Rules-related weird stories: 4016

May 7, 2023, 11:53 AM, Student Restaurant, first floor of the cafeteria.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang obediently queued up at the serving window with a group of students.

The serving windows in the student restaurant were located directly ahead from the entrance, resembling the large, transparent glass windows used for dispensing medicine in hospitals, with a gap at the bottom for passing trays.

Each window had a conspicuous number on the glass, a red circle with a numeral inside, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 from left to right.

Serving windows 1 and 5 were located in the two corners of the student restaurant, where the light was dim, yet the lines were the longest.

Lin Yi curiously observed, then noticed that there were no serving windows numbered 6 through 9 on the first floor of the cafeteria.

"Serving windows 6 and 9 are on the second floor," Wei Liang said, seemingly understanding Lin Yi's question.

"Oh," Lin Yi nodded, acknowledging Wei Liang's explanation.

He and Wei Liang were in line at serving window 3, roughly in the middle of the cafeteria, where the light was brightest, providing a strong sense of security.

After responding, Lin Yi glanced at the long queue resembling a dragon and lowered his head, closing his mouth.

After what had just happened, he understood that there was a source of danger in the student restaurant not recorded in the cafeteria rules—the environment.

Or rather, the lighting.

The cafeteria rules clearly stated:

【The lighting in the student restaurant area is on 24 hours a day. Do not enter areas without light.

Stay away from dark corners of the cafeteria.

If the lights in the student restaurant flicker, immediately! Immediately! Leave the cafeteria through the [Student Passage] at all costs!

A cafeteria with the lights off is different from a classroom; there are no safe areas!】

It was written so clearly, but he had almost fallen into danger just now. If Wei Liang hadn't awakened him, he would have sunk into that inexplicable abyss.

He also realized that the difference between reality and imagination was as vast as the difference between clouds and mud.

Only by entering the cafeteria in person could one truly understand what the rules meant.

And sometimes, by the time you understood the meaning of the rules through personal experience, it might already be too late.

Yet, relying solely on reading the rules to understand them was simply absurd.

This cafeteria, at least the current student restaurant, due to the lighting, already had a light intensity similar to that of dusk, even though it was daytime.

The dim light filled the entire restaurant. One side of the cafeteria was filled with oblique shadows, like twilight, while the other side had no light at all, resembling a dark, dead corner.

Only the incandescent lights struggled to emit light, illuminating the cafeteria area brightly, but this light gradually dimmed from the center to the surroundings.

In the outermost areas, places with sunlight had brightness, while places without sunlight could only retreat into the shadows.

This environment reminded Lin Yi of a place—the corridor of the teaching building.

The same incandescent lights...

The same shadows...

The same "flickering lights" mentioned in the rules...

Everything was so similar.

But the difference between the cafeteria and the teaching building was that the shadowed areas in the cafeteria were truly too deep.

If the areas not illuminated in the teaching building were just small corners, then the areas not illuminated in the cafeteria were vast.

Moreover, with the shift in sunlight, this area was mobile.

Now at noon, the shadow area was the smallest. Once it was evening, it might cover serving windows 1 and 5.

Lin Yi's eyelids twitched slightly.

「If it really gets past 8:00 PM, then only a small area illuminated by the lights will remain in the cafeteria…」

【Stay away from the dark corners of the cafeteria. Do not enter areas without light!】

「The subject of ‘Do not enter’…is not just ‘people,’ but also includes…‘attention’!」

「Damn it…that means you can't even glance at it!」

「This is too harsh!」

Moreover...

「Although the cafeteria has incandescent lights on 24 hours a day, there is still the uncontrollable factor of ‘flickering lights’ and even ‘going out’!」

「A cafeteria with the lights off…」

【A cafeteria with the lights off is different from a classroom; there are no safe areas!】

Lin Yi subconsciously shuddered, quickly suppressing his thoughts, not daring to continue thinking in that direction.

