Rules-related weird stories: 4016

「Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh…」

Outside the elevator car, there was only the violent sound of air being torn apart. Intense vibrations constantly assaulted Lin Yi's soles. It was as if he were inside a rocket launched into geocentric orbit, recklessly sprinting forward amidst the engine's roar and rumble.

Lin Yi took a deep breath, then held it, feeling that even a little more weight would be the final straw that caused the elevator to fall apart…

「Whizz— Whizz—」

The elevator seemed to be traveling through an infinitely long wind tunnel. After an unknown amount of time, the terrifying roar gradually began to subside.

As the sound of the wind faded, the elevator also began to decelerate until it finally came to a complete stop.

「Ding!」

The elevator had arrived.

A strong urge to open his eyes and take a look rose in Lin Yi's heart, but Mao Feiyang was obedient, keeping his eyes tightly shut, clutching the iron chain tightly, and leaning on the dormitory manager's shoulder.

The dormitory manager's body was also trembling, and his mouth was constantly muttering something about the dormitory rules, but Mao Feiyang paid no attention to external affairs, unable to hear a single word clearly.

「Clang… Clang!」

The elevator doors opened, and a cold sensation immediately flooded the elevator that had been sealed for so long. The chill crept into Mao Feiyang's trousers, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

「Whoosh…」

The flame of the old kerosene lamp flickered violently, instantly creating an atmosphere of precariousness.

The dormitory manager couldn't help but gasp: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid…"

"That… I'm not afraid," Mao Feiyang said softly.

"I'm trying to embolden myself. Don't open your eyes, don't open your eyes. If you open your eyes now, you're doomed."

"Uh… Okay, I'll listen to you."

"Grip the iron chain tightly and follow me." The dormitory manager took a deep breath, then mustered his courage and stepped out of the elevator.

The moment Mao Feiyang walked out of the elevator, the elevator doors slammed shut behind him with a "clang."

Like Mao Feiyang, Lin Yi was in complete darkness, only able to sense the surrounding environment by feeling.

Through a rough perception, Lin Yi felt that the surroundings should be a spacious indoor corridor. There was wind, but it was very weak. There was the sound of flames burning, but the temperature was extremely cold.

The ground beneath his feet did not seem to be the floor of the dormitory building, nor did it resemble the floor tiles of any place on campus. It was more like some kind of stone slab, with some pits and unevenness, but overall it was polished very smoothly.

He deduced that the ground here was originally flat, and the pits were created later.

「Tap… Tap… Tap…」

In the darkness, the sound of his and the dormitory manager's footsteps was clearly audible. Apart from that, there was only the clear clang of the iron chain and the faint sound of the wind.

However, a slight sense of unease gradually rose in Lin Yi's heart. This sense of unease grew stronger and stronger in the gap of the next dozen steps, until it felt as difficult as if countless ants were crawling on his body.

He felt that he was being "watched" by something, a cold, malicious, and sinister aura, wriggling like a venomous snake, following behind him.

No, not just behind him, but also from all directions.

「Rustle…」

「Rustle…」

All around, there was the sound of stone rubbing against the ground, which made Lin Yi's spine tingle. What made him even more terrified was that even above his head, there seemed to be this "rustling" sound…

The same thought occurred to both Lin Yi and Mao Feiyang:

【All the sculptures on campus are busts and are all kept in the art building.】

「So…」 Lin Yi's heart suddenly jumped, 「Now this is the legendary… art building?!」

At first, he didn't think it was too scary, but after learning that the sculptures at S City University were not the traditional sculptures, but some deeply polluted creatures, or even things that couldn't be described as "creatures," the words "art building" represented an extremely terrifying fact.

「Sculpture Headquarters.」

Lin Yi felt a chill all over his body. He had more feelings than Mao Feiyang. At this moment, he completely felt like Tang Sanzang and his disciples had entered the Lesser Thunderclap Temple from God's perspective.

He could foresee that all the gods and Buddhas in all directions were demons and monsters, but now, he had to muster his courage and follow the dormitory manager forward.

