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

She was filled with amazement, but Gao Hai didn't have time to say anything more. The change in the situation required Gao Hai to focus more attention on other areas. Meanwhile, outside the bedroom where Hong Xia was, Gao Hai had already heard something slowly approaching and quickly determined that it was someone that Hong Xia absolutely could not approach now, someone with a huge gap between them.

Gao Hai is currently unable to confirm the situation with Liang and Xingge. The power he deployed here is far too little; merely creating physical distance is enough to sever the mental link network that Gao Hai has temporarily constructed. Furthermore, because Hongxia has gone to her bedroom deep inside room 109, Gao Hai's perception cannot fully extend outside of room 109. He can only vaguely sense something passing by in the corridor, and it's highly likely that it has noticed Hongxia's presence.

There is no way to ascertain the other party's specific form; it seems to be invisible, something that has no tangible physical form.

This reminded Gao Hai of his experience at the Shirakawa Apartment. The invisible debt collectors were a very memorable presence for Gao Hai, one that he couldn't forget even if he wanted to.

So, what should we do next?

Gao Hai looked at the bedroom again, a room that was more like a ruin than a bedroom.

At first, both Gao Hai and Hong Xia thought that the house was damaged by a meteorite or something similar, but judging from the messages on the wall, it was probably dug out by a person named Isidore himself.

The opening... seems to lead to another place. Hmm, so that's how it feels. Is there some kind of protection within the rules? If so, then I don't have to worry about falling to my death. It seems this is the only way.

[Miss Hongxia, time is short. After reading these messages, have you remembered the main points?]

Gao Hai was asking questions within the girl's mind.

"Oh? I've written it down! I understand it all and have memorized it!"

Hongxia had no idea what Gao Hai was planning, but she replied very seriously.

【Good. Now, jump into the big pit in the middle of the room. Be quick, something has already spotted you and is trying to find you. I can't commit too much power here; if they catch you completely, you're dead.】

Then, the girl's expression froze because of Gao Hai's casual remark, and she stood there stunned.

"Jump...jump off this?"

She looked down at the hole in the middle of the room.

This strange, large pit was pitch black; even shining a flashlight beam down into it, there was no way to find the bottom. If I were to jump in like this, I had no idea how long I would fall to the bottom.

If someone were to jump, they would definitely fall hard, right? They might not even be recognizable as human after landing.

"I have other matters to attend to right now and can't devote much effort to helping you. Guiding you is already the limit. Miss Hongxia, if you trust me, then jump into this pit. Don't worry, you won't die."

Gao Hai offered no explanation, but spoke again to the hesitant Hong Xia.

"I see."

Hongxia took a deep breath, turned her head to look outside the door, and looked at the dark living room, which was still empty, but for some reason seemed to be slowly spreading out.

Looking back, all that remained was pitch blackness, an endless, dark pit.

It seems there isn't an easy path to choose from.

In other words, this is the kind of life that Pochi and Kita used to live. Everything only changed after Mr. Takami found them and saved them. Only after Mr. Takami appeared did they truly have hope and a future.

So what do I have to hesitate about?

"I believe in Mr. Gao Hai, and I will do it."

So the girl made her choice. After leaving those words, she closed her eyes, faced the cave entrance, and jumped forward, falling straight into the pitch-black cave of unknown depth.

In the dark living room, something approached, its gaze sweeping over the empty bedroom, which contained only a disheveled bed and dried bloodstains. Then, finding nothing, it quickly turned away, slowly retreating, only to be drawn by the strange noises coming from the third floor, and continued its journey.

Chapter Seventeen: Yamada Ryo's Room 304 Investigation Record and the Intruder After Curfew

"Huh...huh..."

Heavy footsteps gradually echoed in the corridor.

"Phew... Have we arrived yet...?"

Click—plop—click—

The sound of a key turning in the door.

The sound of something heavy being placed on the ground.

The sound of the door lock closing.

After the sounds subsided and everything returned to calm, Liang leaned against the wall and sat down to catch her breath, letting out a barely perceptible sigh, looking slightly lost in thought. However, she quickly composed herself and stood up again.

