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

What exactly happened? Did something go wrong on Mr. Gao's end?

Rumble—rumble—buzz—

The tremors are gradually subsiding.

Whatever caused the violent tremors in the instance, it seems that its impact is currently limited. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that the other party deliberately reduced its power to mitigate the impact.

Unable to find the answer, Yan Hui frowned and didn't voice her thoughts. Instead, she leaned against the wall to steady herself until the tremors stopped before standing up and looking up at the ceiling in the direction from which the aura was coming from.

I can no longer sense that aura from before.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on outside, but I'm certain something terrible has happened. To put it in the worst-case scenario, the entire instance might have undergone extremely serious abnormal changes, and it's not impossible that it could have been upgraded directly from the Dark Night level instance to the Red Moon level.

However, no matter what the situation is like outside, it won't affect what needs to be done next.

"Is everyone alright?"

As Yan Hui asked questions, she carefully observed her surroundings.

"It's okay, Captain, I'm fine. It seems like it was just an earthquake. Nothing collapsed. Everyone should be alright."

Qin Shou, who was not far away, was the first to raise his hand and speak.

"I'm fine, but that aura just now... it felt really ominous."

Lin Sen then spoke, standing up and looking around with lingering fear. He had clearly also sensed that aura, though not as strongly as Yan Hui had; otherwise, he wouldn't be so calm now.

"I'm fine here too. Aura? What aura? Did you sense anything?"

As Lake, gripping his rifle, stood up, he explained that when the ground suddenly began to shake violently, the veteran quickly crouched against the wall to minimize the contact area between his body and any potential falling debris, and only stood up after confirming that the shaking had completely subsided.

"It's hard to describe; it's an extremely powerful and terrifying aura. Moreover, there should be several weaker auras besides that one, making it impossible to determine the exact situation. However, I believe the current situation shouldn't be too problematic. As for the reasons—"

The last to speak was Cui Qiushui. This girl rarely talked so much, and as she spoke, she showed her cell phone.

A blindingly bright crimson light was released from the phone in the next moment.

"Such high power?!"

The players present were no ordinary people; they immediately realized something was wrong just by glancing at the change in light. After all, they knew exactly how much energy their Crimson Domains had left after fighting all this way. But the Crimson Domain that Cui Qiushui had taken out was clearly fully charged—no, it wasn't even fully charged; it was overloaded to more than 100%.

"How did you do that? Did Mr. Gao manifest his power directly on you? Ugh..."

Qin Shou stared blankly at the phone that was emitting a bloody glow, subconsciously muttered a complaint, and then instinctively turned his gaze to Cui Qiushui, immediately feeling nauseous upon seeing her face.

"My Crimson Domain fragment is also overloaded. You guys quickly check yours."

Lin Sen had already turned on his phone and, after confirming the intense blood-red light emanating from it, immediately spoke.

[Sizzle…]

It was at this moment that the light in the small room flickered, as if it had become somewhat unstable.

Yan Hui frowned, seemingly realizing something. Instead of immediately checking the blood-red domain fragments she carried, she first looked at the delivery elevator, its lights flickering as if it could lose power at any moment. Then, suddenly understanding something, she rushed to the elevator, pressed the switch to open it, tossed in the magnetic card she had found, closed the door, and started it upwards.

Then, she turned on her phone screen, glanced silently at the bright red blood, and then looked back at her companions behind her.

"The situation in the instance is changing drastically. Be prepared for something bad to happen. We have probably lost contact with Mr. Gao. The reason these fragments have been strengthened is probably because he managed to provide us with power before the connection was lost."

Yan Hui's expression turned serious as she spoke, and she then prepared to explain her conjecture in more detail.

hum-

However, before she could speak, the lights went out silently, and darkness came from all directions, enveloping the team, only to be dispelled by the blood-red light.

"I wonder if the players in the monitoring room have received it yet. It would be bad if the utility elevator got stuck halfway through."

After the power outage, Qin Shou, who had just taken out his phone, was the first to speak. He had already realized what Yan Hui's intentions were, but it was clear that he wasn't optimistic about the outcome.

"Whether the other party can get it or not is none of our business. Whether there's a power outage or what, it won't affect our next move. After all, we've come this far, there's no turning back now."

Yan Hui simply said in a calm tone, and took the first step, stepping into the entrance on one side of the small room, and walking towards the dark corridor ahead.

"I knew you'd say that, Captain. Let's go, everyone, don't fall behind."

Lin Sen laughed when he heard this and followed Yan Hui forward.

"That's true, after all, we're here to die, ahahaha..."

"You can't seem to utter anything nice, can you?"