「It's the oil lamp!」 He suddenly realized, 「The field formed by the oil lamp's light dispels the darkness, allowing me and the dormitory manager to be in a safe state!」

「But the dormitory manager told Maozi not to open his eyes… That is to say, in this extreme situation, even relying on the oil lamp alone cannot maintain a safe state. Do we still need to 'not see' them?」

「Is it 'not seeing them,' or is there some other similar underlying logic?」

Lin Yi knew that Mao Feiyang was safe, so after suppressing the intense discomfort in his heart, he directly began to reason using this perfectly synchronized sense of fit.

「That's right… At the beginning, the student rules said not to look back, which should also be to prevent us from directly facing the sculptures.」

When the campus layers fell, their backs were filled with that "rustling" sound. This was a "footstep" unique to the movement of non-human entities, or their "breathing." Therefore, after coordinating various conditions, it was easy to get this most superficial conclusion.

And it was very obvious that the sculptures seemed to be even more terrifying in the art building, so their positions were not limited to behind Lin Yi, but could be scattered in all directions.

Therefore, "don't look back" was also upgraded to the more mindless "close your eyes and don't look."

…

「Tap… Tap… Tap…」

Lin Yi followed the dormitory manager slowly through the art building. All around, there was the "rustling" sound made by the entities moving with them.

They walked for a while, then turned a few corners. Throughout the process, Lin Yi could vaguely hear the dormitory manager muttering some words, which sounded like a certain part of the "Dormitory Manager Rules."

But the sound was too blurry after all, and it was like an old monk chanting scriptures, so he didn't hear anything clearly.

But what he could feel was that Mao Feiyang's defense line in his heart was gradually collapsing under the destruction of those gazes from the non-human entities…

"We're here, we're here…" Finally, the dormitory manager's murmur sounded in front of him.

"Then… when can I open my eyes?" Mao Feiyang's voice was filled with a strong fear.

"Theoretically, you can open your eyes now, but I suggest you wait a little longer." The dormitory manager offered a cold opinion, rejecting Mao Feiyang's suggestion, "Before you obtain the 'rules,' seeing the things here won't do you any good…"

Mao Feiyang then stopped talking and silently followed the dormitory manager forward.

Soon after, the dormitory manager stopped.

Then, Lin Yi heard a series of knocks on the door.

「Knock knock! Knock knock! Knock…」

When the dormitory manager knocked for the third time, a man's voice sounded from behind the door.

"Who is it?"

"I'm the dormitory manager," the dormitory manager said.

"…" The voice behind the door suddenly fell silent.

Seeing this, the dormitory manager hesitated for a moment, then, ignoring whatever thoughts were going on inside the door, he said directly: “I am Dorm Manager - 28 - X0230503021. Following the dormitory manager's rules, I've brought someone here. Open the door and take him!”

“Having the identification is not enough… You know, I need to see ‘the Light.’”

The dormitory manager slowly raised the old kerosene lamp, its warm light seeming to penetrate the door.

“So warm…” The person inside the door seemed filled with emotion.

“Hurry up, I can't stay here too long.” The dormitory manager rubbed his cold arms, becoming increasingly impatient. “Make it quick!”

“Just a moment…”

«Click… click click click…»

The sound of the lock turning echoed before the door slowly opened.

The dormitory manager led Mao Feiyang into the office, then, holding Mao Feiyang's hand, said, “Alright, student, you're safe now. You can open your eyes.”

…

As Mao Feiyang opened his eyes, Lin Yi's vision returned.

Before he could even begin to observe his surroundings, a middle-aged man in casual wear appeared before him: “The Dorm Manager is pressed for time. Come over here and register with me first.”

Lin Yi carefully observed the middle-aged man and noticed that his bone structure was Asian, specifically Chinese, but he had silver-white hair and eyebrows.

On that chiseled face, a pair of golden eyes flowed with a dim light, like the eyes of a hawk.

He was wearing overalls, had a pipe hanging from his mouth, and wore a beret, giving him the air of a private detective.

This was a character design that seemed to only exist in comics or movies. Lin Yi's first impression was that he wasn't real, a bit like… a middle-aged Dumbledore from *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*.

