Horror simulator, if you survive till tomorrow, you win

"well enough?"

Ito Jun’s answer was not very certain, but he has survived to this day at least.

"Where's studying?"

"Well……"

Faced with the tutor's questions, Ito Jun didn't know how to answer.

Seeing Ito Jun's wandering eyes, Runjian Saeki knew the answer and changed the subject: "I heard from Sakura that you and your classmates have been investigating supernatural events recently."

“There are several friends in school who are interested in this.”

"I shouldn't interfere with your private life, but it's too dangerous to investigate with an outsider. With four people killed and wounded, even if the editing office can solve the legal issues, it can't solve the strange looks from your classmates."

Saetsuki's voice is deep and soft, a voice suitable for teaching, clarifying things, and leading people to faraway places.

Chapter 93: Victims of the Association

"I can't stop them, I can only follow them."

Ito Jun bit his lip, his eyes flickering, and said guiltily.

"I'm sorry, but the person I know is you, not your classmates. I only care about your safety."

Saetsuki stared at Ito Jun's face. Those blue eyes made Ito Jun's breathing become hot and his face felt a little hot. Although they were the same color as the strange phenomenon, they gave him the opposite emotion.

There is no woman in my heart, so I draw my sword to the God of Nature.

Ito Jun originally thought that he would not be moved by anyone, but Saetsuki's expression, tone, words, and the feeling of treating people with care always touched his heart.

Yes, the sword manual only cut off love, his feelings for Saetsuki were by no means as superficial as love.

"Humph!"

Sakura saw the two of them in the rearview mirror and snorted in dissatisfaction.

The next moment, the traffic light ahead just turned green, and Sakura stepped on the accelerator without saying a word. Ito Jun and Runma Saeki sank into their seats because of the sudden acceleration.

After driving for about forty minutes, the car entered the commercial district near Tameike Sanno Station and finally stopped in front of a glass-walled building.

The car drove into the building's underground parking lot, and Sakura parked the car in one of the parking spaces that was occupied by luxury cars.

"Well, this car is really nice, thanks."

"If you are willing to come work here, you can drive this car anytime you want."

"Thank you for your kindness, but I just want to stay at home as much as possible."

Sakura is a complete homebody. No matter what time it is, if you go to her house, you can always see her curled up in a chair.

With Ting leading the way, everyone walked into the elevator. According to the floor introduction on the wall, all floors of this building were occupied by an organization called "Kanto NEXT IT Industrial Accident Insurance Association Health Diagnosis Center".

Ting took out a key with a chain from his bosom, inserted it into the keyhole on the elevator control panel and turned it gently. The metal plate on the lower side of the panel slid open, and a numeric keypad that was a circle smaller than the normal keys appeared from it. After Ting operated it with his fingers skillfully, the elevator began to move upwards.

From this point of view, there is finally an atmosphere of a mysterious organization.

I don't know how long the elevator rose before it finally stopped and the elevator door opened.

The floor after stepping out of the elevator is covered with red carpet, the corridor is lined with carefully polished wooden walls, and antique-style lighting fixtures cast a soft light.

After walking on the carpet for a distance, I found a smart unmanned counter in front of the glass doors that opened on both sides, and the meeting room inside was also empty.

Ito Jun followed Ting and went deeper into another corridor inside the reception room, without seeing anyone else along the way.

At first glance, this place looks very tidy, but it somehow gives people a feeling of walking in ruins.

"It's really quiet here, is it a holiday too?"

In response to Ito Jun's question, Ting explained:

"Our organization doesn't have so-called holidays. We simply don't want people to stay here. If I had known that you were coming, I would have arranged for receptionists and staff to entertain you. I'm sorry, it's all my fault for not thinking it through."

"Too polite."

Ito Jun was not used to Ting's attitude.

"In addition, most of the rooms on this floor are meeting rooms or office rooms, while other floors have a number of researchers and medical staff."

"You mentioned earlier that you are unlikely to leave anyone here. Why is that?"

"Because items from the other world may have a negative impact on humans' body and mind... Don't you know this?"

Ito Jun touched the night vision goggles on his forehead, where two twisting objects were installed.

Walking down two floors along the stairs, as soon as passing through two special airtight doors, the smell of disinfectant immediately hits your nose.

