AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 818 - 377 The Item the Night Watchman is Looking for—"Quartermaster"!_2

Chapter 818: Chapter 377 The Item the Night Watchman is Looking for—"Quartermaster"!_2

The sensation of swaying invaded the bedroom from the picture frame, stirring the once tranquil room into disquiet like a cup of trembling water sparking a terrifying storm.

"Clang clang clang... clang clang clang..."

Books fell from the shelves amidst the shaking, their covers snapped open with a "pop", and page after page of ancient paper rustled like dried human skin hanging from branches, the stench of rotting flesh suddenly pervading Lin Yi’s nostrils.

Every mysterious symbol on the pages seemed to come to life, fluttering into the air from the books, circling around Lin Yi, emitting their own sounds—as if ancient witch priests were dancing around green flames, long-forgotten verses drifting with syllables that didn’t conform to human phonetics, close one moment and distant the next...

"Void void void void...!!"

"Void void void void...!!"

Startling cracks spread from the picture frame, everything around Lin Yi began to shatter and splinter, a terrifying fissure opened beneath his feet, the ground broke away and he plummeted into an abyss thousands of feet deep.

In the endless darkness with a hint of light, he felt a disorienting spin as he lost both balance and direction, desperately calling for the Night Watchman "02", but the only response was an endless howl, whether it was from the wind, or space, or time, or perhaps from some kind of layer...

He saw a massive mountain range, like a steamed bun constructed from numerous pieces of flesh and blood, its eerie lines complex yet minimalist, leaping back and forth between human cognition and incomprehensibility—he abruptly realized it looked familiar, like a part of the cartoon drawing inside the picture frame.

He understood that he seemed to be traversing something, as if he had been swallowed by the world inside the picture frame—the cartoon tore through the layers, dragging him into a deeper abyss!

He saw a dark forest where the branches intertwined like twisted arms, within its depths, pairs of red eyes flashed, like predators lurking in the shadows spying on their prey, the deeper one went, the thicker the mist became, nearly obscuring the shadows of the trees...

Traversing the Dark Forest, Lin Yi felt a chill rise from his spine as though countless eyes were watching him, the surrounding darkness seemed poised to engulf him.

An endless cold wind brushed his consciousness, as if intending to freeze him in place, the world filled with the "rustling " sound of a swarm of Nocturnal species in motion, but how could Nocturnal species exist in such a place?

The wind also carried a low mournful sobbing that seemed barely there, yet enough to make his heart rate soar, in this eerie world, every moment brimmed with unknown fears, urging him to flee, yet he seemed bound by an invisible force, plummeting deeper into the abyss...

Suddenly, he crested a range of mountains beyond the Dark Forest.

Climbing that range, he saw a desolate landscape within the mountains, covered with countless gravestones, the cartoon sky painted a vivid red, now resembling thick clouds saturated with blood...

"What is this place...?!"

He remembered!

This scene, was the last glimpse before switching back to his bedroom his vision has been leaping over!

"Could it be... the first time my consciousness came here, I arrived there first, then in reverse entered the world inside the cartoon, and finally passed through that picture frame into the bedroom?!"

"No wonder I didn’t enter the first time! Did I inadvertently take a secret passage?"

He remembered!

He remembered everything!

He recalled, deep in this barren mountain range, there seemed to be a winding, twisting pathway!

And at the end of that pathway stood a giant Human Sculpture!

He traversed the Gate of Darkness, finally arriving at that pathway in the deepest layers of the countless cartoon drawings.

"Thud..."

He stood still in the corridor, the rotting wooden planks beneath his feet creaking loudly even though he hadn’t taken a step, with each shift of his weight...

Both sides of the corridor were filled with sculptures, some twisted in agony, some wild and unrestrained, all of them half-figures and none in a normal state, resembling a museum display of those killed by malevolent spirits.

At the end of the corridor stood a huge humanoid statue, bizarre in the interplay of light and shadow. With the wafting of the thin mist, its ferocious facial expression seemed to subtly change, as if it had come to life.

The humanoid sculpture at the center of the corridor was the only complete figure, standing elegantly like a humble and courteous gentleman, but it was covered with patterns so strange that it looked more like a container that sealed a malevolent spirit.

It seemed as if something was about to break out of its body, yet was firmly sealed within by this sculpted form.

In front of this humanoid sculpture, a shadowy figure had now appeared out of the darkness.

He recognized it at a glance.

"’02’...? How did you...?"

The will of the Night Watchman ’02’ had arrived before him, and from a state of nihility that was imperceptible, it had become some kind of consciousness that he could now sense.

The Night Watchman was already quite tall, but even he seemed rather small in front of the towering humanoid statue.

"It’s this..." The Night Watchman’s voice contained an excitement he couldn’t hide, "I found it! Finally, I found it!"

Lin Yi, seeing the Night Watchman’s somewhat uncomposed demeanor for the first time, couldn’t help but ask, "Is this the ’item’ you’ve been searching for? Can you tell me what it is?"

"This is... ’the Quartermaster’."

"’The Quartermaster’?!" Lin Yi’s heart trembled, "Going by that name, could it be one of the ’Original Apostles’?"

Lin Yi suddenly had a terrifying conjecture: the Contractor, in slaying the ’Original Apostles’, had killed an apostle called ’the Quartermaster’ and buried him deep within the Layers.

The Night Watchman shook his head and said, "That’s not it... ’The Quartermaster’ is not an apostle, but an ’Extraordinary Creation’."

"This is the ’equipment’ created by the ’Original Apostles’ to match the ’Supreme Judgment’ system."

"What you’re seeing here is a confluence of various extraordinary creations from which I only need to obtain a critical part to elevate my positioning to face more Grey Mist Invasions, or even to a level that can expel ’Angels’."

"But... if it was made for you, why would it be hidden in such a place?" puzzled Lin Yi. If it were tailor-made equipment, surely it would be kept at hand, or at the very least, placed somewhere accessible in an emergency, right?

Like the Sports Student’s baseball bat or the Pocket Chef’s pig-killing knife, it should be readily summonable for use, shouldn’t it?

Why hide it here like it’s a theft prevention measure?

"You’ve got it wrong," the Night Watchman shook his head. "You didn’t hear me clearly. I spoke of the ’Supreme Judgment’ system... it is not ours, the Night Watch lineage, and the difference between the two is vast."

"The ’Supreme Judgment’ system?" Lin Yi was taken aback. The phrase mentioned by the Night Watchman flashed through his mind—

[The golden aura of the Supreme Judgment lineage...]

Lin Yi’s heart quivered slightly, as he seemed to have realized something: "The symbol of ’Supreme Judgment’ is a golden aura? So does this mean...?!"

"Exactly, Repeater boy..." The Night Watchman turned slowly within the darkness, his golden eyes shining like a brilliant sun that could pierce through the world.

"Once the time is right... you too can make use of them."