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

Several commands had been issued from band 4 before, but none of them matched the numbers on their side. This time, however, the numbers matched. Hayasaka and Miko hesitated for a moment but decided to obey the orders and go ahead first.

After all, once the order was given, the eyes of the soldiers in protective suits passing by turned to look at them.

The two girls understood that if they didn't act correctly according to their assigned roles, the chances of being exposed would greatly increase.

But... the waste disposal room? According to the map I saw before, isn't that place near the [rest area]?

[Frequency 1: 206 Team, could you please hurry? The processing room is almost full. We won't be responsible if there's an overflow of excrement!]

[Frequency 1: Ugh, all these people do is slack off all day long. Can't they at least try to be a little more responsible?]

[Frequency 1: Hey, I'm talking to you, 020614, hurry up and stop dawdling.]

The communicator's frequency band automatically switched again, becoming band 1.

This frequency band has been switched to several times before, and each time it switches to this frequency, a person's voice will be heard, sometimes male and sometimes female, and the voices are never the same. The only common point is that the "person" on this frequency clearly knows the identity of Hayasaka Miko as 020614, and will keep trying to talk to them.

Snapped!

Hayasaka reached out and quickly switched the frequency back to number 4, then began walking along the corridor.

According to the rule list, the "sewage treatment room" is not a place that staff should not go to according to the rules, so whether she likes it or not, she has to go and take a look now.

Under the pale white light, Hayasaka's shadow on the wall gradually lengthened and then quickly shortened.

Another squad of fully armed soldiers passed by her. These bodies, completely shrouded in black protective suits, remained silent, their uniform footsteps echoing one after another, as monotonous as machinery.

As Hayasaka, who was controlling this body, began to walk towards the waste disposal room, these creatures stopped paying attention to her. It seemed that as long as she performed the actions according to the rules, she wouldn't attract the attention of these strange beings. Although they possessed the characteristic of "playing the role of a human," they were generally of a rather dull type.

Be careful, the atmosphere here feels a bit off.

Although Yotsuya Miko was not controlling her body, she seemed to be able to freely control her perspective in this state, and could even see behind Hayasaka.

Although she didn't quite understand why she was able to do such a thing, since she could help, Jianzi naturally took on the role of an investigator quite proactively, constantly looking around and carefully observing any places that might have problems.

I feel really bad...

Although nothing was in sight yet, the surrounding atmosphere alone was enough to make the girl feel oppressed.

Let's leave aside those doors that have been abandoned for a long time, with even the signs rusted.

The obvious dried bloodstains and signs of repair on the walls and floor were clearly visible and not concealed at all.

There were also some things that were obviously smeared, like some kind of writing, and even with the language translation function provided by the sacrificial game, only fragmented words could be seen.

There are ■■ people.

[To ■■Me■You■]

[Dad■I■■■■still■■]

It is extremely difficult to glean meaningful information from such texts, but for Miko, she doesn't necessarily have to read the surface of the words; what she excels at is trying to perceive the emotions and feelings remaining in the text.

Pain...exhaustion...hunger...fear...despair...

Naturally, there was no positive emotion to be felt; it was like the last words of countless dying people, and that seemingly insignificant yet deeply ingrained twisted madness.

[Frequency Band 2: Are you still... taking their orders...?]

[Frequency Band 2: Hahaha... I was just... kidding... Hahahaha...]

[Frequency 2: Come talk to me... talk to me... haha...]

The frequency band was switched again.

If band 1 always features a seemingly normal, communicative entity attempting to communicate, then band 2 consistently produces extremely distorted sounds containing a large amount of unrecognizable noise. This entity's voice is interspersed with various shrill wails and terrifying roars, as if many twisted monsters are crowding this band. Occasionally, the cries of infants or children, or the sighs of the elderly, may also be heard. Therefore, compared to band 1, band 2 is significantly more eerie.

Snapped!

"..."

Hayasaka did not hesitate and immediately began to adjust the frequency, tuning it back to number 4.

Ahead, the lights were noticeably brighter and the space seemed to have expanded significantly.

They stopped and looked towards one side of the corridor, where a sign reading "Rest Room" hung on the wall.

Hayasaka glanced at the spotless sign, then looked ahead and continued walking.

