Rules-related weird stories: 4016

Chapter 101: "The Edification of Art"

Lin Yi suddenly felt his mind was in chaos. Clearly, Wei Liang seemed to have done nothing, but if he were to explore his actions from some clues, Lin Yi would immediately discover that the things Wei Liang had encountered were far, far more complicated than he had personally stated.

There was even a possibility... that there was a problem with the part of Wei Liang's memory concerning those seven days he had last come here!

He left alive, but he didn't remember what he encountered, or perhaps... he remembered, but he forced himself not to think about it, like looking at table legs when the classroom lights are turned off. It's just that Wei Liang... he was deceiving himself the entire time!

This was too difficult, but... it wasn't impossible.

"Liangzi..." Lin Yi suddenly realized that his understanding of his best friend was pitifully lacking...

Was Wei Liang... really the Wei Liang he knew?

Could it be... that he was simply contaminated?

Absolutely impossible.

There was definitely a problem.

"Liangzi, ah, Liangzi..." Lin Yi subconsciously clenched his teeth, feeling deeply worried for Wei Liang.

He continued to observe the changes in the art students, and then he discovered that some of the starlight falling down was attracted by something and slowly entered Mao Feiyang's body.

"This...? !"

He looked down and saw an object on Mao Feiyang's body constantly attracting starlight, like a signal receiver for closed-circuit television—the student commemorative coin!

"It's the student commemorative coin?!"

"The student commemorative coin is attracting starlight?!"

But where did the starlight come from?

It came from that illusory Starlight River!

And how did the Starlight River come about?

It was composed of countless white powdery light clusters flying out of the murals and reliefs.

So—starlight is a more complex aggregate of pollution!

And the student commemorative coin is a coordinate used to attract pollutants and guide them to the art students! A medium!

Art students who hold student commemorative coins will be continuously polluted. This is—the edification of art!

"So-called edification of art is a process of being polluted or accepting pollution?!"

Lin Yi's heart pounded wildly.

He thought of Tian Bufan's conjecture again.

There might be a path on the art student side: Art Student "Normal"—Art Student "Abnormal"—Non-Human Classmate—Sculpture.

And judging from the "sculpture-like" bluish-gray skin and the decrease in body temperature displayed by the art students during the process of receiving starlight, there might really be a "Sculpture" stage in the art student path!

"Sculpture class..."

"Artistic edification..."

Lin Yi suddenly thought of many things. These things seemed to be shrouded in a huge conspiracy, and that conspiracy was like a huge vortex hanging above his head, as if it would swallow him at any time!

What exactly are art students?

What exactly is the Journey of Art?!

Lin Yi felt a chill run down his spine.

This kind of artistic edification made him feel unspeakable fear. This kind of silent, spring-rain-like erosion gave him a sense of horror no less than the call in painful screams.

He subconsciously began to resist this change, but this resistance was ineffective.

The Journey of Art will not stop because of human will.

Starlight flowed in like a trickle, entering Mao Feiyang's body through the student commemorative coin...

Then, he discovered that four transmission belts extended from Mao Feiyang's body into the unknown void...

Without a doubt, the pollution that Mao Feiyang "ate" in the art building was simultaneously diverted to him, Tian Bufan, Wei Shan, and Kuai Hongji—just like when they encountered the green-aproned chef while walking through the thick fog at the beginning!

"It's not yet certain what the art students' path is, but if Maozi becomes sculpture-like after the pollution deepens... then all of us will be doomed to become sculptures!"

"We must rescue Maozi from the art building!"

"We must do it!!!"

Lin Yi made up his mind at this moment.

Whether it was for Mao Feiyang, himself, or others.

He took a deep breath and began to observe the powdery particles, starlight, and other pollutants, as well as the changes in the art students.

If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools. Once a goal is clear, all the details that can be captured now will become clues for his future rescue reasoning.

He wanted to remember as much as possible.

......

Unknowingly, the Star River dissipated. Lin Yi even felt that he hadn't observed it properly...

But when he looked up at the Renaissance-style clock in the art classroom, he suddenly found that the time on the clock showed 11:40.

