Rules-related weird stories: 4016

Old Mo said, "One scale for each of you is enough. I don't need the extra one, so I'll leave it with you as a souvenir. You might even find it useful someday."

"One for each of us? A souvenir?"

Although Lin Yi was doubtful, he still reached out to take the two scales.

Each of these two scales was about the size of a palm. They were as flawless and smooth as precious jade, and didn't seem to come from any known scaled creature.

When he saw these scales, many thoughts flashed through his mind. For example, Li Hui Yuan's 'Mysterious Genealogy.' If these things weren't man-made, then they could only come from those so-called mysterious creatures.

Just as his fingertips touched the scales, he suddenly felt a strange sensation. At that moment, everything seemed to slow down, and even the surrounding light dimmed.

His 'Advanced Perception' was instinctively triggered, but not because of some unknown danger, but... purely to enhance his perception.

"Buzz..."

An indescribable, strange aura rippled out from his fingertips. He felt everything around him become illusory. The already dim and blurred light and shadows began to blur even further, while some ripples began to become more and more real.

"Is this 'Phantasmagoria,' or a layer drop, or... something else?!"

He shifted his gaze from the scales and clearly saw Old Mo's figure, but he couldn't see anything else.

Everything around him was erased by the concrete ripples. The surrounding scenery began to disappear bit by bit, leaving only a dark void beneath their feet, and the place where their feet stood began to spread ripples in all directions.

Around them, it was pitch black, with only a swirling, ghostly white mist, as if the two of them had arrived on a calm, dark lake shrouded in a vast fog.

This bizarre phantasmagoria made it impossible for Lin Yi to figure out what was going on for a moment.

But he had a strange premonition that if he let go, this scene would shatter and he would return to the dense forest.

But he also had another premonition that this kind of opportunity... was once in a lifetime. If he let go, he might never see such a scene again.

It was like a cutscene that could only be viewed once. If you clicked 'Skip,' you wouldn't be able to watch it again.

Before long, the void seemed to stir with wind, light and imperceptible, but the flowing mist traced and imprinted its path.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Old Mo stood still, but the mist behind him slowly rolled up. Soon, the world behind him gradually rolled up like a curtain being drawn open, or bedding being folded away.

Then, the gentle breeze blew away the thick fog, and turbid currents poured into the earth. The boundless darkness slowly unfolded like a scroll.

Deep within the mist, something huge seemed to be wriggling, and some subtle sounds began to echo in the empty void.

Gradually, gradually, some sound came from the calm black lake surface beneath their feet, which was now only rippling slightly...

"Clang..."

"Clang clang..."

"Clang clang clang..."

It was the sound of chains. No, not the sound of chains. Compared to that sound, it was more like... that long-lost sound that Lin Yi had once heard, the sound of cold metal scraping against neatly arranged blades.

It was the sound of metal clashing, crisp and rhythmic, like a butcher pushing his cleaver across a slab of pork.

At first, the 'clang clang clang' sound didn't seem like a problem, but as the sound waves intensified, goosebumps began to rise on Lin Yi's skin, and his hair stood on end subconsciously.

In the end, a strong, unknown, uncomfortable, and terrifying feeling of horror quietly spread out, enveloping him.

At this moment, a third ripple appeared on the dark lake—a strong ripple that could almost interfere with or even cover the ripples emitted by him and Old Mo!

And the source of that ripple was deep within the boundless dark void!

In the darkness, there seemed to be flickering things like candlelight!

"Clang clang clang... Clang clang clang..."

The sound of metal clashing became clearer and clearer, the ripples on the lake became denser and denser, and the thing in the darkness seemed to vaguely reveal its outline...

It seemed to be a head, a face, its form as huge as a small hill, like some ancient creature born before the dawn of civilization... The flickering, candle-like substance was its eyes.

A pair of huge golden eyes!

The oppressive feeling of a pair of huge golden eyes appearing in the boundless darkness was beyond description. Even Lin Yi was struck by lightning at this moment, nailed to the spot.

The golden eyes slowly emerged, so that only the area around the eyes was illuminated, while the other parts were blurred due to parallax.

Judging from the vague outline, it didn't seem to be a humanoid creature...

On the illuminated area around the eyes, some rugged, desolate mountain-like patterns could be vaguely seen. These patterns seemed to be somewhat regular, and from the details, they seemed to be... scales?

"I understand, it's its scales!"

Lin Yi instantly reacted. The scales in his hand came from this mysterious creature hidden in the mist and darkness!

"Hoo-ha-ha... Hoo-ha-ha..."

A huge wind rose in the darkness, like the breath of the mysterious creature, and in the violent wind, there also seemed to be some calls.

"Lin Yi! Lin Yi! Lin Yi!!"

The voice grew louder and louder. At first, Lin Yi thought it was the mysterious creature calling him, but he immediately realized it wasn't. This timbre... was Old Mo!

He looked at Old Mo in front of him!

Old Mo, who had seemed to be frozen, was now shouting at him, but no matter how Old Mo shouted, he couldn't hear the sound coming from Old Mo's mouth. On the contrary, the call seemed to have been rebroadcast by many middlemen, and finally reached his ears from the wind, full of the noise and static of a broadcasting station!

"Lin Yi! Lin Yi!"

Lin Yi looked at Old Mo and replied, "Old Mo, I hear you!"

Hearing this, a look of joy instantly appeared on Old Mo's face.

