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

The chubby boy, looking quite unhappy, pouted and quickly arrived at the end of the road, looking at the fork in the road that appeared before him.

This area appears to be a laboratory area, with numerous rooms visible from both sides of the fork in the road. Most of the rooms have their doors open, and inside you can see many instruments that are not quite clear and things that look like corpses.

Tick-tick-tick-

The amount of water dripping from the ceiling is increasing.

The humidity in the air continued to increase, and the chilling atmosphere grew stronger. Kenta Hayashibe was certain that he had become the target of the monster, but for some reason nothing appeared before him. He was alone here the whole time, all by himself.

Is it an intangible monster? Or one that can't be observed by the target? Can't you just use a basic charging attack to fight me? I hate enemies with such strong rules that there's no standard solution to defeat them directly.

Kenta Hayashi sighed again, randomly choosing a direction to move forward, glancing at the surrounding rooms from time to time.

The pitch-black corridor seemed endless; no matter which way you went, you couldn't see the next fork in the road. However, the things in the surrounding rooms seemed to be gradually increasing without anyone noticing, and strange scratches were appearing on the walls along the corridor.

There seems to be some sound.

It sounded from a very, very far place, and it was impossible to hear the specific content clearly, nor could it truly connect with the past.

So Kenta Hayashibe closed his eyes, letting the power of the auditory blessing spread over, making the blurry sounds gradually clear, so clear that they seemed to be ringing in his ears.

These prisoners... these prisoners are unqualified...

In the low, guttural voice, it seemed as if someone was violently tearing up the paper to vent their frustration.

Their spirits are too fragile, too easily tempted, too easily led astray, too easily consumed by their own desires...

We can't reach the destination by relying on prisoners; they're consumed far too quickly, and we simply don't have enough time to obtain any truly useful information.

Only a very small number of prisoners are still somewhat useful, but they are far too few, too few in number, and the sample size is far too small. We need people with stronger wills; we need truly powerful people to become those who peer into the abyss.

The sound was accompanied by a series of footsteps, as if someone was pacing back and forth in the room, talking and turning in circles.

Perhaps... those soldiers can handle it? Those soldiers who have managed to endure this research institute without suffering a mental breakdown have more than enough willpower. Losing a few people shouldn't be a problem; at worst, we can just say they deserted, and no one will know their whereabouts.

The experiment has progressed to this point where failure is no longer an option; it must succeed.

I have no other choice. I have devoted too much of my life to this research. I have gone too far, there is no turning back, and there will be no other outcome but success and death.

In the darkness, the voice carried a hint of coldness, and Lin Bujian felt as if he could see a person gritting their teeth and making a firm decision.

tread--

The road ahead also underwent a subtle change at that moment.

Although he couldn't find the source of the problem at first glance, his instincts as a Red Moon-level player reminded Hayashi Kenta that the situation was different now than before.

Coming?

Has the mysterious creature hiding here finally decided to make its move?

With little change in his expression, Kenta Hayashibe simply continued walking forward.

He took a step, his shoes landing on the slightly damp corridor. The next second, the lights around him suddenly came on, and blurry figures quickly moved through the corridor and rooms, accompanied by whispers.

Of this batch of prisoners, only three were deemed fit. Upon seeing the hole, they did not jump in, but instead remained true to themselves.

Someone's voice emerged from the whispers, becoming clear and recognizable.

[This group of prisoners...only one person? They're practically a bunch of useless trash...Wait, this person saw into the depths of the cave? Really? He actually saw it and survived?]

More voices joined in, some cursing, some exclaiming, and some simply discussing what to eat for dinner.

Kenta Hayashi frowned and slowly walked in the direction of the sound, stepping into a room on one side of the corridor.

This place looks like an autopsy room, with disemboweled corpses lying on the platforms, and thick blood flowing all over the floor, sticking to your feet if you walk around.

However, Lin Bu Kenta didn't care about such things. He walked directly to the platform where the sound was coming from, stood in front of the only empty platform in the room, and reached out to pick up a report document placed on it.

Prisoner number F-0228

[Prisoner's Name: Masashige Yamashita]

[Prisoner Source: One of thirty serious offenders from Japan sent to us by Danso Company as a partner; details about the others are unknown.]

[Prisoner Experiment Results: Successfully completed a "peeping into the abyss" mission and returned alive, and successfully completed observations of the deep areas of the "cave"]

[Follow-up experimental plan: Continue "Operation Peeping into the Abyss" and increase the dosage of anesthetic drugs to ensure that the subject can remain outside the "hole" for a longer period of time in order to collect more data. At the same time, the improvement of the new brainwave instrument must be accelerated. We may not always be able to wait for such a good test subject, so we must make progress before this one becomes obsolete.]

The report itself wasn't very long, and much of it had been redacted. But even the identifiable parts were enough to reveal a lot. Dansu Company… I think I've seen this company before. A Japanese company that can cooperate with the American military? It feels a bit unbelievable. Such a powerful company should be very famous; it shouldn't have no record in the real world, unless… well, that must be it. I wonder what level of instance this Dansu Company is. Is it a Red Moon level instance?

Kenta Hayashibe pondered this and decided to explore deeper into the room. But this time, he had to stop after taking just one step.

The room is gone.

Unaware of the changes happening around them, they found themselves in another place by the time they noticed. It was as if, without realizing it, their brain and the surrounding environment had conspired to deceive their senses.

No, that's not important.

Once this thing appears before us, it becomes unimportant.

"Well……"

Kenta Hayashibe saw a hole, a bottomless hole in the ground.

