PFRG: Chapter 212

From experience so far, it had been discovered that simply relying on observation obviously wasn’t enough to catch the flaws that it had exposed.

He arrived at school, and another ordinary morning passed. This time, Chi Ting didn’t go to the cafeteria to eat like other students. Instead, he went to the activity venue of the extracurricular interest group according to the recruitment poster of the Ark Experimental team that he had seen before.

He walked all the way and finally saw a teaching building at the back of the campus that looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

There was a thick layer of dust on the ground. Chi Ting climbed the stairs and reached the third floor. He followed the door plate and found Classroom 306 as written on the poster.

There didn’t seem to be any human figure in the empty environment. Chi Ting wanted to go in, but found that the door was locked.

There was someone inside.

He held out his hand and knocked quite politely.

The knock on the door sounded empty and vague.

But there was no response.

The people inside ignored him.

Chi Ting wasn’t in a hurry. He continued to knock again and again with great patience.

Eventually, there was some movement in the classroom.

The rusty door made a harsh friction sound when it opened, followed by a low and strange voice. “Who are you… what is the matter?”

Chi Ting lowered his eyes and looked over. The person was staring at him, dark pupils exposed without any extra emotions.

She looked thin and shriveled, but she was obviously an ordinary female student.

Chi Ting took a look and smiled gently. “Excuse me, classmate. Is this the activity location of the Ark Experimental team?”

“The Ark Experimental team?” The girl’s voice really made people feel uncomfortable. She looked at Chi Ting in a trance and said, “I’ve never heard of it. There is no Ark Experimental team here, only our Paranormal Research Society.”

“…Paranormal Research Society?”

This extracurricular group was indeed more suitable for the atmosphere here, but he was still a bit surprised by the answer. “I saw it on the poster on the bulletin board. Are you sure there is no such group as the Ark Experimental Group?”

“If I say no, then there is nothing.”

The girl looked impatient. The moment she spoke, even Chi Ting could vaguely feel a chill on his back. “Are you sure you didn’t see it incorrectly? Our club has been using the school’s bulletin board recently. I checked it before I came today, and there were no problems. So even if you saw it, it could only be a poster for our Paranormal Research Society.”

It could only be a poster for the Paranormal Research Society? But what he saw was clearly…

A gust of cold wind blew into his collar. Chi Ting became slightly stunned. He thought of something, said ‘sorry to bother you’ to the girl, and immediately turned around to run down the stairs.

He ran all the way. After he quickly ran to the bulletin board, the eye-catching poster caught his eye.

It was exactly the same composition and the same slogan, but the name of the group above was indeed the Paranormal Research Society.

Students were coming and going around him, but Chi Ting just stood there in front of the poster.

At this moment, he seemed out of tune with everything around him. A clear sense of separation instantly enveloped him from all directions.

The girl said that there had never been an Ark Experimental team.

After Chi Ting started his lunch break, he went directly to the classroom based on his memory. He hadn’t come here beforehand, so he couldn’t be sure for a moment whether the content of the poster changed after he went to the classroom or whether it had completely changed since the reset this morning.

But the situation before him was enough to make him realize one thing. This world that repeatedly entered a cycle had undoubtedly started to change.

Chi Ting stood still and looked at the towering campus buildings around him.

If the Ark Experimental team had disappeared from the original world, then what about the other things?

After his lunch break, he returned to the classroom and continued his ordinary classroom life.

Chi Ting tried to disrupt the teaching rhythm of the day by raising his hand and interjecting, but it was obvious that he couldn’t capture any clues in the feedback he received. Basically, everyone gave content feedback that was consistent with their behavioral logic.

Disrupting the habits of these NPCs didn’t seem to be the right way to solve the problem.

At the end of class, Chi Ting still received the love letter shyly handed to him by the girl. Then he went home, met Chi Yuan waiting outside, and got in the car.

Chi Ting put his school bag on the back seat and looked at the passing scenery outside as usual. Looking back, he found that apart from the Ark Experimental Group, there seemed to be nothing worthy of attention throughout the day.

As he was thinking this, he inadvertently turned around, and his hand touched the cold leather bag on the back seat. He was about to take it back when something flashed in his mind and made him look over suddenly.

The spacious back seat was empty, with only his school bag placed beside him. It seemed particularly spacious for him, who was sitting there alone.

Chi Ting moved his fingers slowly and vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his fingers on it for a while.

