AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 712 - 327 Old Mo and Convenience Store Owner_2

Chapter 712: Chapter 327 Old Mo and Convenience Store Owner_2

Xia Lian curled her lips and remained silent.

However, Li Huiyuan seemed to talk to herself, "Lin Yi, well... he’s just not sincere with his words. Even though he always talks about being an expendable, when it comes to crucial moments, he doesn’t act like it..."

"He has helped me a lot, but I don’t know what I could do to help him... Just do whatever little I can, I suppose..."

"Your relationship... is really strange." Xia Lian looked at her and said.

"Strange?" Li Huiyuan flipped the hair that had fallen forward while looking down at Lin Yi, murmuring as she gazed at the evenly breathing Lin Yi, "Is it?"

...

X023 Year, May 9th, 19:33, Cafeteria area, at the end of the Student Passage.

In a blurred area where the boundary between light and shadow was indiscernible, Old Mo was frozen like a statue, maintaining a pensive stance. His gaze seemed to be on the petrified bulb he had obtained from Lin Yi, yet also vacant and unfocused, as if zeroing in on something unseen.

At a certain moment, his body trembled slightly, then as though feeling an induction, his vacant and somewhat scattered eyes began to gather a trace of light.

He straightened up, looking in a certain direction within the campus. At that spot, the roiling fog was like smoke billowing from a boiling pot, violently swirling, engulfing half of the murky night sky.

After a moment, he slowly set out, eventually arriving at the entrance of the Student Cafeteria, lifting the plastic curtain to enter.

"Whoosh..."

As he lifted the plastic curtain, it was as if a corner of a murky realm was uncovered, and the cold wind, along with him, surged in from the torn region, disturbing those sinister and malevolent entities...

After he entered the Student Cafeteria, all the Chefs in green aprons shuddered coldly. What had been lingering in the cafeteria like wraiths, attempting to bewitch the Experience Students, now retracted their demonic and eerie tone, retreating to the dark areas not covered by the light.

The shadow in food service window number 10 quickly closed the window, as if it had never existed.

Some of the Pseudo-Human Art Students dining there also seemed enveloped by an inexplicable atmosphere. They all bowed their heads and hunched their necks, as if by covering their own sight they might become invisible, thinking that if they did not pay attention to Old Mo, he would not sense them.

All non-human Units were panic-stricken by Old Mo’s sudden presence; they were as if facing a formidable enemy.

But Old Mo’s attention was not on them at all; he seemed not to care for these creatures in the slightest.

He kept moving through the Student Cafeteria, quickly locating the Convenience Store and entering without hesitation.

Watching the figure of Old Mo disappearing into the Convenience Store’s half-open door, within a haze of greyish light, all Units that "could see" Old Mo sighed in relief, especially some Pseudo-Human Art Students who were already sweating profusely and trembling.

Inside the Convenience Store.

Old Mo glanced around while weaving through the shelving aisle, seemingly in search of something. However, nothing in the shelving aisle appeared to arrest his attention.

He finally stopped at the shopping terminal.

"I don’t have time for hide and seek, I know you’re back..." he suddenly spoke, his speech at a normal pace, even more so than when he chatted with Mu Daxian. However, he was talking to the air, "...Boss."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire inside of the Convenience Store seemed to twist, with light and shadows chaotically intertwining, and shelves contorted like swaying seaweed.

Old Mo’s shadow was stretched long by the light behind him.

Gradually, another silhouette emerged, positioned right behind Old Mo.

"May I turn around?" Old Mo asked.

"It depends on you," the voice of the Convenience Store Owner slowly answered.

His voice was calm, devoid of significant emotional fluctuations, only revealing a magnetic male tenor.

Old Mo pondered for a moment, and then slowly turned around.

At the next moment, a tinge of sorrow flashed through his eyes: "Boss, you..."

"Don’t be sad, this is inevitable..."

Old Mo fell silent for a moment, wanting to say something more, but was interrupted by the Convenience Store Owner: "Don’t worry about me, just state your business, why are you here?"

Old Mo then said: "I need to make a trip to the Art Building."

"The moment you leave the Cafeteria, your power will rapidly deplete. You are seeking your own death."

"I know, but I have to go..." Old Mo spoke deeply, "I don’t have many friends, that kid counts as one. If he dies, I’ll be very upset."

"If you die, he will be upset too."

"But I’m already dead, what’s left of me is nothing but an unsorcered wraith, the remnants of a will... I know I’m just a puppet that you’ve appointed to hold the fort, and now that you’re back, I think it’s time for me to battle one last time for what remains of that will..."

"Do you have a plan? If you fight to the death with no purpose, it means you’ve made no progress."

"No plan... You know, all plans are futile. I can only act within the ’Framework’, conserve the direction of one major event, the rest is all about improvisation. But..." he glanced at the light bulb in his hand, "I won’t die over there... That’s why I’ve come to you, I can’t do this alone."

The Convenience Store Owner stared at him, the entire convenience store seemingly twisted into a shape of a pretzel, even Old Mo’s body seemed to become part of the pretzel.

Silence all around, at last, a sigh emerged from the darkness.

"I understand..."

With the sigh, a wisp of grey flame pierced through Old Mo’s body.

What was strange, after being burned through, the charred part on Old Mo’s body immediately began to recover, turning into tender granulation tissue, then wriggling and twisting as it healed.

Merely within a few breaths’ time, Old Mo stood there as if nothing had happened.

"Thank you..." Despite being burned through the chest by the Convenience Store Owner, Old Mo was not at all angry, but instead said thanks.

"When you get there, pass a message for me to the ’Night Watchman’... And also bring back some spoils of war for me."

"Okay."

"If that’s the case, then go, but I still want to remind you... Their invasion will peak tonight or the next night. You must ensure your own safety, otherwise, even if you reach the Art Building, it would be of little use."

"Don’t worry about that, I’ve already secured my safety." Old Mo circled the light bulb in his hand, "No time to lose, I’m leaving now."

The Convenience Store Owner gave no response, just that the previously twisted convenience store gradually returned to normal, light and shadow no longer bizarre.

The convenience store was empty, the Convenience Store Owner seemingly non-existent.

Old Mo walked to the exit of the convenience store, as if he remembered something, then he turned back, went to the shelves area to grab a single bed, then, like getting items for free, he claimed a pile of biscuits and water from the shelves, wrapped them all up and, like a snail, left the convenience store...

...

X023 year, 20:03, in front of the announcement board at the Cafeteria.

Old Mo’s figure dashed past the announcement board. Who knows where he went after leaving the convenience store, but he had an extra bundle on him compared to before.

Without a moment’s pause, he arrived in front of ’Cafeteria-001’ lamp post, his eyes scanning across the entire campus like radar. Under the vast fog, it seemed nothing could escape his insight.

In the end, his gaze settled in the direction of the Gymnasium.

"Found it..."

He muttered to himself, crossing from the Cafeteria area into the Gymnasium area, and in two or three steps he disappeared into the cobblestone path enveloped by the creeping mist.