"11:40?! Damn!" Lin Yi was shocked. "I've been observing the Star River until now?"

What the hell was he still observing? He was almost drowned in the Star River!

He really died before he could even start...

But what was even more shocking was actually Mao Feiyang, because he had just recovered, and Lin Yi hadn't recovered because he, as the first-person perspective, had also fallen into the observation after Mao Feiyang had immersed himself.

Now that he was out of observation, it was because Mao Feiyang had stopped his actions, and secondly, the Star River itself was gone.

"Oh no! It's lunchtime!"

Mao Feiyang slapped his head and stood up, but as soon as he stood up, he found an art student sitting in a seat not far from him looking at him. Seeing that he was "awake," he smiled and walked over.

Lin Yi remembered that this art student was the first one to stand up and protect the young man behind him.

"It's been a long time since I've met a classmate with such talent."

"You're new here, aren't you?"

Mao Feiyang was stunned, thinking about what he meant by talent, when he saw that the other party had already extended his hand.

"Let's get to know each other, Mu Daxian."

"Uh, I..." Mao Feiyang was still a little restrained.

"You can sense that I have a student commemorative coin, right?" Mu Daxian smiled, "If you have a student commemorative coin, everyone is one of us. Don't be afraid, we will take care of the junior."

"Uh... my name is Mao Feiyang."

"Junior Mao, welcome to the art building."

Mu Daxian shook Mao Feiyang's hand vigorously, and then found that Mao Feiyang seemed a little anxious, and looked at the clock and the door of the classroom from time to time.

Mu Daxian immediately understood: "Do you want to go to the cafeteria to eat now?"

"Yes..."

"Forget it at this point." Mu Daxian shook his head, "If you go, you'll have to wait until night to come back."

"Ah?"

"At this point, it's daytime on the campus side." Mu Daxian explained, "It's not easy to encounter abnormal weather."

Mao Feiyang was still recalling the details of the rules in his mind to understand Mu Daxian's words, but Lin Yi had already understood.

He glanced at the art classroom and found that only a small number of art students had left the art classroom.

However, the group of girls in sailor uniforms were all absent from the classroom.

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"That's right... I even saw her at the entrance of the cafeteria during lunchtime today..."

Lin Yi narrowed his eyes. It seemed those people had gone to the cafeteria for lunch. But according to his memory, he had encountered the girl in the sailor uniform twice that day.

Once was during lunchtime, and the other was during dinner. According to Mu Daxian, the girls in sailor uniforms shouldn't have been able to return after going to eat.

He really wanted to ask Mu Daxian what those girls in sailor uniforms were now, but he was merely replaying a dream and had no subjective initiative.

Mao Feiyang, on the other hand, clearly hadn't recovered yet, his mind still muddled.

"Then should I wait until dinner to eat?" Mao Feiyang asked hesitantly, his eyes flickering.

Mu Daxian shook his head with a smile. "Why be so persistent about eating? We bask in the radiance; even if we don't eat, nothing will really happen."

"But that's not what the rules say," Mao Feiyang said, shaking his head in a muffled voice.

Mao Feiyang recalled the exact words from the Art Student Rules: [Please arrange your time reasonably to go for meals, ensuring you eat at least one meal within 24 hours.]

Mu Daxian raised an eyebrow slightly, a hidden light flashing in his eyes: "The rules, huh... Heh heh."

"Following the rules isn't bad, um... not bad at all." He patted Mao Feiyang's shoulder with his other hand, then suddenly seemed to remember something and asked, "Oh, right, how did you end up coming to the art classroom at that time?"

In Mu Daxian's memory, before he began to receive the influence of art, Mao Feiyang wasn't in the classroom. But after the eerie art teacher led those people away menacingly, the classroom had one more person besides those led astray: Mao Feiyang.

He wouldn't have paid attention to Mao Feiyang originally, but Mao Feiyang was just too good at absorbing.

Art students like them had stopped receiving artistic influence hours ago, yet Mao Feiyang didn't slowly wake up until the starlight disappeared.

