"Song Rentou entered the school on the afternoon of the 2nd last month, participated in the roll call at 9 PM that evening, and then consistently attended roll call for the next three and a half days, but was missing for two days, only re-signing in on the morning of the seventh day before leaving the school area that afternoon."
"It seems normal, but the fact that he didn’t sign in for those three and a half days is a big problem..." Tian Bufan mused.
Lin Yi nodded and said, "Yes, but unfortunately, the class teacher at that time also seemed to have no knowledge of his whereabouts."
"That’s a hasty conclusion," Tian Bufan countered, "The class teacher definitely wouldn’t tell you all the information; she only shared Song Rentou’s attendance records because you provided the clue about the note."
"As soon as you left the office, she probably checked some records or something."
"So far, we have not encountered any ’identity’ in the School Building Area that could be responsible for the students’ behavior other than the class teacher; hence, I dare speculate that among the many measures taken by the class teacher, the sign-in list might just be the most basic recording method..."
A look of realization dawned in Lin Yi’s eyes.
Tian Bufan continued, "Let that bullet fly for a while, let’s see how the class teacher deals with Song Rentou’s case... Let’s talk about something else, have you made any progress?"
Lin Yi glanced at Wei Liang and said, "I have... related to H-manga."
Wei Liang was looking elsewhere, pretending ignorance.
Seeing this, Lin Yi continued, "The H-manga hides clues about successive Grey Mist Invasions, it’s just a bit chaotic..."
He then explained the specific method of interpretation, and Tian Bufan slightly nodded in response, "I’ll try this afternoon."
Lin Yi said, "Good, but be careful, taking in too much information at once can cause you to drop layers."
"Okay, I have my own measures," Tian Bufan replied.
Lin Yi then asked, "Have you found anything?"
Tian Bufan replied, "The information is limited. I was planning to talk to the Sports Student again, but unfortunately, not a single one of them came to class, which indicates that the situation on their side must be severe."
"So I spent some time circling the Teaching Building, mainly to check out the areas above the fifth floor and the basement of D Block."
Lin Yi inquired with surprise, "You can encounter them even when the weather is normal?"
Tian Bufan pondered and said, "I have a new hypothesis... The mountain was always there, we just couldn’t find the way in, so we thought there was no mountain. But the mountain is there, and sometimes you don’t necessarily need to enter it to see it."
Inspired, Lin Yi couldn’t help but say, "You mean... even during the day, D Block is actually there, we just can’t see it?"
Tian Bufan raised his hand, "This is the real world."
"There’s the back of the hand, and there’s the palm."
"But for some reason, in our perception, the world is ..."
"When the layers are abnormal, the fist turns into an open hand, and the pathway from the back of the hand to the palm extends out."
"In addition to the problem of moss production distribution you mentioned before, I reversed the spatial folding of D Block..."
Shocked, Lin Yi exclaimed, "What did you find?"
"I pinpointed the approximate location of Teaching Building D Block and the area above the fifth floor, but there’s no way to get there," Tian Bufan said, "Seeing the mountain and entering the mountain are indeed two different concepts."
"What’s interesting is that the Nocturnal species seem to have some power to move through layers..."
Lin Yi quickly pressed for details, "What do you mean?"
Tian Bufan said, "I caught a few Nocturnal species and threw them onto the corridor bridge I deduced to be part of D Block."
"Then what happened?"
"They penetrated toward the location of D Block at an extremely fast speed, like a puddle of liquid finding a drain grating, seeping right in."
"Of course, it’s a pity that they didn’t make it before being dried out by the sunlight."
"Hold on, how on earth did you catch Nocturnal species to experiment with?!" Lin Yi was a little disordered; didn’t this imply a contrary method to the Tiantang formation? Before, wasn’t it all about avoiding them, when did it start becoming offensive?"
Casually, Tian Bufan said, "Snakes are quite scary, but if you find the right method, snake meat can be delicious."
"Of course, I also found some interesting stuff..."
He said this and pulled out a petrified egg-sized sphere from his pocket, tossing it into Lin Yi’s hands.
Observing the sphere in his palm, Lin Yi’s eyes almost popped out as he exclaimed in shock, "Damn, isn’t this a light bulb?!"
Tian Bufan shrugged, "According to your description, I also spent some time looking for that ’battlefield.’ Coincidence or not, it happens to be near D Block, that is, the Library, and this is a remnant I found nearby."
"Look carefully, if you place it under the sunlight, you can clearly see it absorbing the sunlight."
Hastily, Lin Yi held it up to the sun.
A miraculous scene occurred; when faced towards the sun, the entire object became translucent, as though its stone-like surface vanished, revealing a crystal-clear spherical gem in its stead.
As it absorbed sunlight, a glaze-like sheen appeared on its surface...
Right then, Lin Yi once again heard that familiar ’clang clang clang’ sound of rushing wind beside his ear, and his vision started to flicker with black, white, and grey colors including some fragmented multicolored specks, as if an overly saturated animated scene was wildly bouncing in front of him. The gem in his hand at that moment seemingly turned into a blazing sphere of light, its concentric golden lines resembling electrified tungsten filaments became a scorching red gold color...