Miko's gaze lingered for a moment on the blood-stained sign with bullet holes before she turned her gaze forward.

We've arrived at the rest area.

It was more rudimentary than I had expected; apart from a few sofas and a pot of artificial plastic flowers in the center of the room, there was nothing else.

Even the strange creatures they had initially suspected might be blocking their way, or people who would act as if nothing was wrong and strike up a conversation, were nowhere to be found. It was simply an empty rest room.

Hayasaka tilted his head slightly, searching for the direction of the [sewage treatment room], and quickly found a half-open door on the side of the rest room.

She walked over, opened the door, and saw the collected items, already sealed in containers, placed on a small cart. Judging from some marks around the containers, the stuff probably smelled quite strong. However, Hayasaka and Miko, wearing sealed protective suits, couldn't smell it at the moment, so as long as they ignored the leaks on the floor of the processing room, there wouldn't be a big problem.

[Sizzle…]

Strange sounds started playing on the frequency band again.

Hayasaka looked down and realized that the frequency had been switched back to band 1 at some point.

She reached out and tried to adjust the frequency band back to band 4.

Then her movements paused slightly, and she patted her chest instead of moving to that frequency.

That wasn't her own hand.

The silent girl didn't hesitate at all because of the hand extended in front of her. Just as when she realized that something was almost completely attached to her, moving behind her, and extending its hand to pretend it was Hayasaka's friend's arm when she noticed the problem, her expression remained unchanged, and her face showed no sign of trouble.

Chapter 82: The Distorted Echoes in the Frequency Band and Another Awakened One

crunch - crunch -

Under the stark white light, the cart moved slowly forward in the concrete passage, emitting a piercing, hoarse sound.

Hayasaka gripped the handle of the cart and was slowly moving forward.

[Frequency 4: 020614, continue forward until you reach checkpoint B. Cross the first layer of the South Blockade Gate, place the waste to be processed here, and then return to the checkpoint. Your mission is now complete.]

[Frequency Band 4: During task execution, please try not to adjust the frequency band arbitrarily. If the frequency band automatically switches, please immediately switch back to frequency band 4 and do not communicate with other frequency bands...buzzing...buzzing...buzzing...]

[Frequency Band 2: Here we come... here we come... come on over... open the door... open the door... let us out...]

Snapped!

[Frequency Band 4: Well done. To deal with those unusual frequencies, the only thing we need to do is ignore them and not pay attention to them. Directly cutting them off is the best way to deal with this nonsense.]

[Frequency Band 4: I don't recall you ever having any outstanding performances before, but at least today, you definitely outperformed your dull colleagues.]

[Frequency Band 4: Great, you have arrived at checkpoint B. The first sealed-off area is now open. Send the waste inside, then return. Your mission is complete. You will now have a 15-minute break.]

Although Hayasaka wanted to ignore the thing's voice, she had to admit that she was now indeed being controlled by this fourth frequency band.

Within this eerie frequency band, there seems to be a fully conscious, self-aware entity. It directs Hayasaka's actions and communicates with her during these actions, able to see what she's doing at any time and comment on it, as if this thing is always hidden somewhere near Hayasaka, although neither Hayasaka nor Miko has ever been able to discover its exact location.

hum-

With a heavy thud, the metal door, more than 60 centimeters thick, slowly closed.

The South Blockade Gate, in essence, is a massive corridor wide enough for two tanks to advance side-by-side. Three extremely heavy metal doors, requiring complex operations to open, divide this corridor into different zones, making it a complex area capable of being layered and sealed off.

It is said that behind this sealed door lies an underground military camp before connecting to the surface area. The South and North passages together form one of the two main routes for outside troops to transport supplies into the research institute. However, according to Jianzi's spiritual vision, all the soldiers in the underground research institute were trapped here by Lord Urian's order to "hold the underground base until new orders arrive," and not a single one managed to leave alive.

However, regardless of the story behind a dungeon, the final outcome is always the same simple and brutal thing: everyone dies. Even if someone manages to survive temporarily in a dungeon-like world, by the time the players arrive, these survivors will inevitably be reduced to mere traces.

No one can truly survive in the Ghost Stories dungeon; this is an ironclad rule that no dungeon has broken to date.

