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

But for those already trapped in this hell, could this truly be a form of salvation, a manifestation of redemption?

How tragic! It is ultimately humanity that has shaped hell; these ugly things will never change, no matter how much time passes. But since ugliness can solidify into horror, why can't we see the precious and beautiful things solidify into true redemption?

I must continue searching, I must continue questioning, I will paint this world, for this is my duty.

【—The Artist of the Night, Koz】

This inscription... it's truly an art form! Although it's written in English, it's as flowing and elegant as calligraphy. Even someone like Xingge, who doesn't understand painting, can feel its pure beauty. However, regarding the content... it seems the person who carved it isn't in a good mental state. Perhaps they're quite insane. Wait, why can I understand English? My English has never been very good!

Many people have stayed in this cabinet, and they are all still here.

They're still here, they're all still here. They're watching me, and they'll be watching you. They're all here.

The last inscription inside the wardrobe was also very unusual, which explains why these survivors seemed to be in such a mental state.

Not remembering that Gao Hai had given her a certain language cognitive ability, and also forgetting that there were fragments of Gao Hai's mind in her head, so her mental pollution resistance was higher than that of more than 99% of people in the world, Xing Ge only felt that the engravings in the cabinet were strange, and did not think too much about it.

Snapped!

The lights went out.

It became dark outside the door again.

Is the shortest time 10 minutes?

Xingge silently calculated the time in her mind and carefully walked out of the cabinet.

The cold, dirty, and messy room made Xingge frown. But she quickly shifted her attention to the inscriptions left on the outside of the cabinet door behind her.

Mingjia's message, along with the seemingly insane one, stood out and was quickly spotted and read by Xingge. Besides that, she also found several other short inscriptions such as "Safe Zone" and "Hide in!", but no other crucial information.

However, Xingge then discovered something on the side of this garbage-filled room—a structure made of furniture such as tables, chairs, and cabinets, nailed together—that resembled a defensive fortification. The structure faced a wall with a skylight, and she wondered what was on that side that required such careful protection.

Xingge also found several inscriptions on the furniture here.

I sealed this place off, I should have sealed this place off, but a window was opened in the wall, but it still opened a window.

I don't think I can trap it, no matter what method I use. It yearns to get out of here, and there's no way to truly stop it.

Fortunately, while it's difficult to stop, it's not impossible to delay.

[As long as the status quo remains, it will likely remain trapped inside, and for a considerable period of time.]

As long as things remain the same and no major changes occur, everything will be normal. Yes, I don't need to worry about it too much; it's not that important.

【——Mingjia】

Some of the names look familiar; I feel like I've seen them somewhere before, but I don't know who they are.

Don't come near! Don't come near! Don't come near!

The room behind the skylight is alive; there's always something in those garbage heaps!

【Don't come near! Absolutely do not come near!!!】

This one isn't that different from the previous one; the only difference is whether or not the meaning was clearly stated.

In short, it means you can't go near that area, that's roughly what it means, right?

The water is indeed poisonous; this is not the first time it has been found to be highly toxic.

[The only difference is that the truth came to light last time, but this time it can only be hidden and disappeared because no one can record the truth.]

I can sense the presence of a door. Perhaps that dangerous place isn't inaccessible, but rather requires certain conditions to enter?

Another unknown person, but these engraved notes look a lot like the ones I saw in the cabinet before. Could it be him?

Go inside, go in and embrace it.

Our hell has come to an end; a new dawn will be born from our sacrifice.

All suffering will be followed by the joy of new life.

This was pure madness. Just looking at such insane words was unbearable for Xingge, so she glanced at it briefly and looked away. After confirming there were no more messages, Xingge silently timed herself, making sure she had a few more minutes to move around, and then decided to look for other information.

At this moment, Xingge noticed the laptop lying on the ground, which appeared to be slightly damaged.

