"This notebook is…"
Shijō Maki slowly opened the book and looked at the contents recorded inside.
The Kitchala tribe.
This was the name of an ancient Native American tribe recorded by the author of this notebook, an explorer named Aston.
As an indigenous tribe that once existed on the land of the United States, the course of this tribe's fate was not much different from that of other tribes.
They came into contact with outside pioneers, gave the other party help, then conflicts occurred, then they died one by one under gunfire, and afterward their scalps were put up for bounty. However, unlike those tribes that were still somewhat fortunate and were able to survive into modern society in reservations, the Kitchala tribe ultimately vanished into history, leaving behind only scant documents to prove that it had existed.
If it were only that, then this tribe actually would not have had anything particularly special about it.
But this explorer named Aston discovered, in the records of some cowboys and scholars, that this Kitchala tribe seemed to have once had a very unique belief.
According to the investigation, when the men of this tribe had just come of age, they would enter a natural cave alone, undergo a long climb all the way to the deepest part of the cave, and treat it as their coming-of-age ritual. This tribe gave names to the different regions of that cave, such as "Skin," "blood vessels," "major blood vessel," and "limbs," and the deepest part of the cave was named "Heart" by this tribe. In the tribe's view, only those who could reach the Heart alone and successfully come out could be called warriors of the tribe.
From the investigative results in all respects, it seemed that this tribe believed the cave they entered was the body of a deity. And the process of them going deep into the cave and then coming back out of it was a devout pilgrimage; those who could walk out alive were strong ones blessed by the deity. Aston was actually not very interested in this kind of myth and legend, but the cave mentioned within it made him pay very close attention. Aston instinctively realized that the cave that this tribe regarded as a coming-of-age trial was absolutely not some ordinary place, and it would surely be an excellent exploration site. And according to the laws of the United States at the time, as long as he was the first to discover it and complete the survey of that cave, he could obtain the priority right to develop that cave, and the benefits within were enough to tempt people.
Over the next ten-plus pages, the notebook was filled with the process of this explorer named Aston trekking through desolate wilderness, striving to locate that cave. From the changes in the dates, it could be seen that this search process lasted a full three months. During that time, it was accompanied by all manner of dangers. Aston encountered attacks by bears and packs of wolves on more than one occasion. Even though he carried a hunting rifle, he was still bitten several times and nearly had one of his legs bitten off, truly suffering extreme torment.
More than once, he thought about giving up. He continuously recounted his hardships in the diary, complaining about his momentary impulsiveness, yet he could not bring himself to give it up entirely.
And in the end, relying on that single strand of perseverance, he successfully found what he had been seeking.
[Aston's Notes:]
[I have decided to name this cave "Red Nut Grey Cave."]
[This really is a good place. There are various stalagmite and stalactite landforms, as well as all kinds of stone pillars distributed throughout. As a scenic area, it could definitely make a lot of money.]
[However, the latter half of this area is truly far too perilous. Perhaps I can try phased development? I wonder whether my budget is actually sufficient.]
[In any case, this is my territory now.]
[Thank you, the Kitchala tribe. Although you are no longer here, without you, I think it would have been impossible for me to find such a good place. Ha—may God bless you; this is my heartfelt blessing.]
[Unfortunately, the more detailed records left behind by this tribe can no longer be found. Hmm, at present I only know of three places: "Blood Vessel," "Heart," and "Dead End." It seems I will have to find a way to rename the others myself. This really isn't something I'm good at.]
[All right, next, let's see what kind of place this can be turned into.]
In the notebook that overflowed with joy, even the handwriting appeared quite messy due to excessive excitement.
At this moment, the origin of the Red Nut Grey Cave was made clear.
Through the perspective of the doll sitting on Maki's shoulder, Takumi read the words on the pages with perfect clarity. And as he read these words, those faintly visible hallucinations assaulted him once again. This time, Takumi clearly saw that aged figure—the first-generation park director of the Red Nut Grey Cave, leaning on a cane, bearing old injuries left behind by youthful exploration experiences, and forced to rely on a cane in old age—vividly emerge within Takumi's memory at this very moment.
At that time, the Red Nut Grey Cave had no abnormalities of any kind.
Although there were all kinds of legends and stories, and although there existed fragmented and bizarre records, the fact was that from the time Aston discovered this cave to the time it was developed into a state-wide famous scenic area, no supernatural incidents of any kind occurred. Everything was entirely normal.
Therefore, the problem arose during the tenure of the second park director.
That man named Patrick Reed—after he took over this park, and after he developed it into a well-known scenic area—what exactly happened here?
After that incident, the Big Slide was sealed off. Guard booths were constructed inside the cave, and the park maintained continuous 24-hour surveillance to prevent anyone from entering the interior of the Big Slide. But even so, abnormal incidents continued to occur. Security personnel and staff members were trapped as a result, and some even went missing.
What happened?
Exactly what caused all of these changes?
Was it an accident? A sudden disaster? Or some other problem? No matter what, one thing could be certain: someone had died in this cave. According to the consensus reached through countless players' explorations over the past two years, all supernatural incidents within instances were inevitably caused by the dead; it was the obsessions of the deceased that formed the foundation of Horror Stories. Therefore, something must have happened that caused someone to lose their life inside the Red Nut Grey Cave.
