Land of Regret.
This was, in fact, a name Takumi had arbitrarily given to this area.
A fire station, an upscale restaurant, office buildings… all kinds of architectural zones were piled and interwoven together here in ways that could not possibly exist in the real world. One obsession after another wandered within, repeating the actions they had performed while alive. This peculiar phenomenon had actually also occurred in the Shirakawa Apartments, but the situation there was somewhat more limited: the scene was always confined to a single apartment building, with at most small variations at different points in time—such as Room 109 existing as two different spaces. By contrast, the changes within the Red Nut Grey Cave were far more abundant.
Takumi speculated that this was likely because the number of people who died in the Red Nut Grey Cave far exceeded those in the Shirakawa Apartments, and because the number of people who participated in the process by which obsessions formed Horror Stories was also extremely large. In short, not every deceased person could leave behind a lingering obsession in the Red Nut Grey Cave. Judging from the current situation, it seemed that only those who had already had a deep connection with this place before the Red Nut Grey Cave fully erupted were able to leave corresponding obsessions, and to leave behind various things in the corresponding areas within the cave.
The earlier fire station was a place where members of the firefighters' rescue team had stayed. The office building was the area where the Red Nut Grey Cave staff had been located. That upscale restaurant looked like it was connected to Anthony Tovan—this was an area Takumi had already identified during the previous run.
This time, Takumi entered this place with the goal of searching for whether more areas existed, to see if he could find useful clues within them and further piece together what had happened in the past. Of course, he also needed to obtain again the unused key he had acquired during the second run, since it was still unknown exactly where the power relay system that key could open was located.
"Are you sure you want to go in there with me to investigate? This isn't a safe place—there's no telling what might be hiding inside."
Takumi looked toward Rex beside him.
"It's precisely because it's extremely dangerous that I want to go. I want to figure out what exactly happened here, and what needs to be done to resolve the problem in this place."
Rex answered with great seriousness and sincerity, and under the power of the blessing, all that Takumi could sense from this person was a very pronounced goodwill—there was not the slightest trace of malice present.
The power of the blessing had never judged Rex to be an enemy.
Yet Takumi still could not bring himself to feel at ease about this person.
Could it be that I'm overthinking things, judging with a petty mind?
Takumi had to admit that this question involuntarily surfaced in his thoughts.
But in the end, he still remained silent, still continued to keep his guard up in secret, maintaining a surface-level friendly attitude as he stepped into the fire station ahead of everyone else.
Just like the previous time, this place was still as cold and gloomy as ever. The doors on both sides of the corridor and the walls were, in essence, connected as a single structure. At the end of the hallway, those weird entities were still maintaining the actions they had performed while alive, continuing their training.
Bang!
Propping open the black umbrella, lifting his leg, and kicking the door, Takumi charged straight into the training area.
All of the weird entities turned their heads at that moment, looking toward the door that had been violently kicked open.
However, after the black umbrella erased his presence, they were all unable to determine Takumi's position, unable to see where he was.
Thus, after a brief silence, those weird entities lowered their heads once more and resumed their meaningless training, endlessly repeating the same motions.
Rex remained hidden in the corridor and did not immediately enter the training area. It seemed that he lacked any means of concealing himself in front of those weird entities, and therefore planned to slip in to check things out once the timing was right.
Takumi did not concern himself with how Rex intended to act. Holding the umbrella, he walked step by step to the edge of the training area, toward another corner he had not visited before.
There was likewise a large door here. After opening it and stepping inside, Takumi discovered that it was a garage, with a fire engine parked inside at the moment.
As expected— for those firefighters who had lost their lives deep within the cave, the garage area was something they would certainly never forget. After all, every time something went wrong inside the cave and they were needed, they had to drive out in a vehicle.
Thinking this, Takumi made a circuit around the garage. After confirming that there were no other passages here, he walked straight up to the fire engine, reached out, opened the door, and sat down inside.
He adjusted the seat.
