AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 166 - 76 Cognition Overwritten_2

Chapter 166: Chapter 76 Cognition Overwritten_2

Tian Bufan continued, "But just like this thread, your ’Adaptability’ is also our only advantage."

Lin Yi looked at the intersecting "√" and "—" on the table. At that moment, Tian Bufan’s finger was placed on the front half of the "√," slowly moving toward the valley.

"When you get through this phase and your state changes from ’negative’ to ’positive,’ our roles in offense and defense will be reversed."

"Roles reversed in offense and defense?" Lin Yi’s eyes brimmed with deep confusion, "Isn’t it... what are we attacking and defending? How could it be ’roles reversed’? Wait, wasn’t exploring the school area your idea? I came here just... just..."

He trailed off with "just," but the phrase "to gather thirty thousand yuan for Grandma’s medical expenses" seemed so alien at this moment that he simply couldn’t utter it.

Wei Liang carefully peered out from under the pillow, his gaze complex and filled with worry as he watched Lin Yi at that moment.

Tian Bufan, on the other hand, raised his eyebrows slightly, a faint smile playing on his lips that seemed both there and not.

Even Kuai Hongji, who had an almost imperceptible presence, crossed his arms and watched Lin Yi at this moment. His cold eyes were filled with intense anticipation, as if waiting for Lin Yi to say what would come next.

"Just... just for thirty thousand yuan." Lin Yi gripped the edge of the bed, veins bulging on the back of his hands as if it took all his strength to say those words.

A touch of disappointment flashed in Kuai Hongji’s eyes.

"Damn it!" A low roar came from the bathroom, Wei Shan’s voice, though whether he had slipped on soap was not clear.

Wei Liang silently withdrew his head.

"Really? Heh..." Tian Bufan ended the topic with a single phrase, "Thirty thousand yuan it is, then."

"We’ve gone off-topic... Let’s refocus our thoughts and continue discussing this issue," he said.

He pointed at the two overlapping threads.

"Now, they represent the layered state of the school area again."

"We entered the school area in a ’negative state,’ so we encountered things that went beyond our cognition ahead of time, which is also why Maozi got separated from us."

"Remember what I said earlier about distortion and stretching?"

"These abnormal phenomena, emerging with the fall of the layers, lead us to believe that the changes in the school area’s layers are to some extent ’visible.’ And how much we can see is determined by our Sensitivity."

"Ordinary people can’t see much, so they can only memorize the rules rigidly and strictly confine themselves within the yellow lines defined by the rules, as a form of basic self-protection."

"For them, knowing this is enough."

"Because when the yellow lines of the rules can no longer protect them, whatever they do, they can’t avoid the inevitable end."

"But for us, knowing just this is far from enough."

"Our Sensitivity is higher than that of ordinary people, we see more than they do, and we are influenced more than they are. They can anchor themselves with the rules, but we can’t."

"Our rule’s yellow lines, like this thread, will fluctuate. We need to grasp some of the logic in these fluctuations to ensure that when we realize there’s a problem, we can pull back in one piece."

Lin Yi narrowed his eyes, thoughtful.

He understood this point too, but he didn’t have the same clear vision as Tian Bufan.

Others just memorized "1+1=2," but Lin Yi couldn’t.

Because he wouldn’t just face situations of 1+1=2, he would encounter 1+2 as well, so he must deconstruct 2 to 1+1. That way, when faced with 1+2, he could put up a fight, and even later, when facing 2+2 or 2+3, he wouldn’t just cling to the basic rule of "1+1=2" and await his fate passively.

The time given to him to grasp "1+1=2" was incredibly short, so short that from the moment he entered the campus yesterday, he felt almost late in trying to subconsciously comprehend the rules for survival.

This wasn’t a matter of time.

It was man-made.

As the homeroom teacher said, people with High Sensitivity shouldn’t pass through the company’s (or the school’s) screening and be admitted, there was already a significant problem there.

He didn’t know what the problem was, but obviously, he was now one of the problematic individuals.

And not just him, all of Tian Bufan’s group seemed like problematic individuals.

Since they were problematic individuals, they couldn’t stick to the status quo.

This is what Tian Bufan wanted to tell Lin Yi, and also why he couldn’t tell Lin Yi at the gymnasium.

After all, the gymnasium isn’t secure enough.

Lin Yi now understood this point.

And these things were just an extension of the proof of Tian Bufan’s hypothesis that "The layers of S University are fluctuating."

"But, I have another question," Tian Bufan lowered his voice a bit, prompting Lin Yi to ponder as well, "Abnormal weather can pull down the layer of the campus, but... so far I have been unable to figure out what the baseline of the campus layer is?"

"In other words, all known conditions are still not enough to support my calculation of..." Tian Bufan pointed at the base of the "√", "what the campus will look like after it has completely fallen into another layer."

The subject that Tian Bufan raised at this moment directly shook Lin Yi: "Is this what Young Master Tian is currently thinking? This... has he really gotten so much further ahead of me?!"

"Of course, this involves another issue... the abnormal weather problem," Tian Bufan continued.

"S University is built amidst mountainous terrain, and due to its geographical factors, there are issues with mountain mist, rainfall, and other weather conditions."

"I have a question that I have already figured out; I’ll show it to you."

Tian Bufan glanced at him, giving off the vibe of students exchanging questions for a mutual test.

"Old Lin," he asked, "do you think the ’fog’ that causes the layers of the campus to fall and the ’fog’ in the mountain area is the same fog?"

Lin Yi: "?!"

Is it the same fog...?

"This..."

Lin Yi was doubly stunned, still shocked by Tian Bufan’s previous discourse, and now even unable to make any judgment on this matter.

But his thoughts quickly sped up; he immediately thought of the black sun in another layer.

That black sun obviously did not exist in the surface world, so, by inference, the fog under abnormal weather might not be the fog of this world at all!

"Wait..."

"The sea breeze and fog...?"

"This...? Right!" Lin Yi suddenly realized, "It’s not the same fog!"

Tian Bufan revealed a slight smile: "Let’s hear it."

Lin Yi nodded, saying, "The regulations clearly state that the gymnasium is a closed environment, and the dormitory building is also a closed environment, so under normal circumstances, neither of these two places should have fog—the fog here refers to the mountain mist inside the campus."

"However, if the gymnasium and dormitory building themselves are also within the campus, then when fog appears, it means they are falling into another layer!"

"The fog from another layer is seeping into our layer!"

"So, they are not the same fog... eh, wait! Does that mean when it gets dark, the fog from the mountain area appears first, and then the fog from another layer shows up?"

Tian Bufan shrugged his shoulders: "Don’t know, I cannot differentiate for the time being."

"Perhaps even the person who set the rules cannot differentiate."

"Or perhaps, the method to differentiate cannot be recorded."

"If information that is difficult to record is not understood by one’s own reasoning but by knowing the answer first and then deducing it, it can easily lead to ’obsession.’"

Lin Yi nodded slightly.

If he knew how to differentiate the fog, then every time he saw fog, he might subconsciously try to determine whether it is "mountain fog" or "fog from another layer," which could easily distort his cognition and lead his perception astray.

"About the layer issue of S University, there is one last point that hasn’t been discussed."

Tian Bufan’s fingertips lightly tapped on the table surface.

"It’s about... the problem of ways to leave the campus."