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

Gao Hai continued walking, reaching the dining room, where a large table should have been placed.

The sounds of children laughing, swallowing, and adults helplessly advising them not to eat too fast filled the air.

Some playful children refuse to eat properly, so adults hold them in their arms and feed them bite by bite.

Some children wanted to finish eating quickly so they could play, but they choked on their food and had to burp while looking for water, which made them the laughingstock of the other children.

She sat among the children, smiling happily, and even helped the adults manage the more mischievous ones.

【■……Out■……！】

The sounds around me became clearer, and I could almost feel the intense emotions hidden within them.

Gao Hai stepped onto the stairs and went up to the second floor, where he saw separate small bedrooms for boys and girls.

He heard adults coaxing children to sleep, children whispering at night, and adults on night patrol scolding children who weren't sleeping.

The timid child cautiously left the room, begging an adult to take him to the toilet, and insisting on holding the adult's hand along the way.

Occasionally, she would be woken up by the older children and then take the younger ones to the toilet, holding their hands along the way, casually chatting about what they wanted to do in the future, talking about those unrealistic dreams.

Get lost... ■... away—

The sounds around me seemed to gradually become harsh.

She actually knew that her parents lived in the town.

She had overheard the adults' chatter and knew that she had been sent to the gate of the orphanage. She knew that many people actually knew the identities of her parents, and she herself might have even bumped into them on the street, but she just didn't know it.

She also envied those children who had parents to rely on, and wondered if one day she would be able to return to her parents' side.

But she also knew that the adults who adopted and raised her were no different from her father and mother to her. So in the beautiful dream she painted, in the future she hoped for, she would definitely repay this kindness of raising her, so that everyone who had worked so hard could live a happy and fulfilling life, no longer needing to toil.

But now, such dreams can no longer be pursued.

Get out!

The piercing sound finally transformed into a furious roar.

From the moment they appeared to the point where they were almost face to face, it all happened in an instant, leaving no time to react.

Gao Hai felt as if he had been hit hard by a high-speed train, and in the blink of an eye, he was sent flying out of the dark, dilapidated building and plummeting into an even darker place.

Before the house completely disappeared from Gao Hai's sight, he saw a small figure sitting alone on the ground, holding a crushed toy, silently guarding the empty house where there was no one else but her.

When she opened her eyes again, the darkness had disappeared, replaced by the dim light of an incandescent bulb and the anxious face of Hayasaka Ai watching her.

"That's wonderful, Mr. Gao... you're finally awake..."

The girl let out a long sigh, with barely visible tears glistening in the corners of her eyes.

Gao Hai sat up from the ground and found himself in a dilapidated storage room. The small room was filled with classroom supplies such as desks, chairs, and blackboards, as well as cleaning tools such as brooms and mops, and several large trash cans.

The surrounding walls were dilapidated, covered with disgusting marks like rotting flesh. The ceiling and floor were also dark and rough to the touch, as rough as human skin.

"After we fell, we first appeared in a school corridor or something, and then Mr. Gao, you fell to the ground unconscious. I... I heard noises coming from those classrooms, and I was worried that there might be some danger inside, so I carried you around and hid, and finally we came to this room."

Seeing that Gao Hai was a little confused, Hayasaka quickly explained the situation to him.

Was I unconscious during the previous spiritual vision process? Hayasaka was able to hide me, is it because the deeper areas are not very dangerous, or because the dangerous things had not been truly triggered when we first entered?

And this room...

"You've worked hard. It's really not easy to have everything go smoothly. But could this situation be considered a coincidence?"

Gao Hai stood up and looked around.

All the details match up, so it's definitely not an illusion.

The temporary refuge room that Hayasaka found was the storage room where Chiyo Hachiya, whom he saw in his hallucination, sneaked into the ventilation duct.

Chapter 49: The Exploration and Assimilation of the Deep World

In a corner of this dark room, Gao Hai quickly found what he was looking for.

A very hidden ventilation duct, located on the edge of the wall and blocked by clutter.

The storage room itself had no windows, only a small room illuminated by a half-broken light, and the vent, judging from the direction of the passage, should actually lead to the exterior wall area. It's unclear what the designer was thinking, but they inexplicably designed a small opening next to the vent, connecting it directly to the storage room. Although the location was quite hidden, and there were two layers of wire mesh fencing preventing accidental entry, and the pipe itself was extremely narrow—making it difficult even for a child to enter—the design still evoked a strong urge to criticize it from Gao Hai.

Also... ugh, it really does feel quite uncomfortable...

Just one glance into the pitch-black pipe made Gao Hai feel claustrophobic and extremely uncomfortable. Not only was the pipe too narrow for him to squeeze through, but even if he could, Gao Hai was certain he couldn't do it. The psychological trauma of being trapped in the Red Nut Gray Hole seemed even more severe than he had anticipated. It seemed that even for a seasoned player who had experienced many dungeons, some things were still difficult to overcome.

However, this problem is quite easy to solve.

"Although I'm a little embarrassed, I've decided on you anyway. I'll leave the investigation to you."

With a wave of his hand, the power of the rescue team badge was activated, and then a blurry-faced figure wearing a dirty police uniform appeared out of thin air next to Gao Hai.

Without uttering a single unnecessary word, the officer reached out and pried open the fence, its screws already removed. Then, with a lunge, he squeezed into the ventilation duct. The duct was clearly too narrow for his size, yet for some reason, he easily squeezed in and sped forward, making a series of thuds before disappearing from sight.

