Two exploration personnel?!
Kaguya's eyes widened.
Looking through the glass of the observation room, there were clearly three people standing on the field: Takumi, Fujiwara Chika, and the third exploration personnel who was, in essence, an anomaly in disguise. Three people were plainly right there before her eyes, so why was it being said that there were only two exploration personnel?
Was it because the role played by that disguised anomaly had not been counted?
No—impossible.
During yesterday's first round of exploration, Kaguya had acted together with two other exploration personnel. At that time, a total of three members went in, and three people also came out. According to Maki, the headcount determined by both the command room and the observation room had always been three, with no change whatsoever.
So why had it become two today?
Kaguya suddenly thought of the very first mission. At that time, Takumi's identity had already been different from that of the other players—right from his debut, he had obtained the "corpse" identity of Room 204. Although he himself had not gained many benefits from that identity, this abnormality had indeed existed from the very beginning.
Was it because of that wristwatch?
Thinking of how that mission had inexplicably become suddenly fixed, together with the abnormal situation right now, Kaguya could not help but begin to ponder this question.
Come to think of it, both Takumi and Fujiwara Chika had the designation C3. The two of them sharing the same designation might be precisely the reason they were being judged as a single person.
But if one referenced the first game, then perhaps… Takumi himself, beyond these surface identities, was also playing another identity? One that he himself might not even be aware of, a special identity that had not yet been exposed up to now?
If that was the case… wait. Yesterday, Maki had taken her out from the personnel lounge. At that time, the exploration personnel played by the anomaly had appeared just as before, but why was the exploration personnel played by the other player nowhere to be seen? That player who originally held the C3 designation had been shot dead by soldiers, yet afterward Kaguya had seen that person several times, discovering that the player had turned into an anomaly and continued to play the role of exploration personnel. As a result, when they set out again today, that person was gone. Could it be that they disappeared because Takumi and Fujiwara Chika had crowded out its designation?
And moreover, why had Maki not noticed such a thing? She had clearly played the role of the soldier responsible for bringing people out, so she should have discovered this problem at the very first moment.
Could it be that precisely because she was playing a soldier, she had not discovered it? No—come to think of it, why had I also failed to notice this in advance? Such an oversight should not have happened…
Realizing that this research base, which on the surface seemed to guarantee safety as long as one properly played their role, was gradually exposing its terrifying side, Kaguya's heartbeat could not help but tighten.
She wanted very much to do something, but the anomaly looking at her had already begun to emit an extremely ominous aura. At a time like this, if she made an ill-timed move, the outcome would likely be the same as those players from yesterday whose voices had been heard but whose persons had never been seen—vanishing without a trace, not even knowing where they had died.
But even so, she could not remain completely inactive now.
"Exploration teams are supposed to operate in groups of three. Now that the number of exploration personnel is below three, isn't this somewhat against the rules?"
Thinking this, Kaguya resisted the chilling gaze of the researcher seated in front of the observation room's transparent glass and cautiously put forward her thought.
Article Five of the Exploration Personnel Code stated that exploration teams used three people as the standard unit, and that if personnel were reduced, the current exploration activity had to be halted immediately. Now that this observer had personally confirmed that there were only two exploration personnel outside, this already constituted a violation of the code.
[Please notify the command room to begin the operation.]
But the researcher whose entire face had already shattered simply spoke once more. Within that emotionless voice, the temperature of the entire observation room began to drop even further.
Several researchers inside the observation room all turned their heads, motionless, staring at her. Some of the researchers who had been standing with their backs to her even twisted their own necks, rotating their viewpoint a full 180 degrees to meet her gaze.
All eyes, at this moment, were fixed upon her.
No communication was possible.
Because these were researchers inside the observation room, rather than command personnel in the command room, was it that there was no way to raise objections by citing the rules?
Come to think of it, yesterday, Maki—who had played the role of a researcher—had stayed in the command room, yet today she had been assigned to the observation room instead. This was also a point of change. A change in task assignment like this had to have a reason behind it—could there also be something hidden in it that she had not discovered?
