Rules-related weird stories: 4016

“'It's' essence is a kind of 'sculpture,' but it doesn't belong to any recorded sculpture category. Not long after it was created, the zealots lost control of 'it' due to insufficient understanding of the notes.”

“As time passed, 'it' began to absorb extraordinary power, constantly iterating and updating itself, becoming a special extraordinary creature far surpassing zealots and any kind of sculpture…”

“You can imagine a group of crazy experimenters creating something that shouldn't exist in the first place. This thing combines the characteristics of all known angel sculptures, and may even have some of its own 'logic.' And the existence of this thing cannot be called 'out of control,' because it was never 'in control' from the moment it appeared…”

“And 'it's' relationship to this place is like you releasing a mythical creature in the Amazon rainforest. Under normal circumstances, if you don't go in, it doesn't come out, and both sides barely coexist peacefully. But if you enter the rainforest, you might cross its territory and be killed by it…”

“Uh…” Lin Yi wiped away sweat, weakly asking, “Old Mo, the 'rainforest' you're using as an analogy, wouldn't it be…”

“Ahem, that's right…” Old Mo said sheepishly, “It's the place we are in now—the last section of the road leading to the art building.”

“But don't be afraid, if nothing unexpected happens, we will never encounter it.”

Lin Yi looked at Old Mo as if he had seen a ghost, pursing his lips: “Although, but… is it really okay to set a flag at this time?”

Old Mo curled his lips: “I'm just comforting you…”

Lin Yi: “…Okay, then what?”

“Then, this road is actually one of the ways 'angels' invade the campus.” Old Mo said, “Because of 'it's' existence, it actually restricts 'angels' to a certain extent…”

“It's protecting the campus?” Lin Yi asked in surprise.

Old Mo shook his head: “It's not about protection, it's like a hostess originally having a child, but then adopting another child. The two children don't get along, and they dislike each other.”

“'Angels'… are extraordinary life forms conceived from the source. In all known forms of consciousness, nothing is closer to the source than 'angels'.”

“And 'it' is man-made. We can't even rule out the possibility that when the 'Apostles' were observing the source and 'Him,' they thought they were observing it, but in reality, they were just observing some high-level 'angel,' and then recorded it…”

“'It' might even be a pirated version of 'angels'…”

Lin Yi's mouth was a little dry: “Then… how strong are 'angels' exactly?”

“I don't know.” Old Mo shook his head, “It's like you can't say a mosquito is strong just because it bit you, and you can't think a lion is not a threat just because it didn't attack you…”

“Those things seem to have some kind of 'logic.' As long as you avoid that logic, it's relatively safe.”

“Only when you face 'angels' directly will you know how terrifying 'angels' are.”

Lin Yi asked: “Could this be the reason why there are various rules in the campus?”

Old Mo said: “Probably… Some people's rules are to protect them from angels, but trainees will never encounter those complicated situations. They only need to follow the most basic rules. The rules that follow are written according to the depth of your pollution.”

“In general, the existence of rules is to allow people to protect themselves when extraordinary events occur.”

“For those who know, it's called 'extraordinary,' but for those who don't know, it's called 'weird.' Do you understand that?”

Lin Yi nodded: “So… if we take its scales, we won't be attacked by it, but relatively, it will attract the attention of angels?”

Old Mo said: “Don't think too highly of yourself. I said they have their own logic. If you're lucky, you can do a hot dance under their noses and still be safe…”

“You mean, if we encounter angels, we'll gamble that there are no bullets in His gun?”

“If you have to put it that way, sure.”

Lin Yi was silent for a while, then opened his mouth and said, “Old Mo.”

“Hmm?”

“What do you think… what are 'angels' exactly?”

“I don't know either. If I knew, I might have become an angel.”

“Uh… then what about 'angel sculptures'? What is their relationship with angels?”

“No relationship.” Old Mo said, “Although they both have the word angel in them, they are essentially two completely different things… The reason they are called angel sculptures is because they look like angels.”

