Rules-related weird stories: 4016

"Strictly speaking, it's not related to 'Doomsday,' but to the invasion of the Gray Mist."

Mu Daxian corrected, "When purebred Nightwalkers receive the 'call' from the Gray Mist, they will desperately try to deal with the streetlights."

"These 'newborn' pseudo-humans utilize the idea of 'striking while the iron is hot' to some extent. After devouring the Experiencers, they rely on the Experiencers' residual warmth to approach the streetlights, and then use the Nightwalkers' characteristics to absorb the extraordinary power from within the streetlights."

"The strange thing is that pure pseudo-humans and Nightwalkers cannot absorb the power of the streetlights at all, but these newborn pseudo-humans can. I don't know why."

"However, after they absorb the extraordinary power of the streetlights, they will die immediately… a complete death that cannot be revived no matter how much extraordinary power from the Gray Mist they absorb."

"It should be soon… watch."

Mu Daxian pointed to the newborn pseudo-humans at their feet.

In fact, they hadn't been moving much since just now. Even their wriggling had slowed down, like a pile of mud in the throes of post-coital clarity.

Sure enough, before long, the two pseudo-humans began to twitch violently, and then stiffened at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into two statues as if fading in color.

Throughout the process, their bodies emitted large amounts of green, powdery particles like steam locomotives. Once they finished emitting, they completely turned into statues that were neither human nor Grimer.

Unlike the humanoid statues in the statue phalanx, the two newborn pseudo-humans who had turned into statues didn't reveal any "aura."

Sure enough, they were completely dead.

"This…"

Seeing this with his own eyes, Mao Feiyang couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock.

Mu Daxian raised his drawing board, smashed them with force, and then lifted his foot, crushing the larger pieces one by one as if stepping on ice.

After doing all this, Mu Daxian took out a paintbrush from his cloth bag, and planned to repaint the number on the streetlight pole.

But after briefly considering it, Mu Daxian silently put away the brush.

"Forget it… let's go."

Mu Daxian gently patted the streetlight pole, then walked away without looking back.

Mao Feiyang was puzzled, but he quickly followed.

Only after walking out of the teaching building area and entering the cafeteria area did Mu Daxian breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Seeing this, Mao Feiyang didn't dare to breathe heavily. He knew that Mu Daxian must have sensed something.

"It's strange, isn't it?"

"Yes…"

Mao Feiyang nodded honestly, guessing that Mu Daxian's question meant that the unknown crisis was temporarily lifted.

"Was there some kind of crisis just now?"

Mu Daxian said, "In the green belt not far from that streetlight pole, there was a hidden pseudo-human art student. If it hadn't lost its composure and revealed itself when I was about to add the number, we would have been in grave danger now."

Hearing this, Mao Feiyang's muscles instantly tensed up, "Such a thing actually happened?!"

Mu Daxian nodded slightly, explaining, "If I were in my prime, adding the number wouldn't consume much of my power, but that wasn't possible just now.

If I didn't add the number, the remaining power would be enough to rub that strange art student into the ground, but if I added it, we would have been finished."

"Let's go, to the cafeteria."

Mu Daxian said without changing his expression, and then continued to move forward unhurriedly.

"Ah… oh, oh, oh! Okay, okay!"

Mao Feiyang quickly followed.

Not long after the two of them walked away, a rustling sound came from the green belt, and a strange art student wearing dark green clothes slowly walked out from a shadow not far away.

Behind it was the intersection of the cobblestone road and the green belt. In that misty and lingering place, there was a streetlight pole.

Not only was that streetlight pole not lit, but it also had its blurred number written in crimson paint…

"As expected of Mu Daxian… even in this state, he can easily deal with me…"

"If we want to deal with him, we have to plan carefully."

Beside that strange art student, another taller and thinner strange art student stepped on the dead leaves with a rustling sound, and said in a low voice with a gloomy horse face.

If Lin Yi were here, he would have discovered that this horse-faced strange art student was the one he encountered when he was eating lunch on the afternoon of May 8th, who asked him if he wanted to eat tomatoes…

After confirming that Mu Daxian still had a lot of combat power, the two strange art students gave up tracking and chose to retreat back into the green belt.

