Rules-related weird stories: 4016

Chapter 345: "Corpse Bone Forest" and "Starry Night"

“Phew… phew… phew…”

As he continued to advance, Lin Yi's breathing gradually became heavy, and his breathing showed signs of becoming erratic.

Sensing something, he suddenly looked towards a certain spot deep within the dense forest—he saw a tree in bloom.

Snow-white flower buds were waiting to bloom, clustered together in clumps, but no matter how you looked at them, they felt awkward.

He took a closer look, and instantly his hair stood on end.

That wasn't a flower bud at all, but clearly countless small skulls, gathered together and placed on the treetops to form a bizarre skull flower!

Set against the backdrop of swirling, ghastly white mist, the ghastly white skulls covering the tree seemed to come alive, murmuring some strange tune through the wailing wind.

When the wind blew, the skulls all over the tree rustled and swayed.

And what was even stranger was that, with the appearance of the first tree covered with large eyeballs and skulls, more and more similar trees began to emerge in the dense forest. They loomed in and out of the mist, abstract and eerie, exuding an aura of strangeness.

As he walked, the mountains and plains were covered with such gnarled ancient trees. Some trees seemed to have grown hands and feet, and what should have been leaves had turned into one hand and foot after another, but their roots were still in the soil, and they couldn't be pulled out at all.

The plants on this road seemed to have broken free from the limitations of conventional "plants", changing from "plants" to some kind of mixed "animal" and "plant" life form, but if you observed more carefully, you would find that those changes that were contrary to the normal biological spectrum all carried a tendency similar to sculpting.

Those things were like organs made of milky white gelatinous substances, grafted onto the old trees and growing continuously.

Whether it was eyeballs, hands, feet, or other trunks and organs, they all seemed to be independent of each other.

“So, is this ‘scenery’ beautiful or not?” Lao Mo said calmly.

Lin Yi withdrew his gaze and asked with some horror: “What are those…?”

Lao Mo said: “These things are called ‘Corpse Bone Forest’… It is one of the ‘research results’ created by the fanatical believers.”

“Those things you see are all ‘spare parts’ that can be used to assemble the larvae of the Wrathful Angel, or to repair the injuries on your own body… Of course, some will directly replace a part of their body.”

“For example, changing an eye, changing other parts of the body, something like that…”

Lin Yi widened his eyes: “Damn, what cybernetic ascension is this?”

Lao Mo didn't seem to understand the meaning of "cyber", nor did he intend to study it, and continued: "The growth of these things is also affected by 'It', carrying 'It's' aura, similar to a certain passive effect of the scales. It is because of this that those fanatical believers have the opportunity to pick up the scales in 'It's' territory.”

“I thought they were plucked…” Lin Yi said weakly.

Lao Mo said: “'It' has already broken away from the life form of 'artificial creation'. It will grow and shed its skin like a snake. The scales are what it sheds, and they also contain transcendent power far beyond the matrix.”

“And the reason why ‘It’ has its current size is because every time it sheds its skin, it will become even larger. If this place were not a gap in the layers but a certain area in reality, it would have been observed long ago.”

Lin Yi's mind immediately conjured up the scene of a giant serpent the size of a mountain appearing in S City University…

In front of “It,” the size of those mountains was simply not enough to see. The gymnasium might only be the size of an “egg,” who knows…

At this time, Lao Mo asked: “What time is it now?”

Lin Yi withdrew his gaze and glanced at his watch: “22:34.”

Lao Mo nodded: “Almost there, perk up, this road is about to have problems.”

Lin Yi quickly focused his attention.

Sure enough, at 22:35, Lin Yi began to feel some illogical changes in the ground beneath his feet. The originally soft sand began to become soft and limp like fat, and stepping on it also gave him a feeling of losing his balance.

After walking a few steps, he felt that his center of gravity had also shifted to varying degrees. One step swayed to the left, and the next rushed forward, like stepping on a waterbed with excessive extensibility.

