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

Stop.

The pink-haired girl calmly turned her head to look at her side.

Eyes peeked out from the doorway beside her, silently watching the girl.

Chapter 44: Vague Information on the Radio and the Stalker in the Dark

[Sizzle…]

The radio blared shrilly in the dark corridor.

A persistent, stench, like something rotting, lingered in the narrow passageway.

Meanwhile, the only living person walking among them, Fujiwara Chika, had already started walking and continued forward.

She could feel herself sinking deeper and deeper into this nightmare.

She could also sense that she was gradually getting closer to her desired destination, which was the [Zhenyang Apartment] where her family lived.

This is actually quite strange. I'm currently delving deeper into the [Dansu Company Affiliated Kindergarten] area of ​​this instance. Theoretically, the deeper I go, the more I should be drawn into the deeper layers of this area's unique scenery. But the [Guiding Path] ability originates from the Blood Flower's blessing, and Qianhua doesn't believe there's anything in a Dark Night-level instance that could interfere with this blessing. Therefore, the path I've chosen must be the correct one.

[...A caregiver, just before leaving get off work...used a homemade shotgun and machete to launch an attack, murdering 17 children and 3 teachers at the Dansu Company's affiliated kindergarten...only one teacher survived...]

A sound came from the radio.

A serious voice, like someone broadcasting the news, with some background noise, rang intermittently on the radio.

This horrifying case...occurred on Friday afternoon, half an hour before dismissal at the affiliated kindergarten...some parents had already arrived outside the school to wait, but the caregiver had locked the gate beforehand...by the time the parents broke the glass door to enter, the caregiver had already fled...

As Chika slowly moved forward, the voice from the radio continued to ring, narrating like a story.

boom!

A muffled gunshot rang out from a room on one side of the corridor.

They heard the shrill cries and screams of children, the sound of footsteps scattering and fleeing, and the sound of teachers roaring and rushing forward, trying to intercept the attackers.

boom! boom! ! !

Then more gunshots rang out, followed by low, hoarse, nervous laughter.

A child who wasn't in the classroom hid in the restroom after hearing the noise... but the caregiver lured the child out by shouting, "The game of hide-and-seek is over!"

[The caregiver cleaved the child's chest and abdomen with a cleaver... An injured teacher chased after the caregiver to stop him, but the caregiver beheaded him...]

When the parents, hearing the commotion, broke through the glass door and entered, the caregiver had already dropped the machete and escaped through the window… Later, the caregiver was found dead, having committed suicide in his apartment building, Zhenyang. He had drunk at least half a bucket of laundry detergent from the laundry room on the second floor, then jumped headfirst to the ground, killing himself… The caregiver's neighbors stated that several days before the murder, the caregiver had developed a fear of water and had refused to drink any water for several days…

Amidst the clamor of voices, Chika slowly reached the end of the corridor. Once again, after going through yet another cycle, she arrived before this door, which was now stained with significantly more blood than before.

The sound of footsteps could be faintly heard behind her, as if someone was following her.

Chika never looked back; she simply reached out and grabbed the doorknob, gently pulling it open.

[Sizzle... sizzle...]

A louder noise came from the radio not far behind them, sounding like electrical static or the hoarse roar of some animal.

For a moment, Chika inexplicably sensed an approaching presence.

From behind her who had already passed.

He emerged from the place where there was nothing before and chased after her.

But when she turned around, she didn't see any suspected attackers in the dark corridor.

Only the stench became more intense.

In the darkness, the stench gradually spread to more rooms.

A child hid in a crevice in the wall, but was found by a caregiver who shot him through the wall... Police were unable to find the child's body until several days later, when it began to decompose... bodily fluids soaked the wall, and maggots bred in the crevice...

Amidst the noise, Chika had already stepped into the new corridor.

In this far more intense stench than before, she only needed to look down to see a layer of dark yellow, foul-smelling liquid covering the corridor floor.

This is the third major crime and the fifth murder in the city this year... Many local residents are beginning to doubt the effectiveness of the police's actions, despite their repeated claims that they will control the situation... Stricter curfews and martial law are needed...

The sound from the radio continued.

However, amidst the gaps in the conversation, Chika could still faintly hear indistinct sobs and laughter.

The police claim this was an isolated incident of extreme violence, a tragedy solely caused by the personality issues of caregiver Taro Funada… unrelated to anyone else and unconnected to recent rumors in the city…

She quickly reached the end of the corridor.

After traversing the damp ground and ignoring the slime seeping from the wet walls on both sides, you once again arrive at the door at the end.

open the door.

I pushed the door open once again.

After countless repetitions, when Chika pushed open the door this time, she was somewhat surprised to find that what she saw was not another dark corridor, but a clean corridor under the light, as if there was nothing unusual about it.

[Sizzle…]

However, the radio continued to ring.

