Rules-related weird stories: 4016

"Hey, wait a minute…" Lin Yi's eyes suddenly lit up, as he felt a familiar sensation from certain "wavebands" within these syllables. "Could this be… the 'Night Watcher Iron Law'?"

As this thought arose, the slender figure instantly reappeared in his mind…

"Ding!"

"Ding! Ding!"

The slender figure, previously seen chiseling secret patterns on the iron sheet, appeared in his mind once more. This time, the image became clearer…

More precisely, it wasn't just the figure that became clearer, but also the environment surrounding him…

The environment he was in seemed to be… right here!

Right here in the first floor of this clock tower!

“The secret patterns on this wall… were they also made by him? In that case, he was one of the 'Original Apostles' who once built the Arts Building, no, the Black Moon Outpost?!”

"Ding! Ding…"

The slender figure gently hammered the iron sheet in Lin Yi's mind.

Once, once, once…

Each hammer strike was exactly the same, as if trapped in an endless loop!

This slender figure gradually faded in his mind. This calm appearance and disappearance, without bringing any emotional fluctuations, instead created a sense of unease in Lin Yi's heart.

"Who is he?"

"Why does he appear in my mind?"

"I don't know him at all, why do I keep having fantasies about him?!”

Lin Yi was completely bewildered. If this person was a female character from a recent H-manga, or Boss, Li Huiyuan, the homeroom teacher - 039, or even Xia Lian, anyone he had interacted with, he could accept it. But why was it someone he had no memory of whatsoever?

"Perhaps… I can talk about this with Young Master Tian!" Lin Yi muttered to himself. It was now midnight on May 10th. If he stayed overnight in the dormitory, it would be the fourth night. Once this day passed, going to the dormitory at night would be the fifth night!

It would be exactly the “fifth night” that Tian Bufan had mentioned, when "everything would be revealed"!

Perfectly!

"Wait… 'Perfectly'?!”

Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat.

Why was his first reaction "perfectly"?!

Although having this thought was normal, why did it… feel like an inexplicable coincidence in every word?

It was like a pre-written script. Could it be that even his inability to return to the dormitory tonight was within Tian Bufan's plan?!

Because, from the depth of cognition, at this moment, which was tonight, he had personally arrived at all the buildings except for the Arts Building and the Library. Discussing it with Tian Bufan should not be a problem!

No, that's not right!

"Except for the Arts Building and the Library."

Except for the Arts Building and the Library…

Except for…

Lin Yi's heart thumped "thump! thump!" He became extremely solemn, as if staring at a certain void, his expression solemn, seemingly focused on the air.

“After you press the button, the elevator will run automatically… After that, you must always stare at the floor display inside the elevator. No matter if it stops on any floor of the 'Teaching Building' or any floor of the 'Dormitory', and no matter if 'something' gets on or off the elevator, you cannot go out…”

“You can only go out when the elevator stops at the 'Library'…”

“After arriving at the Library, you will see the 'Library Rules'… You can… and you can also…”

“But when the red light turns on in the Library, you must immediately go to the counter on the first floor of the Library…”

“…After the security guard appears, you follow him and you can leave the Library and return to the campus…”

Old Mo's instructions to him regarding the way back to campus echoed in his ears again and again.

On this fourth night, he couldn't return to the dormitory because he would appear in the Arts Building, and then go to the Library, and finally be able to safely return to the campus with the security guard…

In this way, the last two location fragments on the campus would be complete in his cognition!

In this way, there would be no more "except for"!

But this… was all in Tian Bufan's plan, no, all in the original plan?!

Lin Yi's scalp tingled, but he faintly touched a certain elusive inspiration.

…

“Zero One… that's really awful…”

“Then what should we call it…”

“One Two Three Four Five? Hahahaha…”

That thing that might or might not be "memory" suddenly reappeared.

In those fragmented and vague snippets, the last faint voice said:

“Names are not important, let’s talk about the division of labor…”

This voice sounded very much like Young Master Tian's voice in his impression, but something felt off. It was more like… his own voice, with Young Master Tian's tone.

Lin Yi also thought of that string of numbers whose full number he couldn't see:

"…4016…"

He also saw that book with the blurry cover—

The cover of the book was a castle, with faintly visible words "Architectural Design"…

Wait, castle?!

Arts Building…?!

Designer…?

Could it be…?!

"Could it be that the book is related to the design of the Arts Building?!”

He remembered that there seemed to be a hasty design drawing under the book, blurry and unclear, a bit like a copper coil, and a bit like a reactor, but viewed as a whole, it looked like… some kind of bizarre, ultra-modern geometric architectural structure…

"Wait…!!"

"Wait wait wait!!!"

That elusive inspiration suddenly had a little tail!

He faintly grasped this tail!

"Could it be that this isn't Tian Bufan's plan, but… but a plan made together by 'us'!"

"Is this part of the entire plan?"

"Maozi's pollution!"

"The exploration of the campus!"

"The tainted ashes!"

"Old Mo, whom I met because of the Angel's Eye!"

"The training in the gymnasium!"

"Kuai Kuai's destruction of the matrix and Old Mo's repair of the matrix!"

"My arrival at the Arts Building!"

"Could it be that all of this is 'designed'?!”

"Who designed these, could it be… 'me'?"

"'I' designed… everything that 'I' would encounter?!”

"No, it's not necessarily 'me', but… 'us'?!”

Lin Yi's thoughts became increasingly blurred. This fleeting inspiration seemed to be telling him something, but these might also be things he already knew!

