Rules-related weird stories: 4016

The last barrier between him and the "Angel" seemed to be just that endless black tsunami!

However, before an existence of the "Angel's" level, the thickness of that "Tsunami" seemed ridiculously thin!

Lin Yi's soul trembled incessantly. He had once had a simple fantasy, imagining what it would be like for a "mortal" to face an "Angel," but when he faced it himself, he found that he had no reaction at all.

He only had a primal tremor, and his mind was blank, not even knowing what fear was.

Or rather—even the emotion of fear, from its birth to its spread throughout his consciousness, was not as quick to reach his awareness as the blankness at this moment.

Overwrite.

His instinct overwrote all the emotions he was generating at this moment.

Or... delay?!

He suddenly realized something and abruptly looked at his wrist.

The watch on his wrist showed the time to be—

2:52.

And that hand was oscillating back and forth between the 7th and 8th seconds.

Unlike the previous struggle to move from one second to the next, this time the oscillation was actually reversed!!

The hand on his watch seemed to reach the 8th second countless times, but each time it seemed to be pushed back by an invisible force, existing in a state infinitely close to "May 10, X023, 2:52:08"!!

"Time... is constantly reversing?!"

"No, it's not reversing, but... extending!!"

"Zeno's paradox?!"

The hand was about to reach 2:52:08 countless times, but each time the time was about to be reached, the time that had not yet been completed was stretched a little!

In other words, he was currently in a layer where time was infinitely extended!

"Am I... 'dreaming'?"

Just like in 'Inception,' he was now falling into deeper and deeper dreams, thus making his perception of external time slower and slower!

Dreaming!

Lost!

If this repeats infinitely, he will die!

No, he won't die here; he will become... the Grinning Angel?!

If he didn't have the watch, he would indeed have fallen, but now that he knows, he won't!

"I have to go back! I must go back!"

"The Night Watchman just taught me 'regression'!"

Lin Yi used what he had just learned, regressing the waves of energy in front of the "Angel," and then that wisp of consciousness disappeared from here...

2:52:08, the "Angel" arrived at the edge of the chaotic void. Outside the void, in the black tide, endless gray mist churned ceaselessly. Within the gray mist, that wriggling, twisting, scalp-numbing evil figure contracted erratically...

The "Angel" looked at the place where Lin Yi's consciousness disappeared for a long time without moving.

【...】

The "Angel" seemed to emit some obscure ancient syllables. The sound was blocked by countless layers, like being separated by countless eras. When the sound was transmitted, it was already so turbid that nothing could be heard clearly, leaving only two rough syllables that sounded like...

【...0...】

【...1...】

...

May 10, X023, 2:52.

The world before Lin Yi's eyes disintegrated. When he regained his vision, all that remained was a surface of the "Sanctum" floating with secret纹.

And his consciousness also regained control of his body.

"Having fun, huh? You had to vent and show me my life flashing before my eyes, right?" Lin Yi seemed to be talking to his own instinct, but on second thought, it was really weird to be mocking himself...

He clearly remembered that he had just "faced the 'Angel'," but he only remembered the fact that he "faced the 'Angel'," and he couldn't remember any of the details related to it.

This feeling was like directly losing that part of his memory.

I know I went on a spring outing yesterday, but I only know I went on a spring outing. Where I went, what I did, I have no idea.

Not knowing is fine, but there isn't even a shred of detail.

It's like playing a text game.

"Could it be that 'I' shielded 'my' memory?"

He tried hard to recall, but he found that he had nothing but a sense of tremor.

The delayed sense of fear also disappeared because of his "amnesia."

If you don't know what it is, you won't be afraid of nothingness.

The only thing he remembered was time, because time was completely unrelated to the other worlds during "dreaming"!

"That's right! Time!!"

He quickly looked at his watch.

More than a dozen seconds had passed since he had just awakened.

The moment he saw the dial, his mind suddenly became clear, and his intelligence, which didn't belong to him, seemed to appear, and he instantly understood why the time was always infinitely close to "2:52:08"!

Because at 2:58:08, the "Angel" truly saw him.

Or rather, the very event of "'Angel' making eye contact with him" was a result of his cognition through logical reasoning of details, but both Lao Mo and the Night Watchman had mentioned that once you directly face the Angel, you will truly fall into the precept of [In the abyss of mist and darkness, lost souls chase phantoms].

And his instinct and cognition used the constantly stretching time scale of that one second to allow him to avoid this event from becoming a foregone conclusion before it happened.

And now it's like the Titanic, which should have hit the iceberg, brushed past it.

Could this be considered a kind of... reversing the future?

Lin Yi was slightly stunned.

Humans are three-dimensional beings and cannot perceive the change of the time dimension to reality. But if the scale of time can really interfere with and modify certain futures, could he have just experienced some more complicated experience...

A certain future was modified by him with countless efforts, but all of these disappeared with the modification of time, that is to say, he may have experienced a timeline produced after directly facing the Angel, and finally avoided the occurrence of the event because something interfered with that node, and because the things that should have happened never happened, so... he also doesn't have that part of the memory?

Wait, what is this...?

Grandfather paradox?

His mind was a little numb, because this was clearly a very simple thing, but his intuition kept telling him that things were not that simple.

"Could it be that something under my nose, I still lost some memories?"

Lin Yi would rather believe it than not.

"If that's the case... is there anything that can cross time... Wait!!"

"Dreams!"

When dreaming, his consciousness seems to be able to return to the past and then produce some kind of intersection!

The security guard seemed to have discovered some clues back then, and he had also vaguely guessed something!

Back when he was repairing the city walls, he seemed to have vaguely foreseen some terrible future.

“Future me, are you here?” he murmured softly, as if seeking some kind of answer.

