Chapter 451: The Shop in the Mist
Chapter 451: The Shop in the Mist
When the green bib chef realized that something was wrong, the space line had already begun to reset, and the expansion point on Lin Yi's side suddenly compressed. He used this force to compress the space line in the opposite direction, allowing himself to achieve a short-distance jump like the green bib chef...
The difference was that just like the chef in the green bib escaping in the darkness, Lin Yi shot out in the sunlight like a mighty warrior, and in the blink of an eye he slid to the door of the store.
It has to be said that the green bib chef's moves don't require much operation, but when Lin Yi saw through it, it became his own "simple and powerful" skill.
Lin Yi has several more simple yet powerful skills like this.
When Lin Yi left, the plastic curtain at the entrance of the student cafeteria was lifted, and a dusty Shannan walked in carrying a lot of bags.
As soon as he came in, Shannan seemed to have sensed something unusual and subconsciously looked towards the direction of the convenience store.
But from his perspective, the corner where light and shadow intersected seemed to have a lot of dust floating in it, like the visual error caused by a beam of light falling into the sea.
He frowned slightly, then looked away.
As soon as he took it back, the gloomy face of the chef in the green bib suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Classmate...new product recommendation...dry noodles with tomato meat sauce...would you like to try it?"
Shan Nan's pupils trembled violently, and half of his hand had already touched the backpack behind him, but he quickly restrained himself from making any further moves, and then silently bypassed the green bib chef and lined up to buy food...
……
May 023, X5, first floor of the cafeteria, entrance to the canteen.
Lin Yi used the "power" of the green bib chef as a slingshot to launch himself to the door of the convenience store. After taking a few steps forward, he finally arrived in front of the door.
The dim yellow light swaying inside the store diffused at the door of the store like an orange spray, rendering a dim and gloomy area. It was clearly noon, but the environment near the door of the store was still dim.
Lin Yi's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He looked back the way he came, only to find that the student cafeteria behind him had disappeared.
"I can't go back...?" Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat. Even though he knew that the convenience store was the owner's territory, this feeling of having his retreat cut off by an invisible hand still made him feel constipated, as if something was stuck in his throat.
He turned his sight back to the store. This store, which was shrouded in orange light, was in the middle of nowhere in the mist. It reminded him of the Dragon Inn in the Hong Kong movie...
It’s just that the flying yellow sand was replaced by mist, and the vast desert was replaced by endless darkness.
He had a strange illusion. He felt that this store was to the foggy world like a street lamp to a school district at night. Somehow, he always felt that this was the only shelter in a dark world shrouded in fog...
“Lin Yi…Lin Yi…”
Amidst the mist and sand, a distant voice called out.
This time, there was no sound of waves hitting the rocks, nor was there the sound of a rushing and whistling wind. There was only the ethereal sound that seemed to echo from a quiet valley.
“Lin Yi…Lin Yi…”
The voice was continuous, intermittent, but it was only calling his name, or a certain number.
“Swish…”
“Swish…”
In the dense white mist, some strange figures seemed to appear. They were nocturnal species, but they seemed not to be ordinary nocturnal species, but... the hound-like nocturnal species in the corridor of the Art Building!
These hounds were wandering and roaming in the fog, but they were frightened by the lights of the convenience store. They were afraid of the lights of the convenience store like nocturnal animals were afraid of street lamps.
They lingered on the boundary line, not daring to cross the line in the slightest, but Lin Yi captured the desire and greed in their hearts very clearly.
"Aren't they in the art building? How come they are here?"
Lin Yi felt an inexplicable panic in his heart. He was not afraid, but when a cockroach appeared in his home, it meant that the cockroaches had already gathered there.
“Lin Yi…Lin Yi…”
"You can't leave..."
"I can't get away..."
"We are waiting for you here...waiting for you..."
The distant call came bit by bit, like a complete sentence that had lost its original flavor after multiple human-machine translations. But the residual aftereffect was still as strong as a beautiful woman wearing shiny thick silk who had just finished a day at a comic exhibition and showed off her glutinous lemon jade feet when she got home...
In order to prevent this strange feeling from affecting his judgment and to allow himself to continue to maintain his perception, Lin Yi had no choice but to make such an association.
In order to strengthen this association, Lin Yi brought Wei Liang out again.
If Fusheng Wei Liang Tianzun were here, he would probably give Lin Yi's unprecedented association a name full of Liang-style ingenuity - Glutinous Fragrant Smoked Fish (Jade).
"puff……"
Lin Yi himself laughed unkindly, and his cognition was shaken for a moment.
Such adjustments allowed him to once again immerse his perception into the fog.
Before that, he focused on watches.
11: 04.
Time continues to pass.
It seems that the safety status has been greatly improved in front of the convenience store.
Since he had already arrived at his destination, Lin Yi was not in a hurry to enter the store. After all, it was not easy to come here. He could get as much information as possible by staying for a while. The more information he got, the more cost-effective this trip would be.
He then continued to sense...
But here he was, sensing nothing except endless darkness and those hound-like nocturnal creatures.
The only thing that can be confirmed is that in the store layer in this state, the entire store is actually surrounded by hound-like nocturnal creatures, but those things dare not invade the boundary.
At this moment, Lin Yi suddenly caught some tiny sounds from those calls...
“Swish…”
“Swish…”
The sound of water?
Do not……
That is……
"Chains?!"
A gleam of brilliance flashed in Lin Yi's eyes, and his perception quickly detected some traces of iron chains in the fog.
There is a line of defense outside the light boundary!
A line of defense made of iron chains!
"This layer... has also been constructed before?!"
"Isn't the construction of the campus limited to the buildings in the superficial real world?!"
"Could this be the real world?"
"The so-called reality... is just a highly anchored mirage. The real reality is actually only the store?!"
