AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016

Kuai Hongji cocked his head to glance at Wei Shan, licked his lips with a raised eyebrow, and his smile grew more wanton, "No problem, no problem, you're the Boss, you call the shots! Hehe..."

"Ha!" Wei Shan snorted with a cold laugh, shrugged his shoulders, and turned his head away without speaking.

Lin Yi said, "Young Master Tian, have you found anything?"

He asked casually, not expecting to actually get a reply from Tian Bufan.

"Yes, come over here quickly."

Lin Yi immediately hurried down the stairs, and within the span of about ten steps, he saw Tian Bufan standing in front of a bluish-gray fire door, with a sign that glowed green above it reading "Exit," and a placard on the wall marked "B1."

"Let's go, we've reached the first basement level." Tian Bufan, seemingly preoccupied with his thoughts, cheerily pulled open the fire door.

Amber light streamed in from outside the door, and incredibly, there was a hint of evening breeze despite being underground.

Tian Bufan was the first to walk out, Lin Yi turned to Wei Liang and said, "Let's go!"

"Ah? Go?" Wei Liang opened his mouth wide, "This, this, this... there's really an underground room?"

He walked through the door, half-believing and half-doubting, and the next moment, his eyes bulged wider than lanterns.

"This... where is this?!"

Lin Yi stepped into the world beyond the door, and he too was suddenly shocked into stillness.

They had actually returned to the same place.

The staircase entrance they initially used to enter the basement!

Lin Yi rubbed his eyes, unable to believe it, and looked towards the bottom of the steps in the Teaching Building.

Outside the Teaching Building, the misty rain blurred the view, layers of mist piled upon each other like mountains, and within the mist, one could visibly see some shadows moving slowly, casting malicious gazes at the Teaching Building from time to time.

Outside the Teaching Building, a series of street lamps lined up from near to far, disappearing into the depths of the mist.

"How could we return here after walking up the stairs for so long?" Lin Yi's thoughts were in turmoil.

The cool evening breeze, mingled with the faint mist, slapped against Lin Yi's face in waves.

At that moment, Tian Bufan's voice sounded next to his ear, "Found it."

Lin Yi looked towards the sound, only to see that an office had appeared on the left-hand side of the staircase, seemingly out of nowhere.

A sign hung at the entrance of the office, bearing the words "Teacher's Office."

"Teacher's Office?" Seeing the sign, Lin Yi's first reaction was not excitement, but fear.

"What on earth is going on here?"

Before Lin Yi could think further, Tian Bufan gently knocked on the office door.

"Who is it?" A male voice tinged with confusion came from inside the office.

"Good afternoon, Teacher, we are here to complete the enrollment procedures following the notice," Tian Bufan replied.

"Click!"

The peephole on the office door was opened from the inside, and an eyeball rolled around, peering out through it.

"What color is the notice?" the man behind the door asked.

"Blue," Tian Bufan answered.

"Click..."

The door was opened from inside, and a voice came forth.

"Come in."

After a pause, it seemed to say to Lin Yi and the others, "Line up, those behind, wait half a minute before knocking."

Lin Yi stopped at the office door, but a surge of curiosity overtook him, and so he stretched his neck to look towards the door that hadn't yet been shut.

Yet, the amber light failed to illuminate the interior of the room, and Lin Yi saw nothing.

"Old Lin." Just before entering the office, Tian Bufan seemed to recall something and turned back to caution, "This office seems a bit off... If you should find yourself alone, remember to stay vigilant against what others say, keep your thoughts running, and adapt quickly to everything..."

After finishing his words, he entered the office, and immediately the door closed behind him.

"What does he mean?" Lin Yi was puzzled for a moment; Tian Bufan's words sounded eerily like a last testament.

"Keep thinking? Don't trust others easily? Who are these 'others'?"

He glanced down at his watch.

19:53.

He had been waiting for half a minute, and seeing that Tian Bufan still hadn't come out of the office, he walked over, preparing to knock on the door. But then something occurred to him, and he looked towards Wei Liang and the others.

"Do you guys have watches?"

Wei Liang shook his head.

"Who wears a watch if they're serious?" Kuai Hongji hummed.

"No matter, why so many useless questions!" Wei Shan sneered.

