"So excited, huh?"
"Absolutely!"
"Alright, but don't move just yet, I haven't finished speaking." Wei Liang said, "I won't be going back to the dorm with you, but I never said I would stand out here in the rain with you."
"Huh? Then you..."
"I'll just stay in the gymnasium. If anything happens to you, I can immediately help you find the boss to save you." Wei Liang said earnestly.
"Uh... really?"
"More real than a steel needle!" Wei Liang replied.
Soon they walked out of the dormitory building area and re-entered the cafeteria area.
Along the way, they also encountered several experience students returning to the teaching building area. Likewise, these experience students had little spirit, as if their souls had been hollowed out.
It seemed that to survive in this campus, apathy and self-isolation were the only way out for the experience students.
Not long after Lin Yi and his group left, a figure slowly appeared on the path they had walked on.
Zhao Lingxiao.
She looked very normal now, quiet like an introverted girl, but the look behind her glasses was extremely fervent.
"Lin Yi's scent..."
She murmured like a well-trained tracking dog, following the scent to trace Lin Yi's figure.
Oddly enough, if Lin Yi were here, he would discover that as Zhao Lingxiao moved, all the air containing his scent was absorbed by her.
Zhao Lingxiao was like a human vacuum cleaner, absorbing his scent, devouring it, and then... emitting a strange, fervent aura.
Apart from this, she couldn't be more normal, just like a... pure infatuated woman.
She adjusted the glasses on her nose, licked her lips, took a deep breath, and then followed Lin Yi's silhouette, walking slowly.
...
On May 11, 2023, at 11:59, Lin Yi and the others arrived at the notice board in the cafeteria.
Along the way, Lin Yi realized he could now easily see the scene beneath the layers.
He now wanted to see the chef sculpture, just like someone standing by a pool wanting to see the tile patterns at the bottom, just needed to look down and focus a bit.
Also, such observations wouldn't affect his activities in the real layers, despite his observation and cognition of the layers.
He adapted faster and faster; some things didn't even require deliberate improvement; he progressed naturally, like Superman absorbing the yellow sun's light.
"Things are strange today..." Lin Yi slowly said, "I haven't seen any nocturnal species for a long time."
"Along the way, there were none in the green forest belt of the teaching building area, none in the green forest belt of the cafeteria area... Young Master Tian didn't find any either."
"Why have the nocturnal species seemed to vanish overnight?"
Wei Liang was stunned for a moment: "Are you talking to me?"
"Uh... do you know?" Lin Yi was delighted; he knew Wei Liang never engaged in in-depth discussions, so he was actually talking to Wei Shan just now.
Wei Liang said: "I don't understand anything about those whatever species, but usually when a group of things suddenly disappears, either they all died out at once, or they were attracted elsewhere by something more important. What do you think it is?"
"Are you saying something summoned the nocturnal species?" Lin Yi was shocked; he hadn't thought in that direction.
Wei Liang shrugged: "I know nothing! Ask Wei Sang."
Wei Shan also shook his head, saying stupidly: "I don't know."
"Let's eat first." Lin Yi said, "We'll talk later."
The nocturnal species couldn't stir up much trouble by themselves, but Lin Yi worried only if they gathered in large numbers to cause chaos.
Each of the three of them took a copy of the "Dining Hall Rules" and then headed toward the direction of the student passage.
When they reached the front of the student passage, Lin Yi slowly furrowed his brow.
In his visual field, the burial body roots on the inner wall of the student passage seemed to have multiplied since breakfast time. Although the growth of these burial body roots hadn't yet affected the internal space of the student passage much, he still felt a strong sense of aversion from within.
He noticed that some of the steps were being overrun by the burial body roots.
"Ugh..." Wei Shan exhaled heavily, his teeth grinding against each other, producing a "creak creak" sound.
"Wei Sang, can you sense the contamination of the student passage?" Lin Yi asked.
Wei Shan nodded, his face somber: "I can, I really want to burn them with fire!"
"Would fire work?" Lin Yi's eyes brightened.
"No." Wei Shan replied, "It's just that they look like vines, making one think of burning... if you want to root them out, you just have to get rid of the 'burial body' itself."
"'Just have to'?" Lin Yi couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, "Is this thing simple to do?"
"It's not simple, but none of what we're doing is simple." Wei Shan said, "However, Young Master Tian instructed that the cafeteria isn't part of our operation..."
"Let's get moving then." Lin Yi said, leading the way into the student passage.
[Lin Yi, oh Lin Yi...]
[Lin Yi, oh Lin Yi...]
As soon as they entered the student passage, the sound of the broken sculptures calling appeared again, like unquiet ghosts gathering again, lingering near his ears, occasionally singing a line or two.
In the layer beneath the layers, countless broken sculptures swayed, rocked, and eerily smiled while watching Lin Yi.
Lin Yi ignored them, silently heading toward the exit.
"Ignoring" was increasingly becoming a scholarly pursuit, yet "seeing but not observing" was an even more profound technique.
Lin Yi felt that Wei Liang's crafty tricks perhaps deeply understood this path, developing more audacious moves on the foundation of "seeing but not observing," even mastering combo techniques.
As they walked, Lin Yi suddenly said: "Wei Sang."
"What's up, Old Lin?" Wei Shan asked.
"Should we stock up on some tomatoes?"
Upon hearing this, a mix of excitement and ferocity emerged on Wei Shan's seemingly honest face: "Sure, we can finish them all!"
"Hiss..." Seeing the madness and cruelty deep in Wei Shan's honest eyes, Lin Yi took a cold breath and quickly said: "Not like in the morning..."
Wei Shan nodded seriously: "I know, picking tomatoes! Yin Bi loves that!"
"I think you like it quite a bit too...!" Lin Yi had a black line on his forehead and quickly explained: "Just a sweep, like taking all the tomatoes from their trays, is fine! Didn't Young Master Tian say that the cafeteria isn't part of our plan?"
However, they could sweep a batch of tomatoes, just in case.
Wei Shan hesitated again and again, seeming not quite able to grasp Lin Yi's meaning, so he said: "Okay... I'll watch what you do and follow suit."
"Don't worry, it's quite easy. I did it this way yesterday; today just copy it." Lin Yi said.
Suddenly, he froze.
He saw Old Mo at the end of the passage.
Old Mo was looking at him.
Despite looking the same as in the morning, that familiar look made Lin Yi's mind flash back to when Old Mo stood by Mu Daxian, unwavering through thick and thin.
Sadly, Old Mo had become the last drop of blood in the cafeteria again, and it was uncertain when he would regain the freedom to move.
He composed himself and reached the exit of the student passage.
After another look at Old Mo, he turned and headed toward the student cafeteria.
But just then, Old Mo's voice echoed in his ears: "Repeat... study..."
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