…

Walking in the cafeteria area, Mao Feiyang observed the streetlights along the way, and then couldn't help but whisper, "Brother Xian, there seem to be a lot of streetlights here that are also out…"

"That's normal."

"Didn't I just tell you that streetlights are to some extent a backup hidden energy source for us art students, so the situation like me exploding the streetlight with my hand will cause the streetlights to go out."

"Um…"

"But that's only a small part of the reason."

Mu Daxian said, "There are very few people in the art students who can explode streetlights with their hands. Looking at the entire art building, there are no more than a handful of them, it can be said that there is one in ten thousand…"

"Brother Xian, can we skip the collection of postgraduate entrance examination vocabulary you use to describe yourself and get to the point?"

Mao Feiyang couldn't help but interrupt.

"Cough."

Mu Daxian coughed dryly, "Okay."

"In fact, once a streetlight goes out, most of the time it's because of the kind of one-for-one, or even many-for-one situation between the newborn pseudo-humans and the streetlights that we just saw."

"Extinguishing the streetlights is the most important part of the Gray Mist invasion."

"After purebred Nightwalkers or pseudo-humans receive the 'call,' they will target those Experiencers in unstable states. After succeeding, they will turn into newborn pseudo-humans to absorb the extraordinary power of the streetlights."

"This is a death order, like a program that was written into the underlying code when it was created.

Perhaps it's related to its origin, but I still can't understand it."

"And once the extraordinary power of the streetlight is exhausted, it will go out."

Mao Feiyang asked, "If the streetlight goes out… what will happen?"

Mu Daxian narrowed his eyes and said faintly, "You should ask… what will happen after all the streetlights go out."

Mao Feiyang's heart trembled, "So… what will happen then?"

"I don't know."

Mu Daxian shook his head.

Mao Feiyang: "…"

Big brother, you've built up the atmosphere to this point, and then you tell me you don't know…?!

Mao Feiyang wanted to complain, but seeing Mu Daxian's solemn expression, he knew that Mu Daxian didn't not know, but knew something but not much, and was deliberately not saying it.

…

Not long after, when the first ray of dawn broke through the clouds and sprinkled into the campus, the originally lifeless campus gained a bit of vitality.

The cafeteria's notice board appeared at the end of the streetlights, watching their figures like a scarecrow in a wheat field.

Mu Daxian glanced at the notice board in front of the cafeteria, scanned the student entrance, and then led Mao Feiyang towards the other entrance.

Walking on the mountain path, Mao Feiyang looked towards the cafeteria. This building, seemingly constructed entirely of reinforced concrete, floated in a misty haze under the first rays of light, like a battle-worn warrior returning from the battlefield.

Standing tall in the tranquil mountains and forests, its walls were covered with vines and moss, the green leaves swaying gently in the morning breeze, as if whispering something.

The cafeteria was pitch black, the lights not yet on. However, a hazy, orange-yellow light mist permeated the entrance of another passage, as if leading to a place with illumination.

"The lights are off in the cafeteria… but there's light?!" Lin Yi was somewhat surprised.

Seeing that Mu Daxian had arrived at the entrance of the other passage and showed no sign of stopping, Mao Feiyang quickly asked, "Brother Xian, are we going in now?"

"Yes."

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"But the cafeteria lights aren't on yet…"

"We're not going to the dining hall… Strictly speaking, we're not even entering the 'cafeteria'. Besides, we're taking the passage with light, so you don't have to worry about anything," Mu Daxian said calmly, then entered the other passage on his own.

Mao Feiyang was somewhat puzzled, but seeing that Mu Daxian didn't intend to explain, he quickly followed.

Only Lin Yi noticed that Mu Daxian's expression didn't seem very good…

At this moment, the other passage was filled with a thick fog. Despite the orange-yellow light, visibility was still very limited.

"Don't look around, stick close to me," Mu Daxian's voice came from ahead. "There are several forks here. If you take the wrong one, I guarantee you'll have an unforgettable experience."

Mao Feiyang shivered. Not daring to say another word, he hurriedly followed closely behind Mu Daxian.

Sure enough, as they advanced, he discovered a fork in the road. At this moment, the light in the entire passage was refracted from that fork.

