AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 935 - 433 1 question 3 unknowns_2

Chapter 935: Chapter 433 1 question 3 unknowns_2

He shook his head and said, "But not every stream can flow into the sea."

"How do you know we’re not the stream that can flow into the sea?" The eerie art teacher stared at Lin Yi and asked.

Lin Yi pressed his lips together. He knew full well that she had her logic, beliefs, and aspirations, and she wasn’t someone he could persuade with a few words.

The truth was, he couldn’t persuade her at all.

He did know a few things, but only some secrets of the campus—hardly enough to talk about revenge or ideals.

The eerie art teacher continued, "I noticed your uniqueness from the moment you enrolled. After everything you’ve been through, I think you should understand the meaning of ’Transcendence,’ shouldn’t you? And you, ’Dawn Walker’... little girl..."

"The path of the ’Dawn Walker’ is decent, but only ’Glorious Evolution’ is the true ultimate destination!"

"We will become... ’Light’!"

"’Light’...?!" Lin Yi sucked in a cold breath. He thought to himself, back in the day because of my naivety, I accidentally loaned out the light, and my life has been shrouded in darkness ever since. And now you dare to talk to me about ’becoming light’?

If you don’t believe me, I’ll smack you until you scream ’Gaia’."

"Wait... You want to become ’Angels’?!" Lin Yi exclaimed aloud.

The eerie art teacher smiled faintly. "You seem to know a lot. Could it be that you came here specifically to seek us out? Have you figured things out? Or... did last night’s incident inspire an epiphany?"

Lin Yi’s eyebrows arched as his eyes lit up. "Whether I have an epiphany or not will depend on how much forbidden knowledge you, Teacher, are willing to share with me."

"How much I’m willing to share depends on how much you want to know." The eerie art teacher, hearing this, was not upset in the slightest; in fact, she seemed a little pleased.

She wasn’t afraid of Lin Yi prying; she was only afraid he’d close himself off completely and not listen at all.

What she didn’t realize was that this was precisely what Lin Yi was planning.

He feared the eerie art teacher wouldn’t even bother trying to deceive him. If that were the case, he’d walk away empty-handed.

Even if she were to lie to him, he’d have a way to discern the genuine from the fake.

So Lin Yi seized the initiative and asked, "This used to be part of the Teaching Building, didn’t it?"

The eerie art teacher cast a glance at the layout of the classroom and ambiguously replied, "Does that even need asking? Of course, it was."

His suspicions confirmed, Lin Yi couldn’t help but rub his chin. "So, the Teaching Building originally had eight stories, and the Teaching Building Rules undergo updates..."

He muttered to himself, his voice quiet, but the eerie art teacher still responded, "Of course. The entire campus isn’t static; necessary rules are naturally updated in real time."

Lin Yi gave her a peculiar look and mused, "So when you abduct people, isn’t it essentially exploiting loopholes in the rules?"

Hearing this, the eerie art teacher immediately looked displeased, furrowing her brows. "Exploiting loopholes? You have such a way with words—I’d call it reasonable use of the system."

"Besides, when it comes to campus enrollment, what’s wrong with us conducting occasional quality checks? Being an Art Student—isn’t that art?"

At this, Lin Yi couldn’t help but think of the ruthlessly rigid approach in the Teaching Building Rules. By the eerie art teacher’s account, zealots were classified as a kind of Art Student, and Art Students were categorized as "others." Thus, the rule about not trusting "others" was eerily spot-on.

If anything, it wasn’t just accurate—

It was disturbingly accurate!

Lin Yi went on to ask, "So when did it change to being just four stories tall?"

He figured it must have been many years ago. Both the overall classroom environment and the peeling wallpaper carried a sense of wear and age.

Surprisingly, the eerie art teacher shook her head. "How many years exactly, I’m not sure either... Why are you looking at me like that?"

She noticed that as soon as she said she didn’t know, Lin Yi’s gaze changed—turning somewhat... disdainful.

"If I recall correctly, you just puffed up your chest and confidently claimed you’d share how much I want to know... and this is it?!"

The eerie art teacher’s expression faltered slightly. "I need to clarify... I didn’t puff my chest!"

If it had been a normal "person" talking about this, Lin Yi wouldn’t have minded teasing them, but knowing the bizarre art teacher could "disassemble" her whole body like a Pseudo-Human, he instantly lost interest. He simply continued, "Then do you know what happened here in the past?"

The eerie art teacher replied, "I can’t tell you."

"Damn it..." Lin Yi was instantly speechless. "So you don’t know anything either?"

"Change the question," she gritted her teeth, her expression somewhat awkward. "You’ve only asked two so far."

Lin Yi thought about it and agreed, so he asked, "Then what are you all doing here?"

The eerie art teacher fell silent again.

"..." Lin Yi paused for a moment, then also fell into silence.

The two locked eyes, their stares growing increasingly awkward until Lin Yi coughed lightly. But when he finally spoke, it only made the situation more uncomfortable: "I mean, you’re basically clueless, right?"

The eerie art teacher instinctively clenched her fists, the veins on her forehead twitching. "Why can’t you ask something I can actually answer?"

Lin Yi cautiously replied, "Then how could you talk so big just now? Honestly... you’re less helpful than an AI."

The eerie art teacher felt insulted but couldn’t argue back. She’d been attempting to maintain a semblance of humanity in her interactions with Lin Yi, but that very humanity made her more sensitive to Lin Yi’s emotions—like the subtle mocking amusement flickering in his eyes right now that left her feeling awkward.

"How about... I take a walk around?" Lin Yi thought maybe he could run into a few zealots who seemed perceptive and press them for answers. After all, most people here held hostile intentions toward him, looking at him with primal eyes, more akin to assessing prey than seeing a potential "partner" to guide down the path of "Glorious Evolution."

"No way!" The eerie art teacher snapped, "Ask a few more questions. I’m sure I can answer something!"

Lin Yi couldn’t help but wonder if he was hallucinating. The current situation reminded him of back in high school, when classmates tested each other on questions. There was always someone who, despite their confidence, couldn’t answer a single one but still insisted on getting at least one right before giving up.

It was surreal.

Lin Yi couldn’t bring himself to be too harsh. With a change of strategy, he tentatively uttered four words: "Ashen... Apostle?"

Subject, verb, and object were entirely absent—just that single noun. Yet, the eerie art teacher’s expression clearly darkened in an instant.

The subtle detail immediately solidified Lin Yi’s theory.

"I’m going to take a look around." Lin Yi left those words behind as he firmly gripped Li Huiyuan’s arm and led her toward another area.

"No!" The eerie art teacher’s low voice echoed coldly, laced with a chilling inhuman tone. "You can’t leave!"

Before she’d finished, the zealots in the classroom, previously like mindless drones, all turned their gaze toward Lin Yi. At the same time, the zealots trailing behind him enclosed the perimeter in perfect unison.

The eerily synchronized motions sent a pang through Lin Yi’s chest, causing his steps to briefly falter.

"No way, leaving now without getting any information would be a colossal loss!" Lin Yi calculated mentally as he turned back, plastered a smile on his face, and said, "Fine, fine, no need to yell—I’ll stay, okay?"

As he turned, he lightly tapped Li Huiyuan’s hand, trying to calm her growing nerves.