AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 206 - 96 Art Building Lobby

Chapter 206: Chapter 96 Art Building Lobby

Mist enshrouded the ancient stone bridge, and Mao Feiyang was treading on thin ice as he moved forward, hugging his yellow knitted sweater tightly around him. His slim, dark figure looked frail, as if he had been embraced by the shadows.

Knowing Mao Feiyang would be safe, Lin Yi took the opportunity, relying on a God-like perspective, to quickly survey the surroundings.

He first looked around, attempting to find the section of the cliff where the night watchman was located from the vantage point of the ancient stone bridge where the watchtower stood.

In theory, the castle was perched upon the cliff, surrounded by mountains and seas enveloped in fog. To find the night watchman’s position, one only needed to start from the side facing the ocean, but his initial search yielded nothing, so he had to abandon it and turn his attention back to the bridge.

Mao Feiyang, frightened by his surroundings, naturally did not dare to look around and thus failed to notice anything special about the bridge.

Lin Yi, on the other hand, stared intently and began to observe.

He was quickly drawn to a candlestick on the stone bridge that was alight with flames.

At a glance, Lin Yi found it hard to identify the material from which the candlestick was cast; it seemed to be made of something between a slate-gray stone and an ancient kind of bronze.

In its center burned a cluster of flames, flickering in the sea breeze as if only the base of the flame remained. The light it cast was so distorted that it dissipated in the mist, but the flame did not extinguish, as if struggling for its last breath.

Lin Yi’s attention was initially drawn to this cluster of flames because he realized it was extremely familiar. Upon reflection, he found it was just like the kind of flame found in old-fashioned kerosene lamps!

But he soon discovered that what truly emitted a mysterious aura was not the candle flame but the uniquely textured candlestick itself.

This candlestick was disc-shaped, with the base carved with the image of some magical creature, resembling a twisting snake or some elongated animal with wings, as if patterned after mythological beings.

Beyond that image, there were also odd shapes or symbols that lay between the pictographs of the Mayan civilization and the hieroglyphs of the Egyptian civilization, with a hint of the Shang and Zhou dynasties’ ritualistic inscriptions on bronze vessels, offering a glimpse into a distorted history.

These patterns and symbols encircled the candlestick, making the entire thing seem enshrouded in some indescribable force.

After just a few glances, Lin Yi felt an unnatural shudder, as if the object bore a strong omen of ill luck, or perhaps, the candlestick was entwined with a power far beyond his reach...

’"Contamination."’

For some reason, this term inexplicably popped into Lin Yi’s mind; in fact, he did not know what "contamination" represented, but he believed that this power beyond his comprehension belonged to what the class head had referred to as "contamination."

’No, perhaps it should be... "supernatural traits"?’

’Supernatural traits...?’

Lin Yi narrowed his eyes, trying to recall when he first heard this phrase. Why did it suddenly roll off his tongue so smoothly?

’That’s right! It was Young Master Tian who said it!’

His eyes lit up.

["In our era, it’s quite clear that some people have discovered the patterns of certain supernatural traits and are trying to replicate them..."

"The security guard’s kerosene lamp."

"The kerosene lamps on the walls of the gymnasium."

"Even, the street lamps spread throughout the campus."

"Our student ID cards, all kinds of credentials that represent our identity."

"These things... may carry some degree of supernatural traits."

"Of course, I’m not sure about the street lamps, but those kerosene lamps are definitely not normal."

"They are not just abnormal; they are also products of modern civilization, at least... they have only appeared in the last few centuries."]

At the dormitory, Tian Bufan spoke thus...

’This candlestick... does it possess ’supernatural traits’ comparable to those of the old kerosene lamps?’ Lin Yi wondered.

He did not know what supernatural traits were, but his intuition told him that this sensation of safety could be attributed to supernatural traits.

Following the light and feeling what little remained of the candlestick and candle’s supernatural traits, Lin Yi was about to finish crossing the ancient stone bridge with Mao Feiyang, unaware.

However, as Mao Feiyang neared the castle’s arched entrance, the distance between him and the watchtower grew wider, and the art teacher’s brows underneath the beret began to furrow.

"The distance seems to be not quite enough..."

The art teacher looked towards the stone pillars that supported the ancient stone bridge, built upon rock that stretched into the sea as a reef.

At that moment, with the dark moon and strong wind, the sea mist spread upward, making the black and damp cliffside seem to have twisting figures emerging upon it, as they climbed upward with difficulty, bit by bit, and then crawled onto the back of the stone bridge...

’Shh shh shh...’

’Shh shh shh...’

Lin Yi keenly caught some eerie noises, a subtle vibration that originated from under his feet... or more precisely, from the underside of the stone beneath his feet.

Theoretically, the thickness of the stones should prevent tremors from being felt so distinctly unless... the number of crawlers was excessively large.

In fact, their numbers were indeed vast... endless, twisting figures clung to the underside of the stone bridge like swarms of insects and ghouls, tenaciously following Mao Feiyang’s footsteps as they crawled forward.