[Starving! Starving!]
[We need food!]
[We need our own kind!]
[No, we need both!!]
The fog churned, restless voices ringing incessantly, seemingly mingling with the wind and sand in an endless rustling.
"Stop arguing!" the Nie Yun "Nonhuman Classmate" said in a dry voice, its mechanical tone devoid of any other inflection. "The invasion has only just begun. More people will pass through here."
"There will be plenty of chances. Don't rush!"
"Just wait..."
The Nie Yun "Nonhuman Classmate" and the Ge Qing "Nonhuman Classmate" faced the streetlamp pole without showing the slightest intention of moving. If not for the fog still drifting around them, it would truly have seemed as though time had frozen.
In fact, what had happened to Nie Yun bore some similarities to Lin Yi's deductions, but the details differed greatly...
Suddenly, somewhat excited voices from the Humanoid Sculptures came from the surging fog:
[Here they come! Someone's coming!]
[It's my turn this time!]
[No, it should be my turn!]
"Idiots, shut up, all of you!" the Nie Yun "Nonhuman Classmate" snapped. "You're too noisy!"
The fog immediately fell quiet again.
Meanwhile, beneath the fog not far away, an Experience Student was crossing an area where the fog was thin, terror on his face. At the sight of Streetlamp Pole-067, he grew excited and hurried over at a run.
Panting, he entered the area illuminated by Streetlamp Pole-067, only to discover two people standing ahead of him.
He froze for a moment. Thinking of the eerie, sinister fog he had encountered along the way, then remembering that it was safe beneath the streetlights, he worked up his courage and couldn't help asking, "H-hey, classmates... what are you doing here? Why aren't you going any farther?"
He recalled what Head Teacher 040 had told them before they