Rules-related weird stories: 4016

Mao Feiyang repeatedly chewed over these words, then seemed to memorize them all before continuing to turn the page:

“The Art Building is one of the most unique buildings on campus. Within the Art Building area, please prioritize adhering to the rules of the 'Art Department,' and refer to other rules as appropriate. In the event of a conflict with the 'Art Department' rules, please follow the 'Art Department' rules.”

“Please remember the following rules to ensure you can quickly adapt to the artistic life:”

“1. Do not be confused by the Art Building's architectural style being so different from that of S City University.”

“To enhance the artistic atmosphere, the Art Building used some Gothic and Baroque architectural styles during construction. If you see the word 'Castle' in your usual documents, please silently assume it refers to 'Art Building.'”

“To create an artistic atmosphere, our school is testing a cutting-edge technology that can create virtual environments. Therefore, if you find that the castle is built on a cliff, and there is an ocean below the cliff, please remain calm and tell yourself that these are just illusions, or tell yourself—the campus environment should be like this.

Note: Absolutely do not doubt whether you are on campus because of the realistic environment.”

“2. All lighting in the castle comes from sunlight and candlesticks. Do not go to areas without any lighting, and do not casually enter or exit unfamiliar rooms that you do not understand.”

“The castle is in the night for a long time, so most of the lighting is provided by candlesticks.”

“Due to design issues, a very strong wind occasionally blows through the castle, but you don't have to worry about the candles, they will not go out.”

“3. Twisting and stretching phenomena rarely occur in the castle. If you encounter this situation, keep yourself in the illuminated area of the candlestick until the phenomenon disappears.”

“4. Since the castle is always under renovation, the only areas currently open to you are the art classroom and the observation deck.”

“The observation deck can be reached directly through the internal passage of the art classroom and can be used for sketching or viewing. You can go there at any time during art class.”

“When entering or leaving the art classroom, simply confirm that the doorplate is marked as 'Art Classroom,' without needing to pay attention to the classroom number.”

“When entering or leaving the art office, you need to knock on the door and enter only after receiving an invitation from the art teacher.”

“5. The gallery and sculpture classroom are located deep in the castle and can only be entered during class, led by the art teacher.”

“6. A large number of sculptures are distributed throughout the castle, all of which are from the hands of masters.”

“Since the castle is always under renovation, the sculptures have not been housed in the sculpture classroom.”

“Please consider the 'sculptures in the Art Building' as a completely new creature and do not be afraid of the forms they exhibit.”

“The sculptures are humanoid full-body statues that appear to be made of pure white plaster. They are usually stationary, but may move or become active under special circumstances.”

“If you encounter this situation, please tell yourself in your heart: 'Sculptures themselves can move.' Absolutely do not raise any questions that directly or indirectly affect your perception on the question of 'whether sculptures can move.'”

“7. When you are active in the castle, please make sure you are within the range of natural light or at least the light of a candlestick.”

“When you or the sculpture are within the range of light, you are safe and the sculpture is harmless.”

“8. If you find sculptures outside the range of light, and they are following you, do not be afraid, this is normal in the castle.”

“If you find that more than three sculptures are approaching you with you as the target, please take the following measures according to the sculpture type:”

“1. If it is a bust sculpture, please do not worry.”

“2. If it is a humanoid sculpture, please go to the art classroom or art office as soon as possible and inform the art teacher, who will protect you.”

“3. If it is a non-humanoid sculpture, please go to the gallery, stop at the entrance of the gallery, and wait for them to disperse on their own before leaving.”

“4. If it is an angel sculpture, please ignore rule 5, enter the gallery and run all the way while calling out the three words 'Night Watchman.' You will run out of the gallery and encounter the 'Night Watchman.' Tell the 'Night Watchman' about encountering the 'angel,' and he will protect you.”

Note: Entering the gallery in non-emergency situations is at your own risk.”

