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

Among us, a few who were attacked by her will discover the existence of this place. In their eyes, the doll room is no longer a doll room, but has become something else entirely.

We tried to share this information with those who didn't know, but an extremely serious accident occurred, making us realize that the truth itself is cursed. Therefore, only those who, like us, experienced the same things after being attacked by her will be given relevant information, and only those like us can come to this place.

[No matter who you are, or who comes later, having arrived here, you are already closer to the truth of this twisted place, closer to the hope of escaping, and have received more of her attention. You are also more likely to die here.]

We sincerely hope that one day, if you see this message, you will be able to walk out of this hell alive.

Chapter Twenty: The Dark Corridor Entered and the Anomaly Detected in the Conversation

The end of the corridor is not visible.

In complete darkness, there was no way to determine exactly how far this eerie corridor stretched.

Only that suffocating heaviness felt so real, as if simply being in this corridor made one feel intense pressure and even breathing difficult.

Splash—splash—

I heard the continuous sound of rain.

Although she didn't actually see any raindrops falling, Xiao Hua did hear a continuous sound of rain after stepping into the corridor, just like the sound she had heard when she was still in that mansion.

Could it be that this place is closer to the real world, which is why I can hear sounds from the outside? Or is this actually a place deeper into the realm of supernatural tales, a place I need to pass through to get closer to the strange creature that dwells here?

In either case, Xiaohua felt that all she could do was keep moving forward.

It wasn't because she was particularly determined; it was simply that when she tried to turn back, she discovered that the hole she had crawled through to enter the room was blocked by debris, making it impossible to return. Therefore, she had no choice but to continue into the darkness.

He reached out and picked up the lantern.

With the red light from the phone becoming extremely weak and barely providing any illumination, Xiaohua, after much deliberation, decided to take the glowing lantern and slowly move forward with it, in order to ensure her visibility.

thump—

The sound of footsteps was more muffled than expected.

Xiao Hua looked down and discovered that the floor of the dark corridor was even more severely rotten. Among the various rotten marks, he could clearly see the black and red wire mesh beneath the ground, and the endless abyss below the wire mesh.

Where is this place?

Feeling intense unease, the girl took a deep breath and continued walking forward.

The signs of decay continued to worsen.

It's as if the walls and the ground themselves are actually living chunks of flesh, being slowly gnawed away by something unseen.

Where the bones have been completely eaten away, what remains are rotten bones, which are those rows of filthy barbed wire.

Boom--boom--

In the darkness, a sound was slowly rumbling.

Xiaohua couldn't determine the distance between herself and the sound; she could only vaguely make out that the sound was constantly echoing, as if it were coming from many different directions at the same time.

It sounded like the sound of some kind of machine.

As the sound continued to echo in his ears, Xiaohua suddenly had this thought.

[Sizzle…]

The electromagnetic noise from my phone has become much louder again.

The light from the lantern gradually dimmed, and it could no longer illuminate the surrounding environment as it had at the beginning.

Xiao Hua continued to move forward.

Her gaze occasionally drifted to the surrounding rotting walls, to the barbed wire exposed beneath them, and to the darkness behind the wire that remained unlit, obscuring what lay within.

This feeling is very strange.

She had the feeling that the whole world was a hollow, pitch-black void, with only this decaying corridor existing within it. No matter which way she looked—up, down, or in any direction—she was destined to never reach the end and could only lose herself in the endless darkness and void.

But she also had another feeling: behind these barbed wire fences, something was watching her, observing her, silently following her footsteps, hiding in corners beyond her sight.

Then, after walking for what she wasn't sure how many meters, but certainly beyond the length of a normal building's corridor, the girl stopped for the first time and turned her gaze to a relatively intact section of wall beside her, and the writing left on it.

[Exploration distance: 550 meters (estimated)]

This is our initial exploration of the corridor. Its length will likely exceed all of our expectations. After walking for such a long time, we have no feeling of approaching the end; instead, we have an increasingly strong intuition to go deeper into it.

We've decided to stop here temporarily. Continuing deeper without proper planning is a bad idea. We'll leave a record here and try to establish a temporary base. If all goes well, this place will become our rest stop as we explore this eerie corridor, and we'll use it as our base to conduct a more in-depth investigation of this strange place.

At the place where such a record was left, Xiaohua saw several stacked wooden crates, several makeshift beds that had been pulled from the sofa and brought in, and a small bag containing chocolates and candies.

This place did indeed become a small outpost. The survivors who successfully explored this place must have decided to return to the doll's room first after arriving at this location, and brought various supplies from the room to store here, in order to prepare for the next exploration.

More than 500 meters! Did I really walk that far?

Xiaohua didn't touch the candies, nor did she rest on the makeshift beds. She simply searched the place briefly, and after confirming that no more valuable information had been left behind, she picked up her lantern and mobile phone and continued on her way.

The stench in the air is getting stronger.

Since entering this space, Xiaohua has found that she has almost completely adapted to the stench, and the nausea and discomfort have been completely eliminated. Fortunately, because the exposure time is not too long, the girl's senses have not become dulled, and she can still perceive the changes in the concentration of the odor itself.