At this moment, Ryo was certain that she had arrived at room 304.

To be honest, she was quite impressed with herself. She was able to carry an unconscious adult up to the third floor in less than two minutes, open the door, rush in, and then turn around and close the door.

However, the thought of her best friend Hongxia still alone in room 109, which was clearly acting strangely, prevented Liang from laughing. She had thought that with Gao Hai's help, their bad luck would stop, but now it seemed that one misfortune after another was happening, and she had no idea when it would end. It was really terrible.

And to be honest, even if we ignore Hongxia's situation, since Mr. Gao Hai is there, she should still be able to get some protection. The place where I am now is not much better in any sense, and it can even be said that it is worse on the surface.

"This doesn't look like a place where people live..."

Liang turned her head and looked to her side.

In this small, filthy foyer, the floor covered in shoe prints and various stains, piles of clutter reached all the way to the ceiling, completely blocking one side of the foyer from passage. The other side of the foyer was blocked by a door, on which were visible traces of what appeared to be dried blood and some kind of vomit or excrement—a sight so repulsive it made one want to avoid it altogether.

Of course, the place where Xingge was dumped was relatively clean; at least there wasn't anything particularly disgusting. Liang still respected the shop manager and wouldn't throw her onto anything dirty unless absolutely necessary.

To be honest, Liang really didn't want to open the door to check what was going on inside.

Even in the small foyer area, she could vaguely sense the problem with this place. It was certain that compared to room 109, which at least superficially appeared habitable, room 304 had gone to the other extreme; who knew what kind of unsavory things might be hidden inside?

However, staying in the foyer would likely only lead to certain death.

After all, the time flow in this apartment was clearly abnormal. When Ryo started heading towards 304, the clock on the 109 clock tower already pointed to 10:28. This meant that after Ryo began her operation, she only had less than a minute, perhaps even just a few seconds, of safe time before 10:30. She actually arrived at 304 and entered the room carrying Hoshigami after curfew had begun.

Earlier, while going upstairs, Liang had a vague feeling that there were signs of activity in the corridor and stairwell, that something that did not exist here at the beginning had appeared out of thin air over time.

Whatever it was, she had already disturbed them.

Although nothing unusual has appeared yet, Liang is certain that those things have begun to gather towards this room, trying to locate Liang and Xingge. Whether she likes it or not, she must now venture deeper into the house, and at least not remain in the foyer, which is too close to the corridor.

Hopefully nothing unusual will happen.

Thinking this, Ryo walked to another door in the foyer. After a moment's thought, she tore off a small piece from the sleeve of her clothes and wrapped it around the doorknob before slowly opening it.

As the door opened, a foul odor quickly spread out. It's hard to describe the smell; it's a mixture of various stenches, including the smells of sweat, decay, fermentation, and excrement. Inhaling it is instantly invigorating, making one want to destroy their nose.

Liang endured it for a long time, but finally managed to hold back from vomiting. Instead, she cautiously stepped into the room to observe the surroundings.

a mess.

This is the feeling of coolness at first glance.

Various kinds of furniture were piled up haphazardly against the wall. Many cabinets, tables and chairs had been smashed, and small pieces of wood and glass were scattered all over the ground, mixed with small particles of various grains and beans such as soybeans, mung beans, and glutinous rice.

A rather large dining table, about two meters long and wide, was placed across one side of the room, blocking most of the room as if it had been deliberately set up as a screen. The adjacent wall was wrapped with tape, completely covering the wall so that nothing could be seen behind it.

Liang carried the unconscious Xingge on her back, closed the door behind her, and carefully entered what appeared to be a living room. She cautiously walked around the table that almost touched the ceiling. Then she noticed a dirty set of bedding spread on the floor in the corner behind the table, next to a small coffee table. On the coffee table was a black and white photograph of an elderly woman who looked at least sixty years old, with a blank expression.

Further ahead, the wall that originally served as a partition had collapsed, and strangely, next to the collapsed wall was the room door, which was blocked off by various debris.