"Alright, alright." Seeing the yang-infused Wei Shan and the yin-pressured Kuai Hongji about to clash, Lin Yi quickly separated the two, "Kuai Kuai, you go in first!"

This entire campus was permeated with an eerie breath from top to bottom. He had thought that reaching the Teaching Building would be safe, only to find that aside from being slightly safer than in the mist, everything else about it was even more wrong.

Lin Yi glanced at the time, and after half a minute, he let Wei Shan go knock and enter the office, followed by Wei Liang.

Now only Mao Feiyang and he were left at the entrance to the office.

Lin Yi then said, "Maozi, it's your turn to knock next. I'll keep track of the time and cover our rear."

Under Lin Yi's watchful gaze, Mao Feiyang's steps were slightly stiff as he shuffled to the entrance of the Teacher's Office, but he hesitated to actually knock on the door.

Lin Yi felt that something was off and hurriedly asked, "Maozi, what's wrong?"

He gently patted Mao Feiyang's shoulder, only for Mao Feiyang to reflexively jump away a bit, then looked at him with unsettled eyes, his breathing somewhat hurried.

"Maozi?" Lin Yi tentatively asked, "Are you alright?"

Mao Feiyang swallowed and finally began to speak slowly, "Old Lin... I, I can't see the office?"

"Huh? You can't see it?" Lin Yi pointed at the office door, "It's right here, didn't you see Young Master Tian and the others go in?"

Mao Feiyang's voice trembled as he said, "I... I just saw you all talking towards the wall, and then, then people just bumped into the wall and disappeared!"

"I, I, I... don't know what's happening, can you really all see the door?"

Fear of the unknown filled Mao Feiyang's eyes, something seemed to start challenging his perception of this wall, and he began to doubt if there was really a door on the wall.

Lin Yi crept closer to Mao Feiyang, then, quick as lightning, reached out and grabbed Mao Feiyang's arm.

Like a startled rabbit, Mao Feiyang instinctively tried to pull his arm back, but Lin Yi's grip was surprisingly strong, keeping him from escaping.

"Maozi, Maozi, Maozi..."

Seeing Mao Feiyang's breathing becoming more frantic, Lin Yi hurriedly leaned in close to his ear and growled, "Maozi, listen to me first! Come with me and see! The door is right here!"

Lin Yi held onto Mao Feiyang's hand and reached for the door handle.

However, just as Mao Feiyang's hand was about to touch the doorknob, it suddenly occurred to him, and he mustered a huge burst of strength, breaking free from Lin Yi's hold.

"No, no, no... Old Lin, something's not right, it shouldn't be like this!"

Mao Feiyang shook his head fiercely.

"The notice board actually mentioned this kind of situation!"

"I must have encountered that special circumstance!"

"The notice board's first rule! If what I see is not the 'Teacher's Office' but some other room, I should go down the stairs, until I find the Teacher's Office!"

Lin Yi paused for a moment, recalling this rule as well, and thus he didn't continue to stop Mao Feiyang.

Looking around, Mao Feiyang found the entrance to the stairwell and dashed over, grabbing the handle of the isolation fire door.

Just as he was about to open the door, he suddenly turned back to Lin Yi. His thin, dark face no longer held contempt but was marked by gravity, "Old Lin... remember to follow the rules, I'm off!"

With that, Mao Feiyang dashed into the isolation fire door.

"Bang!"

The isolation fire door closed with a thud. There was just a door's distance between them, but Lin Yi felt an absurd sensation, as if he and Mao Feiyang were worlds apart.

He glanced down at his watch.

20:00.

"Eight o'clock sharp..."

He recalled the school regulations. He had only two hours left to return to his dorm. If he couldn't make it back in time, he would need to spend the night in the Teaching Building.

But the prerequisite for spending the night was that it had to be in his own classroom, so he absolutely had to get the enrollment procedures done.

With this in mind, he reached out and knocked on the office door.

"Is it... someone delivering meals?" The voice at the door was no longer a man's but was a somewhat urgent female voice.

[Note: The logical chain of this book was derived by the author before writing the book to form a closed loop. All rules are clues, and all bizarre events will receive a scientific (or relatively scientific) explanation, with no supernatural events or similar things. Welcome to read along.]