Rules-related weird stories: 4016

Chapter 414 Concerning "Ashes"

"'Who is he'?"

Who else could it be? The ones who entered the school on the evening of May 6th, it's him and Liangzi, who else?

He just didn't expect the head teacher to suspect him upon their first meeting… …

"I haven't even doubted my own purity, yet I'm being doubted by others… …"

… …

“X023.5.7, in the final moments, things seem to have taken a new turn… … Last night, 'Angel' entered the classroom, seemingly searching for something… … Since the investigation into 'Angel' and 'Ashes,' this is the first instance of 'Angel' entering the classroom. Could it be for something Yuan Datou left behind?”

“But if that's the case, why no activity in the past few months?”

“Could it be related to the two new students who entered the school yesterday evening?”

… …

“X023.5.7, progress update… … Of those who entered the school yesterday, only five successfully entered the teaching building. They were indeed deliberately let in, but from contact, they seem to know nothing about it. Could they be people from the authorities?”

“My contamination has exceeded the threshold. I must leave tonight… … ”

“I'll leave the follow-up investigation to you… … ”

“People will remember our dedication and sacrifice.”

“— Head Teacher - B2-039”

“X023.5.7”

… …

“X023.5.7… … Lin… …”

This character was smeared out as soon as it was written, but from the blurred strokes, Lin Yi vaguely judged that Head Teacher - 039 initially wanted to write his name. Moreover, when writing this note, Head Teacher - 039's handwriting was very hurried, indicating the situation was urgent.

Lin Yi understood. This should have been left by Head Teacher - 039 after meeting him. After writing this note, Head Teacher - 039 went to the art building.

“I didn't want to drag you into this, but you seem to possess the aura of 'Ashes'… … You are destined to be unable to escape this event… … ”

“I will tell you everything I know from my investigation. If you are with the authorities, I hope it will be helpful to you… … ”

“If you are not… … I hope you can protect yourself… … ”

“After reading, destroy this note.”

… …

All the information ended here, leaving only a poster. Lin Yi unfolded the poster and discovered that it was the size of an A3 paper, and the content was actually a map of the school district.

On the map, there were many marked points, each with information recorded in letters the size of rice grains.

These marked points were connected to each other with red lines, looking like the kind of clue board that famous detectives often hang on the wall to analyze events.

These locations were almost all the incident sites investigated by Head Teacher - 039, mainly near the teaching building, seemingly related to the range of her activities.

Just then, Lin Yi smelled a trace of blood in his nose. He frowned slightly and looked in the direction of the blood.

“Teacher… …?” He tentatively asked, “Are you alright?”

He felt bad as soon as he spoke. Was he going to “wake up the new head teacher”? What if Head Teacher - 040 accidentally fell asleep behind the bookshelf?

But he felt it was unlikely, because Head Teacher - 040 had just said she had something to tell him after reading the information, so she should have just gone to treat her wounds, right?

But now it seemed like something unexpected had happened?

“I'm fine… …” Accompanied by a somewhat delicate voice, Head Teacher - 040 slowly walked out from behind the bookshelf.

At this moment, she had changed into a loose-fitting pajamas, but Lin Yi couldn't clearly sense her presence.

“Are you still wearing that outfit? Isn't your wound not treated properly?”

Head Teacher - 040 bit her teeth: “That's not a problem you need to worry about.”

“The previous teacher gradually exceeded the contamination threshold like this. If you still insist on your own way, then pretend I didn't say anything.” Lin Yi shook his head slightly.

Head Teacher - 040 glared at him: “Isn't that because of the injury you caused.”

Lin Yi staggered and quickly quibbled: “Wow, no way? You were clearly already injured from the start.”

He quickly brushed off some of the responsibility, because judging from Head Teacher - 040's magical tights, if there wasn't any injury, it should be completely shielded from perception, and he wouldn't be able to sense it intermittently. The moments he sensed it must have been because the area on her hand was torn along with the uniform.

