Rules-related weird stories: 4016

#460 - A store in the fog

When the green-aproned chef realized something was wrong, the spatial lines had already begun to reset, while Lin Yi's expansion point suddenly compressed. He used this force to compress the spatial lines in the opposite direction, enabling him to achieve short-distance teleportation like the green-aproned chef...

The difference was that, just as the green-aproned chef stealthily moved in the darkness, Lin Yi, under the sunlight, launched himself out like a Mr. Strong with a "biu zhi" sound, instantly sliding to the entrance of the convenience store.

It must be said that the green-aproned chef's move didn't actually require much skill, but once Lin Yi saw through it, it became one of his own "simple yet powerful" skills.

And Lin Yi had several such simple yet powerful skills.

As Lin Yi left, the plastic wind curtain at the entrance of the student cafeteria was lifted, and Shan Nan, covered in dust, walked in with large bags.

As soon as he entered, Shan Nan seemed to notice something unusual and subconsciously looked towards the convenience store.

But from his perspective, the corner where light and shadow intersected seemed to be filled with a large amount of dust, like the visual distortion formed when a beam of light enters the sea.

He frowned slightly and then withdrew his gaze.

As soon as he withdrew it, the green-aproned chef's sinister, pancake-like face appeared "shua" in front of him.

"Student... New product recommendation... Tomato meat sauce dry noodles... Would you like to try some?"

Shan Nan's pupils trembled violently, and he had already reached for the backpack behind him with half of his hand, but he quickly restrained himself from making any further movements, and then silently bypassed the green-aproned chef and joined the line to buy food...

...

May 10, X023, first floor of the cafeteria, entrance of the convenience store.

Lin Yi used the green-aproned chef's "force" as a slingshot, catapulting himself to the entrance of the convenience store. A few more steps forward, and he would completely arrive at the entrance.

The dim yellow light swaying out of the convenience store spread like an orange mist at the entrance, creating a dim and bleak area. Although it was noon, the area near the entrance of the convenience store was still shrouded in darkness.

Lin Yi's heart suddenly fluttered. He looked back at the way he had come, only to find that the student cafeteria behind him had disappeared.

"Can't go back...?" Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat. Even though he knew that the convenience store was the convenience store owner's territory, the feeling of having his retreat cut off by an invisible hand still gave him a feeling of constipation.

He refocused his gaze on the convenience store in front of him. The convenience store, shrouded in orange light and mist, was now in a place where there was neither village nor shop, which immediately reminded him of the Dragon Inn from Hong Kong movies...

Only the flying yellow sand had been replaced by a sky full of mist, and the vast desert had been replaced by endless darkness.

He had a strange illusion, feeling that this convenience store was to the misty world like a street lamp to the school district in the night. He somehow felt that this was like the only shelter in a dark world shrouded in mist...

"Lin Yi... Lin Yi..."

A distant call drifted from the misty sand.

This time, there was no sound of waves crashing against the reefs, nor the rapid and whistling wind. Only the ethereal sound, like an echo from a secluded valley.

"Lin Yi... Lin Yi..."

The sound was incessant, intermittent, but only calling his name, or perhaps a number.

"Shasha sha..."

In the pale white mist, there seemed to be some strange figures. They were Nightwalkers, but they didn't seem to be ordinary Nightwalkers, but... the hound-like Nightwalkers from the art building's corridor!

These hound-like creatures wandered and roamed in the mist, but they were deterred by the light of the convenience store, like Nightwalkers fearing lampposts, fearing the light of the convenience store.

They lingered on the boundary line, not daring to show the slightest transgression, but the desire and greed in their hearts were captured incredibly clearly by Lin Yi.

"Aren't they from the art building? How could they appear here?"

A sense of inexplicable panic arose in Lin Yi's heart. He wasn't afraid, but when a cockroach appeared in his home, it meant that cockroaches had already gathered here.

"Lin Yi... ah Lin Yi..."

"You can't escape..."

"Can't escape..."

"We are waiting for you here... waiting for you..."

