AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 479 - 213 "Those Who Chase the Light Through the Fog End Up as Phantoms"_2

Chapter 479: Chapter 213 "Those Who Chase the Light Through the Fog End Up as Phantoms"_2

"And the so-called ’position of the Art Building’ indicated on the map, do you know why?"

Mao Feiyang shook his head.

Mu Daxian said, "Marking the information is only one aspect; the critical point is the ’report to the class teacher’ part, allowing the class teacher to know which places have encountered Fake Humans, whether they are new or existing ones, and thus have a general grasp of the movements of Pseudo-Humans in the shape of sculptures within the school campus..."

Mao Feiyang realized and exclaimed, "Is all this in preparation for the ’Grey Mist Invasion’ incident?!"

"Precisely." Mu Daxian nodded. "The class teacher’s handbook contains a multitude of emergency plans for unexpected situations, though I don’t know the specifics. I only know that the existence of class teachers is, to a large extent, for ’supervision’."

"Then what does ’the call of the Art Building layer’ mean?" Mao Feiyang asked.

"It’s a kind of...’call’, don’t worry, we’ll get to that shortly," Mu Daxian replied tersely, offering no further explanation.

Mao Feiyang pursed his lips and did not ask further questions.

Then, Mu Daxian continued, "By the way, I just mentioned ’Zero’ and ’Non-Zero’, but actually I’ve now realized there’s a third category of people..."

"Those like you, whose subconscious reactions are faster than their thoughts, whose inspiration is as keen as a dog’s nose... these can be collectively referred to as ’Dog-Nose People’."

"..." Mao Feiyang stiffened slightly.

"With your deliberate ’by the way’, I suspect you’re cursing me, but I dare not produce evidence"

But now that they were back on track, Mao Feiyang’s thoughts also followed suit, and he couldn’t help but ask, "Wait... why don’t they hide in the Green Forest Belt like the other Fake Humans do?"

He thought of something; from Mu Daxian’s tone, these two Fake Humans seemed determined to stay under the streetlight until the sunrise, only to be petrified into Human Sculptures?

"Because they completely lack the capacity to leave this place," Mu Daxian said, his tone growing colder. "They are the type of Fake Humans who are beyond saving."

Fake Humans encompass a very broad range of Units, including but not limited to the "Non-Human Units that transformed due to the corruption by Supernatural Power after Experience Students lose their Student ID cards," "Fake Humans who become ’Pseudo-Humans’, Human Sculptures, after a Nocturnal species seizes the Identity Credential of an Experience Student," and so on...

"Beyond saving? Are they transformed from Purebred Nightwalkers?"

Mu Daxian nodded, thinking to himself that Xiao Mao’s perception was passable: "Correct, all of them are transformed after Purebred Nightwalkers obtained the Life Certificates of Experience Students, some even devouring the corresponding Student."

To devour and then to become him? Mao Feiyang couldn’t help shivering: "But aren’t they unable to enter the lighted areas of streetlamps?"

"Indeed." Mu Daxian nodded, "Because the Supernatural Power carried by streetlamps can dispel the Supernatural Power within Fake Humans, revealing their ’true form’. Hence, Fake Humans instinctively fear the light; yet, they are attracted to the Supernatural Power within it, so they linger in the shadows just outside the light of the lamps."

"They chase ’light’, yet ’light’ harms them... the so-called ’Those Who Chase the Light Through the Fog End Up as Phantoms’ is a caution set upon them."

"However, nothing is absolute. The light’s power inflicts significant damage on those who have thoroughly changed into the Fake Humans side of the Units, but if it’s the ’Newborn Pseudo-Humans’ who have just devoured an Experience Student and seized their identity, the effect will be attenuated."

"This also leads to their ability to enter the illumination of streetlamps to some extent, but as time passes, they will also suffer like the pure Fake Humans."

Mao Feiyang quickly interrupted, "Wait a minute... what exactly did you mean by that saying? That one, that one that... Iron Law of the Night Watchman’s... that phrase..."

If at the beginning he didn’t dare to ask because the content was beyond his reach, now, after encountering an attack from the Sneering Angel, he felt he needed to know more, so he seized the chance to ask.

