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

Her activity range was actually limited to the 3rd floor. The 1st and 2nd floors only existed in her imagination and were not real. Therefore, 104 was 204 and 304. Each room was actually overlapping in space. It was only because the rules of the apartment were based on her memory that they were forcibly divided into three parts.

You cannot reach 309 now because she hasn't found the 309 in her mind. Even if you do arrive at a room with the number 309, you cannot enter. This is because you are currently operating within the scope of her obsession.

But it doesn't matter now, because you've received this message on the tape. It contains my last remaining obsession, as well as the obsession of everyone who once lived in the apartment, struggling to survive. By listening to this message, you will surely be able to find that place.

Let's fulfill this wish so that she can rest in peace.

That way, you will definitely be able to escape this place and completely destroy this bloody apartment.

But please, you have to be quick. This strange tale, born from her obsession, is a monster devoid of any emotion or reason. It will not pity you, nor will it show mercy just because you want to save this girl.

The pollution will only intensify at an increasingly rapid pace. Time is running out. You and your companions must find that place as quickly as possible, and before everything collapses, find that door and open it once again.

I will do my best, with all my remaining strength, to help you.

Best wishes, Mr. Gao Hai.

I am Xu Sheng.

……

……

It felt like there was something extra in my palm.

He lowered his head, opened his hand, and a slightly rusty key with the number 309 on it was already in his hand.

The entire Shirakawa Apartment was completely plunged into darkness. It was the third night, and the final countdown had begun, with less than two hours left.

Gao Hai could no longer hear the voice of the man named Xu Sheng.

The cassette player in the living room was still running, but it had long since stopped playing, having finished playing all the available content.

However, it is enough.

Gao Hai stood up.

It's time to go.

He originally intended to say this to Kaguya Maki beside him.

But when he actually tried to speak, he found himself unable to utter a single word.

pain.

A sharp pain spread through my mouth.

"Haijun, your mouth!"

Consort Zhen cried out in surprise and rushed forward.

Kaguya, on the other side, was also shocked. She then took out her obsessive scalpel and made a cut on Takahashi's mouth.

The dense stitches that had been sewing Gao Hai's mouth shut were then cut off.

"what……"

He opened his mouth, and before he could speak, blood was already flowing down.

Grotesque and terrifying burns are appearing on his body.

At this moment, Gao Hai deeply understood what Xu Sheng meant by "time is running out".

Chapter 58: The Warm Moment Behind That Door

hum-

The ground is shaking.

The wall has cracked.

Dust and gravel fell from the ceiling.

Shirakawa Apartments seems to be gradually collapsing.

In the moment when everything is clear, it's like the final cage, after the last chains collapse, everything that originally existed there begins to move towards an irreversible stage.

"W-What's going on here?!"

Green stared wide-eyed as he looked around and discovered that the house had been filled with a pile of broken furniture and a corpse that had decomposed to the point of being just bones and some remaining tissue. There was also more water and moss growing on the walls, as if things from the first, second, and third floors had all been mixed together.

"There seems to be a sound outside?"

Sun Dajun looked nervously towards the gate. He heard some unsettling sounds, though he couldn't quite put his finger on them.

"Hey, wait a minute, why are you guys watching a recorder that has no sound? That's really weird."

Mamer didn't pay attention to anything else, but he was puzzled as to why Gao Hai and the other two were sitting in front of a silent tape recorder for a long time.

As for Maeda Miwa, she screamed again in fright, but because a soundproof mask had been put on her beforehand, her screams were not too loud.

Aside from Takami, Kaguya, and Maki, the others clearly didn't hear the sound coming from the tape player. This tape player wasn't actually playing a tape; it was merely using it as a medium to reveal certain information, and the condition for receiving this information was the level of knowledge one had about the "truth."

"We heard a lot, but it felt like it was cut short halfway through. Haijun, is what you heard different from what we heard?"

