Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 570 Doubt

Through his conversation with Tian Bufan last night, Lin Yi discovered that "memorizing" is indeed a very useful skill.

Using things that others don't know to endorse something is even more ingenious.

"The Ash Apostle?" A serious look appeared in the eyes of the homeroom teacher-040. Suddenly, she frowned again and couldn't help but bare her teeth.

"pain?"

"Ah."

"As I just said, this is only a pain in terms of 'cognition'."

"You!" The homeroom teacher, 040, raised her eyebrows in anger. She had naively thought that this irrational guy would show her some pity and concern, but it turned out to be like this!

Do you usually tell people to "drink more hot water"?

"What hot water?" Lin Yi was taken aback. "Okay, don't say anything yet, I'll get it done in a minute."

The moment he heard "done," an excited look appeared on his face, as if he were about to hand in a satisfactory report.

"I really want to hit you!" The homeroom teacher-040 gritted her teeth, but still kept her mouth shut.

Soon, Lin Yi extracted the last trace of polluted energy from the body of the homeroom teacher-040.

He clapped his hands and breathed a sigh of relief: "Done."

"Thank you..." Class teacher-040 thought to himself, but still thanked Lin Yi very sincerely.

Lin Yi then cut to the chase and asked, "What happened last night?"

"You really don't want to waste a single moment." The homeroom teacher-040 rolled her eyes at him. "You go out first, I'm going to change my clothes."

"Ouch." Lin Yi silently left the small room.

When he came out, he glanced at the time on the wall clock.

8: 33.

This treatment has already taken more than half an hour.

A few minutes later, the homeroom teacher-040 changed into the "homeroom teacher" office lady outfit and walked gracefully out of the small room.

Lin Yi was sitting on the sofa when he saw his homeroom teacher, 040, come out. He quickly stood up and waited for the homeroom teacher's reply.

"I'm really anxious..." the homeroom teacher muttered to himself, then slowly said, "Last night, the gray fog invasion reached its largest scale ever. The entire teaching building was attacked by the Forest of the Dead and another unknown supernatural creature."

"That unknown supernatural creature seemed to be hiding in the clouds. In that kind of weather, I couldn't observe its appearance at all. I could only see countless tentacles extending down from the sky like vines, attacking everything in the campus indiscriminately."

"I was entangled by tentacles, which greatly reduced my abilities, leaving me often powerless despite my good intentions..."

"Moreover, two eerie sounds emanated from within the gray fog: one like a loud chorus, and the other like an ethereal nursery rhyme..."

"Under the influence of those two kinds of singing, the Forest of Memorials for the Dead seemed to take on another form, enveloping the teaching building like a small mountain..."

"We are powerless against supernatural beings of this level, we never have been able to fight them... All we can do is destroy the individuals that have infiltrated the teaching building..."

"We continued fighting like this until finally, the 'Primordial Ash Apostle' seemed to appear. It didn't attack us; it just wandered around in the distance, as if searching for something."

"Later, I went back to my office and passed out because of my injury. I woke up just now."

"Wait... speaking of which, how did you get in? I remember closing the door."

Lin Yi said, "I opened the door myself and came in..."

The homeroom teacher's expression changed. She walked to the door and carefully checked the lock: "The door is fine, and there are no signs of forced entry, so you... you broke in from the outside?"

"Hmm." Lin Yi nodded seriously, "The skill of cooking."

The homeroom teacher, 040, knew that some sports students also possessed the ability to open doors. Although Lin Yi was not a sports student, compared to his healing abilities, which even the school doctor might not be able to match, the ability to simply open doors and pick locks didn't seem to surprise her.

Ultimately, Lin Yi has too many strange traits, so having a few more minor abilities doesn't really make much of a difference.

Lin Yi thought for a moment and asked, "There's something I don't understand. Do the Forest of the Dead and that tentacle invade the classroom at night? Is that why you need to deal with them?"

Class teacher-040 nodded slightly: "That's right, especially the Forest of the Dead. They linger outside the classroom, luring students who are studying to open the door... There have been many such cases in history. They also drive nocturnal creatures to attack windows, lowering the students' psychological defenses..."

