The Sneering Angel’s eyes emerged from between its fingers, golden and concentric, piercing through his thoughts like a blade and painfully stabbing his eyes!
With a sinister grin, the Sneering Angel revealed a sinister smile that sent chills down one’s spine.
Lin Yi slammed his hands on the table, leaning back abruptly and heavily against the chair.
He sank deep into the seat as if to shrink his entire mass into it.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
He gasped heavily, his forehead already covered in beads of sweat, and a fine layer of perspiration appeared on his back.
"I think I just thought of that Sneering Angel in the stairwell...?!"
The scene constructed in Lin Yi’s mind was the one Maozi had first encountered the Sneering Angel.
But different from his memory, in his fantasy the Sneering Angel had actually turned to look at him!
Moreover, that sinister smile was so vivid, as if the Sneering Angel truly saw him!
Even... Lin Yi felt he was starting to become a bit confused. He found himself struggling to remember whether the Sneering Angel had turned around before...
Definitely didn’t turn!
"Damn it..." Lin Yi suddenly realized something, felt a chill in his whole body, "The Sneering Angel... is overriding my cognition?!"
"... Perhaps it is a kind of quantum state life form..."
"... To this day, no way has been found to eradicate them..."
Voices began to flicker through Lin Yi’s mind, those of Tian Bufan, Mu Daxian, but they all eventually melded into an alien yet familiar voice.
It was as if something exploded in Lin Yi’s mind, reminding him of phrases used by the Nocturnal Species and Pseudo-Humans: "I see you," "I know you’re watching me," "Quick, look at me"...
If contamination’s levels are continuously increasing, there must be some similarities and slight enhancements between them, like... "seeing"?
Could it be... that to be targeted by the Angel Sculpture, one must first "see" them?!
Similar to mutual anchoring... mutual locking?
Then, like layers infiltrating each other, could an intermingled and mutually infiltrative section be completed in a particular layer?
And then... the Sneering Angel could launch an attack?
Lin Yi’s eyes flickered, thinking... could my recent memories form some sort of bizarre ’quantum entanglement’ with the Sneering Angel?
"It can’t be that weird... right?" Lin Yi couldn’t help but think.
He composed himself and looked at the notebook again, when suddenly, his whole body jolted and his pen almost flew out of his hand.
He stared blankly at his notepad, which now bore crude, frenzied lines, seemingly drawn from some bizarre muscle memory and illogical pen movement in a recent "frenzied sleepwalking" episode.
In the drawing, it seemed possible to see the Sneering Angel turning around, and also possible to see a pair of golden eyes with concentric circles...
"Could my guess be right, that the light bulb... might actually be the eyes of the Angel Sculpture?!"
If so, it might also somewhat explain why the Nocturnal Species and the Pseudo-Humans dare not approach the light poles, as they are inherently afraid of the Angel Sculpture.
But if not, then what is the light bulb?
He looked at the messy lines on this page of his notepad, growing more anxious and confused, then he tore the page out, folded, and started to tear it repeatedly, finally making a pile of shredded paper.
He stood up, threw the shredded paper into the trash can at the back of the classroom.
Wei Liang was disturbed by Lin Yi’s movements, watching his back, puzzled, then glanced at the notebook.
Because a page had been torn out, Wei Liang looked at nothing but a blank space, and for some reason, he frowned, but soon after, he turned his attention back and continued reading his adult comic.
On the other side, just as Lin Yi had thrown the scraps into the trash can, he suddenly felt an eerie sensation as if something were watching him.
Following that feeling, he turned around to catch a glimpse of Song Rentou in the corner of the classroom.
Having been spotted by Lin Yi, Song Rentou first looked startled, but instead of dodging, he nodded towards Lin Yi.
Caught off guard, Lin Yi pretended nothing had happened, avoided Song Rentou’s gaze, and silently returned to his seat.
He was not feeling well, just a look was enough for Song Rentou to focus on him.
Moreover, Song Rentou had previously said something— "Have we met before?"
If they had met, how could he have no recollection of it?
But if they hadn’t met, what explained that sense of familiarity?
So this was bad news— he had caught Song Rentou’s attention.
But everything is relative, with bad news there’s good news.
The good news is... precisely because Song Rentou felt that strange familiarity, he was bound to focus on him eventually. The silver lining was, he had an early close encounter with Song Rentou, and during that encounter, he had detected some hints and received some warnings.