The signs of decay are worsening.

If the places Xiaohua had walked through before at least still had traceable walls and floors, the places Xiaohua was now walking through were almost turning into a twisted cage made of rusty wire mesh. The original walls and floors were reduced to sparse fragments, hanging on the wire mesh like bits of meat that hadn't completely rotted away.

[Sizzle... sizzle...]

The noise from my phone is getting louder and louder, to the point that it's making my ears uncomfortable.

The lantern's light was also becoming dimmer, and Xiaohua even noticed that the lantern's color was showing signs of a subtle change, as if it was about to change from its original yellow light to red light.

wow-

Something passed by the girl.

"Who?!"

Startled, Xiao Hua immediately turned around, only to find an empty barbed wire fence.

The sound just now seemed to have come from outside the barbed wire fence?

Did that thing climb and crawl on the barbed wire?

Splash splash—

Before Xiaohua could figure out what had just happened, a sound even clearer than before, like something flying by quickly, rang out again.

This time, the sound came from behind the girl.

She turned her head again, and this time her perspective vaguely caught sight of something dark red, but she couldn't keep up with the other person's movements.

What the hell is this?

Xiaohua couldn't be sure whether what she saw was a corner of clothing or some kind of flesh or blood.

The only thing she could be sure of was that she wasn't alone. Something existed in this eerie, endless corridor, something lurking in the darkness. And Xiaohua felt that whatever that thing might be, it was best not to harbor any thoughts of communication or interaction.

[Buzz... Xiao Hua... Xiao Hua... Are you still there...?]

Amidst the loud interference, Miko Yotsuya's voice suddenly rang out again, sounding quite anxious.

"Hey, Komiko? I'm here, I'm still here. I've entered a rather strange corridor. This place... well, how should I put it, I feel like there's something terrifying lurking here, something is following me, but I can't find its location."

Xiao Hua, who had thought she might not hear her son's voice for a long time, was pleasantly surprised and quickly picked up her phone to talk.

However, whether it was due to excessive interference or some other reason, it took several minutes for Jianzi's reply to come through, and her tone became more anxious.

[Quickly...quickly leave...don't go any deeper...sizzle...deeper into the corridor...]

The deeper you go... the more... the more you can't escape... Don't try to go any further... *sizzle*

Does going deeper make it impossible to escape?

Xiao Hua was slightly taken aback by what Zi said. Although she had considered whether going deeper into this area would bring any bad consequences, it seemed that this place was a deadly trap.

Well then, since we haven't gone too far yet, let's try going back the way we came?

While thinking, Xiaohua decided to step back and leave the corridor to try and return to the doll's room. However, before she could take a step, Xiaohua suddenly remembered the question about "workbook question three" that Xiaojianzi had mentioned to her before.

I remember that when we talked on the phone again, I was supposed to ask her this question.

To be honest, Xiaohua herself had no idea what the point of this question was. Seeing Zi's sudden request only made her feel deeply confused and puzzled.

But Xiaojianzi is far more powerful than herself, and since she has deliberately emphasized this matter, Xiaohua feels she should probably listen to her. Perhaps there is some deeper meaning hidden within it that she is unaware of, and she will only know the answer when Xiaojianzi herself reveals it.

"Hey, Komiko, do you remember the answer to question three in the workbook?"

So, in this dark, rotting passage, Xiaohua finally stopped and asked a question earnestly into her phone.

[Buzz... Exercise book question 3... Buzz buzz... Question 3 is an equation... The question is... Buzz... The final answer is option C...]

[You still remember this question... Zzz... Your mental state is fine... That's a good thing... Now let's go back... Zzz... Don't linger any longer]

Jianzi answered quickly.

Although the noise made the conversation quite difficult, Xiaohua was still able to understand what Jianzi was saying and what she wanted to express.

So that's how it is. I'm checking my mental state by asking questions from a test I did not do not long ago.

Is it really?

The girl remained rooted to the spot, her expression growing increasingly bewildered.

I feel like something's not quite right.

I couldn't figure it out for a while, but it just felt wrong, like it shouldn't be like this.

[Don't waste any more time... sizzle... hurry... a monster has already spotted you... go back now... sizzle...]

Seeing that Zi's voice was still urging Xiao Hua to act quickly.

Although her voice was disturbed by background noise, Xiaohua could clearly hear what she was trying to say, without missing anything or getting confused.

Wow – Wow –

Even more clearly than before, the sound of something moving through the wires became more distinct.

The sounds came from different directions, meaning there was more than one monster. If these creatures, whose forms were completely invisible and whose movements were incredibly fast, were to actually attack her, Xiaohua felt she wouldn't last even a second; without the red light protecting her, she would surely perish on the spot.

Wait, wait a minute.

The protection of the red light... Yes, I still have the protection of the red light. Even though my remaining energy is indeed running low, and I could run out of supplies at any moment, at least for now, the power of the red light continues to protect me.