“What about alien angels…”

“You kid knows a lot. Is a trainee being wasted? Is he a special talent sent by the official?” Old Mo glanced at Lin Yi.

“Ah? I'm not…” Lin Yi shook his head blankly, and wanted to say more, but Old Mo interrupted, “It doesn't matter whether you are or not. The official has sent many people over the years. Even if you are, I can understand.”

“I'm not afraid that you are an official person, I'm just afraid that you are not.”

Lin Yi was stunned: “Uh… ah?”

Old Mo ignored Lin Yi's surprise and returned to the topic: “Angel sculptures, like 'it,' are also things made by zealots… Because the zealots couldn't control 'it,' they tried to tinker with some controllable things, and angel sculptures were tinkered out.”

“So… angel sculptures are controlled by zealots?”

“Uh… not controlled either.”

After saying this, Old Mo and Lin Yi were rarely silent.

“…”

“So…” Lin Yi also became depressed, “So what the hell are the zealots doing? It sounds like a complete failure… Did the tech tree go off track?”

Old Mo also shrugged quite speechlessly: “I have never been a zealot. I don't know what you are talking about. As for other things, we can't accurately understand their intentions. After all, their brain circuits… are different from ours.”

“After all, they are just a group of mutated life forms with the appearance of 'humans.' If you judge their moral standards and behavioral logic using human standards, it is easy to suffer.”

“The reason why the zealots on the matrix side can deal with each other is because they still have some humanity. When extraordinary power and fanatical worship of 'Him' completely swallow their reason, then they will also become a truly crazy zealot.”

Lin Yi subconsciously said: “'A truly crazy zealot,' what is that?”

“Uh… strictly speaking, it's still a zealot.”

Lin Yi showed an emoji of covering his face and laughing…

《The Overlord of Beggars, Still a Beggar》

Is that what you mean…

Old Mo said, "It's like positions, right? The more fanatical a zealot, the purer the pollution characteristic they emit, and the more clearly it can be perceived. Those kinds of zealots have strong rejection. If you encounter them, you'll have to treat them to some 'reason'."

Upon hearing "reason," Lin Yi subconsciously glanced at the pig-slaughtering knife on Old Mo's waist.

「Old Mo's 'reason,' probably no one would disagree with, right?」

"By the way, Old Mo."

"What's up?"

"Since the angel sculptures are out of control, why are the zealots still creating them?"

Old Mo pondered seriously for a moment, then said, "When a group constantly repeats something that seems meaningless, we shouldn't focus on the superficial appearance of the event, but rather think about what the meaning of this thing actually is."

"The existence of the Wrathful Angels is to restrain the Physical Education Department."

"Boss mentioned supporting the Art Building, right? The Wrathful Angels are used to suppress the combat power of the Physical Education Department, preventing them from smoothly reaching the Art Building."

"As for whether they are controlled or not, that's not important. As long as the goal can be achieved and they don't attack the zealots themselves, then they can be mass-produced, just like…"

Most ⊥ New ⊥ Small ⊥ Say ⊥ At ⊥ Six ⊥ 9 ⊥ ⊥ Book ⊥ ⊥ Bar ⊥ ⊥ First ⊥ Hair!

"Just like those bastards who dump polluted water into the sea?" Lin Yi cursed inwardly.

Old Mo was stunned for a moment: "Those bastards…? More than 20 years have passed, and there are still remnants?"

"Huh? More than 20 years? Remnants?" Lin Yi was taken aback. What's going on?

Old Mo said suspiciously, "When various major events broke out in X999, those bastards couldn't even withstand the first wave and the island sank. Now that place has become a super dark zone. How could you, someone sent in by the official side, not know this history?"

Old Mo had already defaulted that Lin Yi was an official person.

Lin Yi touched his head, full of confusion. How come the history Old Mo knows and the "history" he knows seem to be different? Moreover, what exactly happened in "99," which others keep mentioning?

Seeing Lin Yi's confused look, Old Mo was silent for a while, and then seemed to understand something, and immediately shook his head: "Forget it, never mind that… Let's talk about something 'within the campus'."

