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

Just as Ryo had predicted, this strange creature had its sights set on them, or more accurately, on Ijichi Hoshika, who had shone a flashlight on it. As a result, it chased after them, constantly using the shadows and corners along the way to move, making it impossible for the three of them to completely shake off its pursuit.

What made Liang even more uneasy was that the dangerous aura she sensed was constantly increasing and spreading more and more noticeably from all around.

Gaze.

It was impossible to tell where the gaze came from, or whether it was from a person or something else.

Once sensed, the gaze never faded, remaining fixed on her silently, landing on Yamada Ryo, as well as on Nijika and Hoshika beside her.

Is something watching them?

Liang looked up again, towards the source of those prying eyes.

The next second she saw the windows lit up between the tall buildings, and the figure standing in front of the window, staring at her with a numb expression.

what is that?

Time seemed to slow down at this moment.

She felt that everything in her mind was becoming more and more distant and blurry, so much so that Liang had to do everything she could to stay awake and fight against this feeling in order to prevent her consciousness from being swept away.

If you only work and never play, you'll become a fool.

Suddenly someone laughed and spoke in a deliberately mocking voice.

If you only work and never play, you'll become a fool.

Someone repeated these words, and together they let out a mocking, almost hysterical, twisted laugh.

If you only work and never play, you'll become a fool!

Many people spoke together, their voices blank and emotionless, yet seemingly overflowing with passionate impulses as they shouted out these words.

"what……"

Liang seemed to be able to hear the sound he was making, coming from a distant place, passing through layers of barriers, and vaguely echoing in his ears.

Something fell down.

He opened the window, jumped out, and fell heavily to the ground.

The buildings on both sides of the road, their windows, were all opened at once, and then everyone jumped down together.

thump—

The sound of the first person falling to the ground was muffled; it couldn't be heard if you were a little further away.

dong dong dong dong-

One after another, countless people fell to the ground, the sound of them crashing to the ground so clear, as clear as the vibration of a drumstick hitting a drum, playing a monotonous and terrifying melody on this dark and eerie street.

"What...what are all these...?"

It was clear that Liang wasn't the only one who witnessed this scene. Hongxia could also clearly see the figures falling to the ground like dumplings being dropped into a pot, their bodies turning into a bloody pulp and emitting a strong, pungent smell.

"Keep running! Don't stop! Don't stop!"

Liang just kept shouting, yelling in a tone he would never normally use, and kept running forward into the street with all his might.

Countless gruesome corpses adorned the route of their escape.

The monsters chasing from the dark corners amidst the meows of cats are another kind of embellishment.

Clearly, she doesn't want either kind of coolness, but she can't make a decision about it, nor can she get rid of these terrifying and disgusting images.

We cannot stop, we absolutely cannot stop now.

It wasn't just that meowing savage monster that was chasing after them anymore.

Although her perception wasn't as exceptionally strong as that of a particular individual, with the power Liang currently possessed, she was already able to clearly sense the approaching corpses in the street behind the three of them, as well as anything mixed among the corpses.

Those things that had fallen to the ground, their bones shattered, stood up again and stumbled towards them.

They were hand in hand, moving forward together, their features obscured, laughing and joking. They seemed to have come from across the T-junction, from the block accessible only by crossing the pedestrian crossing. Liang didn't dare examine them too closely; after all, she had only glanced back once and noticed the strange creatures had increased their speed considerably, as if stimulated by her gaze.

"The road ahead is a dead end!"

Xingge, who was following behind Liang, reminded her, but in fact, Liang had already clearly seen at the end of the street a huge wall that looked like it was stitched together from various garbage and debris, so tall that the top of the wall was not visible at all.

Does this place have it too? Is it possible that at the end of every street in this area, you'll encounter something like this blocking your way?

Liang quickly shifted her gaze to another direction, focusing on the only three bright streetlights in the area located at the end of the street.

There was a light on at the T-junction, and streetlights could be clearly seen in the distance at the ends of both roads, but the distance made it impossible to determine what was next to them. Now, finally approaching one of the streetlights, he could finally see clearly what was around it.

Hopefully, it's something that can actually be used, rather than something completely useless; otherwise, they'll truly be on a dead end, with no way to change their fate of death.

"Over there, the door over there is open!"

Hongxia stretched out her little hand, pointed to a three-story low building next to the street lamp, and shouted.

Liang looked in the direction Hongxia was pointing and found that it was an ordinary-looking apartment building. Judging from the size and structure of the apartment, it could be considered a mid-to-low-end apartment, which would probably be popular with many low-income families or migrant workers who had left their hometowns.

The eerie aura emanating from behind was so intense that Liang didn't want to turn around to confirm it at all.

Staying outside will only lead to certain death. There's no other way but to go inside the apartment building and see if it's a case of escaping one danger only to fall into another.

【Hahaha--】

As Ryo was thinking this, she suddenly heard the overlapping laughter of many girls. She then involuntarily looked up at the source of the sound and saw many smiling young girls in sailor uniforms standing on the top floor of the apartment building.

