Rules-related weird stories: 4016

"Basement…?"

The instant he discovered the basement, Lin Yi suddenly felt the darkness at the end of the corridor begin to writhe slowly in a strange way…

He didn't know if his gaze was drawn to it or if it was because he was paying too much attention, but that darkness slowly magnified in Lin Yi's vision, washing over him like ink soaking into white paper…

[Entering the gymnasium basement is strictly prohibited!!!]

At this critical moment, huge red characters from the gymnasium rules suddenly flashed in Lin Yi's mind.

"!!!"

A string of exclamation marks with extremely impactful symbols burst out from Lin Yi's forehead as if exploding, his train of thought being cut off by his own will!

"What the f—!"

Lin Yi shook his head, pulling his gaze back from the darkness as if drawing a knife.

“Huff… Huff… Huff…”

He took a few deep breaths, looking around to find himself still in the gymnasium.

He glanced at his watch.

2:35 PM.

"Not much time has passed; it seems I was just spacing out."

He looked at his feet.

A few more steps forward and he would be past the white line, which means…

"I was attracted, but the attraction wasn't strong enough…"

"Is it because I didn't cross the line?"

"Or is it because of… the gymnasium's special nature?"

This white line was the line dividing areas within the gymnasium, both the dividing line between sections in reality and the dividing line between experience and non-experience areas on the map.

Stepping over this line would mean entering the non-experience area.

Lin Yi didn't know if it was because his willpower had become much stronger after a period of torment, allowing him to pull himself back from the brink of being lost, or if it was because he was in the experience area, protected by the lights.

Lin Yi personally leaned towards the idea that his willpower had improved somewhat, because the corridor leading to the basement was itself filled with old kerosene lamps.

The light of the kerosene lamps was like a domain, like some kind of seal, suppressing the darkness of the basement and preventing it from spreading.

Lin Yi withdrew his gaze from the corridor and looked at the row of old kerosene lamps.

Within the old kerosene lamps was something like a candle flame, like fire, yet also like fireflies; they gathered and scattered, seemingly not flames, yet at certain moments, they seemed more like flames.

Clearly, he was in the gymnasium corridor, where there was no wind or rain, but the candle flame was constantly flickering, as if being battered by a cold wind.

“Looks like you’ve noticed it too.” A calm voice suddenly sounded beside Lin Yi.

Immediately afterward, a burly and sturdy figure walked out from his side, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

The familiar voice made Lin Yi's soul tremble; he turned his head in surprise and delight, and the person standing next to him was indeed…

“Young Master Tian?!”

Lin Yi was both surprised and delighted; standing beside him was none other than Tian Bufan.

“Ew~” Tian Bufan waved his hand in disgust, “Let’s skip the long-lost reunion stuff… Physical education isn’t for chatting, so I came early to meet you.”

Lin Yi revealed a look of surprise and said, “You were so sure I’d come here?”

“Not only was I sure you’d come, but I was also sure you’d be at this location at this time.” Tian Bufan's gaze fell on the old kerosene lamps in the corridor, and he said calmly, “No need to be surprised, just a simple way of thinking to make a reasonable prediction is enough.”

He said unhurriedly, “Based on my understanding of you, after entering an unfamiliar environment, you usually stay in a place you consider ‘safe’ to familiarize yourself with the environment.”

“Compared to the gymnasium rules that you can take out and read at any time, you will definitely observe the environment by comparing the map at the first opportunity.”

“So, with a simple process of elimination, I knew you were here.”

Lin Yi opened his mouth, even though Tian Bufan made it sound simple, to predict the time and location of his appearance was a bit too outrageous, wasn’t it?

He immediately felt a sense of being completely controlled—although he was usually controlled quite a few times, this was still a bit too much.

“Although… how did you know that this time just happens to be physical education class?” Lin Yi slowly voiced his doubts, “Did you guess?”

If it were him, he definitely couldn't predict Tian Bufan's location so accurately; it would be more likely to be a blind cat running into a dead mouse, hitting it by chance.

“Guess?” Tian Bufan raised an eyebrow, “Things that require binding the result to luck have never been within my scope of consideration.”