Zhenfei didn't hear Xusheng's final words to Gaohai, but she quickly realized from the reactions of others that different people might receive different information, so she immediately turned to look at Gaohai to confirm his reaction.

"Yes, it's time to go. Everyone... has to leave. This is the last... chance. Maki, give me that toy... I have to take her back."

Gao Hai, having taken a deep breath, turned his head and looked towards the gate.

Rumbling--

The shaking in the apartment is getting worse.

He took the broken doll from everyone else, the small child who, in Gao Hai's eyes, was covered in wounds and mud.

Although the stitches on my lips have been cut off, the pain continues to linger.

The burns on his body were constantly worsening, as if he were being executed, being scalded with boiling water once again.

However, there's nothing to worry about.

Now, it's time to end it all and leave this hellhole.

squeak-

Gao Hai stepped out of the house and strode forward.

He wasn't wearing rescue team clothes, but a rescue team uniform vaguely appeared on his body, helping him suppress the curse.

The shattered ruins had become even more twisted than before, with floors collapsing and all sorts of furniture piled up together, like an abandoned waste disposal plant.

The ground was trembling continuously.

You can see door after door, some floating in the air, some standing on the walls, and some lying directly on the ground. All the doors with numbers starting with 1 show severe signs of water erosion, all the doors with numbers starting with 2 have something knocking on them from behind, and all the doors with numbers starting with 3 are broken and their locks are damaged so they can no longer be closed.

Gao Hai knew that none of these doors were the one he was looking for.

He could already sense the location of the door.

They already know the direction they need to go.

"Don't fall behind, this is your last chance."

Taking a step forward, I quickly moved ahead.

Various sounds echoed from the ruins.

The clean, white porcelain dolls frolicked in the broken ruins, then stopped laughing and pointing when they saw Gao Hai and the others running through the ruins. They wanted to catch up, but stopped because of the sewage and filth all over the ground.

The footsteps echoed through the ruins, passing through door after door. They paused briefly as Gao Hai and the others passed by, then, for some reason, ignored them and continued on in one direction.

It seemed as if the shouts of the parents could be heard from afar.

Maki, who was in the group, turned around and saw the couple rushing over at a very fast speed, but their path was blocked by the sound of their footsteps.

It's time to pay back the money.

"I have no money, let me through, I have no money to give you."

Pay back the money, pay back the money, pay back the money!

The two sides seem to be stuck in a stalemate.

The eerie knocking on the door in this apartment and the girl's parents seem to be in conflict with each other due to their own operating logic, so they have temporarily ignored the people here.

Are those children afraid of getting their clothes dirty? Is it because they exist as the "clean children of other people's families" in their memories that they would never let themselves get dirty?

These strange occurrences are blocked by flaws in their own mechanisms at this time. Is someone helping them?

Zhenfei did not hear the last sound that Gao Hai heard.

But she had a vague idea of ​​who was the only person who might step in to help them at this time.

Splash—splash—

More and more water began to slow down the pace of progress.

More and more water droplets began to fall from the sky, or rather, from the ceiling, as if it were raining.

Gao Hai, who was walking at the very front, continued to walk.

His mouth had been forcibly sewn shut with fine thread under the power of the curse.

The burns on his body had begun to spread again, and even the force of the life jacket could not stop them.

The pain became increasingly intense.

My body seems to be losing strength little by little.

It felt like being trapped in a box, unable to move.

It's like being locked in a toilet for a long time, hungry and in pain, and all you can do is struggle to crawl on the ground.

It's like being stuffed into a hole in the wall of a toilet, crammed in, stuffed into a place the size of a small box, and then sinking into darkness.

no, I can not.

This shouldn't be the end of the story.

Enduring such pain, Gao Hai simply took deep breaths, resisting the agony with his own will, and continued to move forward.

That door will definitely open.

The door that has stood for so long, stretching from many years ago to the present, will surely be reopened at this moment.