Why is my anime art style so weird?

Who exactly did this, and why?

Just then, Xu Ming suddenly felt a tickling sensation on his back, as if someone was watching him.

Xu Ming immediately turned around and scanned the room, but found nothing.

This room is really a bit eerie.

With the threat of monsters looming, Xu Ming quickened his search again.

He roughly opened each drawer and cabinet door in the room, and the sound of him rummaging through them carried directly outside.

Soon, Xu Ming found a notebook with a very dirty cover in the drawer of the dressing table.

So Xu Ming casually opened the first page and began to read it.

Where am I? Why am I here? Shouldn't I be at the Chinese Cuisine Research Institute?

—A monster! There's a monster here!

—That monster came again tonight! It came into the room!

……

—That monster must have spotted me! It comes here every night now!

I stuffed pillows under the covers to disguise myself as a person, then hid in the closet. I survived tonight, but I don't know how much longer I can hold out!

I can't get out! Why can't I get out?! Why is no one coming to save me?!

……

Xu Ming stared solemnly at the notebook in front of him.

Between the lines, Xu Ming could almost see the recorder's journey from initial confusion upon entering an unfamiliar place, to terror upon discovering monsters, to the monsters closing in and the despair of being unable to escape.

Xu Ming flipped through the pages one by one. After thirty pages, he turned to the last page, on which were written the recorder's last words.

—I've been in this godforsaken place for a month now. I can't get out, and nobody else can get in. Every night I have to hide from that monster. I've had enough of this life!!

——Miyoko Hojo’s last work.

Xu Ming looked at the last page, and Hojo Miyoko's despair seemed to pierce through the paper.

Miyoko Hojo is one of the few chefs in the original "Food Wars!" series who specializes in Chinese cuisine. Although she is a woman, she is assertive.

It's hard to imagine that she would be driven to such a desperate state.

The desperate notebook she left behind also provided Xu Ming with a lot of useful information.

Unlike Xu Ming, who came voluntarily, Hojo Miyoko must have wandered into this place by mistake, gotten trapped, and left behind this notebook filled with despair.

The information revealed in the notebook, combined with Xu Ming's own observations.

This should be an alternate dimension, disconnected from the outside world, with the entrance likely located within the ruins of the Chinese Culinary Research Institute. The entrance opens every time a blood moon rises.

But the export destination is unknown.

Xu Ming had personally experienced this; the main gate was like a "ghost wall," making it impossible to get out.

There must be some crucial clue that he hasn't grasped yet.

If Xu Ming fails to find this crucial clue, he will inevitably suffer the same fate as Hojo Miyoko:

Unable to find a way out, and having to exhaust themselves every night to deal with the monster, they either commit suicide in despair or die at the monster's hands.

Just as Xu Ming was pondering with his notebook, another chill ran up his tailbone.

That feeling of being watched has returned!

Xu Ming quickly turned around to check, while listening intently to the sounds outside the room.

Faint sounds of monsters tearing things apart could be heard outside the door, seemingly coming from the direction of the back garden.

Xu Ming breathed a slight sigh of relief; it seemed that what was spying on him was not that monster.

What could be spying on him?

Clearly, something new and eerie is hidden in this room!

Xu Ming carefully scanned the room, not even missing the overhead beams, under the bed, under the table, inside the cabinets, and other blind spots, but still couldn't find the source of the gaze.

That monster could jump out of the back garden at any moment; we can't delay any longer!

Xu Ming gritted his teeth and strode out of the house.

Just then, Xu Ming felt a faint red glint in the corner of his eye.

Xu Ming stopped and turned his head to look.

Behind the dressing table, a faint red light was reflected in a large bronze mirror that was almost half a person's height.

Xu Ming took a few steps and adjusted his angle.

Soon the true form of the red light was revealed in the bronze mirror.

Those were legs, a woman's legs!

These legs were suspended in mid-air behind Xu Ming!

Could it be that...?

