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

Ryo recalled the map of this floor and realized that continuing straight to the end of the corridor would lead to the conference room. From there, through the smart lock-locked door, there would theoretically be a private elevator, which could theoretically take her to the reception area and the boss's office.

Of course, if the smart lock isn't an issue, there's no need to go down this route. After all, both regular elevators and stairs can theoretically lead to the boss's office.

The problem is that the rules posted in the elevator lobby are essentially capitalist rules, containing little of value. Ryo has absolutely no idea how to deal with the various strange creatures within the building, or whether there are any hidden special rules. For safety's sake, it's best to try and find some relevant records, or at least test it carefully first.

It's really strange. The safe house contained so many clues pointing to the Dansu Company, and even a map of the upper levels. No matter how you look at it, the owner of that safe house should have explored this place more than once. And the survivors who later stumbled into the instance—those unfortunate enough to be caught up in it—should also have tried to come here to investigate. Yet, there's absolutely no information about the strange creatures in this area; it's completely blank.

Could it be that none of the people who entered this place made it back alive? Did everyone who entered this area after the company was copied die, making it impossible to bring back any clues? Or is it like the door I closed earlier—once you enter, you can't go back? But if that's the case, how do you explain the clues in the safe house? Perhaps the earliest batch of documents, the time-related copies, hadn't even been created yet?

As Liang pondered, she took a few steps forward. Not far to her left, she could see another office door slightly ajar, from which strange noises were continuously emanating. It sounded like many people were talking, but upon closer listening, it seemed to have no meaning; it was just meaningless noise.

Then, the next moment, Liang saw something walking out of the elevator lobby and looking at her.

She didn't notice it immediately.

The person swaggered out from the side of the corridor right in front of her, but the girl didn't immediately realize it. Instead, she felt that her vision was a little blurry and she couldn't see her surroundings clearly.

[Enter the office! Now!]

Of course, the next moment, Liang's eyes widened and he realized the situation.

The eyes are fixed on something.

Eyes, one after another, watched from the front of the corridor.

She had been discovered at some point by a human body standing at the front of the corridor, a body that, instead of a head, had sprouted countless twisted limbs. Each limb bore eyes of varying sizes, like a grapevine laden with fruit, and those eyes were watching Liang intently.

Bang!

Without the slightest hesitation, the girl, following Gao Hai's instructions, burst open the half-closed door and rushed into the spacious office.

"..."

Then, upon seeing the scene inside the office, the girl stopped once again, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Headless Worker and the Unacceptable Noise

A headless person is working.

I saw one headless person after another, sitting in their cubicles, stiffly repeating incomprehensible actions, as if they were working.

Upon entering, Liang looked around and found the entire office area densely packed with headless people. All of them maintained perfectly synchronized movements, endlessly repeating actions that seemed to be some kind of work, but were utterly inexplicable and baffling.

They didn't seem to realize that Yamada Ryo had appeared.

Even though Ryo had violently burst through the door, the monsters didn't make a sound, as if they couldn't see or hear Ryo at all. They were just repeating their bizarre and incomprehensible actions.

One, then another.

Raise your hand, lower your hand, write and draw on the table, make a flipping motion in mid-air, then tap the table as if deep in thought.

If you only focus on the movements of a single headless figure, you might find these strange things quite vivid. It's like a living person doing work, getting tired and annoyed, and making all sorts of little movements.

However, if one broadens their perspective to the entire office area and observes nearly a hundred headless figures performing perfectly synchronized movements, all that Liang can feel is horror and eeriness. Especially when she notices that all the headless figures maintain absolutely identical movements, with no discernible difference between any two, the girl experiences an extremely strong sense of unease.

{What...what's going on with them?}

Liang, who hadn't expected to see such a scene, couldn't help but ask quietly in the mental link.

There's no reason why; they're just a bunch of strange creatures.

Gao Hai's explanation was simple and crude, as if he had drawn a conclusion without any consideration.

{Just... a strange creature?}

Yes, it's just a ghost.

{But they... I'm sorry... I understand, I'm sorry...}

Without Gao Hai needing to say anything more, Liang understood that whatever the reason these strange creatures had become like this, it had nothing to do with her. What she needed to focus on now was how to completely resolve this instance and how to find the most crucial core object of obsession. As for anything else, unless it was absolutely necessary, she shouldn't waste too much of her energy on it.

Keep in mind, she's still on the run for her life.

crunch - crunch -

The office door was opened once again.

An eerie atmosphere gradually spread, and something approached, beginning to search for any living person.

Liang knew that the commotion belonged to the eye-filled monster who had discovered her.

Don't let them see you, hide. That thing tracks its target using sight.

Gao Hai's voice echoed in her mind, while Liang herself had already crawled under a desk without hesitation. It was only then that she noticed that these headless monsters also had no feet. Their bodies were directly attached to the chairs, which were fixed to the ground. In other words, these things could never detach from the chairs from the beginning; they were essentially permanently fixed to their workstations.

Is this what it truly means to work until you die, and have to work forever even after you die? Isn't that a bit too terrifying?

To be honest, even knowing that these were just mindless and emotionless monsters, Ryo felt they were incredibly pitiful. Of course, this didn't affect the girl's actions. She nimbly darted under the desks, dodging the eyeball monster that had entered the office, quickly increasing the distance and disappearing deeper into the office area.

You can hear a continuous, faint sound, like someone whispering, or like something wriggling.