"Wrathful Angels feed on 'materialized' transcendent power, so they are particularly sensitive to physical education students and those uncontrollable experimental students."

Lin Yi hesitated: "Wrathful Angels don't attack zealots at all?"

Old Mo said: "As long as it is a unit that has come into contact with the Matrix aura, it will generally not become their target of attack."

"Then we are safe too?"

Old Mo glanced at him, disdainfully and impolitely, "The Matrix aura is like perfume, your transcendent power is like body odor. If the body odor is too strong, it cannot be covered by ordinary perfume."

Lin Yi said: "So only the zealots here won't be attacked by the Wrathful Angels, and those who are wandering outside still will?"

Old Mo nodded: "Just like when you had a Grinning Angel hiding in your shadow at noon, angel sculptures have different preferences for 'food', but in essence, they are not picky eaters."

"Even when they are vegetarian, it's not like they don't eat any vegetables at all, do you understand what I'm saying?"

Lin Yi nodded.

Old Mo added: "Actually… the 'angel sculptures' created by the zealots are, strictly speaking, only the Wrathful Angel type."

"The other types of angel sculptures are not created by them."

Lin Yi couldn't help but frown: "Then how did the others come about?"

"The Aberrant Angel is a snowball-like aggregation of pollution… The bigger the snowball, the harder it is to fight against."

"The Grinning Angel is a phenomenon of pollutant penetrating layers… Their entity and the level you see are out of sync, so they look like ghosts."

Hearing this, Lin Yi couldn't help but think of the scene of the Grinning Angel materializing: "So they can actually materialize to some extent?"

Old Mo nodded: "Just drag them out of that layer, but this requires a very deep level of pollution, otherwise it will be counterproductive. Therefore, most of the rules do not advocate confronting angel sculptures, but rather allowing people to escape and protect themselves first."

"Those who have the ability to fight don't need to follow the rules anymore, those who don't have the ability to fight should honestly follow the rules to save their lives."

"Oh…" Lin Yi suddenly understood. Sure enough, this kind of information can only be obtained from veteran campus seniors, and he wouldn't be able to get it no matter how he explored on his own.

"Then 'it'? What should it be called? Doesn't it have a name?"

Old Mo asked: "Which 'it'?"

"The one entrenched here… that 'snake,' or 'dragon'."

"Unspeakable." Old Mo shook his head. After saying that, he thought for a while and added, "Especially in this area, it cannot be said. When the zealots created 'it,' they once gave it a name, but later they all stopped saying it…"

"In theory, it should have forgotten its identity anchor, so it is trapped here in another way, becoming one of the barriers to intercepting angels."

"If it regains its true name, it is very likely to escape from here through another anchoring method."

"However, we have another name for it…"

Lin Yi's eyes lit up: "What name?"

Old Mo said: "I'll tell you after we leave here. Before leaving, if you want to mention anything related to 'it,' just use "Great Serpent" to temporarily refer to it."

"「Great Serpent」… Okay." Lin Yi nodded.

The two continued walking forward. The mist surged in the dense forest, and the scenery in front seemed to be separated from them by many layers of gauze. The gnarled old trees exuded a gloomy aura, making people feel uncomfortable from time to time.

As they walked, Lin Yi couldn't help but feel a strange, as if he was being stared at.

However, in his perception, there were no sculptures, night walkers, or even pseudo-humans.

Relying on Old Mo being here, he looked around in confusion.

At first, he didn't notice anything unusual, but gradually, he noticed that on the gnarled old trees shrouded in mist, the spiral-shaped growth rings formed at the broken branches were like pairs of eyes "rolling" around.

He was sure that his mind was very clear, and what he saw was not an illusion, but no matter how carefully he observed, what he saw were those strange eyeballs that he couldn't tell whether they were protruding or sunken.

One strange eyeball after another, covered the gnarled branches. It was okay not to look, just being made uncomfortable by that sense of being watched, but once he saw it, his whole body began to produce that strong sense of nausea from the bones, wishing he could rush over and dig them out one by one and stomp them to pieces.