Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 624 [You really kept your promise...you're back...]

"How can we fool it if we don't cut off its flesh?" Tian Bufan said coldly, as if he were simply using a consumable to achieve his goal.

"The sensory tentacles are an extension of mental power, and will is the manifestation of your self in the layer. Theoretically, as long as your quantum state is stable enough, everything is renewable. However, at our current level, once our will is damaged, it is still very difficult to recover."

"As for the sensory tentacles... once they're severed, they can be easily restored."

Lin Yi said in a deep voice, "I understand..."

He then continued to dive deeper, and under the siege of countless fleshy tendrils, he dismantled the radiant orb in one fell swoop.

The miniature sun-like spherical energy burst open like a balloon, sending countless ethereal tentacles of perception exploding out like fireworks, attracting the "high-level alien angels" to hunt it down in a frenzy.

Lin Yi felt as if his soul was being torn apart by thousands of ants, and the intense stimulation made him feel like he was dying.

"Damn it, last time they ate my body, this time they're eating my spirit..."

"I will repay you a hundredfold for those two buffet meals!"

Lin Yi gritted his teeth, and with a thought, he deliberately abandoned a large number of his sensory tentacles. Amidst the surge of countless extraordinary powers and primal pollution, his will, carrying the remaining sensory tentacles, escaped rapidly like an octopus using ink.

Just as he was about to surface and enter the art building via the stone bridge, Tian Bufan's voice rang in his mind: "Don't surface!"

"Take another path... listen to my guidance!"

Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat, but he immediately said, "...Okay!"

"Is there another route to the art building?" he exclaimed in surprise.

Outside the art building is an invisible dome, which is the protective realm formed by the quantum giant clock "Sanctuary".

When he used the air currents of the "Sanctuary" to sense the art building, he didn't see a second path to enter!

“You actually saw it, but you didn’t think of it.” Tian Bufan continued, as if he knew what he was thinking. “You’ll find out soon. Follow my instincts.”

Before he finished speaking, Lin Yi, as if by telepathy with Tian Bufan, suddenly had some additional information in his mind...

Suddenly, a strange route appeared in his mind, like a navigation system, guiding him to constantly navigate through the black sea.

However, not long after, a strange fluctuation came from behind him. Parts of the fleshy tendrils of the "High-Ranking Alien Angel" had tracked him down again!

Lin Yi then realized that he had been too naive. If he had followed his initial plan and entered the art building through the main entrance, the pursuit by the "High-Rank Alien Angel" would have exposed him to the attacks of Night Watchman-02 and Night Watchman-03 once again.

Amputation to save one's life can indeed be effective, but unfortunately, its effectiveness is limited.

That's why he was even more curious about how to follow the route Tian Bufan had given him.

However, he soon found out.

Because when he rounded a corner, his will, following the path given him, unexpectedly crashed into a pitch-black rock in front of him...

In that instant, a cold and terrifying aura swept over his will and soul, and the obstruction of the gate attribute and an unparalleled killing intent hung over his head like a sharp blade.

Lin Yi felt a chill run through his body, his soul trembled, and his will almost collapsed.

"Stay calm, Lao Lin." Tian Bufan's voice rang in his mind, giving Lin Yi a strong sense of reassurance.

At the same time, Lin Yi heard the long-lost clanging sound, like countless trains rushing past his eyes, their intersecting windows displaying countless fragmented images. In a daze, those images overlapped, flickered, and coalesced, forming a dark picture in his mind...

Deep well, corpse, icy tide, low, mournful calls...

"That's...?!" Lin Yi was suddenly startled. The sound of the train's roar suddenly disappeared, and the blurry scene before his eyes returned to normal.

Before he could think any further, he realized that his will was silently seeping into the rock and quickly permeating it...

Behind him, the fleshy beard of the "Higher Alien Angel" did not pursue, as if it was blocked by the rock.

"Are we safe?" he asked slowly.

"I guess so..." Tian Bufan said, "From now on, we just need to proceed step by step."

"This road is amazing, where does it lead?" Lin Yi asked again.

Tian Bufan paused for a moment: "See for yourself..."

Having said that, Lin Yi's will seeped out from the other side of the rock...

As soon as he emerged, he found himself surrounded by water, black seawater that appeared clear at first glance but turned out to be murky and dark upon closer inspection.

But this time, the seawater here was limited. Lin Yi discovered a lot of moss growth on the rugged rock walls not far away. The area above the rock walls gradually became flat, and through the floating, downy fluff, he could vaguely tell that they were huge piled-up stones.

There are still some indistinguishable engravings on the stone, and those engravings are in the same font as the cryptic symbols on the inner wall of the clock tower, so there is no doubt that this place has already become part of the art building area.

He was located deep within this water-filled, tubular stone wall, on which a viscous black liquid could also be seen.

These black liquids flow like grease in the water, forming a solid-liquid mixture, and occasionally dissolve a portion of them into the seawater.

"here it is……?"

Seeing the circular stone wall and the viscous black liquid, Lin Yi already had some guesses in his mind, but he dared not draw any conclusions before seeing a definite "landmark".

He subconsciously looked up at the water's surface, where a cold, eerie light shone above him, like LED lights illuminating the shimmering surface of the swimming pool.

Tian Bufan's notification sounded: "Surf upwards, the exit is over there."

Following the instructions, Lin Yi continued to rise, his senses becoming clearer and his belief growing stronger: "Young Master Tian, ​​is this the 'Deep Well'?"

“Yes,” Tian Bufan said, “the ‘well’ that buried the ‘First Apostle’ connects to the Black Sea.”

"What you are encountering now, in a sense, is the 'corpse fluid' that is diluting the 'original apostle'..."