Occasionally, Liang would see something under these desks.

Some desks have small bags or hooks placed under them, containing small items such as snacks, comic books, towels, or tea.

Some desks had various notes stuck under them, with messages written on them. Most of the notes were blurry and illegible. But a few were legible. Liang saw self-encouraging messages like "Keep going, tomorrow will be better," and more mundane entries like "Picking up my daughter from school after get off work, buying a can of oil on the way." Of course, he also saw purely negative sentences like "Overtime, overtime, overtime every day, when will this end? To hell with Japan!!!"

Incidentally, the headless figures at the desks where such negative sentences appear are all more or less injured, some even with chains binding them, as if someone is worried about them escaping.

Even though they've already become like this, why treat them like this?

The girl sighed silently. She could sense that these headless and footless creatures were probably monsters transformed from the company's employees.

She was no longer worried about being harmed by these things. In fact, in order to avoid the eerie eyeball monsters following behind, Ryo occasionally touched them while moving. But apart from being startled by the low temperature emanating from the creatures, the girl was never attacked by them. They simply stayed at their workstations, repeating meaningless actions they had done countless times, seemingly unaffected by any external stimuli.

No, it should be said that after they became like this, they could no longer sense anything and had completely lost their ability to perceive the outside world.

After all, they have neither eyes nor ears. Their noses, which can smell, and their mouths, which can express their thoughts, have also been taken away.

Above their necks, only emptiness remained. Regardless of their original form, regardless of what they looked like when they were human, what remained here now were nothing more than mechanical, lifeless shells, devoid of any self.

【call……】

The heavy breathing sounds were getting closer.

The monster, which resembled a tree with countless branches and covered in eyeballs, was slowly walking through the office area.

Its footsteps landed, but not a sound was heard.

Only the heavy breathing would suddenly break through.

【call……】

Then, everything fell silent again.

【call……】

Then suddenly, the sound rang out again.

The branches are slowly spreading.

The eyeballs hanging on the branches trembled slightly.

Its movement speed wasn't particularly fast, but because it could observe its surroundings using the eyeballs on the branches, Liang had to be extremely careful to conceal its figure and constantly rely on Gao Hai's power and its extraordinary talent for eliminating its own presence to carefully avoid the opponent, gradually widening the distance between them.

Even so, Liang would still occasionally observe that thing secretly, using small mirrors placed at workstations or taking advantage of the space between desks to suddenly turn around and glance at it once or twice, remembering the scene she saw at that moment, and then analyzing and thinking about it.

She noticed that the device was inspecting employees at different workstations.

The strange entity would reach out and gently stroke the headless person sitting in the seat, observing their movements from various angles with its eyes. It would stand there for a long time before slowly moving to continue searching for Yamada Ryo, who was hiding there.

It didn't check every headless person at every workstation. Liang didn't dare observe the thing for too long, so she couldn't be sure which headless people it checked. But she heard the sound of chains rattling a few times, so she could deduce that the employees the monster was checking were likely those headless people who had expressed negative sentiments at their workstations and were therefore bound by chains.

Could this mean something?

A monster covered in eyes, possessing extremely strong observational abilities, whose gaze could not be escaped even by using methods to diminish its presence—this creature, in terms of its role, seems to qualify as a kind of monitor. Perhaps in its previous life, this thing was a high-ranking company executive responsible for monitoring its employees, reporting any problems immediately, and perhaps even handling them.

Given this positioning, perhaps...

{It would be difficult to leave by stealth.}

Liang, who had already secretly sneaked into the back half of the office area, said in the mental link.

Looking up, she could now see another door in the office area, one of only two entrances to this area. At this moment, a tree branch had already taken hold of this door, and the eyeballs hanging from the branch were swaying gently, constantly circling around, making it clear that it was impossible to avoid them and pass through the door.

Do you already have a plan?

Gao Hai sensed the hidden meaning in Liang's words and asked directly.

{There's one thing I'm unsure about: will it work?}

As Liang spoke, he moved stealthily under the table and came to a headless man with chains on his body.

Reach out and gently grasp the chains wrapped around the headless man.

Liang tested the thin iron chain with a little force, and after confirming that she could break it, she observed the position of the eyes. Once she was sure no eyes were approaching her yet, the girl took a deep breath and forcefully snapped the chain.

Snapped!

The crisp sound stood out starkly in the otherwise silent office area.

In an instant, Liang felt an intense chill gathering around her. Even though the surroundings remained completely silent and she couldn't hear any sound, she could clearly sense something terrifying gathering and staring at her workstation.

But even more intense was the movement of the headless, legless thing that appeared before Liang's eyes.

【…】

It made no sound.

Something that has lost its head cannot possibly make a sound.

But its body began to struggle violently in an instant, as if it had gone mad. The headless body desperately tore at the iron chains binding it, snapping them one by one, as if it wanted to get up from its seat and run away immediately. Its whole body trembled violently.

But it had no way to escape.

Without legs, its body was directly connected to the seat fixed to the ground, making escape impossible. No matter how frantically it shook its body or struggled with all its might, it remained fixed in place and could not move no matter what.

Twisted fingers were already pressed against the headless man's body.

Grape-like eyes gathered from all around, staring at the body that was still struggling.

Liang had already rolled to another workstation and, taking advantage of the moment when the eyeball-like creature was distracting him, moved to the second door of the office area.

【…】