Chapter 336 Return of the Sea Tide

Chapter 336 Return of the Sea Tide

Chapter 336 "Return of the Sea"

"Imagine that the earth is a piece of paper. If you use a stick of incense to touch a certain spot on the paper, when the paper is exposed to high temperatures, that spot will gradually turn black and then ignite. This is the dilemma that the Art Building is facing."

"We have managed to cool down the art building area and put in place adequate protection to prevent the temperature from spreading and affecting other areas."

"The source is something that causes high temperatures. The continuously spreading temperature is what you call fluctuations. Once a living thing's 'ignition point' drops below this temperature, it will ignite."

"In addition to strictly selecting items with low ignition points, the way to avoid being ignited is to control the distance... If the distance is not far enough, no matter how high the ignition point is, it will still be affected."

"The area where high temperature spreads is called a 'field'."

“A field of pollution.”

"Like the tides of the moon, there is a rise and fall of strength and weakness, and when that "domain" reaches its strongest point, it is the time of the 'gray fog invasion'."

"Units with extraordinary properties may be able to form their own domains, and the domain of the 'root' is a very complex composite domain that basically has a bit of every property."

"And when the root's 'field' produces a pattern similar to the ebb tide, the creatures that died on campus and were transformed into sculptures will follow their instincts and the pull of the ebb tide to the ocean near the Art Building..."

"That road does not match any road in the real world. In fact, there is no such road in the world. But as more and more people died on this road, this road was recorded in an 'observable' form."

"This process is officially named 'returning tide'."

“Only those who have been ‘summoned’ can embark on the ‘return tide’.”

Lin Yi thought of the little genius, and this was a perfect match.

But...if only those who have been "summoned" can take this path, then why was he summoned the first time he came here?
He then asked, "Lao Mo...how did you know this road?"

"Because I have died before." Lao Mo said calmly. He glanced at Lin Yi and found that Lin Yi was not surprised at all to hear this news, so he knew that Lin Yi must know about him. This made him calmer. "After I died, as I swallowed more and more pollution, I felt this sense of calling becoming stronger and stronger..."

Lin Yi's face was solemn, thinking to himself, I am the same...

That sense of calling became stronger and stronger as he entered the campus...

"No... Have I ever died?!"

An absurd and bizarre thought strangely appeared in Lin Yi's mind. He was stunned at first, and then shook his head helplessly.

"Tsk... What? Am I insane? If I die, who am I?"

"At least I also took the bus to the campus! Ryoko can prove it!"

He shook his head, threw this outrageous idea aside, and pointed to the sculpture in front of him that was still as solid as a rock in the fierce sea breeze and was still moving forward, and said: "So... they are actually like the 'Ten Thousand Swords Returning to Their Origin'? But what can they do after they find the 'root'?"

Lao Mo said: "Like moths flying into a flame, they simply cannot find the source and will be completely annihilated along the way..."

“Some will encounter fanatics and be transformed into pseudo-human sculptures.”

"Some encounter alien angels and are absorbed into them and become part of them... Alien angels are not picky eaters. As long as it's in their mouths, they'll try it even if it's shit."

"As for those who successfully reach the beach, there are two more situations..."

"The first is that they are affected by the Root Realm and plunge into the sea. After some unknown transformation, they return to the shore as pure nocturnal creatures."

"The other is to be affected by the domain of another unit, and change the object of 'retracing' from the sea to that unit... and then follow their path to go somewhere else."

"The second and most common way is encountering an angel. When the angels move, the area they form has an effect close to the source, which makes people obsessed, pursue, admire, and become infinitely fanatical."

Lin Yi murmured, "Chasing the angel...returning to the campus from the coast?"

He was deeply shocked. He didn't expect that when a person died on campus, he would encounter so many twists and turns.

"I really can't close my eyes in death..."

"It's more than just dying with regrets." Lao Mo said, "It's simply maximizing the role of the 'raw materials'. He knows how to butcher an ox better than us chefs."

Lin Yi asked: "You just said... the realm of angels?"

Lao Mo said: "Any polluter, when the pollution reaches a certain threshold, will 'unlock' the domain. I just told you that the domain is like temperature. If you pollute too much, it will ignite and the domain will expand uncontrollably."

"The 'fields' that mutate in different directions have different characteristics. The authorities have recorded and named some characteristics based on their expressiveness. For example, the characteristic of the 'Angel' field is 'Purification'."

"The effect of 'purification' initially only worked on the consciousness of intelligent creatures, manifesting as a spiritual response and transformation... But in fact, the 'angels' infiltrated and polluted the intelligent creatures in their domains, forming a network of pollution from top to bottom, just like the division of rivers and seas..."

"The polluted can sense the 'angel'. The deeper the pollution, the stronger the sense. However, once the lower-level polluter reaches the river or sea, he will become a part of it..."

"If we follow their traces, even the bone residue will be purified."

Those who chase light through the fog will eventually become illusions, and the level of interpretation is not limited to the surface.

It refers to those who chase light in the fog, who will eventually wither and die and become phantoms.

It also refers to the fact that the matter itself is just a dream.

"I think that what you are currently exposed to is the "field" of security. I think you must have seen the field of security."

Lin Yi nodded. He once thought that it was the space supported by the light of the old kerosene lamp in the security guard's hand, but now it seems that the light just overlapped with the security guard's area.

Lao Mo said: "The characteristic of the security guard's domain is "suppression"... a very powerful repressive domain. Any pollution that does not exceed the security guard's own strength will be suppressed by him. For people like us who rely on "pollution" to be able to act, once the pollution is suppressed, it is like a person losing oxygen, which is no different from being trapped in a dead end."

