Chapter 27: The First Moment of Being Found and the Observed Object
"This notebook is..."
Shijo Maki slowly opened the book, looking at the contents recorded inside.
The Chichazuala Tribe.
This was the name of an ancient Native American tribe, documented by an explorer named Austin.
It was a tribe that once existed on the lands of America, and their fate was no different from other tribes.
They came into contact with settlers from outside, helped them, then conflicts arose, and they were subsequently cut down by bullets, with bounties placed on their scalps. But unlike the luckier tribes that managed to survive in reservations until modern times, the Chichazuala Tribe eventually disappeared from history, leaving behind only rare documents proving their existence.
If that was all, then this tribe was not particularly special.
However, the explorer named Austin discovered in some records from cowboys and scholars that the Chichazuala Tribe seemed to have had a very unique belief system.
According to surveys, men who had just reached adulthood in this tribe would enter a natural cave alone, undergo a strenuous climbing journey to reach the very end of the cave, and consider it a coming-of-age ritual. The tribe had named different areas within the cave, such as "Skin," "Blood Vessel," "Main Artery," and "Limbs," while the deepest area of the cave was called the "Heart." In their beliefs, only those who could reach the "Heart" and return on their own would be recognized as warriors of the tribe.
Based on investigative results from multiple sources, it appeared that this tribe believed the cave they entered was the body of a deity. The journey of delving deep inside and then returning was considered a sacred pilgrimage, and those who survived were believed to have been blessed by the god, becoming the strong.
Austin was not particularly interested in such mythical legends, but the cave mentioned in the records piqued his curiosity. His instincts told him that the cave used for this coming-of-age ritual was by no means an ordinary place but rather an excellent exploration site. Moreover, according to U.S. law at the time, if he were the first to discover and complete the survey of the cave, he would have the priority right to develop it. The potential benefits were enough to make anyone envious.
In the next ten pages, the journal detailed explorer Austin's journey through the desolate wilderness in search of the cave. Based on the changes in dates, this journey lasted for three months, filled with countless dangers. Austin was attacked multiple times by bears and packs of wolves. Despite carrying a hunting rifle, he was still bitten and injured several times, nearly having his leg broken by a bite, suffering numerous hardships.
He thought about giving up more than once, constantly lamenting in his diary about his misery, blaming himself for his initial impulsiveness, yet he could never bring himself to stop.
In the end, thanks to his perseverance, he successfully found what he was looking for.
[Austin's Journal:]
[I have decided to name this cave "Nutty Putty."]
[This place is truly an incredible location, full of stalactites and stalagmites, with stone columns scattered everywhere. It could undoubtedly become a lucrative tourist attraction.]
[But the second half of this cave is truly too perilous. Maybe I should try developing it in phases? I wonder if my budget will be enough.]
[Regardless, this is my territory now.]
[Thank you, Chichazuala Tribe. Even though you are no more, if not for you, I don't think I would have been able to discover this wonderful place. Ha, may God bless you. This is my sincere prayer.]
[Unfortunately, the detailed records left behind by the tribe are now gone. Hmm, for now, I only know of three areas named "Blood Vessel," "Heart," and "Dead End." It seems I will have to come up with the rest myself, but I'm not very good at this...]
[Well then, let's see what I can turn this place into next.]
The handwriting on the journal page was filled with joy, so much so that it became incredibly messy due to excitement.
The origin of Nutty Putty Cave, at this moment, had been clearly established.
Through the perspective of the doll sitting on Shijo Maki's shoulder, Takakai could clearly see every line of text on the page. And as he read these lines, hazy hallucinations once again surged into his mind.
This time, Takakai saw the old figure clearly—a hunched old man leaning on a cane, forced to rely on it due to lingering injuries from his youthful expeditions. The first manager of Nutty Putty Cave now appeared vividly in Takakai's memory.
Back then, Nutty Putty Cave had no abnormalities whatsoever.
Although there were scattered legends and strange records, the truth was that from the moment Austin discovered this cave to when it was developed into a state-famous tourist attraction, no supernatural occurrences had ever taken place. Everything was completely normal.
So, the issue lay in the tenure of the second manager.
A man named Peidi, after taking over the tourist site and turning it into a renowned attraction, did something.
After that event, the big slide was sealed off, a guard station was built inside the cave, and the site was monitored 24/7 to prevent anyone from entering the slide. But despite these measures, strange incidents continued to happen. Security personnel and workers at the site were not only trapped but even went missing.
What exactly had happened?
What led to this change?
An accident? A sudden disaster? Or was there another reason entirely?
No matter the cause, someone had undoubtedly died in this cave.
