Chapter 155: 10 Sweaty Minutes
Chapter 155: 10 Sweaty Minutes
The only way out of the situation now was to rush back to the teaching building before the fog swallowed them, or to keep the awareness of being on the road.
The teaching building that was looming in the fog in the distance was also the goal that Lin Yi never gave up from beginning to end - he set the teaching building as an anchor point from the beginning, ensuring that he would "head towards the teaching building" in any state, so even if the cobblestone road had been twisted into a pretzel, he had never lost himself in the fog.
This proved to be an effective way to prevent themselves from getting lost, but they could not return to the teaching building by doing so alone.
But it doesn’t matter if they can’t return to the teaching building, because what Lin Yi wants to achieve is to ensure that they are [on the road].
Student Code 7: [If you cannot find the numbered street lights immediately, please look down and look at the ground below your feet, and find any reference points that can make you sure you are still on the road. If you find that the ground is twisting, stretching, or changing in any way that does not make sense, please hold your student ID and map tightly in your hands and remind yourself of your name and student number repeatedly in your mind. Remember that you are a student [this sentence is bold and underlined]. ]
[Keep your eyes on the ground beneath your feet] is to anchor yourself in the campus, so as to [make sure you are still on the road] and avoid getting lost as the layers fall.
There is a problem with the ground now, but it doesn’t matter. I can’t anchor to the ground, but I can anchor to the teaching building directly.
Lin Yi led Li Huiyuan forward slowly on the twisted cobblestone road. When he was sure that there was something wrong with the cobblestone road, he completely gave up the idea of returning to the teaching building along the cobblestone road because there was no way back.
The only thing he could do now was to stay on this road until 18:00, then find the nearest lit street lamp, and then return to the teaching building in the direction of increasing street lamp numbers.
What he is most worried about now is that Li Huiyuan's unstable state will be continuously magnified due to the falling of the layer, eventually causing a series of chain reactions.
He glanced down at his watch.
17: 52.
"There are only 8 minutes left... Don't let anything go wrong. Don't let anything go wrong..."
Lin Yi was muttering something in his mind, and then suddenly realized that Li Huiyuan's hands were a little cold.
"Fuck, it really is like when it rains it pours!"
"Li Huiyuan, are you okay?"
"I'm...ok, just a little cold."
"The school is in the mountains, and it's foggy. It's normal to be a little cold. Just don't think too much about it." He tried to make his tone sound calm.
"Yeah." Li Huiyuan nodded.
"Wait..." Lin Yi was stunned for a moment. He just tried to use the terrain and climate of the mountainous area to rationalize the abnormal weather on campus. Why did it sound a bit familiar...
[The climate in the mountains is like this, rain and fog are common. If the weather is abnormal, don't go out and there will be no danger. ]
He suddenly recalled this sentence, but wasn't this what Wei Liang said to him on the blue bus before he entered the campus?
"Damn, Ryoko was aware of the unusual weather at that time, and then started to try to give me a shot? But I didn't react at first?"
He thought of how Wei Liang was filled with fear when he entered the school, but later on he did not show the same fear as when he first entered the school...
Such a strong sense of separation, could it be... played by Wei Liang?
"Ryoko pretended to be scared so that I would focus on him and the street lamp and avoid falling into the layers in the first place?"
Lin Yi was stunned again and again, but now he firmly believed in this speculation.
Wei Liang does have his own tricks, just like how he repeatedly defeated the green-bibbed chef in the cafeteria.
But Lin Yi only now realized the truth: Wei Liang's unique skill was not an "active skill" but a "passive skill".
"I need to use some topic to divert Li Huiyuan's attention from the surrounding environment..." Lin Yi pondered for a while.
"Speaking of which, Li Huiyuan."
"Ok?"
"Are you a student? I mean, were you a student before you came here?"
"um, yes."
"I'm also a college student. What's your major?" Lin Yi tried to use small talk to distract Li Huiyuan's attention from the current replacement.
“Are you a science or arts student?”
"Ah?" Li Huiyuan was stunned, as if she didn't understand Lin Yi's question.
Lin Yi was also stunned for a moment: "Ah? What's the matter?"
