AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 783 - 360: The Staircase to the Left

Chapter 783: Chapter 360: The Staircase to the Left

"Huff——"

The sudden wind, filled with some moisture, squeezed eagerly through the crack of the door, continuously slapping Lin Yi’s face. There was a faint, indescribable stench within the wind, subconsciously bringing to mind a sea surface covered with freshly dead deep-sea fish.

Behind the door, the hallway was filled with the howling of the wind, like countless ghosts crying. Old Mo exerted a great deal of effort to push the iron door open just enough for a person to pass through, then couldn’t push it anymore.

"You first!" Old Mo growled, his arms muscular and knotted like old tree trunks, seemingly bursting with power, yet even so, it seemed he could not pry open the iron door further.

Lin Yi didn’t hesitate and decisively squeezed through.

As he passed through the door, he could clearly feel the iron door trembling at a terrifying frequency, reminiscent of a high-frequency knife. Even separated by several centimeters, he felt as if his skin was about to be sliced open.

It was hard to imagine what kind of monstrous constitution Old Mo must have to pry the iron door open with his bare hands.

Once Lin Yi got through, Old Mo roared and fiercely pried the door open a bit more, then slipped through like a nimble swordfish.

Nevertheless, once he released his hand from the iron door, it slammed shut with a terrifying force, as if invisible giant hands were desperately pushing at the door, trying to crush him.

Seeing himself about to be decapitated by the iron door, Old Mo snorted coldly; everything around him suddenly slowed down, the dimensions of space began to distort strangely, and he passed through the gap of the iron door like a rubber man.

"Layer Transition."

Upon landing, he appeared right next to Lin Yi.

What’s strange is, the events happening on this layer level would appear differently to the naked eye, but Lin Yi saw everything clearly.

Witnessing such a scene, Lin Yi couldn’t help but point at the iron door, his mouth opening wide, yet unable to utter a word.

Old Mo patted Lin Yi’s shoulder: "What, a small trick shocked you for a thousand years?"

"That’s not it..." Lin Yi smacked his lips, "I just thought of something..."

"What thing?"

"The matter of ’returning the original way’..."

"Hm? Is there a problem with that?"

Lin Yi said solemnly, "Never mind how to get to the Bell Tower next, just that ’returning the original way’, I mean, do you intend to... come back down from the Bell Tower later, and alone forcefully open this door like you did to return to that corridor..."

"Even if I can forcefully open the door, after leaving the corridor, upon opening the door, I still have to break through the enclosure of the Nocturnal species on the walls, then struggle to return to the Gallery..."

"Even if I’m lucky to get back to the Gallery, I still have to pretend I can’t hear ’Amon’s Music Box’ and leave the Gallery..."

"Even if I really leave the Gallery..."

Lin Yi’s voice grew weaker and weaker, until it faded away.

Old Mo was silent for a while: "What you said... seems quite difficult indeed."

"Old Mo... cough cough!" Lin Yi said awkwardly, "I feel this difficulty is almost like a pirate rowing a small broken wooden boat with a revolver trying to rob an aircraft carrier..."

Old Mo pursed his lips: "There’s still a difference... A pirate robbing a carrier must know how to operate it, but you don’t need to master the way, just mimic it will do..."

"That’s not my point, Old Mo..."

"Then what are you trying to say?"

"What I mean is..." Lin Yi’s gaze slowly fell on Old Mo’s somewhat withered and lifeless face, his tone shifting from complaining to seriousness, "could you not resign yourself to fate, and let’s try to make it back alive together?"

"I’m just a backup hidden power; slaughtering until the heavens turn dark isn’t really my thing..." he said with a look of defeat, helplessly spreading his hands.

Old Mo paused, initially thinking Lin Yi was worried about their retreat but didn’t expect him to show some concern for him.

He gave a bitter smile: "I’ll try my best."

Lin Yi sighed deeply in his heart, Old Mo’s response had already given him the answer.

He turned his head, looking toward the corridor entrance ahead.

After passing through the iron door, the wind in the corridor was not so urgent, but the cold and damp atmosphere became even more intense.

The corridors of the Bell Tower are usually spiral upwards, narrow and long, but the passage in front of Lin Yi was spiraling downwards.

The walls of the corridor were built of thick stone blocks, covered with signs of weathering. Moss spread and grew in the corners, and on stormy nights like these, some rainwater flowed down the exterior walls of the Bell Tower, seeping into the gaps of the corridor, making the walls look wet, as if they were bleeding.

The light in the corridor was dim, with only a few candle stands holding up weak glimmers of light.

When lightning cut across the night sky, the entire corridor would rumble, and the walls trembled slightly, as if they could collapse at any moment.

But the thing that perplexed Lin Yi the most was the staircase in front of him.

"This staircase, why does it lead downwards?"

He had once seen the outline of the Bell Tower from afar outside the Art Building; that thing should be at the highest point of the Art Building, so why was the staircase leading down instead?