Chapter 259 (Chapter 258) Comic Book Reality
Yan Shi felt that there was nothing more embarrassing in life than this.
She paused for a moment, poked at the loose pebbles on the wall with her fingers, and after much deliberation, decided to jump off the wall first.
During his high school years, Yan Shi would skip classes, climb over the wall, and leave early, but he was never caught.
Unexpectedly, after starting work, I actually ran into someone doing it.
Heel landed, dust flying everywhere.
When Yan Shi looked up after going down, he realized that the girl was actually in a much worse state.
Her exposed knees and calves were covered in scrapes and bruises, stained with gravel and dried blood, and her shoes were covered in dust.
The hem of her skirt must have been torn by hand, with loose threads still hanging unevenly on it.
After Yan jumped down, the girl instinctively took a step back, then pinched herself hard.
Upon discovering that the pain was very real, she looked at Yan Shi with a mixture of joy and bewilderment.
Under Yan Shi's scrutinizing gaze, she lowered her head nervously, her fingertips clenching the hem of her skirt.
"Do you know me?" Yan Shi asked.
The girl looked up again, almost blurting out, "How could anyone not recognize Director Yan!" Her voice was filled with excitement. "Teacher, your cosplay is so accurate!"
"Is there any anime convention at Tonghai High School recently?" the girl asked uncertainly. "Several private cosplayers from the Bureau of Eccentricities came."
"But Teacher, your Yanju looks the most like him! Ahhhhhh!"
Yan Shi: ...
She felt that Tonghai High School probably didn't have any anime conventions.
The missing enforcement team has been found.
"What's wrong with you?" Yan Shi interrupted her, his gaze falling on her calves.
The girl chattered excitedly, but upon hearing this, her spirits dampened: "Teacher, you're so kind."
"You shouldn't have come."
"You might not believe it," she said with a wry smile, "but paranormal events actually happen in real life."
"This place is shrouded in mist, and none of us can get out."
Yan Shi remained calm: "What's going on?"
She spoke calmly, her gaze sweeping around the room: "Let's go to school first."
The girl introduced herself as Youyou, a tourist visiting Tonghai City, not a student at Tonghai High School.
“Tonghai City,” You said as they walked, “is most famous for its towers in the old town. I happened to meet some locals when I came here.”
“They said that besides the tower, there is a particularly efficacious temple next to Tonghai High School that is worth visiting. Since I was already here, I thought I'd go and take a look.”
She paused, her expression becoming complicated: "After I made my wish at the temple and came out, I found that everything around me had changed. I could no longer find my way out."
Yan Shi: "Yan Qingmiao?"
"Yes!" You clapped her hands again. "Teacher, you know about this temple too?"
"What did you wish for?" Yan Shi asked instead of answering.
You thought about it again, then said somewhat shyly, "I hope to pass the civil service exam."
Yan Shi: ...
Her lips twitched.
Such a familiar wish.
"Yanqing Temple..." Yan Shi hesitated, "It's quite effective."
"Where are those cosplayers from the Bureau of Eccentricities that you saw in front?" she asked.
They had arrived at Yanqing Temple.
Not far away is the small gate of Tonghai High School.
Yuzu: "It's all in high school. The changes are also the biggest in high school. Teacher, please prepare yourself mentally, don't be scared later."
Yan Shi shook his head: "No."
"Wow!" You exclaimed, your eyes lighting up. "Teacher, you really fit the character perfectly!"
The small gate of Tonghai High School was half-open. The iron gate creaked open, its old paint peeling.
The two walked in one after the other.
Approaching from the front were two elves...?
Yan Shi was slightly taken aback and tilted his head.
Both elves were wearing the uniforms of Tonghai High School, with pointed ears peeking out from their silver hair and skin so white it was almost translucent. Two neat holes were cut in the back of their uniform shirts, from which a pair of semi-transparent wings emerged.
When they saw Yan Shi and Youyou, they simply smiled politely and greeted them before walking straight out through a small door.
Yu lowered her voice again: "Teacher, this is the current situation."
She secretly observed Yan Shi's expression, "There are so many students like this in school, they're all monsters."
“It’s a fantasy species.” Yan Shi corrected her, pondered for a moment, and didn’t continue speaking.
She suddenly remembered the illusion Wen Ying had created for her using his abilities.
In the illusion, Wen Ying was insulted by her classmates as a "hybrid of elven mixed blood".
At the time, Yan Shi thought that this was just a scene that Wen Ying made up on the spot in order to gain her sympathy.
Because Tonghai High School is a provincial key school, it is an ordinary school with a registration in the world. How could there really be a half-elf studying there?
Now, Yan Shi feels that this illusion is Wen Ying's real memory.
If Tonghai High School's admission notices weren't issued randomly, but instead were specifically designed to recruit "abnormal students" from the world of Forms.
However, during her high school years, Yan Shi never cared about others; she lived in her own world.
Therefore, she never noticed anything unusual.
“The students at Tonghai High School are all wearing school uniforms,” Yu continued. “We can’t even leave the old town, so we outsiders are all hiding in the library.”
"This way..." She was about to give directions when she noticed that Yan Shi had already headed towards the library.
Yu You: "Huh?" She paused for a moment.
“I graduated from this high school,” Yan Shi said.
Tonghai High School is poorly managed, and students rarely come to the library.