"The deeper the pollution and the greater the class gap, the more obvious the suppression effect. In that area, nocturnal species and low-level pseudo-humans will die immediately when exposed to the light."

"Some other 'fields' are more special. For example, the store owner has a field whose characteristic is named 'Insight'. When it is used, it will not have any direct impact on external things, but it can monitor everything within the range of its perception..."

"Because of this characteristic, the canteen owner is stationed in the cafeteria at the back of the campus, serving as the last line of defense for intercepting source pollution."

"Of course, the store owner's domain is not limited to this... The more powerful a being is, the more domains he controls, and the more powerful his characteristics are."

"For example, I seem to have seen a kind of domain, whose characteristics allow the owner of the domain to travel freely in pollution, and it seems that the owner itself is not affected by the pollution at all..." When Lao Mo said this, his tone was also very uncertain.

"Since I did see a figure at the time, I suspected that such a field existed... However, that thing flashed by and disappeared immediately, blending directly into the surrounding environment like a chameleon, so I'm not sure if there was a temporary problem with my perception."

"Generally speaking, fields are a thing of many kinds. If you ever feel something is wrong, it's probably because you accidentally touched a certain field, or even just touched the boundary of a certain field."

"What kind of mysterious unit is it that even Lao Mo is not sure about?" Lin Yi exclaimed in his heart.

“Because in all fields, there are fluctuations.”

As the two were talking, they were already approaching the sculpted corpse that looked like a zombie.

Lao Mo took a look, then moved around it a little and walked past it with Lin Yi.

Lin Yi asked, "Should we ignore them?"

"How can we manage them?" Lao Mo said, "They are already zombies. No matter what, they can't come back to life. They have their own way to go. Don't make things difficult for yourself."

"In this environment, it is not easy to protect yourself."

Lin Yi quickly explained: "I'm not talking about saving them. I'm worried that they might attack us. How about we kill them in advance?"

Lao Mo was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that Lin Yi was not kind-hearted, but was the exact opposite and took the initiative...

Although I don’t have a heart of a saint, this is also... a bit too much. Do I have to kill the dead again?
"It's possible to kill them, but there's no need. It's a waste of time." Lao Mo said, "Just bypass them. There are still many behind. How long will it take to kill them one by one?"

Lin Yi was surprised: "Are there more to come?"

Lao Mo nodded and said, "Returning to the Sea is a very long process for them, just like walking to the underworld to be reborn. People who died within a period of time are on this road. What we need to do is to keep overtaking, that's all."

He patted Lin Yi on the shoulder and said, "Let's go. The scenery behind is...more interesting. Seeing that you are so interested, I can introduce it to you along the way."

When Lin Yi heard this, he quickly calmed down.

After walking for a while, Lao Mo suddenly asked, "By the way, what time is it now?"

Lin Yi then lowered his head and glanced at his quartz watch.

"It's 20:58..."

Lao Mo was a little surprised: "Is it so accurate?"

Lin Yi raised his hand: "A quartz watch is mainly characterized by stable and accurate timekeeping."

Lao Mo glanced at Lin Yi's wrist with a strange expression and muttered, "Quartz watch... I didn't think of it being so retro. Okay, call me in ten minutes."

Lin Yi's eyes lit up: "Oh? Could this road we're taking be related to time?"

Lao Mo nodded slightly: "I guess so. I need to calculate a rough distance through the passage of time to prevent myself from accidentally going too far."

Lin Yi was confused by Lao Mo's words: "Ah... we went too far? Aren't we following them to the beach?"

On Lao Mo's expressionless face, his dead eyes rarely gave Lin Yi a sidelong glance: "When did I ever say we were going to the beach?"

Lin Yi instantly felt that his CPU was about to burn out, but when he recalled it, he found that Lao Mo had indeed said at the beginning that they were going to the art building instead of the beach.

He was stunned for a moment: "Wait... Isn't the Art Building by the sea?"

Lao Mo sneered, "Dude, do you want to listen to what you are talking about? An art building by the sea and an art building by the sea are two completely different concepts, right?"

"It's true that Guihaichao leads directly to the seaside, but it's still quite far from the art building we're going to... Although this distance is not too far for me now, I still want to save as much as possible."

"Besides, if I accidentally run away, it will be bad for both you and me."

"After all... you are not an emotionless mobile energy source."

Lao Mo patted Lin Yi's shoulder earnestly.

Lin Yi sniffed and muttered, "Oh my god, you're such a nice person."

"Okay, in ten minutes, we will be off this road." After giving the last instruction, Lao Mo took a step and picked up the pace.

Lin Yi perked up his nerves and hurried to catch up.

ten minutes later.

X023年5月9日，21:08，这条狂风也吹不散迷雾的“归海潮”大道上。

Lin Yi was like a person who was rushing through an ice field in a snowstorm. His small body was bearing the increasingly rapid sea breeze. The fishy and pungent smell was like someone holding a ball of warm and wet poop in their hands and covering his mouth and nose, and he would take a sip if he was not careful.

"The time is up! 21:08!" Lin Yi shouted loudly.

Along the way, they passed one sculpted corpse after another, including one or two "familiar people", such as Zhou Yuting.

Just like the little genius she was back then, Zhou Yuting's sculptural and distorted face was filled with almost concrete fear and struggle.

Upon hearing this, Lao Mo stopped immediately and pressed Lin Yi's shoulder.

"Stand here for a while and let me observe." Lao Mo said, "There may be some deviations, so we need to make some adjustments."

As he spoke, he looked around in the fog, like a lost man looking for a lighthouse in the darkness.

While searching, he continued to move Lin Yi in the direction of the returning sea tide.

After walking very slowly for about three minutes, Lao Mo suddenly said, "Found it!"

(End of this chapter)