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

This hood seems to be able to obscure the user's personal information to some extent, making it impossible for either monsters or humans to recognize the user. However, when monsters cannot receive enough information, they will exhibit characteristics that prevent them from detecting the user, while humans will lose their ability to distinguish and recognize who the user is.

This is also one of the obsession items Gao Hai has obtained so far with the lowest tendency to go out of control. It seems that this thing will only go out of control if worn for a long time. Although he has not tried to find out what the limit is, based on what he has sensed while wearing this thing, Gao Hai guesses that this headgear should be worn continuously for more than an hour before it goes out of control.

After waiting for a while, the aura of the monsters gradually faded away and disappeared. Gao Hai also took off his hood, opened the door and looked outside. After confirming that the monster students had indeed gone far away, he signaled Kaguya to come out and continue the operation.

The kitten sat quietly not far away. After Kaguya and the other cat appeared, it tilted its head and then continued on its way with its tail wagging.

Where did this little guy go? Was he staying in the hallway?

Go deeper.

Led by the kitten, they continued deeper into the base.

Gao Hai could feel that he was gradually walking downwards, and the entire base was gradually tilting downwards, spreading along the mountainside of Yeluo Mountain.

If we continue down this path, will we find a direct route to the school?

Where in this underground base is the blood pool in the Nightfall Mountain Middle School area that I saw in [Takamagahara]? Could it be that I will eventually walk directly beneath the school campus, and the blood pool is right under the courtyard of the teaching building? Gao Hai thinks the latter is basically confirmed, after all, the ending of the second playthrough has already explained everything.

More strange students have appeared.

These creatures are different from the eerie creatures in the school. They are covered in wounds, with very obvious gunshot wounds, making it clear at a glance that they cannot be living people. They also no longer pretend to be alive like the eerie creatures in the school; instead, they shoot at anything that is not of their kind, whether human or eerie. Yes… these eerie creatures attack with firearms, and they draw their guns directly from thin air and fire.

To figure out the characteristics of these strange creatures, Lao Guo, who was ready to be deployed again after cooling down, took 17 shots in total. But this time, it stubbornly survived and successfully returned to the rescue team's badge to continue its standby. Even Gao Hai had to admit its bravery and resilience and decided to continue using it without mercy.

Who is human? Who is the monster?

On a wall riddled with bullet holes and in ruins, someone wrote these words in blood.

The scruffy kitten continued its advance, cautiously and quickly navigating the corridors and different rooms, moving with an agility beyond human comprehension from the blind spots of the strange creatures. Takami and Kaguya could barely keep up, frequently having to maneuver around the creatures and find ways to lure them away before they could continue.

The monster is among us! Find the monster!

[If you kill everyone, the monster will naturally be killed along with them!]

Not a single one can be spared; all the monsters must be eliminated!

More blood-written words were discovered, the handwriting messy and disordered, suggesting that the person who wrote them had gone mad.

The number has exceeded 100.

Throughout the journey, Gao Hai kept counting the number of people in those things, and he was certain that he had not miscounted.

It's impossible that all those students were trained by Morihara Koji. Even if the boy were to search for others like him, he could only find a few or a dozen at most. Does this mean that among those he trusted back then, there was a traitor who betrayed him and brought the other students down with him?

If that's the case, is the boy's eventual decision to destroy the entire school related to the betrayal he suffered at the hands of someone he trusted?

While they were thinking, Gao Hai and Kaguya carefully bypassed another group of students who looked like zombies and were covered in blood and gore, and finally arrived at a place that was not quite the same.

This is a security door, a door that requires a magnetic card to open.

Obviously, the sound of the door opening after the magnetic card was swiped could not possibly have escaped the notice of the strange creatures roaming nearby.

Hmm, that seems quite challenging.

【Oh, never gonna give you up~? Never gonna let you down~?】

A few minutes later, a rescue worker, singing loudly, strode through the corridor riddled with trash and bullet holes, drawing the attention of all the strange creatures lingering there. Then, gun barrels were aimed at it.

Before the rescue team member was completely obliterated, Gao Hai counted about sixty gunshots. To hold out for so long before being taken down, he was truly formidable.

hum-

Gao Hai closed and locked the heavy security door.

Unsurprisingly, the area was once again restored to its clean and tidy state.

And two more new stages have been discovered.

The two stages are quite similar: the same rented room, the same trash-filled floor. The difference is that in one room, a boy with a backpack appears to be leaving, while the man is asleep. In the other stage, the boy walks home with his head down, hesitant to step into the light.

The cards pasted on the two stages were labeled "Going to School" and "Leaving School," respectively, and were very simple and easy to understand.

But the next problem is a bit more troublesome.

"Nyan, I mean that kitten, it seems to have disappeared."

Kaguya searched around for a while but couldn't find the little cat that had been guiding them.

"I'm afraid it's not as simple as just 'disappearing'."

Gao Hai had already discovered traces in a hidden corner behind the stage. He crouched down, reached out and grabbed a small tuft of cat hair, along with a tattered cat skin still stained with black and red blood attached to the hair.

Chapter 112: Memories of the Past Touched by Rain

slam-la-

That must have been a rainy day.

