AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 579 - 262: The Tempting Scent Inside the Convenience Store_2

Chapter 579: Chapter 262: The Tempting Scent Inside the Convenience Store_2

He followed the induction and continued moving forward, then traversed a zigzagging path, and saw the shelf that Zhang Lingzhen had bumped into. On the surface of that shelf, there remained some white powder particles, like those that had stuck after Zhang Lingzhen’s face and chest had collided with it.

He sensed the residual traces of Zhang Lingzhen and then pursued the path she had taken, cautiously walking towards the deeper parts of the dark shelf area...

As he moved onward, the brightness of the incandescent lights remained the same, yet the illumination grew increasingly dim.

As he walked, Senior Ren heard some ’rustling’ noises, mixed with some ’smacking’ sounds...

The ’smacking’ sounds became clearer as he delved deeper...

Senior Ren faintly saw a figure crouching on the ground ahead in the darkness, dressed just like Zhang Lingzhen in her sailor uniform, her body trembling lightly, and the ’smacking’ sound was coming incessantly from that direction.

A bit further, there were some old light bulbs occasionally throwing out sparks, flickering as if there was a shortage of electricity, flashing from time to time, but not burning out.

In that deepness lay a pitch-black void, and in the dim light at the periphery of the void, within the limited vision, one could already see a heap of carcasses piled up like garbage...

The faces of those carcasses were beyond recognition, with some of the bones still bearing the violent smash marks from a heavy weapon like a sledgehammer... Those were the bodies of some Nocturnal species killed by Mu Daxian, now discarded here like useless parts!

Within the garbage heap, remnants and severed limbs were everywhere, and between the limbs, there were viscous fluids hanging as if still connected, some flesh was even like tattered fabric, hanging there, swaying back and forth with the faint, occasional draft in the shelter-like environment.

Zhang Lingzhen was at the edge of that heap, crazily gnawing on a chunk of meat-attached bone, her mouth ’smacking’ loudly, saliva and some unknown fluid bursting and splattering as she chewed.

"It’s so delicious..."

"Really, it’s so delicious..."

She was shuddering continuously like a character from "Shokugeki no Soma", eating in such a way that she seemed almost overwhelmed by the taste.

She devoured with a vacant gaze yet tears streaming down her face, her face, her body, covered in sticky smudges and rotten debris...

’Smack smack... smack smack...’

She was gnawing on her meal non-stop like a corpse rat in a damp nest, completely ignoring Senior Ren’s calls, or rather... not hearing them at all.

Senior Ren reached out to pat Zhang Lingzhen’s shoulder, but Zhang Lingzhen suddenly gave no reaction.

A look of pity showed in Senior Ren’s eyes, he increased the strength of his pats on Zhang Lingzhen’s shoulder.

"Wu—Aow!!" Zhang Lingzhen turned abruptly, opening her mouth like a wild beast at Senior Ren!

Her mouth was ripped open to her ears, half her head like the upper jaw of a bean-eating figurine, ready to bite at Senior Ren.

About to be bitten by that gaping maw, flames suddenly ignited in Senior Ren’s eyes, like greenish ghostly fire, sparking emerald flames.

He sidestepped, dodging Zhang Lingzhen’s bite and then struck her on the back of her head with a chop of his hand, knocking her out cold on the ground.

’Thump!’

Zhang Lingzhen rolled her eyes back and fell unconscious on the spot.

"..."

Senior Ren looked down at Zhang Lingzhen, whom he had knocked out with a single move, with golden flames still burning in his narrowing eyes.

"It’s still too late..."

He crouched down and straightened Zhang Lingzhen’s body as though he was manipulating a puppet, then pieced her split-open head, divided by a basinful of blood from her mouth, back together. Next, he carried her up in a princess hold and slowly walked out of this area of shelves.

...

X023 Year, May 9th, 11:38, at the exit of the Student Passage.

Having just stepped out of the Student Passage, Lin Yi, mimicking Wei Liang’s action earlier, stretched languidly and then deliberately amplified his voice, saying, "5 minutes! A hundred steps exactly, just finished!"

Tian Bufan glanced at him, seemingly realizing something, and then nodded, "Indeed, a hundred steps."

The group headed toward the notice board in front of the cafeteria, and after returning the cafeteria rules, Lin Yi said, "Young Master Tian, today I experienced a kind of Phantom Vision like never before... It happened while I was reading in the bookshelf area of my classroom."

Tian Bufan looked slightly startled: "You went to read in the bookshelf area?"

"Isn’t it just the joy of coming across a method to decode encrypted information all at once... Is there a problem?"

"No... Just a bit surprised, continue."

Lin Yi nodded, his expression becoming much graver, "I received too much information at once, and subconsciously, I started to sort out a part of it... When I nearly completed piecing together the information, it was like my soul left my body, and I entered a strange vision..."

"I seemed to be traversing the Green Forest Belt, seeing the light deep within the mountains... I traversed that closed door and saw a coastline..."

"That world where the coastline was... I didn’t get the chance to look closely before another Phantom Vision overtook it..."

"That second vision... was terrifying."

"It was a dilapidated bookshelf area, the shelves covered with dust, some places cluttered with torn pages wedged between broken planks and the books..."

"The glass and windows of the bookshelf area’s dome were completely shattered, and cold, damp wind blew in from outside, causing the pages to flutter ceaselessly..."

"Hanging down from the dome were pitch-black chains, from which hung I don’t know how many Human Sculptures, broken and in a state of ’almost dead but not dying’..."

"They caught my name and seemed to try to Anchor themselves to the present layer of reality through me..."

"The worst part is, their spirits lingered, and even upon my return, it seems like I accidentally fell through layers in the Student Passage and saw them... Moreover, the vision is becoming more and more severe..."

"I’m not sure what my connection to that Phantom Vision is, and I haven’t found any clues... but it’s as if they’re haunting me, and I don’t know if it’s related to the ’It-I’ marking..."

Tian Bufan asked sternly, "Such a severe vision and you didn’t mention it sooner?"

"I was afraid of cognitive overlay, or perhaps to provoke yours, so I wanted to wait until we left the cafeteria to tell you. After all, the problem appeared in that Student Passage..."

"Alright... Your concern isn’t unreasonable, but next time, let’s talk about it sooner so everyone can help," Tian Bufan said.

Lin Yi gave a slight nod: "Then... do you have any ideas?"

Tian Bufan gave a wry smile: "Do you think I’m a deity? To divine so much information with a flick of my fingers? The collection, organization, and analysis of information... may seem simple but it’s actually very taxing."

"Uh... so have you ’unzipped’ any information?" Lin Yi asked.

Tian Bufan, speechless, covered his face, quickly correcting Lin Yi’s increasingly reckless train of thought: "Don’t force your definition of me onto myself... I’m using a human brain, alright!"

"Alright..." Lin Yi spread his hands, "In any case, just be more careful. You think about so many things, you’re more prone to deviation than I am..."

"Don’t worry, I’ll measure it right," Tian Bufan patted his shoulder.

"Mhm." Lin Yi nodded.

At that moment, Wei Liang spoke up: "Old Lin, are you planning to take the Teaching Building route to the Gymnasium or go straight to the Gymnasium?"

He held the Teaching Building rules in his hand and raised it toward Lin Yi.