Rules-related weird stories: 4016

"Tarzan the Ape-Man, my ass, that's an 'exoskeleton'," Mu Daxian squinted, golden light flowing from the seams of his eyes. "Since '99, many factions have been developing exoskeletons powered by supernatural forces..."

"But... why would the school let someone like that in? Is it lax vetting... or for some other purpose?"

Mao Feiyang pondered the exoskeleton for a moment, his expression suddenly turning strange. "Xian-ge, does this thing... really exist?"

Mu Daxian looked at Mao Feiyang with a strange expression. "Are you an alien? Are exoskeletons that rare?"

"In the early days of the campus's establishment, the government sent many elite soldiers in wearing exoskeletons. Their influence was present in the initial construction of the campus, but later, due to a decision-making error, the government sent elite soldiers to escort some secret weapons to explore the Black... Arts Building, and they were all lost."

"Since then, no technological forces have entered here again."

"Because within the realm woven by supernatural powers, technological weapons are like jokes..."

"Therefore, those factions, led by the companies, began to research 'supernatural weapons,' which is using scientific power to apply some 'supernatural power,' thereby achieving a combat method where people with strong physical qualities can carry exoskeletons with supernatural power."

"In short... 'enchanted' weapons."

"The person just now... was wearing something similar. However, this type of technology is not yet mature, at least, it wasn't mature in the 21 years since I entered the school..."

"Hiss..." Mao Feiyang took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" Mu Daxian looked at Mao Feiyang in confusion.

"Nothing..." Mao Feiyang shook his head, touching his little head and muttering in a low voice, "Before 21 years ago... there were companies mainly building exoskeletons? Am I losing it, or... have I lost my memory..."

He looked at Mu Daxian strangely, hesitated several times, but still couldn't help but ask, "Xian-ge... what did you do before you entered the school?"

"Would you believe me if I said I piloted a Gundam?" Mu Daxian was thinking about the problem, and blurted out when he heard the question.

"I definitely wouldn't have believed it before, but now... I might believe it a little," Mao Feiyang said seriously. "So, even a Gundam can't eliminate the nocturnal species on the Arts Building side?"

"You really believe I piloted a Gundam?" Mu Daxian said disdainfully, "I used to assemble Gundams, but I've never actually piloted one."

"Okay..." Mao Feiyang spread his hands.

Mu Daxian said, "But don't be too optimistic. Even if you really piloted a Gundam, it wouldn't be very useful here."

"When the level of a certain power is strong enough to distort three dimensions, then anything attached to three dimensions cannot effectively strike it."

Mu Daxian paused, looked at Mao Feiyang, and asked, "Are you afraid of a picture drawn on paper?"

Mao Feiyang was speechless.

"If you're afraid, you can tear up the paper," Mu Daxian added. "Moreover, do you need to ask the picture for permission to tear up the paper?"

Mao Feiyang was shocked and didn't know what to say.

"Let's go, let's continue looking for light bulbs, we'll be safe with one more," Mu Daxian withdrew his gaze and patted Mao Feiyang's shoulder.

Mao Feiyang got up blankly and silently followed behind Mu Daxian.

As he walked, he suddenly asked, "Xian-ge..."

"What is it?"

"Are the angel sculptures... drawn on paper?"

"Yes."

"The angel sculptures are still just on paper?"

"On paper, and at most, they're just a slightly larger pattern."

"Then... what about 'Angels'?"

"'Angels' are also on paper."

"What about Him?"

"Let's put it this way, on the same piece of paper, the angel sculptures are drawn as bicycles, the 'Angels' are drawn as motorcycles, and He is drawn as a supercar. Although the levels are distinct, they are at least all on paper."

"Hey... Xian-ge, how do you know which Him I'm talking about?"

Mu Daxian said speechlessly, "Your limit of understanding is just this. The 'Him' you're talking about is the guy we encountered last night being chased by the angel... and the first 'Him' I mentioned just now is the thing outside the paper."

"Because there are no more ta's that can be used, so as long as it's powerful enough to be recognized, the concept of ta is almost the same for us."