He composed himself, followed behind Wei Liang, focused on Wei Liang's heels, and silently moved forward with the line.

Suddenly, a calm voice, with a hint of inquiry, rang in his ear:

“Excuse me, are you in line?”

Lin Yi was slightly stunned, then heard several more "Excuse me"s.

Confirming that the person was indeed asking him, he shifted his gaze from Wei Liang's heels and slowly moved it along the cyan-gray patterned floor tiles of the student restaurant toward the source of the voice.

But just as his neck turned slightly, a pair of legs wearing black shoes and white pants entered the corner of his eye.

As his field of vision widened with the turn, the hem of a dark green apron appeared in his sight…

His pupils contracted sharply, and a strong sense of crisis instantly surged from his heart, sweeping over him like a storm.

The tenth rule of the cafeteria rules instantly popped into his mind:

【When queuing for meals and during meals, do not respond to any communication requests from strangers around you. If you have companions, focus your attention on communicating with them, and ignore any abnormal situations around you.】

「Fuck!!!」 A huge "fuck" popped into Lin Yi's mind, then started breakdancing on his forehead.

Fortunately, Lin Yi had become a completely different person after a night of "wrestling" with the strange classmates.

Although his physical strength was somewhat overdrawn, at this moment, he didn't know where he squeezed out the strength from, and he actually tensed his body.

Like a robot suddenly having a certain action command deleted, his movements froze abruptly.

As if a pause button had been forcibly pressed.

Theoretically…he had not yet responded to the other party's "communication request".

「Gulp…」

Lin Yi tensed his body, his throat rolling slightly, and swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty.

Although not sleeping all night and the previous scares had made him feel very tired, at this moment, under the lash of a strong sense of crisis, his brain began to roar and gallop like a sputtering tractor, sputtering black smoke…

「Cafeteria rules! Teaching building rules! Damn! The teaching building rules are useless now!」

「What other rules are there?! Notice board? Student rules? Right, right, right! Student rules!」

"Student Handbook!"

Rule after rule erupted in his mind like a geyser!

Soon, in addition to the previous rule, he directly locked onto two more rules, one from the "Student Handbook":

[The cafeteria currently only has 9 open food windows, and the employees in each window are wearing blue aprons. If an employee wearing a green apron recommends the latest dish to you (especially spaghetti with tomato meat sauce), please ignore him. Remember, the cafeteria does not have tomato sauce, so be wary of any food that uses tomato sauce as a condiment.]

The remaining one comes from the "Cafeteria Handbook":

[Cafeteria employees have a uniform dress code. They wear white chef's suits and blue aprons, and wear name tags.

All cafeteria staff stay in the staff activity area and inside the food windows, and will not appear in the student dining area. If you find an employee appearing in the dining area, please ignore him.]

Without time to think about the connections between the rules, Lin Yi first substituted the current situation into the rules and made the first wave of temporary emergency analysis.

He has no time!

Because from the Cafeteria Handbook, cafeteria employees will not enter the student dining area at all!

Moreover, there is absolutely no f***ing chef with a green apron in the cafeteria!

There isn't even a green apron!

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"All the employees in the cafeteria are chefs in blue aprons, and they are staying in food windows 1 to 9!"

"So what the hell is this green apron guy... what is it?"

As soon as this thought came to his mind, he shattered the idea of thinking about it with a mental storm hammer.

Thinking about its problems in front of this d*ckhead is the biggest problem in itself!

"Don't think about it!"

"Don't look at it!"

"Don't..."

"Student."

A voice sounded abruptly, and a face broke into Lin Yi's sight.

This face was as pale as if it had been coated with a thick layer of foundation, with curved eyebrows and a standard smile on his face that seemed to have been meticulously calculated.

...

May 7, X023, 12:02.

On the first floor of the cafeteria, in the student dining area, at food window No. 3, in a long queue like a dragon, a chef in a green apron lay straight on the ground like a piece of wood, stretching his neck and bringing his face to Lin Yi's line of sight.

