Rules-related weird stories: 4016

Old Mo's words put immense pressure on Lin Yi. He thought for a moment and then asked, "Since that's the case, why isn't anyone helping the Night Watchmen?"

Old Mo said, "King against king, general against general, soldier against soldier... Only when a lower-level combat force exhibits an overwhelming advantage is it qualified to assist a higher-level unit."

"But at this moment, the three Night Watchmen are barely holding their own against the 'Angel' gathering power in the source, and the art teachers are each killing Grinning Angels approaching the art building on their respective watchtowers..."

"In this situation, it's normal for a small number of Angel sculptures to enter the art building area, and those who can reach here step by step are already rare."

"Many times, having this power to help the Night Watchmen at the Clock Tower is not as good as guarding the watchtowers—that's why I'm angry, understand?"

"Mu Daxian that kid, is still too impatient."

"That kid's talent is indeed good, but he's unwilling to take things one step at a time. After making some progress, he just solidified the surface foundation and began to move on to the next step, not knowing that true accumulation should be a natural process, not a gamble to open the gates of heaven."

"When I was in the cafeteria, I sensed his death. I bet there was an 80% chance he would die in a desperate battle at the watchtower, thinking it would be easy to save him, but I didn't expect the remaining 20% to happen—he ran to the Clock Tower!"

Lin Yi subconsciously bit his teeth, the muscles in his cheeks bulging slightly.

Old Mo's subtext was actually that he originally thought he only needed to accompany him to the art building, and then he could go on a rampage, even do something else to relieve the pressure on the Night Watchmen, but he didn't expect the destination to change, causing the difficulty of the instance to jump directly from medium to the highest level.

Because of this, Old Mo's original certainty that Lin Yi could safely return to the campus gradually became filled with extremely unstable factors.

A thin mist gradually began to appear in the Clock Tower's stairwell. The moss on the walls had climbed to the base of the candlesticks, and some water stains from the heavy rain began to seep out of the cracks in the walls, slowly dripping down.

Sometimes, Lin Yi even felt like he could hear the sound of the storm washing against the outer walls of the stairwell outside the walls.

"Swish—swish—swish—"

Wave after wave, making people feel increasingly uneasy.

Old Mo suddenly asked, "What time is it now?"

Lin Yi glanced at his watch: "It's 1:14..."

"We need to hurry, otherwise you won't have time to go back." Old Mo didn't hide anything from Lin Yi, directly stating the sense of crisis.

Lin Yi frowned slightly and quickened his pace to follow Old Mo.

Soon they entered the mist zone, and the entire stairwell suddenly seemed to be covered in a layer of gray shadow.

Suddenly, he saw a figure, no, many figures, on the steps ahead!

"Grinning Angels!!" Lin Yi's heart trembled. A large number of Grinning Angels had actually appeared on the road ahead!

But upon closer inspection, he discovered that those Grinning Angels had an indescribable sense of weirdness, very strange... Moreover, his subconscious didn't feel much threat from them.

"Don't mind the ones that are still. It's okay to take a quick look at the ones that can still flutter, just take back your attention in time." Old Mo's footsteps didn't stop, but his reminder sounded again, "See if there are any Grinning Angels with lanterns. If there aren't any, then the ones holding hourglasses will do... In an emergency, if there are no exercise bikes, a Flying Pigeon bicycle can barely be used."

They quickly approached the first Grinning Angel.

This Grinning Angel... From a distance, it looked like a Grinning Angel, but up close, it turned out to be a Grinning Angel painted on the wall!

"This isn't real?" Lin Yi was stunned.

Old Mo glanced at it and continued walking upstairs without stopping: "Mu Daxian did it."

"Some kind of quick sketching technique that requires extremely strong artistic talent to communicate with layers using a paintbrush and paint within the layers. After the Grinning Angels enter, they're locked inside the layers."

"Grinning Angels are products of layer penetration. Using layers to attack them is very effective."

"Compared to my method, Mu Daxian's method is more labor-saving, but... it requires extremely high talent. Creating a painted cage that can deceive the perception of the Grinning Angels is not something an ordinary person can do."

