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

Even after the sound completely stopped, Kaguya still didn't dare to relax. She stared at the tape player for several minutes before cautiously looking around to make sure there were no problems. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief, take out the tape, turn off the tape player, and then communicate with Maki, who was not far away, according to the agreed-upon gestures.

Shijou Maki, who also breathed a sigh of relief, removed the cotton pads from her ears, walked to Kaguya, and pulled out a chair to sit down.

"How's it going?"

Maki looked at Kaguya seriously and asked.

"It sounds like audio recordings left by the research base during their exploration of the Red Nut Gray Hole. There are six people in total. However, these people don't sound like the explorers I played before. The atmosphere among them is relaxed, and you can feel the importance that the command attaches to them. Perhaps this is a record left by official investigators. I guess this record should be from the early days of the research base's establishment, when the researchers here were not yet aware of the severity of the Red Nut Gray Hole problem, so they were still sending official personnel down to explore. Perhaps later, because too many people died, they started using death row inmates as explorers to conduct investigations."

Kaguya lowered her head and thought very seriously as she spoke, her mind filled with the last words left by that squad.

In the final moments of their lives, they all seemed to be experiencing immense pain, as if they were stuck somewhere, and something else was with them at the same time.

hand?

It seems someone kept emphasizing "hand" at the end. Did they see something like a hand? Or something else similar to a hand? Or was there something on the "hand" that attracted their attention?

This information is probably difficult for him to find answers and verify on his own, but it might be of some use to Gao Jun.

"Let's contact Gao Jun and tell him about the information we've gathered here."

As Kaguya said this, a sudden emptiness welled up inside her.

It would be far too difficult for her and Maki to conquer this mysterious dungeon on their own. Moreover, Takami, who had fought alongside her in the Shirakawa apartment and was a very reliable person, was not by her side at the moment and could not provide any help.

This feeling of having to face unknown dangers all by yourself is... really annoying...

Chapter 41: About the cute girl stuck in the hole

Gao Hai stretched his body, flexed his legs, twisted his waist, and jumped a couple of times to complete the basic warm-up exercises. Then he looked up at the cave entrance above.

That's very likely the entrance to the next area, which is the location of the "turnaround point".

Gao Hai had thought many times about why there was a region in the Red Nut Gray Hole with a naming style so different from other places, called "Turning Point". He had considered various reasons, but before they were verified, these ideas were still just guesses without evidence. Therefore, in the end, he had to try it himself to find out the truth.

"what!"

He lowered his feet slightly, then suddenly exerted force.

In the next moment, Gao Hai jumped nearly three meters high, easily grabbed the rock wall, and climbed into the cave.

The dark, gloomy cave was narrow and somewhat damp. However, these were not problems for Gao Hai. He used both his hands and feet to quickly climb up the cave, move to the platform at the corner, and then turn around to look down at Fujiwara Chika.

"Move quickly."

Gao Hai stretched out his hand and spoke earnestly to the girl.

"Well, I, I understand."

Fujiwara Chika obviously couldn't jump more than two meters from the spot like Takahashi, so she dragged the desk to the bottom of the hole, climbed onto the desk, and jumped up with a "hey!" Takahashi easily grabbed her forearm and lifted the girl up with one hand, pulling her into the hole.

The headlamps they wore swayed with their movements, casting flickering light and shadow within the narrow cave.

The cave here was so narrow that Takami and Chika couldn't even squeeze side by side and had to stand in front of each other. And if they went a little further, they would enter an even narrower and lower area where they couldn't even turn around or squat down.

Gao Hai suddenly had a bad feeling.

He couldn't explain what was happening. He had been through similar narrow areas before, in that region called the "Artery," where he had experienced what it felt like to have to crawl to move forward. But now, facing this unknown cave, he had a very ominous premonition he had never felt before.

It felt as if I had been here before.

It felt like I'd seen this place somewhere before.

"Phew, time to set off?"

Fujiwara Chika took a deep breath and looked at Takami to ask.

"Hmm, are you ready?"

After a brief silence, Gao Hai looked at Qian Hua with no unusual expression and asked a question.

"Of course, the rookie explorer Fujiwara Chika is always ready—oh dear!"

The girl, who immediately showed a proud expression, raised her head and said, then let out a soft cry as her head hit the rock wall.

It seems that no matter the situation, Fujiwara Chika is always a cute girl who can laugh and liven up the atmosphere.

Gao Hai sighed inwardly, then turned his head to look at the dark and deep passage ahead.

"Then, as before, I'll go first, and you go behind. Do you remember the rules?"

Gao Hai, his tone gradually becoming more serious, finally asked the question.

"Yes, remember, make sure you're crawling in a natural cave with no artificial traces, and if you encounter a fork in the road, you must back up and not continue forward. When you reach a place where you can't turn around, stay quiet, don't speak, and don't respond to other people's voices."

