I set you up on a blind date, and you've managed to overcome all the weirdness?

Lin Yan frowned deeply after reading the seven rules.

The words imply that a murder had occurred at the school, and that the security department was fully aware of it and was only concerned with protecting themselves.

Furthermore, there are contradictions within the rules.

Article 7 states that one must take off the security guard uniform and never return.

However, the third point repeatedly emphasizes that it is strictly forbidden to take off the uniform...

Lin Yan pondered what might be the clues, and casually turned to the next page to see if there were any other leads.

However, the next page is blank.

He was about to close the manual when his fingers touched the first page and felt that the thickness of the paper was a little off.

It's too thick, more than twice as thick as the other pages.

He took the booklet under the lamp and looked at it carefully, discovering that the sheet with the rules actually had two pages.

Someone used glue to stick the other page on.

Lin Yan now regretted not bringing his military knife. He carefully held the edge of the paper and slowly pried it open from the middle.

The page was split in two, and something was written on the other page as well.

[Office of Academic Affairs Nighttime Supervision Instructions]

1. The cowards in the security department know nothing. As a staff member of this school, you have a responsibility to correct students' bad behavior. If you encounter students wandering around late at night, you must go up to them and ask for their class and name.

2. Discarding clothing is an extremely serious violation of discipline. If a girl's school uniform is found outside the dormitory area, it must be picked up immediately and taken to the music classroom on the top floor for Teacher Chen to handle.

3. Helping students is the duty of faculty and staff. If a student loses her school uniform, and the temperature drops sharply at night, please take off your uniform jacket and put it on her. She will be grateful.

4. There are male teachers on patrol at night. If you see a man, please go up and greet him. He will help you find the missing student who needs help.

5. Dampness in the pipes will not produce a bloody smell. If you smell it, it means a student is injured. You must take a deep breath and follow the smell to find the source and provide assistance.

6. The Academic Affairs Office solemnly reminds you: The school staff uniforms are extremely valuable. No matter what happens, you are absolutely prohibited from taking off your uniform. Anyone who takes off their uniform will be regarded as an intruder and will be eliminated.

Lin Yan flipped through the two sheets of paper pasted together, looking at them over and over again, and gave a wry smile.

I should have brought Chuchu with me.

These two sets of rules are mutually exclusive, with almost every rule contradicting the other.

[Security Department Rules] are very conservative, constantly reminding him not to be curious, not to touch anything, and to run away if he sees anything unusual, with the main goal of survival.

The instruction from the Academic Affairs Office on the back is quite radical, requiring him to actively contact the anomaly, pick up the school uniform, and take the initiative to save people, essentially emphasizing his recklessness.

These two sets of rules are almost entirely contradictory.

For example, regarding uniforms.

The third rule of the Security Department states that it is strictly forbidden to take off the uniform, while the third rule of the Academic Affairs Office states that if a student asks for help, the student must take off their uniform and give it to them.

However, the Academic Affairs Office itself states in Article 6 that removing the uniform is absolutely prohibited, otherwise the student will be dismissed!

"To take it off or not?"

Lin Yan never imagined that he would actually be thinking about this question one day.

If this is truly a reenactment of the skinning case from thirty years ago, then that teacher Chen is definitely suspicious.

Only his name appeared in the rules, and it was stated that one should take the initiative to find him.

Is the intention to lure unsuspecting school staff into willingly committing suicide? Wouldn't that be too obvious? Who could they possibly fool?

As a result, the rules of the Academic Affairs Office seem strange in every way.

Lin Yan thought for a moment, "Can the rules of the security department always be trusted?"

If the security department back then had been effective, this major incident wouldn't have happened.

A muffled thud suddenly interrupted Lin Yan's thoughts; it seemed to come from the direction of the playground.

Are there still construction sites doing mortar work this late?

Lin Yan immediately held her breath, pressed herself against the wall, and slowly approached the window to look outside.

Under the streetlights, a tall figure in a black suit was slowly moving across the playground, dragging something along.

Lin Yan squinted to see clearly that what he was dragging was a fire axe, the axe head rusted beyond recognition.

The man had his head down, as if he was looking for something.

As he got closer, the light from the streetlamp passed over his shoulder and shone on his face.

There was nothing on it.

It has no eyes, no nose, and no mouth.

His face was a single, pale, wrinkle-free sheet of skin, glistening with oil under the streetlights.

Male physical characteristics, patrolling at night.

Security Department Rule 4: If you see a man, you are strictly prohibited from shouting or approaching him. Immediately go to the nearest cleaning room and lock the door.

Rule 4 of the Academic Affairs Office: If you see a male student, please approach him and greet him. He will then guide you to the missing student.

Which one to choose?

Lin Yan didn't think about it for long; of course, he wouldn't be foolish enough to go up and greet a faceless monster.

He immediately turned around, preparing to go out and find the cleaning room listed in the rules.

Just then, a gust of wind swept through the gatehouse.

"Dong dong qiang~"

Suddenly, piano music came from the direction of the teaching building and drifted in on the wind.

On the playground, a large gash split open across the faceless man's face.

The entire face was flipped open from the middle outwards, forming a circular suction cup.

There was no tongue inside, only concentric rings of hooked teeth, densely arranged in a spiral.

The large teeth at the edges open first, followed by the small teeth in the middle circle turning outwards, finally revealing the constantly wriggling esophageal opening deep inside.

He turned his head 180 degrees and locked onto the location of the guardhouse!

Lin Yan turned around and wanted to run, but when he pushed open the door, he was stunned.

Before I came in, the outside was directly facing the teaching building; it wasn't exactly vast, but it was at least spacious.

But what lay before them was a dead end.

There was no cleaning room to hide in, as mentioned in Rule Four, and the Faceless Man had already dragged the large object towards the gatehouse!

Why did the view outside the door change instantly?

Did he accidentally trigger some rule?

Lin Yan thought about it carefully. It was because he saw the faceless man first that the area outside the door became a dead end.

What did I do during this period?

He watched the faceless man get closer and closer, but he couldn't remember what he had done to trigger the rules.

Oh! That's right! I see!

Because it's something you do subconsciously, you're bound to fall into this trap!

Lin Yan figured it out. If the Faceless Man hadn't been right in front of him, he would have applauded the person who designed this rule.

First of all, whether it's the school janitor's duty manual or the academic affairs office's supervisory instructions, believing either one will lead to being discovered by the faceless man.

When Lin Yan ruled out the option of greeting the faceless man, she subconsciously followed another option: finding the cleaning room.

It was at this moment that Lin Yan fell into the trap.

The reason for the change outside the door was that he "wanted" to go to the cleaning room!

The rules in the room were a trap set by exploiting the survival instincts of the school staff.

Whether you go to greet them or search for the non-existent cleaning room, the outcome is the same: certain death.

If Lin Yan had thought about it more carefully back then, he could have guessed that in 1994, even if there was a cleaning room, it would at most be a place to put mops.

It was only because the faceless man's opening of his mouth was so unsettling that he momentarily lost his composure.

Just then, the faceless man arrived at the door.