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

Gao Hai drew the curtains to make sure he wouldn't be seen by the thing that kept knocking on the window, then glanced around the room. After a slight hesitation, he walked to the computer, pulled out a chair, and pressed the power button; the computer screen then lit up.

Is it Windows 98? That sounds quite dated.

Looking at this interface, which was almost rudimentary compared to the later, flashy Windows 11, yet incredibly simple and efficient to use, Gao Hai couldn't help but inwardly complain about Windows 11, which was constantly updating for no reason, but each update only made people feel like it was a complete waste of time. The Start Menu was gone, the right-click menu was a mess, and it got slower and slower with each update. Damn it... never mind, now's not the time to think about such things. Let's think about how to survive first.

As Gao Hai expected, the computer was offline and could not connect to the internet.

Gao Hai saw a folder on the desktop named "Survival Records". Inside, there were several files named in the format of "Record 1" and "Record 2", as well as a JPG file that looked like a simple computer-generated image.

The room seemed a bit colder than before.

Gao Hai vaguely felt that he could hear some kind of sound coming from under the single bed next to him, like something was wriggling. Because his whole body was pressed against the ground, he could hear a faint friction sound when it moved.

He ignored the sound and simply opened the folder named "Record 1".

[Record 1]

My name is Ji Gang, and I'm just an ordinary person with no special characteristics.

I don't know why my bedroom door connects to those strange and terrifying places, I don't know why these places still have electricity, and I don't know how much longer I can live in this place.

Before I am killed by those horrible things, or before I finally succumb to the unbearable pain and commit suicide, I will leave behind everything I can. This will remind myself of what I've been through, how I survived here, and... if there are any who come after me, I hope my records will be of help.

This place is like a fragmented dream, pieced together from the memories of many, many people—an extremely inexplicable and terrifying place.

Almost every time I open the door, the outside world is different, but one thing is certain: this place is made up of countless rooms. So far, all the places I've entered—living room, toilet, storage room, bedroom, kitchen, etc.—are rooms, all typical functional structures found in a normal residence.

I've been struggling to survive here for a long time; judging from the time records on this computer, I've survived for at least six days.

During this process, I wrote down some things, things that can help me survive better.

[The first rule is: once you're in bed after dark, don't get out of bed easily.]

[If you leave your bed in the dark, regardless of whether the lights are on or off, something strange will definitely happen.]

Sometimes, these strange occurrences aren't harmful, they're just terrifying, and you just have to work hard to overcome them.

But sometimes, things get really tough, and in those situations, there's one thing you have to do to survive.

Click——

The bedroom door made a soft sound at that moment, and then slowly opened with a creak.

At that moment, Gao Hai also saw the next line of text in the document.

Hide it!

Chapter Two: A Simple, Easy, and Unremarkable First Encounter

The knocking on the window has stopped.

The roaring rain seemed to fall silent at that moment.

So quiet.

After that door opened, the only door in the room opened, all sounds seemed to be drowned out by something, and everything became quieter and quieter, with only that one remaining sound continuing to resonate.

step-step-

Only the sound of footsteps entering the house was exceptionally clear at that moment.

"..."

Gao Hai closed his eyes.

He remained motionless, huddled under the single bed.

He remained silent, almost stopping his breathing, hiding himself under the bed.

tread--

He could hear the footsteps moving slowly.

The thing first walked to the wardrobe, and then Gao Hai heard a harsh scraping sound as something rubbed against the wardrobe door.

Then, the soft footsteps gradually moved towards the bookshelf. Gao Hai heard the sound of pages being turned, as if something was turning the pages, or perhaps it was just the wind blowing and flipping the pages.

crunch - crunch -

The old wooden door was swaying gently.

The footsteps had already reached the computer desk, and then continued forward, arriving directly at the bed.

"..."

Gao Hai didn't move; he simply continued to lie quietly under the bed.

The next moment, he heard the sound of the bedding being moved.

What is that thing doing?

From the faint noises, Gao Hai noticed that the thing that entered the room seemed to have tidied up the bedding, covering it up again after Gao Hai had messed it up when he got out of bed.

It's like someone is lying in bed, and it's covering that person with a blanket.