"I...I haven't heard the terms 'science' and 'liberal arts' for a long time..." There was a hint of doubt in Li Huiyuan's eyes.
"Then what major did you study?" Lin Yixin said, "It doesn't matter if you can't remember, I just want to get your attention."
Besides, once you enter S City University, it is difficult for your mind to remain normal.
Li Huiyuan thought about it seriously, and then said: "I studied 'Origin of Paleontology'..."
Lin Yi was surprised: "Are you studying archaeology?"
Archaeology is a rare field among rare fields. He never expected that Li Huiyuan actually had this expertise.
"It's not archaeology..." Li Huiyuan shook her head. "I also took the elective course 'Mystical Genealogy', but since X999, many things have changed. Some things can only be studied in specific schools..."
Lin Yi: “???”
Looking at Li Huiyuan talking nonsense in a serious manner, Lin Yi's forehead was full of question marks. He wondered if Li Huiyuan was crazy, or if the world was crazy?
Mystical genealogy?
What the hell is this major?
"What about you? What's your major?" Li Huiyuan asked back.
"I'm learning how to slay dragons at Kassel College!" Lin Yi originally wanted to say something normal, but since Li Huiyuan said so, he thought quickly and blurted out.
"Kill... kill the dragon?!" Li Huiyuan widened her eyes.
Lin Yi's mouth curled up, thinking to himself, I must have scared you.
Unexpectedly, Li Huiyuan's eyes widened with excitement: "I said there is a 'dragon'! My tutor didn't believe it. He said that the species of 'dragon' is very different in the East and the West, and even in 'mysterious genealogy' it is a speculated but unverified category."
"No way, you're still excited?" Lin Yi was speechless, but Li Huiyuan's attention was definitely diverted, so he continued to chat with Li Huiyuan about this topic.
After all, the way he thought of to divert attention at the beginning was to ask Li Huiyuan, "Li Huiyuan, do you like to wear black stockings or white stockings, or nothing at all...", but this kind of question with a strong XP characteristic is really too abstract, and it feels like the end of the world is coming and he has to watch another movie.
Although this topic is a bit abstract, at least the abstract angle is still very clear.
While Lin Yi was chatting with Li Huiyuan, he was silently calculating the passage of time in his mind - he didn't dare to look at his watch, because he needed to keep his eyes fixed on the outline of the teaching building that was looming in the fog.
At the same time, he also observed the movements of the human-shaped sculptures around them, so as not to accidentally observe their faces.
What surprised Lin Yi was that, although the sculpture formation surrounded them, none of the human-shaped sculptures seemed to show any malice towards them.
It was very strange, so strange that Lin Yi almost doubted whether he had misunderstood the logic of their actions.
Time passed slowly, and 10 minutes seemed like a century.
Finally, the time calculated by Lin Yi in his mind came to 17:59. If his perception of time was correct, then there was only one minute left before the lights on the campus were turned on.
50 second……
40 second……
30 seconds...Lin Yi's heart slowly rose to his throat.
"If the street lights on campus haven't come on by the time the time comes...will we continue walking on this road indefinitely with this sculpture formation?"
Imagine a formation of sculptures moving endlessly towards a mirage-like building on a twisting cobblestone road shrouded in thick fog.
Lin Yi's eyes flashed with a sharp light: "The sculpture formation is not hostile to us, could it be that... they regard us as 'the same kind'?"
As soon as this thought came to his mind, he felt goosebumps all over his body, and his bones and flesh seemed to tremble.
He couldn't even imagine such a scene.
Countdown 20 seconds...
10 second……
5 seconds, 4 seconds...
3, 2, 1...
Lin Yi held his breath.
18:00:00.
"Time's up!"
As if in response to Lin Yi's call, a ball of orange light suddenly "popped" under the thick fog not far away.
The ball of light hung there like a small sun, and the blooming light was like inflating a balloon in the dark, forcibly expanding an area of neither size in the foggy world.
Under the little sun is a pitch-black round tray, and under the round tray is a pitch-black cylinder with a number written in white paint:
"Teaching Building-105".
"It's bright! It's bright after all!"
