Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 586 Kun's Conjecture
Upon seeing the homeroom teacher's reaction, Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat: "She really wasn't!"

"Wait a minute, teacher! What do you mean by 'I see'?" Lin Yi asked in shock.

The homeroom teacher, 040, took a deep breath and said with a solemn expression, "In the 'Homeroom Teacher Code of Conduct,' there is a rule that 'it is forbidden to study the composition of the teaching building on one's own!'"

"I didn't quite understand until you said that!"

Lin Yi's expression changed slightly, and he said with some guilt, "Then what I just told you, didn't I harm you?"

The homeroom teacher, 040, shook his head and said, "The rule 'prohibits' 'alone,' but we are two people, so in principle... it doesn't count, right?"

"I can't give you an answer even if you ask me. I haven't even read the 'Class Teacher's Code of Conduct'... Why don't you show it to me, and I'll try to understand it a little?" Lin Yi said.

"Dream on." Class Teacher-040 sneered. "Other rules are fine, but the 'Class Teacher Rules' can't be shown to anyone other than 'class teachers.' I guess you're not ready to be a 'class teacher,' are you?"

"Actually, it's not that I can't temporarily take over..." Lin Yi said shamelessly.

The homeroom teacher-040 glared at him: "Shamelessness truly knows no bounds, but nothing you say will change that. To obtain the title of 'homeroom teacher,' you must undergo the rigorous training of the official's iron will. A pervert like you shouldn't even dream of it."

Lin Yi was furious: "Teacher, how can you exonerate someone out of thin air? You were the one who brought up the 'Class Teacher's Code of Conduct' first, and I've really taken your good intentions for granted! Haha..."

The homeroom teacher was taken aback by Lin Yi's self-deprecating yet aggrieved appearance, but when she thought of the Lin Yi in her memory, a cold smile appeared on her lips.

Lin Yi, observing the situation, quickly said, "But let's get back to the main topic... Is there anything you want to tell me? I've told you everything I know."

"Get out!" Class teacher-040 glared at him mercilessly, then got back to the point, "When I first got to know the campus, I felt that the location of the teaching building was a bit strange. Whenever I was sleeping, I could feel that the teaching building was spontaneously carrying out some kind of activity unique to living organisms."

"In other words, in my perception, the teaching building at least possesses the attribute of being 'alive'..."

"You're sleeping too?" Lin Yi asked in surprise.

The homeroom teacher, 040, looked speechless: "I'm a person too, I need to sleep too!"

"However, during the specific period of the gray fog invasion, I need to stay alert at all times."

"When you go to PE class in the afternoon, I will take a short nap."

"Unlike some people, who can't die even when they're injured, as if they have unlimited energy."

"Oh, oh, oh..." Lin Yi replied, "Then tell me what you perceived while you were asleep."

Since learning about dream science, he knew that dreams might have some meaning. However, most ordinary people cannot reach the threshold of dream building, while people like Class Teacher-040 may have vaguely touched something, but they just haven't entered that realm.

The homeroom teacher, 040, said, "I feel that the teaching building is like some kind of magical marine creature. This creature has two completely different forms above and below water. The layer is like a body of water. When the layer malfunctions, the teaching building will sink and gradually unfold into another form. When the layer recovers, the area above the water will become the teaching building again."

“Dual forms…” Lin Yi narrowed his eyes. “What you’re saying sounds like Kun… I mean Kunpeng, uh, right, I almost forgot, you might not know Ji Mei.”

Class Teacher-040: "?"

Lin Yi quickly said, "In the Northern Sea there is a fish, its name is Kun, which transforms into a bird, its name is Peng... Does the teaching building you perceive have something similar to that smell?"

The homeroom teacher-040 nodded: "The teaching building may appear differently on the upper and lower layers, and perhaps what it looks like depends on the state of the perceiver, rather than... its own state."

"Nothing exists outside the mind, right..." Lin Yi scratched his head. He understood everything his homeroom teacher-040 was saying, but he felt like he needed to develop a brain. "Could it be that Wang Yangming was a famous dream architect?"

The homeroom teacher, 040, looked at him with a strange expression.

Lin Yi was taken aback: "What's wrong? Do I have words on my face?"

