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

As he slowly crouched down, Akira Toyama gritted his teeth, feeling the images and sounds transmitted into his mind that were even more vivid than before.

These corpses, these remains—they were all patients.

They were all people who had contracted an unknown plague and had suffered greatly while alive.

This dark underground cave was not originally intended as a burial ground for them.

Instead, it was those who were not sick who drove them away, locking all these suffering and desperate patients in underground caves, and sealing off the entrances to create a burial ground filled with endless despair!

Chapter Fifty-Four: A Record of Despair from an Ancient Era and the Last Voice Captured

So that's what happened.

This instance, this place, this is where the Red Moon-level instance was originally built. Actually, it's right here.

Akira Toyama gazed upon those incomplete, silent remains shrouded in darkness.

In a daze, he was able to see the things that had happened here, feel the terror that had been unleashed here, and understand the truth of everything.

That was an unnamed plague.

It is a plague that has disappeared into history, forgotten, and left no record.

As the alternate world was formed and separated from the normal world, related information began to be forgotten by the world due to the anime effect, leaving no record. The information about this plague that once occurred in ancient Japan was also lost.

But the disappearance of the records doesn't mean the event never happened; they were simply contained within a copy. The pain and despair left behind by those who died because of it, those who were driven here, have all converged in this place.

That's right, this is where those people died, the very origin of this instance.

At this moment, Akira Toyama was able to clearly understand this fact.

[If we just drive all these sick people into the cave and kill them, there won't be any problems!]

[Seal the cave entrance and let them die inside. The poisonous gas won't be able to escape, and then no one else will get sick!]

[You bastards, just die in there! Don't come out and poison our families anymore, don't hurt us anymore!]

The man holding the torch was roaring angrily.

Soldiers wielding swords forced the seriously ill to stagger forward, one by one, into the cave.

People were crying and pleading, but received no response.

Some tried to resist and escape, but then the swords would fall, and as blood splattered, the remaining people could only tremble and continue forward, being driven by the healthy people to carry the bodies of the resisters and escapees into the cave.

"……call."

One by one, the people with tattered clothes disappeared into the dark cave in Yuanshan Ming's view.

No, that scene no longer resembles stepping into a cave.

If one had to put it into words, Akira Toyama felt that those people were more like being eaten up by that dark cave entrance, swallowed up bite by bite by that gaping cave that thirsted for fresh souls, with no chance to regret it.

Finally, they all stepped into the cave.

A rough estimate suggests that at least a hundred, perhaps several hundred, of these sick people who gathered from various places were swallowed up by the darkness.

In the pitch-black underground cave, where no one could see their own hand in front of their face and no exit could be found, these dying people gathered helplessly, watching the only exit slowly lose its light.

Ironically, just before the exit was to be closed, soldiers and civilians who had been in close contact with the patients were also driven into the cave. Even though these people did not appear to be infected with the plague, and had been following orders to escort the patients not long ago, the other soldiers around them immediately became fierce and menacing, forcing them forward without giving them any chance, and locking them into the dark cave amidst a new round of cries.

[May they die inside forever, and never come out again!]

Those who were not chosen and would not be thrown into the cave were shouting loudly.

tick-

Inside the damp cave, the sound of water droplets falling became clearer than ever before.

When all the light has completely disappeared, the sick and healthy people in the dark cave are left with nothing but this dark cave with no other exit.

The good news is that although there are no other entrances or exits for living people to pass through this cave, there are still some tiny pores, so there is plenty of oxygen inside the cave and there is no need to worry about suffocation or death.

The bad news is that the cave is well-oxygenated, so those inside won't suffocate quickly. Therefore, they will only experience a more miserable, more desperate, and longer death process in the time to come.

Tick-tick-tick-

In the darkness, water droplets, from an unknown source, flowed down and splashed onto the rocks.

On the very first day they were locked in the cave, at least one-tenth of the patients died. Many fell silently, without even a cry of pain, and never opened their eyes again.

The pitch-black cave was devoid of flies and mosquitoes. Even if some had been brought in by the victims, the cave's cold and damp climate would have prevented these insects from truly thriving. However, even without insects, microorganisms would still decompose the corpses, so within a few days, the cave would be filled with the stench of decay.

But that happened a few days later.

Even though many people have a premonition of what's to come and intend to take action to prevent it from actually happening, the first question that those who are still alive need to face, rather than the inevitable bad things that will happen in the future, is how to continue living.

Hunger began to strike these people who had not eaten for at least a day.

The power of the plague was terrifying; it made most of the people in the cave extremely vulnerable, making it difficult for them to even maintain basic mobility, leaving them on the verge of death.

But the plague wasn't powerful enough; although it quickly killed some people, many more survived. Those who didn't die immediately were then forced to face the plight of starvation.

Subsequently, those who were healthy took the lead in initiating the action.

In the darkness, it's unclear how they managed to light a torch, bringing light back into the gloomy cave. After failing to find a way out, the healthy individuals began searching for food. When they couldn't even find a lizard, the pressure to survive finally drove them to attack the sick, hoping to find something to eat from the dying.