Of course, to be honest, he had been quite heavy-handed. At the time, he didn't know the other party was Head Teacher - 040, and he had aimed specifically for vital points—after all, it was a life-and-death struggle, and she had already "opened her heart" to him, so he couldn't just stop short, right?

“Thanks to you, it's just adding insult to injury.” Head Teacher - 040 snorted coldly.

Lin Yi quickly said: “Should I help you take a look? This can't be the solution, right?”

Head Teacher - 040 shook her head slightly: “What's the use of you looking? You're not the school doctor.”

“Does that mean that only the school doctor in the entire school district can treat injuries?” Lin Yi asked in confusion. How did the specifications of this school district sound so NPC-like? Couldn't they treat themselves?

Or was it… … Head Teacher - 040's injury was too severe?

“My current trauma should only be treatable by the school doctor.” Head Teacher - 040 said.

“How about… … let me help you take a look first?” Lin Yi pointed to himself. He wasn't sure if he had the ability to "heal," but thinking that the sky-blue aura of the Physical Education Department could regenerate flesh, and his use of the sky-blue aura had been greatly improved during the night of hellish combat training, maybe he could really help Head Teacher - 040.

Besides, I can even repair the city wall, so how could I not repair a seductive body?

Wait… … Why did I add an adjective to Head Teacher - 040?

Amitabha, Amitabha… …

Upon hearing this, Head Teacher - 040 hesitated slightly. She subconsciously wanted to refuse, but seeing Lin Yi's perfect body that seemed to have been reborn, and thinking about the impact her current state would bring, her thoughts couldn't help but waver.

She glanced at the sky outside and then at the clock on the wall.

“Okay… … but, we have to wait until dawn.”

“Dawn?” Lin Yi was slightly stunned, and immediately understood that Head Teacher - 040 had not let down her guard against him, so he nodded, “Okay.”

He followed her gaze to the clock and then to his own watch.

The time was surprisingly consistent, both at 6:03… …

“It's already 6 o'clock… … Dawn is coming soon, right.” Lin Yi subconsciously sighed.

Unknowingly, it was already past 6 o'clock. At this time, Tian Gongzi and the others in the dormitory should be getting up, right?

The cafeteria seems to be open too… …

Cafeteria… …?

That's right, I have to go to the convenience store and give Old Mo's heart to the convenience store owner. That way, maybe I can get some new clues, and I can also ask the convenience store owner about 'Ashes'… …

After all, the convenience store owner had truly and utterly defeated the "Conceptual-level Sculpture," and had confronted it head-on from the moment it entered the campus.

Thinking of this, Lin Yi nodded secretly.

He read those pieces of information repeatedly, then put away the last piece of paper, returning the rest to the dictionary as they were, and putting the dictionary back in its place.

He now understood that the reason Teacher-039 had asked him to take the dictionary was not because everything was left for him, but to give him a chance to understand the event, allowing him to be more prepared and have more choices.

He suddenly felt a little touched. If Teacher-039 had been even slightly selfish, she wouldn't have chosen to give him such a choice. Perhaps, as she wrote at the beginning, the survival of humanity depends not only on the decisions of the higher-ups, but sometimes also on certain or a single crucial "anchor role."

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Perhaps she really hoped that she was that anchor role, and that what she did could leverage the entire event's progress like a butterfly effect, winning more chips for humanity or China.

Lin Yi took a deep breath. His respect for Teacher-039 soared.

"Have you finished reading? Is there anything you want to say?" Teacher-040 asked calmly, looking at him.

Lin Yi was slightly stunned. He understood that those clues were originally left by Teacher-039 for Teacher-040, and he was the one outside the plan.

"What should I say?" Lin Yi asked back.

Teacher-040 pointed to the piece of paper that Lin Yi had put away: "I saw that piece of paper too... Aren't you going to talk about the 'Ashes'?"

"As far as I know, that thing doesn't belong to living things. Its existence is like aurora or mirages, and it's impossible for living things to carry it... 039 was burned, so she gradually fell into depravity, but you don't seem to be like that... Have you really carried 'Ashes'?"

