by N. Heller
At the corner of the square-shaped building were staircases to the north, south, east and west wings of the library respectively. As there wasn't a second floor in the central hall, someone standing on the second floor of each wing could look down and see the central hall clearly.
However, there was a limitation to what a person could 'see' from above. As the bookshelves in the central hall were very tall and because the space between each of the shelves was very small—only one man's width—, it was basically very hard for someone on the second floor to see what happened between the shelves, as the gaps between the shelves were too dark.
However, if Lin Sanjiu and the siblings were to walk out from bookshelves, they would definitely be spotted easily by the other teams. Lin Sanjiu couldn't help regretting a little. When they first came here, they didn't really observe the layout of the building as they were fully focused on the borrowing rules. Without much consideration, the three of them hid between the bookshelves in the central hall. Now that they wanted to leave this area, it seemed very difficult.
Looking for Siri or searching for the remaining four teams would mean that they would first have to expose their positions to the four enemy teams. They did not have any solutions to their current problem so they could only sigh. They started searching through bookshelf 28 somewhat dejectedly. Their previous intense drive to "do something else" was replaced with a helpless resignation to at least do something. After searching through two bookshelves in succession, nightfall came upon Kisaragi Station World.
In just an hour, the light beaming through the windows from outside had faded, and darkness enveloped the entire library. The tall bookshelves blocked the little light from the night skies. Along with the central hall, the four wings were also embraced by darkness, as they had no windows. It was so dark that a person would even suspect that they had become blind.
"Aren't they going to switch on the lights at night?" Rena asked with a slightly trembling voice, she was a little startled by the darkness. "If it this dark, anyone who dares to even use any sort light generating device… would immediately become everyone's target, right?"
Thankfully, this situation did not continue for long in Kisaragi Library. After a few minutes, the fluorescent lights lit up with loud snapping sounds, the people in the library suddenly found themselves surrounded by light once again. Though it wasn't as bright as the day, they could at least see the things around them.
When the siblings could see the shelf in front of them again, their faces couldn't help turning bitter.
"Agh," Rena threw a cursory glance at the books around her. She tapped the bookshelf with her hand, "I am sure we can't find the book in bookshelf 29. I don't even have to look at it. The probability is just too small."
When she looked up, she found Lin Sanjiu standing stiffly on the spot, without moving at all. The woman wasn't looking at any of the books. Lin Sanjiu's muscles, organs, fats and blood vessels of her upper body were all fully developed by then. Rena got a shock when she found herself face-to-face with Lin Sanjiu.
"Do you think searching through the books one by one is a little too stupid?" Rena felt like she understood what Lin Sanjiu wanted to express, "But, we have no choice. This is our only option right now."
The siblings were very startled when the skinless person in front of them opened her jaws and suddenly they heard a sound from her mouth.
Unbeknownst to them, Lin Sanjiu's vocal cords had actually somehow developed.
"No." Her voice sounded cold and collected. Even if she was delivering bad news, others could feel a sort of strong resilience from her calm voice. The siblings were taken aback but they also couldn't help having the faint feeling that they could depend on her.
"Get ready," Lin Sanjiu said mildly. However, she could not hide the faint sense of urgency in her voice, "Someone is coming."
Chapter 252 - North, South, East, West, and Central
The other teams also faced the same challenges that Lin Sanjiu's team faced. It was simply a fantasy to think that they could find five books among close to four million books just by pure manpower. Under such circ.u.mstance, the different teams developed different strategies.
Obviously, the people who arrived didn't simply want to "check if the required books were in the central hall".
"If that's the case, what is their strategy? At this point, it was impossible that anyone has already found a book. Why are they so eager to take action?"
"I am not sure which team they're from, but I am sure it is one of the three teams who arrived earlier than us," Lin Sanjiu couldn't figure out their motives. At that moment, her ability to remain calm and more cool-headed as the dangers around them mounted had never been more prominent. As her skinless jaw opened slightly, she spoke quickly and softly, "The three teams who have arrived earlier are the only groups who know that we are hiding in the central hall. Secondly, they were able to take advantage of that few minutes of darkness to move. That clearly shows that they already knew that it takes a few minutes before the lights are switched on at night. Let's not forget, the three teams ahead of us had already been waiting for 2 days! For now, I am uncertain how many members they have as I don't have a clear view of them. But, if they dare to approach us, I guess they have at least three or more members."
The fact that Lin Sanjiu could suddenly speak and the alarming information she was delivering to them gave the siblings more than a small shock. As a result, they momentarily didn't think to ask her how she knew what she knew. After a few long seconds, Rena regained her composure and asked quietly, "Where are they? Why can't I see them?"
"They are still quite far from us. They are now near bookshelf 80 something. They have split up and are moving from two different directions toward us…" Lin Sanjiu examined the image in her higher consciousness carefully, "They are walking very slowly and stealthily. I don't think they figured out that we already discovered them."
"What should we do?" After Lin Sanjiu could speak, the siblings seemed to accept her decisions wholeheartedly.