"In short, what we need to do is to prevent these things from encroaching on the teaching building area as much as possible."

Lin Yi rubbed his chin: "Um... could you describe the scene where you fought the tentacles in more detail? The tentacles, the more detailed the description, the better..."

The homeroom teacher's expression changed slightly, a slightly unnatural blush appearing on her face. She gritted her teeth and said, "You pervert!"

Lin Yi: "Huh???"

"No! Hey! What are you thinking?" Lin Yi also realized something. "It's not what you think! I have some guesses about that tentacle, and I want to verify them."

The homeroom teacher bit her lower lip lightly and glared at Lin Yi fiercely: "You'd better really want to prove it!"

Lin Yi's face hardened: "My intentions are as clear as day... My pure heart is as clear as day! I really want to study this! You're so unwilling to talk about it... could it be...?"

"Get out! I really want to kill you, to pry open your skull and see what's inside your head!" Class Teacher-040 gritted her teeth. "When you were treating me, didn't you know what my physical condition was like?"

"That's why I say heaven and earth can bear witness!" Lin Yi said, his face tense, his expression serious and earnest.

The homeroom teacher, 040, was speechless, but still described the shape of the tentacles out of consideration for the strategic alliance: "Those tentacles look like they are woven from countless muscle fibers, somewhat like the limbs of a human body after they have been skinned and deboned."

"Between the muscle fibers, there is a certain substance that is slippery when you touch it, but sticky once you actually get it on, like glue."

"That stuff has a huge impact on my suit... If it weren't for that secretion, I wouldn't be in such a bad state."

Lin Yi listened, his brows gradually furrowing.

Regarding the tentacles described by the homeroom teacher-040, he actually had two guesses. One was that they were the "Higher-Rank Alien Angels" from the black sea within the Art Building's layer. When he escaped from the stone bridge of the Art Building, the "Higher-Rank Alien Angels" extended countless tentacle-like fleshy limbs, devouring the flesh on his back. And last night, the Art Building's layer was reflected in the sky, and the water droplets of the black sea and the grinning angels both penetrated the layer and invaded the campus. Even if the "Higher-Rank Alien Angels" couldn't come in their main body, perhaps a part of their body also infiltrated through the layer's fluctuations during the gray fog invasion?

Another theory is that it refers to the "burial body".

The "burial body" was housed in the cafeteria's convenience store, but the housed body was only "most of" the body. Many parts of it remained parasitic on the cafeteria. Lin Yi only just discovered that the roots of the burial body had even grown into the student passageway.

So, what the homeroom teacher-040 encountered last night might also be the roots extending from the burial body's penetration layer, but if that's the case... then we have to mention the convenience store.

Lin Yi asked in a deep voice, "Did the convenience store owner appear from last night until you fell unconscious?"

"The convenience store owner?" Reminded by Lin Yi, the homeroom teacher-040 realized something. "The convenience store owner hasn't shown up. What, you're starting to suspect the convenience store owner?"

Lin Yi sighed silently, his eyes narrowing. "It would be a lie to say I don't have any doubts, but I don't think the shop owner is all bad. Overall, he's still a human being, but I always feel like he's plotting something..."

The homeroom teacher, 040, lowered his eyelids slightly, as if falling silent.

Seeing this, Lin Yi couldn't help but ask, "By the way, is the principal an official, and is the convenience store owner also an official?"

The homeroom teacher, 040, shook her head slightly: "I don't know either."

"Huh? What do you mean 'you don't know'? Weren't you officially assigned to the school?" Lin Yi asked, puzzled.

The homeroom teacher, 040, slowly said, "I know the principal is an official, but nobody knows the 'principal's' background."

"Because the 'Principal' is the principal of S City University. However, S City University was built starting in X999. After its completion, the 'Principal' took up residence at the university and never left."

"Many times I've had this illusion that it's not that the 'principal' is actually stationed at S City University, but rather that the 'principal' sensed something and had the authorities build S City University, thus taking him in there."