The next moment, Old Mo let go of the scale, turned around on this rippling dark lake, and faced the mysterious creature that towered like a mountain in the darkness.

Then, he reached out and pressed the pig-slaughtering knife at his waist, slowly pulling it out of its leather sheath.

"Buzz—"

Without any fancy or superfluous movements, when the pig-slaughtering knife was drawn, the entire dark space trembled along with it.

It seemed that the pig-slaughtering knife was Lao Mo's true form, and now… its sharpness was fully revealed.

Lin Yi's pupils contracted at this moment, and Lao Mo's aura began to skyrocket like a rocket.

"Buzz—"

Accompanied by the dragon-like humming sound, the entire void shook, and the dark lake surface surged with countless water droplets as if boiling.

In the next moment, a dazzling white light appeared in the dark void, as if someone had used a utility knife to cut open a piece of black paper, revealing the pure sky behind it.

The white light appeared suddenly, like an invisible chasm falling into the lake, cutting off the constantly spreading ripples and even tearing apart the darkness in front.

"Huff… huff…"

In the darkness, the huge mysterious creature slowly retreated, and the clanging sound of metal gradually faded away…

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The darkness receded like the tide, disappearing like ink being sucked dry, and the misty, gnarled ancient trees around gradually emerged as if rising from the water.

The illusion shattered, and Lin Yi's thoughts returned to reality.

Lao Mo was right in front of him, his hand already released from the two scales, but the pig-slaughtering knife was still in its leather sheath, as if it had never been drawn at all.

"Lao… Lao Mo… just now…" Lin Yi was a little nervous. The extremely dangerous scene just now seemed to have been caused by his conceit. If he hadn't insisted on taking another look, that scene might not have happened.

And if it weren't for Lao Mo, he would probably be in grave danger now.

Lao Mo's expression was still so calm: "A good thing."

Lin Yi was at a loss, completely clueless: "Huh? 'A good thing'? Lao Mo, are you kidding me?"

Lao Mo said: "Do I need to joke with you? Although the situation you encountered just now was not within the plan, becoming familiar with it in advance is at least better than being caught off guard."

"Of course, this happened because I underestimated your inspiration… Although I already overestimated you, I didn't expect it to be still not high enough. Fortunately, I prepared in advance, otherwise I would have to have another drink with you."

"This… what does that mean?" Lin Yi still looked confused.

"Don't worry, I'll explain to you as we walk." Lao Mo pointed not far away, "First put away the scales, put one in your bag, and the other… put it with your identification."

"Uh, okay!" Lin Yi was secretly surprised. Anything related to "identification" was not a simple matter, so he quickly put them away as instructed.

After that, the two of them walked one after the other in the depths of the dense forest.

Lao Mo explained: "Any intelligent creature, when first touching those scales, will be affected by the secret patterns contained within the scales, producing varying degrees of telepathy with the original owner of the scales…"

"'Telepathy'?!" Lin Yi was shocked. "Could it be sensing that mysterious creature?"

"However, most creatures can only vaguely produce some feelings, such as boundless darkness, floating mist, and those with higher inspiration can vaguely feel that something exists in the depths of the void…"

"Even higher, you can vaguely see some of the outline of that thing…"

"This kind of induction is to allow the person holding the scales to actively accept some aura from it, so as to avoid being targeted by 'angels' on the road ahead…"

"But what I didn't expect was that your inspiration was so high that it would attract its attention…"

"The good news is that you probably won't be targeted by 'angels' now."

"But the bad news is that you may have been glimpsed by that thing… I acted very quickly at the time, but I can't guarantee that you were absolutely not seen by it."

Lin Yi shivered and couldn't help but say: "It's 'angels' again and 'it' again? You haven't explained what that thing is, how did it involve 'angels' again, what's going on?"

Lao Mo waved his hand: "Don't worry, according to the original plan, I will explain those things to you after I give you the scales. Now, everything is still within the plan, but there are some 'harmless' little episodes."

Lin Yi wiped his sweat and thought to himself that you are of course "harmless", because the person who was hurt is me…

Although Lao Mo said so, Lin Yi could still feel that things were not simple through observing Lao Mo's dead fish face.

Because, at this moment, Lao Mo's face was somewhat unnatural…

Lao Mo sorted out his thoughts, and then slowly opened his mouth and said: "About the origin of 'it', we have to start with the 'Apostles'…"

"The 'Apostles' gradually depicted its image through the observation of the root, and engraved it on the observatory of the outpost through various secret patterns, totems, and symbols."

"These observations and studies have played a certain role in the later cultural origins of various places around the world… making similar worship appear everywhere, and that image has derived a large number of mysteries in later legends, 'Great Serpent', or… 'Dragon'."

"This is 'Dragon Scale'?!" Lin Yi opened his mouth wide and subconsciously touched the scales in his pocket.

"I only said two sentences, why are you so anxious again?" Lao Mo glanced at him, "It's just an image, or rather, a self-cognitive overwriting of the root or 'Him' by the 'Apostles' and the ancients. It's hard to say what the real situation is."

"The 'Apostles' carried out the initial 'creation'… trying to forcibly describe and shape in a world where 'all things cannot bear their gods', and imprint the image of 'Him'…"

"Later, because of the arrival of the Day of Destruction, this 'project' that had progressed to a certain extent was interrupted, and even the ruins were buried in unknown places."

"But later fanatics, after unremitting efforts and exploration, finally created… 'it' based on the clues left by the 'Apostles' and combined with the notes left by Da Vinci and Michelangelo."