Relying on his ability to share his senses, Gao Hai can check at any time what the summoned police officer sees and hears. And because the police officer is a monster, his senses are not as rich as those of a human. Even if Gao Hai shares his senses, he will not experience the discomfort of crawling through the pipe, thus minimizing any potential problems.

So, it's time for me to take action.

Thinking this, Takahashi turned her head and noticed a hint of curiosity in Hayasaka's eyes. Although it wasn't the first time she had seen Takahashi use the rescue team badge, the girl, who had never encountered such a supernatural item before, clearly found it somewhat novel, but out of politeness, she didn't ask any further questions.

pat-

After rolling a 20-sided die and seeing it land on 11, Gao Hai nodded slightly and then pushed the door open. As expected, just as the die had predicted, there were no strange creatures wandering in the corridor, so it could be considered a safe period.

This is a deeper area of ​​the Hayatei Elementary School instance.

Gao Hai carefully observed his surroundings.

Unlike the chaotic surface and inner areas, the deeper areas seemed more organized. Emerging from this storage room, Gao Hai could see a straight corridor, classroom doors on one side, and windows on the other wall.

A strong, foul stench spread.

The black stains, like ink dripped onto paper, stained the corridor in various ways.

Twisted structures, resembling rotten flesh, were scattered haphazardly, along with dark red handprints and grotesque patterns drawn with crayon lines.

Takami heard the sounds Hayasaka had mentioned, sounds that came from those classrooms.

At first, it seemed to be just someone whispering, a faint murmur that was almost inaudible.

But when Gao Hai started to notice these sounds, he immediately realized that they were becoming clearer. He was able to distinguish the sounds of children laughing, someone crying softly, and sounds that seemed to be calling his name.

【Gaohai...Gaohai...】

The sound seemed to be quite far away at first, but now it was much closer.

near?

Realizing something was wrong, Gao Hai immediately closed the door and pushed Hayasaka, who had originally wanted to come out with him, back inside. The two of them returned to the storage room they had just been in.

Those sounds have disappeared.

It seems that once the door is closed, those faint sounds will no longer be heard.

But a strong sense of unease had begun to spread in his heart. He realized the possibility of some danger, so he immediately turned around to look at Hayasaka, who was unaware of what was happening behind him.

Did you hear those sounds just now?

Gao Hai looked intently into the girl's eyes and asked seriously.

"Huh? No... I didn't hear anything. Mr. Gao, I hadn't had time to go out when you opened the door, so I didn't hear anything."

Hayasaka was taken aback by Takami's question, but then realized from Takami's expression that the situation might be serious, so he quickly thought of an answer.

Didn't you hear me?

Gao Hai frowned.

After thinking for a moment, he reopened the door to the storage room and stood there motionless. For about a minute, Gao Hai didn't hear a sound; the surroundings were completely silent except for the breathing of himself and Hayasaka.

Slightly, Gao Hai poked his head out of the door.

The soft murmurs quickly reached Gao Hai's ears, and he immediately felt them gradually amplify.

"Not inside the room."

After a brief moment of thought, Gao Hai gave his conclusion.

"Not inside the room?"

Hayasaka blinked, somewhat confused about what Takami was talking about.

"The sounds weren't coming from inside the rooms, but from the hallway. Anyone in the hallway would hear them, and then the sounds would draw closer. But you wouldn't hear them inside the rooms, and you wouldn't come into contact with the source of the sounds. Hmm... it's probably some kind of ghost story that gradually approaches over time, manifesting as amplified sounds..."

After making some rough deductions, Gao Hai used the die again, and this time the number rolled was 19, proving that Gao Hai's deductions were basically correct.

This should also be a kind of derivative strange object, but how is such a thing formed? And how did Hayasaka, an ordinary person, manage to bring herself to this storage room under these circumstances, and it just so happens to be a room that appeared in the memory afterimage before, which is theoretically very likely to be a safe area?

According to the monitoring results, she is still human, but considering the precedent of Lixer, could it be that her behavior was guided in some way? Was there some force acting on her subconscious that caused her to make such a choice unintentionally?

If that's the case, who guided her?

pat-

The 20-sided die started spinning again.

Gao Hai lowered his head, silently staring at the number displayed on the screen. He then threw the dice again, confirmed the second number, and put the dice back into his watch. He then looked again at the quiet, dark corridor outside the door.

Because it has been used 7 times, all eight faces of the die from 1 to 8 have become 1. This means that the probability of rolling a 1 next time the die is rolled will be close to 50%.

It doesn't sound too good, but Gao Hai doesn't think it matters right now.

In their shared perception, the police officer had already reached the deepest part of the pipe and was beginning to vaguely see light ahead. Due to his discomfort with the claustrophobic environment, Gao Hai only slightly empathized with the officer's vision and hearing, and while maintaining his attention on the officer's situation, he stepped out of the room.

"Let's go."

Gao Hai said this without any apparent abnormality in his expression.

"Ah."

Although Hayasaka felt that Takami's behavior was somewhat unusual, he still nodded obediently and followed behind Takami very cautiously.

Once they reached the corridor, the faint sounds began to reappear.

However, this time Gao Hai paid no attention to those sounds and quickly walked down the corridor, soon arriving at the classroom closest to him.

The classroom door was almost completely covered by a muddy black substance, and the viewing window was covered in grime, making it impossible to see inside. After arriving at this place, Gao Hai could clearly feel that the sounds in his ears had become clearer, and one of the sounds seemed to be coming from inside this classroom.