Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 627 Fanatics? Mad Bulls and Horses!
He did not understand the Night's Watch's actions.

But the Night Watchers are indeed one of the top combat forces he knows of so far, and they are still active in the Art Building.

Most importantly, after years of attrition, only two of these top-tier combatants remain, and both are strong enough to protect the Art Building from the invasion of the gray fog.

They certainly have the power to decide what to do, but he still doesn't understand.

After all, the risks are there.

wrong!

He suddenly realized that he had overlooked a problem!
"Perhaps it wasn't the Night Watch who did this intentionally; there must be someone else involved, perhaps... the Headmaster?"

"The fanatics have existed for a long time, and they didn't just appear after the principal went missing at sea. That means the principal was fully aware of this, and the fanatic leaders' gathering place is even near a certain location where the principal's office is moored..."

"Damn, why does this smell so familiar?"

"Like what...?"

"picture--"

"Lion Camel Ridge?!"

"Lion Camel Ridge at the foot of Mount Ling!"

"The gathering place of fanatic leaders outside the principal's office!"

hiss--

He gasped sharply.

"What exactly are the headmaster and the Night Watchmen, these top combatants of the campus, plotting?"

He couldn't help but rub his temples. It felt like everyone at every level was making their own plans.

Against the backdrop of this gray fog invasion, the strong cast wide nets while the weak cast narrow ones, each with its own ulterior motives... no, its own schemes?
“I heard that they can actually be transformed back,” Lin Yi said.

Mao Feiyang said, "A thought can turn a god into a demon. Once you cross that line, even a god becomes a demon. After tasting the forbidden power, how easy is it to retreat back to the boundary?"

"Young Master Tian, ​​Maozi, do you know what the Principal and the Night Watchmen are keeping them for?" Lin Yi asked.

Tian Bufan said, "Probably to work for himself."

So Young Master Tian really knows something?
"Oh no, to be precise, 'we' do know something!" Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat. "How so?"

Tian Bufan said, "The fanatics chase after the light through the mist, pursuing nothing but ascension, ascension, and more ascension, to become something like an Ash Apostle or something even higher. And such beings are most likely not within the Art Building's reach; perhaps they are on the other side of the Black Sea..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi couldn't help but mutter to himself, "These fanatics are really greedy. They go through all this trouble just to become like him."

No one has any ambition; no wonder they're destined to be nothing more than fanatics for life!

Tian Bufan continued, "The principal went to sea some time ago, perhaps to search for something. It could be some kind of way, or it could be something... an answer."

"So, the reason the principal kept the fanatics around might be to let them explore the way."

"Don't forget, while there are many ants among the fanatics, they are only ants to us now. In reality, they are not weak, and their higher-ups are, after all, those who researched and created the Wrathful Angel based on the 'Apostle's' notes."

"Moreover, the places where fanatical leaders gather are also very intriguing."

Lin Yi pondered and said, "The area around the Star Gazing Platform... is indeed very well-preserved."

The observatory is indeed easy to associate with the "first apostle" who was known as the "astrologer".

"So you mean, the headmaster and the Night Watchmen exploited the fanatics' fervent desire to explore the supernatural, to explore the Black Sea and the starry sky?"

Tian Bufan said, "The power of the secret runes is hidden in the study of stars, and the mystery of the origin is hidden in the black sea. If the fanatics can really discover something, the headmaster and the Night Watchmen can also reap the benefits."

"The fanatics have been set up by capital..." Lin Yi couldn't help but sigh.

“There’s a group of people actively exploring this, and you can shut down this ‘experiment’ at any time. They’re using all their strength. Why wouldn’t you want to do that?” Tian Bufan asked rhetorically.

Lin Yi pondered, "Those fanatic leaders in the campus, were they let off the hook by the Night Watch?"

“That’s right,” Tian Bufan said. “How could their movements escape the watchmen’s notice?”

"There are only two night watchmen in the art building, but there are shop owners and a lot of security guards in the campus. When the fanatics enter the campus, it seems like fish in the ocean, but in reality, they are more limited than in the art building. They can't make any waves in the campus at all."