Based on the collective understanding accumulated by countless players over the past two years, every supernatural event in dungeons stemmed from the dead. Their Obsession formed the foundation of horror stories.
So, there must have been an accident—someone had lost their life in Nutty Putty Cave.
Was it a tourist? An explorer? Or someone else?
But if that really was the cause, then what exactly was this research center?
If the core of the Obsession lay in a death that occurred in the cave, then why did this place exist? In the process of Nutty Putty Cave becoming a cursed location, what role did the research center play?
Shijo Maki flipped to the next page of the journal.
But there were no records on this page.
Or perhaps, there once were—but they were no longer there.
A large number of pages had been violently torn out, leaving only a few scattered blank ones. And right on the page Shijo Maki had just turned to, there was a single sentence—not from Austin, but from someone else.
[Do gods truly exist?]
A disjointed question, without context, without explanation.
The words sent Shijo Maki into deep thought, preventing Takakai from shifting his attention away from the contents of the journal.
However, at this moment, Takakai was truly unable to focus on what was written in the journal.
Because the leader—the bizarre explorer marked as C1—had turned his back and was heading toward the big slide… No, his direction had shifted slightly. He was now moving toward the gentle slope.
"New orders from the command room: head to the gentle slope."
Fujiwara Chika was slightly stunned, finding the command strange.
But Takakai didn't hesitate for even a second. He raised his hand, removed the girl's earpiece, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it, then discarded his carried gear to reduce his load.
"Go, turn back, we can't stay here."
Takakai said this and grabbed Chika, quickly running toward the stone forest path.
He felt an intense gaze from behind—stronger than ever before.
It was a gaze that seemed to whisper, "Gotcha."
An overwhelming unease, chilling to the bone.
The doll had begun transmitting signals to Shijo Maki, using the prearranged code to inform her of the extreme danger. She needed to get to the first floor immediately.
Kaguya, in the command room, was unreachable due to a powerful signal barrier in that area. Even though the three of them carried earpieces or radios in their backpacks, they could not transmit information. Or rather, in this bizarre dungeon, where the world itself seemed divided into separate realms, none of the planned communication methods worked—only items such as Obsession, the doll, and the rescue team badge could still function.
Takakai had a very bad feeling.
From the very beginning, today's exploration had felt off—first, there was an error in the participant count during the check-in, then the hallucinations surrounding Takakai from the moment they entered the cave, and now, the increasingly bizarre orders coming from the command room.
"Takakai-kun, I… I can still hear the command room's orders."
Fujiwara Chika, whose hand was being pulled by Takakai, hesitantly spoke up.
"The command room says… we need to hurry to the bottom of the big slide, head to the blood vessel to join the rescue mission."
"Oh no, wait, that's not right—the command room's order is… to go to the gentle slope, they're telling me to enter the gentle slope."
Chika furrowed her brows tightly, her face full of confusion.
She couldn't understand why, even after removing her earpiece, she could still hear the command room's orders.
She also couldn't explain why, despite hearing the orders, her first instinct was to think about how to execute them—how to fulfill the two conflicting commands the command room had given.
Takakai suddenly stopped.
Not because something had happened in front of them inside the cave.
But because, all of a sudden, he no longer felt that eerie gaze watching him.
Had the entity shifted its attention elsewhere?
That was Takakai's first thought.
But immediately after, through the vision of the doll on Shijo Maki, he saw himself and the girl running down to the first floor, passing through the silent research facility—where no area seemed to be in use—then through the quarantine door into the observation corridor. And at the end of the hallway, he saw something like a white dress fluttering past.
That gaze only flickered for an instant.
Even in the doll's perception, it only appeared for a brief moment.
"Was it my mistake?"
Takakai could no longer move forward.
He had finally understood the root of the problem he was facing.
That gaze, the thing watching him, had formed some kind of connection with him.
And the moment he entered this research facility, the entity's attention shifted inside the base, beginning to focus on this place. At that time, it seemed as if something was still restraining it, so nothing major had happened.
Until he entered the quarantine area as an explorer—until he stepped into this timeline's Nutty Putty Cave.
Takakai realized that at that moment, the distance between him and the entity watching him had weakened, as if the barrier separating them was about to disappear.
But in his perception, the source of that gaze still had a certain distance from him.
And the reason for this distance was because… the entity had used its connection with him to infiltrate the research facility.
At some point, without him realizing it, something extremely dangerous—something not listed in the research base's regulations—had slipped inside the facility.
"A dress stained in blood… its origin exists within the timeline of the research base, and its Obsession is—"
Takakai didn't get to finish his sentence.
Because in an instant, gravity reversed.
Before he could react, a powerful force threw him upward, slamming him into the cave ceiling.
Boom!