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

It was only when she turned her head that she realized the doll had disappeared sometime earlier, and Xiaohua was now all alone in the room crawling with insects.

Was it just here to deliver a map to me?

Never mind, we've already wasted a lot of time here, so we have to get moving no matter what.

Thinking this, Xiaohua hesitated for a moment, not immediately stepping out of the room, but instead opening the newspaper that she hadn't yet carefully examined. Upon opening it, she discovered that most of the text had become blurred and illegible, with only a small portion of the information still legible.

[...(unidentifiable content)■■The daughter's body was covered with a thick cloth■■...■■Mummy...decomposed■...(unidentifiable content)...]

[...murdering husband...wax figure...(unidentifiable content)...starting to order hollow...puppet...]

[...will return to visit... (unidentified content)... son and grandfather... (unidentified content)... corpse doll...]

[...this person...claimed to protect...she believed...(unidentifiable content)......threatened by...family...]

[...before Fang's arrest...burning...she believed in heaven...mental evaluation...(unrecognizable content)...]

To be honest, with content so vague, Xiaohua really had a hard time understanding what it was trying to say.

However, considering everything she had seen before and the state of this strange place, she guessed that perhaps the place she was in was constructed by the power of the strange creature hiding in the mansion. In a sense, this place could be considered the mental world of that creature. These rooms and corridors constructed of heavy cloth, the stitching marks, and the signs of decay might be the manifestation of that creature's spirit.

However, this vague news content was not Xiaohua's biggest gain.

What truly surprised her was a neatly written notebook inside the newspaper, clearly left by someone who had been there before. Similar to the map, the notebook was also written with black and red pens, but unlike the somewhat abstract map, the writer was clearly much more mature, and the content was much more precise.

The following are the recorded patterns and personal reflections.

1. Close the door to the place where you woke up, and the insects will disappear, including the dead ones.

Although the bugs might come in after the door is opened, they won't crawl onto people. This is the only absolutely safe zone; she definitely won't follow you in from here.

2. Do not approach corridors stained with blood.

[Don't go there (This line has many crossed-out black lines, suggesting that a lot of information was originally recorded but was ultimately deleted)]

3. If you encounter her in the hallway, face the wall, close your eyes, and crouch down; she won't take you away.

4. Keep as quiet as possible, even if she's not in the room, she might still hear you.

She could hear (the messy red writing)

5. Rooms with food are generally safe. Don't take the food out of the room. Take only what you need and eat it. Don't make negative comments about the food, don't leave any, and definitely don't throw it away. She knows you made it.

She will never forget anything (neat red handwriting)

[6. From the moment she enters the toy room, she knows that the other woman won't rush in immediately, so she can hide inside. But if she stays too long, the other woman will come in, and at that point, she's powerless to resist.]

Does she think we're all children?

[In a mother's eyes, a child is always a child (strange black handwriting, clearly not written by the same person as this document)]

7. Rooms with many dolls are very dangerous. The dolls won't hurt you, but any action you take in front of them may be considered impolite. They will remember you and follow you until you appear in a place where there are no dolls.

Are those dolls her family members? Or relatives and friends?

8. Don't mess up her bedroom.

[It's also possible that going in would anger her, but this cannot be verified at the moment.]

9. Avoid physical contact. The consequences of contact include (1) waxing, (2) puppet-like transformation, and (3) decay. The area of ​​contact varies depending on her level of anger. Usually, she will only choose to take the person to ■■ after the third time she is provoked. (The content after this point has been crossed out)

[10. It is currently impossible to summarize her clear rules of movement. She seems to be able to move around freely here, and only narrow or low-ceilinged environments can temporarily hide her.]

Based on current information, she is generally harmless in the food room unless you waste food or make a negative comment. She rarely appears in the toy room, but she will appear outside the door and look at you whenever you enter. She will definitely appear in the doll room, but you may not always see her; she seems to be able to hide in this room. In the bedroom, she either doesn't appear or is definitely sleeping, but don't get close; she sleeps with her eyes open, so she will know as soon as you enter.

The danger posed by her in the hallway depends on the situation. If she's wearing an oil-stained apron, ordinary loungewear, or pajamas, she's generally harmless. Simply crouch down facing the wall with your eyes closed, and she'll ignore you. If she's wearing a heavy raincoat or has obvious bloodstains on her clothes, run away immediately and avoid being touched by her in this state. If she's completely naked and her skin doesn't resemble human skin, make a record of her; the existence of someone like her is unverified.

[11. She will not forget those she remembers until she punishes them. Escaping into the room where you woke up will not solve the problem; she will wait for you to come out.]

However, if you have a companion, the other person can help distract her. Her attention can be easily diverted, especially when you do something she considers "bad."

