Rules-related weird stories: 4016

#363 - Amon's Music Box

Some of the tentacle-like heads drooped to the ground, fanning and probing like elephant trunks, as if sniffing for a scent. Eventually, it slowly wriggled towards the fragments of the large eyeball left behind by the explosion, which had not yet completely dissipated.

It nimbly hopped through the gray fog, eating a piece here and a piece there, like a little monster licking candy as it moved forward, slowly chasing after Lin Yi and Lao Mo's backs.

...

May 10, X023, 0:00, Art Building Corridor.

An invisible aura rippled from the depths of the corridor, causing both Lao Mo and Lin Yi to pause.

It was a sensation that could not be described in words. Lin Yi almost immediately realized something, and looked down to tear open his sleeve, only to find that the time had indeed passed midnight.

"Lao Mo, it's midnight!" Lin Yi reminded him.

Lao Mo said, "I felt it just now too… the Watchman's Bell…"

"'Watchman's Bell'?"

"I'll explain later, we're almost at the gallery." Lao Mo didn't reply, continuing to break through the fog, his brow furrowed with solemnity.

Finally, after rounding a curved corner, Lin Yi heard that tinkling sound again…

And this time, Lao Mo also heard the sound. He waved his hand, signaling Lin Yi to stop.

After Lin Yi stopped, he subconsciously looked at Lao Mo, only to find that Lao Mo's face was extremely pale, and his footsteps had stopped.

Realizing that something was wrong, Lin Yi asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

Lao Mo's tone revealed an unprecedented dryness: "'Amon's Music Box'…"

"The good news is… we've reached the gallery."

"The bad news is, this music box is playing…"

The crisp and soothing melody of the music box slowly floated out from the depths of the gray fog and the pitch-black abyss, falling into Lin Yi and Lao Mo's ears, and like heavy drumbeats, it made people feel as if they were in a huge, oppressively space.

Lao Mo rubbed all the large eyeballs together, then threw them out fiercely, and grabbed Lin Yi's hand: "Kid, charge with me!!!"

The large eyeballs exploded rapidly, and Lao Mo led Lin Yi to crash through.

The violent explosion dispersed all the surrounding gray fog, and a brand-new portal was opened up instead. In the aftermath of the explosion, Lin Yi saw an ancient and mysterious gallery.

The gallery lurked in the depths of the corridor like a shadow, as if forgotten by time. Apart from the seemingly dying candlelight that still knew how to cast some light on it, the whole world seemed to be separated from it.

Lao Mo used the pig-slaughtering knife to cut a path through the ripples of the explosion, leading Lin Yi to rush to the gallery. Behind them, the explosion was huge, but it seemed to be isolated by an invisible ripple.

「Ding-dong ding-ding… dong ding-dong… ding-ding ding-dong…」

The notes of the music box flew out of the gallery like hopping tadpoles, slowly enveloping them.

「Po… po… po…」

The clusters of candles on both sides of the gallery flickered, and the originally dim gallery seemed to have been lit with new fire by a lamplighter.

As the candlelight swayed, light and darkness blended together, presenting a chaotic change of light and shadow.

The moment they stepped into the gallery, a chill rushed towards them. Darkness, like thick ink, tightly wrapped every inch of space. The faint light struggled in the darkness, like the last breath of a dying person, barely able to outline the blurred contours of the gallery.

The paintings on the walls seemed to come alive in the dimness. The originally colorful oil paintings now looked like distorted ghost faces, looming in the shadows.

The stone slabs under their feet had turned into floorboards at some point, constantly making creepy creaking sounds as they walked, as if every step was awakening the evil spirits sleeping underground.

The fog in the gallery had thinned a lot, but it still permeated the gallery like a ghostly veil. The fog was cold and damp, with a decaying aura, slowly wrapping around their ankles, making people feel as if they were in a swamp, every step filled with resistance.

The notes of the music box were still jumping, the sound coming from nowhere, surrounding them intermittently, making them shudder.

"After passing through the gallery, the Great Golden Retriever's guidance should be there." Lao Mo dropped a sentence, and then walked forward silently with his mouth shut.

Lin Yi silently followed behind Lao Mo, restraining himself from looking around, to ensure that he would not be attracted by something he shouldn't see.

There were not only paintings in the gallery, but also some sculptures and artworks, but these works seemed even more strange in the current atmosphere.

Due to the obstruction of the gray fog and his own restraint, Lin Yi only had the corner of his eye left to continue capturing the elements in the gallery. However, the more he wanted to ignore it, the more he would subconsciously pay attention to things that seemed static but not completely static.

For example, Lin Yi saw a figure standing in the darkness, but after a moment of trance, he realized that it was just an oil painting. The fog gathered in front of this painting, making the mysterious figure look even more illusory and terrifying, as if it might walk out of the painting at any time.

Walking slowly along the gallery, some sculptures added to the eerie atmosphere. The originally lifelike busts had become terrifying figures under the cover of darkness and fog. Their expressions were blurred, as if struggling in pain, or issuing silent curses.

Lin Yi could no longer tell whether they were pseudo-human sculptures, or some purely sculpted human-shaped sculptures.

The notes of the music box were still jumping, and the "creak, creak" sound of the wooden boards became more and more intense. Walking and walking, Lin Yi had an illusion, as if he was not shuttling through a gallery, but walking in a swaying cabin.

Not just any ordinary ship, but the kind of ship from the Middle Ages or even earlier, like a ghost ship lost in the sea fog, surrounded by the sirens' songs and the intermittent music box movements…

Occasionally, a gust of cold wind blowing from nowhere swirled the fog, like a group of ghosts dancing gracefully. The wind seemed to be mixed with whispers, the sound subtle and clear, as if the souls imprisoned in the paintings and sculptures were telling their grievances and pain.

