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

Those were small rooms, each with its own section, separated by heavy iron doors.

In Kaguya's view, this was no different from a prison.

We must find a way to escape this environment.

Her identity as an "explorer" severely restricts her movements. Aside from exploration time, her actions are essentially completely restricted. Every moment, her movements are under surveillance, with armed soldiers standing guard nearby. Any unusual movement from her will attract attention.

The C3 explorer, played by a player, was shot and killed by the soldiers not long ago for making some minor mistakes.

Those soldiers in full-body black protective suits, those soldiers who were essentially all eerie beings, silently patrolled every room of this research base and closely monitored explorers like her.

Something had to be done.

Kaguya Shinomiya looked down at the scalpel, a symbol of her obsession, that she kept hidden on her person.

Most of the items are currently being kept by Takahashi. All that's left is this portable scalpel, and Maki has the same. Initially, everyone assumed they would all gather at the entrance to the Red Nut Gray Hole, so to maintain their tourist persona, they gave the items to Takahashi, who can store them in his watch. However, the mission has unexpectedly changed so drastically, rendering their strategy completely ineffective and creating trouble for them.

No, not necessarily. If she had a blood doll as a symbol of her obsession, she would definitely try to use it. But given the strange situation in this place, something extremely terrible might happen the moment she uses the object of her obsession.

This feeling made Kaguya want to laugh. These strange creatures, which were not even human, were playing the role of human soldiers and using firearms to attack players who violated the rules. Meanwhile, the players had to try to find a way to escape by using various strange objects of obsession and strange powers.

There's a strange feeling that the situation on both sides has been reversed.

She picked up the red ribbon and tied up her long, loose black hair.

Kaguya had returned to the staff lounge, to that tiny room, about the size of a small car, containing only a bed and a toilet.

"Ok?"

Sitting on the bed, Kaguya looked down and realized that something had been stuffed into the bed.

She reached out and lifted the bedsheet, revealing a brand-new white lab coat and a rule sheet placed inside.

[Work Guidelines for Researchers at the Cave Base:]

Welcome to the Cave Base. This is a secret research base belonging to the Kingdom of Amelia. As a researcher working here, in addition to the basic secrecy laws, the following are special work rules that you need to abide by. Please be sure to remember them.

[1. Depending on your assigned job type, you may be engaged in sample analysis, observation, or research. Different jobs are located in different locations and require different access cards. Please keep your access card safe, as each card is linked to your personal information; loss or damage will result in legal action.]

2. Researchers' activities are limited to the experimental and observation areas. Prior permission is required to enter the observation area. Entry into the isolation area is prohibited. Only isolation area staff, explorers, and remotely controlled automated equipment are allowed to enter the isolation area. No matter what your reason, you cannot enter. Please do not cause trouble for the guards in the isolation area.

[3. If biological signals are detected in the samples delivered to the analysis area, the emergency button must be pressed immediately to initiate the transfer to the freezing area protection procedure. This is an extremely important and easily inactivated research sample, and only your superior research unit has the authority to access it. At this time, you must leave the analysis area, and you will not be authorized to participate in the subsequent work. If you have any questions, you can ask Professor Follen, the research director of the base, but you may not be able to get an answer.]

[4. The work in the research and observation areas is overseen by Professor Follen, the base's research director. Those working in these areas must obey all his instructions; failure to do so will result in dismissal from the position.]

[5. Only those with the highest access privileges are allowed to enter the frozen area. If you need to work in this area, please communicate with Professor Follen in advance to confirm the important matters you need to pay attention to.]

6. All cries, calls for help, knocking, or other noises coming from the direction of the quarantine area are hallucinations. There is an unidentified special biological toxin in the air here that can cause hallucinations. Do not pay too much attention to these hallucinations. If you believe that these hallucinations are affecting your normal work, please report and explain to your superiors.

7. For your mental well-being, please take the tranquilizers provided by our organization regularly. They will help you rest and sleep. Please do not give your medication to the personnel exploring the quarantine area. If they forcibly demand it, you can call security guards to remove them.

8. Please keep your personal clothing safe. Personal style clothing is not permitted on the base; attire must be appropriate to your position. This is a military research base, not your personal leisure space. Please maintain a professional demeanor.

