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

But there's no other choice now. Let's wait until we get there and then decide what to do next.

rustling—rustling—

The grass and withered branches rustled softly underfoot.

In the silent woods, the clearly audible footsteps seemed to be amplified, creating a faint echo.

My breathing seemed to become a little heavy.

As the surroundings grew darker, Gao Hai began to sense that something unsettling was happening in the forest.

Moreover, the three of them had been moving forward for at least five minutes since they entered. Given his and Xiao Boqi's enhanced physical abilities, they should have already crossed this green forest and reached the outer wall of Yelu Mountain Middle School in five minutes. But the reality was that after running forward at high speed for five minutes, there were still dense, endless trees ahead, and they couldn't find the location of the outer wall at all.

Is it really okay to continue in this direction?

Such thoughts inevitably arose in Gao Hai's heart, and he could not get rid of them no matter what.

At the same time he was moving forward, in the other side of the affiliated teaching building, two girls were hiding in a room, carefully concealing themselves and not daring to breathe too loudly.

[■Hehe...hehe■hehe...ugh...]

There was a sound coming from the hallway outside.

It sounded like something was being dragged slowly across the ground, and there seemed to be some kind of vomiting sound mixed in with it.

The thing seemed quite far from the broadcasting studio, but upon closer listening, the sound suddenly seemed to grow much closer, as if it were right outside the door. Yet, as you listened, it seemed to move further away again. Each time you listened, its location appeared to change dramatically, making it impossible to make an accurate judgment.

cannot be discovered.

We absolutely cannot let that thing outside the door find us now.

Even though they hadn't actually faced the thing yet, the two girls inside the room could clearly feel a strong chill and understood that once they were discovered, once the eerie creature lurking outside came face to face with them, what awaited them was probably an inescapable death.

What should we do next?

Consort Zhen gritted her teeth, a faint anxiety rising in her heart.

At the very beginning, when Maki and Chika sensed something was wrong, they broke into the affiliated teaching building and violated the rules posted on the door and walls of the broadcasting room, including the rule that "non-broadcasting room personnel are not allowed to enter, and are not allowed to operate broadcasting equipment." They entered the broadcasting room and adjusted the time when the class bell rang. When this series of actions was completed, the abnormal changes had not yet appeared immediately.

However, after confirming through their mental link that Gao Hai was out of danger, and as the two of them were about to end their mission and leave, a sudden change occurred.

It was a piercing noise coming from the radio station in the broadcasting studio. Then, very quickly, the noise began to change, and the voice that seemed to be that of a teenager began to be mixed in with the piercing noise, but the voice was still too indistinct to be identified.

Then, Maki discovered that the broadcasting studio door was suddenly unable to be opened for some reason. No matter how she pulled the doorknob, she couldn't open it, and even trying to force it open failed. Next, Chika, who was watching from the side, glanced back and noticed that the rule chart on the wall had changed.

[Basic Rules for Using the Broadcasting Studio]

[1. Only authorized announcers, controllers, and school administrators may enter and exit the broadcasting studio. Unauthorized personnel are not permitted to enter or operate the equipment.]

2. Audio files and broadcast content used in the broadcasting studio must be approved by school personnel before use and may not be altered without authorization.

3. The broadcasting studio must be cleaned after each use. Any equipment malfunctions must be reported immediately. The cleanliness and safety of the equipment in the broadcasting studio must be ensured at all times.

This is the original rule sheet that was pasted on the door of the broadcasting studio and on the walls inside. Compared to the rule sheets I've seen before, which often have seven, eight, or even more than ten rules, the rules here seem much simpler.

However, now, two additional rules have appeared on top of the original broadcast content.

The two rules, which looked like they were drawn on with crayons and whose characters were crooked, distorted and difficult to read, also gave people a sense of unease and eeriness.

[4. The "Strange Tales Club" will use the broadcasting studio when necessary to congratulate new members who have successfully passed the test and joined the club, and to acknowledge their existence.]

5. The "Ghost Stories Club" should broadcast each newly added ghost story through the studio and then vote on whether the ghost story is valid after the broadcast.

After seeing these two rules, clear voices rang out in the broadcasting room.

It was as if some unseen person was sitting in this broadcasting room, in front of the radio station, and suddenly began to narrate.

The person's voice was very young, sounding like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth, but when that voice rang out, both Maki and Chika clearly felt a chill spreading through the room.

Welcome to "Strange Tales at Night," I'm Kenichi Egani, the vice president of the Strange Tales Club.

[This time, we're presenting a proposal from an enthusiast who hasn't yet joined the Ghost Stories Club. This is a new ghost story written for us by this young woman who loves ghost stories. Her name is "Shijo Maki." Let's give Shijo-san a round of applause!]

Four real concubines?

The voice from the broadcast startled both girls, and even more strangely, the voice of Shijou Maki herself actually came through the broadcast immediately afterward.

Hello everyone, I'm Shijou Maki from Class 8, Grade 11 at Yoruyama Junior High School. I've wanted to join the "Kwaidan Club" for a long time. Although I haven't passed the recruitment test yet, I'll keep trying and not give up.

Today I'm sharing a ghost story I wrote myself, a short tale about a "radio station." It might be a bit brief, but I'll try my best to make it as interesting as possible.

Are you all ready? Well, I'm about to begin!

