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

The corpses in both rooms remained virtually motionless throughout the exploration, only exhibiting slight twitches and blinking during the search. After Gao Hai and the others left the rooms, although they became more active and showed signs of wanting to follow, neither corpse ultimately left. They merely moved slightly, took a few steps down the corridor, and then returned to their initial positions to remain dormant. Thus, Gao Hai's original plan to lure the corpses to room 210 and see if he could kill the corpses there completely failed.

Is it because there is no "homeowner" that there are certain restrictions on movement?

With this thought in mind, Gao Hai entered the gate of 201 again, but he was almost hit in the face by an old man's corpse while he was still in the corridor, and almost died on the spot.

The scene was incredibly dangerous. When the door to room 201 opened, the corridor was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything. Just as Gao Hai stepped into the corridor, a withered creature immediately darted out. Well, or rather… floated out? Anyway, the thing appeared with astonishing speed and without a sound, lunging straight at Gao Hai on its toes, its purplish-black fingers instantly leaving five gashes on Gao Hai's arm.

If it weren't for Zhenfei's quick thinking and intervention, pulling Gao Hai out, he probably would have died there. Moreover, after the group moved away, the old man's body didn't return to the house; instead, it stood motionless at the front door, making no one dare to close it. Footsteps in the stairwell, drawn back by the earlier commotion, forced everyone to retreat into the living room. Several hours later, they dared not emerge, only to find the door to 201 still open, and the thing still standing there.

"It seems that the corpses in different rooms really do have different personalities, but this one is just too violent."

Gao Hai smacked his lips and looked at the five long, bloody gashes on his arm, sighing helplessly. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, it probably wouldn't have been five gashes, but rather him being torn into five pieces.

"Yes, and the corpses in these rooms are all former guests. It's not a pleasant experience to see these dead people come back to life."

As Zhenfei disinfected and bandaged Gao Hai's arm, she shook her head with the same sigh, then took out iodine solution to wipe Gao Hai's wound.

"Hiss... Could you be a little gentler?"

The irritation from the iodine on his wound made Gao Hai grimace.

"Hmph, you can't even handle this? You were so amazing before, saying that everyone was dead and you were the only one who could go back in time. I thought you were some kind of super tough guy."

Seeing Gao Hai's reaction, Zhenfei smiled, a hint of smugness in her eyes.

"Haha, I actually wish I were a tough guy, although I've always felt I'm pretty brave."

Gao Hai smiled and then fell silent, watching as Zhen Fei carefully bandaged her arm with gauze.

Outside, Sun Dajun had already connected the circuits for rooms 202 and 203, and even modified the switch to connect the wires to room 204, allowing the person in room 204 to turn on the lights in those two rooms at any time. However, since the light bulbs available in the Shirakawa Apartment were almost completely worn out, they would only make the lights in those two rooms flicker a couple of times at most.

At Kaguya's request, Green was organizing the supply boxes they had found in another room. Food was to be strictly rationed, with priority given to those who were responsible for the exploration that day, and the amount each person ate had to be strictly controlled to avoid meaningless consumption like today.

Therefore, at this moment, only Gao Hai and Zhen Fei were in room 208, with Zhen Fei bandaging Gao Hai's wounds.

There's a slightly strange feeling in the atmosphere.

After the room quieted down, Gao Hai couldn't help but have this thought.

"Speaking of which... about that previous round, the one you mentioned where we were all wiped out, could you tell me what happened that time?"

At that moment, Shijo Maki's voice reached Takami's ears.

"About that time? Are you sure you want to know?"

Gao Hai was taken aback, not expecting that Princess Zhenfei would ask such a question.

"Probably out of curiosity... After all, the thought that I fought alongside you for a period of time, but now I have absolutely no memory of it, is quite frustrating when you think about it. Um, we got along pretty well before, right? What was I like in your eyes back then?"

Maki smiled gently and sat down next to Takahashi.

The Shirakawa Apartment had been abandoned for a long time, and the sofas were covered in dust, which both Kaguya and Maki found quite distasteful. But at this moment, the girl sat down gracefully, just a hand's width away from Takami, and turned to look at him with a smile.

Gao Hai fell silent for a moment. He felt that he should be moved like a pervert, but at this moment, what he thought of was the moment when he and Zhen Fei were trapped in the room on the third floor, and the girl sat next to him, writing words on the back of his hand with her finger and gently patting his palm.

The present-day Empress could never know what happened at that moment, because it was a future that had been erased, something that never happened.