"Or, the principal's presence here is necessary to combat the gray fog invasion, but at the same time, it serves another purpose, which is to target the principal."

"The entire campus could be a tool to help the 'principal' anchor his identity."

"However, the anchor point was still breached by the intrusion of the gray fog, causing the 'Principal' to sense something and then set sail."

The homeroom teacher, 040, made a startling remark, leaving Lin Yi speechless.

"Why didn't you tell me about such an important clue sooner?"

"What did I say earlier?" Class Teacher-040 retorted. "This isn't a clue; it's just my speculation, and... I feel that this kind of speculation is a bit outrageous... I feel ashamed to use such thoughts to judge someone who has made contributions to humanity. If you hadn't mentioned the convenience store owner, I wouldn't have told you this."

"Hey, hey, hey, this isn't what I said!" Lin Yi quickly said.

"It was you who led me to say that! It was you!" the homeroom teacher-040 said sternly.

Lin Yi shrank back: "What about the convenience store owner?"

The homeroom teacher-040 thought for a moment and said, "The origin of the shop owner is much more mysterious. It seems that the 'principal' brought him from the art building..."

"The convenience store owner isn't from real life?" Lin Yi's eyes widened. "I thought he was similar to the principal!"

“But we don’t know anything about the principal’s background!” Class teacher-040 corrected.

Lin Yi rubbed his forehead, unable to resist complaining, "So, in the end, you know very little about the two most powerful institutions in S City University?"

The homeroom teacher, 040, was somewhat embarrassed: "The authorities should know, but we don't have the necessary permissions, so we don't know... What exactly did you discover?"

"Wait, didn't you go back to your dorm to sleep? How did you find so many things?"

Lin Yi scratched the back of his head: "Didn't I go to the cafeteria for lunch? So I went to the convenience store..."

He definitely couldn't mention Lao Mo's heart condition, otherwise the homeroom teacher's heart might not be able to handle it.

"Do you know that the convenience store actually houses a mysterious creature at the level of an 'alien angel'?" he asked tentatively.

A look of confusion appeared in the eyes of the homeroom teacher-040: "What did you contain? I don't know..."

"Hiss..." Lin Yi gasped inwardly, "Then the authorities should know, right?"

The homeroom teacher quickly said, "Stop keeping me in suspense. Just tell me what you found. Once you tell me, I'll know whether I know it or not."

Lin Yi couldn't help but retort, "Your memory is really confusing..."

"There are always some knowledge points that you'll forget if you never use them!" The homeroom teacher-040 stuck out her tongue slightly, which was quite endearing.

Lin Yi then said, "That mysterious creature is called 'Funeral Body'..."

As he spoke, he observed the expression on the homeroom teacher's face.

"Most of the 'burial bodies' were stored in the convenience store, while the rest were scattered throughout the cafeteria."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute..." The homeroom teacher-040 looked puzzled. "What do you mean by 'all over the cafeteria'?"

Lin Yi then said, "It's the rest of the body that's like the roots of an old tree, with a dense and extensive root system that has grown into the walls and bricks of the cafeteria."

"There seem to be some roots of burial bodies in the student passageway; I reckon the other passageways are similar..."

"Then there's window number 10 for ordering food."

"The green-bib chefs' base is inside the food purchase window number 10. Inside the base is a huge, visible mass of burial root tendrils. They use a portion of the burial root tendrils to make tomato dishes for others to eat."

"I also discovered that the other passageways in the cafeteria have a complex network of side paths, but one of them leads to the food purchase window at number 10..."

"The most crucial point is that I feel the tentacles you described are very similar to the burial roots I know."

"I just wanted to confirm something, that's why I asked you," Lin Yi added with a serious expression.

Hearing Lin Yi's words, the homeroom teacher's expression finally changed.

She didn't know how Lin Yi knew about the inside of the No. 10 food purchase window, how he knew about the environment in the other passages, or how he saw the scene under the bricks and tiles of the cafeteria. She only wanted to know one thing: "No, Lin Yi, all of this... you figured it out yourself, little by little?"

(End of this chapter)