AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 518 - 232 Awakening, May 9th _2

Chapter 518: Chapter 232 Awakening, May 9th _2

"If I just use the origin of the Nocturnal species as the adhesive for the Pseudo-Humans and pinch a head, Pseudo-Human Sculptures would actually be a superior choice," now that it was safe, Mu Daxian explained the concealed part of the plan, "If I don’t let you see, you won’t ’know.’ Subconsciously, that ’arm’ of mine remains my ’arm.’

"You... used my ’perception’?" Mao Feiyang exclaimed in surprise, suddenly recalling that Mu Daxian didn’t bring his palette when he left but did take the cloth bag containing paint cans.

Mu Daxian smiled slightly, "An invisible anchor is most effective."

He elbowed Mao Feiyang. "I, Mu Daxian, have survived ten Grey Mist Invasions, am I merely a man of empty repute? You little rascal, are you underestimating me?"

Mao Feiyang bowed his head and touched his nose, chuckling.

"But Brother Xian... the way you handled things in the elevator truly moved me."

"Yuck, are you fucking trying to nauseate me? Send a female student my way, and I’d certainly give her a big hug, but you? Get lost!" Mu Daxian laughed and swore unabashedly.

Mao Feiyang curled his lip.

"Besides, you moved my ass."

"I was fucking worried that after the Sneering Angel sucked you dry, their vitality would increase massively, and I would really be stuck in the elevator with no escape."

"If we were outside, I would have run away long ago. Believe it or not."

"I... believe," Mao Feiyang actually didn’t believe at all, but having a headstrong senior covering for him felt really great, almost like having met a great mentor.

Mu Daxian knew what Mao Feiyang was thinking and couldn’t help but sigh.

Just then, a thunderous roar from the sky, like signal interference, violently shook Lin Yi’s vision, and his vision began uncontrollably flickering. The howling wind by his ear told him that this dream was finally coming to an end.

However, the fact that this dream could hold on to the brink of collapse under his continuous persistence was already an excellent achievement for him.

At the same time, knowing that Mao Feiyang and Mu Daxian had safely returned to the Art Building layer, he finally felt relieved.

However, just as his vision was shattering in the final stage, he noticed that the Stone Bridge underneath the light was already engulfed in a violent storm...

Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang briskly passed the rust-eroded cultivator sign under the tempest, thunderclaps sounded, and a dazzling white light illuminated the entire world.

Lin Yi’s vision shattered, the frame freezing in that overly exposed white world.

The rising waves seemed eager to climb up the cliff where the Art Building was located. Countless bizarre Nocturnal species, like a swarm of insects, crazily climbed beneath the cliff, around the pillars of the Stone Bridge, under the bridge, in the mud... all occupied by various forms of Nocturnal species!

Grey Mist, Black Sun, Bell Tower, Thunder, Downpour...

On both sides of the Stone Bridge, in angles unseen by Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang, endless Nocturnal species watched hungrily!

Safe?

Ridiculous safety!

Illusory safety!

Momentary safety!

What safety?

Only in dreams exists ’safety’!

The Bell Sound of the Doomsday!

Grey Mist Invasion!

No wonder Mu Daxian had only breathed a sigh of relief before immediately adopting a serious expression. The layer where the Art Building was located was precisely the battlefield for the Grey Mist Invasion!

May 9, 2023, 0:06, during the Grey Mist Invasion, Lin Yi’s shattered lens captured the final frenzied scene.

...

The shattered lens, along with the continuously flickering lens, gradually stabilized. This time, just when Lin Yi thought he had awoken from his dream, he found he was still not awake but was instead in a world enveloped in grey mist.

Beneath his feet was a Cobblestone path, by which he deduced that he was now in a viewpoint belonging to S City University’s layer.

He had not yet steadied himself when his vision started flickering rapidly again. Looking ahead at the thick grey mist, numerous fragments swiftly flashed by—scenes of him beating those Human Sculptures attempting to rob ’himself’ of his identity and of being surrounded by the Heretical Choir...

