"Then... if we chat like this, will it hear us?" Lin Yi couldn't help but ask.

"It doesn't matter, don't worry about it." Tian Bufan said, slowly leaving the layer rift.

...

Layer rift, side of the Corpse Bone Forest.

Seeing Puppet No. 5 return smoothly, Kuai Hongji smiled for the first time, "So smooth?"

"After all, we're 'old friends,' so it gave a bit of face." Tian Bufan responded noncommittally, withdrawing his consciousness from the puppet back into his body.

Lin Yi did the same.

But upon returning, he fell silent, seemingly preoccupied with something.

"Dismantle it, Old Lin," Tian Bufan said, but Lin Yi didn't respond, so he repeated, "Old Lin?"

"I'm here," Lin Yi said, controlling Tian Bufan's body to dismantle the puppet.

Then, Tian Bufan and Kuai Hongji began to head back to the campus.

Seeing Lin Yi remain silent the whole time, Tian Bufan asked, "What are you thinking about now?"

Lin Yi slowly said, "Why... does the Big Snake know my consciousness is here? Even if it sensed it, it couldn't know my name."

Tian Bufan said, "Its existence has surpassed the ordinary layer level, so it's not surprising it knows, right?"

Lin Yi pursed his lips, "It also knows Liangzi, and knows I'm 'Old Lin.' At the end, it even called you 'Young Master Tian.' It said it understands you just like you understand it..."

"What secret exactly exists between you... no, 'us' and the Big Snake?"

"Moreover..."

"Old Mo's statement was wrong. The Big Snake isn't lost in the layer rift."

"It seems like it could leave anytime it wants."

"Why would it be willing to stay in the layer rift? Is it really just to prevent the 'Angel' from descending onto the campus?"

Tian Bufan said, "Old Mo's information came from the Night Watchmen, but they don't know the truth of the matter... No one knows the truth..."

"Seeing it entrenched deep within the layer rift, they assume it's lost. Of course, looking at the results, it's quite similar; it's simply blocking the 'Angel's' penetration into reality."

"The Big Snake's existence is also a response to the 'Grey Mist Invasion'; it's just that others don't know and think it's a unit on the Grey Mist side."

"It seems it's not... so is it a unit on the human side?" Lin Yi asked, though even as he said it, he felt it was impossible. How could the Big Snake be a unit on the human side?

"How could it be?" Tian Bufan said.

"Then what side is it on?"

"It's not inclined to any side, but if you insist, I can only say it's on... the Apostle's side," Tian Bufan slowly said.

"Apostle's side!"

"Almost forgot, there's such a force!"

But... aren't apostles supposed to be on the human side?

Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat. He suddenly remembered, when Old Mo was enlightening him, he said it was a creation of the apostles after dealing with the 'Root,' so does that make it a product of the apostles?

Does that mean it's on the apostle's side?

Lin Yi felt this logic wasn't quite right, but couldn't pinpoint why.

And Tian Bufan didn't linger on this topic either, instead saying, "My business is done, you can return to your body and eat."

"Wait, you haven't explained why it knows us! It's one thing to know us, but it can even say Liangzi's name!" Lin Yi said, unwillingly, very curious about the Big Snake's secret.

"Do you really want to know?" Tian Bufan asked.

"Of course I do!" Lin Yi said very earnestly.

Tian Bufan sighed, "Because of the 'Time Paradox,' the Big Snake is a product created by the 'Original Apostles' using a time paradox... In its 'time,' we've entered the campus at different time nodes and have already failed countless times."

"Countless times... all failures?!" Lin Yi felt a chill run down his spine, his mind flashing with the image of Pseudo-Human Wei Liang, "Could it be that Liangzi also failed countless times, which is why so many pseudo versions of Liangzi appeared in the campus?!"

"Then wouldn't there be countless pseudo versions of... us?! How come I've never encountered any?"

Tian Bufan said, "This matter is very complicated to explain."

"But as I said, this time, the 'Principal' seems to have found a new breakthrough..."

"Why aren't you continuing the previous topic?" Lin Yi asked.

"Because many things you'll realize yourself without me telling you in advance," Tian Bufan said.

Lin Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Could it be that we are 'old friends' with the Principal too?"

Tian Bufan didn't expect Lin Yi to ask this, but after a moment's hesitation, replied honestly, "More or less... we know him a bit."

Lin Yi took a deep breath, "What exactly is our identity?! Why does it feel like everyone in the world knows us?"

Generally speaking, everyone knowing you can mean two things: one is fame, the other infamy, and Lin Yi thought it unlikely he was famously known.

Then... infamy?

Sss... Lin Yi took a subconscious breath, could it be our team is renowned like infamous stinky tofu?

Tian Bufan's mouth twitched slightly, "Our business is done, if you have nothing else, go eat."

"Then... see you in the cafeteria?" Lin Yi asked.

"No need to meet, you go your way, whether we meet or not depends on time," Tian Bufan replied perfunctorily, "If there's time, we'll just have a few tomatoes to make do."

Once a certain pollution depth is surpassed, and there's some level of perception depth, tomatoes become a good thing.

Like a heavy sword, one without enough strength might hurt themselves playing with it, but in the hands of a true swordsman, it's a formidable weapon against enemies.

"Then... I'll retreat for now." Lin Yi said, as his consciousness that had permeated Tian Bufan's body receded like a tide, following the layer's waves, entering a space where physical rules couldn't be discerned, gradually returning to his body.

Just as he moved through the layer, he suddenly felt a chilling sensation on him, as if some presence had locked onto him, causing a terrifying tremor deep in his soul.

"What is this...?"

He suddenly sensed a ghastly aura swirling around him, vaguely seeing a faint transparent figure, like a wraith, wandering around him.

Those wraiths looked like shadows emerging from the abyss of the Big Snake, but those shadows were supposed to be with Tian Bufan, so how could it be...?

Wait!

Strictly speaking, the Big Snake's shadow was integrated into Puppet No. 5, but Puppet No. 5 had been dismantled and destroyed.

So the Big Snake's shadow is essentially not a literal entity, but more like a marker!

And it's a marker that acts directly on will!

Looking at this shadow of the Big Snake, seemingly seeping in from another world, Lin Yi's heartbeat involuntarily accelerated. He didn't know if the Big Snake harbored any hostility toward him. In his heart, even the Apostle's side's presence was unfathomable, let alone the Big Snake, which Tian Bufan only speculated to be on the Apostle's side...

Lin Yi felt a slight urge to perceive the Big Snake's shadow but quickly dismissed the thought.

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