Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 670 The Soul of the Music Box, The Anchor Point of Time Exile
His surroundings were decorated in a warm color scheme that contrasted sharply with the atmosphere. The first thing he saw was a small, exquisite bed with a fluffy white bedspread embroidered with cute little rabbits or bears.

The bedroom also has many lovely decorations, and the walls are painted in a soft pink and sky blue.

This is, in fact, the little girl's bedroom.

They finally came here again.

Directly in their direction was an oversized white plush bear.

The giant paw that appears in the layer is the teddy bear's paw.

Before Lin Yi could finish speaking, Kuai Hongji's voice rang out: "Don't you know Old Lin? Old Lin is all talk and no action. If you want to corrupt Old Lin, you'd be better off conjuring up erotic scenes involving the boss, Li Huiyuan, and the homeroom teacher than relying on these negative things."

"Kuai Kuai is right—didn't you arrive so quickly?" Lin Yi stared in surprise at Kuai Hongji, who had suddenly appeared there.

“The time is different,” Kuai Hongji said. “‘Fast’ is just the speed you perceive. The speed here may only be one or two seconds, but from the time you left first to the time I appeared here, several hours have probably passed.”

Listening to Kuai Hongji's words, Lin Yi felt for the first time that the difference in the flow of time had been made tangible.

As he spoke, Kuai Hongji placed the old kerosene lamp in his hand at the bedroom door.

Mao Feiyang said, "It's strange. I wasn't attacked by the teddy bear when I came here last time, but this time I was hit by a powerful attack... Are you two just unlucky and bringing me bad luck?"

Kuai Hongji gave him a cold look: "Don't you even have a clue who among us is most likely to be attacked by that doll?"

"I wasn't attacked last time I came!" Mao Feiyang said, his neck red.

“Last time it must have been because of Lao Lin,” Kuai Hongji said. “It wouldn’t be surprising if anyone got attacked, except Lao Lin.”

"If you control this absolute factor well, you can tell at a glance who has a problem."

"Hey, hey, hey...you!" Mao Feiyang was still unconvinced, but for some reason, he silently shut his mouth.

"What does 'except me' mean?" Lin Yi asked, puzzled.

Mao Feiyang curled his lip: "So you mean you have a good relationship with Difa, and his toys wouldn't be used to make fun of you? Well, I'm different... I'm shameless!"

"Alright, alright, don't tell the truth, or I'll laugh," Kuai Hongji sneered.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on the clickable photo frame on the desk, and his sneer gradually faded.

He slowly walked over and then reached out to touch it.

"Be careful," Lin Yi warned, "that picture frame...it's a bit eerie."

Kuai Hongji paused slightly, then smiled and said, "...It's nothing."

He picked up the photo frame and waved it at Lin Yi: "The thing inside is actually the layer we just saw."

"That layer is like an iceberg. The part underwater is located at different layer depths, while the tiny part that emerges above the water is in this picture frame."

Lin Yi then asked, "Oh right, now that you mention it... what about that layer? Did you hide it?"

He looked at the picture frame, only to find that the cartoon-drawn black forest in the frame had disappeared at some point.

Instead, there was an extremely blurry negative of unknown age.

That negative looked ordinary, like a piece of waste paper that had yellowed and lost its ability to hold its weight.

Kuai Hongji raised his hand, and the secret patterns in his palm intertwined to form a square music box.

"This?" Lin Yi stared at the music box in shock. As if he had thought of something, his gaze swept around the bedroom for a long time before finally settling on the music box on the desk.

"How is this going?!"

"Wait, something's not right..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Yi seemed to notice something amiss.

The music box on the desk was still the same, but the music box in Kuai Hongji's hand looked more ethereal, as if it were a spirit.

"Why does it look transparent?"

Kuai Hongji said, "This is the 'soul' of the music box."

"Objects can have souls?" Lin Yi looked surprised.

Kuai Hongji said, "I was just using an analogy. The so-called extraordinary creations are actually things made entirely of extraordinary substances, from materials to core. Amon gave the music box a certain degree of self-operation ability through the secret runes. That is the 'soul'."