He put away the folded black umbrella into the watch space.
Takumi slowly leaned back against the seatback.
Then he turned his head and looked toward the man sitting beside him.
[You know I can't let you leave. We need you right now.]
Takumi heard the voice of the man sitting in the same seat position as him, mirroring his posture.
[If this keeps up, more and more brothers will die, and we won't even be able to tell their families how they died. We can't go on like this. All of this is a mistake. Ever since Andres died, everything has spiraled out of control. We shouldn't have entered that cave again.]
Howard, sitting to the side, shook his head with a dejected expression. His beard was unkempt, giving him a somewhat disheveled look, and his eyes were bloodshot.
[So what else can we do? With you here, at least a few fewer people will die. If you leave, you should understand what will happen next. Mr. Anthony Tovan's people are watching the Red Nut Grey Cave very closely. Even if you give up, someone else will step in. Can they do it as well as you can?]
The man sitting in Takumi's position continued speaking, his tone filled with helplessness.
[All of this will just go on endlessly…]
Howard finally let out a deep sigh.
[It won't be for too long. Once this year's evaluation is over and the mayor is removed from office, it should be fine.]
The man shook his head, reached out to light a cigarette, and continued.
[I don't think so.]
Howard, however, shook his head as well, his brow tightly furrowed.
[I keep feeling that something is wrong somewhere. I keep feeling that this whole thing makes no sense.]
[Someone already died in that damn cave to begin with, and then something that bizarre happened afterward. What are they after? Are those people in high positions of power all idiots? Packaging a problem like this as a national-level scenic attraction—does the benefit they get really outweigh the cost they're paying?]
These words were clearly not something he had just come up with on the spot; they had been simmering in his heart for a long time. Howard's attitude was extremely agitated, and his voice even wavered out of pitch.
[Stop going on about conspiracy theories. That's the kind of thing those stupid rednecks like to play with. You should know that none of this state's previous promotional policies have ever succeeded. The fact is that for thirty years, not a single successfully developed and promoted attraction has come out of it. The Red Nut Grey Cave just happened to catch the wave of the cave-attraction craze. This was a rare opportunity to begin with. Of course those big shots are going to make use of it, even if it's full of flaws.]
The man took a deep drag on his cigarette and exhaled, utterly dismissive of Howard's thoughts.
[Even so, I still think it makes no sense. This whole thing is just too strange…]
Howard still clung to his view, lowering his head and muttering, his gaze flickering uncertainly.
[Alright, don't think about it so much. Hasn't that damn cave been quiet lately, without many incidents? Just don't worry about it. Stay here and do your job properly. Put in a few years, endure getting through this mess, and your road ahead will still be long.]
The man shook his head, opened the car door, and got out.
Howard remained seated in the car. After a long silence, he opened the small drawer in front of the passenger seat, took out a notebook, jotted down a few lines, then put the notebook back. After that, he shook his head and got out of the car as well.
Takumi opened his eyes.
Of course, there was no Howard in the car, nor was there the man who had been talking with Howard.
He had merely, at that moment, seen some things that had happened in the past—clearer and more vivid than what he had seen in the second loop.
This seemed to be related to his direct encounter with the core obsession, Andres. Having learned about matters related to this core obsession, when approaching remnants connected to it, he could see more and clearer phantoms of the past, gaining an understanding of what had once happened.
That said, this core obsession was, from every conceivable perspective, surprisingly gentle. Even though he had already watched the other party's death process from beginning to end, after the new loop began, that thing still did not launch any attack against him; it did not even cast a gaze in his direction, as if it were completely unaware of his existence.
A core obsession with almost no informational contamination.
To be honest, if it were not for the fact that this thing's power could suppress the power of the Rescue Team Badge and a whole pile of other obsession items, and could carry out extremely outrageous and terrifying methods of execution, Takumi would almost have doubted whether Andres was truly a core obsession at all.
Reaching out, he opened the small drawer on the front passenger seat.