"I'm just wondering... Wang Yangming was indeed a master of dream building, so why did you use a rhetorical question?" The homeroom teacher's words almost made Lin Yi's jaw drop.

"That's true, that's true..." He chuckled awkwardly. In this strange historical perspective where Van Gogh's "Starry Night" is comparable to the Buddha's vast kingdom in the palm of his hand, it's quite normal for Wang Yangming to be a master of dreams, right...?

Perhaps Confucius was truly a champion of violent aesthetics—or rather, a supreme judge?

So... could Zhuangzi, who wrote "Free and Easy Wandering," also be an observer of layers?

Could the Kunpeng be some kind of extraordinary and mysterious creature that traverses the vast ocean of layers?

Traveling to the North Sea in the morning and to Cangwu in the evening, could it be a movement at the layer transition level?

Hiss—don't tell me, really don't tell me!

Zhuangzi's dream of becoming a butterfly may be the earliest recorded dream experience in Chinese history!
He initially thought it was a historical anecdote, but little did he know it was actually an important research document!

"Hiss..." Lin Yi gasped sharply.

"Why does your complexion suddenly look so bad?" the homeroom teacher asked.

Lin Yi said with a long face, "I suddenly feel like I should study history properly..."

What I initially thought were stories turned out to be very likely factual accounts from classical texts.

Yes, if the Classic of Mountains and Seas is all true, what other bizarre and fantastical things can't be understood?
"You seem to have gone through a brainstorming session, Serpent Bear. Did you pick up something out of thin air again?" Class Teacher-040 asked with a sneer.

Lin Yi pursed his lips: "No, I just feel that my personal understanding of the campus may have improved a bit."

"Then tell me quickly!" Upon hearing this, the homeroom teacher-040's eyes lit up. She pulled up a chair and sat down, her long, straight legs in black stockings catching Lin Yi's eye as she crossed her legs, creating a scene reminiscent of a cool, aloof female executive listening to her subordinate's business report.

Lin Yi pursed his lips: "It's the kind you're talking about... I originally thought that the distortion of the campus during the gray fog invasion was irregular, but now it seems that perhaps they themselves have some kind of pattern, belonging to positive and negative extension and change, it's just that we don't know it."

Just like the dried-up human in "The Three-Body Problem," which recovers when exposed to water and becomes dry again when dehydrated.

"Perhaps the buildings on campus are not what we see. The original builders of the campus may have simply transferred a part of the building from the image to reality and then built it into a school!"

"Therefore, it is necessary to stabilize the campus with a cognitive anchor. Once the cognitive anchor collapses, the campus will be dragged into the layer from individual buildings to eventually the entire campus being dragged into the layer."

As Lin Yi spoke, he was also thinking to himself. If that's the case, he actually understood the layered structure of the stadium to some extent. The original architects dragged a part of the body of some mysterious creature or some other unknown creature from the layers and built it into a "city wall".

However, the "city wall" itself does not actually exist on the campus. Architects brought the "city wall" into reality and rebuilt it, turning it into the gymnasium we see today. In other words, the buildings on campus may have different levels of construction at different levels.

Analyzing architecture is like peeling a bamboo shoot or an onion.

The homeroom teacher, 040, frowned deeply: "The knowledge I've learned doesn't involve what you've speculated about..."

"Perhaps this is what cognitive anchoring is?" Lin Yi countered. "Ignorance is the best protection. Those are things that 'architects' might need to master, not 'homeroom teachers'."

"That's the only explanation," said the homeroom teacher-040. Before entering the campus, they had already mastered the necessary knowledge. The part that was beyond the syllabus was naturally "not necessary to master" or "cannot be taught."

"What are your plans?" the homeroom teacher asked.

"I'll take a break, then go to PE class," Lin Yi answered truthfully.

"Oh." Class teacher-040 nodded slightly. "Then you can go and rest."

Lin Yi didn't stand on ceremony. After saying goodbye to his homeroom teacher, he left the teachers' office.

After leaving, he was about to return to the classroom when he suddenly remembered something. He first glanced at the time on his watch, and then turned and walked towards the restroom.

It's 13:33 now. We haven't exchanged more than a few words in the teachers' office, but we've actually been there for half an hour.

As he passed by the classroom of Class 1, Group B, he suddenly felt a bit itchy to try and pry open the door...

