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

The cacophony of sounds amplified and howled in their minds, as if countless figures were surrounding them from all directions.

It was as if the corridor was already packed with countless people, so crowded that they couldn't move.

One after another...

It cannot be seen, it cannot be heard, it cannot be felt...

He's been...he's been wandering here...a person who can never find peace...

"Woo..."

Kaguya Shinomiya, whose hearing was the most acute among the three, collapsed to the ground with a painful whimper.

This young girl, who was only 17 years old, had never faced such a terrifying and bizarre situation before. In addition, she had been listening to the knocking on the door alone in the corridor for a while before Takami and Shijo Maki came out, so she was the most affected and had almost lost the strength to support her body.

Even so, she still unconsciously gripped the wall clock in her hand, the only clock in room 208 that she had taken down from the end of the corridor, and never let go.

"Four...Kaguya..."

A muffled sound rang in my ears.

Amidst the countless screams of pain, it seemed as if someone's voice was whispering in her ear.

The next moment, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and instantly grabbed the clock from her hand.

Kaguya turned her head sharply and saw Takami's face gradually splitting open from the middle.

Such a scene is something that should not be seen in the real world.

Kaguya could clearly see a crack split open in the middle of Takami's face, her cheeks opening out to the sides like an open book.

Blood was still flowing in the blood vessels beneath the skin, the white brain seemed to be wriggling slightly, the tongue cut in half was still curling up, and even the muscles at the cut surface trembled so vividly that you could even see saliva secreting from it.

Is this... a hallucination?

Looking down, I saw that the skin on my fingers, which were gripping the clock, seemed to be peeling away bit by bit, revealing the bright red flesh underneath.

It seems that I can't feel any pain.

But it seems... the pain is becoming clearer little by little.

After I felt it, after I discovered it, after I became aware of it, the pain began to gradually spread, spreading throughout my entire body.

"..."

Unable to make a sound.

The corridor was silent, without a sound.

The girl couldn't make a sound.

She could almost see her body becoming transparent.

I saw every part of my body begin to tear and break, and I saw myself gradually shatter into pieces of all sizes.

The pain became increasingly clear.

My thinking is getting increasingly sluggish.

Unable to utter a sound, he could only numbly watch everything unfold.

Watching myself gradually walk towards death.

Is this what happened in the hallway outside...?

Click——

But it seems like you can still hear some sounds.

The sound came from beside me, from very close by.

With difficulty, I moved my gaze downwards.

What she saw was a severed hand.

A nearly completely broken skin, with only a few remnants remaining, was attached to a tattered skeleton that was almost completely torn apart.

She saw two fingers.

Gently, two fingers were placed on the hour hand of the wall clock.

Click——

A clear voice rang in my ears.

The hour hand of the clock was thus moved.

It moved back a distance of about half a grid.

"Ugh!"

The next moment, Kaguya's eyes widened, and she suddenly sat up from the dirty, broken bed.

She turned her head and saw Gao Hai lying next to her, panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat.

There were no strange knocking or talking sounds.

There is no fragmented body or dulled senses.

Everything felt like an unreal nightmare, but upon waking, it seemed as if we were still at the starting point.

"What did you just do..."

Even though she had already realized something, Kaguya still found it hard to believe, and couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"The clocks in every room are absolutely accurate, aren't they?"

Gao Hai struggled to sit up, glanced at the rule sheet on the bedside table beside him, and the kitchen entrance with its door removed not far away. He then stood up, swaying slightly as he reached out to support himself against the wall before finally regaining his balance.

He turned back time to the very beginning.

The story rewinds to the moment when he and Kaguya had just woken up in the house and heard that eerie voice.

The two of them are still in room 204.

Right now, none of what just happened has occurred yet.

Chapter 11: Performance ability is a very important ability

If we're talking about how to learn about something quickly, generally speaking, hands-on experience is the most convenient way.

At least for Kaguya, who had just experienced that terrifying, nightmarish feeling of her entire body being torn apart and disappearing, she now had a profound understanding of the horrors hidden beneath the dilapidated exterior of this apartment.

"You turned back the clock, so we're back to the very beginning?"

Kaguya quickly got up, opened the living room door, and then looked at the wall clock in room 204, discovering that the time on it had indeed returned to the very beginning.

Is this kind of thing really possible?

Simply turning the clock in the room back a little can actually make time go backward.