[There's no way to escape yet. Someone saw a deep hole in her bedroom that might lead to other places. But getting there is too difficult; she'll come in if the bedroom is messy.]

We will make one last attempt after recording the information. If the information is not updated, then we have failed.

The information hasn't been updated.

Xiao Hua's expression was complicated after reading the record.

She picked up the child-drawn map again to examine it, then took several deep breaths, before her face contorted with disgust at inhaling so much foul air. However, the girl quickly composed herself and cautiously stepped out into the hallway.

Click——click——

The sound of cockroaches being crushed could be clearly heard.

Xiao Hua himself had already ventured deeper into this dark corridor, advancing step by step into the even deeper darkness.

Chapter Twelve: First Encounter with the Eerie Corridor and Food Room

pat- pat-

Foul-smelling, yellowish-green slime dripped from the ceiling.

Countless cockroaches and venomous insects crawled back and forth on the walls and the floor as if they had gone mad. Dense maggots would occasionally flow out of the torn thick cloth along with pus, fall to the ground, and struggle and wriggle, trying to crawl back to where they started.

The dim red light shone in the long corridor, but could only barely illuminate the environment within two or three meters; anything further away was impossible to see.

Click——click——

Each step was accompanied by the final pop of an insect being crushed and flattened.

Now, there's no way to count how many insects I've stepped on; I only know that my feet have become increasingly slippery, and my shoes are covered in insect sap.

The further we went, the more cracks appeared on the walls on both sides.

These cracked areas are like festering wounds, with a rotten appearance of blackish-red or blackish-green, and maggots of all sizes wriggling inside.

Xiao Hua subconsciously looked at one of the cracks in the wall, and through the broken sutures, she saw something that was completely rotten and deformed, yet still retained basic human structure. There were even faint signs of it wriggling. She didn't know whether it was dead or alive, and it gave her an extremely nauseating and terrifying feeling.

However, Xiaohua can hardly feel any nausea anymore.

It's not that her mental strength is so strong that she can easily ignore the heavy scene before her, but rather that she's already numb. Her senses have begun to dull under continuous stimulation, so once the nausea subsides, it won't return.

What I want is a carefree high school life filled with eating donuts and cakes, not a life of struggling to survive in this horrible place...

Despite wanting to complain, the girl couldn't afford to be distracted by the current situation, so her attention quickly returned to the front of the corridor, to the unknown area still hidden in the darkness.

Slowly, she approached the end of the corridor and saw forks in the road extending to the left and right.

Unlike the completely dark corridor area just now, there was a light at this T-shaped intersection. It was an old-fashioned chandelier hanging from the ceiling, with a bulb emitting a faint, deep yellow light.

The number of insects has decreased significantly here; at least it's not to the point where you'd step on a bunch of cockroaches with every step.

Xiaohua first looked to the left of the fork in the road. In the dim light, she could barely see some suspicious dark red marks spreading on the ground and walls, piled up like paint that had been splashed indiscriminately, exuding a rusty smell.

On the child's doodle map, this direction leads to a place described as "terrifying." And in the record left by what appears to be a survivor who strayed into this place, the blood-stained corridor is also an area to be avoided. Of course, considering that the person who left the record was likely an ordinary person without any protective abilities, and that she could at least rely on the red light for limited defense, Xiaohua felt she should be able to go in and explore. However, she knew nothing about this place, and it would be foolish to use up her only advantage right from the start; she couldn't make that choice.

So, let's go right first. Going right should get us to another three-way intersection soon.

Thinking this, Xiaohua carefully took a step away from the rotten corridor full of insects and stepped into a new area.

step-step-

Clear footsteps echoed in the narrow corridor.

Unlike the previous corridor, the corridor Xiaohua was walking through was brightly lit and impeccably clean, with the floors, walls, and ceilings spotless, indicating that it was regularly cleaned and maintained. It also exuded an air of wealth, giving Xiaohua the subconscious feeling that she was walking through the corridor of a villa.

so quiet.

Just seconds ago, in that dark, rotting corridor, the sounds of insects crawling and scurrying filled the air. But now, after entering a new corridor, all those sounds vanished as if they had never existed, leaving only a deathly stillness.

"call……"

Xiaohua could clearly hear her own breathing and heartbeat.

She moved forward step by step, cautiously, wary of any unusual phenomena that might appear from anywhere.

But even after she could see the fork in the road ahead and actually reached the location of the fork, nothing strange happened.

It was as if she were the only person left in the whole world; there was no sound from anyone else except herself.

However, things began to change in the area further ahead.

Based on the map and survivor logs, Xiaohua was certain she had reached the second fork in the corridor. The path leading straight ahead resembled a typical home's corridor; the floor was made of expensive wooden flooring, but it wasn't clearly made of anything particularly valuable, and the walls were covered in decorative wallpaper printed with colorful flowers, giving it a lived-in feel.