Lin Yi was originally nodding and looking at the floor tiles, but this chef in a green apron forcibly stretched his face in front of him, creating a wave of forced eye contact!

"F...ck?!"

Lin Yi's pupils, which had already shrunk, shrank directly to the size of pinholes at this moment!

What virtue or ability did he have to think that this guy could make such an anti-human operation!

"Please! There are students queuing everywhere, how the hell did you lie down by seizing every opportunity?!"

Eye to eye, an extremely cold air was born between his internal organs, and then collided back and forth in his body.

He felt that the light around him seemed to dim a lot...

This guy not only appeared in front of him, but also... happened to be lying in his shadow!

"Student, the cafeteria has recently launched a special set meal. Every freshman has a chance to enjoy the cafeteria's latest dish - spaghetti with tomato meat sauce - for free. Would you like to try it?"

The chef in the green apron opened his mouth, and the gentle and standardized smile did not make Lin Yi feel the comfort of thinking, but rather felt as uncomfortable as countless worms crawling on his body.

Lin Yi's face instantly turned pale, and an indescribable sense of fear exploded in his mind. His body trembled subconsciously, and his limbs were stiff and cold.

At this moment, there was still one last thought in his mind:

"Ignore it!"

"Absolutely! Absolutely! Ignore it!"

"Just pretend he doesn't exist at all!"

He emptied his attention, so that although he was looking at the chef in the green apron, his eyes gradually became empty.

This is a widely circulated but rarely used stunt, which Lin Yi taught himself when he was distracted in math class.

The most profound part of this stunt is that it can give people the illusion that they are looking at the blackboard and thinking deeply, but in fact the body has long been wandering in the sky.

Now that's what he's doing.

Sure enough...

In extreme cases, once he does this, the effect is far more powerful than thinking about black silk and beautiful legs!

Time was in a stalemate...

A layer of fine sweat gradually appeared on Lin Yi's forehead. He suddenly realized that although his stunt was powerful, there were also times when his eyes were sore, but the other party... it seemed like he didn't blink at all!

"Damn it... how can I let him know that I haven't noticed him at all?"

Just when Lin Yi was gradually showing signs of decline and felt that he was about to be exhausted, Wei Liang's urging came from the front of the team:

"Lao Lin, what are you doing? Come on, there's such a big space and the people behind are getting impatient!"

"Oh, you didn't get weak legs, did you?"

Wei Liang rushed to Lin Yi's side helplessly, grabbed Lin Yi's hand and dragged him to the front of the team.

"A savior has appeared..." Lin Yi's eyes were empty, but his heart was ecstatic.

Then, he found a foot appearing out of nowhere, stepping on the face of the chef in the green apron, like stomping out a cigarette butt, extinguishing the other party's eyes...

Lin Yi was stunned, and then he continued to hear Wei Liang's voice in his ear...

"Oh, damn, Lao Lin, be careful, the ground seems a little uneven..."

In just an instant, Lin Yi pulled out his gaze like a knife, refocused his empty eyes, and then followed Wei Liang closely to keep up with the crowd in front.

Just now, because he was looking at the chef in the green apron, the team in front of Lin Yi had moved forward a bit. Wei Liang noticed that Lin Yi hadn't kept up, so he turned back to call him.

It also seemed that because there were too many people in the queue, Wei Liang didn't see the chef in the green apron.

Seeing Lin Yi being taken away by Wei Liang, there was no change in expression on the face of the chef in the green apron.

He slowly got up from the floor tiles, his pale face still with the same curved eyebrows and a standardized smile.

What was different from before was that there was an extra shoe print.

He slowly turned his stiff body like a puppet, and his eyes gradually shifted from Lin Yi to Wei Liang.

He looked at Wei Liang's foot that had stepped on his face.

On the sole of Wei Liang's shoe, an unknown drop of dark red viscous substance was stained at some point.

Like tomato sauce.