AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 348 - 162 "Material" (Extra 200 words)_2

Chapter 348: Chapter 162 "Material" (Extra 200 words)_2

A terrifying truth suddenly surfaced, one he had never considered before, but now, connecting to this idea, he felt a chilling terror erupting from deep within!

Because he realized — everyone’s Student ID cards seemed to be made of the same material!!!

No, not just the Student ID cards!

In his mind, flashes of the Class Teacher’s badge and the Cafeteria Auntie’s badge sped by, and he discovered that these items were all made from the same material!

And it seemed there was more, weren’t the Student Souvenir Coins made of the same material, too?

The image of the Student Souvenir Coin flashed in his mind, and he indeed found it to be quite similar, and... during the time Class Teacher-040 showcased the Class Teacher’s Rulebook, the cover of the rulebook seemed to be made of the same material as well!

That meant... these items, these identity-related items, were all crafted from the same material!

This material, which appeared to be white acrylic, was far from ordinary!

"The rules say, do not let others see you when you swipe your card in the cafeteria..."

"Liangzi also developed the ’Sword Draw Swipe Card Technique’ passive skill..."

"Moreover... Li Huiyuan once told me at the Convenience Store, she had a strong urge to snatch my Student ID card!"

"She had lost her Student ID card and was continuously absorbing contamination, exhibiting some characteristics of Nocturnal species..."

"That means, Nocturnal species attack those who expose their Student ID cards! Although I don’t understand the motive or logic, they seem to snatch Student ID cards?!"

"If I categorize the Student ID cards and similar materials in one group, and Nocturnal species, non-human classmates, and Human Sculptures in another... I can make a hypothesis!"

"If you carry items like the cafeteria rules outside, you might become a very likely target of Human Sculpture attacks while walking at night!"

"And because the Student ID card is small enough, maybe it can avoid this issue...?"

"Wait a minute!"

"Not necessarily!"

He thought of that calling coming from behind him.

That calling so accurate it could pronounce his name!

Was that voice calling for him?

No, it wasn’t calling for ’him’ but for ’the person holding his Student ID card’.

It was a group of Nocturnal species or perhaps Human Sculptures, lurking in the dark corners, using their calls to express their covetousness and greed for the Student ID card!

At the moment this thought formed, a scene surfaced in Lin Yi’s mind as vividly as if he were seeing it with his own eyes—

Late at night at S City University, a sliver of moon hung in the night sky, "he" walked alone on the rugged Cobblestone road, the Cobblestones beneath his feet smooth enough to reflect the bright moonlight, as if enveloped in a dim halo of light.

A breeze blew up from between the mountains, brushing the treetops, filling the wilderness with a "shushing" sound, and gradually, thick white mist, dense as the Netherworld, surged from deep within the mountains with the wind, overflowing the edge of the Green Forest Belt and flowing into S City University like murky tide tangled with viscous liquid.

As the mist spread, the phalanx of sculptures began dragging their stiff bodies, encircling like zombies from the Green Forest Belt.

"Shush, shush, shush," "Shush, shush, shush"...

The mist that entered S City University, after the white mountain mist evaporated, revealed a green signifying contamination, which over time turned into a terrifying dark green.

The green mist, thick in some places and thin in others, wandered between the mountains and the campus, meandering among the phalanx of sculptures, turning the entire S City University into a floating green misty hell...

As the wind gently enveloped the Cobblestone road, the man walking on the Cobblestone road began to notice the abnormality in the environment and started looking for a nearby streetlight.

But for some reason, even though the night seemed very deep, the streetlights around "him" had yet to come on.

As the green mist thickened, the clouds above also thickened, and the cold moonlight gradually became obscured by the dense mist, leaving only the outline of the moon visible in the high sky.

As the mist deepened further, "he" began to lose his direction, watching the fog visible to the naked eye engulfing his feet, flooding up to his ankles, and then rising to his shins, "he" furrowed his brows tightly, then crouched down, touching the Cobblestones with his hand, continuously mumbling, "My name is Lin Yi, my student number is X0230506098, I am currently on the Cobblestone road of the campus... My name is Lin Yi, my student number is X0230506098, I am..."

As "he" was silently reciting those sentences, within the scene Lin Yi extrapolated that "he" couldn’t see, amid the thick, dark green mist, the humanoid sculptures appeared to smell something delicious. Dragging their stiff steps and accompanied by the "shasha" sound of dragging feet, they slowly gathered around Lin Yi...

Their bodies swayed slowly with the evening breeze like seaweed, encircling "him" in a row like a creepy choir, in this environment akin to the Netherworld, they also resembled numerous elongated humanoid tombstones.

They stood beside "him" as if they had heard the sentences "he" was silently reciting in his mind, and then one by one, four in total, the corners of their lips began to curl into a rigid arc, followed by a raspy and dry voice:

[My name is Lin Yi...]

[My student number is... X0230506... 098...]

[I... am on... the cobblestone road of the campus...]

[My name is Lin Yi... I...]

Yet Lin Yi was certain the "he" in his mind hadn’t made any noise at all, all the words were silently thought, but these humanoid sculptures seemed to hear the thoughts as well, repeating the same words as "he."

It seemed by relentlessly repeating such words, they could become "him," or...steal his identity.

After an indeterminate amount of time, at a spot on the cobblestone road, a street lamp suddenly lit up with a "pop."

As the street lamp came on, its orange-yellow light immediately pierced through the thick dark green mist, unfolding a dome-shaped area like a mushroom emerging from the ground.

The humanoid sculptures instantly scurried away like sand worms, "shasha shasha," as if fearful of the light.

"He" looked up towards the lamp post.

Since all the humanoid sculptures had fled, besides the rolling mist, he could hardly see anything else.

"He" then stood up and began walking towards the lamp post.

As "he" faced the lamp post, a dark shadow stretched out behind him. Seeing this shadow, the humanoid sculptures hurriedly crawled onto it, closely clinging to the shadow, slowly approaching the lamp post following "him."

They crept on the ground, wriggling forward, while some of the humanoid sculptures simply stepped on the backs of the first batch, pressing their bodies heavily onto the cobblestone road.

But they seemed to feel no pain nor showed any change in expression, just recklessly following "his" shadow towards the lamp post.

And their bellies were abraded bloody by the cobblestone road—yet their flesh was a plaster-like substance.

The cobblestone road they crawled and scraped over was filled in the crevices with that plaster-like powder, identical to the powder Lin Yi had once squatted down to examine on the road!

"Shasha shasha..."

"Shasha shasha..."

Their eyes revealed a strong greed as they curled up in "his" shadow inching closer to the lamp post.

Finally, "he" emerged from the dark green mist, entering the domain of the lamp like breaking through a birth membrane wrapped with amniotic-like mist.

"He" silently sighed in relief.

But at that moment, an anxious voice called out from behind him: "Lin Yi."

The voice was unfamiliar, yet "he" found it incredibly familiar.

Thus, instinctively, "he" turned his head.

And at that moment, the humanoid sculptures that had been coiled in his shadow suddenly twisted their bodies into an arc, and before "he" could react, they surged forward en masse like a pack of wolves, pinning "him" to the ground, while shouting from their mouths:

[I am Lin Yi, I am Lin Yi...]

Suddenly, one of the humanoid sculptures tore through "his" clothes, and that student ID card was swiftly exposed to the air.

"Boom—"

The humanoid sculptures exploded like a blossom and no longer concerned with "him," they surged directly towards the student ID card.