the knife blade hitting the cutting board, she couldn't help but tremble.

dong dong dong-

The cutting sound gradually became smoother.

Hua Hua Hua——

The sound of flowing water accompanied the sound of something being washed.

hum-

The sound of the stove being lit rang out, followed quickly by the gurgling sound of boiling water.

After about half an hour, the aroma of meat filled the room, followed by the sounds of eating.

Eaten...

That thing brought the puppy into the room, cooked it, and ate it.

No, that wasn't a puppy.

Those were living people turned into animals, living people turned into animals by the strange power within the instance.

Perhaps it's a player? Perhaps an ordinary person who accidentally entered the instance? Or perhaps it's a child who once lived at Hayate Elementary School and has been transformed into this state. No matter what the situation, it won't change the outcome itself, nor the terrifying truth that Kaguya recognizes at this moment.

If we stay here, will we eventually be chosen and slaughtered by that thing?

We must escape...

We must escape from here...

Kaguya, trembling all over, struggled to stand up again, unable to resist the urge to rush out of the cage.

It's unclear how much power Hedar's berserk blessing can still exert in this state, but she can no longer endure it, no longer has the option to stay in this cage and await the random choice of death.

Using all her strength, Kaguya unleashed a burst of power and slammed into the cage.

Bang!

Useless.

Even though the power she unleashed at that moment could easily break through the wall, the cage remained unchanged.

However, this is also a matter of course.

Because in children's minds, how could a puppy possibly break free of its cage?

Kaguya remembered, recalling her flashback in the bedroom, the events between Takahashi and herself in that small bedroom, and one of the mandatory mechanisms of this instance: anything that cannot be destroyed by a child will be absolutely indestructible.

So... once you're locked up here, is there no way to escape?

In that moment of stunned silence, Kaguya heard footsteps again.

It was that thing in the room that came out.

After hearing the noise outside, the thing came out again, seemingly attracted by the sound.

Kaguya huddled among the dogs. She had no way to fight the monster, so the only thing she could think of to do was to carefully hide herself from being discovered.

tread--

The footsteps drew closer little by little.

Kaguya could feel her body stiffen completely, as if some force had locked her in place.

The source of that malice had already targeted her.

The girl, sensing this and the intense hunger she felt, almost collapsed weakly in the cage.

What should I do now? What should I do?

I can't think of a solution.

Perhaps the only way to escape is when the cage door is open?

But would this really work? On the opponent's home turf, and with themselves already directly altered by some strange force…

"Woooo..."

A dog's mournful yelp interrupted Kaguya's thoughts, as did the sound of footsteps.

Kaguya looked up and saw a half-grown golden retriever standing up from a cage not far away.

At that moment, the dog was whimpering and lowering its head, gently wagging its tail. It was unclear what it was doing.

【…】

The thing standing in the dog kennel aisle stood silently for a while, motionless.

A few seconds later, it took a step and walked to the side of the room, reaching out to grab a lever that Kaguya hadn't noticed before.

crunch--

After a muffled thud, there was the sound of something crashing down.

At this moment, small pieces of meat and rotten vegetable leaves poured out from a thin, hollow iron pipe inside each dog cage.

Many dogs became agitated, rushing forward to snatch the rotten meat and vegetables, and the clearly discarded kitchen scraps. Even the half-grown golden retriever joined in, lowering its head and earnestly eating. But for some reason, Kaguya could vaguely sense that the golden retriever didn't actually want to eat the disgusting food; it was merely forcing itself to behave like a hungry dog, forcing itself to compete with the other puppies.

Eat...eat...

She suddenly heard a man speaking in a low voice.

Everyone's had a good meal... Everyone's had a good meal...

She realized that the voice was coming from the enormous, eerie creature standing in the room.

[Now that I'm full... the meat tastes even better... and you guys taste even better... so delicious... hehehehe... so delicious...]

Amidst whispers like those of a madman, the tall, obese figure stepped out, walked towards the dimly lit room that reeked of blood, and slowly closed it.

As the door closed, the stinking kennel was plunged into complete darkness once again.

Chapter 18: The Subject of Rule Application and the Object of Touching

Gao Hai stopped in his tracks.

After opening the other door to the toilet, he could vaguely see what looked like a nap room behind the door, and there seemed to be many blurry dark figures inside.

After a brief moment of thought, Gao Hai closed the door, left the restroom, and returned to the corridor. He left a simple sketch of a dog-headed man with a scarf on the restroom door as a marker, then turned to the last door in the corridor that he hadn't yet opened. After opening it, he entered a large hall with a series of staircases.

Behind a door on one side of the hall, directly opposite the staircase leading up to the area, Gao Hai found a small bedroom with a rather fairytale-like style, filled with various dolls and toys. It seemed to be a little girl's bedroom. It was clear that the girl's parents had put a lot of thought into decorating this bedroom, but in Gao Hai's opinion, the style of "Alice's Safe House" suited his aesthetic better.

After all, the latter could provide him with five hours of rest time.

Gao Hai did not choose to enter the bedroom. He intuitively felt that there was no need to explore the bedroom. In comparison, it was more important to investigate other places.

Even when they were still in the corridor, Gao Hai had noticed that his "intuition" was becoming more and more obvious, as if he had actually been to these places before and already knew what was in them, but he had just forgotten it before.

This feeling was really uncomfortable, so Gao Hai looked down and, after seeing the line of words on his hand, summoned his pistol again to check the bullets. Then he remembered that he had actually been in this instance for a day, rather than just entering this place.

The door next to the stairwell... I vaguely remember it. Have I been here before?

I have absolutely no recollection of the door at the top of the stairs; I haven't investigated that place yet. Hmm, let's choose that as our next step.

After a brief moment of thought, Gao Hai carefully walked up the stairs and slowly approached the second-floor platform.

During the process, he glanced behind him at the indistinct, dark gray humanoid figures following him from a distance, and his brows gradually furrowed.

By now, Gao Hai could vaguely sense that those things might not be his friends. At the same time, he carefully recalled the behavior of those things at the toilet door earlier. Behind the seemingly idiotic conversation on the surface, these things were using language to create a certain "tendency," thereby using language to "affirm" or "deny" something.