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

"No! This is not right. Where am I? Did that bastard sell me fake information?!"

A desperate roar echoed from one of the rooms.

The louder, more intense noise quickly drowned out the person's voice.

Zhenfei could only hear a faint scream, and then all the sounds disappeared, and everything returned to silence.

This is the third one...

Consort Zhen counted silently in her heart.

From the moment she left her dormitory on the second floor until she arrived at this place, she had already spotted three veteran players who had used entry tickets to enter the instance and reacted erratically to the drastic changes in the scene, revealing aspects of themselves that they "shouldn't have shown."

Without exception, no one survived.

There is some kind of power, something, watching over everyone here.

All players who fail to correctly play their "identity" will be quickly identified and then eliminated in ways that defy common sense.

squeak-

Princess Zhenfei pushed open the rusty door.

The white light flickered.

Inside the command center, figures, some standing and some sitting, all stared expressionlessly at the front of the command console. Behind the thick protective glass, in the isolation zone, stood three people dressed in light yellow striped clothing, waiting to be deployed.

Princess Zhenfei walked past the dilapidated, empty abandoned house, and past the broken and cracked floor.

She walked to one side of the spotless command room, placed the documents in her hand on the table, and glanced subtly at the people around her.

Everyone was as still as statues.

In the dead silence, only the footsteps of Zhenfei, dressed in a white coat, echoed in the empty room.

She was the only living person in the room.

[Preparing to begin the 16th exploration experiment, codenamed "Cave-16". Exploration personnel C1, C2, and C3, please get ready. The isolation door is about to open.]

A hoarse voice came over the loudspeaker, mixed with what sounded like someone's suppressed screams.

Through the thick glass, Zhenfei could already see the layers of protective doors slowly opening and the lights gradually turning on inside the quarantine zone, leading to the Red Nut Gray Hole.

This place is repeating something that happened in the past.

The players who entered this place seemed to have replaced the identities of some of the "people," or rather, joined in with superfluous false identities.

Before arriving at the command room, Maki met a total of 5 players. 3 of them were playing their roles terribly, while the other two were barely able to play their roles and did not reveal any major flaws.

The girl wondered if Takami and Kaguya were also in this place, and what roles they might play.

But what she didn't expect was that the first companion she found would play such a role in this game.

"Prepare to set off and begin exploring the cave."

Inside the isolation room, Kaguya, dressed in the yellow striped suit of an experimenter, spoke softly, not looking at the two "companions" behind her. She walked forward step by step, stepping into the inspection room in front of the entrance to the Red Nut Gray Hole, and slowly put on the real-time recording equipment and various sensing devices one by one.

She wasn't dressed quickly, and her movements were noticeably clumsy. Beside her, another test subject dressed very quickly, very neatly, and very stiffly, like a corpse that had repeated this process countless times, or rather... yes, that thing could indeed be regarded as a corpse.

Another test subject was also a player, but judging from his trembling movements, he was probably someone who didn't fully understand the current situation.

hum-

In front of the examination room, the last door leading to the Red Nut Gray Hole has slowly opened.

Kaguya, having taken a deep breath and roused herself, turned on her searchlight and faced the pitch-black cave entrance ahead.

Chapter Nine: Another set of rules, the actors on the other side

[Regulations for the Movement of Personnel Exploring the Quarantine Zone:]

Welcome to the Cave Research Base! Your contributions and efforts will be the cornerstone of the entire Amerika Kingdom's progress.

[During your participation in the experiment as a researcher in the quarantine zone, you must abide by the following operational rules. Only after successfully completing three exploration missions without any mistakes will your criminal record be erased. For the sake of your future, we hope you will make a rational decision.]

The following are the regulations:

【1.本行动规定的每一条内容均为重点，违反规则后根据其违规的严重程度，会对您处于3-7日监禁、1-3日禁食禁水、增加1次探索行动或是处决等不同类型的惩罚措施】

2. Exploration must be conducted while wearing the prescribed yellow striped uniform. Damage to the uniform is strictly prohibited and will be considered a serious violation.