After passing the fork, the passage became much dimmer, but still maintained some light.

When passing that fork, Mao Feiyang seemed to hear the clanging sounds of weapons clashing and the booming of drums. He could even feel slight tremors under his feet…

Mao Feiyang really wanted to know where that fork led and what was happening below, but he didn't dare ask anything, only daring to follow Mu Daxian.

Before long, Mu Daxian led Mao Feiyang out of the other passage, arriving at the area between the other passage and the entrance to the student dining hall.

At this moment, the morning light just happened to fall on this area, as if dyeing the gray-white cafeteria walls with a golden edge.

Following Mu Daxian, Mao Feiyang brushed past the entrance of the student dining hall. Vaguely, he felt a trace of coldness and the sensation of being watched. He couldn't help but touch his arm, slowly smoothing out the goosebumps that had risen.

Then, he curiously glanced at the student dining hall.

His gaze passed through the plastic curtain and saw the interior of the student dining hall. At this moment, the student dining hall was still unlit, with a faint mist lingering under the tables and chairs. The entire scene was as cold and desolate as a morgue at midnight, appearing very peaceful, and he couldn't even sense anything amiss.

Although the student dining hall and the area they were in were only separated by a plastic curtain, and even though dawn had arrived and the warm light was beginning to fall little by little, Mao Feiyang felt a creepy, chilling sensation in his bones.

"Watch your step."

Mu Daxian's reminder brought Mao Feiyang's attention back.

Mao Feiyang suddenly turned his head, and then his foot tripped on a step.

"Ouch, damn, damn, damn…"

Mao Feiyang stumbled violently, his steps faltering like someone in a martial arts movie who is pointed at with a sword and then floats backward using qinggong. He looked like he was about to fall, but he just wouldn't, then, stepping with this strange gait with no center of gravity on his lower back, he went up the steps and then rushed down, finally stabilizing himself only after crashing into a wall at the bottom of the steps.

Mu Daxian couldn't help but cover his face: "…"

"I have to say, your kid's sense of balance is actually not bad… it's just that you don't look where you're going."

Hearing Mu Daxian's sarcastic words, Mao Feiyang pouted and silently stood up straight.

But at this moment, Mao Feiyang suddenly felt a cold light rising on his shoulder. Almost instinctively, he followed the sensation and glanced over.

With this one glance, he directly saw a chef wearing a blue apron slowly walking towards him!

"Aiya, I'm screwed! Brother Xian, save me!"

Mao Feiyang screamed and flashed behind Mu Daxian, who grabbed his head in a Stephen Chow-esque manner and pressed his face down, calmly saying, "Calm down, he's one of us."

"'One of us'?!" Lin Yi's heart was shaken.

It's no wonder he was shocked, because just now, Mu Daxian had led Mao Feiyang across a series of steps, from the entrance of the other passage to the entrance of the student dining hall on the student side.

And the blue apron chef in front of him was none other than that 'as if present' blue apron chef!

After Mu Daxian spoke, he looked at the 'as if present' blue apron chef, raised his hand, and gave a greeting: "Long time no see, Lao Mo."

The blue apron chef, called "Lao Mo," was expressionless, like a sculpture. Upon seeing Mu Daxian, a glimmer finally appeared in his hollow and numb eyes.

"Mu… Da… Xian… You kid… still… not dead… eh…"

Lao Mo spoke slowly, his tone dry and stiff, sounding like ants crawling on his body, making people feel very uncomfortable.

"You're not dead, how could I die?" Mu Daxian scolded with a smile, leading Mao Feiyang towards Lao Mo.

Mao Feiyang couldn't help but grab his hand, lowering his voice and saying, "No, Brother Xian, is this, is this the friend in the cafeteria you mentioned earlier?"

"Of course!" Mu Daxian raised an eyebrow. "Lao Mo and I, we have a life-or-death friendship! Don't be scared by him. If you heard his story, your little pearls would fall out."

"Let's go, let's treat your hand first."

After speaking, Mu Daxian ignored Mao Feiyang's shocked and doubtful gaze, and came to Lao Mo on his own, plopped down, and raised his hand: "Lao Mo, help me heal it."

Thank you to book friends "SNF" and "usjdnshhs" for the rewards!!