AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 497 - 222: On and Off the Paper_2

Chapter 497: Chapter 222: On and Off the Paper_2

Small and sad.

Thinking this way, Lin Yi suddenly didn’t find the Sneering Angel so terrifying anymore; they were just some pathetic, sad creatures.

Hmm... compared to them, he was hardly qualified to call himself sad.

Too insignificant.

One is small and sad.

One is small and laughable.

Such insignificant beings, even unable to grasp their own life and death.

Heh.

"Ah..." Lin Yi sighed deeply.

At that moment, Mu Daxian’s voice rang in his ear.

"Done, let’s get going, let’s get going!"

Mu Daxian had just stowed away the fourth petrified light bulb into his cloth bag and then started to leave the deep forest with Mao Feiyang.

It was already getting late; the twilight divided the light, causing the shadows in the depths of the forest to stretch outwards, followed by a thin mountain mist that almost seemed not to exist.

Mu Daxian, skilled and brave, even though the mist had risen above his calves, remained composed, like an explorer walking through a tropical rainforest.

On the other hand, Mao Feiyang, as time passed, gradually moved closer to Mu Daxian, worried about accidentally encountering some mishap.

The human sculptures not far from the shadowy area had already started to exhibit subtle movements, as if sensing the presence of Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang, almost unabashedly wanting to look their way, therefore their necks began to make a fine "creak creak" sound.

"Don’t mind them," Mu Daxian cautioned, "always remind yourself that they can’t see us."

"The sculptures of pseudo-humans, their ’induction’ ability fluctuates widely, but won’t exceed the lowest level of Art Students... Your information depth is higher than theirs; even if they sense you, under normal circumstances, they don’t dare to make a move on you."

Mu Daxian explained patiently.

"Firstly, we, as Transcendent Polluters, come from the same root; why be too hasty to harm each other... just as I told you before, our embodiments are similar, except we are ’living’ polluters, while in their definition, they are ’living,’ but in our definition, they are already ’dead.’"

"Secondly, just like the laws of the animal kingdom, their contamination level is lower than ours, thus like how pigs and dogs are frightened of tigers and leopards, unless we show significant flaws, they cannot attack us."

Mao Feiyang nodded, somewhat understanding: "What if we accidentally interact with them?"

Mu Daxian waved the sculpture’s arm he was holding carelessly, "Then just kill them. The group’s immortality doesn’t guarantee the eternity of an individual, get it?"

"It seems... I kind of get it," Mao Feiyang responded.

"Hey, you’ll eventually understand these things; facing more ’incidents’ will turn you into an old hand as well," Mu Daxian said laughingly.

At this moment, Mao Feiyang subconsciously blurted out, "Does that mean... those who didn’t become old hands have all fallen?"

Mu Daxian’s mouth twitched slightly, "Your perception really thrives in such tricky perspectives... ahem, yes, only the old hands survive on the battlefield."

"There are just that many Art Students in the Art Building, right?"

"Since there are just that few... The ’metabolism’ of Art Students is quite fast; many are freshmen, so we try to minimize the loss of freshman strength. Er, no, casualties, and will do our best to support your growth," Mu Daxian explained.

"But I still want to leave, my roommates are waiting for me..." Mao Feiyang murmured quietly.

"I could leave," Mu Daxian gave Mao Feiyang a glance, "As an art student like me, I actually have the right to leave, but... at my level, one basically wouldn’t leave the Art Building for personal reasons."

"Ah? Why?"

"It might sound a bit funny, but mostly it’s because..." Mu Daxian suddenly stopped in his tracks, glancing over the campus from the hillside.

The campus was built within a mountainous area, and at first glance, one couldn’t see the entire campus, or even several of the Teaching Buildings; it seemed as though there was a glint of gold in Mu Daxian’s eyes.

At that moment, a brilliant golden radiance fell from the sky in the west, where the sun, which had hung all day without casting much light, also appeared tired, settling over the endless mountains in the west, its face red in its final moments of light and warmth.

It was hard to distinguish whether the reflection in Mu Daxian’s eyes was of the sunset’s afterglow or that unique golden gleam belonging to an art student.

"Because..." his tone was very calm, without helplessness or bitterness, only a long, deep calm, "...some kind of ’responsibility,’ I guess."

"Res...ponsibility?" Through Mao Feiyang’s eyes, Lin Yi looked at Mu Daxian’s face, lit by the evening glow, and for some reason, he sensed an indescribable authenticity.

"One evening in the future, if you also have thoughts like I do right now, then you’ll understand why I say this," Mu Daxian said earnestly, "Look at this campus, isn’t it peaceful now?"

"Yes."

"This peace is an illusion, but even if it’s an illusion, we need to try our best to protect it. That’s the meaning behind the existence of the Art Building."

"Come on, let’s go check out where that Ape-Man Tarzan was digging just now, and then head straight to the Teaching Building for registration," Mu Daxian patted Mao Feiyang on the shoulder, taking a long breath.

"Now?" Mao Feiyang widened his eyes, "Isn’t it time for dinner now?"

"We won’t miss this one meal," Mu Daxian shook his head, "In the next few days, we won’t be able to eat properly anyway, one meal more or less makes no difference."

"Er... alright," Mao Feiyang said.

After a while, the two arrived next to the lamppost where the mountain man had been digging.

The digging marks here were heavy, the mountain man hadn’t even considered filling the dug-up soil back in, apparently never imagining that someone would come here.

Or perhaps, he simply didn’t care if someone discovered this hole.

Lin Yi hadn’t felt much when he looked from afar, but on arriving here, he realized the hole was not small at all, it seemed to be even larger than the bag that had been buried.

Mu Daxian’s concern however wasn’t the hole; he noticed that the dry leaves piled next to the lamppost had been disturbed, and there were some peculiar symbols on the base, as if deliberately marked.

The mark looked like a few circles drawn with white chalk along the lamppost, something that one wouldn’t pay much attention to even if they saw it.

Mu Daxian touched the white circles, squinting and muttering, "This was planned in advance..."

Mao Feiyang pondered, "Brother Xian, do you mean someone buried something here and then marked it for this Ape-Man Tarzan to come and retrieve?"

"Mm... ’Ape-Man Tarzan’ is a strange codename, since he’s male, why don’t we take the character for ’mountain’ from Ape-Man Tarzan and change his codename to ’Mountain Man’?"

Mao Feiyang mulled it over and also coincidentally agreed with giving the name Mountain Man.

"Don’t you think ’Mountain Man’ sounds even stranger?" Mu Daxian said exasperatedly, "Never mind, a two-character nickname is easier to remember than four. Mountain Man it is then."

"I understand now, this Mountain Man must be undergoing a well-organized, premeditated operation. His exoskeleton wasn’t brought in all at once but in phases."

"That also explains why his exoskeleton looks different from what I remember; it must be modified parts, separable into special camping or climbing gear, protectors, etc. But if disassembled and reconstructed another way, together with the contents of another bag, it can be made into that exoskeleton..."

"Brilliant, quite something."