Was it a Tourist? An Explorer? Or someone else?
But if that were the case, then what was the situation with this research base?
If the key to the obsession lay with a certain deceased individual inside the cave, then why did this research base appear? What kind of role did this base play in the process by which the Red Nut Grey Cave transformed into a place of Horror Stories?
Maki turned to the next page of the notebook.
And on this page there were no records—or rather, the records on this page no longer existed. A large number of pages had been brutally torn out, leaving behind only a very few blank pages. On the page that Maki happened to turn to, there remained a single sentence written by another person, completely different from Aston's handwriting.
[Does God really exist?]
With no beginning and no end, a completely inexplicable question.
Words that, at this moment, caused Maki to sink into deep thought, and made it difficult for Takumi to shift his attention away.
However, Takumi truly had no way to think about the contents recorded in this notebook at this time.
Because that leader—the eerily performed Explorer designated as C1—had already turned around and begun to move toward the Big Slide… no, its direction of movement had shifted slightly. At this very moment, the direction in which that thing was advancing was the position of the Gentle Slope.
"The command room's new order is to proceed to the Gentle Slope."
At this moment, Fujiwara Chika was briefly stunned, feeling confused by this inexplicable command.
Takumi, however, without the slightest hesitation, reached out and removed the girl's headset, threw it to the ground, and crushed it underfoot. Then he discarded the equipment he was carrying, lightening the load on his body.
"Let's go. Go back. We can't stay here any longer."
As he said this, Takumi grabbed Chika and sprinted in the direction of the Stone Forest Path.
He felt a gaze even more intense than at any previous moment.
It was like a gaze saying, "Got you," an extremely unsettling gaze carrying a bone-chilling cold.
The doll had already begun sending a prompt to Maki, using their prearranged code to let her know that something extremely bad had happened and that she needed to rush to the first floor immediately.
Kaguya, who was in the command room, could not be contacted. There was extremely strong signal interference there. Even though the three of them had carried communication headsets and walkie-talkies in their backpacks beforehand, there was no way to transmit information. Or rather, within this bizarre instance that had split into different worlds, none of the communication methods the three had anticipated worked at all. Only items such as the Blood Puppet and the Rescue Team Badge, which were Obsession Items, could still be used.
Takumi had a very bad premonition.
Today's exploration operation had felt wrong from the very beginning: first, there was an error in confirming the number of people during movement; then there were the "hallucinations" surrounding Takumi from the moment they entered the cave; and now there were the increasingly abnormal commands coming from the command room.
"Takumi… I—I can still hear the command room's orders.
Fujiwara Chika, whose hand Takumi was holding, hesitated before speaking at this moment.
"The command room says… we have to hurry to below the Big Slide, go to the Blood Vessel to participate in a rescue operation."
"No—no, that's not right. The command room's order is… to go to the Gentle Slope, telling me to enter the Gentle Slope."
Chika tightly furrowed her brows, her expression filled with confusion.
She could not understand why, after discarding the headset, she was still able to hear the command room's orders.
She also could not understand why, after hearing those orders, her first reaction was how to carry them out—thinking about how she could possibly complete the two commands issued by the command room.
Takumi's steps suddenly came to a halt.
It was not because something had appeared ahead in the cave.
Rather, it was because he suddenly could no longer feel that eerie gaze watching him.
Had the other party shifted its attention once again?
That was what Takumi initially thought.
But immediately afterward, through the perspective of the doll on Maki's body, Takumi—running together with the girl on that side—reached the first floor. They passed through a silent research area where it seemed that no section was currently in use, then went through the isolation door and entered the corridor of the observation area. There, at the end of the corridor, he saw something flash past—something that looked like a white skirt.
That gaze flashed past as well.
Flashing past within the doll's sensory perception on that side.
"So it was my fault?"
Takumi could no longer make his feet move forward.
He already knew, at this moment, the source of the problem he was facing.
That gaze—that thing watching him—had established some kind of connection with him.
And then, at the moment he stepped into the Research Base, that thing's attention shifted into this base and began to focus on it. It was just that at that time, the other party still seemed to be under some kind of restriction, and therefore nothing major happened.
That continued until he entered the Quarantine Zone as an Explorer and began to enter the Red Nut Grey Cave of this timeline.
At that moment, Takumi discovered that the distance between himself and the thing watching him began to weaken; the barrier between them seemed to be close to disappearing entirely.
Yet within his perception, the source of that gaze still maintained a certain distance from him.
And the reason that distance still existed was because… that thing had used its connection with him to enter the Research Base.
At some moment he had not realized, an extremely dangerous anomalous entity—one not listed on the Research Base's rules—had already infiltrated the base.
"A bloodstained skirt… its root exists within the Research Base's timeline, and the tendency of that thing's obsession is…"
The remaining words, Takumi did not have time to say.
Because gravity had already reversed in an instant.
Caught completely off guard, he was violently flung upward, smashing into the ceiling of the cave.
Thud!
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