"A painting that can deceive the perception of the Grinning Angels..." Lin Yi had once felt Mu Daxian's paintings in a dream. At that time, he used only limited materials to complete the overwriting of space, safely getting Mao Zi through the night.

It was hard to imagine what a thrilling thing it would be for Mu Daxian, fully prepared in the art building, to actively 'challenge' the Grinning Angels.

He suddenly realized that his understanding of Mu Daxian seemed to still be stuck on the H-manga clues—Mu Daxian broke the wings of the Grinning Angel.

But when was that?!

And what year is it now?!

After such a long time, with Mu Daxian's talent and development speed, which even Old Mo recognized, he definitely wasn't at the level of breaking wings now!

Cognition... was still too superficial!

But this explained why he had found that Mu Daxian's value in his heart had been continuously rising all the way here!

The reason was here!

His estimated expectation of Mu Daxian's strength was still too low!

Just then, Lin Yi suddenly sharpened his eyes: "Oh! There is one!"

"Old Mo, there!" He pointed to the moss-covered wall not far ahead, "That Grinning Angel over there is holding an hourglass!"

"Oh?" Old Mo looked over in real-time, and his old face immediately darkened. Damn it, it was too far away, he couldn't see it clearly at all...

This kid... is his 'eyesight' this good too?

He glanced at Lin Yi and then realized that this might not be 'eyesight' but a kind of 'perception'.

If you can perceive it, you can 'see' it.

A mind's eye...?

"A rare opportunity, let's go see if we can use it."

Old Mo said and rushed up the steps, reaching the place Lin Yi had just pointed to in a few steps.

The Clock Tower's stairwell has a very strange phenomenon. If you look around as you go upstairs, you'll find that in addition to the moss, there are also some lifelike murals on the surrounding walls.

But if you don't look closely, you'll feel that the walls are covered with some three-dimensional Grinning Angels, presenting a strange sense of 'being there' between attention and inattention.

If you feel it's a painting, you'll find it's not a painting, but if you feel it's not a painting, then it's actually a painting.

If an art student or someone else who accidentally wanders in here is easily confused by this, the Grinning Angels can use reverse anchoring to break free from the layer in the painting.

This is what Mu Daxian meant by not being attracted by the Grinning Angels.

But this kind of problem was no longer a problem for Lin Yi, because with a certain understanding of layers and overwriting, one would know the concept of "an angel trapped in a painting."

Old Mo observed this "painting." In the painting was a grinning angel covering its face and weeping. Its pale hands had a tendency to move away from its face, but the painting froze it in that moment.

In its hand, however, hung a petrified hourglass. At the bottom of the hourglass was a cone-shaped pile of sand, but it was also completely petrified.

"This… it's barely usable, but it's not suitable," Old Mo thought for a while, and finally shook his head.

Lin Yi followed and asked in confusion, "Not suitable? But since it's barely usable, shouldn't we take it first?"

"There should be something more suitable," Old Mo pondered. "The hourglass is a backup plan, and this… is the worst option among the backup plans."

"Oh… it seems there's a lot to learn about hourglasses…" Lin Yi nodded seriously. At first, Old Mo said that if nothing else worked, an hourglass would do, and he thought any hourglass would be fine.

Old Mo explained, "An hourglass is acceptable, but it doesn't mean every hourglass is acceptable. Bamboo shoots are delicious, but no one would gnaw on bamboo."

"You mean… this hourglass is too 'old'?"

Old Mo nodded, no longer looking at the grinning angel, and continued to walk upstairs.

"The hourglass in the grinning angel's hand is something that gradually petrified after a kerosene lamp was covered by extraordinary power. Did you notice the sand in the hourglass?"

"Yes."

"It's like the wick of an old kerosene lamp. If the sand is still leaking, it means that the power of the old kerosene lamp hasn't been completely exhausted, but that hourglass is not. It's run out of oil and the light has died."

"That kind of lamp can still be repaired and used in the cafeteria, but I can't do anything here."