“Uh…” Lin Yi felt like he was being looked down upon.

“I discovered that all the classes in the school have physical education class at this time, so you would inevitably appear at this location at this time,” Tian Bufan said.

“Okay.” Lin Yi felt himself being gradually crushed by Tian Bufan, so he spread his hands, “So, you came to chat with me in advance?”

“I just said, time doesn’t allow it, so we can’t chat for long,” Tian Bufan said, “Physical education class has its reason for existing; if it’s just for chatting, we can chat in the teaching building at any time… Of course, the premise is that we can find each other’s classroom and don’t accidentally go to the wrong class.”

“But considering the strict regulations for going up and down the stairs in the teaching building, plus some other factors, it’s easy to make a mistake, so it’s better for you and me not to meet in the teaching building unless necessary.”

“It’s best not to even know each other’s classroom and student ID, lest you accidentally get confused when your will is chaotic, and the other person’s classroom number or student ID pops into your head, and then you go to the wrong place.”

Lin Yi couldn't help but ponder, “So… you took the initiative to come find me because you have some very important information to tell me?”

He had a lot of information he wanted to share with Tian Bufan, but Tian Bufan obviously just wanted to meet up—it felt like he came to see if he was dead or alive.

So Lin Yi handed over the initiative to Tian Bufan.

Tian Bufan narrowed his eyes, a hint of sharpness flashing in the depths of his eyes, “I came to find you to tell you… Maozi is in trouble.”

Lin Yi's heart tightened; he hadn't found any clues related to Mao Feiyang, yet Tian Bufan had already determined that Mao Feiyang had a problem?

“How do you know?”

“Because… I discovered that I am losing memories about Maozi, which is illogical; ‘forgetting’ is something that should absolutely not happen to me,” Tian Bufan said seriously.

“Are you saying you have amnesia?” Lin Yi asked in surprise.

“Amnesia is not remembering anything at all, which obviously doesn’t fit my situation.”

“Then… senile dementia?”

Tian Bufan: “?”

“It’s hard to imagine you saying something like that with your IQ… It seems you ‘restrained’ too much in order not to be affected by the environment.”

“So…” Tian Bufan touched the bone between his eyebrows, his face rather troubled, “With your current IQ, it’s difficult for me to explain to you… If it really doesn’t work, let’s wait until we get to the dormitory at night.”

Hearing Tian Bufan say this, Lin Yi didn't show any displeasure.

"You said… you're forgetting Maozi?"

"Try to recall him?" Tian Bufan said, "You should have known this, but you're restraining yourself too much."

"I can't help it. If I don't restrain myself a bit, it's really easy for problems to arise…" Lin Yi said, troubled, "If Liangzi hadn't been there last night, I might have had a big problem before I could 'adapt'."

"Your flaw is needing to 'adapt,' but your advantage is precisely being able to 'adapt,'" Tian Bufan said. "Besides, sometimes it's not really that you're not 'restraining' enough, but that you're too sensitive to changes in the environment itself…"

"You sense things far more than others do."

Lin Yi lowered his eyes slightly and said, "Let me think about Maozi's affairs…"

He tried to recall things related to Mao Feiyang and found that his impressions of recent events were still very vivid, but the further back in time he went, the more blurred his memory of him became.

He revealed a look of shock: "I'm also losing memories related to Maozi!"

"It's not just you; others are probably in a similar situation," Tian Bufan said.

Lin Yi asked, "How could this be? Could it be related to that stairwell?"

"It must be related." Tian Bufan nodded. "I still can't deduce Maozi's location information. Considering the strangeness of this campus itself, we should have already lost contact with Maozi."

"It's more than that… I feel like the world is 'forgetting' Maozi."

"Why?"

Tian Bufan said in a deep voice: "There is no 'why,' no 'how could it be,' only 'it just is'."

Lin Yi was stunned, feeling the pressure rolling in.

Tian Bufan said: "I can't determine for now whether there is an indescribable 'rule' that is tampering with our memories, but one thing is certain: Maozi is leaving us."