He knew that a billion parts of his memory were missing!

Therefore—

All of this was pre-designed by them!

Moreover—

Young Master Tian said that he would reveal everything on the fifth day, as this experience only lasts seven days, and waking up on the fifth day actually marks the beginning of the sixth!

No matter what happens, there are two days to act!

Wait a minute, "two days"?!

Two days... could this "time" have another meaning?

"Two days! Liangzi initially said he spent two days in the dormitory, but he was 'muddled' and 'had no memory' of those two days. Meanwhile, many pseudo-humans seemingly anchored towards Liangzi appeared on campus..."

"Could there be a connection here?"

Lin Yi increasingly felt that this seven-day experience at S City University was unusual, perhaps not the traditional "7" but "5+2", because no courses had been updated on the timetable for the final two days.

For an activity lasting seven days, the final two days might hold special significance.

Although pre-planning everything seemed unbelievable, after experiencing so much, Lin Yi felt he had to learn to accept even the most absurd things.

For example, Wei Shan repeatedly beat up the green-aproned chef without showing signs of contamination.

For example, Kuai Hongji single-handedly blew up the Matrix and escaped unscathed.

And for example, Wei Liang's seemingly reasonable yet completely unreasonable, ingenious skills that could always resolve crises perfectly...

Are these things normal?

Thinking they're normal is the most abnormal thing!

Wei Liang became more and more mysterious in his mind. After experiencing the pseudo-human Wei Liang crawling on the bed in the dormitory and the pseudo-human Wei Liang calling out to him in the teaching building's restroom, he even felt that it wouldn't be unacceptable if the Night Watcher took off his sharp hat to reveal Wei Liang's face.

After all, Wei Liang never took off his baseball cap, even in the gymnasium, except when swimming. It was as if the baseball cap was his true form.

Lin Yi's heart pounded. He composed himself, calmed down, and then, thinking about Tian Bufan's reminder to "pay attention to the field of vision," he realized that the ghostly voice that had appeared was his own voice!

It was as if a hidden, intelligent personality was observing his actions from a God's-eye view and couldn't bear to watch, so it offered a little reminder.

So, could it be that everything he was currently experiencing was "designed" by them as a method of exploring art?

Three-meter visual range, carpet-like advancement, cautious steps, and the ability to retreat in time if problems arise... Thinking about it this way, although the limitations are significant, aren't they also an advantage?!

Choosing the right measuring tool is the key to doing a good job!

Lin Yi was almost convinced by his own Ah Q mentality, but this series of lightning-fast mental leaps made his thinking clearer and more chaotic at the same time.

He felt that just as he thought of this, his thinking began to be interfered with by something from another level, like solving a problem where the conditions kept increasing, but many conditions were irrelevant to the answer...

He felt his brain becoming increasingly chaotic. In a daze, he seemed to hear the sound of iron chains scraping the ground...

That familiar and terrifying sound!

However, just as the "clanging" sound of the iron chains appeared, a heavy and crisp hammering sound shattered his chaotic thoughts, pulling him out of it.

"Ding!"

"Ding!!"

The slender figure that appeared in his mind was still holding the iron hammer, hammering something unhurriedly.

For some reason, hearing this hammering sound, Lin Yi's heart gradually calmed down, like someone troubled by the mundane world suddenly hearing the sound of an old monk striking a bell from an ancient temple deep in the mountains...

Lin Yi's attention gradually shifted away from these things and no longer focused on that slender figure. Everything slowly faded away, but the "ding, ding, ding" hammering sound continued to ring rhythmically, as if it had always been that way.

And the whispers and calls lingering in his ears, like the hammering sound, kept ringing, but they were also much clearer.

It was as if they had become a BGM accompanying him.

Lin Yi also gradually adapted to the existence of these sounds by adjusting the rhythm, thereby minimizing their impact on himself. He maintained a three-meter radius of "visual field insight" and slowly moved along the wall of the clock tower.

Suddenly... his senses penetrated the wall of the clock tower!

His sensing range was three meters, and when he was close to the wall, the three-meter range naturally crossed the boundary of the wall, extending to... the outside of the clock tower wall!

"I... sensed it!"

Golden light flickered in Lin Yi's eyes. His fine hairs stood up like antennas, as if gathering some invisible aura.

He saw a glue-like viscous liquid clinging to the outer wall of the clock tower. The liquid was like a symbiote suit formed by "Venom", constantly wriggling and jumping, spreading upwards along the clock tower like ivy.

However, one invisible wave after another, like spreading ripples, harvested them in batches, causing them to constantly shatter into countless dust particles, mixing with the rainstorm, and being blown to pieces.

A large part of the "oil stains" in the rainstorm came from their bodies, the substance formed after they were annihilated.

Seemingly sensing Lin Yi's existence, the surrounding liquid glue-like substances became agitated and gathered towards Lin Yi!

They made a "hissing" sound, like sensitive black liquid swarms, gathering at the scent.

Just when Lin Yi thought he could safely observe them with the protection of the clock tower wall, he saw the liquid black glue-like substance tremble slightly, and then, a feeling of soul being stung was transmitted to his heart!

His "perception"... seemed to have been bitten off by a bug!

Lin Yi's expression changed drastically. He retreated repeatedly, pulling the three-meter range back inside the wall!

He touched his head, feeling a bit of pain, as if someone had quickly poked him with a nail. The after-effect was too strong, and it hurt so much that he grimaced.

But soon, the extraordinary power in his body surged over to help him "repair" it.

"What the hell are those things... why can they eat away at my 'perception'?!