AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 101 - 47: Shallow Waters or Abyss

Chapter 101: Chapter 47: Shallow Waters or Abyss

"Ah??" Lin Yi had an even more bewildered look on his face.

"What do you mean, it was supposed to be normal for me to die on the road?"

She began, "I really want to know what happened to you, but I don’t want to..."

"Don’t want to... physically interrupt?" Lin Yi tentatively asked.

Her expression stiffened slightly, and for the first time, a small, awkward color appeared on her imposing face.

As the ultimate senior of the sports department, starting off by lobbing a throw at the newcomers did put her in an embarrassing position.

Then she seriously said:

"Swim."

...

The pitch-black tide crashed against the pitch-black rocks, under a pitch-black sky where a black sun floated with only its golden rim left.

A towering figure carrying an Ancient Lamp stood amidst the low howling sea breeze.

His deep golden eyes looked at the empty space in front of him, his resolute face showing no emotion.

He stared at the air for a long, long time, then slowly turned around to face the sea.

"Whoosh—Whoosh—Whoosh—"

The sound of the tides was incessant, with waves crashing and flying.

He lifted his foot and stepped on a pale, bloodless hand that had climbed up from the cliff below.

With slight effort, the hand shattered with a "bang" into countless white fragments, scattering into the air with the sea breeze.

"Whoosh—Whoosh—"

The wind was piercing, like a breaking melody, his coat fluttering in the wind.

Behind him, the faint outline of a building enveloped in mist could be seen.

It was like a Bell Tower from medieval Europe lost in thin clouds.

...

May 7, 20X23, 15:20, first floor of the Gymnasium, swimming area.

Lin Yi touched the edge of the pool with his hand, his legs constantly kicking the water to keep from sinking.

He had been holding this edge-clinging swimming posture for 18 minutes.

It wasn’t that he wanted to cling to the side, but because in the shallow area, he would stand up as soon as he stopped.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to swim out, but the athletic girl wouldn’t let him.

She seemed very bored; she wasn’t swimming but was holding her cheek with one hand, the other absentmindedly stirring the water on her thigh.

It had been like this from the beginning.

Lin Yi sneakily glanced at her, unsure what she was thinking.

But her instincts were extremely sharp; just one look from Lin Yi pulled her out of her thoughts, her cheek-holding posture unchanged, but her eyeballs moved slightly, and her gaze "swooshed" towards Lin Yi.

Lin Yi quickly looked away, "Puff puff" kicking even more vigorously...

But still, the authoritative yet sweet voice of the sports girl floated to him:

"Do you know how to swim?"

"Yes... no, I don’t." Lin Yi glanced at the time on his watch; it was now 15:21, and in a few minutes, the class would end. He decided not to cause any trouble.

"If you can’t, practice more." The sports girl undoubtedly saw through Lin Yi’s tentative thoughts, her lips curling slightly, revealing a knowing smile, "Swim for another 40 minutes."

"Okay... Eh? What?" Lin Yi was taken aback again, "Isn’t class over at 15:30?"

"Oh," the sports girl calmly flicked the water, "In all the rules you know, is there any hard rule that says physical education... cannot... extend... classes...huh?"

"Gei...?" Lin Yi’s mind scrolled through several rules, his expression slightly changing, "Seems... not?"

Only the student handbook stipulated that physical education must be attended, and the timetable specified the class times and reminded not to be late, but nothing about physical education ending on time was mentioned at all?

"Ah, this..."

He suddenly realized something—no wonder the rule in the Gymnasium said to watch the time during swimming lessons, not to exceed an hour!

He had initially wondered, physical education was only an hour altogether, not considering the time for traveling to the Pool or changing and showering—taking a bit from here and there, it absolutely wouldn’t exceed an hour!

Oh boy, now he understood.

But...

"Such a painful realization..."

An emoticon with two lines of clear tears came to Lin Yi’s mind as he murmured softly, "Actually... I can swim a little."

"Now you can?"

"Uh... I just remembered."

"Since you can, swim a bit more then."

Practice more if he couldn’t, swim more if he could... Lin Yi’s face soured. After all, experience wins; one way or another, he had to swim for an hour.

But compared to some guy who was kept underwater for more than an hour, his situation... seemed already much better.

So, he quietly started to stroke the water.

One stroke, two strokes, one stroke, two strokes...

"Too slow, pick up the pace," came the sports girl’s voice above his head.

Following a "Your back is floating up," Lin Yi felt something smooth and tender step on his back, pushing his body down like a surfboard...

"Huh?!" Lin Yi was startled.

The external force disrupted his balance, and amidst his carelessness, his whole body, including his head, was submerged in water, leaving only his hands clinging to the edge of the pool above the surface.

"Hey, I (gurgle gurgle gurgle)..."

His head also plunged underwater, instantly shifting his view from above to below the water.

The LED lights on the surface fragmented in the waves, creating a blurred light effect that turned into scattered beams through the water, making the clear stream appear prism-like.