AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 747 - 345: Arrival at the Shoreline

Chapter 747: Chapter 345: Arrival at the Shoreline

"No, that’s not it." Old Mo shook his head, "The ’Believers’ speculated that Van Gogh did not ’leave something at the coordinates,’ but rather ’used these coordinates to locate something.’ They firmly believe that it might be the coordinates of where ’It’ resides, or perhaps the location of the ’Root’ in the middle of the sea."

"As years passed, no one has cracked it, and all who studied ’Star Moon Night’ have become Zealots. Therefore, ’Star Moon Night’ has become one of the most highly contaminated representative artworks."

"There was even someone who studied ’Star Moon Night’ with an old kerosene lamp..."

Lin Yi inquired, "How did it end?"

"The outcome was... the light went out, but he remained there." Old Mo said, "’Star Moon Night’ won’t harm people, but no one can resist the contamination incurred from in-depth studies."

"The Observatory was hence closed off, and ’Star Moon Night’ has never been displayed since."

"However, Van Gogh had anticipated this scenario, thus he left a normal-sized ’Star Moon Night’ to be circulated... as if he threw out a photocopied version of a treasure map."

Lin Yi asked, "Does that version of ’Star Moon Night’... have the same effect?"

"Of course not, or how could it be let out to circulate... The contamination traits carried by ’Star Moon Night’ are enough to transform an area into a ’Dark Zone’. No one dares to take that risk..."

"Some people call that painting ’Starry Sky’, while others retained the name ’Star Moon Night.’ Lacking Supernatural Traits, yet the Divine Charm it contains is already enough to captivate people’s studies."

"Some who resonated with it would make special trips to seek the authentic painting."

"Of course, only a small number of individuals who have been officially evaluated are qualified to view ’Star Moon Night.’"

Lin Yi looked at Old Mo, curiously asking, "Have you seen it?"

Old Mo shook his head: "I have not."

Regardless of whether Old Mo had seen ’Star Moon Night’ or not, Lin Yi would find it normal, but hearing that Old Mo hadn’t seen it, he still felt a tinge of regret.

Old Mo hadn’t seen it. It seemed that viewing ’Star Moon Night’ was indeed not an easy task.

Lin Yi curiously observed the surroundings; these whirlpools looked extremely fascinating as if they were infiltrating the space itself.

After walking for a while longer, Lin Yi noticed that the whirlpools around him seemed to have loosened a bit, and those tightly coiled lines also became less dense.

He understood that these whirlpools were gradually returning to their twisted appearance, in other words, he was "surfacing" within the layers, moving from that strange world back to a relatively normal layer...

He glanced at his watch, attempting to check the time, only to find that the hands were constantly swinging between the 15th and 16th seconds of 22:48...

"What’s going on... Why isn’t my watch ticking?" As soon as the thought of boasting to Old Mo about the precise timekeeping crossed his mind, he felt a burning embarrassment on his face. Fortunately, Old Mo was completely oblivious to his situation and continued to progress with full attention.

This continued for a while, and then the ticking of the watch resumed normalcy, but Lin Yi always felt that a few minutes had somehow "skipped" due to some reason.

May 9, X023, 22:52, Lin Yi found himself surrounded by ancient trees with randomly twisting branches like seaweed and the thick mist. The sight of the ’Corpse Bone Forest’ was now out of view, leaving only an environment resembling the foggy forests near the Desolate Land.

Old Mo’s voice came from upfront: "Keep up this pace, we’re about to arrive!"

"Okay!" Lin Yi quickly responded.

Soon, the distorted environment around began to normalize, but the ground under his feet became inconsistent with his pace.

Lin Yi was inwardly alarmed, and at that moment, Old Mo’s timely instructions came: "Don’t panic, this is normal. It’s just like an airplane lowering its landing gear to adapt to the runway during landing. It will pass soon, and even if you’re not used to it, it’s okay; just wait a bit."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi calmed down immediately. After all, as someone who had rich experience crawling through twisted, dark pathways, adapting to this change was easy.

His initial alarm was because he thought another twist had occurred.

After a few more minutes, the sense of distortion in the path disappeared, and the dense forest around returned to a state where twisting and entangled branches sprawled.

Lin Yi started to feel some loose feedback underfoot and noticed that the mist within the dense forest seemed to have thinned out significantly, with only some mist hovering over the ankles remaining, like a stage filled with dry ice.

"Huff... Huff..."

From the front of the path, faint sounds became audible, including the rustling wind and the "gushing" noises of waves pushing towards the shore.

Lin Yi exclaimed with surprise, "Are we getting out?"

Old Mo nodded: "Yes... All went smoothly."

On hearing this, Lin Yi’s eyebrows perked up with joy, but Old Mo immediately dampened his spirits: "Don’t celebrate too early... The real challenge is coming up."

Lin Yi immediately understood. At this moment, the Art Building must be under attack by the Nocturnal species and the Sneering Angels, and the structure itself was also the closest to the Root within the entire campus.

As the sea breeze and the sound of waves increased, a white light point faintly emerged in front of Lin Yi.