Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 599 Where is the basement?
Seeing Li Huiyuan's actions, Lin Yi was slightly taken aback. The next moment, his pupils became slightly unfocused due to shock. He saw a golden secret pattern appear on Li Huiyuan's left arm!
"This...no way?!" Before Lin Yi could even gasp, Li Huiyuan shouted, "Open!"

Immediately afterwards, the golden runes floated out like powder blown by the wind, turning into strands of pale golden threads that intertwined in front of her.

In the end, Li Huiyuan summoned a rather exaggerated saw.

"It's really a hacksaw with a secret pattern?! Holy crap!"

In fact, when Lin Yi saw that familiar golden rune, he already felt something was wrong, but the expression on Lin Yi's face froze completely when the golden rune turned into a steel saw.

The Secret Pattern Steel Saw summoned by Li Huiyuan was somewhat miniature, its proportions resembling those of Yang Guo and his greatsword, unlike the little girl and the original Secret Pattern Steel Saw which were quite different.

Only at this moment did he understand why he felt such a strong sense of familiarity when he saw Li Huiyuan and the boss moving forward in opposite directions!
It's clearly because Li Huiyuan has been influenced by the little girl's aura!
But none of this stopped him from showing a look of utter disbelief: "W-Where did you get this thing...?!"

He really wanted to say, "This thing is clearly on my arm, how did it end up over there?!"

He subconsciously touched his left arm—in fact, he didn't need to touch it at all, his senses clearly relayed the golden runes on his arm to his mind.

His golden runes remained as they always were, but a replica appeared out of nowhere in Li Huiyuan's hand.

This is definitely related to him, but he has no idea how it's related.

Li Huiyuan pursed her lips and shook her head: "I don't know... I don't know how, it just happened."

Lin Yi was speechless: "..."

The eldest brother said calmly, "It seems you don't even know what you brought back."

"When Huihui absorbed the pollution you emitted, she also incorporated this secret power that did not belong to you into her body... just like skin tanned by the sun."

“I just tested it. The secret mark on your body... is contagious, but not everyone is qualified to bear it.”

"I haven't figured out the underlying logic behind Huihuizi, but it's probably related to you. Due to time constraints, I only had time to test it once or twice, and I didn't get any results."

Lin Yi remained silent for a while: "At least... my secret rune doesn't have any side effects in essence."

He had always thought that while the golden runes brought powerful offensive capabilities, they also caused erosion and contamination of himself. But Tian Bufan's words made him realize that the reason for the erosion was that he was too weak.

If you can't handle F1, you can't blame the other cars for having too good performance and going too fast; you can only blame your own lack of control.

The eldest nodded slightly: "Aside from the fact that Huihuizi needs to have great power to control it, there are indeed no side effects... However, during the intervals of testing, I vaguely sensed the existence of another will."

"That will was very faint, like brainwaves from a distant time and space. I tested it for a long time but couldn't capture it."

Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly. Could it be the call of the Mage...?

"It seems you know something again?" The leader raised an eyebrow, almost reaching out to lift Lin Yi's chin.

Lin Yi pursed his lips and shook his head slightly: "I'm not very sure, but it might be related to the origin of this secret pattern... This secret pattern was carved on me by a little girl who doesn't exist in the real world when I left the art building and passed by the gallery the night before last."

"At first she seemed to be trying to cut my wrist, but somehow the hacksaw in her hand turned into a secret pattern and was branded onto my bones."

Lin Yi recounted in detail how he was attacked by the little girl who appeared to be a projection of the "Demage Master".

"A projection seeping out from the layers of an art building, or even from an exile beyond dimensions... How interesting..."

"You actually managed to attract someone like that, you're quite something..."

“But…” The leader frowned slightly, clicked his tongue, and said, “‘Di…fa…’, why does this title… feel so familiar?”

"Boss, don't you know about 'Master of Creation'?" Lin Yi asked in surprise.

Even Night Watchman-02 knows about "Master Di," so why doesn't the boss know?
Theoretically, the boss should know more than the night watchmen!
In fact, the headmaster and the principal should be the ones who know the most about those secrets in the entire campus!
The eldest brother narrowed his eyes, seemingly lost in thought: "It's strange... but this title does feel both strange and familiar to me..."

Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat—his boss's memory had indeed gone wrong!

"Forget it, let's not think about that for now." The eldest brother shook his head slightly, as if abruptly ending the conversation. "Go train first, your time is pretty tight."

"Hmm." Lin Yi nodded. The boss's memories have been like this all these years, there must be a reason for it. If he were to press him for an explanation, it would only backfire.

So he changed the subject and mentioned his discovery in the changing room's shower area: "But boss, I found something else in the changing room just now..."

Upon hearing this, the eldest brother immediately looked both amused and exasperated: "How come you always manage to stir up some trouble every time you take a shower?"

Lin Yi scratched his head awkwardly: "I didn't want to either... But boss, if we use the controlled variable method, it's not hard to find that the problem actually lies with the locker room."

He had a serious expression, a stern face, and looked very earnest.

"Do you want to hear what you're saying? This is how the locker room is always... You're the one who's really in control of the variables." The leader was also amused by Lin Yi's words. "Tell me, what trouble have you gotten into this time?"

"Wait, why does the boss act like her little brother's causing trouble and she needs to clean it up? It's not like that at all!"

Lin Yi mentally complained, but when the words came out, he could only state the facts with utmost seriousness.

After hearing Lin Yi's explanation, the eldest brother frowned slightly.

"Ice shards...the shower room outside the layer..."

"You and Huihui go to the swimming pool first, change into your swimsuits, and wait for me."

"I'll go in and take a look."

"By the way, before I came, swimming was forbidden... I'm not just talking to you, Huihui, you're not allowed either."

"Oh... Aww!" Li Huiyuan nodded seriously with a stern face, thinking to herself, how did her boss know that she wanted to go to the pool first to tempt Lin Yi with a little swimsuit...

"Then, boss, be careful!" Lin Yi warned.

The boss chuckled—even the coldest person can laugh when they're speechless: "You'd better worry about yourself. In this stadium, even a god would have to take a kick from me before he leaves."

"Uh..." Lin Yi shrank his neck.

After saying that, the eldest brother swiftly entered the men's changing room.

"Linlinzi, let's go change into our swimsuits~" As soon as the boss left, Li Huiyuan jumped up, took Lin's arm, and rubbed against him affectionately, just like a little kitten.

"Hmm...okay." Lin Yi couldn't refuse such hospitality and was led down the stairs. As they passed the corner of the stairwell, the flame inside the glass shade of the old kerosene lamp flickered slightly without any wind, but quickly returned to normal.

As soon as Lin Yi stepped down the stairs, he saw a dark corner at the end of the first floor along the corridor.

In the corner was a dark staircase, which grew darker and darker at the bottom. In the darkness, there seemed to be the outline of an old door. If he hadn't seen it at that moment, he would not have noticed it at all, even though he was on the first floor of the stadium.

The door at the end of the stairs is the entrance from inside the stadium to the basement.

"The basement of the gymnasium..." He couldn't help but squint. Even though he had heard Li Huiyuan describe the basement environment in person, he still couldn't visualize it in his mind.

He could only imagine a dark, dungeon-like environment with old kerosene lamps lining the cold walls; he couldn't imagine anything else.

The mystery of the basement far exceeded his imagination; one truly wouldn't understand its secrets without seeing it for oneself.

However, the basement of the stadium is not easily accessible.

"What are you looking at?" Li Huiyuan waved her hand in front of Lin Yi's face and brought her delicate face close to his face, blocking his view.

"It's nothing, I just glanced at the basement," Lin Yi said calmly, withdrawing his gaze.

Li Huiyuan was taken aback: "Basement? There's no basement over there."

As soon as she finished speaking, her expression suddenly changed drastically.

Lin Yi also realized something, and his expression changed as well!
There has never been a basement over there?

What did he see?
And it was the first thing he saw on his first day at the stadium!
Thinking about this, he actually felt a desire to pursue it further.

Li Huiyuan grabbed him and exclaimed, "Wait, you mean...you saw the basement?"