Only Gao Hai, who has rewound, can remember the beauty that never existed.

"I didn't really want to talk about this."

So Gao Hai shook his head and chose to refuse the girl's request.

Those things are best kept to myself; there's no need for others to know.

“But I really want to hear that you… seem to have trusted me from the very beginning, right? I actually noticed before that when all of us doubted you, the first person you wanted to trust was me.”

Empress Zhen lowered her head and lowered her voice slightly.

She seemed to hesitate for a moment, her little feet rubbing lightly on the ground a few times, before finally mustering her courage and looking up at Gao Hai once more.

"After hearing you talk about regression and experiencing it yourself, I couldn't help but wonder, in the cycle where we failed, how did that version of me interact with you, and what made me able to gain your trust?"

"And, after all this has been revisited, will this version of me, who no longer remembers these things... make you feel frustrated? Because I no longer remember the moments we spent together, only you remember what happened."

"I'm thinking, this must be a very painful thing, right? Friendships that were once built have been wiped out, and people you used to know have become strangers. If this makes you sad, I hope to share some things that only you remember. I'm an emotional expert, you know. You can tell me anything, treat me like a confessional. After all, we're comrades now, and I can't just leave my comrades alone."

The smiling girl, accompanied by her confident and poised voice, reached out and gently covered Gao Hai's hand, which was resting on the sofa.

Just like last time, she gently patted the back of his hand.

It was just like that time I felt it before, that familiar soft and warm touch.

It was as if the scene in that dark room was being replayed, except this time, he saw a smile on her face.

"You really are... a good girl."

At this moment, Gao Hai couldn't help but feel a strange sense of frustration and shook his head in dismay.

Chapter 30: A New Round of Reconnaissance Begins (Dice)

Gao Hai didn't speak for too long.

Regarding the first round of exploration that only he remembered, he only mentioned in general terms the fact that Maki and he conducted the investigation together, that the two of them were trapped in a room on the third floor, and that the girl was eventually killed by a frozen corpse.

Gao Hai didn't reveal the truth about blocking the bullet, but even just what he had said was enough to cause a significant change in Maki's expression.

"Being dragged into a house by some eerie force is truly unimaginable. And, in the end, was I killed by the corpse in my own room? That thing frozen in the refrigerator actually had that kind of ability..."

The girl took a deep breath, unsure how to react to what Gao Hai was telling her.

After all, according to the other party, he witnessed his own death. Although it sounds unbelievable, Maki's worldview has been completely updated, so she doesn't doubt that Gao Hai is lying.

But that kind of thing really sounds hopeless. Everyone dies, my great-aunt becomes a monster who can survive a gunshot to the head, and then she dies before him. How did he manage to find the clock and complete the time travel while experiencing all that?

"Gao Hai... um, if you don't mind, I'll call you Hai-kun, is that alright?"

After thinking for a moment with her head down, Zhenfei raised her head to look at Gao Hai and spoke in a gentle tone.

"Of course, that's fine, just don't call me Tall Nuts or anything like that, Four-Tiao."

Gao Hai, who didn't seem to care, nodded slightly, and then the other person reached out and clapped his hand again.

"Just call me Zhenfei."

At that moment, the girl's brownish-purple pupils seemed to shimmer with tiny lights.

“Since we were once comrades-in-arms who shared life and death, it’s fine to use a more intimate term of address. Just call me Zhenfei, Haijun.”

He grinned, revealing slightly sharp canine teeth, and smiled confidently.

Maki stood up, gently patted Takami on the shoulder, then turned to look at the living room doorway as Kaguya Shinomiya walked in.

"It's time to prepare for the second exploration."

Kaguya Shinomiya spoke calmly, as if she had just arrived, rather than waiting outside the door for a while and eavesdropping on their conversation before coming in.

Of course, Kaguya wasn't eavesdropping for some trivial reason. After obtaining the second rule sheet yesterday and speculating on many things, she couldn't help but start thinking about Takahashi's true identity. Connecting this to the red and white stains on his body, she began to consider some unsettling possibilities. For example, she wondered if Takahashi was actually dead, merely disguising himself as alive. Therefore, she wanted to secretly observe Takahashi's usual behavior.

However, based on my current observations, these thoughts are probably not true, so there's no need to worry too much.

"Ah, perfect timing, Shinomiya-san. There's something I think is better said here. I've discovered that I seem to be playing a special role in this apartment building. Hmm, that sounds a bit strange, but I think... maybe my identity is actually that of the corpse in 204."

