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

"I can't help but complain," said Kenta Hayashibe, who was slammed to the ground.

“Spatial anomaly… It seems we’ve been thrown into a different spatial structure. It’s probably because this instance is a mixture of several instances. Although the hospital maintained structural stability before, the situation is completely different after leaving the hospital.”

At this moment, Nanakawa Ren had already huddled in the corner, trying her best to brace herself against the corner of the elevator to stabilize herself, while talking with Hayashibe Kenta and analyzing the current situation.

"So where exactly are we going? I thought it would just be a little investigation of a new place, but what's going on here?!"

Just as Lin Bujiantai, who was in a bad mood, finished complaining, he was thrown into the air again by the violent shaking of the elevator, slamming hard against the elevator ceiling, then rolling to the ground. He rolled twice on the ground before crashing into the wall and finally landing on the ground.

Despite being a Red Moon-level player, Lin Bu Kenta's physical abilities far exceeded human limits; his thick skin and tough flesh meant he wouldn't be injured by such impacts. However, the experience of being bumped around was clearly unpleasant. Especially since the elevator's vibration frequency was constantly increasing, it was like a cola bottle in a child's hand, swinging wildly up, down, left, and right at an incomprehensible speed. As a result, Lin Bu Kenta himself was constantly being bumped around in the elevator, and even occasionally bumping into Nanakawa Ren's face.

Clang—clang clang clang—

In just a few seconds, Kenta Hayashibe had already bumped into the elevator at least dozens of times in various areas.

Although not a single impact could truly threaten him, and it didn't even leave a scratch, the continuous impact made Kenta Hayashibe feel dizzy. He kept reaching out to try and grab something, but only managed to scratch a few shallow dents in the elevator.

"Can you please stop bumping into me? You've hit me several times already!"

Nanakawa Ren, who was in the corner of the elevator, couldn't help but shout.

"Do I look like I'm enjoying this?"

Unable to maintain his balance, Hayashibe Kenta raised his hands and gave Nanakawa Ren two middle fingers in mid-air before slamming them against the wall on one side of the elevator once again.

"Huh? You can't even do something as simple as maintaining your balance and keeping yourself steady. Have you ever trained yourself even once?"

Seeing Hayashibe Kenta's attitude, Nanakawa Ren became even angrier and immediately started hissing at him.

"What a joke! Becoming a player means you have to train your skills? Then what's the point of me living? The point of living is to be lazy! Even if the sky were to fall tomorrow, I would never let go of my cola and chips tonight. That's my life motto as a shut-in!"

Even as he kept bumping into the walls, the floor, and the ceiling, Kenta Hayashibe's voice showed no hesitation and was even filled with pride.

Choosing to become a loser was, in the end, his dream from the very beginning.

Must people always work hard? Must people always work themselves to the bone? Being so exhausted you fall asleep the moment you collapse into bed, your clothes soaked with sweat every day, leaving white stains, aching hands and feet, tendonitis, back and leg pain, spinal and neck strain—what's there to be proud of in that? Even if you earn a lot of money, so what? Will you live to an age where you can comfortably enjoy that money? Will you live a long and healthy life, free from illness and hardship, until your death?

"I will absolutely—not try—this is a belief I will uphold even at the cost of my life!!!"

As he slammed into the ceiling and then crashed to the floor, Kenta Hayashibe let out a ferocious roar at Ren Nanakawa.

"Don't waste your faith on such weird things! It's just learning a little bit about controlling your body; what does that have to do with hardship?!"

Despite already knowing what kind of personality and flaws her partner had, Nanakawa Ren still couldn't help but roar at this moment.

At that moment, the elevator, which had been shaking violently, suddenly stopped and returned to a stable state.

Boom!

Hayashibe Kenta's obese body crashed to the ground like a solid cannonball, then nimbly flipped himself up.

Meanwhile, Nanakawa Ren, who had been huddled in the corner trying to steady herself, also stood up and cautiously looked towards the elevator door.

Right now, both of them are well aware that they have entered a completely unfamiliar place.

Unlike the "Slacker Gang," who, despite being separated by multiple spaces, were essentially investigating in the same area, Lin Bu Kenta and Nanakawa Ren were heading to an unknown region where they couldn't get help from others and had to rely on each other. Therefore, after the elevator stopped, Lin Bu Kenta immediately abandoned his playful attitude and became serious and alert, while Nanakawa Ren stopped dwelling on the earlier, almost joking, topics and focused on the immediate problem.

"I'll go first, you cover me."

Kenta Hayashibe stood at the elevator door and whispered to Ren Nanakawa behind him.

"rest assured."

Qi Chuanlian nodded slightly and replied casually.