3. A full set of exploration equipment must be carried, including the prescribed uniform, real-time video recording equipment, thermal imaging devices, special sensing equipment, environmental analyzers, searchlights, and headphones. Equipment must be checked and confirmed to be in good working order before departure; any equipment malfunction during the exploration will be considered a serious violation.

4. The instructions from the command center supersede the provisions of this operational guideline. When the operational guideline conflicts with the instructions from the command center, the instructions from the command center shall be followed. Violation of the instructions from the command center is an extremely serious violation.

5. Exploration teams should consist of 3 people. The team leader must check the number of team members every 15 minutes to ensure that the number remains at 3. If the number of members decreases, the exploration activity must be stopped immediately. If the number of members increases, report to the command center and act according to the instructions of the command center. Do not contact the extra exploration team members without authorization.

[6. The target area you are investigating contains hallucinogenic gas. Inhaling this gas will not endanger your life; it will only cause harmless hallucinations. There is no need to overreact to any auditory or visual hallucinations you experience during the investigation.]

7. Upon returning to the quarantine area from the cave area, you will be subject to approximately 3 hours of inspection within the quarantine area. Please be sure to follow the instructions of the inspection personnel during this period. Any violation during this time will result in immediate execution by the quarantine area inspection personnel.

8. If your uniform becomes severely damaged during the exploration, you can find other clothes to change into. Various types of clothing are available in the cave, including casual wear, staff uniforms, firefighter uniforms, etc. Choose the type of clothing according to the instructions in the command room. Do not mix and match clothes that clearly belong to people of different roles.

[9. Damaging research equipment is an extremely serious violation, especially damaging the headset. Ensure you can receive instructions from the command center; your actions must be carried out under the command center's direction.]

[10. When your communication equipment is severely damaged and you can no longer receive messages from the command center, please tear this regulation open from the side. Below the regular procedures, there is an emergency procedure page, which can guide you to safely return to base.]

The above are the basic rules you need to follow during the exploration. For further guidelines, please follow the instructions from command center.

From the moment you chose to sign the experimental personnel contract and join this research institute, you became a noble individual striving for the future of humanity. As long as you abide by the code of conduct and complete certain exploration tasks, your criminal record will be completely erased. Please seize this unique opportunity.

A set of rules that isn't very long, only about a thousand words.

Kaguya finished reading it in a very short time and tried crumpling the rulebook. She quickly realized that the rulebook, which seemed to be only one page long, actually had a hidden insert. If it was torn open, there should be another document inside.

I'm a little curious about what the other document will be.

However, she cannot act rashly for the time being, because Kaguya has already heard the cold voice coming from her earpiece, a hoarse and unpleasant voice that sounds like something is stuck in her throat, giving her the order to enter the cave.

We must now follow the instructions and act accordingly.

Kaguya took a step forward and led the way into the dark tunnel behind the isolation door.

The surveillance cameras at the entrance slowly rotated as Kaguya moved, their flashing red dots watching her and the two teammates behind her like eyes.

The team member who had been trembling at first had calmed down a bit by now. Although she was still somewhat hesitant, at least she wasn't shaking anymore. As for the team member who wasn't human, Kaguya didn't pay attention to her. She vaguely sensed that if she focused too much attention on that person, something bad might happen.

Maki should be in the command center right now.

The situation over there might be much more dangerous, after all, she was the only player in the entire command room, and the other dozen or so... were not human.

No, not necessarily. After all, everyone in the command center is focused on me right now. These things are probably the manifestation of a group of people's obsessions, constantly repeating the afterimages of a certain moment in the past, just like the couple in the Shirakawa Apartments. So as long as my actions aren't too outrageous, I should be able to draw the attention of those in the command center to me and keep the situation relatively stable.

Although this is just a hope.

While she was thinking, the girl had already passed through the entrance and saw a downward staircase behind it, as well as red characters carved on the rock wall on one side, forming a sign that read "Welcome to the Red Nut Grotto Scenic Area".