A faint red glow was still slowly emanating from the edge of the screen. Xingge stepped forward, turned on the computer, and found that new messages had appeared.

"Okay, let's go then and rescue my sister."

A text message appeared, along with the very serious voice of Nijika herself.

Can this computer receive messages from Hongxia? Is she still alive? Is she planning to come over? If so, I need to get outside. It's too dangerous to stay in this room with the lights on.

With this in mind, Xingge took action, grabbed her laptop, and began exploring the room, quickly discovering the location of the dog hole. However, at the same time, she also discovered another hole in the same room, clearly intentionally left to peek through the duct tape-sealed wall. She wondered what she would see if she looked inside.

Of course, this time Xingge had absolutely no intention of peeking over; she had learned her lesson from shining a flashlight on a "cat" in the street before. However, sometimes, just because you don't actively pay attention to something doesn't mean that thing won't notice you, and this was exactly the situation Xingge encountered this time.

[Splashing sound—drip-drip—]

After the crystal-clear sound of flowing water and dripping water, which was emanating a cool breeze, Xingge, who was walking past the peephole, heard a series of footsteps following her very clearly.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The character design for Lin Xusheng, which was commissioned, is finished. Thanks to artist Xiaolang_lxl! Here's the character design for everyone to see.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Xingge's Intelligence Recording Time and Hongxia's Return to the Apartment

Is something following you?

The moment Xingge heard the footsteps, a chill ran down her spine, and her whole body stiffened instantly.

In that instant, she seemed to hear a voice, a muffled call and sobbing, as if coming from behind a thick curtain. The voice approached her from behind, and the thing making the voice had already seen her and was reaching out, trying to grab her.

thump--

The moment her consciousness returned, Xingge was already rolling on the ground, lunging straight forward. Her body pushed itself to its limit in an instant, rolling to the dog hole, then suddenly lunging forward again, squeezing through in less than two seconds and disappearing into the other side of the house.

A piercing pain spread through her wrist. Xingge looked down and saw that a wooden stick, about the thickness of a finger, had been deeply embedded in her arm, oozing bright red blood.

But she had no time to worry about the pain in her body. Once she realized that something had crawled out of the peephole and was chasing after her, Xingge's entire focus was on escaping the unknown monster. She had no time to pay attention to the pain in her body.

"Huh...huh..."

I could feel my heart pounding wildly, and cold sweat was pouring down my face.

Xingge gritted her teeth, turned around while holding the computer in one hand, and then saw a hand retract from the spot where she had just been standing, across the dog hole.

There is no doubt that it is a human hand.

Pale, soft, it looked like a woman's hand, but it was clearly twisted beyond recognition, as if the bones in the fingers had been dislocated.

Maybe if I slow down even a little bit, that thing will grab me?

Realizing this, Xingge gasped for breath, unable to calm herself down for a moment. However, as her mindset shifted with the relief of danger, she quickly noticed the pain in her arm where the wooden stick had pierced her. Gritting her teeth, after a brief hesitation, Xingge reached out and grabbed the stick, forcibly pulling it out of her body.

puff--

I didn't cry out because I had already removed a thorn from my foot once before, so I was mentally prepared.

However, Xingge's face remained contorted for quite some time before calming down, clearly indicating that this incident was still too stimulating for her.

More blood flowed out than expected.

Fortunately, it was just flowing out, not spraying out directly. If it had sprayed out, I probably would have been dead.

Xingge covered her wound with a pale face, took another breath while thinking, and then slowly stood up.

To be honest, the situation on the other side after going through the dog hole seemed even worse to her. At least in terms of hygiene, since there were far fewer traces of feces and urine on the dog hole side, excluding the room filled with rotting garbage, of course.

Tuck your sleeves in to secure them, which will slightly reduce the rate of bleeding from your hands.