Is that thing that was following us still there?

Hayasaka, who showed no outward signs of unusual behavior, asked Miko through their mental link.

It increased the distance between us, but didn't leave immediately, seemingly waiting for another opportunity. However, ever since we left the rest area, the distance between us has been steadily increasing; it probably can't have gone too far from the rest area. We can try heading towards the north gate.

Jianzi responded quickly.

At this very moment, the girl who had essentially taken over Hayasaka's body but had relinquished control was observing the thing behind her through a strange perspective akin to that of a spirit.

It was a soldier wearing a full black protective suit, or at least that's what it looked like.

But unlike the other soldiers, one side of this thing's protective goggles was broken, and beneath the shattered glass, instead of human eyes, there were two deep, dark holes.

Moreover, there were clearly more than one tear in the protective suit worn by this thing. After careful observation, Jianzi even discovered that the wounds on this thing's body were bleeding at an extremely slow rate, but once the blood fell to the ground, it would be attracted by something, or as if it came to life, quickly condensing on the ground, then gathering towards the wall, and then disappearing on the spot.

This strange thing made the girl quite uneasy. But since neither of them had a good way to deal with it, they could only pretend they couldn't see it and continue their actions as if nothing was happening.

Fortunately, this thing wasn't very aggressive. Compared to the monsters in Fujika Middle School and Yoruyama Middle School, the ones active in the Bydos Research Institute seemed to be relatively milder. So after ignoring them, it didn't do anything to the two of them. At most, it tried to rush up and scare them a few times.

[Frequency 1: Thank goodness, it's finally all sorted out. I thought those things wouldn't be cleaned up until next year.]

[Frequency 1: Anyway, well done, this break room can continue to be used]

[Frequency 1: By the way, new here, you can still listen to Frequency 3 occasionally. The people up there have set up an entertainment program on this frequency. Although it's just singing songs and telling a few jokes, it's at least enough to pass the time.]

Once again, the frequency band automatically switched and began attempting to initiate communication.

Snapped!

Hayasaka turned the communicator's switch, even though she no longer found the chattering sound terrifying and was extremely familiar with adjusting it. However, out of caution, she first lowered her head to ensure she could visually identify the different frequency bands the switch corresponded to before adjusting it.

Emergency power supply station, armory, experimental subject detention area...

In the silent, dark environment, Hayasaka walked slowly forward without looking back, step by step approaching the North District's blockade gate.

It's gone. It seems that thing only followed us to the experimental subject detention area at most. Hmm, its range of activity is quite wide. I didn't expect it could follow us for so long. In that case, it's best not to go near the rest area easily.

Jianzi's voice rang out at this moment, and there was a sense of relief in her tone.

On the wall not far away were large red characters painted in German and Italian: "North District Lockdown Gate." Hayasaka briefly recalled the time and approximate distance he had traveled to get here, comparing it to the time and distance he had covered when passing through here before. He quickly confirmed that he had walked two minutes longer this time. He also realized that the spatial structure within this research institute was likely unstable; even the same corridor might have different actual lengths each time he passed through it. If that was the case, this place might conceal a deeper danger.

While thinking, Hayasaka looked down and checked her protective suit. After confirming that there were no tears or leaks, she went to the protective suit replacement and repair station in the North District, replenished the oxygen cylinder she was using, and then continued her work.

{Still no other rule tables or playable roles found. It seems the only option left is to try searching in Test Zone 2.}

{Hmm, based on observation, there's nothing unusual around us. Let's continue.}

Hayasaka and Miko exchanged a brief conversation via their mental link. They had initially planned to find different versions of the strange creatures dressed in different clothes at the protective suit changing area or in Human Test Zone 1, hoping to swap identities and find other rule tables or key documents. However, at the protective suit changing area, they only found black protective suits that appeared to be used by rank-and-file soldiers. As for Human Test Zone 1, it was empty; no one was conducting any experiments there.

This subtle anomaly immediately intrigued Hayasaka and Miko. They carefully investigated the No. 1 human testing area for quite some time, only to find that it seemed to have simply been abandoned. However, even though all the equipment in the testing area had been removed, the experimental subject detention area was still operating normally, which raised even greater questions.