Hearing this, Lin Yi couldn't help but feel a strange sympathy for Mad Bull Horse, or rather, for the fanatics.

He followed up with, "So, why are these veteran art students confronting them at this time? Are they trying to prevent them from doing anything? And what should we do if we encounter them?"

His original idea was very simple: to push straight through.

As you can see, even the eerie art teacher managed to escape only after leaving behind a long, white leg in Mu Daxian's clutches.

If you encounter Lin Yi, you'll definitely be plundered clean.

But now that we know some inside information, the approach changes.

Some changes must be made.

After all, even oxen and horses, when pushed to the limit, can turn into monsters.

“It’s routine for art students to fight back. The fanatics won’t kill the art students, and the art students usually won’t kill the fanatics either…” Mao Feiyang said.

"Moreover, you have a misunderstanding about the so-called 'confrontation'. The confrontation in the art department is more about the collision of perception and layers, that is, the confrontation between the 'right path' and the 'heretical path' under the unified system. Everyone wants to prove that the path they are on is the right one."

"Like... a debate? Only on a higher level?" Lin Yi's expression was strange.

Mao Feiyang nodded: "To a certain extent, that's true." "It's getting more and more outrageous..." Lin Yi wiped his sweat, struggling to speak, "I feel like I understand the campus less and less..."

"So...we're just going to ignore them?"

"We don't care, and we can't control it anyway." Tian Bufan continued, "It's the same old plan: head straight for the observatory, beat up anyone who gets in our way, but don't go too far... If we go too far, the Night Watch will sense our presence."

“I understand,” Lin Yi replied earnestly.

"You don't understand anything, Lao Lin," Mao Feiyang interjected in a cheeky tone. "I'll do the work, you two will cover for me, and if I can't handle it, you can take over."

"Okay, okay," Lin Yi replied impatiently. Sometimes he really wanted to beat the Russian up; what a jerk!
From the Russian's perspective, he didn't think much of him at first, but now, as an observer, he's starting to wonder how good Mu Daxian's temper must be to tolerate the Russian's despicable behavior.

While the group was talking, Mao Feiyang's main body continued to move forward.

As they moved on, the stone pillars in the corridor became increasingly damaged. Many of the cryptic symbols carved on the pillars peeled off, and the remaining parts exuded an aura of desecration and pollution.

The broken sculptures in the niches between the stone pillars are becoming increasingly abstract. If you didn't know better, you might think that the "original apostles" who built the Black Moon Outpost had sculpted all the mythical beasts from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The dampness, along with the salty, fishy smell of the sea breeze, slowly seeped in, as if the end of the corridor led to a muddy swamp teeming with rotten fish and shrimp, rather than a vast observatory.

The entire environment has become much more dilapidated. The only thing that hasn't changed much is that there are still a lot of candlesticks on the stone pillars.

A pale white mist seeped out of the corridor, and the layers of mist seemed to superimpose ghostly phantoms, slowly approaching Mao Feiyang.

The appearance of the mist also shrouded the broken sculptures in the surrounding niches in smoke and clouds, presenting an absurd and eerie feeling of twisting and writhing, as if they were coming back to life.

As I walked through it, I gradually developed the feeling of entering a small Leiyin Temple.

Lin Yi suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but say, "Come to think of it, it seems like it's been a long time since I've seen those dilapidated sculptures..."

Those dilapidated sculptures, bound by iron chains and hanging upside down from the ceiling, calling out, "Lin Yi, oh Lin Yi..."

"Isn't it better to have some peace and quiet?" Tian Bufan said, then paused and added, "Since you miss them so much, maybe they'll come looking for you when they return."

Mao Feiyang chuckled cheekily, “The saying goes, ‘What you keep in mind will eventually come back to you.’ Old Lin, you’re quite good at bringing up the most sensitive topics.”

"Go away! You two are always badmouthing me! Can't you say something nice?" Lin Yi said speechlessly.