It must be that 'I' directly faced the 'Angel', resulting in an irreversible and terrifying consequence. Then, that 'I' arrived in the past through a dream, preventing the 'I' of the present from directly facing the 'Angel'!

Such a thing violates the laws of the world, but Lin Yi is no longer the staunch materialist warrior he once was.

What a joke. When you see the entire world as a lump of dough within distorted layers, any firm heart will be unable to withstand the melting heat, and then be shaped by the flames into various forms by them.

He looked up at the world outside the clock tower. Through the floating walls of the clock tower, he could see the chaotic void of the clock tower. However, unlike the previous situation, when looking out from inside the clock tower, it seemed that he would be protected by the clock tower's field, reducing the risk of becoming a 'Mist-clad Light Seeker'.

But once he left the clock tower's field and lost its protection, he would have no safety when facing the 'Angel'.

The bell chimed melodiously, and the shockwave spread out. Before long, the shockwave began to weaken, but the Night Watcher still hadn't woken up.

Lin Yi secretly thought something was wrong. Why hasn't the Night Watcher returned yet?

"02! 02!"

He anxiously looked at the Night Watcher beside him, but the Night Watcher stood there like a stone, completely unmoved.

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"Crap… We agreed to strike the bell only once at most. The aftersound is almost gone, why hasn't he returned yet?"

Lin Yi looked at his current gilded mummy appearance, wondering if he should strike it again.

《Strike it Again》

When these four words appeared in his mind, he didn't feel any resistance. It was as if after striking the bell once, he felt that striking the 'Sanctuary' was nothing more than that?

"Could it be that I'm getting cocky?"

But regardless of whether he was getting cocky or not, the bell couldn't stop ringing…

Lin Yi gritted his teeth, and the teeth on his bones made a "creak creak" sound.

“Strike it!”

When the aftershocks of the shockwave were about to completely subside, Lin Yi imitated the posture when his body was driven by instinct, trying to use his majestic extraordinary power to strike the 'Sanctuary'. However, he did throw a punch, but that punch didn't carry any power…

He easily hammered the 'Sanctuary', so easily that he felt an ominous premonition.

"No! There's a problem!"

A big problem.

The 'Sanctuary' was not struck.

In the next moment, that terrifying baptism enveloped Lin Yi, and he was about to replay the scene of being drained by the 'Sanctuary'.

"Instinct, save me!"

Lin Yi roared in his heart, familiarly choosing "delegation".

At the critical moment, his instinct lived up to expectations, as if shouting "I'll help you!" and directly took over his "remnant body".

The "he", who was about to be sucked onto the bell, suddenly stopped being pulled. At the same time, the three-colored aura entangled again, tightly wrapping his body, and then struck the 'Sanctuary' once again like a hot knife through butter.

"Duang—!!"

Everything seemed to be the same as last time, but Lin Yi vaguely sensed a trace of unease.

Almost out of some strange feeling, he looked at the hand he used to strike the bell.

His perception penetrated the three-colored aura entangled on his body, and found that a layer of fine cracks had quietly climbed onto his golden arm bone at some point.

The starting point of the cracks was a certain layer of secret patterns on the surface of the 'Sanctuary' bell.

"This is the side effect of striking the bell?! My body… can only withstand the impact of striking the bell once, is that what it means?!"

Lin Yi thought of how some particles seemed to be annihilated from the Night Watcher when he struck the bell. Now he understood all of a sudden that even the Night Watcher couldn't withstand the endless frequency of striking the bell!

It was unimaginable what kind of terrifying power the Night Watcher was enduring when he struck the bell alone when the gray fog invaded!

However, as the second sound was about to disappear, there was still no response from the Night Watcher!

“No way, big brother!!! We agreed to strike it once, and I've already struck it the second time! Are you coming back or not?!”

Feeling the gradually disappearing bell sound, Lin Yi's heart slowly sank to the bottom.

"What to do…?"

After striking it the second time, cracks have appeared in the 'Golden Body'!

This 'Golden Body', which was created to withstand the impact of the 'Sanctuary' shockwave, doesn't seem to be as strong as imagined…

If he keeps striking it like this, will he die?

"Should I… give up?" A thought popped into Lin Yi's mind.

He glanced at the old kerosene lamp not far away, and couldn't help but feel like retreating…

He was originally here to take the blame, and now it's buy one get one free, he's already done his best, there's no need to fill it in with his life, right?

Should he… take that damn old kerosene lamp and get out of the Night Watcher's clock tower?

Just as Lin Yi was hesitating, the corner of his eye saw Lao Mo from the old kerosene lamp…

Lao Mo seemed to be attracted by the second bell sound as well, and was looking at him at this moment.

When Lao Mo discovered that Lin Yi was looking at the old kerosene lamp, he knew what Lin Yi was thinking.

“You go… kid…”

Lao Mo's voice slowly sounded, frank and sincere, but with endless helplessness and bitterness.

“This was… never… your battle… alone…”

“Being able to… strike it… once… you've… already… done very well…”

“If you want to leave… then leave… don't… sacrifice… in vain…”

"I didn't hear wrong, Lao Mo actually told me to run?" Lin Yi was stunned, but looking at Lao Mo's appearance, it didn't seem like he was trying to provoke him…

But Lao Mo's words undoubtedly hit his heart, he really wanted to run away…

So he slowly released the skeletal hand that was pressed tightly against the 'Sanctuary'.

But at that moment, just like when he saw the city walls collapsing, the gymnasium collapsing, and the boss and the PE teachers all dying before repairing the city walls, this time, a quick flashback of visions appeared before his eyes…

He saw the 'Angel' breaking through the black tide, that long, scale-like substance covered with eyes-like tumors filled with engraved evil imprints and shimmering with dim light, one after another, engulfing the art building like iron chains…