Takumi took a notebook out from inside.
It belonged to Howard Smith—to the firefighter who had witnessed the Red Nut Grey Cave change from a tourist attraction into a land of death.
[Notes Related to the Red Nut Grey Cave]
[These are note records I left behind after entering this cave several times; perhaps they can help people survive]
[Key Point 1: The identity you play on the surface may be more important than what is inside]
[Two of my friends disappeared inside the cave. Jude's clothes were torn open by the rock wall, while George took off his jacket after it got dirty. The others did not encounter situations like theirs, so we successfully walked out of the cave]
[Perhaps this was because we were wearing intact clothing, because we were properly "playing" the role of firefighters—how could such bizarre things happen?]
[Key Point 2: Try your best not to take the Gentle Slope]
[That place is becoming more and more sinister. Team members keep falling down and getting stuck inside. On the two round trips where I led the way, people fell into cracks both times. When other team members lead the team, if they take the Gentle Slope, someone will basically always get stuck inside as well]
[I remember that bastard Patrick Reed saying that in the past, tourists would often climb over the railing and fall into the large fissures of the Gentle Slope. What on earth is going on in that hellish place? Why does this kind of situation keep happening over and over? It is practically as if there is something there pulling people downward. Andres, the one who had the accident, should have been in the "Blood Vessel"; that is where strange incidents frequently occur and where the danger zone is. Could it be that there is actually something in the Gentle Slope as well?]
[But if there really were something in the Gentle Slope, there would be no reason that no one has ever died there. People have only ever gotten stuck inside. That includes those unlucky security guards as well. Even the most unfortunate among them was only stuck in a fissure of the Gentle Slope for ten hours. Compared to the security guards who went missing behind the Big Slide, they were far luckier]
[Key Point 3: You must never enter the side paths inside the "Blood Vessel." Up to now, not a single person who entered has returned. Perhaps Andres kept them there]
[Not entering side paths is something I emphasize in every operation, yet people still disappear inside the "Blood Vessel." To be honest, I actually do not know whether they truly entered the side-path area, went before that person's corpse, and what they encountered there that led to such an outcome. But at the very least, judging from my two experiences of going deep into the "Blood Vessel," the problematic place should be those side paths. The rocks there bear many dragging marks. Was that Andres's original intention? Or has he already been possessed by a devil?]
[Key Point 4: You must make sure that the people you rescue know their own identity and know their own name]
[Everyone who could not clearly remember who they were was ultimately rescued with nothing left but a set of clothes. The exact principle is completely unknowable, but this is a point worth paying attention to. We must determine who can be saved and who cannot be saved, and not waste time and lives on futile efforts]
[Key Point 5: I will write more when I think of it. Perhaps if I lead the team into the Red Nut Grey Cave one more time, I will know what to write. But it is also possible that this time, I myself will be the one left inside]
[I think I should organize these things and write them into a table of rules and regulations]
[That way, even if other people lead teams into the Red Nut Grey Cave, at the very least they will know what to do, instead of dying there in that hellish place while ignorant and confused]
It seemed that what was recorded here was a rough set of rules that Howard had summarized through continuous observation after leading teams into the Red Nut Grey Cave several times. This man truly seemed quite extraordinary. Takumi felt that the rule sheet held by the rescue team firefighters during the flood period should have been Howard's final compilation.
However, within the Red Nut Grey Cave of the flood period, Takumi did not see Howard himself. Considering that in the previous loop, Maki had mentioned discovering interview records of Howard himself in the research base, Takumi could not help but form a somewhat pessimistic view regarding that man's fate.
Continuing to flip through the pages, it seemed that there was nothing else further on—what remained were merely blank pages.
Was there really nothing more?
Thinking this, after a moment of contemplation, Takumi turned the notebook over and began flipping from its very last page toward the front.
This time, he successfully saw recorded text—another set of notes left by Howard, which could only be seen by flipping from back to front.
These notes were… records investigating Anthony Tovan?!
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