"What made you think of them? Was it these broken sculptures full of mythological or fantastical elements?" Tian Bufan asked.

Lin Yi affirmed, "It definitely is! I've never seen so many broken sculptures since I entered the school, especially not in such strange shapes."

Tian Bufan said, "The observatory is just ahead. These strangely shaped images might not be made up, but rather the images of mysterious creatures that actually exist in the cracks of certain layers."

"Perhaps the 'astrologer' sketched the appearances of those strange creatures she observed, and then others sculpted them into these sculptures, endowing them with certain powers?"

"If you think about it carefully, those images often appear in some mysterious civilizations later on, don't they?"

"For example, the sculptures of the feathered serpent god in the Aztec civilization, which is also the Mayan civilization; the image of the world serpent 'Jormungandr' in Norse mythology; the image of the sun god 'Ra' in ancient Egyptian civilization; and the image of 'Xiangliu' in our Chinese mythology..."

"Also, some of the sculptures we just saw were of ancient Babylonian winged lions, Chinese qilin, the nine sons of the dragon, and so on..."

"Have you ever considered that these images, like a constellation of stars, might be imprinted on the space of this corridor, creating a powerful effect that has influenced countless years at different levels?"

"The reason we were able to cross here is because we traversed 'reality.' If we hadn't traveled through 'reality,' we might have directly encountered their attacks at the layer level and been killed on the spot."

Lin Yi immediately fell silent.

Tian Bufan is absolutely right. Many things may offer you great convenience in the real world, but at a higher level, they can be your downfall.

On this day, after experiencing the extreme cold of the stadium pool, his understanding became particularly clear!

Just as Lin Yi was pondering this, Tian Bufan's voice rang out: "We're almost there, Russians."

"Oh my gosh~ Ready to fight~" Mao Feiyang grinned as he grabbed the edge of the drawing board with his hands behind his back, making it look like he was about to draw his legendary sword, the Yangbing Juque.

He did indeed draw out a giant sword.

As he pulled the drawing board, countless mechanical transformations were completed in an instant, and a long, narrow drawing board the size of a door panel—a giant sword—was grasped in his hand.

His body was dark and thin, and the way he was holding such a huge sword gave him a truly surreal feeling, like a skinny monkey in a circus carrying a door panel.

Lin Yi even felt that it might be more appropriate for Wei Shan to receive such equipment.

The Russian's physique is still not quite right for this kind of weapon...

After walking a few steps, the view in front of the corridor suddenly opened up, and another hall that Lin Yi had never seen before appeared in his field of vision.

It was a large hall quite similar to the lobby of the art building, but the classical decorations inside were old and worn. The dome featured a strange pattern pieced together from huge pieces of glass, which was very similar to the religious murals often found in ancient European church halls.

In this old and dilapidated hall, only the pattern on the dome remains brand new. The pattern is like a strange god creating the world, holding a source of light in his hands, and then the light pierces in all directions like cone-shaped needles, much like the sun on a tarot card.

Between the beams of light, there are lines drawn in various directions, conveying a sense of good and evil, holiness and blasphemy, redemption and punishment. The image of the deity at the center of the pattern has a feel of the sun and the apostles of ashes, giving it a very cultish feel.

In the hall beneath the dome, the veteran art students had already set up their easels on the easels, and then, leaning on the easels, they looked solemnly at the people opposite them.

Opposite him stood a group of fanatics with distinct auras, the leader of whom was a fanatic leader whose art student green robes were already tattered and worn.

Two large groups of people looked at each other across the void, and in the void between them, there was a distorted superimposed image, as if countless films were being projected on top of each other.

Two opposing forces clashed and struggled in the void, the distorted air sometimes bursting with traces of a matrix of flames, sometimes condensing into phantom images of icebergs and snow-capped peaks, and sometimes, those images, due to being piled up too much, became distorted and collapsed into a mosaic of ashes...

It's like the feeling in the movie "God of Gamblers II" where several guys with special abilities use their powers together, causing the space to become unstable.

(End of this chapter)