AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 148 - 67 The Creepy Auditory Hallucination_2

Chapter 148: Chapter 67 The Creepy Auditory Hallucination_2

"Go!"

He stared fixedly at the only beacon in the distorted, collapsing, shattered space ahead—the "Dormitory Building-096" lamppost, with a faint glimmer of gold floating deep within his dark pupils, as if reflecting the light into his eyes.

It was like a cluster of ruddy golden flames had been ignited.

"Go! Old Lin... GO!!!"

It was as if Wei Shan’s voice echoed in Lin Yi’s ears, and as though a force as heavy as a mountain had materialized on his back, he summoned strength from an unknown source, carrying Wei Liang as they broke free from the dark tendrils woven from shadows and charged toward the "Dormitory Building-096" lamppost!

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

Each of his steps rang out with conviction; he believed this was the "only" way.

The wind by his ears grew fiercer, the sound of twisting waves trying to drag him into deeper abysses, but his resolute strides propelled his unwavering figure, gradually surpassing the dark entanglements.

"Five meters... three meters... two meters..."

"Old Lin!" Behind him, Mao Feiyang’s voice burst out in surprise, "Old Lin!"

Lin Yi paused slightly.

"Maozi...? No, Old Lin, you idiot! Maozi isn’t even here!"

With one final thrust of effort, he closed the last one-meter distance, reaching out and firmly gripping the "Dormitory Building-096" lamppost before him.

The moment his hand touched the "Dormitory Building-096" lamppost, a brief instant seemed to stretch into an eternity, as countless shattered lights and shadows began to contract towards the junction of his palm and the lamppost at a speed transcending perception.

Like the Big Bang unfolding in reverse at a visibly rapid pace, it was but a moment, yet the fractured fragments reassembled flawlessly, the twisted lines righted themselves, the haphazard tableau filled with order once more, and his world regained its dimensional axes of X, Y, Z...

In a daze, Lin Yi realized he was standing in front of the "Dormitory Building-096" lamppost with Wei Liang.

Beneath their feet was a normal road paved with cobblestones, and opposite them stood another lamppost.

Outside the light, darkness loomed and mist swirled.

Rustling leaves echoed through the Green Forest Belt, with scant moonlight overhead, ultimately obscured by the mist.

But below the fog, the solemn and majestic Dormitory building stood like a high tower in front of him, towering extremely tall, stretching into the clouds, making it seem at least twenty stories high at a glance.

At the same time, he suddenly noticed a large crowd gathering in front of the Dormitory building, apparently others heading toward the Dormitory.

He quickly glanced at his watch.

20:51.

"20:51...?!"

"It’s only been... eight minutes?!"

He felt as though he had been struggling forward in time, as if he had traversed a world after an unimaginable destruction.

That period of time seemed to span millions of years, yet... it had only been eight minutes?

"Damn..."

He recalled the class advisor’s warning:

"Sometimes, being too clear about the concept of time can also limit one’s perception. Especially when you’re traveling in foggy weather."

"The knowledge here is too complex, even the class advisor keeps his lips sealed!"

"Now’s not the time to think about these problems!"

He cursed under his breath and decided not to dwell on it for the moment.

At this instant, he suddenly felt that, after breaking through the abnormal weather, Wei Liang’s palm was regaining its warmth at a perceptible speed, soon leaving behind that eerie, deathly cold state, and returning to feeling human.

"Liangzi... Liangzi?" He gently patted Wei Liang’s hand, reminding him, "We’ve arrived."

"Uh, ah! Arrived?" Wei Liang seemed to snap out of a paused time, first stunned, then shuddering violently before suddenly snapping back to reality, and upon looking up, he saw the Dormitory building standing firm like a needle in the sea, towering in the dim moonlight and fog.

"I—wow!" Wei Liang’s eyes filled with intense shock, "Old Lin, you... you actually did it?!"

Lin Yi too let out a long breath of relief.

Honestly, he hadn’t been completely certain because he only had some doubts about the roads within the campus, and hadn’t given it much thought.

He had experienced the distorted ground several times during the daytime, where even the regular oval cobblestones could be reshaped into strange forms by that indescribable force, let alone during the night black period when the fog was at its thickest.

Lin Yi actually had a very simple and conservative conjecture:

If the campus was man-made, who would randomly place things with numbers?

If that were the case, there would be no need to attach numbers at all!

Since numbers were attached, they must have their significance!

So what is their significance?

It’s guidance.

Think about it, when do people need to use a map?

Obviously, when they do not recognize the road, what’s the use of a map if you can see the road clearly?

In broad daylight, just follow the road lamps, who cares about whether things are numbered or not?

A map is needed only when you do not recognize the road.

And just now was a time when the road was not recognized.

On this map, the placement of the road lamps was like grabbing a handful of thumbtacks and randomly scattering them on the road, but after careful observation, Lin Yi discovered that all the lamp posts followed a certain rule.

The lamp post with the highest number was built in front of the Teaching Building, while the one with the number ’XXX-001’ was built at the edge of the area.

Therefore, Lin Yi had a conservative but crazy conjecture:

[When the roads within the campus undergo stretching, distortion, and other illogical changes, the intertwined road lamps would cause the ground to stretch along with them...]

[One end is ’XXX-001’, while the other end is ’XXX-099’ or some other larger number. Under abnormal weather, the usual roads will cease to exist, and the only remaining path will be the one with absolutely sequential numbers... from the zero-numbered lamp to the one with the highest number!]

"Under normal circumstances, it is the space that is twisted and folded. Under abnormal weather, it is that twisted and folded part of space that will slowly unfold!"

"That’s why the road lamps are in disarray during the day because as soon as day comes, the other lamp posts along with their grounds will contract in the entanglement!"

It was as if... some kind of magical sponge could harden and soften alternately.

Nevertheless, Lin Yi did not elaborate on the almost tortuous process but simply said, "I delivered what I promised."

"Hehehe, those who trust Old Lin shall have eternal life." Once out of the range of the mist, Wei Liang immediately became lively. The trembling and panicked demeanour from earlier had completely vanished, and he seemed to be reborn.

He stuffed his tightly gripped student ID card back into his pocket and, with a chuckle, looked around before suddenly saying, "Wow, what time is it, and why are there so many people?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi instinctively glanced at his watch.

20:53.

Only two minutes had passed since the earlier moment.

Everything was normal.

"20:53," he said aloud.

Wei Liang quickly said, "Then it looks like the elevator will be open in seven minutes, Old Lin, come on, I’ll take you to get the dormitory building rules!"

Having said that, he started leading Lin Yi toward the dormitory building, making their way through the crowd:

"Excuse me! Please let us through!"

Lin Yi, cherishing the hard-earned icebreaker, promptly stepped up and followed.

Before long, Lin Yi spotted from the crowd-filled square in front of the dormitory building a huge, upright signboard, the lower half of which was obscured by people. The visible part read:

[Elevator ride times allowed in dormitory:

6:00~7:40

21:00~22:00]

[Riding the elevator outside these times is prohibited!]

Moving forward a bit more, there was additional content, but suddenly, he saw a sentence on the signboard that almost made him ascend to heaven on the spot:

[Dear experimenter, welcome to the dormitory building.]

[Please note!!! (a markedly emphasized underline):

Due to certain irresistible factors, the dormitory building is one of the most dangerous areas on campus!!!

...]