[Lin Yi… ]

[Lin Yi… is that you… ]

[It's you… it's you!!]

[You've come… ]

[You've finally come… ]

Lin Yi faintly heard some eerie calls in his ears. More urgently, his gallery suddenly shook as if hit by a sea wave. He stumbled forward several steps, and just as he was about to lose his balance, he twisted his waist and stopped himself.

Before he could catch his breath, a sculpture abruptly appeared in front of him.

The area where the sculpture stood was surrounded by mist, with a dark background. Dim candlelight shone on the mist, forming a soft halo, while the walls not covered by mist seemed like bottomless darkness. This stark contrast made the sculpture look even more like a prisoner trapped in this mysterious and dangerous jail, and it made Lin Yi's already highly strained nerves tighten to the limit.

【Lin Yi...】

【Lin Yi... Lin Yi...】

The cold and ethereal calls echoed constantly in his heart, as if coming from the void of darkness, or as if spoken by the sculpture in front of him.

The mist flowed slowly in the gallery. It wasn't static, but moved through the space like a living ghost. Under its influence, Lin Yi suddenly felt that the entire gallery was filled with unsettling elements. The surrounding environment seemed to be constantly changing, as if more sculptures were secretly watching or quietly approaching...

The entire environment became increasingly blurred, and even Old Mo's back seemed to blend into the surrounding gray mist, leaving only the notes of the music box, becoming clearer and clearer in the flowing wind.

"Old Mo... Old Mo..."

Lin Yi's breathing became extremely disordered. He followed Old Mo's back, stepping on the creaking wooden floor, walking unsteadily. The calls gradually faded, but there seemed to be a foreign-style ballad mixed in with the constantly jumping notes of the music box, slowly passing over...

【Little friends, hide-and-seek ~ one, two, hide away ~】

【Small courtyard, a good place ~ brothers and sisters hide their bodies ~】

【Dig, dig, turn, turn ~ little sister's waist is sore, sore ~】

【Older sister, older sister, be quiet ~ don't let older brother hear ~】

【That tree is really good ~ I hide older sister's body ~】

【Pull, pull, tug, tug ~ little sister's hands are numb, numb ~】

【Older brother, older brother, you're so bad ~ laughing at little sister's dull saw ~】

【That tree is really good ~ I hang older brother separately ~】

【Little friends, hide-and-seek ~ one, two, hide away ~】

【Brothers and sisters hide separately ~ search, search, can't find them ~】

This seemed to be a nursery rhyme. At first glance, it was nothing, but the more you listened, the more you felt an indescribable eerie feeling, always feeling that something was wrong.

The nursery rhyme was very much like a tune exuding black humor. The timbre was also gradually changing from a cold, ethereal, and intermittent song to a clear, childish voice that exuded a strong sense of dark eeriness...

As the childish voice sounded, a little girl wearing a black and red Lolita uniform seemed to appear in the depths of the darkness. She had smooth black hair and was covered in dirt, as if covered in some kind of viscous black liquid...

At her feet, there seemed to be a shovel covered in this liquid, and on the other side, there was a large steel saw covered in filth.

Both the shovel and the steel saw were disproportionate to her thin and small body. In the strong contrast, they seemed extremely asymmetrical, with a high degree of incongruity that challenged people's obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In her hand, she held a seemingly exquisite music box. There was a rotating wind-up key on the side of the music box, and the "ding-dong" sound came from the music box, along with the intermittent nursery rhyme...

【Little friends, hide-and-seek ~ one, two, hide away...】

【Small courtyard, a good place ~ brothers and sisters hide their bodies...】

【Dig, dig, turn, turn...】

【...】

The little girl, wearing small leather boots covered in black, turbid liquid, slowly approached Lin Yi.

"Da... da... da..."

Each step seemed to be stepping on the beat of Lin Yi's heart.

As she approached, Lin Yi felt that the surrounding air was being sucked away. An indescribable sense of oppression enveloped him. The gray mist seemed to turn into a solid wall, squeezing his body tightly.

He felt that his bones were about to be crushed. He felt it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe. He began to hear the sound of bones cracking in his ears. Before he could feel the pain, his head was stuck there as if someone had clamped it with a door panel.

His body was stretched straight. The gray mist was like an invisible giant hand, holding him in its palm. Every time he exhaled some breath, the hand would squeeze him even tighter.

He couldn't make any sound other than whimpering in his throat. He felt like his whole person was about to crack.

Suddenly, he only heard the little girl's footsteps, which were synchronized with his heartbeat.

"Da... da..."

"Da..."

"..."

The footsteps stopped and did not sound again for a long time.

Lin Yi's heart stopped beating with it, and did not sound again for a long time.

"Ugh... ugh... ugh...?" Lin Yi gritted his teeth, feeling the heart in his chest that was no longer beating. A cold feeling instantly spread throughout his body...

His pupils slowly dilated, and the face of the little girl was reflected in his dilated pupils.

"Faceless."

"Thump!!!"

He fell heavily to the ground, his eyes gradually turning gray.

The little girl stepped forward and slowly walked towards him.

Suddenly, he heard some sounds, some... familiar sounds.

"Rustle... rustle..."

In the darkness behind the little girl, a section of iron chain appeared...

The iron chain seemed to be growing on her spine. As she walked out of the dim area, some blurred outlines appeared.

"Iron chain...? !"

"Could it be... it...? !"

In the last moment, Lin Yi thought of the dark shadow he had repeatedly seen in his hallucinations...