This is the entrance to the Red Nut Gray Hole.

It was the starting area of ​​the instance that the group was supposed to arrive at according to the intelligence.

However, according to the original intelligence, the group should have arrived at a proper scenic spot, not this research base.

Kaguya knew that this meant the instance was being fixed. After the three of them selected the instance and entered it, it suddenly entered the fixed phase.

Unlike Maki, Kaguya first woke up in the base's [medical examination room].

Her identity appears to be that of a test subject who "voluntarily" joined a secret research project. From the conversations of those around her, she seems to be playing the role of a death row inmate. If she can safely complete three exploration missions here, her criminal record will be wiped clean, and she can then return to society and live a normal life.

It sounded utterly ridiculous. Kaguya could conclude without even thinking that none of these explorers would survive, and even those who successfully completed all three missions would still meet the same end. Considering her current role, Kaguya had no doubt that if she obediently followed orders, she would not survive. Therefore, she had to find a way to break the headset and put herself in a "disconnected" state, only then would she have a chance of survival.

This is only enough to protect herself. How can we help Maki escape this predicament? Her "identity" seems to be that of a researcher, which is relatively safer than my own, but escaping the current environment and navigating this game will be much more difficult. Furthermore, the research base, completely unmentioned in this intelligence report, is filled with those bizarre, human-like creatures. Does this mean something erupted within the base, causing everyone's death and transformation?

[C1, report your situation]

While she was thinking, Kaguya had already walked a distance down the winding staircase in the cave, and the cold voice of the command center personnel could be heard in her earpiece.

I'm about to pass through the entrance staircase area and officially arrive at the cave. My team... currently consists of 3 members, unchanged.

Kaguya Shinomiya carefully answered the commands from the command center, recalling the standard responses she had heard in the personnel preparation room.

【Received, please continue】

The next instruction came from the command center, but Kaguya didn't sense anything unusual, so it seemed the situation wasn't too bad.

tread--

The stairs beneath our feet had reached their end.

And a huge cave, clearly artificially modified, with the ground filled in, roads built, lights installed, and benches laid out, was then revealed to Kaguya.

A chill spread through the air.

She knew she had entered the Red Nut Gray Hole.

She saw what the cave looked like at this moment.

"these are……"

Chapter 10: In the Transitional Time When Nothing Seems to Happen

"These are...clothes?"

Chika gazed at the clothes scattered throughout the cave and subconsciously spoke in a low voice.

In the flickering light of their headlamps, a slightly damp, almost quadrilateral-shaped small cave was revealed before them.

There was nothing eerie here, no boisterous corpses, just many dirty clothes lying carelessly on the ground, it was impossible to tell how long they had been there.

The journey to the heart was easier than expected.

Compared to the previous vast space, this one-way passage leading to the heart is still narrow, but you can still pass through it smoothly by lying down.

Gao Hai made a rough measurement of the cave, which he called the "artery." His estimate was that the smallest part of the cave was about 40 centimeters wide and high. Although this was cumbersome for the tall Gao Hai, it was still passable. As for Chika, her figure was much smaller. Although the development of a certain part of her body was indeed spectacular, she would not get stuck in this cave.

Throughout the entire process, there were no strange phenomena; nothing spoke behind him, and there were no corpses lying above him. Because he was at the back, Gao Hai could see Chika slowly crawling in front of him the whole time.

Well, it seems that this girl's development is not only impressive in the front, but also quite good in the back.

Of course, this was just a minor detail that Gao Hai noticed unintentionally. How could a decent person like him possibly pay attention to such a meaningless thing while trudging through the tunnel? Impossible.

This final journey didn't even encounter any spatial misalignment. From beginning to end, Fujiwara Chika, walking ahead of Takami, remained the same person. His blessing consistently recognized her as human and judged Takami as having good intentions. It's safe to say that unless the eeriness within this instance was terrifying enough to negate his blessing, his judgment would never be wrong.

Is it because the mechanism was used to temporarily avoid the four corpses that these anomalies also temporarily disappeared?