Then, Kenta Hayashibe reached out and grabbed the elevator door, and with a little force, tore the already twisted elevator door open.

call--

A cold gust of wind then rushed in from outside the door.

A completely dark corridor, devoid of any light, appeared before the two players.

The elevator lights could only illuminate a small area outside the door. From the dim light, Kenta Hayashibe noticed that the corridor had no flooring, only a plain cement floor that was full of cracks and covered with moss. It looked like a place that had been abandoned for a long time and had not been maintained.

Taking out his flashlight and turning it on, Kenta Hayashi carefully stepped out of the elevator and onto the outside corridor. He then scanned his surroundings with the flashlight and saw room doors sealed with bricks and cement on both sides of the corridor, as well as walls full of cracks.

"I can't tell where this place is, but this wind... it feels like an underground building."

Following behind, Nanakawa Ren sniffed, sensed the humidity in the air, and then said in a low voice.

Click—click click—

A piercing explosion came from behind.

Kenta Hayashibe and Ren Nanakawa turned around and saw the elevator doors quickly recover from their recessed state and close. Then the elevator started moving again and disappeared from their sight completely in less than a few seconds, its whereabouts unknown.

In that case, there's no way out.

Tsk, my ideal in this life is just to be a lazy bum who does nothing but eat and wait to die, so why do I have to become a player, why do I have to participate in the deadly "sacrifice game", and now I'm even being dragged into a fateful war that determines the survival of human civilization and have to shoulder the responsibility? This kind of thing is clearly more suitable for someone born with the protagonist's destiny, right?

Kenta Hayashi sighed sadly, then strode forward without hesitation.

Despite being a complainer, Kenta Hayashibe never hesitates to act when the time comes. He knows perfectly well that self-pity won't change anything. When trouble actually comes his way—whether it's bullying at school, workplace humiliation, or online ridicule—it won't disappear with a few complaints and annoyances. To truly achieve a simple and carefree life of slacking off, one must clench their fist and fight back forcefully when problems arise.

step-step-

The crisp sound of footsteps spread through the darkness as the two moved forward.

"All the doors are sealed off."

Qi Chuanlian's gaze swept over the doors that were sealed with cement, and she spoke in a low voice with a hint of doubt.

"This place looks like some kind of laboratory or research base. It's probably a classic case where researchers discover some kind of power related to strange and mysterious things, and presumptuously choose to study it, only to have things get out of control and result in a Bad End. This is a very common phenomenon in dungeons; I've lost count of how many times I've seen it."

Kenta Hayashibe, on the other hand, seemed completely unconcerned, simply yawning and speaking in a casual and relaxed tone.

The dark road continues to stretch forward.

The repetitive and monotonous scene remained unchanged; it seemed like an infinitely long road, and no matter how the two players moved forward, they couldn't reach any new areas. Of course, the two players quickly realized that this was just a sensory illusion. Firstly, they didn't notice any obvious spatial anomalies; spacetime here was relatively stable. Secondly, the sealed doors around them did have subtle differences, but these differences could only be accurately detected by players with keen observation skills; ordinary people would hardly notice the subtle differences in the brickwork and the thickness of the cement plaster.

"This road is a loop, and we should be back where we started soon."

After advancing for a while, Qi Chuanlian spoke in a low voice. Her spatial perception was quite good, so she quickly determined that the dark corridor was actually a circular corridor. It was just that the circular structure was too large, and the surrounding environment was too dark to see the details in the distance, so she did not immediately notice this.

Along their journey, the two found no normal doors; all of them were sealed shut with cement. They wondered why those who had once been here would have made such a decision. Was it to lock something up to prevent escape? Or to stop something from getting in from the outside?

call--

A cold wind continued to blow through the dark corridor.

The two could not find the source of the cold wind. Each time the wind blew, the direction was different. Sometimes it blew from the front, sometimes it came from behind, and sometimes the wind would suddenly descend from the left, right or even directly above them, as if there was something unseen blowing on them from all sides.

We're almost back to where we started.

Qi Chuanlian estimated the length of the circular corridor and found it to be at least 3 kilometers. This struck her as somewhat unbelievable; a circular structure with a circumference exceeding 3 kilometers would undoubtedly be unusual in the real world. If this place hadn't been stretched and warped after becoming a dungeon, it was probably quite extraordinary back then.

As she was thinking this, she noticed something different finally appearing ahead. It was a passageway that looked like a stairwell, but it was completely blocked by rubble. Unlike the other doors that were sealed with cement, this passageway looked like it had been blown up with explosives. In front of this blocked passageway, many skeletons and dirty clothes were scattered around, not a single bone still with flesh attached. Among them, a skeleton wearing a suit lay against the pile of rubble, clutching a document in its hand.