She stared at Lin Yi intently, as if trying to see the answer directly from his eyes.

Lin Yi really wanted to say, 'It's so miserable. The boss had already helped me eliminate the 'Ashes', but after going to the art building, I was forcibly filled with it again by that alien angel who seemed like a 'Serpent's Nest' but clearly couldn't be a 'Serpent's Nest'.'

There were many things he wanted to say in his heart, but when he opened his mouth, he replied: "It seems that I have indeed carried it... But it's useless to ask me, because I don't know what's going on either..."

He muttered in a low voice: "I just accidentally got contaminated..."

Teacher-040 glanced at him and said: "It's normal that you don't know. If you knew how to carry 'Ashes', you would definitely be in a laboratory and not here."

"Although the entire alliance's research on the transcendent system is constantly progressing, once the level rises to a certain extent, it becomes difficult to move forward, as if the technology tree has been blocked."

Lin Yi looked at Teacher-040 in surprise: "You seem to know a lot?"

"It shouldn't be 'I', but 'we'—the homeroom teachers." Teacher-040 shrugged, but this action seemed to pull on a wound on her chest, causing her to frown. "To be precise, every 'homeroom teacher' knows a lot. We are directly appointed by the official organization. Otherwise, why would the rules specifically state 'You can absolutely trust the homeroom teacher'?"

"I have also seen 039's information, and I also know about the party disputes. I also clearly understand many elements... But, you can trust me according to the rules, but I have no way to absolutely trust you—unless you can take out something that is enough for me to trust you, such as officially confirmed identity credentials. Otherwise, I can only stand from a personal point of view and retain my trust in you."

"I hope you can understand this."

"I think I can also express trust in you from a 'personal point of view'." Lin Yi nodded very seriously.

Teacher-040 couldn't help but smile: "You guy... Okay, tell me, what do you want to do?"

Lin Yi shook his head: "I don't know either, teacher... I mean, the previous teacher, Teacher 039, told me that after seeing the dictionary, I would know what to do next, but obviously, I'm still at a loss now..."

"It's like a group of people spent a lot of effort to contract a fish pond. Now that the fish seedlings have grown up, they are ready to start fishing, but they find that I am also fishing in the fish pond, and then I may be killed by them... That's probably what it means, right?"

Teacher-040 nodded.

Lin Yi said helplessly: "So this is very ridiculous, can you understand? Because in other people's perspectives, it's not a fish pond, but a public river, but those guys who want to engage in 'Ashes' just drew a line and turned them into private property."

"039 guessed that you are an official person." Teacher-040 said.

Lin Yi was speechless: "Why don't I know that I am an official person? If I were an official person, working in the system, would I still need to come in for 30,000 yuan?"

"30,000... For today's society, it is a huge sum of money. It is not shameful to come in for 30,000 yuan."

"Then are you here for 30,000?"

"I'm not." Teacher-040 shook her head, "Only experience students get money, and besides, I'm not very interested in money myself."

"This sentence sounds a little familiar. Could it be that you haven't touched money either?"

"Indeed... I really haven't touched it."

The corners of Lin Yi's mouth twitched again and again. He knew that this topic should be stopped: "Then Jack, ah no, no, teacher, have you had any new discoveries recently?"

He didn't want to be involved in the so-called Yuan Datou incident, so in order to keep a distance from those people, necessary understanding was essential.

Teacher-040 said: "To be honest, 039's guess was not wrong. Some details in the 70th Gray Fog Invasion were concealed. By the time the official organization understood, it was already a bit late, so they sent me over."

Lin Yi quickly thought of some doubts: "Then why was Teacher 039's application to leave unsuccessful, but you came less than a day after she left the teaching building? Obviously, information flows so quickly, so why was she forced to go to the art building?"

Teacher-040 said: "Because applying to leave and being transferred are not the same functional system."

"Moreover, the vacancy of 'homeroom teacher' is a high-risk event, and the official organization has always handled it seriously."

Hearing this, Lin Yi couldn't help but purse his lips: "Then Teacher 039 sacrificed just like that?"