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"If the wick hasn't gone out, you can add kerosene to continue burning, but if the wick is gone, it will take a lot of effort to relight it."

Lin Yi understood and no longer questioned Old Mo's decision.

The two continued to move upwards in the fog area. Almost every distance, a grinning angel would appear, and these grinning angels were basically trapped in paintings on the walls.

Rainwater seeping in from the cracks in the walls flowed downwards in a crooked manner, but when it flowed past the grinning angels trapped in the paintings on the walls, there was a slight tendency to distort.

When Lin Yi had walked a distance, he suddenly had a strange feeling and subconsciously looked back at the steps he had already passed.

With this look, he felt a chill rush straight to the top of his head, causing his body to shiver subconsciously.

He saw pairs of arms around the spiral staircase he had walked past, like hands struggling to reach out from the cells of a prison, grabbing at the air in the passageway. All of those arms had solidified into some kind of image, but when he blinked, the originally solidified scene solidified into another scene.

"The grinning angels seem to have broken through the seal of the paintings! Is it because of me? Have I finally become the culprit that anchors them to escape?!"

Just then, Old Mo in front also seemed to have noticed something and frowned slightly, "Huh… the effect of the paintings seems to be weakening!"

"Old Mo, it's all because of me…" Lin Yi felt a little guilty.

"Because of you, my ass!" Old Mo waved his hand to interrupt, "Don't blame everything on yourself for no reason."

"As long as you don't make any fundamental mistakes, they will definitely not be able to use you to escape."

"The paintings are failing, most likely because Mu Daxian, the 'original author,' can't hold on anymore…"

"Once he completely dies, the things overwritten by his extraordinary power will gradually dissipate."

"Time is running out, let's go!"

Old Mo quickened his pace and rushed towards the top of the endless Fibonacci sequence staircase.

Lin Yi wanted to ask if they were just going to charge forward blindly without any skills, but seeing Old Mo so decisive, he followed without hesitation.

After walking for a while, a faint light appeared in the depths of the fog area, as if it were some kind of exit.

And the sinking bell sound also seemed to become clearer.

The whistling wind seemed to be hovering there.

"Almost there!" Old Mo said, certain that the exit was ahead.

Lin Yi's expression suddenly became much more serious.

Just as they were about to approach the exit, a figure appeared in their sight.

It was an art student, wearing a dark green cloak, with a fierce look on his face, half of his body embedded in the wall, like a sculpture.

And in that wall was a grinning angel.

The grinning angel was being held down by the art student, struggling to get out, but the art student was like a steel nail, pinning it to the painting.

"What's going on?" Lin Yi asked in surprise.

Old Mo said, "That should be an art student who once came here and has already sacrificed himself."

"Not everyone has the ability of Mu Daxian, so once they encounter a grinning angel, they often need to sacrifice their lives to trap it in a painting."

"Huh, this grinning angel…" Old Mo seemed to notice something, and a golden flame suddenly ignited in his eyes, "Sure enough, it's a lamp-bearing angel."

He glanced at the exit, which was close at hand, hesitated for a few breaths in silence, and then took a deep breath, reaching out to the painting.

Although Mu Daxian's situation was urgent, if this grinning angel was missed, there might not be a more suitable one.

But just as his hand touched the painting, the "sacrificed" art student suddenly seemed to come alive, and a brilliant light burst out from his already dim eyes, like the most dazzling fireworks in the night sky.

"Don't even think about releasing the grinning angel!"

The art student roared, and the originally solidified figure suddenly became active. Immediately afterwards, the surrounding environment suddenly became distorted, the space seemed to be stretched, and some kind of magical field seemed to be being constructed.

"It's a prison!" Lin Yi was shocked. In just the blink of an eye, he had unknowingly fallen into the art student's overwrite.

Old Mo sighed, unfolded his domain, and directly tore apart the art student's methods with an overwhelming posture. He reached out and pushed away the art student.

"Rest in peace."

The terrifying suction instantly fell on the art student, directly draining him into powder.