Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 623 Damage Substitute
The struggling "burial body" suddenly paused, "You...? You...?!"

"Really..." the shop owner murmured.

“…I’m not lying to you.” Above the cafeteria area, the shop owner, who looked like a middle-aged man wearing a sun hat, floral shorts, and beach vacation clothes, murmured the second half of the sentence.

Two figures of shop owners appeared, one inside the shop suppressing the "burial body," and the other hovering in the sky.

Apart from their appearance, the two are exactly the same, like twin stars.

The shop owner pulled his hat down a little, revealing a pair of extremely cold eyes beneath his loose, disheveled hair.

He saw that dazzling ball of light.

Even through the barrier of the door's properties, he could still see it clearly.

"Who... picked up 'its' withered fragments?"

For the first time, an incredibly fierce killing intent flashed in his usually nonchalant eyes.

"It's that rule-level 'Ashes Apostle'! It actually ascended right here on campus?"

"Could it be that the mere words believed by fanatics are true...?"

His eyes were sinister and cold, and the figure that appeared in his mind was none other than the "original type Ash Apostle" that Lin Yi had mentioned.

"Hmm...? She was attracted too?" He looked towards the stadium in surprise.

……

In the stadium area, just as Lin Yi was condensing a dazzling ball of light, Li Huiyuan, who was with the boss, suddenly stood up abruptly!
Her lips trembled, and she murmured strange syllables incoherently, as if she were possessed.

The eldest sister suddenly realized what was happening, quickly stood up, and grabbed Li Huiyuan's shoulder. At the same time, a brilliant glint flashed in her eyes.

"This aura...?!"

She quickly turned her head and looked in the direction of the teaching building.

At the same time, a fiery golden light flashed in her eyes, and her eyes seemed to be able to see through everything.

Her vision suddenly broadened, as if the heavens had opened their eyes, allowing her to look down directly at the entire teaching building from the sky, and instantly capture the ball of light that Lin Yi had transformed into!

With a thought, she closed her eyes inside the gymnasium, and her will swiftly penetrated the gate attribute of the campus, descending directly from the void, causing the layers to fluctuate, and transforming into a blurry figure shrouded in pure white light.

Just as she appeared, Lin Yi disappeared.

Yet she could still discern Lin Yi's presence from the lingering fluctuations in the air.

She looked toward the illusory path, with a faint black crescent moon floating behind her.

The appearance of this black crescent moon seemed capable of tearing apart the path Lin Yi was in, but she didn't make a move; she simply vanished silently...

Inside the stadium, the eldest brother opened his eyes.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her red lips pursed: "How could it be Lin Yi...? What is he tinkering with now?"

Just then, Li Huiyuan, whose shoulders she was pressing down on, trembled violently, and the indistinct murmurs she was making became clearer.

"Nothing... Don't die... Don't die..."

"I can't let you die..."

"cannot……"

"No...no!!" She suddenly opened her eyes, and then, as if a suffocating person had suddenly been given a large amount of air, she gasped and coughed violently.

"Huff, huff, huff... cough cough... huff... cough cough..."

"Boss... Boss? I... I just... did I just sleepwalk again?"

The eldest brother lowered his eyelids slightly, then gently shook his head: "No sleepwalking."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "Did you sense Lin Yi just now?"

“Hmm!” Li Huiyuan nodded seriously, then said sadly, “I felt like I saw him turn into a sun, and then… that sun went out… Boss, was this just my imagination? Or… I… I’m suddenly so worried about Lin Yi… Will he be alright?”

Seeing that Li Huiyuan suddenly became restless, the eldest brother comforted her, "Lin Yi is fine, don't worry."

Upon hearing this, Li Huiyuan finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

The eldest brother remained silent, only muttering one word repeatedly in his mind—"nothing."

Those words sound so familiar...

But... why do I have no recollection of it at all?

She squinted, and in her mind, some unprecedented, fragmented, and blurry memories seemed to appear...

……

X023年5月11日，19：12，未知的图层跃迁之路……

Lin Yi was traversing through a void filled with particles.

At first, the tunnel was like a silent night, but soon the particles appeared like fireflies, merging and swirling together to form spiral vortices like a starry night.