“Uh…” Pulled back by Li Huiyuan, Lin Yi immediately came to his senses and then said, “Maybe I’m seeing things, but I think even if it really exists, it definitely won’t be something from this layer…”

Lin Yi shook his head. Li Huiyuan's understanding was quite deep now, and there were some things he could say.

Li Huiyuan glanced in the direction Lin Yi indicated a few times, then pouted, "I can't see anything... Oh well, let's go to the swimming pool first!"

"Mm." Lin Yi nodded.

The stadium seems to hold many secrets, but there's simply no time to explore them right now.

The two walked side by side toward the swimming pool.

Suddenly, Lin Yi felt as if Li Huiyuan breathed into his ear.

"Stop fooling around..." Lin Yi turned his head and rubbed his ear with his shoulder.

"Huh?" Li Huiyuan was taken aback. "What's wrong with me?"

Lin Yi looked over and saw that Li Huiyuan also had a look of confusion in her eyes.

"Huh? This..." Lin Yi's eyes flickered. If it wasn't Li Huiyuan blowing air, then what happened just now?
"It's nothing, it's nothing...maybe it's just my imagination," Lin Yi murmured.

Li Huiyuan reached out and touched Lin Yi's forehead: "Are you alright? Why have you been so suspicious lately?"

"Really?" Lin Yi frowned.

The two continued walking, but suddenly, Lin Yi heard a "clanging" sound, and the surrounding environment began to jump and flash with colorful lights.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

"Clang, clang, clang..."

The surrounding stadium and basketball courts, amidst the flashing lights, would occasionally present a dazzling, graffiti-inspired mechanical punk feel, or at other times an absurd and eerie feeling reminiscent of a dark and damp underground cave, or even the dilapidated and decaying feeling of the ruins of a high-tech alien civilization...

He felt like his head was about to explode. He heard a voice calling out to him, sometimes near, sometimes far. He couldn't tell if it was male or female, but it sounded like a soft female voice. He lowered his head and shook it repeatedly, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a little girl dressed in black gothic Lolita fashion...

The little girl looked at him coldly, her lace stockings seeping with a thick, black, oily liquid, and her fair body covered in a dirty skirt suit, yet she still exuded a strange sense of cleanliness.

Little girl...

It's that little girl!

Suddenly, the little girl spoke, her expression still cold and serene, but her tone was incredibly incongruous and urgent: "Lin Yi, Lin Yi! What's wrong, Lin Yi! Lin Linzi! Lin Linzi!"

It was Li Huiyuan's voice.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

"Clang, clang, clang..."

Lin Yi looked closely and saw that the little girl's outline became blurry, while Li Huiyuan's appearance became clearer.

The flickering environment faded away and eventually returned to normal.

It was Li Huiyuan calling out to him from the basketball court in the gymnasium.

Lin Yi regained his senses and took a deep breath: "I...! I'm fine, I'm fine. I think I was just hallucinating..."

Li Huiyuan pursed her lips: "If it were before, I would really believe it was your hallucination, but now, I always feel that you saw something that doesn't belong to our level..."

Li Huiyuan was a student of "Mystical Genealogy". After becoming Lin Yi's Mist Chaser and Light Chaser and carrying Lin Yi's ashes to become a special Ash Apostle, her cognitive layers were deepening at a rapid pace. Although her strength was still at the initial stage of physical education, her cognitive depth had already taken a step ahead.

The homeroom teacher's hunch was right; Li Huiyuan was actually supposed to be in the arts department, but due to a series of unforeseen circumstances, she transferred to the physical education department and became a sports student. Lin Yi thought to himself, "That's how I see it."

He even felt that Mu Daxian's path might be the same as Li Huiyuan's path...

An extraordinary art student?
Or perhaps... an exceptional athlete?

Or perhaps... a "Ash Apostle" from the Physical Education department?
Li Huiyuan felt a little uncomfortable under Lin Yi's gaze and subconsciously shook his arm: "Lin Linzi, what mischief are you thinking of now? Why are you looking so sneaky?"

(End of this chapter)