Kaguya Shinomiya felt that all the common sense she had learned over the past ten years had shattered at this moment.

“It certainly seems so. In any case, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. If we do indeed return to the beginning, then soon the woman next door will summon that unseen thing down with her howls.”

As he said this, Gao Hai picked up the rule sheet from the bedside table, folded it, and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he glanced at the mysterious black watch on his left wrist.

In fact, at that critical moment, his first attempt was to move the hands of the strange watch on his left hand.

After all, Maki and Kaguya beside him were collapsing completely, and his own body was also breaking down. Under those circumstances, he was too afraid to touch the two people beside him, so he thought he would try to touch the watch on his wrist first.

However, it was completely impossible to move this thing.

This tattered monster clearly only had one minute hand left, yet it was incredibly sturdy, as if it were welded to its hand, making it impossible to move the hand at all.

Seeing the situation becoming increasingly critical, and everyone on the verge of falling apart, Takami had no choice but to risk contacting Kaguya and trying to move the hands of the clock she was carrying. This time, it finally worked.

Perhaps the watch on my wrist is not within the scope of the rules?

But if that's the case, why is this thing on my hand, and why can't I get it off at all?

Gao Hai pondered silently, his feet moving without stopping, and he had already walked ahead of Kaguya.

"Thank you. If it weren't for your actions just now, I don't think I would have survived."

Kaguya, who was behind her, took down the wall clock from room 204, followed in Takahashi's footsteps, and thanked him solemnly.

"Don't thank me yet. We haven't confirmed the specific range and characteristics of this clock's ability. Be very careful after I open the door. We don't know if only those of us who possess and turn the clock can retain the memories, nor can we be sure if the three people who turned into... monsters have returned to normal. If anything unexpected happens, you must turn the clock immediately. If we can't reunite with Ms. Shijou, we'll only have one chance to test it."

Taking a deep breath, Gao Hai struggled to support his somewhat weak body and continued walking forward.

"Only one chance?"

Kaguya Shinomiya realized the meaning behind Takami's words.

"Moving that clock isn't without its costs. First, the time that can be moved is limited to the time we spent in this apartment. Before going back in time, I tried to move the hour hand further back, but I couldn't. It was like it was stuck; I could only move it for a short while. Second, someone who has moved that clock once shouldn't be able to move it a second time, or even have any contact with it."

As he spoke, Gao Hai had already reached the vicinity of the gate. He turned around, glanced at the wall clock in Kaguya's hand, smiled slightly, and then turned back to look at the outside of the broken lock on the door of room 204, which he had already pushed open.

He didn't look at the severed head Kaguya was holding.

A head exactly like Gao Hai's own, with a broken skull and three pointers hanging from it.

From beginning to end, the head's gaze remained fixed on him, a gaze that Gao Hai could clearly sense at any moment.

He had a premonition that even if he survived this eerie and terrifying place, that gaze would still never leave him.

From this day forward, every day, every hour, in every place, he will forever feel this gaze, feel that cold, sinister look in the darkness, until he stops breathing and his consciousness ceases to exist, he will never be able to escape this gaze.

Therefore, the rule list does not explicitly state how to use a wall clock for self-rescue, because doing so would actually bring lifelong burden to the user.

Even so, please write it more clearly! Do you know how much trouble we're facing because of your vague and outdated rules?

Gao Hai grumbled several times in his heart, but it was just grumbling.

He knew very well that complaining wouldn't change anything, and that taking action was the most important thing to do right now. Therefore, he didn't even say these complaints out loud. He just vented his feelings in his heart for a couple of minutes and then stopped. He didn't even dare to say more, for fear of being responded to by some mind-reading thing.

squeak-

Upon opening the door to room 204, Takahashi immediately saw Maki, her eyes slightly red, emerging from room 208 carrying another wall clock. She had arrived even before Takahashi and Kaguya, seemingly having forced herself to compose herself as quickly as possible before rushing out with the clock.

Yes, of course, in Gao Hai's view, that was another head. Good, now he felt double the attention. In a sense, as long as Maki and Kaguya were still carrying those two broken bells, he could locate those two beautiful girls at any time.

"Don't panic, everything will be alright. Oh, three more people have come out over here? Are you all alright?"

At this moment, Lao Guo was talking to the black guy in the corridor, trying to calm him down.