[Decision Regarding the Abandonment of the "Hert Institute" and the "■■ Hospital"]

[Mission Classification: Top Secret]

[Task Priority: Highest]

[Instruction 1: Seal off every entrance and exit to every room within the "Hert Institute." Ensure that all doors are sealed off before the institute is completely abandoned; absolutely do not leave any door that appears passable.]

[Instruction 2: Destroy all documents related to "■■ Hospital". Any records associated with it must be completely erased; not a single one can be left.]

[Instruction 3: During the sealing and destruction process, any researchers found not yet to have left the area must be executed immediately. Any unidentified individuals who should not be in the area must be detained. Do not harm these individuals, do not answer their questions, do not engage in excessive communication with them, remain silent, and use force only as appropriate.]

[Instruction 4: After sealing all the doors, all personnel involved in the project will be executed. This matter must not be leaked.]

[Instruction 5: After executing all living people in this area, execute yourselves. Those who have entered the contaminated zone may not leave. You will not be allowed to return; you must die here.]

The document's content wasn't particularly complex, but the handwriting of "Hert Institute" and "■■ Hospital" quickly caught the attention of both Hayashibe Kenta and Nanakawa Ren.

I'd heard people from the "Slacking Off Gang" mention this research institute before. The hospital in their records wasn't named, which matches up with the fact that they didn't find any records mentioning the hospital's name when they investigated the hospital's first floor. Could it be...?

A few thoughts flashed through the minds of the two players.

However, before they could do anything, a new aura appeared in the dark corridor.

"what?!"

Qi Chuanlian only had time to cry out in surprise before the ground began to shake.

boom! ! !

The next second, amidst the flying sparks, the two players saw a figure draped in a black cloak step into the corridor from behind the shattered door, the sword in his hand still burning with flames.

That was Shao Ye, the last member of the "Touch Fish Gang" to participate in the Tokyo rescue mission.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Sealed-Off Circular Laboratory and the Advancing Temporary Squad.

The "Slacking Off Gang" is a well-known organization in the global gaming community, if not infamous. Several prominent members are practically household names among gamers, such as Xiong Mi, Cat Brother, and Shao Ye, who is now standing before Lin Bu Jiantai and Qi Chuan Lian.

The black cloak fluttered incessantly in the raging wind.

The burning blade slowly disappeared, along with the flames.

Then, the face covered by the hood slowly turned around. Even though he couldn't see the other person's face or eyes, the feeling of being stared at by something dangerous, the hair standing on end, was still so strong that Hayashi Kenta felt a sense of terror, like a kitten being stared at by a tiger.

Is this Shao Ye? Is this the true form of the "Hell Messenger" from the Lazybones Gang? I couldn't sense this aura at all in the meeting room before. This feeling is just too terrifying! So, are all those legendary things about him single-handedly wiping out an entire enemy player team, failing to escape when the dungeon closed, and enduring ten whole days inside until his teammates found a way to force their way back in, true?

Even though he ultimately died in the Fujiwara Middle School instance and couldn't escape the terrifying monster Alice, such an unreasonable enemy was impossible to defeat. Only someone equally unreasonable like Gao Hai could possibly defeat him. For most players in the world, someone like Shao Ye was already the most powerful and courageous player in their perception.

Kenta Hayashibe's movements were a little stiff; he had to admit he was getting nervous.

As a homebody who preferred to live a life of leisure and idleness, the aura of power emanating from Shao Ye was simply too much for him to handle. Even knowing that the other party wasn't his enemy, he instinctively felt that he couldn't get along with someone who was prone to outbursts at the slightest provocation.

"Hello, Ms. Shao, we are players from the Red Knot Society. Due to some unexpected events, we are temporarily working with the [Slacking Off Gang], but somehow we've become spatially isolated. We came here on Mr. Gao Hai's instructions. Do you have any urgent tasks? If you're not in a hurry to meet up with others, would you like to investigate this building with us?"

In contrast, Qi Chuanlian's reaction was much more normal. She quickly summarized the previous situation and then invited Shao Ye to join her team.

"……Can."

After a moment of silence, Shao Ye answered Qi Chuanlian in a hoarse voice.

The raging flames had been completely extinguished, and Shao Ye had returned to his original all-black state. He silently walked up to Lin Bujian and Nanakawa Ren, glanced at them, and then walked to one side of the circular corridor, arriving at a door.

“Miss Shao, do you know where this place is? I just came across a report that mentions the ‘Hert Institute,’ which should be referring to this place, right?”

Qi Chuanlian moved closer and continued to question Shao Ye. She could tell that although this player didn't talk much and didn't seem to have a very good temper, his personality was probably quite stable. As long as they communicated normally, there was no need to worry about any problems.

"It's all here."