AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 744 - 343 "It" and "Angel"_2

Chapter 744: Chapter 343 "It" and "Angel"_2

After saying this, Old Mo and Lin Yi both fell into a rare silence.

"..."

"So..." Lin Yi also became frustrated, "What the hell are these zealots actually doing? It sounds like a bunch of failures... Did their tech tree take a wrong turn or something?"

Old Mo too was left somewhat speechless, shrugging, "I’ve never been a zealot, so I’m not clear about what you’re asking. As for understanding their intentions, we can’t really make sense of it because their thought processes... are different from ours."

"After all, they’re just a group of mutant life forms sporting a ’human’ shape, and if you judge their moral standards and logic using human criteria, it’s very easy to come up short."

"The reason we can interact with the zealots from the Matrix is because they still retain some human qualities. Once supernatural powers and the fanatical worship of ’It’ completely consume their sanity, then they too will become truly deranged zealots."

Lin Yi subconsciously asked, "’Truly deranged zealots,’ what is that?"

"Uh... strictly speaking, still zealots."

Lin Yi then displayed the emoji of covering the face and laughing spasmodically...

"The king of beggars is still a beggar."

That’s what you mean, right...

Old Mo said, "It’s like a job title, I guess. The more fanatical the zealot, the purer and more perceptible the contamination characteristics they emit. Those kinds of zealots have strong rejection qualities; when you come across them, you have to feed them some ’logic’."

Upon hearing the word "logic," Lin Yi unconsciously glanced at the pig-killing knife at Old Mo’s waist.

’Old Mo’s ’logic’, I guess no one can argue with that, right?’

"Old Mo."

"What is it?"

"If the Angel Sculptures are not controllable, why do the zealots still continue creating them?"

Old Mo thought seriously for a moment before replying, "When a group constantly repeats a seemingly meaningless action, we shouldn’t just look at the surface of the event, but ponder the actual significance of this activity."

"The existence of the Rage Angel is to counterbalance the Sports Students."

"Boss mentioned supporting the Art Building, right? The Rage Angel is used to suppress the combat power of the Sports Students, preventing them smoothly reaching the Art Building."

"As for whether they are controllable or not, that’s not important. As long as the goal can be achieved and they don’t attack their own zealot kind, then they can be mass-produced, almost like..."

"Like they damn don’t care when they dump contamination into the sea?" Lin Yi internally cursed.

Old Mo was taken aback: "Living in clover...? After more than 20 years, there are still remnants?"

"Huh? More than 20 years? Remnants?" Lin Yi was baffled. What’s this situation?

Old Mo questioned in doubt, "When various major events broke out in X999, Living in Clover didn’t even withstand the first wave and sank. Now that area has become a super Dark Zone. This history, how could you, an official agent sent in, not know?"

Old Mo had already taken it for granted that Lin Yi was an official person.

Lin Yi rubbed his head, full of confusion. How come the history Old Mo knows and the "history" he knows seem different? And it’s not just Old Mo, what exactly happened to the others who keep mentioning "99 years"?

Seeing Lin Yi’s puzzled face, Old Mo fell silent for a while, then seemed to come to some realization, and immediately shook his head, "Forget about that... Let’s discuss something ’within the school district’."

"The Rage Angel feeds on the supernatural power of ’materialization’, so it’s particularly sensitive to Sports Students and those Experience Students who can’t control themselves."

Lin Yi hesitated, "The Rage Angel doesn’t attack zealots at all?"

Old Mo replied, "Any unit that has come into contact with the Matrix’s breath is generally not a target for their attacks."

"So we’re safe too?"

Old Mo gave him a dismissive glare and said bluntly, "The matrix breath is like perfume while your transcendent power is like body odor. If the body odor is too strong, ordinary perfume can’t cover it up."

Lin Yi said, "So only the zealots here are not attacked by the Rage Angel, but those who are stranded outside still are?"

Old Mo nodded and said, "Just like that moment at noon when a Sneering Angel was hiding in the shadow, each Angel Sculpture has its own preference for its ’food’, but essentially, they’re not picky eaters."

"Just because it’s vegetarian time, doesn’t mean they don’t eat vegetarian at all. Do you understand what I mean now?"

Lin Yi nodded his head.

Old Mo continued, "Actually... the ’Angel Sculptures’ created by the zealots, strictly speaking, only include Rage Angels."

"The other types of Angel Sculptures weren’t created by them."

Lin Yi furrowed his brow, "Then where did the others come from?"

"Alien Angels are a kind of snowball-like contamination aggregation... The bigger the snowball, the harder it is to resist."

"Sneering Angels are a phenomenon of contamination infiltrating layers... Their physical forms are not in sync with the layer you see, so they look like ghosts."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi couldn’t help thinking of the physical manifestation of the Sneering Angel, "So to some extent, they actually can materialize?"

Old Mo nodded, "You just need to drag them out of that layer, but this requires a deep level of contamination. Otherwise, it will backfire. Therefore, most rules don’t encourage confrontation with Angel Sculptures, and they prompt people to evade and prioritize self-preservation."

"Those who are capable of confrontation no longer need to follow the rules, and those who aren’t should honestly abide by the rules to save their lives."

"Oh..." Lin Yi came to a sudden realization. Indeed, such information could only be obtained from the senior residents of the old campus. He would never be able to find it out on his own.

"What about ’It’? What should it be called? Doesn’t it have a name?"

Old Mo asked, "Which one are you referring to?"

"The one that’s lurking here... that ’snake’, or ’dragon’."

"Unspeakable." Old Mo shook his head, then after thinking for a moment, added, "Especially in this area, it shouldn’t be mentioned. The zealots once gave ’It’ a name when they created ’It’, but afterward, everyone stopped using it..."

"In theory, It should have forgotten its identity anchor and got trapped here in another way, becoming one of the barriers for the Intercepting Angel."

"If it reclaims its true name, it’s highly likely to escape using another method of anchoring."

"But we have another name for it..."

Lin Yi’s eyes lit up, "What name?"

Old Mo said, "I’ll tell you after we leave this place. Before we leave, if you want to mention something related to ’It’, just temporarily refer to it as ’Big Snake’."

"’Big Snake’... Okay." Lin Yi nodded.

The two continued walking forward. In the dense forest, the mist was surging, and the scenery ahead seemed veiled by many layers of gauze, with the ancient gnarled trees giving off an eerie breath, causing frequent discomfort.

As they walked, Lin Yi couldn’t help but feel an odd sensation, as if he was being watched.

However, in his perception, there was no trace of any sculptures, nocturnal species, or even pseudo-humans.

With Old Mo here, he looked around in puzzlement.

At first, he didn’t notice anything unusual, but gradually, he saw the spiral patterns of growth rings on the mist-entwined, gnarled ancient trees, which looked like pairs of eyes ’rolling about’ everywhere.

He was sure his mind was clear, and what he saw was not an illusion, but no matter how carefully he looked, all he could see were those unsettling eye-like patterns that were hard to tell if they were protruding or recessed.

These unsettling eyes, covering the gnarled branches, were bearable when not observed, but just the act of looking would make one feel a strong sense of repulsion from deep within, almost wishing to rush over, gouge them out one by one, and crush them.