After hesitating for a few seconds, he decided not to wait any longer and reached out to grab the doorknob of Class 1, Group B.

The moment he grasped the doorknob, his senses seemed to detect ripples, as if he could see the structure of the "door"—a multi-layered door, with countless interlocking teeth between the door panels and the frame. As his extraordinary power continued to penetrate, those teeth began to loosen slowly, accompanied by "click, click, click..." sounds...

"That voice!" A strange light flashed in Lin Yi's eyes. "That was the voice when the 'Primordial Ash Apostle' opened the door!"

He was wondering at the time why the lock bolt turned three times when the homeroom teacher-039 locked the door, but when the "original type Ash Apostle" opened the door, it turned seven or eight times or even more!
"Wait... wait a minute!"

Lin Yi was stunned for a moment, because he suddenly realized that his behavior at this moment was no different from that of the "Primordial Ash Apostle" back then!
The only difference is the time!

As the last bit of "teeth" loosened, the door handle also came loose.

He applied a gentle pressure, and the doorknob was pressed down.

At that moment, he could clearly feel that the door was open on the other side of the crack, and he could push it open with a little force.

But he didn't. Instead, he silently withdrew his force, causing the door to close again.

He released the doorknob and then clearly saw that the countless teeth snapped shut again the moment the door closed.

"It seems I'll have to crack those 'teeth' all over again every time..." Lin Yi silently withdrew his gaze, looked around, and after finding that he hadn't attracted anyone's attention, continued walking towards the bathroom.

Just a few steps away, the door was opened from the inside.

The door was pushed open, and a person leaned out halfway.

Lin Yi sensed the movement behind him and turned around to see the person peeking out from the door.

"Huh?" Lin Yi looked surprised. The person in front of him was one of the people he had met briefly that morning.

If Lin Yi remembered correctly, this person's name was either Chen Yu or Zhao Lei...

Chen Yu was taken aback when he saw Lin Yi, and then asked, "Um, Lin, did you just pass by?"

He had overheard Tian Bufan and the others talking and knew that Lin Yi was called "Old Lin".

Lin Yi nodded: "Yes."

"Excuse me, did you see anything at the door just now?" Chen Yu asked.

Lin Yi was slightly taken aback, only then realizing that the other party had been attracted by his behavior.

He then looked puzzled: "I didn't see it... Is something wrong?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yu shook his head: "Oh, it's nothing... sorry to bother you."

He closed the door after he finished speaking.

Throughout the entire process, he never suspected that Lin Yi had touched the doorknob, because in his established understanding, people who were not in the same class could not open the door.

It can be said that Lin Yi was excluded immediately.

Lin Yi naturally wouldn't admit anything, but simply turned around with a normal expression and continued walking towards the restroom.

If you walk straight ahead in the corridor of the teaching building, you will find the corridor bridge connecting Building A and Building C. A little to the side of the corridor bridge is the stairwell, and at the corner in the opposite direction is the elevator lobby.

The restrooms are right next to the elevator lobby, separated only by a wall. The elevator lobby is located on the darker side, which makes it seem even more sinister in this environment, like a cave inhabited by demons.

Lin Yi glanced indifferently at the stairwell, his vision quietly activating. His sensory tentacles followed his gaze and penetrated the space, easily spotting a large number of purebred nocturnal creatures lurking within.

As his understanding deepened, Lin Yi became more and more able to see through the secrets of the campus. Now, when he looked at the purebred nocturnal creatures, he could see that these dirty things were not simply hiding in the shadows of the buildings.

Part of their shells were able to penetrate the layers, flowing like liquid into the folds of the wall at different levels, like distorted, irregular plugs inserted into the wall.

Upon noticing Lin Yi's gaze, the purebred Nightwalkers trembled and shrank back like frightened kittens, revealing a look of utter terror towards Lin Yi... a kind of apprehension directed at him from the void.

Lin Yi calmly withdrew his gaze; for now, he only wanted to observe the purebred nocturnal creatures.

I couldn't even muster the thought of cleaning it myself.

Lin Yi looked at them as if they were dandelions growing by the roadside; unless they were blown by the wind and drifted in front of him, he wouldn't bother with them at all.

(End of this chapter)