"Maybe... he had something he couldn't talk about?" Lin Yi ventured weakly.
"Who knows." Convenience Store Owner-003 shrugged. "He's the sort who occasionally screws people over. He's usually steady, but on the rare occasions he does screw up, he makes it a big one..."
At this point, an inescapable gloom settled over Convenience Store Owner-003's brow.
"There's no point telling you all this. You'll be leaving soon. Just do what you need to do."
He sighed heavily and patted Lin Yi on the shoulder.
Lin Yi opened his mouth. He couldn't exactly interject when higher-ups were complaining about one another. Asking what had happened was already the limit; saying anything more would be overstepping.
But at the mention of the Art Building, Lin Yi couldn't help asking, "By the way, there don't seem to be many accessible areas inside the Art Building. Why not just take down the signs? Even the paint covering them wasn't thorough."
Convenience Store Owner-003 glanced at him, a faint smile on his lips. "Such a simple question. Why don't you think about it some more?"
"Hmm...?" Lin Yi paused, following the lead of Convenience Store Owner-003's tone. "They weren't taken down because they were meant to guide people... They were painted over because someone didn't want people going there, but the paint wasn't thorough so people could still read them..."
He suddenly jolted. "For 'screening'?!"
Convenience Store Owner-003 smiled.
"You've got it."
But Lin Yi's mind wouldn't settle. "Drawing attention to what you're trying to hide... It's meant to get people to explore? Some of the rules are like that too, aren't they?!"
"Using people's curiosity to screen them?!"
"You've finally thought of that part," Convenience Store Owner-003 said calmly.
Lin Yi drew in a breath. So the Student Rules were fundamentally intended to guide