AnalogHorror: Rule Kaidan 4016

The strangest thing is that sea smell. On the way, Lin Yi smelled a strong odor of rotten fish and shrimp, but upon arriving here, he couldn't smell it anymore.

Noticing Mao Feiyang wasn't responding for a while, he couldn't help but call out, "Maozi, Maozi, are you okay?"

It was then that Mao Feiyang's body twitched a few times, and he slowly sat up by supporting himself with his hands.

"I feel dizzy..." Mao Feiyang shook his head, "Like my soul was taken out and shaken for a bit before being stuffed back in..."

"Young Master Tian, are you still there?"

After several seconds, Tian Bufan's voice finally responded, "I'm here..."

Still the three of them together, Lin Yi and Mao Feiyang both breathed a long sigh of relief.

A false alarm, a false alarm... Lin Yi hurriedly comforted them.

"Young Master Tian, Maozi, I felt like I was falling into the contamination of 'Star Moon Night' just now..." Lin Yi quickly recounted his experience.

Unexpectedly, Tian Bufan said, "I was also pulled into 'Star Moon Night,' and I think Maozi was too."

Mao Feiyang said, "Trinity, certainly won't just contaminate one of us."

"So..." Lin Yi asked in surprise, "How do you feel?"

Tian Bufan's voice echoed: "I roughly found the coordinates of the 'Principal's Office,' how about you?"

Mao Feiyang said, "We found them too, Old Lin has the highest insight, you should have reacted too, right?"

"Uh, eh... emm..." Lin Yi was momentarily speechless, just about to pretend, Tian Bufan interrupted, "Alright, no need to force Old Lin into this, the coordinates are still too vague, we'll pinpoint them later."

"But speaking of it... it's remarkable that so much raindrops can float here."

Tian Bufan squinted and looked toward the dome.

Lin Yi also stared at the gentle rain curtain falling and said in astonishment, "Is there anything special about this rain? I thought it was drifting down from the map levels."

Tian Bufan promptly said, "This rain is different over here, it should be seawater from the Black Sea."

"Theoretically, regardless of map levels, rain shouldn't be able to drift in..."

"However, looking at the erosion of this circular stone wall, such erosion doesn't seem to have happened recently."

Lin Yi didn't quite understand, thinking that it seemed rainwater shouldn't considerably affect their actions?

But upon seeing Tian Bufan's serious and solemn expression, he instantly swallowed such thoughts.

There must be more to the issue.

Exactly!

Lin Yi's eyes brightened, rain itself wouldn't pose them any threat, but if even rainwater could erode its way in, then... what about those other extraordinary creatures, those dirty things?

"What we really need to guard against are those... dirty things that come with the rain?" he inquired aloud.

Tian Bufan firmly nodded: "The observatory is open-air, even though there's a transparent dome, you've seen it, rain cannot be blocked."

"Some nocturnal species that gnaw at perception will come to besiege us while we're looking for the 'Principal's Office' location."

"We have the bones of that guy from the well, so we won't be exposed too quickly, but exposure is inevitable sooner or later."

Lin Yi's expression tightened: "Then we really need to hurry..."

He immediately expanded 'Field of View Insight' and released perception tentacles, allowing them to spread freely across the observatory, rushing towards the location of 'Star Moon Night.'

However, a bizarre scene occurred, as Lin Yi's perception tentacles extended toward 'Star Moon Night,' the limited space of the observatory seemed to infinitely stretch, the 'Star Moon Night' that was originally within reach now seemed far away in the sky!

"What's going on? Why can't I get closer to 'Star Moon Night'... Is it hidden in some layer, and the wall mural on the circular stone wall is merely a display, not concrete?"

Using his perceptual ability, the more he tried, the more he contradicted the position of 'Star Moon Night'!

He thought he could reach 'Star Moon Night' as soon as he arrived at the observatory.

Wasn't 'Star Moon Night' a mural painted on the observatory?

Shouldn't it be accessible upon arrival, how could this be?

No—'Star Moon Night' is indeed a mural, but it shouldn't be unreachable!

What's even more bizarre is that even though he couldn't approach 'Star Moon Night' in terms of perception, he could easily see it with the naked eye.

This realistic proximity juxtaposed with map-level distance formed a contrast and absurdity unspeakable, as if Van Gogh was creating this painting, craving for it to be seen, yet not wanting other's perception to get tangled into it.

If that's the case, he could understand, after all, it is Van Gogh's work, desiring to see it must require some threshold.

Tian Bufan said, "No need to waste time, our goal isn't the 'Star Moon Night' on the stone wall."

"Ah?" Lin Yi was bewildered, momentarily unable to follow.

Tian Bufan continued, "Our goal is the coordinates of the 'Principal's Office' hidden in 'Star Moon Night,' not to analyze all Van Gogh's clues hidden within 'Star Moon Night'."

Lin Yi suddenly realized.

Like crafting a precise device, they only need to extract a component to use without hand-making it from scratch.

The difficulty between the two multiplies geometrically.

They don't need to waste time on it.

"So what should we do now?" he quickly asked.

"Maozi, go to the celestial sphere." Tian Bufan instructed.

"Celestial sphere?" Lin Yi was taken aback, "That celestial sphere is connected with 'Star Moon Night'?"

He was very surprised.

He had already noticed the celestial sphere earlier.

Even during the last consciousness arrival, he had noticed it.

More so, he suspected the celestial sphere might have some use, but... he never associated it with 'Star Moon Night.'

Thus, he followed Mao Feiyang's movements and looked again at the celestial sphere.

Now the observatory was empty, like an outdoor area completely cleared out, with only the celestial sphere connected to the bluestone foundation remaining.

The celestial sphere was cast in bronze, this material is rare within the 'Black Moon Outpost,' as the craftsmanship of the 'Divine Craftsman' could easily choose more resistant extraordinary materials for forging the celestial sphere.

Of course, it's possible the 'Divine Craftsman' originally chose such materials, only in long years, the celestial sphere was still eroded.

That detail, Lin Yi couldn't know.

But in terms of reality, this celestial sphere was already corroded beyond repair, the entire body covered with verdigris under the dim light, revealing intricate gears and ring structures—a multi-dimensional assembly resembling countless dials.

This celestial sphere, seemed as if it was a time mechanic... eroded by time.

Tian Bufan corrected, "Logic reversed, Old Lin, it's not the celestial sphere related to 'Star Moon Night' but 'Star Moon Night' related to celestial sphere."

In terms of era of origin, celestial sphere existed during 'Black Moon Outpost''s construction, whereas 'Star Moon Night' was born from Van Gogh's hand, in a 19th-century French mental hospital.

As Mao Feiyang moved toward the celestial sphere, Tian Bufan calmly said, "Vincent van Gogh, as one of the most outstanding figures in Art Department history, left no groundbreaking painting technique, isn't it peculiar?"

"Actually, it's not because he truly left nothing behind, but precisely because he left a painting skill nearly inaccessible to the world—'Dimensional Reduction Overwrite.'