"People can crush ants, and tanks can also crush ants. For ants, based on the fact that 'they can crush me,' there is no difference between people and tanks. But the problem is, in the eyes of tanks, there is not much difference between people and ants."

Hearing this, Mao Feiyang felt his scalp tingle, and a chill ran down his back.

Lin Yi also.

At this moment, he really felt how small he was.

It seemed that in the face of that level of existence, the line between life and death was blurred, because the life and death you cared about might not be noticed at all in the eyes of the other party.

《I accidentally passed by your world, and your world was destroyed》

《I destroyed your world, but I didn't even know it》

At this moment, he really felt a sense of insignificance and powerlessness, as if he were a child building a sandcastle on a beach, naively thinking that the sandcastle was indestructible.

But the sea doesn't need to launch a tsunami at all, just a small wave can flatten the sandcastle.

The grinning angel was already close to unsolvable for them, but they could only get a precept of "the mist-covered light chaser will eventually become a phantom"... emmmm... this precept doesn't seem to be for the angel sculpture, but Mao Feiyang thought, maybe it's about the same.

No matter how powerful and terrifying, they are just insects chasing the light like moths...

Insignificant and sad.

Thinking about it this way, Lin Yi suddenly didn't think the grinning angel was so terrible. They were just some sad and pitiful bugs.

Well... compared to them, he was almost not even qualified to be sad.

Too small.

One is insignificant and sad.

The other is insignificant and ridiculous.

Insignificant things can't even grasp their own life and death.

Heh.

"Alas..." Lin Yi sighed faintly.

At this moment, Mu Daxian's voice sounded in his ear.

"It's done, let's get out of here!"

He saw Mu Daxian put the fourth petrified light bulb into the cloth bag, and then led Mao Feiyang to leave the deep forest.

The sky was already getting late at this time. The light of dusk made the shade in the depths of the dense forest extend outward, followed by some faint mountain mist.

Mu Daxian was bold because of his skill. Although the fog had already passed his calves, he was still calm and composed, like an explorer walking in the tropical rainforest.

But Mao Feiyang, as time passed, gradually began to approach Mu Daxian, for fear of any accidents.

The humanoid sculptures closer to the shadows were already exhibiting subtle movements, as if sensing the presence of Mu Daxian and Mao Feiyang. They seemed almost unable to resist the urge to turn and look at them, causing faint creaking sounds to emanate from their necks.

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“Ignore them,” Mu Daxian reminded. “Constantly remind yourself that they can’t see us.”

“The ‘sensing’ ability of sculpture-level pseudo-humans has a wide fluctuation range, but it won’t be higher than that of the lowest-level art student… Your information depth is higher than theirs. Even if they sense you, they usually won’t dare to attack you.”

Mu Daxian patiently explained.

“Firstly, we are all contaminators of extraordinary power, originally of the same origin, why must we fight each other so urgently… Just like I told you before, our essence is similar, except that we are ‘living’ contaminators, while they define themselves as ‘living,’ but in our definition, they are already ‘dead.’”

“Secondly, just like the laws of the animal world, their contamination level is not as high as ours. Therefore, like pigs and dogs fearing tigers and leopards, unless we reveal a major flaw, they cannot attack us.”

Mao Feiyang nodded, seemingly understanding: “What if we accidentally intersect with them?”

Mu Daxian waved the sculpture arm in his hand, saying nonchalantly: “Then get rid of them. The immortality of the group doesn’t mean the eternity of the individual, understand?”

“Seems like… I understand a little,” Mao Feiyang replied.

“Ah, you’ll understand these things slowly. Encounter some more ‘events,’ and you’ll become an experienced driver,” Mu Daxian laughed.

Mao Feiyang subconsciously quipped: “Isn’t it… that those who didn’t become experienced drivers are all dead?”

The corner of Mu Daxian’s mouth twitched slightly: “Your kid’s comprehension is really easy to flourish in these tricky angles… Cough cough, that’s right, only experienced drivers can survive on the battlefield.”

“There are only so many art students in the art building, right?”

“Because there are only so few… The ‘metabolism’ of art students is very fast, many are freshmen, so we will try to reduce the loss of new combat power, uh, no, casualties, and will try to escort you to grow up.”

