AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 539 - 242 "Step Back"_2

Chapter 539: Chapter 242 "Step Back"_2

With this, counting the cookie each had received yesterday, both their bags now contained two rolls of cookies, a loaf of bread, and a bottle of mineral water.

The others also finished scanning their cards.

"Are we all good to go?" Wei Liang asked.

"Let’s go." Lin Yi glanced at his watch.

「7:28」

Everything went smoothly until the group reached the exit of the Student Cafeteria and lifted the plastic curtain without any issues.

Before lifting the plastic curtain, Lin Yi had observed the entrance at the other end of the Student Passage twice, one from the view before lifting the curtain and one from after. Unfortunately, on both observations, he didn’t see Old Mo.

Old Mo... seemed to be truly gone.

But from these superficial observations alone, Lin Yi couldn’t determine whether Old Mo was "non-existent" or just "not here."

After leaving the Student Cafeteria, the group’s figures vanished into the Student Passage.

In a corner of the Student Cafeteria, a pair of eyes watched until their figures disappeared from sight, then slowly withdrew the gaze.

This was a male Art Student, about twenty-five or six years old, in a dark green uniform, with a fierce scar running leftward across his mouth, eating tomatoes one bite at a time.

"To think... they came out of there unscathed..."

He warily gazed toward the faintly discernible door of the Convenience Store, and then suddenly, as if he saw something, panic flashed across his eyes, and he quickly lowered his head, silently gnawing on the tomato.

...

The orange glow inside the Convenience Store flickered unsteadily like a faulty electric current, and the grayish-white mist filling the doorway fluttered like wisps of smoke.

During this fluctuation of the mist, it seemed as if a human silhouette flickered in and out of visibility.

This figure was standing right at the door of the Convenience Store, and though he seemed to have been there all along, such a figure standing at the doorway was only a step away from the group but caught no one’s attention!

Even Lin Yi, who had glanced at the doorway several times, didn’t even get the slightest warning or notice anything amiss.

...

On May 9th, 2023, at 7:30, Lin Yi and his companions left the front of the notice board in the cafeteria and stepped onto the Cobblestone road.

As they left, some late arriving Experience Students hurriedly surged into the Student Passage, heading to the Cafeteria for breakfast.

Watching as the figures gradually disappeared into the Student Passage, Lin Yi couldn’t help but give a wry smile.

For regular people, half an hour was more than enough time for breakfast, but for them, it seemed like they had to time it with the opening of the cafeteria, and still, they worried if they could leave on time...

It was just a meal, but each time felt like enduring a perverted version of the chase game, "Hey! Running Gay."

"Phew—"

After finally leaving the cafeteria, having endured a sweat-inducing breakfast, they all sighed deeply in relief.

Tian Bufan glanced at Lin Yi and inquired, "Old Lin, what were you going to say after ’moreover’ when you were drinking porridge?"

"What ’moreover’?" Lin Yi responded, surprised.

"You don’t remember?" Tian Bufan was stunned and retorted, "It hasn’t been that long, and you’ve already forgotten?"

"Who the heck can remember that! Okay, let me think..." Lin Yi said exasperated, thinking to himself, Young Master Tian, you really are a ruthless replay machine. How the hell did you manage to continue that?

"It was when we mentioned that there was something off about the cafeteria, and you said something like..." Tian Bufan quietly reminded, trying to immerse Lin Yi into that "conversation archive."

"Alright, I remember a bit now..." Lin Yi couldn’t help covering half his face, "I think I meant to say ’and the people in the cafeteria are also off,’ because I... I actually saw the people queuing up at window 1 and window 5."

Wei Liang shuddered abruptly, frightened enough to jump a bit, "Damn, Old Lin, even though it’s broad daylight, don’t scare me like that!"

"There was clearly no one there!"

"Ah, right, right, there was indeed no one there." Lin Yi nodded repeatedly, then turned to Tian Bufan, "Shall we continue discussing the topic about there being someone?"

Wei Liang: "..."

He then silently acted as if covering his ears could steal bells.

Tian Bufan thought for a moment, then nodded, "Go ahead."

Lin Yi then recounted those scenes exactly as he had seen them.

After listening, Tian Bufan squinted his eyes and stroked his chin in deep thought, "A line of people queuing... with an afterimage behind them... the afterimage and people not matching... interesting..."

"What do you think?" Lin Yi asked.

Tian Bufan said, "If we only focus on this phenomenon, then perhaps there’s some issue with the layers they are on, similar to a few days ago at window 10, when there were ’Pseudo-Humans’ queuing but we couldn’t see clearly at the time."

"But now the time is quite special, the cafeteria has issues... If we have to consider the cafeteria’s problems as well, then it might not be so simple. I need to organize some information, and then analyze and think... Let’s talk about it at noon or next time we meet."

"Okay, I was just about to mull it over too." Lin Yi nodded, knowing that such things can’t be rushed, like solving a problem, one must first patiently analyze.

He then changed the topic, "Speaking of which, did you notice, today there isn’t a green aproned chef sneakily watching people, and those Pseudo-Humans have been much quieter, only the chefs at window 10 still ’following procedure’ to chase after us... not sure what’s up with the others."

Tian Bufan pondered for a moment, then said, "Generally speaking, for these ’induction’ reliant units, very few factors can affect their behavior, almost all need to start from the ’induction’ point..."

"And through what you said about ’It,’ ’Angel,’ ’Angel Sculpture,’ the stature difference between these units, it’s very likely that some special being has entered the area where the cafeteria is located, affecting their ’activities.’

"It could also be like the animal kingdom, where the presence of a lion makes jackals retreat."

"But these are all my speculations, not to be taken as truth."

"The lurking of the green aproned chefs... could it be related to Old Mo’s disappearance?"

"It’s hard to say..."

Lin Yi, reflective, then said, "But, the blue aproned chefs have become a lot stranger... They should theoretically be from the ’Orthodox Faction,’ right?"

"If you really want to classify ’right and wrong,’ you could say that, they should at least be on the ’school’s side.’" Tian Bufan nodded, "I also feel they aren’t acting normal, and I suspect what we saw might be turning into green aproned chefs..."

"Exactly, that’s what I’m thinking." Lin Yi shared his observations of the blue aproned chefs, "They’re not acting normal at all, it’s like they’re ghosts, it seems like they don’t even move their feet when they walk, and they linger in the shadowy areas, which is really creepy..."

After a brief discussion about the issue with the blue aproned chefs, Lin Yi decided not to continue this unresolved matter.

He was still concerned about what happened last night in the dorm, or rather what Tian Bufan and those who were pretending to sleep encountered, so he said, "By the way..."

"By the way..." Tian Bufan started, in unison with him.

"Uh... you go ahead," Lin Yi paused, then continued.

Tian Bufan then said, "About that dream, do you have anything else to say?"