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

Ha, is it one of those strange creatures with a "reversal" concept? At first, no matter what she did, she couldn't get close, but after meeting certain conditions, it just appeared right in her face. She'd encountered this kind of tactic before; it wasn't surprising at all.

"It seems to be having some effect, but no, it only stimulates the mind and can't actually enhance perception, right?"

Qin Shou, who was behind him, was stunned for a moment. He actually reached out to try it, and then, after truly experiencing the scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the blood-red domain, he trembled all over and quickly let go of his fingers and said.

"I'm just kidding."

Yan Hui answered this in a serious tone, while Qin Shou immediately showed a bitter expression, as if this was not the first time he had been tricked by his captain.

Tuk Tuk——

Yan Hui reached out and gently tapped the wall.

Ignoring Qin Shou's complaints behind her, Yan Hui simply turned and gave Lake, who was guarding the back, a look. The latter understood and became wary. Then, Yan Hui took a deep breath, clenched her fingers into a fist, and slowly pressed it against the wall.

boom!

The next second, she punched the solid concrete wall, shattering it and revealing a large space behind it.

"Looks like they've arrived at the warehouse this time?"

Lin Sen, carrying a headlamp, was the first to step forward. He had a whistle in his mouth, but his voice was still clear.

Yan Hui and Qin Shou followed closely behind. Qin Shou glanced around and noticed the sign on the wall that read "Materials Warehouse".

"There seems to be something here."

Next to enter was Cui Qiushui, while Lake stayed behind for a short while before coming in. By this time, Cui Qiushui had already quickly surveyed the entire warehouse and found an empty shelf at the edge of the warehouse, where she discovered a document hanging.

She didn't open the document immediately; instead, her teammates, who had rushed over, investigated it first to ensure there were no problems before finally opening it. As the document was opened, the title line on the first page, "[Special Material Inbound/Outbound Records]," came into the players' view.

Unlimited reward for New Year's monthly passes

Catclub's Spring Festival event has already begun, so as usual, let's ask for monthly tickets and open a monthly ticket reward!

Speaking of which, the monthly pass cap hasn't been lifted this time; it seems each person is limited to 23 monthly passes. That means there's no need to worry about owing too many. Hmm, at least it shouldn't exceed the current word count of the book.

In short, this time the reward will be calculated as 200 monthly votes plus 1000 words.

Please vote!

Chapter 56: Recording Special Materials and Confirming the Core Obsession of the Copy

[Special Materials Inbound/Outbound Records]

[Today’s number of entries: 3]

Today's usage count: 0

[These special materials are classified as Top Secret. Warehouse managers are requested to carefully verify the project list and check whether the quantity of incoming materials is complete, whether they are fresh, and whether they are healthy.]

To ensure the safety of these special materials, warehouse management personnel are not allowed to leave the warehouse until all materials have been used.

Your work will help Dansu Company reach new heights and create value for the future of human civilization.

Yan Hui opened the document, quickly flipped through a few pages, and looked at the recorded text with a thoughtful expression.

"This special material must be made from living people."

Qin Shou squeezed through the crowd to take a look, then made a serious judgment before quickly retreating.

"It's normal for them to be human. Dungeon worlds always try to anthropomorphize things as much as possible. The key is what kind of ritual these people are used for, and whether some bizarre monsters will appear in front of us later."

Lin Sen, standing to the side, shook his head and said with a somewhat weary tone, and together with Cui Qiushui, they examined Qin Shou to confirm that he had not been mentally corrupted before they were relieved.

Yan Hui ignored the two guys beside her and started flipping through the document again, looking for the parts that were worth noting.

While reviewing the document, Yan Hui noticed that it lacked a detailed date and even contained many deliberately obscure parts, suggesting that the person who left it didn't want anyone to obtain it. But if that were the case, they could have easily written it in cipher from the beginning; then, even if someone found it, they wouldn't have to worry about it being deciphered. This puzzled Yan Hui, making her begin to doubt the document's contents.

[Today’s number of entries: 7]

Today's usage count: 2

[Number of escaped materials today: 2]

[Number of escaped materials recovered: 1]

[This incident resulted in the escape of two personnel specializing in special materials. One personnel has been successfully recovered, but the other remains hidden within the factory area.]

To prevent materials from escaping, the factory has been sealed off. The seal will be reopened once the lost materials are recovered.

[Warehouse managers must promptly proceed to the freight elevator after recovering the materials and transport them to the designated containment area. Do not worry about being unable to enter the restricted area; the passage will open automatically as long as you are carrying the materials.]

Fortunately, the person who attempted to escape in this incident did not leave the factory premises. Such an incident must never happen again. After recovering the escaped materials, you, as warehouse managers, must conduct a thorough self-examination to ensure that the same mistake is never repeated.

While she was thinking, a page of records that was noticeably different caught Yan Hui's attention.

Materials used for escape?

Yan Hui's gaze lingered on this line of text for a long time.

"Captain, how's the situation?"

At this moment, Cui Qiushui suddenly spoke up and asked, her eyes fixed on Yan Hui, observing her actions and expressions.

"No problem, there is no erosion."

Yan Hui looked up at Cui Qiushui. After she said that, Cui Qiushui, Qin Pengshou, and Lin Sen all carefully observed Yan Hui. After confirming that she had not suffered any mental corruption, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Cui Qiushui gave Lake a hand signal, and Lake, who was responsible for handling the worst-case scenario, lowered his guard and stopped secretly aiming his gun at Yan Hui's head.

Although the players had thoroughly checked the document before opening it, this didn't guarantee absolute safety. Sometimes, even if the document itself didn't carry any corrupting power, certain information within it might point to something within the instance, potentially causing the player who viewed it to be attacked or corrupted. Therefore, while Yan Hui was viewing the document, other players would frequently interrupt her and constantly check on her mental state to minimize any potential risks.