“But I still want to leave. My roommates are waiting for me…” Mao Feiyang muttered softly.

“You can leave.” Mu Daxian glanced at Mao Feiyang, “Art students like me actually have the right to leave, but… at my level, I basically won’t leave the art building for personal reasons.”

“Ah? Why?”

“It might sound a bit ridiculous, but it’s mostly because of…” Mu Daxian suddenly stopped and glanced at the campus from the hillside.

The campus was built in a mountainous area. You can’t actually see the entire campus at a glance, or even a few teaching buildings. Golden light seemed to flash in Mu Daxian’s eyes.

At this moment, the sky in the west was filled with brilliant golden light. The sun, which had been hanging in the sky for a day without being able to shed much light, was also somewhat tired and came to the rolling mountains in the west, its face flushed red, shining brightly in its final moments.

It was hard to tell whether the reflection of the setting sun was in Mu Daxian’s eyes, or the golden glow belonging to the art student.

“Because…” His tone was very calm, without helplessness or unwillingness, only a long calmness, “…some kind of ‘responsibility,’ I guess.”

“Res…ponsibility?” Through Mao Feiyang’s eyes, Lin Yi looked at Mu Daxian’s face, which reflected the sunset glow. For some reason, he actually felt an unspeakable sense of sincerity from it.

“One evening in the future, if you also have the same feelings as I do now, then you will understand why I said that,” Mu Daxian said earnestly. “Look at this campus, isn’t it very peaceful now?”

“Yes.”

“This peace is an illusion, but… even if it’s an illusion, we need to try our best to protect it. This is the meaning of the existence of the art building.”

“Let’s go. Follow me to the place where that Tarzan dug the pit and take a look, and then we should prepare to report to the teaching building,” Mu Daxian patted Mao Feiyang’s shoulder and let out a long sigh.

“Go now?” Mao Feiyang widened his eyes. “Isn’t it time for dinner now?”

“It doesn’t matter if we miss this meal.” Mu Daxian shook his head, “In the past few days, we won’t be able to eat anyway. One more or one less meal makes no difference.”

“Uh… okay,” Mao Feiyang said.

After a while, the two arrived at the lamppost where the mountain man had dug the pit.

The excavation marks here were very heavy. The mountain man didn’t even intend to put the dug-out soil back, thinking that no one would come here.

Or, he simply didn’t care if anyone found out that there was a pit here.

Lin Yi didn’t feel anything when he was far away, but when he came here, he realized that the pit was not small at all, and it seemed to be a circle larger than the buried bag.

The point that Mu Daxian cared about was not the pit. He found that the fallen leaves piled up on the side of the lamppost had been pulled away, and there was also a strange symbol on the base, like a special mark.

The mark looked like a few circles drawn with white chalk along the pole of the lamppost, and no one would care about it even if they saw it.

Mu Daxian lightly touched the white circles, squinting his eyes and muttering: “It was premeditated…”

Mao Feiyang pondered: “Brother Xian, are you saying that someone buried something here, then made a mark, and let this Tarzan come here to retrieve it?”

“Well… the code name ‘Tarzan’ is too strange. Since he is a man, why don’t we take the word ‘mountain’ from Tarzan and change his code name to ‘Mountain Man’?”

Mao Feiyang pondered for a while, and it was surprisingly coincidental to give him the name Mountain Man.

“Don’t you think the name ‘Mountain Man’ is even stranger?” Mu Daxian said speechlessly, “Forget it, forget it, a two-character name is easier to remember than a four-character name. Mountain Man it is.”

“I see, this Mountain Man should be carrying out an organized and premeditated action. His exoskeleton was not brought in all at once, but in batches.”

“This also explains why his exoskeleton is not quite the same as I remember. It should be a modified part. When disassembled separately, it is some special mountaineering and camping equipment, protective gear, etc., but disassembled and reconstructed in another way, plus the things in another bag, it can be assembled into that exoskeleton…”

“Wonderful, there’s something to it.”

Thanks to book friend “usjdnshhs” for the reward!!