At this moment, the largest reading room on the second floor of the library was packed with people.
There were tourists who were still in shock, and also students, pale-faced and dressed similarly. A tense atmosphere filled the air.
"You really don't know what your high school is like?" a tourist asked a student who was also wearing a Tonghai High School uniform.
The student simply shook her head, her face tense, her lips slightly pale: "...I don't know, I really don't know." She murmured to herself, "I thought it was just that spirits existed in the world."
"Your school has so many strange classmates, and you don't know?" the tourist said irritably. "Then what school do you go to?"
Just then, Yan Shi followed You in.
Upon hearing the noise, the room fell silent, and all eyes turned to this direction.
Yan Shi stepped into the light. Her eyes and brows were always cold, giving off a sense of distance.
Someone exclaimed, "Wow, Director Yan!"
"I'm back," You said hurriedly, then became smug again: "Right? This teacher's cosplay of Director Yan is really spot on!"
"From the wig to the costume, everything is a perfect replica," she added excitedly. "Except for the hairpin that Director Yan is wearing, the original seems to be made of wood. But Teacher's outfit is already amazing!"
Yan Shi saw the missing enforcement team.
They huddled in a corner, warily watching their surroundings. When they saw Yan, the captain, who was in charge, showed shock and astonishment, and stood frozen in place.
She frowned, clearly not understanding what the people around her meant by "cosplaying Director Yan".
"Teacher," You introduced herself, "the cosplayers who came up earlier are over there."
Without her saying anything, the enforcement team had already gotten up.
Their uniforms were clearly similar in style to Yan Shi's, exuding a chilling aura. The people around them made way for them.
The team leader strode up to Yan Shi, lowered his head in shame, and bowed respectfully: "Director Yan, we failed in our duties."
Yuzu: "Wow, a live role-playing scene...?" she muttered excitedly, but gradually realized something was wrong.
Yan Shi shook his head: "It's nothing. It's not just your team that's lost contact; the information department misjudged the difficulty of the mission."
"We're not the only ones who've lost contact?" The team leader was clearly shocked. "Director Yan, what's going on?"
Yan Shi lowered his eyes: "We'll see the bureau's notification once we get out. For now, just give a brief report on your current investigation findings."
"Yes." The team leader stood up straight and said, "When we received the mission, the mission description was that this old city area, including Tonghai High School, was shrouded in mist, and all those who entered were nowhere to be found. The source of the anomaly is suspected to be miasma."
"But once inside, we found that there was no obvious sign of miasma eroding the minds or souls of the creatures. The creatures inside were conscious, with intact and undisturbed memories; they just couldn't get out."
"At the same time, time in this area has regressed by a hundred years, and the residents from a hundred years ago have also appeared and are living normal lives here. All the 'outsiders' who do not belong to this timeline that can be found so far are here."
As he spoke, the team leader pointed to the reading room.
This is also the mission of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs: to protect ordinary people who are innocently involved in unusual events.
“Tonghai High School is the center of this area, and also the strangest place.” The captain paused for a moment before continuing, “A hundred years ago, most of the students at Tonghai High School were of mixed race.”
She hesitated for a moment, then said tentatively, "Perhaps there are mixed-race students at Tonghai High School now. It's just that we can't tell."
"Hybrids are aware of the spirits and their own backgrounds, are vigilant about unusual events, and know how to hide them. We simply cannot tell whether they belong to a hundred years ago or the present."
The enforcement team's report was focused and clearly presented.
Yan Shi nodded slightly, his expression calm: "Thank you for your hard work. You don't need to continue, I will handle it."
The team leader replied, "Yes." She bowed again.
Yuu finally realized something was wrong. Her eyes widened, and she turned to look at Yan Shi, her voice trembling: "...Huh? Director Yan...?"
The team members then realized what was happening and looked around. The team leader added, "Director Yan, this is another anomaly. The ordinary people who have wandered in seem to have the same cognitive bias. They think we're playing characters from a comic book."
"Comics, you may not be familiar with them, are a form of art creation in the real world."
Yan Shi remained silent for two seconds.
She felt that there were many more awkward moments in life.
For example, right now.
Under the shocked and bewildered gaze of Youyou, and the incredulous stares of those around her, she forced herself to appear nonchalant: "It's nothing."
"This will not affect the current incident. After it's over, the information department will take over the handling."
"T-Teacher..." You stammered incoherently, "No, not teacher. Director Yan?!"
She finally realized that everything was wrong.
She happened to be passing by outside Tonghai High School when she heard the commotion and bumped into Director Yan.
Yan Ju had a cold expression, beautiful features, and a very special aura, almost exactly like the one in the comics.
When she jumped down from the wall, Yu thought for a moment that she was dreaming.
When Yanju saw her, his first words were, "Do you know me?"
If it were a cosplayer, they would never say that.
Because Director Yan didn't know.
Yu was completely unaware that she had been traveling with Director Yan all the way.
She was so shocked that she felt the world was not real.
Not only do paranormal events exist, but the comics she follows are based on real events.
There was a popular post on the comic forum before, saying that the author was lazy and just drew the scenes from photos without changing the details.
Now it seems, no wonder they look exactly the same.
"The Curse of the Laws" is a record of real-world events.
And Director Yan, whom You also felt was a perfect person.
She is not fictional; she truly exists.
Author's Note: There will be another chapter tonight.
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