9. If you repeatedly experience feelings of crowding, difficulty breathing, or being upside down during your sleep over several days, and this begins to affect your normal work and life, please inform us immediately. You will be temporarily reassigned from your position, and we will arrange appropriate treatment for you as soon as possible. This is a common mental illness among staff members here, and early treatment is crucial to control it.

The interpretation of these guidelines rests with Professor Folnäs and Lieutenant General Seghela.

The rules themselves are not complicated.

Looking at the rules, Kaguya frowned. She realized that, just as the Shirakawa Apartments had experienced a period of stability after the anomaly, this strange research institute was likely also a building constructed during the anomaly. However, unlike the Shirakawa Apartments, where survivors were united in their efforts to find a way to survive, the situation here was completely different. People had actually sealed off the entrance to the anomaly area and were conducting research on it.

Is such a thing possible? The bizarre would obviously lead to information blockade and cognitive shielding, making it impossible for ordinary people to even be aware of the relevant events.

Is it because the local legends hadn't truly evolved yet, so a cognitive blockade hadn't formed?

Or is it that the strangeness existing here is different from the players' common sense?

In the brief moment of thought, Kaguya had already taken off the yellow striped uniform of the explorer without hesitation and put on the white lab coat of the researcher.

The surveillance cameras inside the house suddenly locked onto her, and the soldiers who had been standing outside arrived at the door in the blink of an eye, pulled open the heavy iron door of the room, and then raised their guns and pointed them at Kaguya.

Then he slowly lowered the gun, stood there, and ignored Kaguya, who was wearing a white coat, walking past him.

Different clothes, different identities, different ways of being treated.

Kaguya Shinomiya has already figured out the workings of this place to a certain extent.

Walk to the door and open the door to the lounge.

Shijou Maki was already waiting outside the door. She had sneaked into the staff lounge a while ago to place clothes and rule sheets. When she saw Kaguya walk out unharmed, she breathed a sigh of relief. Then, Maki gestured to Kaguya with her eyes to follow her. The two girls walked one after the other through the corridor and arrived at the door separating the observation area and the research area.

drip-

The access card in Zhenfei's hand beeped slightly.

The next moment, the heavy alloy door, which was over 40 centimeters thick, slowly opened, revealing the area behind it.

Kaguya's gaze immediately fell upon a line of signs on the wall, and a row of sentences beneath those signs.

[Cave Project]

Creating a New Future for Civilization

This plan……

Strange, why do I feel like I've heard this somewhere before?

For a moment, the girl felt a little dazed.

Chapter Sixteen: You are being watched by it right now.

Gao Hai found it difficult to describe how he felt at that moment.

In front of him was a ground where water droplets were constantly dripping, and a layer of water had already accumulated on the ground.

Inside the dark cave, figures could be seen appearing in the darkness and then quickly disappearing out of the light.

The blood puppet tightly bound two naked, pale figures. Then, Gao Hai grabbed the shoulders of the two "people" and threw them directly into the crack in the wall next to the large slide.

Two new players, who had forgotten their own names, had changed out of their rescue team uniforms and into explorer's gear. The exchange was a little awkward, but with the help of the item they were attached to, they ultimately achieved a happy ending.

However, Gao Hai wasn't concerned about that. Although the two players had avoided continuous corruption by changing their identities and become fully integrated into the [Rescue Team], the [Explorer] identity was equally corrosive, and its corrosive effect was even faster than that of the Rescue Team identity, which only began to take effect after violations. Whether they could ultimately survive depended entirely on their luck and whether they had the fate to survive.

What he cared about was the senses that were now split in two.

Is it simply a matter of spatial division and overlap, or is time also affected?

In the cave where Fujiwara Chika was working as a security guard, at this very moment, the member summoned by the rescue team medal stood before Takami.

Standing before Gao Hai, who was in the midst of the pouring rain and inside a cave filled with water.

He couldn't see the other person.

To the naked eye, all that exists is a cave with turbulent water.

But he can still see the other person.

You can clearly sense what is standing in front of you and realize that the other person is right in front of you.

Reach out and try to touch the other person's body.

I didn't touch anything.

Yet, at the same time, the senses produced a strange reaction, as if they had actually touched something invisible.