The decoration here is completely different from that upstairs. There is only a deserted corridor illuminated by white fluorescent lights extending forward.

At this time, a bald man dressed as a doctor came over from the other end of the corridor and shifted his gaze from the tablet in his hand to us.

"Ting, what happened?"

"I'm bringing someone to have a tour of the place. Is everyone normal?"

The doctor raised his eyebrows as if in surprise.

"Everyone is calm right now, so remember not to cause any irritation. Um, are you coming to visit? Please remember not to stare at the other person's face. Also, please avoid talking loudly about the symptoms. Even if the other person seems unconscious at first glance, they may actually be paying attention to you."

The doctor said, and walked away along the corridor.

On the side of the corridor, you can see large sliding doors arranged side by side at equal distances. Next to each sliding door is a window facing the corridor, allowing people to observe the situation inside.

Jun Ito stood in front of the first window and looked inside. There was only a bed, a table and a chair in the room. The furnishings were very monotonous, and there was no one around. But for some reason, there were a lot of scraps of paper scattered in the corners of the room, as if they had been broken down by a shredder.

"Is that a human?"

Ito Jun's pupils shrank and his eyes were fixed on the paper scraps, unable to move away.

That was not a piece of paper, but a person huddled there.

The thing still had a roughly human shape - but its skin, hair, face, and fingers were all shattered into pieces, hanging from its body and floating slightly. Its tragic state was like a person being thrown into a shredder, but without any blood or flesh color from the broken limbs.

"He was one of the first people to explore the UBL, or the inside world. He seemed to have come into contact with something. He did not have any abnormalities when he returned, but he suddenly developed these symptoms a few days later."

"Is he still alive?"

"It's heartbreaking, but he's still alive. His body has become very light, so the air from the air conditioner is always blowing it to the corner of the room. We can't be sure if he is conscious, but we sincerely hope that he is not."

After listening to this careful yet bland explanation, Ito Jun felt a chill down his spine.

Ting kept saying that this person was still alive, but his tone sounded as if he had already regarded the other person as dead.

Everyone continued to move forward. The second room was pitch black and was illuminated by ultraviolet light.

There was a straight figure standing in the middle, with his feet, ankles planted in the exposed soil. Under the dim lighting, the part above the shoulders of the man could be vaguely seen, which looked like a giant sunflower. His head, which drooped limply, was surrounded by withered petals, and his disc-shaped face was covered with dense and strange particles.

The third room was brightly lit, and the patient was lying on the bed. There was a bookcase next to the wall, and the tabletop was clean and tidy. As for the patient lying on the bed, his whole body was covered with translucent protrusions growing from his body. Those protrusions were irregular in shape, growing upward in a long and curved manner, and attached to the surface of the ceiling in a radial pattern.

In the fifth room, the walls, floors and ceilings were covered with handwritten words and patterns, and a skinny man was concentrating on writing.

However, he was not using a pen, but his hands. Slender white worms kept coming out from between his fingernails, and after falling to the ground, they continued to wriggle and transformed themselves into words.

"The DS Association was originally established to explore the unknown world called UBL. However, not long after the research began, due to the continuous occurrence of victims, all organized exploration was almost forced to stop, and the main goal of the association changed to taking in victims and finding relevant treatments."

Ting spoke in a voice that seemed to cut out the emotions.

"So these people were originally...?"

"Yes, they are all members who have entered the other world and have undergone changes due to contact with things in the other world. Among them are corporate executives and members of Congress who helped establish the DS Association, their families, and even the members themselves. The reason why the DS Association has been able to continue after losing its original goal is thanks to the funds provided by these channels."

What a bloody story...

Ito Jun couldn't help but sigh.

Although these people are still alive, they are in more pain than death.

Life is worse than death. This is indeed the most likely state that those who come into contact with abnormalities in Junji Ito's worldview plus the Cthulhu-style worldview will fall into.

If I were reduced to this state, I would rather die.

Chapter 94: Opening the Third Eye

When Ito Jun went to see Sakura, he found that she refused to turn her face towards the window and was at the very end of the line.

"Sakura, is this all you want me to see?"

"Ah."

Sakura frowned and stared at the empty wall.

"Now you should understand why I refuse to go to the other world, right?"

"understood."

Although it doesn't feel real.