Xu Ming subconsciously bent his knees and leaned down slightly, and soon saw himself in the bronze mirror...

A tall woman dressed in a scarlet cheongsam was suspended from a beam by a white veil.

Her face was deathly pale, two lines of bloody tears streamed down her cheeks, her eyes bulged, and she stared intently at Xu Ming.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Truth

A chill ran from the soles of my feet straight up to the top of my head.

Xu Ming felt like his heart was about to stop beating.

He quickly turned to look at the roof beam behind him, but there was only a white gauze moving on the beam without any wind.

Xu Ming was taken aback and looked at the bronze mirror again.

The woman was still hanging from the rafters, her gray, lifeless eyes staring intently at him.

Short purple hair, cheongsam... Miyoko Hojo...

Xu Mingfu reached the heart.

The woman hanging from the roof beam is none other than Miyoko Hojo, who left behind her suicide note!

Having guessed the other party's identity, Xu Ming immediately adjusted his position, cautiously observing Hojo Miyoko's actions through the bronze mirror while pointing his phone towards the roof beam.

However, Hojo Miyoko did not seem to have any intention of attacking Xu Ming.

She stared at Xu Ming like that, then slowly stretched out her hand and pointed towards the door.

"Does that mean I should leave and not disturb her?"

Xu Ming thought to himself.

However, since he had already provoked one monster, he naturally didn't want to provoke another vengeful spirit.

Xu Ming quickly left the room and closed the door behind him.

Just as Xu Ming turned around to leave, he looked up and saw a roof that was higher than the courtyard wall diagonally opposite.

That seems to be the front hall of the main house...

The thought of the charred coffin in the front hall, from which the terrifying monster crawled out, sent chills down Xu Ming's spine.

But Xu Ming hadn't taken more than two steps when he froze again.

The direction Hojo Miyoko was pointing, the information hidden in the system mission description...

Numerous clues flashed through his mind, instantly illuminating his confusion and bewilderment like a beacon.

Miyoko Hojo was trapped here for a full month, but she still couldn't find a way out.

Xu Ming didn't believe that she would willingly stay in the room and wait to die after being trapped.

She will definitely take the opportunity to search the entire old house.

Logically speaking, over a period of a month, she should have turned this old house upside down several times over.

But why hasn't she found a clue to get out?

There is only one answer, and the most crucial clue lies in a place she dares not even go to—the coffin from which the monster crawled out!

To avoid the monster, Hojo Miyoko lived in constant fear and exhaustion every night, so she dared not go to the front hall to search the coffin.

As for the daytime, the monster sleeps in the coffin, and she probably wouldn't even dare to approach it.

This proves the saying: the most dangerous place is the safest place.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until Miyoko Hojo couldn't bear the pressure and hanged herself that she understood this truth.

Xu Ming bowed to the house where Hojo Miyoko was, expressing his gratitude for her guidance, and then resolutely turned and walked towards the front hall of the main house.

Passing through the gate of the side garden, we returned to the original courtyard.

At this moment, the white lanterns under the eaves were glowing with an eerie green light, and the ghost money fluttering in the sky was as numerous as snowflakes.

Everything became even more bizarre.

Faced with this situation, Xu Ming was not afraid at all; on the contrary, he felt a sense of emotion.

The general shape of this Qing Dynasty house is a "回" shape, with a large "口" containing a smaller "口".

After experiencing some twists and turns, he returned here again.

Everything seemed to be an inescapable cycle.

But he had to go out because there was someone waiting for him to return!

Xu Ming's eyes hardened, and he walked directly toward the coffin, facing the ghastly green light.

The closer he got, the clearer he could see.

On the charred coffin, large and small black bubbles bulged out, looking like pustules filled with venom.

The ground was covered with paper money, and the walls were covered with yellow talismans with various eerie patterns drawn on them in scarlet cinnabar.

The coffin was surrounded by various paper figures, paper horses, paper houses, gold ingots and other burial items.