Lin Yi continued to move forward, and various particles kept appearing in the void. In addition to those that gathered into vortexes, some burst and flashed like rays of light tearing through the clouds. The colors suddenly changed from cold and dark to fiery, like starlight flickering, laying out an illusory trajectory in a brief moment, running through the entire tunnel.

Lin Yi was traveling through such a tunnel...

"Holy crap... is that the boss's true strength?!" He wiped away non-existent beads of sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh. "Just from the aura he released, I felt like I was going to be killed!"

He sighed for a while but received no response, so he quickly called out to the "navigator": "Young Master Tian, ​​Young Master Tian, ​​are you there?"

Tian Bufan spoke slowly, as if forced to speak from a state of silence: "Yes..."

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Lin Yi asked.

Were you talking to me just now?

"Is not it?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask me."

"Why were you silent just now?" Tian Bufan said, "I was just thinking about some things."

"Wouldn't it be bad to get distracted at this time?" Lin Yi asked somewhat guiltily.

Tian Bufan said, "You can just jump to the art building layer like this. Theoretically, there shouldn't be any problems."

"Uh? Theoretically...?"

"Stop 'uh,' you set the flag yourself, just focus on warping." Tian Bufan criticized, and continued, "No matter where you appear in the art building later, remember, just crash into the stone bridge of the art building."

"Uh... Stone Bridge? Why don't we just teleport our wills directly to the Russians?" Lin Yi asked in surprise.

Tian Bufan said speechlessly, "Do you think leaping of will is so simple and casual?"

"But last time I..."

“Last time you infiltrated from the edge of the dream realm,” Tian Bufan interrupted. “The edge of the dream realm is not even affected by the dimension of time, and its status is very high. If I were to descend alone from the edge of the dream realm, that would be fine, but we are together.”

“The nature of our leap of will is a bit different this time, because you did not infiltrate from the boundary of dreams, so we must enter the art building through formal channels.”

"Therefore, at the moment we complete the leap of will, we will definitely be sniped by the Night's Watch, and their sniping will definitely arrive faster than our explanation."

Lin Yi suddenly realized that he hadn't used enough cheat codes this time.

So we crashed into the bridge and landed?

Tian Bufan said, "No. Our landing point is not the stone bridge, but the sea below the stone bridge."

"Do you remember that 'High-Ranking Alien Angel' that lurks in that ocean?"

"Yeah, I remember!" Lin Yi said. That thing had eaten its fill on him last time, and if it weren't for the secret pattern steel saw that the little girl had branded on his arm, it definitely wouldn't have been able to leave so easily.

"So, let's just crash into that sea. The 'High-Ranking Alien Angel' isn't some ordinary little glutton. It'll definitely react as soon as we appear. Then, let it take the hit for us."

"Then, we seized the opportunity to sneak into the art building and find the Russian."

Hearing that he didn't need to defend the Night People alone, Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

"High-Rank Alien Angel" is a great sniper, since he's already paid for it.

"We'll deal with the rest once we find the Russians."

"it is good!"

……

As he traveled through the world, Lin Yi witnessed countless particles gathering and dissipating before his eyes. He had never seen these things when he followed Lao Mo through the layer jump. Now, perhaps because of the improvement in his level of will, or perhaps because the dimensions he was traversing were different, he was able to observe more of these details.

Gradually, a hazy white mist appeared at the end of the tunnel. On the other side of the mist, there stood a black castle perched on the cliff face—the Art Building "Black Moon Outpost".

"Ready!" Tian Bufan reminded them, his booming voice sounding like, "Second from the right! Full of oil!"

"Understood!" Lin Yi shouted, and his will, like a dragon soul, passed through the tunnel and crossed the boundary of the layers, entering the layer of the art building!
The moment he appeared, he mustered all his strength and, like a meteor streaking across the night sky, plunged into the black sea beneath the stone bridge!

Just like the scene when he condensed into a dazzling ball of light on campus, when he appeared in the art building layer, at least three auras swept over him in an instant!