The inner world is indeed very dangerous, and the outer world is not that safe either.

Because Ito Jun was very interested in what the DS Association had collected, the group headed towards the storage vault.

It is said that many of the UBL products in the vault were collected by Runma Saeki.

"Is Mr. Ting also a researcher here? I hardly saw any other staff along the way. It seems that the institute is not able to maintain its proper functions at all."

While walking on the road, Ito Jun asked curiously.

In response to Ito Jun's question, Ting simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"It is indeed as you said. I am only the manager of this building. Various industrial accident insurance businesses, including concealment and fund allocation, are running quite smoothly. In fact, there are many other employees on the floors below, but the most important laboratory area is just wasting the power of the building's air conditioning, as you can see."

"So, what was it like when it was first established?"

"In fact, the DS Association was originally a reading club initiated by a large electrical company. The association, which was called to explore the new era of life science, originally discussed new era topics such as qigong and free energy, and explored their practicality."

"You may be surprised to hear this now, but there were many groups conducting similar research back then, including some led by the government. However, a terrorist act led by a cult occurred not long after, causing the general public to be quite shy about things related to the occult, which made this type of research unable to surface, but it eventually survived as internal organizations of companies and political groups. For example, the DS Association has been able to continue to this day because it involved members of Congress and government officials. In addition, at a certain period of time-"

Ting first thought for a while with his eyes wandering, and then continued to explain: "Have you ever heard of the term Dan Guang? This term originated from Taoism and refers to a kind of light seen after closing your eyes. After a person repeatedly practices the small Zhoutian, a light will appear inside the center of the eyebrows. It is said that by focusing the mind on this light, the third eye can be opened."

Danguang?

There is no such thing in the fantasy novels that Jun Ito has read.

"Similar content is also mentioned in yoga. Through meditation, you can gradually see light, and by using the opened chakras, you will be able to see light of different colors."

"Isn't it the so-called opening of the third eye? There are similar settings in Chinese folk novels. Could it be true?"

Although Ting used chakra to describe it, Ito Jun's understanding of chakra came entirely from Naruto.

On the contrary, Chinese folk supernatural novels often have similar settings.

Runjian Saeki said: "In fact, you can really see this light. When a person is in darkness, the brain will arbitrarily produce non-existent light. Just like when you close your eyes in the dark, as long as you try to observe the inside of your eyelids, you will soon find that it is not completely dark in front of you."

"Really? Can I try it?"

Ito Jun asked in surprise.

He originally thought that this was just an indescribable worldview, but he didn't expect that it also contained a fantasy element.

Sakura scoffed: "I advise you not to do that. Practicing the contents of occultism on your own is just a shortcut to autonomic nervous system disorders."

Ito Jun didn't understand: "What do you mean?"

"The reason why people can see things is that they first obtain information from their sensory organs, and then go through the visual processing program of the brain to get the result. If the program is interfered with, they can even consciously see hallucinations. Not to mention the vague images like Dan Guang, it is just a kind of light. We usually receive those images unconsciously. If we deliberately put them into practice, it is very likely to drive people crazy."

"Is it similar to the situation where if you try to breathe consciously, you will end up suffocating?"

Sakura gave a perfunctory nod to Ito Jun's hypothesis and continued explaining.

"So it's very easy to see the Dan Guang. After all, anyone can experience it for themselves. That's why those popular mystics in Area 11 use this knowledge as an inductive drug and mix it with the immortal way and yoga to make a business. Although most of them make money through limited mystical experiences, there are also cases of people being brainwashed by cults."

Ting also said, "I also don't recommend you to do that. Some of the cases I saw upstairs just now were caused by this. The reason why the DS Association was able to discover the existence of the other world was actually the so-called Dan Guang."

It turns out that after practicing yoga and Taoism and meditating, the DS Association decided to use this to complete the "expansion of the spiritual realm"... With the above-mentioned mysticism, the association itself gradually embarked on the path of cultization. However, in this process, a wonderful thing happened. According to legend, a member began to see incredible scenes in the Dan light while meditating.

For example, the withered yellow grassland, the abandoned buildings with confusing design concepts, the dim forest, and the beach covered with white sand.

In that scene that seemed like the aftermath of the destruction of civilization, there was no human being to be seen.