Lin Yi thought of the design of the air-raid shelter in the canteen. Could it be that the so-called last line of defense was the only line of defense on the campus itself?
Which layer is the real world? !
“Lin Yi…”
“Lin Yi…”
Lin Yi's scalp tingled and his heart felt cold despite the constant calls. "Don't think about it anymore. Just go and ask the boss!"
Lin Yi calmed himself down and glanced at his watch.
11: 05.
It turns out that thinking is the fastest sword. After thinking about it for a while, less than a minute actually passed.
Lin Yi took a deep breath and walked to the door of the store.
Just after Lin Yi calmed down, the calling voice began to fade away, and the hound-like nocturnal species also disappeared like the receding tide.
However, the thick fog continued to surge wildly, as if it had substance, cold and sticky, slowly wrapping around every inch of land.
When everything disappeared, there seemed to be only one last sound left in the darkness, which was the sound of the iron chain colliding and shaking slightly in the wind.
“Clatter… clatter…”
……
In front of the store, the familiar layout is still there——
Familiar snacks are displayed on familiar shelves;
The familiar "Open" sign hung on the familiar door;
Familiar doors, one door is open, another is closed, inside is that familiar, gray, completely unclear scene...
But this time, Lin Yi's bag was already full of free tomatoes, and he had no way to buy anything else. If he had to, Lao Mo's backpack could still be used, but the prerequisite was that Lao Mo's heart had to be handed over to the store owner.
"Boss, Boss, I am here as promised..."
Lin Yi sighed inwardly, then thought of Lao Mo, and couldn't help but touch his backpack again.
"Old Mo..."
He slowly approached the door of the store, but just as he reached the door and was about to step in, he suddenly shuddered!
He suddenly took half a step back, then stared at the door of the convenience store with wide eyes, so shocked that he could hardly speak.
There was nothing unusual about the door of the convenience store, but the problem was the gray substance at the door!
“This is… ‘Ashes’?!”
There was a layer of gray mist floating at the entrance of the store, and the mist was very granular, like countless floating dust particles. This feeling was too familiar to Lin Yi, wasn't it "ashes"? !
But...why are there so many ashes at the door of the store? !
When was it available?
It seemed to be there last time I came?!
Because he remembered that the portal had not changed!
"But if that's the case, doesn't it mean that passing through the portal means you'll be contaminated by the ashes?"
"Isn't Li Huiyuan also stained with ashes? But the boss didn't say that Li Huiyuan needs to eliminate the ashes?"
"No, Li Huiyuan also received corresponding training from me..."
"But... that's not right. If that's the case, then Maki Daiken and Maozi also entered the store, so wouldn't that be a problem?"
"Also, the store's red light was flashing, and some nocturnal creatures and green-bibbed chefs also entered the store."
“So… those ashes are just floating there? Just like the ashes floating on my shadow, even though they are there, they don’t actually affect others?”
Lin Yi pondered secretly and gradually discovered clues.
"That is to say... the store itself is filled with ashes!"
"And since the store isn't a living thing, there won't be any abnormalities even if it's carried!"
"Isn't the kiosk a natural 'container' for ash?"
"Wait... If that's the case, doesn't that mean the authorities already have a way to collect ashes?"
Lin Yi suddenly felt cold all over.
He thought of something deeper.
If this conjecture is true, the authorities have actually already grasped and started to implement the collection of ashes, but other people have no idea about it. Even the infiltration organization "God's Realm" has been kept in the dark. So the authorities have been planning all along?
Lin Yi suddenly felt that things had become complicated again. A university in S city, on the surface, only used experience students to anchor the campus layer and sent highly inspired experience students to the gymnasium or art building to be trained as combat units. But now, it seems that the authorities are in control of the development of all events, both from a macro and micro perspective?
Of course, whether it is true or not depends on how much information and channels the authorities have.
But Lin Yi would rather overestimate the official strength.
Because if it’s officially OK, it really works, and if it’s officially not OK, then it’s a disaster.
The worst guess is that even the authorities don’t know about the situation in the convenience store.
A more convincing idea is that the ashes came from the owner of the convenience store.
Lin Yi never expected that he had just arrived at the convenience store and had not done anything, but he had already been entangled in many unknown events.
Before getting out of one whirlpool, half a foot has stepped into another one.
He now had even more questions he wanted to ask the store owner, and it could even be said that he was full of questions.
There was no time and no energy to think about anything else. Lin Yi took a deep breath and entered the store.
The moment he stepped into the store door, the ashes floating on the entire door seemed to be pulled and gathered towards Lin Yi...
Others could walk through a field of flowers without getting a single leaf on them, but Lin Yi was completely the opposite. His entire body was covered with leaves, and even some petals were taken away.
He was unaware of anything when he entered the door, but when he passed through the door and entered the store, he felt a strong pulling sensation coming from behind him.
He looked back in confusion and found that the ashes floating on the door of the convenience store were sticking to his body like a sticky board for catching mice. The ashes seemed to have turned into sticky silk threads, tightly sticking him to the door.
He tried to move forward, and found that he could.
But the further he walked, the stronger the pulling force became, and after only a few steps, he could no longer walk.
Between him and the door, there was a long, sticky string of ash...
"What the hell is this?!"
Lin Yi moved his arms. He was able to move, but his flexibility was greatly reduced.
He knew he had fallen into some kind of trap, but he always felt that this trap... was not set for him.
But despite this, the problem still arises.
No matter who this trap was set for, it finally fell into his head.
The worst guess is...
This was the trap set to catch him.
But here...only the convenience store owner knows how to set traps!
Is it necessary for the store owner to set up a trap? !
Just to deal with a little Karami of his?
No way?
Certainly not.
unless……
He is seriously injured!
(End of this chapter)