Lin Yi felt nauseous upon hearing this, his mind was deeply traumatized, his scalp tingled, and his will began to crumble...

"That force just now was the domain of that 'corpse.' It was incredibly powerful, containing a force beyond comprehension. Even after death, it still possessed immeasurable 'radioactivity,' posing a strong deterrent and threat to 'high-ranking alien angels' and the mysterious entities attempting to enter the art building through this route."

Lin Yi pursed his lips: "Won't that aura kill me?"

"In a sense, that corpse is already dead, and what it released was indiscriminate domain suppression; however, from another perspective... this domain suppression will not suppress you." "Why won't it suppress me...?" Lin Yi couldn't help but ask.

"If I had to put it in a way, we could be considered 'friendly forces'..."

"But how can you tell if someone is a friend or foe after they're dead..."

"Alright, why ask so many questions?" Tian Bufan rarely gave him a friendly look. "Hurry up and go find the Russians, time waits for no one."

"Uh... okay." Despite being full of questions, Lin Yi didn't ask them.

As he continued to rise, the appearance of the corpse gradually came into view...

The moment he focused his attention there, a wave that sent shivers down his spine descended upon him, blurring his perception of the outside world for a moment...

Under the pressure of that invisible force, he was unable to "see" the true appearance of the corpse!
A cold yet intense burning sensation arose within Lin Yi's will, a feeling akin to touching a block of ice when one is at their hottest.

Under extreme temperature differences, Lin Yi could hardly distinguish between severe cold and scorching heat; he could only feel that he was "very hot and cold."

The corpse's appearance was blurry and indistinct, as if it were only half a body, gently swaying in the dark and chaotic seawater like a "tail" of an "angel".

As it swayed, terrifying, indescribable ripples appeared in the water. These ripples spread in a way that defied the laws of physics, or rather, without any pattern, causing a strong sense of unease.

Even from just a slight sensation, Lin Yi detected a sense of decay, as if lingering here too long would corrupt even his will.

He looked away and, enduring the pure, negative feeling, burrowed into the well.

Surprisingly, when he stopped paying attention to the corpse, he was no longer plagued by those negative feelings.

However, as he passed by the corpse, for some reason, an uncontrollable feeling of pity and sorrow arose in his heart.

He quickly surfaced and was completely out of the well water.

As a being of will, he wouldn't get wet. When he surfaced, he naturally saw the thick iron chain extending from the corpse's spine.

The other end of the chain was nailed to the inner wall of the deep well, which was already covered with moss.

The corpse was constantly oozing a viscous black liquid in all directions. This black liquid was like a symbiotic venom. Some of it slid down into the deep well and dissolved in the black seawater, while the other part defied the laws of gravity and spread upwards into the deep well like ivy.

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—"

There was no wind at all in the deep well, but the well water made a gurgling sound, as if the wind and waves were very strong.

Wisps of gray mist were seeping from the cracks in the well's inner wall. This mist floated on the surface of the seawater, covering the part of the corpse that extended above the water like a thick blanket, and submerging the bottom of the well. So that when other creatures looked down from above, they could only perceive a boundless, hazy abyss...

Is this "protecting" the people above, or "isolating" the corpses below?

Or perhaps... it's just some kind of tactic to confuse the senses and perception?
Lin Yi was unaware of this, nor did he intend to put much thought into it.

He just wanted to leave quickly and go find the Russians to carry out his mission.

But at that moment, a dry voice entered his mind.

Lin Yi...you've arrived...

Lin Yi's will trembled violently. The appearance of this voice was extremely abrupt, but it "penetrated" into his will seamlessly.

It's like a "convex" part stuck on a "concave" part.

It appeared directly in Lin Yi's heart.

"What's going on...?" Lin Yi asked Tian Bufan in his heart with fear.

"Leave it to me," Tian Bufan's voice appeared, and the next moment, he responded.

“Yes, we…we’ve arrived,” he said slowly.

"boom--!!"

The mere appearance of these six words was like Tang Sanzang revealing the six-character Buddhist verse on the Five Finger Mountain, causing a terrifying and extraordinary storm to suddenly rise in the deep well.

The appearance of the storm caused the entire deep well to tremble, and the inner walls, made of huge square stones, immediately began to loosen, as if they were about to collapse.

At the very moment the storm began, the secret symbols carved on the inner wall of the deep well seemed to come alive as if they had been suddenly infused with flowing, scalding gold.

The secret runes constantly generated tremendous pulling forces between the symbols, connecting the entire deep well into an unbreakable ultimate prison.

Before the storm could continue to collide with the inner wall of the well, Tian Bufan quickly said, "Calm down, listen to me first. I'll only say it once, so... calm down first!"

In a daze, his aura seemed to overwhelm everything, and even the storm that was about to erupt subsided.

The extraordinary storm subsided, and the mystical symbols on the inner walls of the deep well faded away one by one, turning back into ordinary stone walls covered with moss.

You kept your promise... and you're back...

Are you here to take me away this time?

I've been waiting for you... waiting for you for so, so long...

Tian Bufan said, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer."

【Huh—what did you say?!】

The storm, which had just subsided, suddenly showed signs of escalating again.

Just then, Tian Bufan suddenly retorted, "We've waited all these years, don't you even have the patience to wait a few more days?"

Upon hearing this, the storm abruptly stopped, just like a rollercoaster ride.

The next moment, that genderless, dry, hoarse voice resounded in Lin Yi's soul again, like a withered, rough hand rubbing sand against his celestial spirit:
[A few days...? You mean... a few days? Not thousands of years, hundreds of years, years, months...]

[Only... a few days?]

(End of this chapter)