From the moment it appeared before Hayashibe Kenta, it captured his entire attention, preventing him from looking away and forcing him to continue staring at the cave, peering deeper into it.

He knew this was his own cave.

A hole that no one else can see, no one else can understand, a hole that only you can reach and delve into.

It was difficult for Kenta Hayashibe to describe what he saw in that instant.

He felt as if he had been dissected and completely exposed, his entire life up to this point, his desires at every stage of his life, and every trouble and helplessness he had experienced during his growth. All of this was presented in this dark cave, in this cave that belonged only to him.

Strangely, Kenta Hayashibe found that he did not feel ashamed, nor did he feel embarrassed or angry about his secret being exposed.

Having witnessed this scene firsthand and personally experienced the power of the cave, what he felt at that moment was a natural peace, an unwavering belief in the power of the "cave," and an impulse that came from the depths of his heart.

Jump down.

This is a cave that belongs only to you, a happiness that belongs only to you.

Jump into this cave, and all the pain of reality will leave you, and all your wishes will be fulfilled.

There was no reason to hesitate any longer.

Come on, come on, come on.

Jump in now.

……

The edge of the cave had somehow gotten closer.

The seductive voice grew clearer and more captivating in my ears.

But Kenta Hayashibe simply stood still, silently watching everything unfold.

"To jump into a hole of illusory consciousness and then find happiness for a lifetime in falsehood doesn't sound like a bad idea. At least it's better than waking up to find out that rice prices have gone up in Japan again."

Kenta Hayashibe yawned and casually remarked as he looked at the black void in front of him.

Those tempting voices are still getting closer.

The black hole had already spread to where we were standing.

"However, I decided against it."

Then, Kenta Hayashibe took a step back.

"I just hate trouble. If I were to shut myself off like this for the rest of my life, wouldn't I really become a deadbeat couch potato? Besides, I'm a Red Moon-level player, a legitimate member of the powerful class. If I really want to fulfill a wish, I'll just do it, right? Is it necessary for you to make up this nonsense for me?"

Saying this, Hayashi Kenta turned around, ignoring the cave that seemed to be approaching behind him, and left without looking back.

tread--

As the foot landed, a chilling sensation washed over me instantly.

"Pfft!"

After a gasp, Kenta Hayashibe, who had just opened his eyes, tumbled out of the massive water tank and rolled onto the ground. A device that had been attached to his head was ripped off with the man's rough movements and fell onto the wet ground.

Wait, what's going on here?

With his clothes completely soaked, Lin Bujian looked up in a daze and saw Nanakawa Ren not far away, whose clothes were also soaked, and Shao Ye standing further away, whose body was wrapped in a long black robe and seemed to be dry.

"You were the slowest one; I almost thought you were going to die inside."

Nanakawa Ren commented on Hayashibe Kenta with remarkable composure.

"Cough cough...cough cough cough...no, when did I get infected? And where am I? Why am I here? What happened—"

Completely bewildered, Hayashi Kenta coughed up water as he asked, but no one answered his question.

Of course, there was no need to answer, because that familiar aura had reappeared, and its intensity was significantly greater than before.

The core obsession of the Red Moon level in the research institute area is right here, right in this room.

Chapter Thirty-Two: An Opponent Far Beyond Expectations and a Person of Unyielding Spirit.

The aura was completely different from the one before; it hadn't even appeared yet, but it was already enough to make it difficult to breathe.

In the darkness, no sound came out, and no trace of presence was leaked out.

But the three people present could sense its arrival, deeply aware of its approaching presence. It was as if it had been deeply imprinted on their consciousness, indistinguishable from them, fused with them as one, already…

"Guarding your mind has an assimilation effect..."

Shao Ye's hoarse voice startled Lin Bujian and Nanakawa Ren. Only then did they realize that this yet-to-be-manifested core obsession could silently assimilate and corrupt Red Moon-level players.

The strength of this thing is off.

Kenta Hayashibe immediately realized the problem.

Aside from the Nightfall Mountain Middle School instance, which he inexplicably cleared without ever encountering the core obsession, Lin Bu Kenta had faced other Red Moon-level core obsessions. However, the strength of those monsters was incomparable to this one. Its aura was simply too terrifying, so terrifying that Lin Bu Kenta felt a faint urge to fight back, even an impulse to run away. He realized that this thing was far beyond his capabilities, an opponent far beyond his limits, and now such a terrifying being was about to find him, about to appear before him.

What Red Moon-level core obsession? This thing isn't even Red Moon-level, is it? Could it be the legendary Abyss-level monster, something above Red Moon-level, a monster that only Mr. Gao Hai has successfully broken through to the dungeon level?

I came here to deal with the core obsession of the Red Moon level, so how did I suddenly get upgraded to the Abyss level?

In fact, if Lin Bujian could retrieve his memories from the earlier cycles at Yelu Mountain Middle School, he would know that the thing about to appear before him had a counterpart in terms of strength. That counterpart was the Blood Pool, the underground pool composed of a massive amount of divine blood. And the aura that could rival such a thing meant that the strength of this monster was naturally beyond what a normal Red Moon-level core obsession could compare to; in fact, even the strength of an Abyss-level monster couldn't compare.

This thing has come close to the concept of "god" to a certain extent; it is a failed product that failed to reach the level of "doctor." Even as a failed product, after receiving a temporary infusion of the power of the "hospital," it can temporarily enhance its own power, allowing it to reach a level that is impossible for players to contend with.

Therefore, it would be impossible to fight against such an enemy, let alone find the core object of obsession, right?