It was a bit cold, and the sun was nowhere to be seen all day; the light was quite dim.

Classes were as boring as usual, but at least I didn't have to deal with those annoying guys, so it was alright.

When school was over, the teachers announced the missing student over the loudspeaker, reminding students to be careful when going to and from school.

Boring as hell.

That's all they can say. These teachers never intervene when students are bullied at school, but they disappear when something really happens, leaving behind only these meaningless words on the loudspeaker. Ha, just a bunch of trash.

All told, my runaway from home has lasted for almost a week now.

That bastard doesn't care about going home anymore. Looks like that fight with him last time really brought him to his senses a little.

I think I'll just not go back today.

The construction of the shelter is progressing smoothly. Next, all that's left is to block the last possible path leading to the dark area, and then we won't have to worry about encountering those monsters anymore. This is the final step. Once this shelter is completed, I, and others who have had similar experiences, will finally have a place to call home.

Although it was a dark and damp place where the sun never shone, it was undoubtedly paradise compared to our original home.

It's ironic, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing.

Well, this can only be a temporary solution. If the disappearance lasts too long, problems will definitely arise. If the police come to search the mountain, it will be troublesome. We need to discuss the follow-up measures with everyone.

Also, those crazy bastards who always bully people at school seem to be paying attention to me again. I can't lure them near the shelter; if those bastards find out about the shelter, something really dangerous might happen. Sigh, I still don't understand why there are so many mentally unstable people in this lousy school, and why everyone else just acts like nothing's happening, no matter how much they bully and torment students?

There are also the ghost stories circulating in the school, such as Hanako in the deserted toilet at midnight, the bandaged ghost woman dragging people to hell from under the dormitory bed, and the eyed man behind the bookshelves in the library. Other schools may have had similar things, but no school has ever made ghost stories as mainstream as Yoruyama Middle School.

The same goes for the "Strange Tales Club." Their newspaper is displayed on the counter every week, and students often pass around their story booklets. Yet, no one ever actually sees a member. Even though several curious students have tried to complete the legendary "Strange Tales Club" joining quest by sneaking into the teaching building or annex late at night, none of them have succeeded in finding anyone from the club. In fact, some members have disappeared without a trace…

Forget it, what does this have to do with me? I should think about how to resupply the shelter. The base is connected to the school by pipes, so water isn't a problem. The toilets aren't usable, but Nightfall Mountain is relatively large, so relieving myself there should be enough to solve the waste problem. The only issue is food. The base doesn't have many canned goods, and after so many years, their edibility is questionable. Hunting isn't practical either; none of the people who came with me know how to cook. Ah, come to think of it, the underground base doesn't have the facilities for cooking, so worrying about these things is pointless.

This problem is too difficult for me to solve by myself. I should discuss it with others and see if they have any ideas.

Ok……

Ok?

Why are there other footprints on this road? This entrance is only known to me and a few others I brought in; there shouldn't be any other footprints here at this time. And with such heavy rain, ordinary footprints should be easily erased, yet these footprints are so clear… School just let out, and someone already walked this road? A student? A resident from the surrounding area?

No, something's not right. I need to speed things up.

Relax, relax. I specifically told you not to open the door easily. As long as the magnetic card door isn't opened from the inside, no matter how much you break down it from the outside, you won't be able to open it. The entrance this road leads to cannot be forced open without using the magnetic card.

No problem, that's right, no problem. Besides, Miaonai is very smart. If it really sees something wrong, it will definitely hide. It doesn't easily trust strangers, so it will definitely be fine.

……

Blah blah blah...blah blah blah...

drop--

Crunch!

My heart started beating erratically and uncontrollably.

The cruel and gruesome scenes are deeply disturbing.

However, they wouldn't lose their composure or be at a loss for what to do because of this.

Soon, a survivor who was still breathing was found. It seemed that although this person was injured, he was still conscious and might be able to tell him the general situation.

How is everyone doing?

【…】

[Nyan, Nyan, where are you, Nyan?]

【…】

[These are... no... how could they have turned out like this...]

Please, don't bully me...

What happened? Why is this place like this? What happened here?!

Don't...bully me...

[I'm asking you what's going on here? I didn't bully you. Those people... did someone let those lunatics in? Who did it? How did they get guns? Tell me what's happening here.]

Don't...bully me...

[I'm asking you what happened! Can you stop talking to yourself like this? What happened? What happened to this shelter? How come it's become like this after I left for more than ten hours?!]

No...don't...

A fist slammed heavily against the wall, making a dull thud and leaving bruises on the fingers.

Amidst the deep roar, the voice of the person who seemed to be being bullied remained unchanged throughout, repeating the same phrase over and over again, saying nothing else.

Overwhelmed by anger, reason quickly returned after a brief loss of control at the beginning. Then, she began to recall that this thing that kept repeating the same words, which looked like a human on the surface but was actually probably some other kind of monster, had always existed in this base.

That thing kept repeating the same words.

Even though no one was threatening it anymore, it—no, it—still acted like a victim, putting on a pitiful act of being bullied.

Such things only know how to perform these mechanical, repetitive actions. Continuing to argue with them, trying to discuss anything with them, is just asking for trouble.

So the next thing to look for is that one little thing that's the only thing I care about.