[Quarantine Zone Exploration Personnel Action Regulations:]
[Welcome to the Cavern Research Base. Your sacrifice and hard work will become the cornerstone for the progress of the entire nation of America.]
[During your participation in the experiment as Quarantine Zone Exploration Personnel, you must abide by the following action regulations. Only after completing 3 exploration missions without error can your criminal record be expunged. For the sake of your future, we hope you will make rational judgments and choices.]
[The regulations are as follows:]
[1. Every article in these action regulations is a key point. Violations will result in different types of punitive measures according to their severity, such as 3-7 days of confinement, 1-3 days of food and water deprivation, an additional exploration mission, or execution.]
[2. You must wear the regulation yellow-striped uniform during exploration. The uniform must not be damaged. Damaging the uniform will be considered a serious violation.]
[3. You must carry a full set of exploration equipment, including the regulation uniform, real-time video recording device, thermal imaging device, special sensory device, environmental analyzer, searchlight, and earpiece. Check the equipment before departure to confirm it is functioning properly. Equipment failure during exploration will be considered a serious violation.]
[4. Directives from the Command Room supersede the articles of these action regulations. When the regulations conflict with directives from the Command Room, follow the Command Room's directives. Violating a directive from the Command Room is an extremely serious violation.]
[5. An exploration team's standard size is 3 people. The team leader must confirm the number of team members every 15 minutes to ensure it remains 3. If the number of personnel decreases, the current exploration activity must be halted immediately. If the number of personnel increases, report to the Command Room and act according to its directives. Do not make unauthorized contact with the extra exploration team member.]
[6. The target area you are required to investigate contains a hallucinogenic gas. Inhaling this gas is not life-threatening and will only cause harmless hallucinations. Do not overreact to auditory or visual hallucinations during the exploration.]
[7. When returning to the Quarantine Zone from the cavern area, you must undergo an examination period of approximately 3 hours within the Quarantine Zone. Be sure to follow the instructions of the examination personnel during this time. For any violation committed at this stage, the Quarantine Zone examination personnel may execute you directly.]
[8. If your uniform sustains overly severe damage during exploration, you may find other clothes to change into. Various types of clothing are available for replacement inside the cavern, including casual wear, staff uniforms, firefighter suits, and more. Select the type of clothing to change into based on directives from the Command Room. Do not mix and match clothing that clearly belongs to people of different identities.]
[9. Damaging research equipment is an extremely serious violation. In particular, you must not damage the earpiece. Ensure you can receive directives from the Command Room, as your actions must be carried out under its guidance.]
[10. When your communication device is severely affected and can no longer receive messages from the Command Room, please tear this regulations sheet open from the side. Beneath the standard rules is a page of emergency rules. You may use its contents to guide you safely back to the base.]
[The above are the basic rules you must abide by during exploration. Further operational guidelines will be given according to directives from the Command Room.]
[From the moment you chose to sign the test subject contract and join this research institute, you became a noble individual striving for the future of humanity. As long as you abide by the operational rules and complete a certain number of exploration missions, your criminal record will be completely expunged. Please seize this one and only opportunity you have.]
A set of rules, not particularly long, only about a thousand words.
Kaguya finished reading it in a very short time. She tried rubbing the sheet and quickly confirmed that what appeared to be a single page of paper actually had a hidden layer. If she tore it open, there should be another document inside.
She was somewhat curious about what the other document might be.
For now, though, she couldn't act rashly. A cold voice was already sounding in her earpiece—a hoarse and unpleasant human voice, as if something were stuck in its throat, giving her the command to enter the cavern.
She had to obey the directive for now.
Kaguya took a step, leading the way into the dark tunnel behind the isolation door.
The surveillance camera at the entrance slowly swiveled with her movement, its blinking red dot staring like an eye at her and the two team members following behind.
The team member who had been trembling at first had calmed down a bit. Although still somewhat timid, he had at least stopped shaking. As for the team member that wasn't human, Kaguya paid it no mind. She had a vague feeling that if she focused too much attention on it, something bad might happen.
Maki should be in the Command Room right now.
The situation over there is probably much more dangerous. After all, she's the only player in the entire Command Room. The dozen or so others... are not human.
No, not necessarily. After all, every eye in the Command Room is currently focused on my side. These things should be lingering phantoms formed from the obsession of a group of people, endlessly repeating a moment from the past, just like that couple from the Shirakawa Apartments. So, as long as my actions aren't too out of line, I should be able to keep the attention of those things in the Command Room on me and maintain the situation in a relatively stable state.
Though that was just a hope.
Lost in thought, the girl had already passed through the entrance area and saw a downward staircase behind it, as well as red characters carved into the rock wall on one side, forming a sign that read: [Welcome to the Red Nut Gray Hole Scenic Tourist Area].
This was the entrance to the Red Nut Gray Hole.
The starting area of the instance where, according to the intel, their party was supposed to arrive.
However, the original intel stated that their party should have arrived at a proper scenic area, not this research base.
Kaguya knew this meant the instance was being fixed. The moment the three of them chose this instance and entered it, it suddenly began its fixation phase.
Unlike Maki, the place where Kaguya first awoke was in the base's [Medical Examination Room].
Her identity seemed to be that of a test subject who had "voluntarily" joined a secret research project. From the conversations of those around her, it seemed she was playing the part of a death row inmate. As long as she could safely complete three exploration missions here, her criminal record would be wiped clean, and she could return to society to live a normal life.
It sounded utterly laughable. Without even needing to think, Kaguya could immediately conclude that not a single one of these exploration personnel had survived. Even if someone did manage to successfully complete three missions, the result would inevitably be death. Considering the identity she was currently playing, Kaguya had no doubt that if she obediently followed the Command Room's orders, it would be impossible for her to survive in the end. Therefore, no matter what, she had to find a way to damage her earpiece later and enter a "lost contact" state. Only then would she have a chance to live.
But that would only be self-preservation. Maki... how could she help her escape? Her "identity" seemed to be a researcher. Although it was relatively safer than her own, it would also be much more difficult to escape her current environment and clear this game. Moreover, this research base, which was never mentioned in the intel, was crawling with those human-like grotesqueries. Did that mean something had broken out in the base, leading to the death and transformation of everyone?
[C1, report your situation.]
Lost in thought, Kaguya had already descended some distance down the winding staircase in the cavern, and the cold voice of the Command Room personnel sounded in her earpiece.
[I am about to pass through the entrance staircase and officially arrive at the cavern. My team... currently has 3 members, no change.]
Kaguya Shinomiya recalled the standard response phrases she had heard in the personnel preparation room earlier and carefully answered the Command Room's order.
[Roger, please proceed.]
The Command Room's next instruction followed. Kaguya didn't sense any abnormal change; it seemed the situation wasn't too bad for now.
Step—
The stairs beneath her feet came to an end.
And a vast cavern, clearly artificially modified with a leveled ground, constructed paths, and installed lights and benches, revealed itself before Kaguya's eyes.
A chill spread through her.
She knew she had now entered the Red Nut Gray Hole.
She saw the state the cavern was in at this very moment.
"These are..."
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