"Well then, it's my turn to take a look."

Lake stepped forward, took over from Yan Hui, and began reading the rest of the document.

Even after a thorough inspection confirms safety, as a precaution, the players in the Bright and Dark Squad will not allow only one player to read the entire document at once. Sometimes, reading a complete document possesses a certain mystical power, so having different people read different parts is a good way to interrupt this effect.

slam-la-

Lake flipped through the documents faster than Yan Hui, and soon he found a page that was clearly different from the other pages.

[Today’s number of entries: 4]

Today's usage count: 7

The fact that the usage of special materials exceeds the warehouse storage capacity is normal and should not be surprising.

The experiments involving these special materials are inherently extraordinary; treat them calmly, but remember that this is a top secret matter and must not be disclosed under any circumstances.

The predecessors of the warehouse managers have already paid the price for this; please do not repeat the same mistake.

The number of people used exceeded the number of people put into storage. In other words, there were originally four living people in the warehouse, but seven living people were found in the experiment.

Lake picked up the entire folder, roughly determined which part of the file this page belonged to, and then he had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

"The experiment should have started to show obvious supernatural phenomena when it was about two-thirds of the way through. Considering that this instance took place in Japan, I think the higher-ups at Dansu Company might be connected to the 'Campus Ghost Stories' group. Perhaps some of their research data came from that instance. Otherwise, it would be too difficult for just a group of ordinary business executives to advance this kind of research."

Lake, who usually doesn't talk much, suddenly spoke fluently and clearly about his thoughts when it came to analyzing, thinking, and organizing information.

As he spoke, he took out the phone he was carrying, which contained fragments of the Crimson Domain, and turned on its screen.

Since the connection between the entire instance and Gao Hai had been severed, Lake naturally had no way to connect to the information network built by Alice through this phone. However, before that, he had already downloaded some information from the Alice network, including information about instances that had been confirmed to be cracked by many Red Moon level players, including Gao Hai himself, which he used as experience to make it easier for low- to mid-level players to learn from.

It was precisely because he had seen the contents of this book that Lake knew many of the secrets hidden within [Campus Ghost Stories]. Of course, Gao Hai only revealed information related to [Takamagahara]; he didn't provide any further information concerning the Keeper of the Priest and the Form of the Root. The reason for revealing the information about [Takamagahara] was simple: in Japan, it's really difficult to bypass those anthropomorphic beings in non-ancient-themed dungeons, since many of their research findings on ghosts have been leaked to induce the creation of more dungeons. Or, to be more precise, it's the "writers" truly behind [Campus Ghost Stories] who are driving this, but that's something ordinary players can't know.

"The information about the Red Moon-level dungeon that Mr. Gao gave me? Hmm, I've seen it too, and it's quite likely. In other words, the higher-ups at Dansu Company somehow obtained a portion of the legacy of [Takamagahara] and intend to research the strange creatures on their own? That makes sense."

Yan Hui nodded after hearing Lake's analysis and then pondered.

"I think it's more likely that these company executives got some incomplete data, and then thought they could use this research to achieve immortality or become superior to others. In the end, they messed things up and ended up going down the drain together."

Standing on the other side, Qin Shou stroked his chin and solemnly proposed a new idea.

But Lake ignored Qin Shou. After explaining what he had seen and briefly mentioning his thoughts, he quickly buried his head and continued flipping through the document. This time, Lake discovered that the last third of the documents in the folder were almost entirely duplicates. It wasn't until he reached the last page that he finally found something different. Considering that this was the end of the document, and if there was anything wrong with it, this was the last line of defense, everyone became more vigilant and cautiously observed Lake as he read the document.

"The text on the last page was in a jumbled mess in my eyes. The document was in a very disordered state, and there was even a signature left behind."

As he spoke, Lake gently rubbed the words on the paper with his fingers, his brows furrowing even more deeply.

[Number of warehousing today: 000000000...]

Today's usage: All, all used.

[Number of escape materials today: None]

[Number of escaped materials recovered: Not found, not found, not found, not found, not found]

Nobody's here anymore.

No one can succeed; no one is destined to succeed. Everything is already predetermined. Once it's predetermined, it can't be changed.

They wanted to destroy the records, but I found them, I copied them down, and I left them behind. No one will see them. Will anyone see them? Maybe no one will see them, but I copied down all the records. Will anyone see them?

There's another level underground, and below that is a second level. That's where the final ritual takes place; no one can survive there.

[Go to the elevator, go to the elevator, go to the elevator, go to the elevator]

I've reached the final step, this is the last step, who's ahead of me now?

[Who am I? Who am I? Am I Eiji Kashiwagaya? Whose name is on my body? ? ? ]

It will not succeed.

We will not let them succeed.

[If we can't stop them, should we just die together with them?]

In the chaotic, completely jumbled text, Lake could clearly sense the emotions of bewilderment and anger.

It has been lingering here for a very, very long time.

As the consciousness of a human being collapses and disintegrates, only twisted obsessions continue to grow in the darkness, becoming stronger and more distorted with the nourishment of blood.

In the endless wait, with no end in sight, a pervasive sense of emptiness and bewilderment has enveloped everything.

But that insane anger, even to this day, shows no sign of fading.

He had already gleaned information about the other party's existence from these words.

"Cough cough cough..."

Lake staggered back a step and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The surrounding players simultaneously retreated, immediately preparing to attack. Everyone sensed that fleeting aura emanating from Lake; they were certain that the words he read at the last moment had attracted the attention of something. Something extremely dangerous, something extraordinary.

"The core obsession has been found."