"To put it more simply, it's a 'program'."

"Oh, oh, oh, oh..." Lin Yi suddenly realized, "The existence of the built-in program, coupled with the enhancement of extraordinary characteristics, makes their performance like the divine sword essence and divine weapon soul mentioned in novels?" Lin Yi asked.

Kuai Hongji said, "Yes, that's easy to understand."

"So... are you going to integrate the soul of this music box into 'Amon's Music Box' now?" Lin Yi asked.

Kuai Hongji nodded and said, "Yes, there is a high probability that the coordinates left by Amon are in this music box. We can use this to break the seal on Difa and free her."

Lin Yi narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Don't forget, the 'me' of the future told us to run away after just one look."

“Yes, at this point, we have to be careful in everything we do,” Kuai Hongji said. Time banishment is no joke, and besides, the “angel” has most likely already collided with the “magician” deep in the time dimension. Once any residual aura seeps in through the logic of “time banishment,” the consequences will be unimaginable.

Kuai Hongji slowly walked to the desk, took "Amon's Music Box" in his hand, and then slowly infused the soul of the music box into it.

As the music box was continuously improved, the "jingling" melody began to play incessantly, and the entire bedroom began to exhibit a grating effect, as if it were immersed in endless slices of light.

Even though the bedroom appears unchanged, when the viewpoint shifts, the bedroom readjusts to conform to the laws of physics, making it appear as a "bedroom" again.

"What's going on?" Lin Yi asked. "Why does this bedroom feel so unreal?"

“Idiot, you’re as stupid as that bald guy from the Tang Dynasty who said that,” Kuai Hongji sneered. “The biggest weird thing is that something that looks just like reality appears deep in the layers. Illusion is the real thing.”

"Your memories have mostly returned. When will you be able to transform from Tang Sanzang into Tang Sanzang?"

"Are we really going to have to wait until we all..."

"Kuai Kuai!" Mao Feiyang, who had been barking every now and then, suddenly spoke up to stop him, "Stop talking and get down to business."

“Okay, okay…” Kuai Hongji said, “I’ll find the location of the Difa right now. Oh, by the way, Lao Lin, give me a time.” Lin Yi quickly glanced at his watch and said, “3:31, that’s incredible. It took almost no time to walk from the gallery to here.”

He felt like an hour or two had passed, because the time spent at the cemetery alone was at least half an hour, but it only took about 10 minutes in total.

“Very good, the time is not too tight.” Kuai Hongji nodded slightly, quite satisfied. “While I am searching for the location of the Creation Law, Old Lin, you should put in more effort to sense it. Your senses are the strongest among us.”

"Once you find the location, we'll slowly infiltrate it."

"The warnings about the future are not without reason. We will flee immediately if there are any signs that things are not going well."

"Okay!" Lin Yi nodded emphatically.

After saying that, Kuai Hongji tossed the music box to Mao Feiyang and said casually, "Wind it up a few times."

"Oh." Mao Feiyang took out a bronze key, put it in the groove of the music box, and started turning it with a "click-clack" sound. "How many turns?"

"Let's leave it turned for now," Kuai Hongji said casually, his gaze wandering aimlessly around the room. Then, he saw the curtains moving without any wind, and the painting behind them.

He frowned slightly and walked over.

He lifted the curtain a little, and a vast starry sky appeared before his eyes.

“That’s the coordinates of the Quartermaster.” Mao Feiyang said slowly as he wound up “Amon’s Music Box”.

Kuai Hongji stared at the painting without saying a word, and even reached out to touch it gently, his cold expression growing increasingly solemn.

"What's going on? Don't scare me." Mao Feiyang was startled by Kuai Hongji's serious demeanor and couldn't help but ask.

Kuai Hongji turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on the oversized white plush bear not far from the curtains.

"The teddy bear was initially facing the curtains."

"Huh?" Mao Feiyang was taken aback.

Kuai Hongji said grimly, "The position has been changed."