Then, Gao Hai's serious words almost made Kaguya lose her composure on the spot.

A few minutes later, Gao Hai jumped down into the water below through the hole in the kitchen of room 206.

The shoes that had finally dried were soaked again. Gao Hai had considered going into the water without shoes, but considering the complicated indoor environment and the possibility of a nail hidden somewhere underwater, he decided to put his shoes on in the end.

It's really uncomfortable to have water getting into these shoes.

"Be careful."

Maki, who was guarding the hole, spoke earnestly, while Kaguya on the other side was conducting a final inspection of the rope wrapped around Takami's waist, which was tied together with various bed sheets and blankets from different rooms and connected to the kitchen on the second floor.

Unlike yesterday, only Gao Hai came down for today's exploration. Maki and Kaguya stayed at the hole in the second-floor floor and the kitchen door, while Sun Dajun and Green stayed in the living room. The former moved some small wooden cabinets and other items from other rooms and tried to saw and disassemble the wooden strips to see if they could make a simple ladder, while the latter was responsible for ringing the clock when necessary to prevent the worst from happening.

The reason for deciding to send only one person to explore, and choosing Takami, who has the strongest resistance to various forms of mental corruption, was mainly because after studying the second rule table yesterday, Kaguya, Takami, and Maki all agreed that sending multiple people down to explore could easily lead to the annihilation of the entire exploration team if any one of them encountered a problem in the terrible environment downstairs. Furthermore, considering the rules prohibiting light and requiring operation only in the dark, anyone else present besides Takami, Kaguya, and Maki would essentially lose all ability to move. Therefore, the decision was made to send Takami.

“We will start timing every 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, we will pull the rope once. After pulling the rope, you will pull it back once as a response. Then we will wait for 10 minutes. If you do not return within 10 minutes, or if you do not respond after pulling the rope, we will immediately start rewinding time.”

"If the first exploration is completed successfully, I will go down for the second time, and then Maki will go down for the third round. Each cycle will last 40 minutes, and we will try to ensure that everyone has enough energy to carry out the exploration and investigation. Therefore, as the first explorer, you bear the greatest responsibility here, and you must not push yourself too hard."

Kaguya earnestly instructed Takami. Unlike Maki, she was more indifferent, but also more rational. At this moment, she had devoted all her thinking ability to the current exploration, and her attitude towards Takami had changed slightly as a result.

However, this subtle change might also stem from Maki's trust in Takami, making her somewhat more willing to pay attention to him. After all, Kaguya Shinomiya herself comes from a rigidly hierarchical and distorted zaibatsu education system, making her personality changes and inner thoughts difficult to predict.

"Then, I'm off."

Gao Hai gave Maki a peace sign before taking a step forward.

I opened the kitchen door and stepped into the gloomy living room.

slam-la-

As you move forward, the icy water surges up.

The dark living room was no different from yesterday, but this time, Gao Hai wanted to explore more carefully, so he got a little closer to the altar in the room and tried to investigate what was on it.

The table itself was covered in stains and signs of decay, and the statues enshrined inside were also severely corroded.

Even so, Gao Hai could still make out that it seemed to be a statue of a kind-faced woman holding a child.

Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy who grants children?

Gao Hai himself doesn't believe in gods or Buddhas and doesn't know much about such things. However, he does know some characteristics of statues of gods and Buddhas. For example, the shape of the ears in this sculpture is the classic image of large ears, and the platform below the sculpture looks somewhat like a lotus pedestal. Coupled with the pose of holding a child, it immediately reminded Gao Hai of the belief in Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy who grants children.

Is placing this statue at home to pray for a child? Speaking of which, are deities like Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy) suitable for home worship? Hmm, maybe it's time to brush up on some folk customs?

Lost in his own thoughts, Gao Hai didn't touch the decaying statue. Instead, he turned around and headed towards the living room door.

He noticed once again that there seemed to be a figure sitting on the sofa not far away, with its head drooping.

Thinking of what was mentioned in the rules, he didn't dwell on it. He simply pretended not to see it, opened the living room door, and stepped into the darkness ahead.

From here on, the light coming into the kitchen reaches its limit.

He had to move in absolute darkness, advancing in an environment where he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.

call……

Gao Hai could feel his breathing becoming heavy.

It's okay, it's okay.

Instead of worrying about what might happen in the dark, I should just keep going. It's just a little dark, what's there to be afraid of! Damn, it feels like I'm setting a flag for myself, and that's really annoying.