One is the night watchman atop the clock tower, in charge of the quantum giant clock "Sanctuary" - 02;

One is the night watchman standing before the cliff, carrying a green lamp and an ancient cup called "Mingzhao" - 03;

There was another aura, which was none other than the "High-Rank Alien Angel" lurking beneath the eddies and reefs near the Black Sea!
There were also many other auras that were completely unfamiliar and terrifying to Lin Yi. They swept over one after another, making Lin Yi feel chills and goosebumps all over his body!
"There are so many terrifying things hidden within the layers of the art building?!"

Before he even reached this level, he had no idea that there were so many terrifying things hidden in the layers of the art building!
Such a powerful figure only exists in the school with the top leader and the convenience store owner! And, all things considered, the former principal before he left could also be counted!
The disparity in strength is too great!
No wonder the art building's facade can't be integrated with reality!

Lin Yi tore through space in an instant and rushed towards the black sea. At the same moment, the "High-level Alien Angel" also broke through the surface of the black sea like a Venus flytrap triggering its hunting mechanism. It rose up like two mountain ranges, trying to hunt Lin Yi down!

same moment.

"Duang—!!!"

Night Watchman-02 struck the quantum giant bell "Sanctuary". The invisible yet terrifying aura of the Sanctuary, under his deliberate guidance, condensed into a sharp blade capable of slicing through layers, and slashed fiercely at Lin Yi!
On the other side, Night Watchman-03 was even more ruthless. He raised the ancient lamp "Netherworld Illumination," and a dazzling light fell down like a spotlight descending from the sky, pointing directly at the place where his will lay like a sword hanging overhead!
Faced with the offensive methods of three supreme judges, Lin Yi had only one thought in his mind—

"VIP private room in the Art Building - Please have someone eat on your behalf!!!"

He charged toward the "high-ranking alien angel," leaving a distorted ripple in the space before crashing headlong into the black sea!
The fluctuations emanating from Lin Yi's will do not affect the layers of reality, but on the layers of the inner world, his input is like a boulder thrown into a lake, causing a terrifying wave to suddenly rise in the black sea.

And in those waves, the "High-Ranking Alien Angel" just broke out of the water!
Just as Lin Yi was sinking, the shockwave from the quantum giant clock "Sanctuary" and the beam of light from the ancient lamp "Netherworld Illumination" arrived simultaneously, forming a pincer movement, and landed on the "High-Rank Alien Angel" that stretched like a mountain range!

"Buzz——"

When the two forces located high in the mysterious creation map descended, strangely, no massive upheaval occurred within the layers; only faint, barely perceptible ripples appeared.

But in the next instant, an unparalleled force utterly destroyed the "High-Rank Alien Angel" form, forming a collapsing, deep vortex on its body.

[Howl—]

The "High-Rank Alien Angel" roared in agony, its massive body trembling violently, and one after another, distorted, inhuman faces, like bumps on a toad's body, emerged...

Even though it was the one who had to eat the food, it still suffered the consequences.

Lin Yi, who had dived into the black sea, was also pursued and intercepted by the part of the "High-Rank Alien Angel" body beneath the sea surface.

Beneath the sea surface, the body of the "Higher Alien Angel" was so enormous that its boundaries were indistinct, stretching into the darkness like a continental shelf.

Countless fleshy tendrils spread out from its body, like countless seaweeds swaying in the waves, enveloping Lin Yi's will.

Each of the fleshy tendrils exuded a strong devouring property, much like those symbiotic nocturnal creatures that clung to the outer wall of the clock tower and could devour senses.

Lin Yi kept dodging them, calling out, "Young Master Tian, ​​these things keep chasing me, I can't shake them off!"

"Don't rush." ​​Tian Bufan's illusory figure appeared in his perception. "Wait a little longer, wait until there are more of them, and then we'll just slip out of the shell like a cicada."

Lin Yi asked, "What exactly should I do?"

"It's very simple. Just reverse the process of condensation once again and directly dispel your sensory tentacles."

"The 'Higher-Rank Alien Angel' will devour some of your sensory tentacles, and you take the opportunity to secretly abandon some of them and escape to the art building."

"Hiss... a severed arm to survive?" Lin Yi gasped.

(End of this chapter)