The time he spent absorbing starlight was conservatively estimated to be four to five times theirs...

Come on, even 40% more would be abnormal, let alone four or five times?!

It's like everyone going to a buffet hotpot. Some people feel they've had enough after eating ten plates of meat, some eat twenty plates, but Mao Feiyang is like the person who eats eighty plates of meat and drinks the hotpot broth too.

This can't be described as outrageous; it's simply head and shoulders above the rest. It's impossible not to notice.

Mu Daxian had been restraining himself, otherwise, he would have definitely asked, 'Kid, could you be the reincarnation of a water monster who drowned in the ocean?'...

"I... someone brought me here." Mao Feiyang hesitated for a moment, subtly concealing some information.

Unexpectedly, Mu Daxian didn't pursue the matter. Instead, he nodded seriously: "We were all brought here by the security guards. In any case, since we can't retrieve our student IDs, let's settle down here for now."

"Honestly, there are still many opportunities to go back. As long as you don't get impatient and get led astray by those strange teachers just now, you'll be able to go back sooner or later."

"Of course, you should know what I mean by 'go back,' right?" Mu Daxian stared intently at Mao Feiyang.

Mao Feiyang was stunned. He didn't actually know, but he still nodded: "Yeah."

Lin Yi, however, understood the meaning behind Mu Daxian's words—going back.

Not simply referring to returning to the layer of S City University. If it were just returning, relying on the round-trip route mentioned in the Art Student Rules would suffice.

What Mu Daxian was referring to should be the "going back" in the transformation route—transforming from "Art Student" back to "Experience Student"!

"Art students can indeed transform back into experience students!"

But Mao Feiyang hadn't grasped this level yet, so he didn't ask any further questions on the matter, and thus Lin Yi couldn't know what that route was all about.

However, Mu Daxian's words allowed Lin Yi to capture a route for transforming from an experience student into an art student:

[Experience students who lose their student IDs will be taken to the art building by the security guards and become art students.]

"The specific details or some hidden conditions still need to be supplemented, but overall, the transformation route is like this."

This was extremely useful information—no, to be precise, this entire dream today was extremely valuable information. As long as he completed the information exchange with Tian Bufan, he could deduce a large wave of clues again!

Mao Feiyang was silent for a while before saying, "Then I'll just go eat dinner later and then take the elevator back to the teaching building?"

It's actually quite easy to encounter abnormal weather when it's dark. Since Mu Daxian said there wasn't enough time now, he'd just wait until evening.

"Do you really have to go to the cafeteria to eat?" Mu Daxian frowned, seeming to have some aversion to the cafeteria.

But the Art Student Rules require it... Mao Feiyang thought to himself, but seeing Mu Daxian's expression, he remained silent.

Mu Daxian narrowed his eyes and looked at Mao Feiyang for a while, then revealed a smile: "Since we're idle at this time anyway, how about I take you around the classroom to familiarize yourself with the equipment a bit?"

"Equipment?"

"Drawing boards and other stationery. For us art students, they're collectively called equipment. Want to take a look?"

"Uh... Okay." Mao Feiyang nodded. Since he had become an art student, and there was an art student senior leading him, wouldn't that be perfect?

"Come with me." Mu Daxian then led Mao Feiyang towards the edge of the art classroom.

The art classroom had many doors, and beside the doors, there were actually some bookshelves and tool racks. Due to the lighting and his attention, Lin Yi hadn't noticed them at first, mistaking them for some kind of relief.

"There are some art-related books in the bookshelves, but frankly, they're not very useful. You'll soon find that our 'art class' is completely different from the art class you imagined."

"Compared to art-related books, some mythology storybooks might be more helpful to you."

"As everyone knows, mythology often becomes an important source of inspiration and theme for artistic and cultural creation. Artists and writers often draw inspiration from mythological stories, presenting characters, scenes, or themes from myths, thereby creating paintings, sculptures, literary works, and so on..."

"There are things like drawing boards, paper, pens, and paints on the tool racks over there. You can take what you need yourself, but remember, don't touch the green pens and paints... You don't need that color for sketching here."