The distant calls came bit by bit, like a complete sentence that had lost its original flavor after being translated back and forth by a machine many times, but even the remaining aftertaste was still as great as a beautiful woman who had finished a day of anime expo wearing shiny thick stockings, revealing her glutinous lemon jade feet upon arriving home...

In order not to let this strange feeling affect his judgment, and to be able to continue to maintain his perception, Lin Yi had no choice but to choose to produce such an association.

And in order to strengthen this association, Lin Yi brought Wei Liang out again.

If Fushēng Wei Liang Celestial Venerable were here, he would probably give Lin Yi's unprecedented association a name full of Liang-style ingenious tricks—Glutinous Fragrant Smoked Fish (Jade).

"Pfft..."

Lin Yi himself laughed unkindly, and his cognition wavered for a moment.

Such an adjustment allowed him to once again immerse his perception into the mist.

Before that, he focused his attention on his watch.

11:04.

Time was still passing.

It seemed that being in front of the convenience store had greatly improved his safety.

Since he had already arrived at his destination, Lin Yi was not in a hurry to enter the convenience store immediately. After all, it was not easy to come here, and he could gain as much information as possible with a little stay, and the more information he obtained, the higher the cost performance of this trip would be.

So he continued to perceive...

But here, apart from the endless darkness and those hound-like Nightwalkers, he didn't perceive anything.

The only thing he could be sure of was that, in this state of the convenience store layer, the entire convenience store was actually surrounded by hound-like Nightwalkers, it was just that those things didn't dare to invade the boundary.

Just then, Lin Yi suddenly captured some subtle sounds from those calls...

"Huala la..."

The sound of water?

No...

That is...

"Chains?!"

A flash of brilliance erupted in Lin Yi's eyes, and his perception quickly sensed some traces of the existence of chains in this mist.

Outside the boundary of light, there was also a defense line!

A defense line composed of chains!

"This layer... was also built before?!"

"Does the construction of the school district not only consist of those buildings in the surface reality?!"

"Could this be the real world?"

"So-called reality... is just a highly anchored mirage, and the real reality is actually only the convenience store?!"

Lin Yi thought of the convenience store's air-raid shelter design. The so-called last line of defense, could it be because the school district itself only had this one line of defense?

Which layer is the real world after all?!

“Lin Yi… …”

The calls came in waves, but Lin Yi felt his scalp tingle, a chill rising from the depths of his heart.

「I can't think about it anymore, I'll just go ask the boss!」

Lin Yi steadied himself, glancing at his watch.

11:05.

Sure enough, thought was the fastest sword. After a round of wild thinking, not even a minute had passed.

Lin Yi took a deep breath and walked to the front of the convenience store.

Just as Lin Yi composed himself, the calls began to fade away, and the hound-like nocturnal species disappeared as if the tide had receded.

However, the thick fog continued to churn wantonly, as if it had become substantial, cold and viscous, slowly wrapping around every inch of land.

When everything disappeared, it seemed that only the last sound remained in the darkness, the sound of iron chains colliding and swaying slightly in the wind.

「Clang, clang… … Clang, clang… …」

… …

In front of the convenience store, the familiar layout remained—

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Familiar snacks were arranged on the familiar shelves;

The familiar sign of 'Open' hung on the familiar door;

The familiar door had one side open and one side closed, inside was that familiar, hazy scene that couldn't be seen clearly… …

Only this time, Lin Yi's bag was already full of free tomatoes, and he couldn't buy anything else. If he had to say something, Old Mo's backpack could still be used, but the prerequisite was to hand over Old Mo's heart to the convenience store owner.

「Boss, oh boss, I have arrived as promised… …」

Lin Yi sighed inwardly, then thought of Old Mo, and couldn't help but touch his backpack.

「Old Mo… …」

He slowly approached the door of the convenience store, but just as he walked to the door, about to step inside, he suddenly shuddered!

He abruptly stepped back half a step, then widened his eyes, staring fixedly at the entrance of the convenience store, so shocked that he could hardly speak.

