AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 116 - 54 "They don’t eat... what about you?

Chapter 116: Chapter 54 "They don’t eat... what about you?

In the year X023, on May 7th at 17:48, on the first floor of the cafeteria, Student Cafeteria.

The setting sun’s afterglow streamed in through the entrance of the Student Cafeteria, extending all the way to the green-aproned chef standing elegantly in the dim area where the ash of the sunset intertwined with the bright white lights, while a greedy and yearning expression painted the chef’s face that was starkly at odds with its poised stance.

The moment Lin Yi saw the green-aproned chef, his pupils constricted sharply, then slowly dilated.

His whole body suddenly stiffened as the memory of his recent encounter with the green-aproned chef in the gymnasium, which hadn’t yet faded, began to assail him ferociously.

"Damn it... Green hat! What to do? Run, or...?!"

Instead of acting rashly, he slowed down his pace immediately, replaying the scene he had encountered with the green-aproned chef in the cafeteria at noon in his mind...

While he was replaying the scene, Wei Liang’s screams rang in his ears.

"Holy shit! Damn, fuck... Holy shit, holy shit...!!!"

"Old Lin, think of something fast! That guy is...?!"

Under intense pressure of the crisis, Lin Yi’s thinking became exceptionally agile, and he quickly found a breakthrough.

When Wei Liang’s exclamation snapped him out of it, Lin Yi forcefully cut him off—" What guy?!"

"That one..." Wei Liang didn’t immediately catch on and instinctively tried to signal Lin Yi to look at the green-aproned chef.

"What about that one!" Lin Yi interrupted Wei Liang with an unprecedented stern tone, "That dish return station does look a bit dated, perhaps due to the staff not cleaning it for a long time! But that is none of our business, you got it! Please absolutely ignore it, Liangzi!"

He widened his eyes, desperately hoping Wei Liang would catch the critical hint he was trying to convey.

His rhythm disrupted twice, Wei Liang’s panic began to fluctuate.

Fear, like excitement, is similar in that no one can resume the emotion of a moment before after being interrupted twice.

Wei Liang’s fear suddenly lessened considerably. Being someone who had managed to survive two days in a state of blurred consciousness and make it to the end of the school year, his "war-time state" erupted at this moment, and he instantly caught on—

Lin Yi was hinting at something!

He immediately remembered the contents of the cafeteria rules:

[Cafeteria staff will stay within the staff activity area and inside the food service windows, and will not appear in the Student Cafeteria area. If staff are seen in the cafeteria area, please ignore them.]

So Lin Yi was telling him... to ignore?!

The critical keyword jumped out from Wei Liang’s thoughts; he took a deep breath, suppressed the emotions in his heart, and tried to make his voice firm and calm as he said, "You’re right, Old Lin... The cafeteria staff here really cut corners in their work!"

"Ouch, look at this floor, it’s filthy too!" Wei Liang spoke loudly, slowing down a bit and unofficially retreating behind Lin Yi.

He bowed his head pretending to examine stains on the floor, but in reality, he kept his gaze on Lin Yi’s heels, following him to the dish return area.

Seeing that Wei Liang had caught on, Lin Yi heaved a long sigh of relief.

He gladly accepted Wei Liang’s action.

Previously, Wei Liang had awoken him several times, now it was his turn to pull Wei Liang along.

So he continued with his plates towards the dish return station at the same pace, striving to maintain a calm mentality and control his breathing rhythm throughout the process.

During his replay just now, he had found three details:

[1, The last time he was attacked by a chef in a green apron, the chef had crawled out from the service window number 10 when he was about to leave the cafeteria.]

[2, The chef he had seen last time at the dish return station wore a blue apron, not a green one.]

[3, He had already encountered the chef in a green apron while queuing last time, but was not attacked; Wei Liang even stepped on his face.]

The most crucial clue from the cafeteria rules about the green-aproned chef attacking students:

[Upon leaving, if you find you are being watched by a staff member in a green apron, and they start moving towards you quickly, decide whether to head to the [Student Passage] or the convenience store based on your location.]

So, if he hadn’t misjudged, then...

"Green hat will only attack me when I show my ’intent to leave’."

"So, if I don’t go, just dump the food, then it’s safe?"

The cafeteria rules wouldn’t be groundless, perhaps for this reason, that’s why there is that rule: When the Cafeteria Auntie serves food containing Tomato Element, they are instructed to [go directly to the utensil return station to pour all the food into the recycling bin and then head to another service window to order again.]

Clearly, ’dumping the food’ is to prevent harm from the Tomato Element, while ’ordering again’ is to prevent being attacked by the green-aproned chef!

Consider that even the green-aproned chef who crawled out from the distant service window number 10 almost caught him, if he were to run in front of the green-aproned chef, escaping would be impossible!

A slim chance of survival!

"Could this damn thing be the legendary slim chance of survival?!"

"If that’s the case, then the target of the green-aproned chef isn’t me and Liangzi..."