Lin Sanjiu herself didn't expect that her higher consciousness would choose to develop a different body structure first. Her throat, vocal cords, blood vessels, windpipe, and esophagus could be seen clearly. She only understood what had happened when she heard Mrs. Mana's draggy voice saying "Ah, how exhausting."
"Let's go along with it," Lin Sanjiu focused her attention, once again, on the few vague figures creeping toward them. "Since they haven't figured us out, we can use guerrilla tactics."
"If they have around the same number of people as us, we can launch a counterattack based on the situation. If they have more people, we can try to evade them and secretly leave the central hall. But, where we should head next is also problematic."
Over the past few hours, they did not notice any sort of conflicts. This would mean that there was a very high chance that each of the five teams were hidden in the five different sections of the library, which explained why there hadn't been any confrontations yet.
If they could successfully escape from the central hall, they still didn't know which wing they should go to. Even if they avoided the east wing, where Silvan's team was, they still had to choose from three paths.
"If we know where this team, surrounding us, came from, we can go to the wing that they were originally from. It should be empty right now—" Reno added thoughtfully.
The east wing was at the upper left corner of the library; the west wing was on the lower left. The south wing was on the upper right corner and the north wing was on the lower right corner. According to the layout, the central hall was the same distance from each of the four wings. It was convenient to reach the central hall from any of the wings so they couldn't judge the direction that their enemy actually came from.
However, they knew that they didn't have much time left. Lin Sanjiu gave a quick nod to the siblings and they followed her without saying a word. They moved nimbly and soundlessly and quickly climbed to the top of the bookshelves.
The bookshelves were arranged adjacently without any gaps between them and somehow created an accessible pathway. Furthermore, since their enemies did not know that Lin Sanjiu and the siblings already discovered their presence, naturally the top of the bookshelves was their biggest blind spot.
This was also the reason why Lin Sanjiu shockingly discovered that the enemy team consisted of six members only when she and the siblings got close enough them, moving stealthily along the top of the bookshelves.
The multi-tiered bookshelves certainly affected the visibility of her higher consciousness way too much!
The two people closest to them were at bookshelf 50, which was just in front of them. They crouched as they moved one in front of the other. The other people were heading in another direction but were also approaching them quickly. As the siblings looked at Lin Sanjiu simultaneously, their expressions showed their slight cluelessness as to what they should do next. Lin Sanjiu thought for second and instantly lay flat. Then, she signaled at the siblings and they also lay flat immediately.
The two men, whose faces they couldn't really see, crouched and moved very quickly. They looked through the gaps between the tiers of books at the spot across them every now and then and appeared to be very vigilant.
Due to the numbers on everyone's back, it was impossible to kill anyone with a single attack unless a person uses explosives or something similar. It was too difficult to incapacitate two people at the same time. Furthermore, these two people had backups. If they sneaked past them quietly, they would be able to leave W section and even the central hall.
After hesitating for a moment, Lin Sanjiu shook her head at the kids.
The two attackers seemed oblivious to the people above their heads. They coordinated with each and quickly left the spot under Lin Sanjiu and the siblings and disappeared from bookshelf 50.
They had managed to avoid a confrontation.
"What should we do next?" The siblings looked at the skinless person beside them and waited for her directions.
"I think we should move to another wing as soon as possible. It is a little safer. The central hall is linked to the entranceway of the four wings and we can't see the others so they can go there anytime… But, how are we supposed to find out which is their wing?" Rena asked quietly, feeling a little anxious.
"Regarding this problem, I do have some insights." Lin Sanjiu had been thinking non-stop about this matter, "Don't you find it strange? Regardless of their reasons for trying to ambush another team, why did they choose us? Why didn't they choose Silvan? We have three members, whereas there are only two members in his team. Clearly, it would be easier to attack them…"
Unless... unless… the invading team came from the side where the south wing and north wing were situated. The library was only in total darkness for a short time, and it wasn't enough for them to reach the east wing!
"Even though Kisaragi Library was very large, the library had been in full darkness for two whole minutes. That was enough for a posthuman to run across the central hall... After all, the central hall was only 500 to 700 meters long…"
"It's the north wing!" Lin Sanjiu felt a jolt through her body as she and the siblings said those words almost at the same time.
"That's right. They must be from the north wing," she said very swiftly while she organized her thoughts trying to find for a loophole in her reasoning. "The south wing is only a few hundred meters from the east wing. As each of the wings are about the same distance from the central hall, they had no reason to choose a team with more people over a team with fewer members. The north wing is situated diagonally across the east wing so it is the furthest, so they chose the opportunity to run across when it was dark…"
Just as she said this, she suddenly noticed a sudden bright light flashing across the scanned image in her mind. "Lin Sanjiu, be careful!" the siblings couldn't help calling out. Following which, a person suddenly jumped up from below them. An arc of white light swept toward Lin Sanjiu aggressively.
Chapter 253 - When a Book Falls on Your Head
"Haha! You're asking me why I attacked you?"
