Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 676 "Library - 39F"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey... Please, what are you saying, Kuai Kuai?" Lin Yi asked awkwardly.

"I was just reminding you to take a closer look, that's all," Kuai Hongji said without changing his expression. "It's you who's being wicked."

"Never mind... let's go first." Lin Yi shrank his neck. "I've looked at it, touched it... uh, I mean the World Tree and this platform, cough cough, so I should go now."

The boss must have her own reasons for being here. Even if he really wanted to know, he couldn't meet her as Mao Feiyang, no, Bai Fangshuo.

So, "Dormitory Manager-14-X0230506094" led "Bai Fangshuo" slowly toward the lobby of the art building.

Just after they walked out of the art building.

The leader of the World Tree domain slightly shifted his eyes, slowly looking at their retreating figures...

……

May 12, X023, 4:16 AM, Art Building, at the arched stone gate.

As soon as they stepped out of the art building, the harsh environment was about to give Kuai Hongji and Mao Feiyang a good beating.

The sky was filled with fierce winds, carrying thick gray fog and torrential rain, hanging like curtains under the night sky.

Kuai Hongji carried an old kerosene lamp, while Mao Feiyang gripped the chain extending from his waist. They passed through the arched stone gate and onto the stone bridge.

The two walked one after the other, like a wanderer leading his camel through the wind and sand of the Silk Road.

The moment they stepped onto the stone bridge, Lin Yi immediately sensed the presence of the "High-Rank Alien Angel." It was lurking on the shallows of the black sea, emerging whenever it sensed an extraordinary aura to hunt down passersby and then devour or absorb them.

Kuai Hongji was not attacked—it seemed that carrying the old kerosene lamp could prevent its attack, just like when Old Mo carried him with the kerosene lamp back then.

Only after reaching the other side of the stone bridge, passing the rusty iron plate that made a "clanging" sound, and entering the elevator shaft passage did Lin Yi speak: "It didn't attack us?"

“Because the ‘dormitory manager’ and ordinary polluters are not high enough to be attacked by it,” Kuai Hongji said.

Lin Yi was taken aback: "Even ants have their advantages?"

Kuai Hongji thought for a moment and said, "Or it's more like a kind of... 'newbie protection'."

Lin Yi's face twisted in laughter: "Perhaps..."

In the past, he would never have considered "dormitory supervisors" to be "newbies," but now, he feels that even second-level physical education students might not be considered "newbies."

Even if they're not security guards, they should at least be homeroom teachers, chefs in black aprons, or physical education teachers, right?

Kuai Hongji quickly led Mao Feiyang into the elevator shaft and casually pressed a button to summon the elevator.

After a short wait, the elevator numbered "Moon-II" arrived first. The sound of the elevator arriving was heard behind the door, followed by a "clunk!" as the elevator door opened.

The two entered the elevator smoothly, one after the other.

After the elevator doors closed, Mao Feiyang let out a long sigh of relief, and his tense body finally relaxed a bit.

"call……"

The exhalation of that breath signified that his "experiencing life" in the art building had come to a complete end at this moment.

"Finally safe..."

Lin Yi also breathed a sigh of relief. Although the plan for the evening was a bit risky, everything went as planned. It was indeed the "optimal choice" after many simulations. It was a close call.

Kuai Hongji took out his "dormitory manager" identification card, placed it inside the red glass case, and swiped it gently.

"What are you doing?" Lin Yi asked.

Kuai Hongji said, "Swipe your card, and the elevator will stop precisely on the 14th floor."

Mao Feiyang laughed, "That's an outdated habit. The elevator now senses your 'dorm manager' number, so you don't need to swipe it anymore."

"You think you know everything?" Kuai Hongji gave a sinister sneer. After a brief period of safety, Kuai Hongji seemed to have transformed from an absolutely reliable teammate into a sinister one.

The elevator then slowly descended.

The three of them were unusually deep in thought, and none of them spoke.

Suddenly, Kuai Hongji spoke up: "We should have already left the art building area. If you have anything to say, you can say it."