Mu Daxian gave him a glance, and without refusal, said directly, "De som jager lyset i tåke blir til slutt fantomer"... one of the Cautions of the "Iron Law of the Night Watchman," meaning "Those Who Chase the Light Through the Fog End Up as Phantoms"...

"The Cautions of the ’Iron Law of the Night Watchman,’ like some kind of magic spells, when recited using supernatural power, can cause great harm to nocturnal species," he explained.

"So it must be recited in that pronunciation, right?"

"Of course."

"Can I... learn it?"

Mu Daxian looked at him in surprise, "You don’t want to leave anymore?"

"I’ve thought it through, better to save my own skin first, then think about how to leave..." Mao Feiyang shrugged his shoulders with a tone of helpless compromise that seemed almost peculiar.

"Let’s talk about it when we get back to the Art Building," Mu Daxian patted his shoulder with a knowing smile, "To get back to the point, that phrase means that the nocturnal species hide in the grey mist yet seek the light, and in the end, they’re only bringing about their own destruction."

"Whether in Ancient Huaxia or in other ancient places such as Mesopotamia, the Indus River Basin, Ancient Greece, and so on, there exist means of guiding and combining supernatural powers through witchcraft, prayers, magic incantations, spell words, etc. The Cautions of the Iron Law of the Night Watchman were based on these principles."

"As for the specific principles, I’m not entirely clear, but I only know that this language seems to be related to the ’call’ from deep within the grey mist, it was after the Pioneers of the Art Building researched the pronunciation of that ’call’ that they composed these Cautions to counteract it."

It sounds a bit like... an echo in the mountain songs," Mao Feiyang blurted out subconsciously, imagining the painful screams coming from the depths of the mist, while on the other side, the Art Students collectively began to chant the Iron Law of the Night Watchman... almost like cursing each other out loudly.

Mu Daxian’s mouth twitched fiercely, and he could hardly resist the urge to punch him twice—damn it, he shouldn’t have overestimated Xiao Mao; he had just begun to see him in a new light, only for him to make a slip of the tongue that nearly ruined the awe-inspiring presence of the Cautions.

After regaining his composure, he continued, "So, when the mist flows into campus, some pseudo-human sculptures follow behind the Experience Students, using the shadows, gradually approaching the streetlights, just like moths drawn to a flame..."

Mao Feiyang pondered, "So that’s why the student rules include sayings like ’don’t look back’?"

Mu Daxian nodded lightly, "A one-size-fits-all approach is very common in the regulations for Experience Students because the school can’t explain too much to them. Using a tone of ’no explanation needed, just obey unconditionally’ is more compelling than using gentle warnings."

"For the pseudo-humans, the students who do not look back are like the trees that block the sunlight in the Green Forest Belt during the daytime."

"But if they do look back and see the pseudo-human, the student’s defenses break down in an instant, starting to absorb the Contamination. Such students become like a sponge absorbing ’Contamination,’ and the pseudo-humans themselves feed on ’Contamination’..."

Mao Feiyang suddenly understood, "So that’s it! So if the Experience Student accepts the concept of ’pseudo-human,’ they can turn around in the mist?"

Mu Daxian replied, "That’s what I meant when I said that the regulations are just a manual to get you started; once you understand them thoroughly, as long as you don’t self-destruct, the margin for error becomes much higher. The problem is... do you think Experience Students have that kind of opportunity?"

"Most Experience Students encounter various problems in the process of accepting these concepts, and then they start to turn into nocturnal species or become our fellow Art Students or Sports Students."

"Ah... that makes sense!" Mao Feiyang nodded earnestly, indeed, everyone was just here to experience seven days, who in their right mind would play with their life!

"So why are they now so desperate to rush toward the streetlights?" Mao Feiyang raised another key question, "Is it related to ’Doomsday’?"

There was no need to ask "is it so," because it was surely a foregone conclusion, but what Mao Feiyang really cared about was, the units that are driven away by the light, what purpose was so compelling that they’d rush into the range of the streetlights with such recklessness?

That legendary "Doomsday"... just how much impact would it bring?