“If you violate any of the above rules, the protective effect of all rules will become invalid for you. Please rely on your own judgment to survive.”

“Dear art students, I wish you a wonderful artistic journey in the Art Building.”

Turning to the last page, there were also three words that made Mao Feiyang and Lin Yi feel that the style of painting had suddenly changed: “Add oil, yo~”

Add oil… Add oil your back, is it?

I'll add oil to your sister… Both of them were too weak to complain about the perverted and sudden change in the style of the Art Building rules.

Mao Feiyang read it little by little, and Lin Yi was also desperately memorizing it…

“Damn, these rules are a bit damn long…” Lin Yi cursed in his heart, thinking, no wonder it needs to be written in such a thick booklet!

But despite this, he gritted his teeth and memorized it painstakingly.

Fortunately, Mao Feiyang turned the pages very slowly, and started memorizing after reading it once, which gave him a lot of time to memorize.

However, Lin Yi quickly discovered that the Art Building rules seemed very long, but some of the content had actually fallen into his cognition.

For example, the first one—about the architectural style of the Art Building and the sophisticated technology of the virtual environment that was trying to cover it up…

This rule might deceive Mao Feiyang, but under his current cognitive environment, he immediately analyzed why this rule was written like this.

The main reason is that the rule-makers were afraid that the “truth” of the Art Building would be too strange and frightening, so they deliberately used an entire rule to cover up the problem of the Art Building's layer.

And this immediately explained why the student rules said that the Art Building was not marked on the map.

Damn, it's not even on the same layer, how can you mark it?

Could it be that you poke a hole in the map and then point an arrow to the back?

Unrealistic, completely unrealistic.

This is like how the head teacher specifically used the saying that “the school is conducting a joint anti-terrorism and anti-riot drill with a special unit” to cover up the truth of the sculptures and non-human students attacking the experience students, in order to appease the fear of the experience students.

As Tian Bufan said:

People will lose part or all of their sanity in extreme fear. At this time, they will believe whatever you say. Because what he lacks is not the answer to the unknown, but a reason that can give him a sense of security.

Another example is the second rule, the “old saying” about lighting.

When he learned from Tian Bufan that normal art students would join forces with sports students to deal with non-human classmates, he vaguely guessed this—that art students, to some extent, should be similar to normal students and also protected by the light.

What truly gave Lin Yi a "novel" feeling was the undisguised definition of "sculptures" in the art building's rules.

In this definition, Lin Yi couldn't distinguish how much of it was the school trying to "overwrite" the "perception" of those reading the rules.

Firstly, sculptures are usually static, and the fact that they move in special circumstances is very counterintuitive.

Sculptures are inherently static objects, and it's impossible for them to move, but the rules blatantly give them a definition that they can.

But Lin Yi quickly understood the basis for doing so.

Combining Tian Bufan's description and his first impression of the sculptures, it was clear that the school was treating the "sculptures within the campus" as a completely new species.

「The true form of the sculptures should be a humanoid figure pieced together from broken glass, with dazzling colors that cannot be described with words...」

「But under certain circumstances, they seem to lose all color and look like white plaster sculptures shrouded in mist...」

「Clearly, the school doesn't want to use overly complex concepts to define these things that defy physical understanding, so they directly use 'sculpture' to define them.」

「Moreover, the definition of 'sculpture' is really great; it perfectly solves the problem of people who see sculptures becoming mentally confused due to unclear recognition...」

Can't see clearly? Don't know what it is?

Simple, it's a sculpture.

Holding this thought, art students subconsciously have the concept of "sculpture" first. Upon seeing it, they think, 'Oh, not bad, it really is a sculpture.'

What shocked Lin Yi was that the art building's rules not only defined sculptures but also divided them into four types!

Half-body sculptures, humanoid sculptures, non-humanoid sculptures, and angel sculptures.