Calm, composed, with deep eyes… that was Lin Yi's first impression.

Mao Feiyang followed him to a dark brown desk, then filled out a form in duplicate. The form was very simple, with only two items.

Mao Feiyang filled it out accordingly:

“Name… Mao Feiyang.”

“Registration Time…”

He glanced at the European-style clock on the office wall, paused slightly, then wrote:

“2:56.”

The middle-aged man took the form, then handed the pen and form to the dormitory manager.

The dormitory manager then added to the time: “May 7th, X023… Probationary Student.”

When the dormitory manager wrote the time, the middle-aged man only glanced at it before looking away, but when he saw the dormitory manager's note of “Probationary Student,” his eyes widened slightly, as if with unspeakable surprise.

The dormitory manager didn't waste any words. After writing, he tore off one copy of the form and put it in his pants pocket, then returned the remaining portion to the middle-aged man. After finishing, he turned and pushed open the office door with the old kerosene lamp, disappearing into the dark corridor.

«Bang!»

After the door closed, only Mao Feiyang and the middle-aged man were left in the large office.

Mao Feiyang suddenly became reserved.

“Probationary student reporting…?” The middle-aged man sized up Mao Feiyang, a strange light flashing in his golden eyes. “Introduce yourself.”

“From now on, I am your ‘Art Teacher.’”

“I don't have a name tag, nor do I have anything to prove ‘I am an Art Teacher,’ but you can believe my words in the office and art classroom. If you encounter me at other times… try to be wary of me.”

As he spoke, he pointed to the bookshelf on the side.

“The *Art Building Rules* and the *Art Student Rules* are on the bookshelf over there. Take a copy yourself and sit down to read them.”

“Read the *Art Building Rules* first, then the *Art Student Rules*. Be sure not to get the order wrong.”

“It's 2:58 now. You have about an hour to memorize both sets of rules. If you have any questions, you can ask me, but I will only selectively answer your questions.”

The Art Teacher's words were like riddles, but Mao Feiyang couldn't care less at the moment. He quickly went to the bookshelf to find the two sets of rules and took them in his hands.

“This… this is so thick?”

Compared to the student rules, which were like flyers, the *Art Building Rules* and *Art Student Rules* together were several pages long, looking like a pocket book.

Moreover, unlike “traditional” rules, the *Art Building Rules* and *Art Student Rules* felt stiff to the touch.

Mao Feiyang subconsciously fiddled with the two sets of rules, then discovered that the reason for this feeling was that the *Art Student Rules* seemed to have some cardboard-like things clipped inside.

But he didn't mess with what was clipped inside first, but carefully opened the *Art Building Rules*.

While Mao Feiyang was searching for the *Art Building Rules* and *Art Student Rules* on the bookshelf, Lin Yi seized the time to observe the interior of the art office.

Compared to the cramped teacher's office, this art office could be described as luxurious.

The entire art office had a classic and elegant European style, with carpets, fireplaces, hanging lamps, and clocks… everything was complete, like the office of the chairman of a certain group.

In addition, at the end of the art office, there was also a floor-to-ceiling curtain, which seemed to be covering a huge floor-to-ceiling window.

But what made Lin Yi feel strange was that there were… four desks in the art office, two of which had things on them, obviously for people to sit at, but he didn't see the Art Teacher.

Just as Lin Yi was feeling puzzled, Mao Feiyang had already opened the *Art Building Rules*.

He quickly focused his attention and read it, trying to memorize the contents of the *Art Building Rules* as much as possible while he had the chance.

The thought of these two thick booklets of rules gave him a tingling scalp.

«Damn it, the rules are almost like a thesis. How many dangers are there inside?»

But as soon as he saw the title page of the *Art Building Rules*, his expression changed.

«Damn it, isn't it? Is it going to start like this right away?»

At this moment, Mao Feiyang was staring at the title page of the *Art Building Rules*, but since he knew far less than Lin Yi, the sense of shock caused by the amount of information was far less intense than Lin Yi's.

On the title page of the *Art Building Rules* were twenty large characters, like a warning saying:

“Abandon cognition, subvert common sense, appreciate art, learn art, transcend art.”