[Mr. Kenjiro Kambara, General Manager of Danso Corporation, also recently delivered a speech expressing his deepest condolences for the tragedy that occurred at the affiliated kindergarten... He also strongly refuted some negative rumors targeting Danso Corporation, stating that the company will do its utmost to cooperate with the police operation and strive to ensure the safety of citizens...]

Chika stepped into the corridor and looked into the open door on one side of the corridor. She saw an empty room where all the furniture had been removed.

Everything that belonged to the children is no longer here.

The blood was wiped away, and the body was taken away.

It was as if nothing had happened; everything had returned to normal.

The sole survivor of this attack is currently receiving treatment in the hospital...

But that's not the case.

She could sense that the corridor under the lights, the corridor that was now presented to her, was not how it should be.

Taro Funada?

Chika knew this name.

All the clues that Yamada Ryo and the others found at the Jin'yō Apartment were compiled and posted on the Alice Network by Takami. Therefore, Chika already knew before entering the instance that Funada Taro, his wife Ichise Hiromi, and their son whose name was currently unknown were residents of room 201 in the Jin'yō Apartment. In addition, Funada Taro himself did go insane after drinking the contaminated water, and his body was found in the grass in the plaza of the Jin'yō Apartment. Nijika and the others also found a note that appeared to be a suicide note.

If I remember correctly, in that note, Funada Taro seemed to have some trouble remembering his own name, so he kept writing "I am Funada Taro" on the note. He also seemed convinced that the cat was possessed by some kind of monster, and that the monster couldn't be seen by others and was constantly searching for him.

And it seems that Kambara Mio is the mastermind behind everything, the so-called "villain." So, was this person involved in orchestrating Funada Taro's mad massacre of the kindergarten? Could this tragedy also be a ritual planned by the higher-ups of Danso Corporation?

The survivors are receiving treatment at the hospital.

The girl continued walking forward.

This time, however, the end of the corridor, which should have been reached quickly, seemed to have become much farther away for some reason.

tread--

The foot landed, and the movement forward began.

tread--

The distance ahead did not shorten.

No, it's not that it hasn't shortened; it's more like it's getting further and further apart.

Is this corridor getting bigger and bigger?

[At...at the hospital...hospital...receiving treatment...]

Qianhua stopped in her tracks.

She noticed that the sound was getting increasingly strange, like the sound of a radio that had malfunctioned.

She also noticed that there was actually no radio in the corridor, but the voice followed her closely from beginning to end, always right beside her.

[Hospital...hospital hospital hospital...]

But she couldn't see that thing.

[Hospital...]

So she looked up at the ceiling, at the light bulb that was emitting a soft glow.

Then, she reached out, and the blessing of the ethereal was activated. She took out a pistol from the girl's personal space and pointed the muzzle at the light.

boom--

Gunshots rang out in quick succession.

The first gunshot was Qianhua's shot shattering the light bulb, allowing darkness to reclaim the corridor.

The second gunshot came from something hiding behind her, which aimed a homemade shotgun at the girl's back and pulled the trigger, firing a bullet.

Then, the girl turned around and reached out to pinch the bullet that was powerful enough to pierce a human body.

The next moment, a blue light suddenly flashed from her eyes, heading towards the attacker at an even faster speed.

hum-

The sole survivor of the attack, kindergarten teacher Yoshimura Nagayoshi, has largely recovered after treatment at the Danso Company's affiliated hospital... She has returned to her apartment in Jin'yō and is recuperating at home...

In the darkness, the pungent stench and the smell of blood once again assaulted the senses.

The sound from the radio, which had become blurry, became clear again, as clear as if it were ringing right in front of Chika.

Chapter 45: Anomalies and the Temperature of Residual Items within the Dungeon

Judging from the intensity of its aura, the strange creature that appeared and attacked him was already very close to the intensity of Dark Night's core obsession.

Of course, this level of monster is nothing to Fujiwara Chika now. You have to understand that her first [Sacrifice Game] dungeon was a top-tier Dark Night difficulty dungeon with dual cores. Compared to what she experienced back then, this place is nothing.

But at this moment, Chika stopped in her tracks, frowning as she carefully observed the strange creature that had stopped in front of her.

The aura and the actual strength... don't match.

After another careful examination, the girl quickly came to this conclusion.

Although the monster that attacked him possessed an aura close to that of a Dark Night-level core obsession, its true strength was far from reaching that level. It was basically equivalent to an ordinary Dark Night-level monster grunt, or even weaker.

It was strange. These strange creatures didn't know any tricks like feigning strength or pretending to be weak to attack; their strength was generally roughly proportional to their aura level. But this thing that attacked her, despite possessing such a high level of strength, displayed unbelievably weak power. This made Qianhua realize something was amiss. Therefore, she deliberately stopped to observe it carefully.