Naturally, they gained virtually nothing; how could those already dying patients possibly carry much food into this tomb-like cave? On the contrary, several healthy people began to develop fevers shortly after coming into contact with the patients, followed by various symptoms, and became increasingly weak and dying.

Pain is spreading, panic is spreading, despair is spreading...

Yuanshan Ming could see those lying down through the enhanced spiritual vision of Gao Hai, and more people dying as time went by, as well as those who, for some reason, were still alive and struggling amidst the increasingly strong smell of decay.

For both the healthy and the already unhealthy, the suffering from going two days without any food was far more intense than drinking from the naturally formed pool of dripping water in the cave. One gasp after another rose in the air; those unwilling to give up were making a final, desperate attempt. They returned to the initial entrance and began trying to dig open the blocked opening with their hands, but this self-rescue measure was clearly futile. These last-ditch survivors, panting heavily, exhausted to the point of collapsing to the ground and dying, still failed to dig a path.

The number of people dying kept increasing, gradually exceeding the number of people living.

For most weak patients, going three days without food is an ordeal that is impossible to endure.

The torches used by the healthy individuals who had banded together had long since reached their limit. Their torches, which had initially been quite bright and seemed to be blessed by some kind of power, quickly grew weaker and gradually disappeared as there was nothing left to burn as fuel.

Darkness spread once again.

An intense feeling of hunger was spreading.

The sense of collapse brought by darkness and death, the inescapable sense of despair, once again shrouded the hearts of all those who were still alive and had not been lucky enough to die.

The patients, dressed in rags, thin and sick, who should have died long ago, are still enduring pain and refusing to fall.

Hungry to the extreme, some even stripped naked to use as fuel, yet they could only watch as the torches went out, while healthy people endured their suffering.

What happened afterward exists only in the pure darkness after the torch went out.

With his limited perspective, Akira Toyama couldn't break through the darkness in the corner without any objects of attachment or blessings. He couldn't clearly see what happened in the depths of the cave where the light had been cut off, nor could he see what those people who were looking at each other at the last moment did afterward.

But he could hear those sounds.

It sounded like animals tearing pieces of flesh at each other.

It sounded like the scream of prey at the last moment.

The sound was like predators roaring as they fought each other.

The only thing missing was the sound of human beings; all that was present was the sound of bestiality, madness, and the most primal violence.

"Haah...haah..."

Akira Toyama's eyes were bleeding, and his ears, nose, and mouth were also bleeding.

We've already seen things beyond the limits.

His talent is far from that of someone like Yotsuya Miko; the reason he can see so many things is entirely due to the power Takami provides to amplify his senses.

But having persisted this far, Akira Toyama's brain was almost burned out. Continuing to push himself further would not only cause immense physical damage, but also severely damage his mind and soul; he might even go insane on the spot.

Please help me maintain this a little longer, it's very important. Thank you, Mr. Gao, please help me a little more...

But Akira Toyama only spoke seriously in the mental link.

There was no wavering, nor could one hear the slightest pain; only absolute steadfastness resonated within.

Just like when she was robbed of her possession during the fierce battle at Hayate Elementary School, she stubbornly maintained her own identity.

【it is good】

Gao Hai didn't ask questions like "Can you hold on?"

He directly channeled his spiritual power into Toyama Akira's senses, and Toyama Akira, having received this power, widened his eyes and cast his gaze once again toward the end of darkness in the ruins of this gloomy cave, forcibly piercing through the thin veil to see what lay behind it.

【…】

It was a muffled sound, like something wriggling and crawling on the ground.

【…】

Everything was rotting and emitting an unbearable stench.

【…】

The howls of the beasts ceased, the screams of the prey stopped, and everyone fell silent. No more fighting or killing; they simply remained silent in the darkness, a shared tranquility in the unchanging darkness.

But it is not completely dead yet.

There was still something alive, something that hadn't died with them, still stubbornly clinging to life. Even on its last breath, even in its final moments, Akira Toyama could still sense the last few lingering wisps of warmth.

Whether they were healthy or unhealthy, whether they carried the plague or not, darkness covered everything. In this underground space devoid of any light, Toyama Akira had no way of discerning the origins of the last few remaining auras.

But this issue is no longer important.

Because they too are about to die.

There was no redemption, no hope, in the end of this tragedy, because everything was predetermined hundreds or thousands of years ago. No matter what those buried here were thinking, longing for, or doing in their last struggle, death would not cause them even a ripple.

【…】

I still couldn't make out what the sound was.

Such a faint sound uttered in the last moments of those fading breaths.

I need to hear it.

I need to understand it.

Pushing his senses to the limit without regard for anything else, unleashing his uncontrollable power to its fullest extent. Even knowing that what he was doing was tantamount to courting death, Akira Toyama did not hesitate at all, his actions even carrying a hint of self-destructive fervor.

Just being able to hear that sound is enough.