Lin Yi's heart stirred slightly, and he was about to speak when Mao Feiyang said, "I was thinking, if the elevator stops at the library, should I go down... and go to the clock tower first?"

He gently stroked the bronze key, which was also the key to the clock tower in the library.

“This isn’t in our plan,” Kuai Hongji shook his head. “At least, we’ll wait until the mission is complete before we go there…”

"What are we going over there for?" Lin Yi asked. "Is there some mission?"

“By then, there were no more missions,” Kuai Hongji said, then quickly changed the subject and looked at Mao Feiyang, “Besides, we don’t have enough time for you to go.”

Mao Feiyang pursed his lips: "I can stay until tomorrow before leaving the library."

Upon hearing this, Kuai Hongji did not rush to reprimand Mao Feiyang for acting impulsively and trying to deviate from the plan. Instead, he asked, "What made you make this decision? What did you sense?"

Mao Feiyang said, "The creation of the law has long since escaped the exile of time. This is something we did not foresee in our thousands of simulations. This time there may be a completely new variable... I have no ominous premonition, but perhaps I should prepare a backup plan and arrive at the clock tower first."

"That's too risky. Let's stick to the plan." Kuai Hongji shook his head.

Seeing this, Mao Feiyang asked Lin Yi for his opinion: "Old Lin, what do you think?"

Lin Yi thought to himself, "What am I supposed to read? I just want to curse: 'I don't even know what you guys are talking about. Don't ask me, just tell me to proceed according to plan...'"

Anyway, although my knowledge is very limited, following the plan that "I" originally laid out is definitely the right thing to do.

Upon hearing this, Mao Feiyang didn't say anything more, nodded, and shut his mouth.

Lin Yi then spoke up: "Kuai Kuai, that 'Time String Excess Fluctuation'..."

The moment he finished speaking, the elevator, which was in operation, suddenly jolted with a "clunk," and then, as if it had entered a completely new operating track, began to accelerate at an illogical speed, before suddenly slowing down again...

Lin Yi vaguely realized that something had happened and quickly shut his mouth.

"What's going on?" Mao Feiyang looked around in alarm.

Kuai Hongji also silently gripped the old kerosene lamp: "I don't know... The elevator's operating path is cyclical. No matter what happens next or where it stops, don't worry about it. It will arrive at the dormitory building sooner or later. It just makes us wait a little longer."

"squeak--!"

The elevator braked sharply and came to a stop shortly after. As if in response to Mao Feiyang's earlier question, once the elevator had come to a complete stop, the floor panel displayed the location...

"Library...3, 39F?"

"Library - 39F".

Lin Yi looked at Mao Feiyang, but Mao Feiyang only glanced at the floor panel before looking away.

This is Mao Feiyang. He can be a jerk when he wants to be, and a key figure when it matters. Since it's something that's already been agreed upon, it won't be changed because of any external factors.

Lin Yi then turned his gaze outside the elevator, and frowned slightly.

The elevator is positioned in a very subtle way on this floor, as if its view is blocked by some kind of screen, making it impossible to effectively observe the surrounding environment after the elevator doors open.

To prevent any accidents, he did not release his sensory tentacles.

Right now, getting back to campus safely and having a reunion with the six of us from the dorm is the priority; the library is completely out of the question for this trip.

But apart from that, he could see the faint mist floating on the ground...

In a daze, he seemed to hear a distant ballad.

['Lin Yi, oh Lin Yi...where are you going...']

['Lin Yi, oh Lin Yi...where are you going to run to...']

……

【'Come back, come back...'】

"I'll wait for you in the desolation..."

['You know my identity and name...']

['You know my power and influence...']

……

"That voice...?!" Lin Yi's pupils contracted sharply. "Isn't that the call of the broken sculpture?"

He looked at Mao Feiyang: "Maozi, do you still have my notebook?"

"I've kept it," Mao Feiyang whispered.

A strange feeling rose in Lin Yi's heart. He listened carefully and found that the sound did not fade away at all. Instead, it slowly spread and kept echoing in his ears, as if it wanted to drill into his mind.