And the trees around him also began to show the kind of distortion that had only appeared in his hallucinations before.

Large swaths of trees began to sway like seaweed, as if they had lost their original toughness. The whole world seemed to be imprinted on a hypergeometry that violated geometric rules, causing a distortion that was simply impossible to discern with the naked eye.

Lin Yi looked at Lao Mo and was surprised to find that Lao Mo seemed to have merged with the environment and was also distorted!

“You are going with the flow.” Lao Mo’s voice rang in Lin Yi’s ear. He didn’t help Lin Yi, but began to teach Lin Yi.

“Keep your eyes on the road under your feet.”

“Don’t observe its distorted shape… Find the unchanging point in its movement, reduce the sense of distortion in your eyes, and make it appear relatively ‘normal’ in your perception.”

Lao Mo's words made Lin Yi feel very confused and even completely incomprehensible.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, just follow me and do it first.” After Lao Mo said that, he slowed down and seemed to be waiting for him.

However, this stopping action still looked distorted beyond recognition in Lin Yi's eyes.

So Lin Yi tried to take a step.

As soon as he stepped on it, the ground seemed to come alive and kept wriggling. He couldn't keep up with that frequency, but a golden light began to appear in his eyes.

"Advanced Perception" was activated, and everything around him began to slow down, even the wriggling of the earth became slow.

Lin Yi began to carefully feel the changes, looking for the so-called “unchanging point in motion” that Lao Mo mentioned.

Lao Mo originally wanted Lin Yi to explore slowly, but he quickly reminded him when he sensed something: “A line is made up of countless points, but the concept of a ‘point’ is too subtle for you. Enlarge your observation surface slightly…”

“Imagine that you are walking on an unstable suspension bridge, and under your feet are pieces of swaying wooden planks, but whether it is a wooden plank or something else, there is a pattern to it…”

“‘Pattern’… wooden plank bridge?” Lin Yi had great comprehension and naturally understood immediately, “Are you saying, don’t be obsessed with the whole, first sort out the road under your feet?!”

Seeing that Lin Yi had enlightened, Lao Mo quickly said: “The waves are endless, but we only need to find one wave and reach the other side along with the wave!”

Lin Yi said excitedly: “I understand!”

“It’s not enough to just understand, move!” After Lao Mo said that, he quickened his pace, leaving Lin Yi plenty of “catching up” space.

Lin Yi took a deep breath and stopped focusing on the surrounding seaweed-like distorted environment, concentrating all his attention on the limited space in front of him.

He walked, measuring each step, feeling the distortion within three steps, and observing the ripples within ten steps.

Like a child learning to walk, he stumbled along, his movements very awkward, yet he still managed to place each step within a safe range. Moreover, his progress was rapid; within minutes, he could smoothly walk on the distorted ground.

At this point, his observation distance was far enough to include Old Mo's back view.

Interestingly, the figure of Old Mo, which was extremely distorted in his initial perspective, now appeared no longer distorted when he observed it. The road beneath his feet was also not as constantly distorted as before, and the feedback he felt when stepping on it had become much more "normal."

And this feeling of "normalcy" was becoming "even more normal"\n

"It's 'overwriting'!" Lin Yi suddenly understood something. "I've overwritten the abnormalities of the surrounding environment onto my own perception of the environment! It's not that the environment has become normal, but that I've integrated into this environment!"

In Old Mo's words, it meant that he had matched the frequency of the swaying wooden plank bridge.

"I've tuned myself from the original 'channel'… to the same 'channel' as the distortion waveband of this road?!"

In fact, there was no need to talk about "channels"; this was a change on the "layer," a permeation from the first layer of the napkin to the second or even third layer!

After a few more minutes, the road beneath his feet was no longer distorted at all, and Old Mo's back view had also become extremely normal.

Old Mo sensed his change, turned to look at him, and a very awkward look of relief appeared on his dead fish face: "Not bad, not bad, your speed of adapting to the environment is really too fast… I'm even starting to suspect if you're a chameleon."