Kaguya's brain, after the abnormalities began to appear, started to run at high speed.
Of course, in her actions she did not hesitate in the slightest. With an expressionless face, she walked to a doorway to the side, opened the door, went to the command room, and came before the command personnel.
"The observation room says we can begin the operation, but at present the total number of exploration personnel is two, which does not match the rules. May we begin the operation?"
Kaguya weighed her way of speaking and asked this pale-faced command person.
[Begin the operation.]
What developed next was something Kaguya did not want to see, yet it was also entirely unsurprising.
Was it because, as mentioned in the code, the command room's orders took precedence over the code?
Kaguya's expression grew increasingly grave, but at this moment she could only stand here. Before the operation ended, she could not leave this place.
Moreover, because of the presence of these anomalies around her, she also could not change clothes to alter her identity. Because when changing clothes, she would be noticed immediately due to the inaccuracy of her role-playing identity, and then she would fall into an enormous crisis.
Besides, she had not brought any clothes that could be used to change identities into the command room… was it still insufficient preparation? Not having expected that something like this would happen on the second day, or still not being cautious enough.
Knowing that there was nothing she could do on her side, Kaguya could only remain where she was in helplessness, watching the actions of Takumi and the others on the field.
And while Kaguya was worrying on her side, Takumi, upon hearing the order, had already begun to put on his equipment, preparing to formally begin the operation.
Of course, he knew the current situation was not right, and he knew something had gone wrong.
But at this very moment, as an exploration personnel member, he likewise had no way to break the deadlock. One had to know that right now several machine guns were aimed at him. Takumi could be certain that as long as he made any improper move, those weapons would rake him on the spot and turn him into a sieve.
If he got killed by the power of the Horror Story anomalies, so be it—but what was it to die to machine-gun fire? What on earth was going on in this instance? How had anomaly stuff gotten combined with modern weapons, hey?
Takumi, who very much wanted to loudly complain, had already finished putting on his equipment at this moment and, under orders from the command room, stepped toward the pitch-black cave.
At the same time, on the other side, Maki—who was playing the role of a soldier—had already arrived on the second floor, cautiously observing the surrounding situation.
When bringing Takumi and the others out, Maki had vaguely felt that something seemed off, but for reasons unknown that sense of abnormality quickly disappeared. As a result, the girl herself had not been able to convey what she had noticed as being wrong to the others.
As for what she had come here to do at this moment, it was actually quite simple, because she needed to cooperate with someone who had infiltrated a doll into Professor Vernon's office.
A few minutes earlier, Professor Vernon had already left his office and entered the research area on the first floor.
Therefore, at this time inside his office, the doll controlled by Takumi's consciousness had already shakily crawled out from under the desk. It poked its head around to check the surroundings, then quickly ran to the door.
It jumped, reached out to grab the doorknob, and missed.
After thinking for a moment, it turned around and climbed up the nearby bookshelf, then leaped through the air and jumped onto the doorknob.
Its weight was too light and its strength too small—it failed to pull it, and the doll ended up falling to the floor.
Takumi, who was going down the stairs, staggered slightly, nearly knocked over by the force fed back from the doll's side, and only barely steadied himself thanks to his physique beyond that of an ordinary person.
Climbing back onto the bookshelf again, this time it climbed directly to the top of the shelf, then leaped out once more, landing on the doorknob.
Click—
With the reinforcement of force, the door was finally opened.
And this time, after the doll fell to the ground, small cuts appeared on Takumi's legs and arms, as if he himself had fallen from some very high place onto the ground.
The feedback effect of this doll Obsession Item was truly unbearable…
Through the doll's line of sight, Takumi saw Maki sneak into the office. When she saw the doll, she shot him a glare, clearly showing that the anger in her heart had not yet subsided.
At the same time, he had also reached the entrance of the Red Nut Grey Cave, officially stepping into this cave, and saw—
He saw one tourist after another walking inside the cave, as well as the curious looks they cast over.
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