AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 217 - 101 The Watchtower_2

Chapter 217: Chapter 101 The Watchtower_2

After confirming that it was futile to persuade Mao Feiyang, he no longer said much but adjusted his mood and then began to guide Mao Feiyang, attempting to align him with their camp.

Even though the art teachers with their strange demeanor were indeed very unsettling, their art students clearly weren’t "ordinary" art students either...

He vividly remembered the time when Mu Daxian led the art students and the eccentric art teachers in an "erupting qi" battle to compete in aura, both sides made him feel discomfort, but compared to the strong malice of the eccentric art teachers, the art students’ malice was significantly less.

This kind of malice was like when facing a wild beast, one could distinctly sense the beast’s intent to kill, but this wouldn’t be the case with some other beasts...

Therefore, he believed that the words of the art students shouldn’t be fully trusted.

This was similar to the initial advice from Xu Shunkang and Xie Huayang, who cautioned him not to think.

Whether it was Xu Shunkang, Xie Huayang, or Mu Daxian, the things they said were based on their own standpoints and then projected onto the other party’s perspective.

For instance, Xu Shunkang assumed he was just an ordinary experience student and gave the "one-size-fits-all" advice of "don’t think." Even the class teacher initially said the same, but what about later?

When the class teacher realized his inspiration was extraordinary, he was very apprehensive that he might have actually heeded his advice and consequently agreed with Tian Bufan’s view that "people with high sensitivity must think to guarantee safety."

The current Mu Daxian obviously did the same; standing in the shoes of a senior art student, he gave Mao Feiyang, who seemed to have "high affinity for art," advice on "what he thought Mao Feiyang should do."

But such advice seemed contrary to the Art Student Rules, leading Lin Yi to believe that Mu Daxian intended to lure Mao Feiyang to become an art student like himself.

But could such art students still receive the "protection effect" mentioned in the Art Student Rules?

Lin Yi felt they couldn’t.

Thinking this, he worriedly sweated for Mao Feiyang.

"Maozi has fallen into the dragon’s pool and the tiger’s den..."

He felt that the only things he could trust in the Art Building were himself and the rules, as well as the explicitly mentioned point in the rules: [In class, the Art Teacher’s words are absolutely trustworthy.]

If one were to use Tian Bufan’s gaming theory, Lin Yi thought Mao Feiyang’s start could definitely be described as hell difficulty + nightmare start.

While others started with a red buff or a blue buff, Mao Feiyang started at the enemy crystal... It was almost like heading over to feed the fountain.

But that wasn’t the key issue; the key was that the contamination affecting Mao Feiyang could spread to the remaining few of them, truly a case of sharing both glory and downfall.

"Maozi, Maozi... Tsk! Must quickly discuss with Young Master Tian a way to rescue Maozi from the Art Building!"

In this dream, Lin Yi had thought of this more than once, and now the thought was growing ever stronger.

Just then, a damp sea breeze blew through the passage, interrupting Lin Yi’s train of thought and pulling him back to reality.

He focused and saw a dim sky at the end of the corridor.

The wind from the direction of the Watchtower was so fierce that even the flames on the candles in the corridor seemed on the verge of going out.

Lin Yi noticed that the corridor walls were also carved with some reliefs, where the uneven areas cast magical shadows under the candlelight. As the candle flames flickered, the reliefs and shadows constantly changed and interacted, as if showing some form of stop-motion animation.

Lin Yi speculated that these murals might be related to the books on the bookshelves, but as a "passer-by," he couldn’t stay to watch long.

He quickly walked against the sea breeze out of the corridor and followed Mu Daxian and the other art student onto a platform with a broad view.

As his view expanded, Lin Yi first saw a dull and oppressive sky.

The thick clouds, as if fake, covered the sky completely, casting the whole world into darkness. It should have been noon, but the scene around him was almost no different from nighttime.

Below the clouds lay an endless ocean, its black tides shrouded with a faint white vapor, reminiscent of steam rising from boiling water. This vapor merged between sea and sky, forming a terrifying mist.

This mist enveloped nearly the entire ocean, making the Art Building perched atop the cliff seem like the only structure in this layer of the world.

Before the Art Building was an ocean, around it, mountains, and beyond them, only the sky, the ocean, and the vast grey mist remained.

This world was so vast it felt incredibly hollow, empty to the point of nothingness.

And the Art Building, as if plucked by some supernatural force from somewhere, appeared to have been cast here.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Lin Yi’s ears were filled with the howling wind, mixed with the sound of waves and their crash against the rocks.

Suddenly, he noticed the shadow of some structure on the cyan stone bricks in front of him. The bricks were a deep color, like those overgrown with moss, so he hadn’t seen anything at first.

When he turned his head back, he was immediately met with the sight of a spire lost in the darkness.

Gothic architecture, often a symbol of a particular era, radiates a strong mystical aura.

This spire, standing amidst sea winds and fog, further intensified the mysterious atmosphere to its fullest.

Its sharp pinnacle seemed as if it would pierce a hole in the sky, and the stained glass windows of the spire formed what looked like religious patterns. A dim yellow light snaked between them, resembling a mysterious symbol.

In the background of the spire, one could vaguely make out the silhouette of a bell tower, which seemed to have shadows of crows on it. But Lin Yi, having experienced nearly an entire night’s dream, felt those shadows were not crows but some strange sculptures.

On the greyish-green brick wall not far below the spire, there were numerous lines of twisted text scrawled in rough yellow paint:

[Welcome to the Art Building.]

This familiar scene instantly brought Lin Yi back to that moment during the day when he had returned to the Teaching Building after lunch!

"Finally made it here!" Lin Yi’s heart leaped. Wasn’t this the Phantom Vision he experienced when he gazed at the moss after lunch and returned to the Teaching Building?

"The dream’s timeline has caught up to this moment! So next, Maozi should set up his easel for sketching and then have a gaze across the layers with me from that time!"

Lin Yi was immediately invigorated, filled with a strong sense of anticipation for Mao Feiyang’s perspective of "Phantom Vision," which might hide clues about moving between layers!

He took a deep breath and focused his attention.

However, sadly, after searching several times, he eventually realized there seemed to be no clock in the watchtower. Without it, how could he tell the time?

Mao Feiyang noticed this as well and couldn’t help asking, "Isn’t there a clock here?"

Upon hearing this, Mu Daxian exchanged a glance with another art student. That student laughed and explained, "The wind is too strong here. The sea breeze would interfere with the swinging of the clock, affecting its frequency and thereby the accuracy of time."

"But you don’t need to worry about the time. Although sketching is beneficial for artistic cultivation, it’s rare for someone to stay on the watchtower for several hours."