AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 523 - 234 "It-I", "It-II", "It-III"_2

Chapter 523: Chapter 234 "It-I", "It-II", "It-III"_2

"It seems that angel sculptures often appear alongside ’It-I’... They are attracted by some creatures with supernatural powers around them, giving me the feeling like patrol boats of a spaceship, circling the ship, acting as guards while also hunting on their own..."

"Three different types of angel sculptures have different characteristics, like hunting ships designed for different prey..."

Tian Bufan stroked his chin and muttered, "Sneering... Furious... Alien... Quite novel concepts, they are somewhat interesting."

Lin Yi said, "On the evening of May 7th, Maozi followed Mu Daxian through the Green Forest Belt to the cafeteria, where he accidentally got contaminated with the breath of ’It-I’, then became the target of the Sneering Angel’s attack, drawing the attention of nine Sneering Angels that night..."

"Mu Daxian used the Student Souvenir Coin and the Pseudo-Human Sculpture, anchoring the sculpture as Maozi, to attract the attack of the Sneering Angels, and they got through the first night unscathed..."

"Unfortunately, on the night of the 7th, the elevator was full of Sneering Angels. Mu Daxian was unprepared and unable to return to the Art Building with Maozi, so he hid with Mao Feiyang all night... Speaking of which, the methods of the art students are indeed magical, like the legendary Ma Liang’s magic brush."

Astonished by Mu Daxian’s depiction of the overlayed space’s operation, Lin Yi couldn’t help but marvel.

"On the 8th, they made it to the cafeteria for breakfast... and then they went to the convenience store to get more Student Souvenir Coins."

"That’s right, they took a different passage, and the cafeteria they entered through this other passage seemed like a different layer compared to the one entered through the Student Passage. It gave me the feeling that... it’s like... "

He tried to articulate as he thought but struggled to convey the layered sensation clearly—it seemed nearly impossible to describe with words.

It was Tian Bufan who offered a concept at the crucial moment: "Is it ’napkin’?"

"Huh?" Lin Yi was momentarily puzzled.

Tian Bufan pondered and said, "Your description makes me think of ’napkins’."

"Napkins on the market can be separated into thin layers, if you write on them, the ink permeates through these layers. No matter which layer the ink appears on, it quickly seeps through to the other layers, affecting all three... "

"Could the layers of the cafeteria be like several overlaid thin napkins?"

"The cafeterias from different passages are on different layers, and the cafeteria itself has another layer... when ’interactions’ occur within the cafeteria, the layers seep into each other."

"That’s why the cafeteria rules only mention not to interact with strangers, but they don’t say anything about familiar people."

Lin Yi’s face showed sudden comprehension: "I see, in this context, the so-called ’strangers’ do not refer to strangers in the simple sense but include everyone apart from ’familiar people’..."

"Because the rules are mostly for Experience Students, to protect their cognition, they can’t directly mention ’Pseudo-Humans’, ’Pocket Chefs’, ’Nocturnal species’, and so on... so they just make a clean sweep of it."

Lin Yi had realized that this ’clean sweep’ approach was not only evident in the rules; even Sports Students and Teachers treat Experience Students by this principle, as if by default Experience Students are here for a very limited function, therefore they need not be exposed to anything associated with the ’core cognition’.

Indeed, what can one do with just seven days?

But from another angle... what could be done within seven days?

Lin Yi was momentarily speechless, then continued Tian Bufan’s line of thought, pondering, "Because people who are familiar with each other inherently belong to the same layer, while ’strangers’ are on a different one, so as long as we ’ignore’ their existence, and don’t even acknowledge their attempts to interact, then the ink cannot seep into our layer... This way, there would be no ’interactions’."

The underlying logic of the cafeteria seemed to have been figured out.

"With that said..." Lin Yi mused, "if the Green hats aren’t on the same layer as us, then when they crawl out of window number 10, do we not need to deal with them?"

"The cafeteria rules say to leave immediately after setting down the tray, ’Don’t look back, don’t respond... even if you feel it’s about to catch up with you’... So, could it be that they won’t follow us as they’re not on the same layer, and fundamentally, they can’t reach us?"

Tian Bufan said, "If the underlying logic is like that, then whether we can be touched depends on the layer we are in... But how do you ensure you don’t mess up at the crucial moment, what if you accidentally change layers, that would be fun."

Lin Yi shrank his neck: "I was just saying..."

Despite this, after "knowing", he wasn’t so afraid of the green apron chef anymore. But speaking of fear... he didn’t seem to have been afraid of the green apron chef since yesterday.

Compared to the Sneering Angel, a top-notch item, the green apron chef was like a circus clown, menacing in appearance but seemed... to never have gained an advantage over Wei Shan.

Even Wei Liang seemed to be able to toy with them back and forth.

"Talk is talk, but we’d better not be careless." Tian Bufan gave him a look and cautioned, "The green apron chefs definitely have some secrets we don’t know about. A group of units that lack combat ability wouldn’t have survived until now without some unique advantage."

Lin Yi clapped his hands, "Speaking of which... I just remembered, the green apron chefs are highly contaminated, like the zombie virus. The threat of the individual is much less than the threat they carry."

Tian Bufan affirmed, "So, we should still try to avoid direct contact with the green apron chefs, it’s better to treat them like hedgehogs."

Lin Yi nodded, but he suddenly thought that even Mu Daxian seemed to avoid direct conflict with the green apron chefs. In contrast, Wei Shan and Wei Liang... seemed to be more straightforward.

"Hang on, Wei Sang, how did you deal with the Green hat?" Lin Yi asked curiously.

Wei Shan looked puzzled, "You mean the green apron chefs?"

"Yes."

Wei Shan shook his head, "I don’t know, maybe I have thick skin, or maybe... I’m just thick? I can’t grasp what you are talking about, that kind of cognition?"

Lin Yi frowned and pondered for a moment, feeling that the reason was likely not on a physical level, but since Wei Sang himself wasn’t clear about it, he decided not to delve deeper for now.

There was a simplemindedness, or perhaps "blindness", "mindlessness", even a "wild" flavor about Wei Shan. Unlike the cerebral Tian Bufan, Wei Shan relied more on primal instincts... emitting a barbarian’s aura.

So discussing this with Wei Shan... was really like playing the lute to a cow.

Because he utterly didn’t understand, was he therefore immune to the contamination?

Lin Yi wasn’t sure, but Wei Shan’s behavior forced him to believe it might be true.

As they talked, they gradually left the dormitory building area and entered the cafeteria area.

But the moment they stepped over the "Dormitory Building-001" and into the territory defined by the light pole of "Cafeteria-001", an unnatural atmosphere, like a thin film, enveloped them.

"Huff..." Wei Shan crouched low instantly, breathing out hot air between his teeth, like a bear sensing danger, warily surveying the surrounding environment.

Lin Yi’s steps also halted abruptly, his body tensing up as well.

He held his breath and stealthily ran his hand over his arm to soothe the goosebumps.

"Wei Sang..."

"Something’s not right, Old Lin." Wei Shan’s throat moved slightly, producing a low sound, "Let’s confirm again... this is the cafeteria area, right?"

"It’s definitely the cafeteria..." Tian Bufan glanced at the light pole beside him, the pole did indeed bear the number "Cafeteria-001" written in white paint.

"If this is the cafeteria, then it means..."

Lin Yi and Tian Bufan exchanged a look, their expressions growing serious.

"There’s a problem with this area of the cafeteria!"