AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016
Chapter 971 - 451: The Ashen Apostle Is Not Any Unit!_2

Chapter 971: Chapter 451: The Ashen Apostle Is Not Any Unit!_2

"Clatterclatterclatter——!!"

A glowing iron chain shot in from outside the door, wrapping around "him" like a nimble snake!

At the entrance of the classroom, the white mist kept surging, and the end of the chain extended into the mist, held by a towering figure.

"Security Guard!"

Lin Yi immediately thought of the "plot" from the night of May 6th, where the security guard dragged the "Ashen Apostle" out of the classroom with a chain, making the classroom safe once more.

At this moment, from a long distance away, Lin Yi could only see the flowing mist moving like a thick blanket around the security guard.

Beneath the mist, the security guard’s golden eyes shone with a profound golden light, like the reactor core of a super mecha.

"Boomboom——"

Thunder tore through the night sky, and the security guard at the door seemed like a mountain emerging from a black ocean, and the powerful sense of oppression caused all the Pseudo-Human Sculptures in the classroom to lose their mobility.

"Come out!"

A majestic voice blasted like thunder in the low sky, echoing in the classroom. The next moment, the chain tightened with a "clang", and a massive force struck, pulling Lin Yi out.

His vision flickered rapidly, leaving the classroom amid swirling lights and distorted visions.

When his vision reached the corridor, a figure in the hallway immediately caught his attention!

"Class Teacher-040?!"

"No, it’s Class Teacher-039!"

That figure was tall and sleek, her silhouette nearly perfect as it was outlined within the mist. She wore a uniform similar to Class Teacher-040’s that covered her whole body, making it difficult to perceive her with senses alone, but Lin Yi’s sharp insight spotted her immediately...

The next moment, his vision rapidly disintegrated, and all he could hear was the "whamwhamwham" sound of the wind, as if he’d fallen into a gravityless tunnel. The tunnel walls depicted countless vortex patterns like those of Star Moon Night, formed by the distortion of countless blurry images. Within these images are likely the experiences of the "Concept-level Sculpture", but he couldn’t grasp any of it at all, as if those images had nothing to do with him.

Suddenly, he felt something from one of the vortex patterns...

He seemed to see a person in shabby clothing hovering in mid-air, holding a cane opposite "him". On the other side, a chasm-like dormitory building rose from the ground, like a primordial giant sword standing against "him"...

He also saw Mu Daxian’s figure appear by a corridor of the Teaching Building...

This was the scene from the night of May 8th...

Very blurry, but he could discern it.

Before he could take a good look at the Convenience Store Owner, the vortex pattern drifted away from him, but another vortex soon collided toward him...

This time, he saw a broken glass window, and ashes descended from the void, slowly falling...

And "he" was standing before the broken glass window, staring blankly at the trajectory of the ashes, as if he were a statue.

Suddenly, a sound from behind caught his attention.

He turned around and saw... himself!

The "him" from the morning who had entered the abandoned classroom with Li Huiyuan!

"Ah?!" Lin Yi was shocked and suddenly realized that at this moment, his perspective had shifted onto the "Ashen Apostle·Fireman" (an entity that didn’t exist)!

"What’s going on?!"

He was bewildered. He could understand if there was some connection between the "Concept-level Sculpture" and him, but what relationship could there be with the "Ashen Apostle·Fireman"?

Is it possible they "crossed streams"?!

"Perhaps it can be communicated...?" Lin Yi’s eyes lit up. If the two of him could communicate across time, what would happen?

Before he could react, the "Ashen Apostle·Fireman" shot toward the him of that time.

Lin Yi hurriedly said, "Another me, we should talk!"

But his voice didn’t seem to transmit, and, at that moment, the he from that time executed a maneuver he found all too familiar.

"Come, let’s duel to the death!" The him from that time displayed a "fiery spirit" attitude.

"No way——" Lin Yi shouted, but when it came from the "Ashen Apostle·Fireman’s" mouth, it became a battle-crazed howl.

Then the scene of him being ruthlessly thrown out the door by his past self...

Once outside, his vision collapsed again, quickly returning to the tunnel with the accompanying "whamwhamwham" sound of the wind.

And now, everything around him was receding from him, as if being slowly peeled away.

Eventually, when the wind noise subsided and the light and shadow dispersed, he found his vision had returned to the convenience store’s entrance.

At this time, his flesh and blood were continually growing within the burning ashes, with muscle fibers refracting with a glassy brilliance, like diamond or glass, but more like some tempered material.

His body was constantly being reshaped, drawing strength from the burning ashes during the process of remolding, initiating self-tempering and self-transcendence.

The burning ashes seemed no longer able to harm him, and looking at these ashes, he felt a genuine sense of affinity, along with a strange illusion of "union with the ashes’ intent".

As time passed, his body was being reborn in a more bizarre and transcendent form...

Suddenly, he remembered something and glanced at his wrist.

11:20.

Time was passing. _{f.(r)eewe/bnov\ll.com}

That’s good.

But amidst the burning ashes, he observed that his watch had not been affected at all—no, neither had his clothes.

Inanimate objects... seemed unaffected by the ashes’ flames?

He didn’t waste time dwelling on this question, but instead seized the opportunity during the remolding of his body by the burning ashes to "take a breather" and reflect on the scenes he had just witnessed...

If it weren’t for the later vision from the "Ashen Apostle·Fireman’s" perspective, Lin Yi would have suspected a connection to the future version of himself regarding the "Ashen Apostle·Concept-level Sculpture", or even thought it was related to the dimension of time. But the "Ashen Apostle·Fireman" was purely a fabricated entity by the Mountain Man, having nothing to do with him.

In this way, the conjecture that the "Ashen Apostle" was "a future version of him" was negated.

But then, how to explain the connection between him and the "Ashen Apostle"?

He found some clues based on the currently limited information.

Firstly, the "Ashen Apostle" held a singularity, at least, regardless of how many units have entered the path of the "Ashen Apostle" now, ultimately there can only be one "Ashen Apostle".

It’s like how numerous cultivators pursue the sole title of becoming an Immortal; at the current stage, he’s merely one of many on the "Immortal Road". Only by completing this "Immortal Road" can one be called an "Immortal", hence the "Ashen Apostle".

Then what about the "glorious evolution" pursued by the eerie art female teacher?

"Wait!"

Suddenly, Lin Yi had an epiphany!

"Isn’t it possible that the ’Ashen Apostle’ isn’t an independent entity, but rather... a special ’state’?"

Could it be that "Ashen Apostle" doesn’t refer to those who have completed the "Immortal Road", but rather... the "Immortal Road" itself!

All units that enter the "Immortal Road" path are "Ashen Apostles", a unique state of "carrying ashes and yet not extinguished", especially units in the "ashes burning state"!

He thought of the appearance of the "Concept-level Sculpture", and also recalled Tian Bufan’s past speculation—"the Concept-level Sculpture is a projected quantum state of some higher existence in the real world"!

"Conceptual Rank" was indeed correct, and so was "Quantum State"!