"Whether it's the curtains or the teddy bear, they're all meant to cover up the painting, and what the painting actually shows is probably not what it originally looked like."

"There must be some hidden secret in this painting, but we don't know who is behind it..."

Upon hearing this, Mao Feiyang also became serious: "Are you worried that someone else might be sabotaging things and plotting something?"

Lin Yi spoke up at this moment: "Isn't this painting showing the coordinates of the 'Quartermaster'? Even if there's a problem, 'Night Watchman-02' should have triggered it when it found the 'Quartermaster,' right?"

Kuai Hongji said, "This is exactly what I'm most worried about!"

"This painting was clearly suppressed, but the suppression matrix was broken... The great polar bear was a doll of the Difa, but its extraordinary characteristics were deliberately redirected to the void layer. Over the years, it has been releasing its characteristics into the void, doing useless work."

"The 'quartermaster'...it's possible that the mastermind behind it intentionally or unintentionally moved him into this painting to conceal its special nature."

Kuai Hongji spoke as if he were spouting conspiracy theories, and the more he talked, the more horrified Lin Yi and Mao Feiyang became.

Mao Feiyang found it hard to accept, saying, "Doesn't that mean that if there really is a mastermind behind this, then those 'Night Watchmen-02' who found the 'Quartermaster' are actually accomplices?"

“A cycle of cause and effect,” Kuai Hongji said in a low voice. “This must be part of a logical chain. There’s no use saying anything now. Before we can unleash the power of creation, we must first understand the problem with this painting…”

"What I'm most worried about is something 'resurrecting' and using our methods to infiltrate the layers or reality."

Mao Feiyang narrowed his eyes: "Are you worried about 'Angels,' or...?"

Kuai Hongji's jaw muscles twitched slightly: "The most likely explanation is that of the 'Angel.' Its power has already seeped in during the clash with the Difa. But once it begins its scheme, it means… the 'Angel' is beginning to possess 'human' characteristics, thus developing 'humanity.'"

"When rules become human, they are swayed by emotions. If we want to fight against the 'angels,' it will be difficult to do so from the level of pure rules and laws of power..."

"And if it's not an 'angel,' then the only person capable of orchestrating such a scheme is..."

A glint flashed in Mao Feiyang's eyes, and he exclaimed almost in unison with Kuai Hongji, "The Supreme Heaven!"

Although Lin Yi didn't fully understand, he still sensed an invisible pressure.

Kuai Hongji said, "The problem now is... will we be facing an 'Angel' level 'Supreme Heaven,' or an 'Angel' that's very similar to the 'Supreme Heaven'?"

“The two are not much different, but I still choose the ‘Angel’ option…” Mao Feiyang pursed his lips.

In principle, this question is similar to the question "Would you rather eat a piece of 'chocolate-flavored poop' or 'poop-flavored chocolate'?", but they are completely different.

Chocolate that tastes like shit, or at least it's chocolate.

But even if you shape and decorate it, it's still shit.

“I thought you would choose to face the ‘Supreme Heaven’,” Kuai Hongji said.

Judging from our limited understanding, the "highest heaven" is at least not at the level of "angels".

However, the "angel" is the strongest superdimensional rule-level unit under the true "origin".

Mao Feiyang corrected, "I choose to face the 'rules,' not 'human nature.' Of course, if I had a choice, I would prefer not to face either, but to quietly go through the process and eliminate the root cause..."

"because……"

"The complexity of human nature surpasses everything, and transcends time and dimensions."

Kuai Hongji paused for a moment.

"Hearing what you've said, I feel there might be a third possibility..." Lin Yi said tentatively, "Could it be that during the battle between the 'Mage' and the 'Angel,' the 'Angel' was corrupted by the 'Angel,' or that the two underwent some kind of... fusion? Becoming something even more terrifying?"

Kuai Hongji: "..."

Mao Feiyang: "..."

The air was quiet for a moment.

Finally, Kuai Hongji slowly spoke, looking at Mao Feiyang: "I suddenly understand why you're both a dog and a scoundrel..."

(End of this chapter)