"Do you know what the most terrifying thing in life is?"

"Is it death? No, it's not."

"It's 'forgetting,' which is more terrifying than death."

"'Those who are forgotten have no way home'."

"If the whole world forgets Maozi, and he's lost in that stairwell, what's the difference between that and eternal banishment?"

Lin Yi gritted his teeth and said, "We have to save him."

Tian Bufan sneered, "Ridiculous."

"What did you say?" Lin Yi glared at Tian Bufan. "He's our roommate!"

Tian Bufan shook his head: "Impulsiveness makes people lose their minds; calmness is the way to solve problems."

"With empty hands, what are you talking about saving? You don't even know where he is."

"I…" Lin Yi opened his mouth but was immediately speechless.

"I already searched the location of the stairwell." Tian Bufan shook his head dismissively. "It's laughable; there's no stairwell at all!"

"The notice board in front of the teaching building says that the faculty office is to the left when exiting the stairwell."

"But the classroom is to the right when exiting the faculty office."

"If we take the classroom as a reference, then the classroom is the stairwell."

"But… we arrived at the door of the same faculty office. After entering and reopening the door, I didn't see you."

"So, I suspect that the location of the faculty office is constantly changing."

"Behind that door is a—no, a series of moving faculty offices."

"So, after we enter and leave, we appear at the doors of different classrooms."

Lin Yi thought for a moment, then said, "Are you saying that if the faculty office is an architectural structure independent within the teaching building and is also undergoing some kind of periodic activity, we can use the faculty office as a transfer station to return to the place where the stairwell is to the right upon exiting?"

Tian Bufan glanced at Lin Yi, not doubting Lin Yi's fluctuating IQ, nodded, and said, "That's about the idea, but I have too little information about the faculty office."

"Neither the student code nor the teaching building code mentions the faculty office at all."

"There is only one situation in which something is not mentioned in these codes."

"That is, this thing is beyond the control of the person who made the rules."

"Before we have absolute certainty, none of us should rashly make any tentative actions in the faculty office."

"After all… I feel that the 'homeroom teacher' is not normal."

Tian Bufan said slowly.

Lin Yi pondered, "My homeroom teacher is also very problematic…"

"We'll consider the homeroom teacher's problem later." Tian Bufan raised his hand to interrupt, "The most important point right now is what I just conveyed. Also, what I'm concerned about is… how well have you adapted?"

"How well are you restraining yourself?"

"I still need to restrain myself… I thought it was safe enough under the sun, but I still encountered many troubles." Lin Yi shook his head.

"'Under the sun'? Such a direct clue doesn't seem like something you deduced."

"The sports student told me, saying that I can think freely under the sun."

"Heh heh." Tian Bufan smiled, "You're lucky to have a sports student remind you of this kind of thing."

"What about you?" Lin Yi asked.

Tian Bufan shrugged: "Last night, the sports student and the art student got into a fight in the classroom."

"Got into a fight? Art student?" Lin Yi was shocked, "Wait, didn't the sports student leave the classroom before 9 PM?"

"Who told you that you had to leave? Hmm…" Tian Bufan suddenly pondered, "Was it the sports student who reminded you that you could think under the sun who told you that?"

"Yes." Lin Yi nodded.

"What else did he say?"

Lin Yi hesitated, stopping short. "Can I tell you? Won't it make you think too much and cause problems?"

Tian Bufan glanced at him: "You can tell me. But… judging from your tone, even though you're restraining yourself enough, you've still stepped on quite a few landmines?"

"Uh…" Lin Yi looked embarrassed and couldn't help scratching his head, "Without Liangzi… maybe… I would have been forgotten by the world too."

He thought of that non-existent road, which really seemed like walking on a desolate void land.

Tian Bufan raised his eyebrows. Although Lin Yi seemed to have encountered a great life-and-death crisis, when he heard it, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl into a faint arc: "Interesting… I've become extremely interested in the things you've experienced in the past two days."

"But this isn't urgent. We'll talk in detail when we get to the dormitory at night."

"Now I'd rather hear… what the sports student told you."