"It's not that... Ugh... Please don't look at me... Ugh..."

"Sigh, I'm really speechless."

Qin Shou started spouting nonsense again, but then Cui Qiushui chimed in, and Qin Shou, who suffers from gynophobia, started vomiting again, causing everyone around him to look helpless.

"...It would be nice to have a place to wash my hands."

Lake, who was walking at the back of the group, muttered something under his breath, subconsciously wiggling his fingers, and started moving along with the group.

Perhaps due to the power outage, the spatial distortion in the underground area seemed to be alleviated to some extent after passing the small room containing the service elevator. The team advanced quite a distance in the dim light without encountering any forks in the road. However, the corridor itself showed increasingly obvious signs of decay, as if some kind of eerie corrosion was spreading, and the stench in the air was becoming more and more pronounced.

Is it melting before, and now it's decaying?

Yan Hui recalled the strange phenomena in the corridor before arriving at the storage elevator room, and compared them with the current situation, silently considering various possibilities.

The crimson light illuminated the path ahead and behind the team. With the Crimson Domain Fragment entering an overload state, none of the players present intended to conserve it. Everyone activated the fragment to guard against potential attacks.

As they slowly moved forward, they gradually noticed that the corridor began to slope downwards once more. And compared to the corridor they had passed through before, this one had a much steeper incline, approaching 40 degrees. With each step they took, they all felt the cold wind blowing from ahead, accompanied by murmurs carried on the breeze.

【■■……】

The content of the sound was unclear.

[■……]

It sounded like someone was wailing, someone was screaming, or perhaps it was the groan of someone on the verge of death.

【…】

The further they went, the weaker their voice became.

It was as if, as they ventured deeper into the area, the source of the voice was also receding further and further away from them.

Then, they reached the end.

"Dead end?"

Lin Sen looked at the wall in front of him with a puzzled expression.

"I'm afraid it's because the power outage disconnected the circuit. I've seen this kind of thing happen in other instances too."

Qin Shou thought of other possibilities, scratching his neck as he pondered them.

"Captain, should we go back?"

Cui Qiushui's questioning voice also came from behind.

"..."

Yan Hui didn't speak, but stood silently in front of the wall observing.

Using her exceptional sensory abilities, she was trying to sense the wall and confirm its specific details.

Hmm... I didn't sense anything useful.

The environment here is very problematic.

The power outage must have indeed caused some problems, but going further might really be a bit risky?

"Captain, should we go back?"

Cui Qiushui's questioning voice rang out again from behind.

【…】

Meanwhile, a distant murmur, from an unknown location ahead, also resounded at the same time.

Yan Hui slightly raised one foot, about to step back.

"Autumn, what were you saying just now?"

Then, she abruptly stopped walking backward and quickly turned to look at Cui Qiushui behind her.

"Huh? I didn't say anything?"

Cui Qiushui, who had been quietly staying in place and occasionally making a few complaints about Qin Shou, subconsciously replied when Yan Hui suddenly turned around and looked at her, asking such a strange question.

Yan Hui's gaze had already shifted away.

She deliberately didn't say Cui Qiushui's real name just now in order to sense something.

This time she did sense it.

The power of the curse spread along the name, but was interrupted because the object the name referred to did not exist.

[Captain, should we go back?]

Cui Qiushui's voice rang out once again.

But this time it can't fool anyone.

Because not only Yan Hui herself, but also Lin Sen and Qin Shou, were all ready for battle at this moment. Lake, who was at the rear, had already raised his rifle and aimed it at the figure that had appeared there at some unknown time.

I couldn't make out what it looked like.

Even under the light emitted by the fragments of the crimson domain, it remained blurry and indistinct.

Is it a strange creature without a real appearance, or is there some other special reason?

Regardless of the reason, Yan Hui now has only one option: to suppress and seal it.

Boom boom boom——

Amidst a series of explosions and gunshots, the corridor was reduced to rubble in just a few seconds.

The blurry shadow had disappeared, and the team members didn't react much. Having long been accustomed to the strange creatures harming people in various ways, they considered this level of attack nothing at all.

"Captain, how did you figure that out? I didn't feel anything wrong at all just now?"

Qin Shou looked at Yan Hui with some curiosity and asked.

"Placing your finger on a screen that is glowing with bloodshot light can enhance your perception to some extent."

Yan Hui answered casually, patting her clothes that had been soiled in the fight, and then turned her gaze to the wall in front of her.

Just now, she had a vague feeling that if she listened to that voice and stepped back, the voice that had been moving away from her and becoming increasingly indistinct would suddenly get closer and pose a serious threat to her and the entire team.