Barefoot, Xingge carefully navigated around the various pieces of trash on the ground and arrived at the living room. She quickly spotted the large dining table in the center of the room, which had been propped up as a partition, and various characters carved on the table. There were also records on the cabinets, on the panels of the tables and chairs, and on this large table... There were quite a few records left in this place. Perhaps many living people who had stumbled into this place had stayed in this room, which is why so many records were left behind.

But with so many records, why is there no mention of something popping out of the peephole to grab people? Could it be that it's too dangerous, and everyone who's seen it has died? But that doesn't make sense either; I just darted out, didn't I? From that perspective, while that thing is terrifying, it's not to the point where an ordinary person is completely powerless to resist or escape, is it?

As Xingge pondered, she looked down at the inscriptions on the table. Compared to what she had seen in the inner room, she noticed that this large table had the most inscriptions. Perhaps this room was the area where the survivors used to frequent? After all, there was a monster in the inner room that would appear and kill people when the lights were turned on, and something at the peephole would follow people. She wondered if it was another monster that would grab and kill people.

Sigh, at least I've escaped for now, so I shouldn't have to worry about another attack for the time being. I just don't know where Hongxia and Liang went. I hope they're safe. If only they left me some information so I can find them. Ah, wait, maybe there's still information on that computer; I can check it again.

Despite these thoughts, Xingge still decided to read through all the information engraved on the table first. Having entered the instance so far, Xingge had a fairly good understanding of its operating rules, so she was worried about encountering a rule like "You can't use the computer here," which was specifically targeting something she wanted to do. If something went wrong because of such a ridiculous reason, she really wouldn't know what to say.

They were knocking on doors, trying to confirm everyone's fate.

They knew from the beginning what the final fate of these people would be, but they wouldn't stop until that day truly arrived, until they were certain of everyone's fate.

[This period didn't last very long, after all, the surviving victims didn't have much time left anyway, so it just dragged on and passed.]

[That's why their will wasn't so strong; they weren't serious enough, so they wouldn't go to the other side of the dog hole, and therefore they didn't take this matter too seriously.]

Ultimately, however, they were also cannon fodder. They thought they would survive, they thought they were the chosen ones, but in reality, they were among them, and there were others waiting for them to die, waiting for everyone connected to this disaster to breathe their last.

Some things always repeat themselves, like a spiral, eventually returning to their original state, and the same ugly things will still happen. This world is always difficult to change.

[I hope this time will be different. As someone who should have been an observer but has instead become involved, I wonder if I can bring about any change to the already predetermined script?]

【The Artist of the Night - Coz】

I think I saw this guy, who calls himself the Artist of the Night, leave a message about him once before; he seems a bit mentally unstable. But is the message he left describing one of the monsters that roams the apartment?

The aquatic creatures are active; they are calling out, they are calling out incessantly.

Drink it, and you will see it; drink it, and you will feel it.

The real world will open its doors to you.

This information seems useless. After confirming that "the water is poisonous," even someone as slow-witted as Xingge would never want to try drinking the water in this instance. There's no way he would even have such a thought.

I haven't found the room that was exempted from the charges yet. Many people say that room exists, and many people are saying so.

Many of those who came in together disappeared. Some died with screams before they died, so we knew what had happened, while others vanished silently, without us even knowing what had happened.

This kind of thing will likely keep happening, and it probably won't stop until we find that room.

That exempt room must exist; no one will come looking for us there, there is no poisonous water, and everything there is beautiful.

That room must be hidden somewhere in this apartment building, in that real safe zone. Only by reaching that place can we truly survive; only by reaching that place can we have any hope of truly leaving this place and returning home.

The last, rather long inscription made Xingge feel a bit strange. Looking at the "exempted room" mentioned in the message, she couldn't help but wonder if there really was a completely safe place in the Sheep Apartment where no monsters could attack her.

Besides these relatively long messages, Xingge also found two shorter engraved messages that seemed to have some special meaning because she looked very carefully.

One of the entries is: [Confirmed survivor rooms: 207; 112; 303]