"And it was the street light at No. 105. As expected, I had walked most of the way at the beginning, and only the last little bit was left. If the sun hadn't set a little too quickly, I would have had a chance to return to the teaching building safely."
Lin Yi smiled in his heart with a sense of relief, then began to pull Li Huiyuan and walked out of the sculpture formation unnoticed, heading towards the direction of the lamppost.
At this moment, he suddenly realized another problem. He and Li Huiyuan had actually walked to the edge of the cobblestone road and were deviating from the main body of the cobblestone road. If he had not been using the outline of the teaching building to anchor himself, they would most likely have been lost. Even if the street lights were on, they were not in the area where the lamp poles were distributed on the campus!
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat and felt a wave of fear.
However, just as they were moving towards "Street Light-105", the humanoid sculptures that had not made any extra movements along the way suddenly began to move with a "rustling" sound. The humanoid sculptures walking in front of Lin Yi and side by side with him slowed down their pace and began to curl up their bodies to the edge of the road where they were not "affected" by the street lights, as if they were avoiding the light.
The humanoid sculptures that were originally behind him began to push and shove together, and all came to his back...
It wasn't directly behind him, but in a certain area behind him. However, since he couldn't turn around, Lin Yi could only judge their approximate location by the "rustling" sound of footsteps.
"They're hiding behind me?"
"If they were just trying to avoid the light, there would be no need for them to run behind me. Do they have other intentions?"
I had no thoughts about myself when the fog was rolling, but after the lights came on, I started to stir.
Lin Yi was not sure what they were thinking and could only attribute it to the mechanism.
Gradually, he felt a gaze that seemed to materialize, emerging from the darkness like a poisonous snake, then crawling up his back and gradually wrapping around his throat.
This was a feeling that he hadn't felt for a long time, gloomy, vicious, greedy, bloodthirsty, eager, crazy... countless negative emotions intertwined into a web, making him feel a strong sense of resistance as if he was sitting on pins and needles with every step he took towards the lamppost.
“Lin Yi…”
“Lin Yi…”
A low voice called out from behind him, as if it contained some kind of bewitching magic, trying to make him turn back.
"Don't look back, Li Huiyuan, no matter what calls you hear, ignore them..." Lin Yi gritted his teeth and warned in a deep voice.
"Well, okay...but Lin Yi..."
"You said."
"I...I didn't hear anyone calling me."
"?"
"?!"
There was a sudden rumbling sound in Lin Yi's heart, as deafening as the sky falling and the earth collapsing.
"Didn't Li Huiyuan hear the call from the humanoid sculpture?!"
"Isn't Li Huiyuan their target?"
"They're targeting me?!"
“Fuck…”
Lin Yi felt a strong sense of hierarchy and collapse in his heart, and for the first time, his dizzy brain felt a gnashing of teeth and resentment towards the fantasy of reality.
It's like the T800 Terminator escaped with Kang John for an entire episode, and fought to the death with the villain, the metal liquid robot, to protect Kang John. But when it was about to accomplish its mission, the villain suddenly said, "I'll complete the mission if I kill you." It was a twisted feeling.
I'm the clown myself? !
This is fucking really fucking awesome...
A bunch of plain and simple yet extremely elegant words rolled through Lin Yi's mind, but he gradually realized that it was not the clown but himself, but... he had been confused from the beginning.
It is true that Li Huiyuan is a target in the cafeteria, and it is also true that he is also a target.
But at that time, the two of them were the targets of the Nocturnal Creatures and the Green Bib Chef.
However, on the way back to the teaching building, they had left the cafeteria area. To put it simply, they left the [cafeteria copy] and came to the [teaching building copy]. In this teaching building copy, at least on this road, the source of danger changed from nocturnal species and green bib chefs to humanoid sculptures.
But at the beginning, he and Li Huiyuan did not aim to become human-shaped sculptures.
So what exactly changed this?
Was it…because the streetlights came on, or because they started walking towards them?
No, no, maybe neither!
But...
"It's a student ID!"
"Li Huiyuan doesn't have a student ID...but I do have a student ID!"
"Are they after my student ID?"
Thanks to book friends "琳skylark" and "book friend 20240317654_ca" for their rewards! !
(End of this chapter)