The corridor, which, according to the map, should lead to "Mom's bedroom," looked very strange. It seemed ordinary, just a plain corridor with gray tiles and white paint. But after getting a closer look, Xiaohua felt an inexplicable unease, as if she were being stared at, but she couldn't find the source of that gaze no matter where she looked.

After a brief moment of thought, the girl chose to continue forward.

She planned to check out the food room, toy room, and doll room first to see what they looked like. As for the bedroom and that unknown special area, she instinctively felt it was better to leave them for later.

As she walked into this vibrant corridor with its colorful wallpaper, Xiaohua felt her emotions become more lively. The oppressive feeling she had experienced upon entering this strange and distorted space was relieved, as if the corridor itself possessed a calming power.

This feeling... is wonderful.

There's a sense of hope for the future, and every day of life is filled with happiness. What exactly is this place all about?

Xiaohua felt that she could vaguely sense something, but she couldn't really understand it. In the end, she only had a vague sense of what was going on.

My own perception seems to be a bit lacking; I can't truly sense the supernatural power emanating from the strange creature. I did hear Mr. Gao Hai say that players with strong perception can seemingly obtain information about the creature's memories or rules and abilities simply by touching its aura. It sounds as terrifying as mind reading.

However, Mr. Gao Hai had mentioned to her that she seemed to possess some unknown talent, though this ability wasn't active and couldn't be controlled by her. It might require some stimulation to truly develop. However, Mr. Gao Hai didn't seem to know exactly how to develop it, only suggesting trying to stimulate it with painful memories, such as letting Xiao Hua experience being boiled to death or being dragged into a cave crevice and torn into mincemeat. Perhaps that would awaken the talent. Of course, Xiao Hua refused without hesitation. Seriously? Just hearing about something that terrifying, she wouldn't try it. Even knowing it was just an experience, she couldn't accept it; it was simply too horrible!

While pondering, Xiaohua slowly walked along the gradually sloping corridor and soon saw a new fork in the road ahead.

The third fork in the road... We've arrived.

This time, the path branched off in both directions. According to the map, the left branch led to the doll room. However, the door to this room seemed to be broken and could not be opened, so Xiaohua did not plan to take this route.

Of course, even though she didn't choose this path, she still carefully observed the layout of this corridor. To be honest, it wasn't much different from the corridor she was standing in now, both with the same wooden floors. But one difference was that there were no colorful wallpapers. The corridor leading to the doll room had empty white walls on both sides, unlike the corridor Xiaohua had walked through, which was covered with colorful wallpapers, and therefore lacked a bit of life.

As for the corridor leading to the food room, its characteristics were much more obvious. First, the floor wasn't wooden but tiled, and it was clearly the type of tile used in kitchens and restrooms. Every few meters, you could see recessed drains. Furthermore, although the walls of this corridor were covered in colorful wallpaper, the wallpaper was visibly damaged and stained, as if someone had carelessly torn and graffitied it. Not only that, as Xiaohua stepped into this corridor, she smelled a strong odor of cooking oil, mixed with the aroma of cooked oil and the stench of something burning.

Then, she noticed that most of the wallpaper damage and stains were concentrated in the lower middle part of the wall, and there were basically no traces after a height of 1.5 meters. In addition, Xiaohua also found a lot of oil stains, which looked like the kind of solidified grease that you would see in a kitchen that has not been cleaned and tidied up for a long time.

"Places like kitchens? Do these also have any symbolic meaning?"

Xiao Hua frowned. Gao Hai had taught her a lot in that golden-red space, so the girl knew that the power of these strange creatures was related to their past experiences and memories. If an unusual spatial phenomenon appeared where they were, there were often things that could be interpreted within it. For example, Gao Hai had given the example of a strange creature that had become a child who had suffered domestic violence. He mentioned that time in the child's instance could be rewound or fast-forwarded by turning a clock, because the child had once used this method to deceive his family. At the same time, many discarded wine bottles could be found in that instance, because the child's father was an alcoholic, and these items had been materialized by his memories.

Simply put, if you discover something that seems strange, it might be related to the ghost's memories and emotions as a human. To become a qualified player, you must learn to analyze the essence through phenomena in order to pinpoint the root of the ghost story.

While Gao Hai was explaining these things, Xiao Hua nodded repeatedly, indicating that she had remembered them all.

Now, at this crucial moment, the moment of real combat, the beautiful young woman closed her eyes, her mind flashing through the different forms of the corridors she had seen along the way. She made a series of permutations and combinations and thought deeply about them, finally arriving at a wise conclusion.