What kind of situation is this?

Gao Hai didn't understand what that thing was doing for a moment.

Then, the footsteps began to move slowly again, heading towards the gate step by step.

crunch--

The obviously worn-out door was closed again with a dull thud.

The footsteps faded into the distance and soon could not be heard anymore.

Then, the sound of raindrops became clear again, and the rumbling thunder also resumed.

Gao Hai opened his eyes and slowly crawled out from under the bed.

Through the power of his blessing, he confirmed that the thing that had entered the house had left.

That's really decisive.

Gao Hai, who had initially thought the creature might try some tricks, thought to himself, "But from beginning to end, the thing that entered the room neither opened the wardrobe nor looked under the bed; it just fiddled with the bed a bit. It has to be said that this level of search effort is even less than some Twilight-level monsters, to the point that the pistol Gao Hai was holding was completely useless."

However, we cannot let our guard down; who knows what that thing really is?

Gao Hai first checked the bed, but found nothing suspicious.

He checked the wardrobe again (just to look, without trying to open it out of curiosity), and then checked the bookshelf, but found nothing unusual.

That thing... it seems it really was just there to tidy up the bedding.

So, is this the end of the first encounter between the new dungeon and the monsters?

Isn't this a bit too easy? Shouldn't there be some kind of mental pollution or mind distortion? They just came and left, it can't be this easy and effortless, can it? Or is a more impressive main course coming up, and this is just an appetizer?

Gao Hai felt that something was not quite real.

He found absolutely no trace of it.

The thing that appeared and disappeared, whose appearance Gao Hai never glimpsed, was like a non-existent phantom, leaving no evidence to prove its existence.

In addition, the things outside the window are gone.

Gao Hai could see the light coming through the gap in the curtains. Although it was still raining, it seemed that the sky had cleared up.

Is it a distortion of time? Or does the day-night cycle here change in response to some event?

While thinking, Gao Hai walked to the computer and tried to check it again, only to find that the computer had been turned off and had lost its power supply.

Realizing something, Gao Hai looked up again and then noticed that the lights in the room had been turned off.

As night turns into day outside the window, does the electricity inside the house also change from working to not working?

After a brief moment of silence and thought, Gao Hai turned his gaze to the only door in the room.

Kaguya is nowhere to be found; we must find her.

We also need to confirm Hayasaka Ai's location and situation, since we don't know where she is in the instance.

Although there are many mysteries here and we have no idea what's going on, we still have to set off to explore.

After all, staying trapped here indefinitely is not a solution.

I have no idea how many days I've been missing. Maybe my boss has already fired me?

I wonder how my sister is doing now. If I disappear, she probably won't even have anyone to open the door for her.

Alright, it's time to go. We need to find a way out of here.

Ji Gang reached out and grabbed the doorknob, slowly opening it. He then cautiously peered outside before turning back to Gao Hai and saying:

[It looks like a living room outside. I'll go out and check the situation first. You can come out if there's no danger.]

Gao Hai nodded slightly and waited in the house for a while until he saw a hand reach out from the crack in the door and wave. Only then did he go out, carefully close the door, and look at the empty living room with a slightly musty smell.

"Ok?"

He frowned and looked at the door behind him.

Just now... just now, because I couldn't find any more clues inside the house, I decided to go out to look for Kaguya and Hayasaka Ai. Yes, I remember it was like that.

But for some reason, I felt that it wasn't just that, and that something else had happened while I was leaving the house.

I can't remember exactly what happened.

That part of his memory seemed to have vanished from his mind out of thin air. He could only feel the incongruity of something being missing, realizing that he might have forgotten something, but he had no way to make up for what was missing.

Is it because of the house itself?

After a brief moment of thought, Gao Hai reached out and tried to grab the doorknob again.

slam-la-

In the seemingly endless rain, Gao Hai slowly crawled under the bed, carefully observing the figure sitting in the chair browsing a computer file. Only after the other person stood up, walked to the bed, and lay down did Gao Hai crawl out from under the bed.

The clothes rustled softly against the floor.

Ji Gang was already asleep in bed, and the girl outside the window was looking down at him.

Gao Hai slowly backed away, opened the door, and walked into the living room.

"..."