The flickering vision progressed rapidly like a PPT until the Security Guard appeared, and then his vision stabilized somewhat...

Lin Yi naturally understood that this perspective had unexpectedly jumped to the scene last night on his way back to the Dormitory building!

Lin Yi couldn’t help but take a closer look at the Security Guard, trying to observe him.

At this moment, the Security Guard was dressed in a black coat, holding the iconic old-fashioned kerosene lamp in his left hand and a spiked club in his right. He stood within the grey mist, and even though Lin Yi was in a dream, he could still feel a sense of oppression coming from the Security Guard.

An oppression... more heart-pounding than that of the Sneering Angel.

Following this, the Security Guard, acting according to the ’script,’ began leading the yesterday’s Lin Yi towards the Art Building, while Lin Yi followed behind, observing the spiked club in his hand, yet he couldn’t see anything special about it for the time being.

He then shifted his gaze back to the old kerosene lamp.

That old kerosene lamp... it too was radiating light, yet the tiny flame it cast, seemingly dimmer than even a light bulb, emitted a completely different kind of glow.

This radiance... seemed to carry a kind of magic power, making Lin Yi feel a strong sense of awe the moment he saw it, yet it also awakened a desire to draw closer to it.

"This light..." Lin Yi, as if enchanted, uncontrollably lost himself in the flickering flame of the old kerosene lamp.

Just then.

"Click..."

The security guard suddenly stopped walking, then fiercely turned his head... His gaze fixed on the empty air, his eyes under the brim of his hat like huge suns.

That look, it directly intimidated Lin Yi—because he felt that the security guard had once again sensed his presence.

Sure enough, the security guard slowly bent down, like a beast bowing its head, and brought his face close, right in front of Lin Yi, yet his eyes still faced the void. He then slightly furrowed his brows and gently flared his nostrils, as if trying to cross some dimension to catch the scent of a trace.

Immediately after, Lin Yi saw his dream self from last night begin to whisper softly, "Are you here... ’me after I fall asleep tonight’?"

The instant he heard this statement, Lin Yi’s pupils trembled violently, as if something had formed a bizarre loop at that moment.

"I... actually appeared here?"

"Did my past self predict my future self?"

Suddenly, the old kerosene lamp’s flame began to flicker, and the security guard’s eyes gradually narrowed, the atmosphere at the scene growing increasingly tense.

"Boom—Clang!!!"

A mace the size of a ham heavily smashed onto the ground by the security guard, the strong shockwave nearly causing last night’s Lin Yi to lose his balance, and also shattering Lin Yi’s vision at this moment—completely!

"I understand..."

In the shattered vision, Lin Yi’s camera rapidly pulled back, while he could still hear the security guard’s voice from that night.

"The environment has contaminated your perception of time’s flow..."

"That’s just the ’time’ within your cognition..."

As the world darkened instantly, a voice he had never heard from the security guard before rang in his ears.

"Be careful..."

All he heard around him was the sound of wind, yet this rustling wind seemed not to be wind at all, but rather the sound of the old kerosene lamp’s flickering flame.

"’Time’..."

In these sounds, the security guard’s voice was intermittent.

"...is a curse."

"Bang—"

Lin Yi returned to the midst of thin clouds.

"’Time is a curse’?"

He murmured this phrase, but a sense of pushback immediately followed, and he saw the world fading away from him.

He knew...

He had woken up from the dream.

...

May 9, 2023, Dormitory Building, Room 1414.

"Whish—"

Lin Yi yanked off his blanket and abruptly sat up in bed, then desperately gasped for air, feeling as if the voice that liberates the dead had startled him awake.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

He breathed heavily and struggled to swallow a gulp of saliva.

He turned his head to glance at the clock on the wall.

6:23.

"Slept 23 minutes over..." he muttered.

"What do you mean ’slept over,’ acting like you have a biological clock that can pinpoint the exact time to wake up?" Wei Liang’s voice came from under the bed.

Lin Yi looked down and saw him stuffing shoes into his bag.

"Liangzi, what’s this...?"