AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 726 - 334: Old Mo Leads the Team, The Nonexistent Path_2

Chapter 726: Chapter 334: Old Mo Leads the Team, The Nonexistent Path_2

"Under normal circumstances, it would take this long." Old Mo paused, "However, taking into account the distortion of time and the deviation in space, it’s not necessarily that precise. A little mishap won’t matter, as long as you arrive at the Art Building before midnight."

In Old Mo’s self-devised plan, there was a two-hour margin for error.

Lin Yi was somewhat puzzled: "Time distortion and spatial deviation... what does that mean?"

Old Mo’s footsteps did not stop, but his voice paused for a moment before he said, "I don’t understand it myself, so I can’t explain it to you in detail. If you want to know the principles, you’ll have to ask someone more specialized... I’m just a cook, not the inventor of dishes. I know how much salt to put in a dish and what to do if it’s too much, but I don’t know why it has to be precisely that amount of salt. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I sort of do..." Lin Yi nodded.

"I know you actually don’t get it, you’re just humoring me." Old Mo said bluntly, "But it doesn’t matter, you will slowly start to notice certain ’phenomena’. These phenomena are manifestations of distortion. But don’t map them directly onto something or overinterpret them."

"For the parts your cognition can’t accept, just keep the initial impression of the phenomenon, otherwise, you might fry your brain, and then you’ll truly become a thoughtless supply station."

Lin Yi thought to himself that Old Mo was quite a character.

Old Mo added, "The Boss seems a bit concerned about you."

"Eh...?" Lin Yi’s heart skipped a beat, "Why would you bring that up out of the blue? But how can you tell that the Boss is concerned about me?"

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, unable to suppress his feeling.

"It’s clear to anyone with eyes," said Old Mo, not missing a beat to pour cold water on him, "But it’s not the kind of concern you’re thinking... It’s more like looking out for a newcomer."

"If I came across a good seedling, I wouldn’t just give up on them either."

"However, the girl by the Boss’s side seems quite worried about you."

"I feel like if she had the strength, she would definitely take one of us down on the spot..."

’Old Mo must be talking about Li Huiyuan...’ thought Lin Yi, with a slight movement in his heart, then he tentatively asked, "Isn’t your seedling Mu Daxian?"

"Do you know him?" Old Mo was a bit surprised, "No, that’s not right. He hasn’t left since he enrolled... Did you meet him before enrolling?"

Old Mo’s reaction immediately confirmed Lin Yi’s suspicions, but he could only prevaricate, "It’s a bit complicated... I’m not in a good position to explain."

Lin Yi inwardly snorted, thinking to himself that if he said he had seen Mu Daxian in his dreams, Old Mo would probably beat him up.

What kind of man normally dreams about another man...

"Everyone has secrets, it’s okay not to talk about it." Old Mo was also very calm, "Since you know him, that makes things easier..."

Hearing this, Lin Yi felt a stir, wondering if he had inadvertently punctured that layer of paper that was hampering communication with Old Mo?

He felt he was one step closer to getting the "Chef’s Code"!

After all, when it comes to exploring the campus area, Old Mo seemed like the only person who could provide information related to the Cafeteria.

Of course, Lin Yi also knew that he could not ask about the "Chef’s Code" too boldly, but perhaps he could start by asking for information related to the Cafeteria.

However, just as he was about to speak, Old Mo said, "You’ll need to keep closer to me from now on. The wind will be a bit strong. If you can’t withstand it, call out to me, and I’ll help you."

"Wind?" Lin Yi was taken aback, but immediately realized something, a flash of insight crossing his mind -

’Could it be that ’non-existent road’?’

’No mistake!’

That non-existent road leads towards where the sea wind blows from, and naturally, that direction would be towards the seaside!

Old Mo firmly stated, "It’s not just any wind, but the sea wind... the wind from the seaside."

Having said that, he lifted his foot and stepped forward.

Lin Yi immediately followed in step.

"Plop..."

A cool sensation glided across Lin Yi’s skin, making him feel as if he had passed through an invisible water curtain.

"Whoosh— Whoosh— Whoosh—"

Beyond the water curtain, the sound of rushing wind echoed right beside Lin Yi’s ears, nearly causing him to lose his footing with his first step.

The wind also carried a faint stench of rotten fish and shrimp, as if the dense odor had been torn apart by the wind and spread in the air.

"Indeed, this is the path!"

Lin Yi’s eyes brightened; the route he had deduced earlier seemed to have been validated at this moment.

As for the details along the way, they could be supplemented by observations made along the journey, to facilitate further extrapolation.

If possible, this path might become his future route to the Art Building.

Old Mo did not look at Lin Yi, yet seemed to sense his every movement as if he had eyes on his back.

The two slowly made their way down the path.

Before long, a figure appeared ahead.

"Who is that..." Lin Yi spoke up. He didn’t recognize the person, but he had seen similar traits on Little Genius.

Dull, listless, walking like the living dead.

"That’s a person who has died," Old Mo said. "Death allowed the contamination to seep into their bodies, persisting after their demise, leading them back to the root, like salmon returning to spawn."

"Returning to the root, swimming upstream?" Lin Yi seemed to ponder something. "After the Grey Mist appears, ripples occasionally rise in the campus area. Are those fluctuations coming from what’s called the root source?"

"What ripples?"

"Like... when the lights in the campus flicker, they change according to a certain frequency, are those fluctuations related to that root?"

"Oh? Can you feel those fluctuations?" Old Mo’s tone, usually dead and flat, now had some undulations.

Lin Yi said, "I’ve started to feel them recently; at first, I couldn’t."

"Then you’ve made great progress. From the first time I saw you until now, your transformation can be described as a complete metamorphosis... You should understand that I’m talking not only about ’cognition’ but also about the changes in ’physiology’ and ’psychology.’"

Lin Yi pondered: "So those fluctuations...?"

"Those fluctuations need to be differentiated; they cannot be generalized. Any unit, once its life form begins to converge towards the ’root,’ will emit that ’breath’... You can consider it a kind of limited ’magnetic field,’ ’tidal force,’ or using official terminology— a ’Domain.’"

"’Root’... Is it the source of contamination for the entire campus? That thing in the ocean depths?" Lin Yi queried.

Old Mo seemed surprised: "You seem to know a lot, kid... It seems you agreed to come with me to the Art Building partly due to personal matters?"

"Never mind, I don’t care about your personal business, as long as it doesn’t conflict with my objectives. It’s fine as long as we each get what we need."

Old Mo’s openness also slightly surprised Lin Yi, but it was exactly what he preferred.

Old Mo continued: "’Root’ is a controversial subject; some think it lies deep in the ocean, some believe it’s the ocean itself, and some theories propose that it could be a mysterious extraterrestrial life form or even an energy form that doesn’t belong to biological categories, impacting the Earth."

"Like the tides, this impact through the ocean indirectly affects the Earth, and through the ocean near the Art Building, the contamination continues to seep in..."

"I’ve been to the Art Building area a few times, and I personally lean more towards the contamination’s root being the ocean or an extraterrestrial presence... An existence that, from any perspective, seems to vastly transcend our cognition, to the point where it doesn’t matter whether it’s a living being or whether it can be observed."

"That kind of entity has changed the entire world, but it’s not like cooking a meal where a dish is prepared in an instant; instead, it ignites a certain area, radiating from it."

"And the area that’s been ignited is the ocean near the Art Building."