The door of the convenience store was normal, but the problem was the hazy substance at the entrance!

「This, this is… … ‘Ashes’?!」

A layer of hazy mist floated at the entrance of the convenience store, and the mist had a very strong sense of granularity, like countless floating dust. This feeling was too familiar to Lin Yi, wasn't it 「Ashes」?!

But… … why were there so many ashes at the entrance of the convenience store?!

When did they appear?

It seemed like they were there the last time he came?!

Because he remembered that the door hadn't changed!

「But if that's the case, wouldn't it mean that crossing the door would mean getting stained with ashes?」

「Then Li Huiyuan was also stained with ashes, but the boss didn't say that Li Huiyuan needed to eliminate the ashes?」

「That's not right, Li Huiyuan also underwent corresponding training with me… …」

「But… … that's not right either. In that case, Mu Daxian and Maozi also entered the convenience store, shouldn't they also have problems?」

「Moreover, the convenience store's red light was flashing at the time, and some nocturnal species and green bib chefs also entered the convenience store.」

「So that is to say… … those ashes are just floating there? Just like the ashes floating on my shadow at the beginning, although they are there, they don't actually affect others?」

Lin Yi pondered secretly, gradually discovering the clues.

「That is to say… … the convenience store itself carries the ashes!」

「And because the convenience store is not a living body, it won't have any abnormalities even if it carries them!」

「Then isn't the convenience store a natural ash 'container'?」

「Wait… … if that's the case, wouldn't it mean that the authorities have already had a way to collect ashes?」

Lin Yi suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He thought of more and deeper things.

If this guess is correct, the authorities have actually mastered and begun to implement the ash collection operation for a long time, but other people don't know it at all, even the infiltration organization 「Domain of God」 is kept in the dark, so the authorities have been planning and strategizing?

Lin Yi suddenly felt that things had suddenly become complicated again. An S City University, on the surface, is only using experience students to anchor the campus map layer and sending high-inspiration experience students to the gymnasium or art building as combat units for training, but now it seems that the authorities seem to control the development of all situations from both a macro and micro perspective?

Of course, whether it is or not depends on how much information and channels the authorities have mastered.

And Lin Yi would rather overestimate the strength of the authorities.

Because if the authorities can do it, they really can, and if the authorities can't, it will explode.

The worst guess is that even the authorities don't know the situation of the convenience store.

A more moderate guess is that these ashes are from the convenience store owner.

Lin Yi never expected that he had just arrived at the convenience store and hadn't done anything yet, but he had already become entangled in many unknown events.

He hadn't crawled out of one vortex, and half a foot had stepped into another vortex.

He now wanted to ask the convenience store owner even more questions, it could even be said that his stomach was full of questions.

Too late and not in the mood to think about anything else, Lin Yi took a deep breath and entered the convenience store.

The moment he lifted his foot and stepped into the convenience store door, the ashes floating on the entire door seemed to be attracted, converging towards Lin Yi… …

Others pass through a sea of flowers without a petal touching them, but Lin Yi is completely the opposite. His whole body is covered with leaves, and he even takes away some petals.

He was unaware when entering the door, but when he crossed the door and entered the convenience store, he felt a strong pulling force from behind.

He turned his head in doubt and found that the ashes floating on the convenience store door were sticking to his body like a flypaper for catching mice. The ashes seemed to have turned into viscous silk threads, tightly connecting him to the door.

He tried to move forward and found that he could move.

But the more he moved forward, the greater the pulling force became. After walking a few steps, he couldn't move anymore.

And between him and the door, there was a long, viscous band made of ashes… …

「Damn, what the hell is this?!」

Lin Yi waved his arm, he could move, but his flexibility was greatly reduced.

He knew he had fallen into some kind of trap, but this trap… … he always felt that it wasn't set up for him.

But even so, the problem still came.

No matter who this trap was set up for, it has now fallen on his head.

And the worst guess is… …

This is a trap set up to catch him.

But here… … only the convenience store owner would set up a trap!

Is it necessary for the convenience store owner to set up a trap?!