【'Lin Yi... Lin Yi...'】

['Destiny is like the loop of an ouroboros...it goes round and round and always returns to the starting point...']

【'Lin Yi... Lin Yi...'】

【When the Black Moon fades…】

[Let's loudly proclaim my name...]

……

Lin Yi's eyes flickered.

"Could it be related to 'time' again?"

To cover his entry into the "Starry Night" layer and later his escape from the depths of the Gray Mist Sea, a small portion of the words he wrote in his notebook flew out and, in a sculpted form, helped him withstand the attacks of the "High-Rank Alien Angel" and the "Mist Whisperer."

Could it be that part of the sculpture fell into the dimension of time, dropped into the past, and then... was collected by someone and placed on one of the floors of the library?

"Wait a minute, could this be that floor?!"

He thought of that floor with the same black and white checkerboard pattern!

The bookshelves are sparsely distributed compared to other floors, with a ratio of about 1:1 to the black and white pillars. On this floor, pure white angel sculptures and jet-black demon sculptures are chained to pillars, surrounded by little angels and little devils, which looks particularly eerie.

If it's this floor, then it seems much easier to understand...

The question is, were those demon and angel sculptures really formed from his handwriting that fell into the past?

Wouldn't that create a huge time paradox loop?!
At that moment, two thoughts surfaced in his mind: one was that fate is like a loop formed by an ouroboros, circling back to its starting point; the other was what Kuai Hongji had said not long ago: "The causal chain in the dimension of time is visible; any wrong step will create indescribable horrors within the paradoxes of time!"...

Thinking of this, Lin Yi broke out in a cold sweat. The bullet he fired had taken a detour to the "past" and hit his present self.
Just as Lin Yi was lost in thought, Mao Feiyang suddenly asked a question: "Has no one ever come into this elevator from outside?"

The elevator stopped, the doors opened, but no one came in.

Not only did no one come in, but for some reason the elevator doors didn't close.

"Why isn't the elevator moving?" Lin Yi narrowed his eyes. "After stopping, it shouldn't be waiting for someone to get on before it moves on, right?"

He remembered that the elevator doors would only stay open for about 10 seconds, but now almost half a minute had passed and the elevator still hadn't responded.

"There's no way the elevator could be malfunctioning, right?" he muttered to himself. Everything on campus seemed normal enough, but in reality, it was all constructed using building materials mixed with extraordinary substances. Theoretically... it shouldn't be malfunctioning, right?

Kuai Hongji whispered, "It's not that we're not moving, it's that we're waiting for someone."

Mao Feiyang said in a low voice, "Something stopped the elevator from the void? 39F, hehe...that's interesting."

"Idiot, there's no such thing as pressing an elevator button remotely," Kuai Hongji said disdainfully. "It should mean that after pressing the elevator button, the person moves away."

"It's very strange overall..." Lin Yi said. "Let's not worry about how the elevator stopped here. My biggest concern right now is, if something strange happens, can we handle it?"

"Solving the situation isn't the problem; the problem is how to solve it without attracting the 'angel's' attention..." Kuai Hongji paused, "If only we knew some tricks and techniques..."

Given their current status and power, they could easily deal with any number of units below the "Supreme Judgment" level, but such actions would have many consequences and could easily expose their positions.

But the guy who honed his top-level skills to a point of simplicity, turning them into ingenious tricks, seemed to be able to solve most problems without using supernatural powers.

"But haven't we already left the area of ​​the art building?" Lin Yi asked, puzzled.

Kuai Hongji said, "Leaving the art building's boundaries simply means it won't be detected by 'Night Watchman-02' with its 'Quartermaster' power. As for 'Angels,' we can't determine the extent to which it has infiltrated the world. Optimistically speaking, it might only have infiltrated the pseudo-realistic layers of the art building, but the library is similar to the art building in some ways; it's not part of reality either."

"Oh...you mean, these two situations are actually judged separately, right? But the underlying logic is similar?" Lin Yi asked.

“Yes… Anyway, be careful, shh—someone’s coming!” Kuai Hongji whispered.

(End of this chapter)