Lin Yi chuckled: "You taught me well."

"Barely passable, let's stop the mutual flattery here." Old Mo made an X with his fingers, then said, "The road you're walking on now is the third stage leading to the art building."

"More precisely, only by walking on this road have you truly come into contact with the world where the art building is located… that world."

Lin Yi's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he quickly looked at the surrounding environment.

"This… what is this like?!"

"Take a good look; this is definitely a 'scenery' you've never seen before."

What was presented before Lin Yi's eyes was indeed an unprecedented world that he couldn't even imagine.

The dense forest that originally grew around him had become distorted and rugged lines, mainly in green and dark tones. The mist had also turned into white纹路, clustered here and there, surrounding one different center point after another, forming spiral turbines one after another.

From a distance, this was a world full of whirlpools. What was originally just ordinary distortion had now formed whirlpools of varying sizes.

Such a world shocked Lin Yi greatly, and at the same time, he thought of a world-famous masterpiece—

"'The Starry Night'?!"

Hearing Lin Yi's exclamation, Old Mo was stunned for a moment. He then laughed and said: "Is it?"

Lin Yi's shock was beyond words. At this moment, he was as if he had been thrown into 'The Starry Night,' with the starry sky filling the sky just like the whirlpools now!

"This… is this really 'The Starry Night'?!"

"Are you dreaming?" Old Mo denied unceremoniously. "It's just a resemblance. Observing the outside world in this kind of layer gives you this kind of similar picture. It's like umbrellas with different patterns on the oil paper. When they are folded up, the patterns exposed on the surface of the umbrella body are almost the same as long as the color schemes are similar."

"Oh…" Lin Yi seemed to understand.

"To put it bluntly, you think chimpanzees all look the same, but each one is actually different. If you're not an expert, you can't tell the difference. The principle is similar."

"Oh, I understand."

In this world full of whirlpools, the road beneath their feet became the only straight staircase.

And this scenery was indeed magnificent, as if it presented the world in another form before him.

Lin Yi couldn't help but say: "How is this formed?"

Old Mo shook his head and said: "I don't know. Perhaps you can write them down and savor them slowly when you have time in the future. If you can understand the mysteries here, you may also be able to gain some inspiration to crack 'The Starry Night'."

Lin Yi was surprised and said: "'Inspiration to crack 'The Starry Night'?' Are you talking about the 'Starry Night' in the art building?"

"You even know this. Are you still saying you're not from the official side?" Old Mo laughed. "An intern student knows some things that 'intern students couldn't possibly know'."

This was not easy to explain. Lin Yi could only smile wryly and brace himself to accept it when he heard this.

Then, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Oh, right, can you tell me what 'The Starry Night' is?"

Old Mo said: "Everyone knows that it is a painting left by Van Gogh in the art building, but everyone also knows that it is not just a painting."

"Uh, isn't this nonsense literature…?"

Lin Yi had just complained in his heart when Old Mo continued: "Then, by chance, some people found the law of 'layer transition,' which is the 'scenery' you see now."

"The first 'Apostle' to stabilize the layer's vision observed such a scene and also realized that there were some similarities between it and 'The Starry Night'…"

"After a long exploration and intense discussion of layer transition, the 'Apostles' came to a consensus—that is, coordinates."

"'Coordinates'?!" Lin Yi's pupils shrank slightly.

"Yes, coordinates." Old Mo nodded and said completely, "[The 'Starry Night' is very likely to be a coordinate], a coordinate that can only be found during layer transition, a coordinate corresponding to endless mysteries and transcendence!"

"So Van Gogh, he…"

"So Van Gogh left something in a certain location on the Grand Line, leaving a positioning coordinate, and said, 'I've left everything there, find it if you want it'?"

What the hell is this transcendent One Piece?!

Vincent D. Van Gogh?!

The words of complaint rolled in his stomach, but Lin Yi didn't utter a single word in this context. Instead, he continued: "So Van Gogh, he… left something behind?"