This was the first time he knew that sculptures had types, and it was also the second time he had seen the words "angel sculpture" in the rules.

「Angel sculpture...」 Lin Yi's expression turned solemn.

What did the other set of rules where angel sculptures appeared—the gymnasium rules—say about angel sculptures?

【If you see a humanoid angel sculpture placed on the ground by someone in the gymnasium, please rush to the office immediately, hold your student ID tightly, push the door open, then close your eyes and inform the gym teacher of the situation.

Absolutely do not seek help from sports students when you find a humanoid angel sculpture!】

Absolutely do not seek help from sports students, but seek help from the gym teacher!

And in the art building, you need to seek help from a mysterious figure—the "Night Watchman"!

Whether from the perspective of breaking the situation or from other aspects, it undoubtedly illustrates one problem: angel sculptures are too powerful.

So powerful that it requires violating the rule that "under normal circumstances, one must not enter the gallery."

Moreover, as the base camp of sports students, when an angel sculpture appears in the gymnasium, you are not even allowed to seek help from the local sports students!

If you seek help from sports students, I'm afraid the sports students will be killed by the angel sculpture.

Lin Yi recalled the scene of the sculpture group that Mao Feiyang saw when he left the stairwell...

Dense sculptures scattered in the stone paths of the flowing stalactite cave, some hanging upside down from the cave ceiling like bats, some maintaining a posture of fear and distortion, and some standing there indifferently, looking at him with resentment...

These sculptures are not only humanoid but also in the form of some unknown beasts. What's even more terrifying is that most of them are incomplete, looking like a garbage dump filled with trash.

「It seems that those incomplete ones are half-body sculptures, and the beast forms and those pieced together from many things are non-humanoid sculptures...」

Lin Yi gradually clenched his teeth.

Compared to the evasive other rules, the art building rules explain the existence of sculptures to art students without any concealment and directly state a problem from the front—the existence of sculptures is an extremely serious and terrifying problem for the art building!

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but take a long breath, deeply feeling the danger of the art building.

Besides this, what Lin Yi found most mysterious was the "Night Watchman" unit.

【If it is an angel sculpture, please ignore Rule 5, enter the gallery and keep running, and call out the words 'Night Watchman'. You will run out of the gallery and encounter the "Night Watchman", tell the "Night Watchman" about encountering the 'angel', and he will protect you.】

This is too...

Sounds too cool, right?

Night Watchman!

These three words instantly maxed out the coolness of this super powerhouse!

"Night Watchman, ah, Night Watchman..." Not only Lin Yi, but even Mao Feiyang couldn't help but be dazed when he saw this name.

He seemed to see a towering figure standing in front of the art building under the night, watching over a world!

「Wait...?！」

「Night Watchman?！」

A strange look suddenly flashed in Lin Yi's eyes.

Repeatedly chewing on the words "Night Watchman", the image of a certain person gradually became richer in his memory.

Then, he stood upright in his mind, never to be dispelled!

That figure... whom he had seen twice in his visions!

A figure wearing a black trench coat, holding an ancient green lamp, standing like an iron tower on the edge of a cliff against the roaring sea wind!

That figure standing in front of a Gothic castle full of wild Cubist and futuristic abstract styles under the dark sky and the dark sun!

Gothic castle!

Castle!

Art building!

Night Watchman!!

「That's the art building...!」

「'He' is... the Night Watchman!!」

A monstrous wave surged in Lin Yi's heart. His intuition told him that was the Night Watchman. Besides the Night Watchman, no other title could match that person!

So, he had already met the Night Watchman!

Moreover, the environment in that vision was almost identical to the castle described in the art building rules!

Gothic castle, cliff, and... an ocean!

「Two layers! Two worlds! My guess is correct, and Young Master Tian's deduction is also correct!」

Gradually falling layers, twisted and overlapping unknown spaces!

The existence of the art building rules also fundamentally confirmed the correctness of Lin Yi's speculation!