Ryo peered down the collapsed wall into the room and saw a massive pile of garbage bags, filling most of the space. These semi-transparent plastic bags mostly contained fast food wrappers, empty plastic beverage bottles, dirty tissues, or human excrement, stacked high on one side of the room, forming an exceptionally chaotic and awe-inspiring mountain. Incidentally, the sheer volume of garbage was so overwhelming that both windows in the room were completely sealed shut, and Ryo couldn't even pinpoint their exact locations.

It's hard to imagine how this room ended up like this.

Living in a place like this, won't people get sick? What kind of people can tolerate living in such a stinking, garbage-strewn place every day?

Or is it that this place wasn't like this at the beginning, but gradually fell into its current state after some changes?

Liang frowned and approached the bed on the floor. To her surprise, although the bedding was dirty, it was arranged very neatly. The small coffee table was also completely different from its surroundings, spotless and without any problems. Upon closer inspection, one could even see that the coffee table itself was slightly reflective, clearly the result of frequent wiping and cleaning.

Could the elderly person in this room be the same person in the photo? The room itself is filthy and messy, yet the person sleeping and resting there is kept as clean as possible… This is quite a contradictory situation. Could it mean that the person was forced to leave their room in this state?

While thinking, Liang turned around, his gaze sweeping over the back of the large table before pausing.

She saw the messy sentences written on the back of the table, line after line, recording different words.

To those who come after:

[To you, the poor but lucky fellow, and to the next lucky winner of this room]

I have reached the deepest point, and there is no turning back. I hope you can find a way to escape from here.

[Pay attention to all the text messages recorded by "Mingjia". Her experience is the most suitable for living here. There are some messages on this table, and the rest you need to go deeper into the room to find another table lying on its side. There are more messages about her under that table.]

As for how to get deeper into the room, it's quite simple. There's a well-hidden dog hole on one side of the bedroom. Unless you're so obese that your body is deformed, you should be able to squeeze through. It's the only passage connecting the inside and outside of room 304; you'll understand why there's only one passage.

[Apart from "Mingjia", read the last words of these unfortunate souls only a little; they won't really help you much, and some of the information might even be misleading.]

Also, never look through that peephole, never. There's a reason the walls are sealed.

The notes in this passage are identical and look very fresh, suggesting they were left by the same person.

Something's been getting weirder and weirder. I knew it all along, I knew it all along.

You must not drink the water here, no matter what.

Those people thought I didn't know; they've been watching everyone. But I've been watching them too. I know, I already know.

I saw it with my own eyes. The fish that drank the water all died. They were floating densely packed on the shore, along with birds, dogs, and all sorts of small animals. They died after drinking the water; they died in agony.

There are cats, cats are dangerous, cats have gone mad, cats are no longer cats. Those cats are looking for us, cats want to turn us into their kind.

I won't give them a chance. I foresaw this. I saw it all beforehand. I won't repeat the mistakes of others.

I will survive.

【——Mingjia】

Not far below this notebook, Liang found the record of "Mingjia". Compared to the other records left by survivors who had obviously stumbled into this place, the text of this record was much neater and more tidy, but the content of the text seemed to exude a strange madness.

Speaking of which, this is the second time the water issue has been mentioned. The note in the hand of the thing that collapsed in the grass in the inner plaza mentioned the water problem. It was because Shizuko Ogiyama and the others drank the water here that the problems might have occurred later.

I don't understand what's wrong with the water here. Could it be that someone poisoned it?

After curfew, do not open doors, do not speak, and do not talk to the monsters.

They're not patrol officers, they're not security guards, they're monsters, they're looking for clear-headed people like me.

Keep the door tightly shut, don't say a word to them, and don't let them know there are people inside.

They won't come in if they don't know about it.

Even if they get in, they won't stand this place, they won't stand crawling in through the dog hole, hehehehe.

【——Mingjia】

The second comment from "Mingjia" is just as neat as the first, as if it were machine-printed.

Upon seeing this, Liang had a vague feeling that something might have gathered outside the door of this house, in the corridor outside 304, and was beginning to try to enter this place.

There's no time to investigate any more clues; we have to take action now.