[Ready, let's begin!]

They cheered together, raised their little hands together, and jumped around happily together.

[One, two, jump!]

They fell hand in hand, all crashing headfirst onto the concrete ground, their skulls shattering and bright red blood spilling out.

No, that didn't happen.

Liang Wei was slightly stunned before noticing that there was no body of the girl who jumped off the building hand in hand in front of the apartment. The apartment was clean and there was nothing unusual about it.

Even the laughter and meows that were chasing them from behind, constantly approaching, became somewhat blurred at this moment. It seemed that as they got closer to the apartment building, the power of the non-human monsters wandering the streets weakened, and they seemed unable to get close to this place.

Why don't they come near here?

While thinking, Liang raised her head and looked at the surveillance camera in front of the apartment building, which was pointing directly at the three of them.

"Should we go in? This place doesn't seem like a good place..."

Although Xingge was running forward with them, instinctively she felt that the apartment building in front of her was very strange and was somewhat reluctant to actually go in.

"There's no better choice now. Staying outside is a sure way to die. Let's go in first and see what happens!"

After a brief silence, Liang took a deep breath and made a decision. He took the initiative to approach the apartment door, opened it, and was the first to step into the apartment.

The corridor inside was dimly lit and so quiet it seemed to be asleep.

Seeing that Liang had made a decision, Hongxia and Xingge stopped hesitating and followed him into the apartment.

Turning around, outside the apartment, the indistinct figures had stopped, but refused to disperse, instead gathering outside and watching the three people at the door.

Liang stood by the door, holding the doorknob, and silently glanced at these inhuman monsters. After a brief silence, she chose to gently close the door.

Thus, the faint light emitted by the streetlights was cut off by the gate.

Click——

With a soft click as the lock cylinder popped out, the building was now completely isolated from the outside world. What would happen next was something only the three people present knew.

"Haa...haa...I feel like I'm about to lose half my life running. This is the first time I've ever run this fast..."

Hongxia leaned against the wall, bending over and letting out a few heavy breaths. The petite girl was covered in sweat and looked extremely tired.

"Phew... We're not safe yet... Better to be careful, we don't know the situation here yet."

Liang's breathing was also very disordered, but after taking several deep breaths, she was able to adjust it a little, and her tone quickly returned to normal.

"..."

Xingge did not speak.

After entering the apartment, the other person quickly sat down in front of the small steps leading to the apartment lobby without saying anything immediately.

Liang noticed this unusual behavior quickly, but Xingge didn't say much when she saw her looking over. She just frowned and looked down at her own dirty little feet.

"Ah, our feet are all dirty from running around, and I doubt there's anywhere here to wash them... Wait, wait a minute, sister, your feet are bleeding?"

Nijika didn't immediately notice the problem with Hoshino's feet. Instead, she looked down at her own filthy little feet with a troubled expression. For Nijika, who was usually quite clean, this feeling of being forced to get dirty was clearly unpleasant. However, the girl quickly realized that her older sister was being quiet for some other reason, and then she noticed the thing stuck between Hoshino's two toes, which looked like some kind of dried, hardened urban green weed.

"Should we pull it out?"

Liang walked up to Xingge, glanced around the hall a few times to make sure no monsters had come out, and then looked down at Xingge and asked.

"Pull it out, I can't walk with this thing stuck in my body."

Xingge nodded firmly in response, but turned her head away, not daring to look at her feet.

"Sigh, should we pull it now? We don't have any disinfectant on us... Well, there's no other way. It would be troublesome if we had to run for our lives again. Sister, just bear with it."

Hongxia hesitated for a moment, but before Liang could speak, she realized the necessity of doing so, so she walked over to Xingge, squatted down, and gently pressed her hand on the thorn stuck in Xingge's foot.

"Hiss... Hurry up, don't waste time, what if those things get in?"

Xingge, who was clearly still afraid of pain, had tears welling up in her eyes, but she gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound, only urging her sister to start quickly.

"Okay, okay, I've got the thorn in my side. Are you ready, sister?"

Hongxia carefully pinched the exposed skin part of the hay with her fingers, and asked Xingge without looking up.

"Of course I'm allowed... hiss... oh..."

Xingge had just opened her mouth and hadn't even finished speaking when Hongxia suddenly pulled her hand away, tearing a dry grass thorn that was a full five centimeters long from Xingge's foot.

In an instant, the young woman's mouth gaped open, and her whole body trembled, as if she were having a convulsion. Liang had initially thought she would have to cover Xingge's mouth to prevent her from screaming, but although the woman made very contorted movements and exaggerated expressions, she didn't make a sound at all. She just danced around like she was performing a silent movie, and after a few seconds, she recovered and took a few deep breaths.

"Pfft~"

Liang, expressionless, covered her mouth and laughed.

"Is it that funny? You'd feel pain too if you were in that situation."

Xingge immediately glared fiercely at Liang, and said with a look of dissatisfaction.

"Yes, you can laugh it off when it hurts."