Fujiwara Chika nodded repeatedly, clearly remembering the rules very well.

"Okay, let's go."

Without further ado, Gao Hai lay down on the ground and began to venture deeper into the cave.

Damp.

Cold.

This was what Gao Hai sensed immediately.

His exploration suit brushed against the uneven ground, deflecting small stones and preventing them from cutting his skin.

The helmet collided with the rock wall at that moment, and Gao Hai realized that he had raised his head too high. He had to lower his head, his chin almost touching the ground, before he could continue to move forward, crawling and wriggling towards the front.

tick-

Water droplets fell onto his neck, bringing an even colder sensation.

Gao Hai himself slowly reached out, grabbed a rock face in front of him, and slowly dragged his body forward.

"call……"

My breathing inevitably became heavy.

Even at the very beginning, Gao Hai realized that the environment here was much more oppressive than the [Artery] area, much more so than the [Artery] area where one could at least crouch to move forward.

He couldn't stand up straight.

If he raised his upper body even slightly, the cold, damp rock wall would block his view.

Gao Hai could only crawl slowly, very slowly.

He moved his body little by little inside this cave whose length was unknown.

For a moment, he felt as if he were mimicking a snail, moving forward at an incredibly slow pace.

In that moment of distraction, Gao Hai's ear was scratched by the rock wall, drawing blood and causing a sharp pain.

This made Gao Hai immediately lose his joking thoughts. He calmed down and continued to crawl silently forward, slowly making his way to the front of the cave.

tick-

Another drop of water fell, landing beside Gao Hai.

The cave was quite damp, which made Gao Hai's movements somewhat easier; climbing through a damp cave was slightly better than climbing through a dry one. However, in such a oppressive and dark environment, he had no mind to think about these things and could only continue crawling forward step by step.

Ten minutes, maybe twenty minutes, or even longer.

Gao Hai finally climbed through this area and arrived at a new, larger cave.

The space here is roughly the size of the interior of a minivan. There aren't many stalagmites or stalactites, making it a good place to rest.

On one side of the cave, Gao Hai, who was eating an energy bar to replenish his strength, found a rusty iron sign with the words "Turning Point" written on it and a sentence written below:

Now you know why this place is called a "turnaround point"?

Gao Hai was slightly taken aback by these words, then couldn't help but laugh.

"Indeed, now it's clear why this place is called the 'Turning Point'."

Gao Hai sighed softly as he looked towards one side of the narrow clearing, the path he was about to take. It was another narrow cave passage, and just from the entrance, it was clear that this cave would be much narrower and darker than the one he had just climbed.

The so-called turning point is the path that makes people give up and turn back.

If you're a timid person, you'll probably lose your courage and be unable to continue after reaching the turnaround point.

However, he will not back down here.

Let alone a narrow cave, even if it were hell, we would have no choice but to venture there now.

“Wu…Wu…”

As Gao Hai was thinking this, Fujiwara Chika's mournful cry suddenly reached his ears.

Turning my head, I looked at the hole I had just crawled out of. There, a small hand was waving wildly, struggling to grab the rock wall, but unable to break free.

Gao Hai stepped forward, squatted down, and looked at the pink-haired girl inside the cave, who was trying her best to crawl out.

"Gao Jun, I'm stuck."

Upon seeing Takami appear, Fujiwara Chika immediately put on a pitiful expression.

Through the power of blessings, it can be confirmed that the other person is a living, breathing person, and that it is indeed Chika.

However, considering the rules mentioned in the rule sheet, Gao Hai didn't say anything, but simply reached out and grabbed the other person's outstretched hand, and then pulled it forcefully.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts so much! Waaaaah!"

With Gao Hai's strength, the girl was pulled out quite easily, but judging from the painful expression on her face and the way she immediately clutched her chest after being pulled out, the experience just now was obviously quite terrible.

Hmm, you can clearly see the wear and tear on her chest area. This girl really did get stuck in the hole. How should I put it? No wonder she's an E-rank fighter! Compared to Maki and Kaguya, who are only AA-rank, it's a complete dimensional reduction.

With this level of combat strength, they are at a huge disadvantage in this kind of terrain.

Gao Hai pondered, looking at the cave the two had just crawled out of, and then at the obviously narrower area they needed to go to next.

It's certain that if she just went in and left there, given Fujiwara Chika's size, she would really get stuck in the cave and never be able to get out until she dies.

In that case, we'll have to resort to some tricks.

"Take off your shirt."

As Gao Hai took off his backpack, he spoke earnestly to Qian Hua.

"Hey?"

The girl, who didn't understand Gao Hai's thoughts, was stunned for a moment.

"Hurry up and take off your shirt."