He always felt that there should be something next to where he was sitting, but… what exactly was it?

“What’s wrong?” Chi Yuan noticed Chi Ting’s daze through the rearview mirror.

“Nothing,” Chi Ting replied. He retracted his gaze and looked out the window again.

There were no major fluctuations in his expression, but he knew very well that he would never have such an illusion for no reason.

The only possibility was that the long stay in this instance was making him gradually forget something.

He returned home and had another good night’s sleep.

Chi Ting woke up to the sound of the alarm, got up, and dressed as usual. The first thing he did was to open his diary.

[December 29, 20XX, sunny.

It has begun, but it is too late.

Hahaha, I can’t escape, I still can’t escape!!!}

Begun? What had begun?

Chi Ting frowned slightly. He glanced at it repeatedly before putting the diary back.

Chi Yuan still came to the room to find him on time. Chi Ting dealt with her and opened the closet to get his tie. He skillfully reached out to catch the doll that fell from it.

He was just about to put it back when he paused slightly.

This was a squinty orange cat that he had never seen before.

Chi Ting looked quickly toward the closet.

The rabbit gentleman doll that was supposed to be inside was gone.

Chi Ting put on his tie and went downstairs. Then he went straight to find Chi Yuan.

Chi Yuan was obviously confused when she heard this question. “What rabbit doll?”

Chi Ting recalled the description Chi Yuan had given him when she first introduced it to him. “It was the rabbit I brought back from an outing with my classmate, with a big pink bow and a luxurious puffy dress.”

Chi Yuan blinked slowly. “Wasn’t it an orange cat doll that you and your classmate brought back?”

Chi Ting frowned. “Orange cat?”

“Yes.” Chi Yun’s tone was very certain. She looked at Chi Ting with a slightly worried expression. “Ah Ting, I feel like you haven’t been doing well lately. Do you want to… go to the hospital again?”

Chi Ting keenly captured the wording. “Again?”

Chi Yuan choked slightly and shook her head hurriedly. “No, nothing. If you think it is nothing, it is good. Breakfast is almost over. Let’s go. We should set off.”

There was obviously something wrong with this demeanor and reaction, but Chi Ting didn’t ask any further questions. He lowered his eyes and nodded obediently. “Okay, Sister.”

He met Gloria again when he went out. After going downstairs, the owner was still walking the dog there.

Chi Ting spent a peaceful morning after being sent to school by Chi Yuan. As he passed by the bulletin board on the way to the cafeteria for lunch, he immediately caught a glimpse of the recruitment poster for the Paranormal Research Society.

He glanced at it and was about to continue walking when he turned back to take one more look.

He had the impression that this poster had existed in the first few cycles when he entered the instance.

What concerned Chi Ting wasn’t the poster itself, but the fact that he always felt that the poster seemed different from his impression. He just couldn’t remember exactly where the difference was.

Or was there something wrong with this Paranormal Research Society in itself?

That wasn’t right. He remembered that he had gone to the event location the ‘day before’ and didn’t find anything wrong.

Didn’t notice anything wrong… wait!

Chi Ting suddenly looked up, and his eyes fixed on the poster.

So, why did he suddenly want to check out this expired recruitment site?

The content in the diary this morning said that he couldn’t escape. The place where the rabbit doll should’ve been placed had become an orange cat doll. There was definitely something wrong with the poster on the recruitment board, but he had no idea where the problem was. In his memory, the ‘day before’, he happened to go to the activity site of the Paranormal Research Society for no reason…

One piece of information after another emerged in his mind.

Suddenly, Chi Ting caught another important issue.

In his impression, all the instances he experienced in this unlimited world should’ve left traces in this instance, but what about now?

The gentleman rabbit, Throw Throw Throw the Handkerchief.

Gloria and the pink building, the Love Apartment.

A pet dog with a bracelet, the Lost Treasure.

So, what about the other instances?

No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn’t recall any relevant traces of the Ark Laboratory, Strange Stories Arcade, and Seven Days’ Sales.

But in his original concept, it should’ve existed.

Chi Ting stood in front of the bulletin board and stared at the poster in front of him.

In a trance, all the structures on the poster gradually fell into his mind, and silently constructed another composition.

Perhaps this new member recruitment poster from the Paranormal Research Society should’ve belonged to another group, which might be related to the Ark Laboratory, Strange Stories Arcade, or Seven Days’ Sales. However, in the process of searching for ‘it’, he had completely forgotten it silently.