The voice of that energetic and adorable girl was so different from Maki's usual calm voice that it seemed like the same person could make such a performance.

But the voices that spoke were exactly the same, they were the voices of Princess Maki herself.

How could this be... No, I have to get out of here! I have to get out of this place immediately!

Realizing the situation was becoming dangerous, Maki tried to force the door open, but found that it was as if it had been welded shut and wouldn't budge. She couldn't even make a mark on the door with her strength.

And her own voice on the radio began to slowly recount her story.

The protagonists of this story are two students who sneaked into the broadcasting studio out of curiosity. When they were leaving, they found that the door lock was broken and they couldn't open it, so they frantically twisted the doorknob, trying to force the door open.

But at that moment, they suddenly heard a sound outside the door, as if someone was passing by in the hallway.

Could that be someone who can help them get out of this predicament? Perhaps they could try knocking on the door for help at this time. If it's another student, they'll definitely try to help them get out of the broadcasting studio, right?

As the leisurely voice came from the radio, Maki and Chika indeed heard footsteps coming from outside the door.

Tread - Tread -

There seemed to be faint sounds of conversation, as if two students were walking and chatting outside.

"..."

Maki and Chika turned their heads and looked at each other.

No one speaks.

At that moment, the two chose to remain silent, simply standing still and listening to the sounds outside without uttering a word.

However, asking for help might not be a good idea, since they had entered the broadcasting studio against the rules. If they were discovered, they might be punished, or even have their parents called. So the two girls trapped in the broadcasting studio simply listened quietly to the sounds outside, waiting for the passing students to leave.

This choice seemed to have saved their lives, because they immediately heard a terrifying sound coming from outside.

The voice of Maki, broadcasting on the radio, suddenly spoke again.

Immediately following, screams of agony from students suddenly rang out in the corridor outside.

The two students who were passing by seemed to have seen something terrifying, and they ran away while crying.

A student fell to the ground.

His cries quickly turned into screams, into heart-wrenching howls of intense pain, and then suddenly fell silent, completely losing their sound.

Another student ran forward amidst cries and screams, sprinting forward with all his might.

Then, very quickly, the student's voice also quieted down, and without warning, there was suddenly no sound.

silence.

The silence outside the door lasted for a very, very long time.

Hehe...■...

Until someone seemed to be chuckling, until a muffled, indistinct voice rang out.

The sound of something being dragged across the floor could be heard.

A sticky, vomiting sound also rang out.

What's outside? What's happening outside? The two girls inside the door had no idea; all they felt was deep fear.

The only thing they were certain of was that the thing hadn't discovered them yet.

What will happen to them if they are discovered? What happened to those two students who suddenly lost their voices?

All the mysteries lie behind that door; once you open it, you'll see the truth.

But now they can't open the damaged door, so they can only continue listening to the sounds outside, unable to figure out what's happening.

On the radio, "Makoto's" voice continued to narrate.

For Maki, who was in the broadcasting room at that moment, listening to her own voice telling ghost stories on the radio was an experience that was hard to describe in words. Especially since what this thing was talking about was clearly describing her current situation, which made it even more unpredictable.

I didn't feel any danger before, but things started going wrong immediately after I helped Haijun. Is it because my actions "contacted" Haijun, who had already gone deep into the other side? Or is it simply because I broke the rules?

The broadcast that's playing now seems to be from the [Strange Tales Club]? This club is really something... They handed me a recruitment poster yesterday, and today they've turned "me" into an amateur. If I survive today, will they turn me into an honorary member?

Perhaps we should try stopping this broadcast. This thing keeps speaking in my voice, and it might be the cause of the anomalies in the hallway outside. If we let it continue, Fujiwara and I might really die here.

Thinking of this, Maki exchanged a glance with Chika beside her, and then pointed to the location of the broadcasting station.

After a moment's thought, Chika quickly understood what Maki wanted to do, and gave a serious thumbs-up in approval. The two then carefully began their journey, moving as silently as possible towards the broadcasting station, prepared to use their blessings and [Market] support items at any time.

One step, two steps...

The radio station was quiet; the storyteller, "Consort Zhen," seemed to have temporarily stopped.

Seven steps, eight steps...

They were close enough that Maki and Chika could see the control panel button on the radio that was turned on.

Fifteen steps, sixteen steps...

The two finally reached the radio station. Maki reached out and turned off the radio station's controller, cutting off its power supply.

Will this work?

Maki stared nervously at the radio station in front of her, and after waiting for a while, she was sure that it was no longer making any noise.

The following sound came from the doorway of the broadcasting studio not far away.

The two girls thought they could lower their voices and avoid being discovered by turning off the equipment in the broadcasting studio, but what they didn't know was that their location had been known from the very beginning.

squeak-

The door to the broadcasting studio, which was previously locked, slowly opened.

A corpse, its chest torn off and jaw almost detached, peered through the crack in the door. Its mouth opened and closed, but the voice of the real Princess could be heard coming from inside.

Behind the corpse, there seemed to be a thin, black arm gripping it, like a puppeteer's strings, controlling the corpse to make mechanical, rigid movements.

In that instant, Maki and Chika felt a strong chill sweep over their bodies. The power of the blessing quickly reached the critical point of activation, and their adrenaline was automatically activated. Both of them were prepared to fight to the death.

But the attack did not occur.