AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016

Chapter 577: Wiped Out in Passing (Part 2)


Tian Bufan nodded and said, "You did the right thing. Indeed, you should have taken them all out. Otherwise, it would have been quite troublesome if they all got ignited by the ashes."

"Their stance is not on the human side to begin with, and that matrix... it's mostly related to some summoning ritual. Fortunately, you destroyed it altogether."

Kuai Hongji's lips curled into a sinister arc, "I'm good at handling such things."

"That eerie art teacher, did she die?" Lin Yi asked slowly.

Tian Bufan was slightly taken aback, "Why, you can't let go? Did being hunted down make you develop feelings?"

Lin Yi's mouth twitched violently, "No, what's that supposed to mean? How could I not let go? I'm just asking, okay? Did she die completely?"

Tian Bufan said, "Then you can rest assured... Since Kuai Kuai said it was a complete wipeout, it means not even ashes were left."

Lin Yi said, "That's good... I don't know why, but I always felt something was off about her, though I couldn't tell what. It's better if she's dealt with, better if she's dealt with."

As Tian Bufan delved deeper into the Corpse Bone Forest, the environment around began to undergo strange changes since they distanced themselves from the zealots, as if stepping into a bizarre world forgotten by time.

"Creak... creak... creak..."

The Corpse Bone Forest was immensely silent, as if even the wind had dulled, with only the sound of Tian Bufan and Kuai Hongji's footsteps and breathing echoing through the air.

The faint sunlight had already been sensed, and walking here felt as oppressive as walking through the handshake buildings of Jiulong City.

And this wasn't the usual handshake building, but one adorned with skeletons and organs. You never knew which hand might suddenly pull you or which eyeball would turn, fixated on you.

The trees around had long distorted in form. Though they still stood tall and erect as a whole, there were always areas that had some indescribably eerie changes, as if twisted into strange shapes by some invisible force.

Such ancient trees, with their thick and sinister trunks, looked like gigantic contorted limbs.

From these "limbs" grew various organs not confined to human form. These organs stretched in all directions, like hands with claws dancing wildly, or like seaweeds madly waving, making a chilling "swish, swish, swish" sound.

The longest ones even entangled with other trees' branches to form a complex symbiotic relationship.

The bark of the ancient trees was cracked and coarse, oozing slime that emitted a foul stench. Initially milky white, these slimes turned colored as they flowed down the trunk, eventually shimmering with a rainbow hue in the dim areas, like diesel on water.

Tian Bufan spoke slowly, "Look, all of these are solidified extraordinary material... There's no shortage of extraordinary material here, only that no one has the ability to mine it."

"The solidified primordial pollution here has also corroded and degraded, like rotting, fallen fruit."

Lin Yi was inwardly startled, deep in thought.

He understood.

It's like the invaluable resources beneath the Antarctic, which no country can penetrate through the surface to access.

A more fitting comparison would be a forbidden land of antiquity, where coveted treasures from the outside world lie unmined and wasted by the roadside.

They continued onward.

Dead leaves piled high on the ground, each exuding a decayed scent. Stepping on them made a "crunch, crunch, crunch" sound, reminiscent of a ghoul chewing on bones.

In the gaps between the dead leaves, occasionally, oddly-shaped fungi could be glimpsed. They emitted an eerie green glow, like eyes hidden in the dark, coldly watching every move of Tian Bufan and Kuai Hongji.

Such fungi couldn't be found even in the most remote human-restricted primordial forests of the real world, resembling those quantum state materials only seen in the quantum domain of science fiction.

As they moved further, the originally dim Corpse Bone Forest began to intermittently flash with unexpected brilliant lights.

The entire space gradually started losing the rules and logic of the physical plane, showing pathological distortions and deformities. Gravity seemed to lose control, and Lin Yi could feel Tian Bufan's walking becoming lighter one moment and heavier the next, as if he might float away or be weighed down, draining all his strength.

The surrounding scenery started to flicker and deform. A tree that was just in front of him appeared behind him in the blink of an eye, while a path that wasn't there before suddenly appeared underfoot.

One step here, the other step appeared further away, and when Lin Yi looked down again, he found that Tian Bufan and Kuai Hongji's bodies had been assimilated by the layers, turned into bizarre rubbery figures.

After just a short look, his thoughts began to get confused, unable to discern direction, and he didn't even know where he was, as if the whole world had plunged into chaotic madness.

"Reel in your perception, Old Lin," Tian Bufan seemed to sense Lin Yi's abnormal state and quickly reminded him aloud.

Lin Yi was jolted and quickly closed off his mind, feeling much better immediately.

Yet, he puzzled, "I didn't release any perception just now!"

Tian Bufan said, "It's not entirely your fault, your 'adaptation' trait is a passive skill, and you were likely subconsciously starting to 'adapt' to this layer's strangeness."

"But you have to know, not everything can be forcibly adapted to."

"You're still a bit lacking if you want to 'adapt' to the layer rift."

"Once you're assimilated, you'll become part of the layer rift, part of those bizarre ancient trees you saw."

Lin Yi was horrified, "Those bizarre ancient trees... are all living beings?"

"Some are; others are naturally formed from extraordinary creatures buried deep in the Corpse Bone Forest."

"That's why, when we just enrolled, we strictly controlled your adaptation speed."

Lin Yi asked, "So, are we already at the rift of the layer?"

"We've been there for a while," Tian Bufan replied, "But we still need to find the most suitable place to deploy the puppet, otherwise it'd be troublesome running back and forth."

Lin Yi said, "I understand, it's like baiting for fish!"

Tian Bufan nodded slightly, "Right, that's roughly the idea. The layer rift is like a river, and we're on the bank within the Corpse Bone Forest, surrounded by raw materials and adhesive for puppet-making."

"What we need to do is find the right spot and start mass-producing puppets. Each puppet represents a life. We sacrifice lives to gain a chance to communicate with the 'Big Snake'."

Mentioning the Big Snake made Lin Yi shudder, "Can we really communicate with that thing?"

"And, are you serious about calling it an old friend?"

Tian Bufan replied, "Of course, I'm serious. It's just that it's throwing a tantrum now, so we need to sacrifice a bit of life force to let it vent some anger first."

Lin Yi couldn't help but ask, "Then... when did we come to know it?"

"It's been a long time, that's why we call it 'an old friend,' right?"

Lin Yi said, "But I've never seen someone meet an old friend and go straight to killing it twice."

Tian Bufan was noncommittal, "Such an existence must have a little temper. We should be grateful that it's just acting up, or else we would have no chance to 'negotiate terms' with it if it were truly inhumane."

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