"What do we do now?"

At this moment, Wang Gui, who was standing next to him, asked nervously.

Initially, after Gao Hai changed the clothes of the two players and they vanished into thin air, Wang Gui assumed he would also be changed. However, Gao Hai explained that the two players had simply been transported to another dangerous area and decided not to change Wang Gui's clothes. He reasoned that Wang Gui could still maintain his identity, and changing his identity under these circumstances would be counterproductive.

Although he understood Gao Hai's meaning, the fact that he had to stay in this eerie cave made Wang Gui feel uncertain and somewhat nervous. Seeing Gao Hai standing still, he subconsciously asked a question.

"Wait a minute, don't rush."

Gao Hai gestured for Wang Gui beside him to remain calm, and then mentally directed the rescuer to begin moving through the dark cave.

According to the rescue team's rules, the identities of staff and security guards seem to be corrupted very quickly, assimilating the wearer within half an hour at most. This means Fujiwara Chika's current situation is extremely dangerous; he needs to find her a replacement outfit as soon as possible.

The rescuers in the dark cave had already strode past the giant slide.

Through the rescuer's perspective, Gao Hai could see that the large slide on the other side was completely blocked off, sealed off by a concrete wall.

The large slide in the cave over there is still intact. Could this mean that the time period of the area where Fujiwara Chika is located is earlier than the time period of this cave?

Such thoughts flashed through Gao Hai's mind, while the rescuers on the other side had already taken off their tattered security uniforms and then disappeared from the cave on that side, instantly appearing in front of Gao Hai.

Immediately afterward, Gao Hai tossed one of the rescue suits left behind by the two new players to the rescuer. The rescuer then put on the security uniform again, returned to Qianhua's side, walked to the guard post, knocked a few times to make sure the girl could hear him, and placed the rescue suit at the door. Unsure of what would happen if the rule requiring the guard post door to be locked was violated, Gao Hai simply instructed the rescuer to say into the room, "The rescue team's uniform is at the door; please change within half an hour," before leaving again.

The next goal is to get the rescuer out of the cave, along the Stone Forest Road, all the way to the entrance, and then to the surface area of ​​the Red Nut Gray Cave on the other side.

"Please keep an eye on the surroundings for me. If anything unusual happens, such as rescuers climbing up the big slide or the water level rising, please alert me immediately."

Gao Hai said this to Wang Gui beside him, and then carefully controlled the rescuers on the other side, urging them to cross the stone forest road as quickly as possible under the pretext of "finding support personnel as soon as possible to carry out rescue".

From the rescuer's perspective, Gao Hai saw a clean, red nut-shaped gray hole.

A Red Nut Gray Hole with no trash, no discarded clothes, many benches along the way, railings on both sides, and plenty of lighting fixtures.

Throughout the rescue operation, colorful lights illuminated the road, allowing Gao Hai to clearly see the cave interior without the need for flashlights or other lighting equipment. It seemed only the lights on the plain side were off? No, it appeared the lights on the gentle slope were also dark. This sounded ominous, but the rescue team's uniforms had already been given to Chika; he believed she knew what she needed to do, and he couldn't focus all his attention on Fujiwara Chika right now.

Closer.

After passing through the Stone Forest Road, we arrived at the entrance to the Red Nut Gray Cave.

The entrance, which I walked down as a rescue team member, was covered in mud and water.

The entrance is clean and tidy, serving as a gateway for rescue team members as they ascend.

Gao Hai guided the rescuer up the stairs and out of the cave.

Outside, the night sky was dim, dotted with sparse stars, and the Red Nut Gray Hole scenic area lay quietly immersed in darkness.

Is that the Red Nut Gray Hole where nothing has happened yet?

Or perhaps it's a red nut ash hole whose anomaly hasn't truly manifested yet?

Gao Hai was unable to draw a conclusion immediately.

However, he had already seen the lights on at the entrance to the scenic area on the other side, and another security guard standing there. So he directed the rescuer to approach the guard post on the ground, wanting to confirm the specific situation on that side.

Then, Gao Hai sensed malice.

What comes from the blessing is a strong malice from somewhere.

Is it on my side, or on the side where the rescuers I summoned are now?