A man in a full black outfit laughed softly. His face was hidden by his black top hat. They could clearly hear the contempt in his voice toward Lin Sanjiu's question.
"If five teams have to vie for the same set of books, don't you think fighting is inevitable?" When the man with the top hat spoke, his white, narrow chin seemed to grow sharper. Lin Sanjiu stared at his lower jaw, his only facial feature which was exposed, and sighed inwardly. She stabilized her higher consciousness which had become chaotic after that sudden attack. She had no chance of dodging that previous unexpected attack.
—
It was already too late when she realized that someone was beside her. The white light was already at the tip of her nose bone. At that moment, it was impossible for her to evade the attack no matter what she did. Lin Sanjiu gritted her teeth and gathered and concentrated her higher consciousness in her face. She had just compressed her higher consciousness when she was violently hit by that light.
Her higher consciousness did not allow her to feel physical pain. Furthermore, after being mentally tortured by [Mankind's Bane], she only felt that her nose bone had been instantly erased. However, her higher consciousness was ultimately stronger than the white light so she was only pushed off the bookshelf. She floated gently to the ground.
Lin Sanjiu's attacker noticed that she appeared fine after he had attacked her directly. He saw her nose which had turned to smoke suddenly returning to it previous bone form and he was stunned for half a second. Almost as if remembering something, he yelled out loudly, "They're here!"
The remaining five members of the enemy team were already heading in Lin Sanjiu's direction when they saw the white light. When the siblings were ready to fight, their six enemies had also gotten close to them. This time, they were truly surrounded.
As the bookshelves were arranged in vertical rows, some of the members of the enemy team were just a bookshelf away from them. Two men, with threatening glares, were standing behind them, blocking their escape route. The person who had attacked Lin Sanjiu suddenly was one of them. Meanwhile, a man with a top hat and black suit walked toward them from the bookshelves in front of them.
When Lin Sanjiu heard the man's reply, a few thoughts raced through her mind, she immediately eyed the man and muttered, "We haven't even found a single book."
"I know." Unexpectedly, the man's white narrow chin moved and he revealed a smile, "We are not here to snatch books from you."
"Then, why did you guys want to ambush us?" Rena's crisp voice rang out furiously from the top of a bookshelf.
As the space between the bookshelves was too narrow, being only one man's width, the siblings did not go down to join Lin Sanjiu but supported her from above.
The man in the top hat snapped his fingers and the other five members in his team simultaneously took out their weapons and Special Items noisily. They had a machete, a crystal ball, a feather duster, a black lightning… A sweeping glance revealed quite a terrifying sight.
"You're all so stupid," the man with the white chin and a top hat laughed again. "I have already thought of the correct strategy to deal with this situation here at Kisaragi Library. And it isn't about finding those five books."
Startled by his answer, Lin Sanjiu was just about to question him further when the man waved his hand. The two men who had been waiting for his command immediately charged at them. Meanwhile, three other members aimed attacks at the siblings at the top of the bookshelves.
Lin Sanjiu heard a whooshing sound from her back, she stooped forward evading the machete that swept past her head. With a forward momentum, the machete instantly struck and broke the wood from one of the middle tiers in the bookshelf. Nearly a hundred books fell from the shelves like water bursting from a dam.
As the books fell to the ground with muffled thuds, the man in the top hat folded his arms and said with a clear but dra
wn-out voice, "The teams that came later really have a disadvantage. It isn't written in the 'notice' so you guys don't know this… When the lives of the other readers from the other teams fall to zero, the survivors can leave this place even if they couldn't find the books.
"That is to say, this library is simply a Colosseum. The way to get more lives is to attack other readers," the man's sharp, long chin moved. He let out a cold laugh, "I can't believe it. You guys, in these small teams, didn't even think of this… and you honestly tried to look for those books."
Even though she had her misgivings, Lin Sanjiu did not have the time to chat. She could barely defend herself as she had to deal with the attacks from the two men and even guard against the man with the top hat.
The noise from the fight at the W section quickly filled the library. The noise bounced off the ceiling, echoing through the library. It certainly alerted the members from the other teams as they could hear the faint voices from their discussions. Amidst the loud and intermittent shouting, Lin Sanjiu heard someone vaguely shouting "north wing".
The white light that had attacked her previous seemed to be a white scarf-like thing. However, it was certainly not as soft as a normal scarf since it created a shallow dent on the ground each time it struck. Lin Sanjiu was flanked by attacks. She was barely keeping up. Yet, she noticed that the black shadow of the man in a top hat at the corner of her eyes. He was charging toward them—
Lamenting her bad luck silently, she wanted to leap into the air to avoid the attacks as she didn't dare to take on a direct hit. Just then, the handle of a long feather duster peeked out from one of the tiers. Lin Sanjiu was caught unprepared. She tried her best to swerve in another direction but she still touched the tip of the feather duster. For a split second, she lost control of her body and she was swept to one side.
The feather duster wasn't that powerful but Lin Sanjiu felt like she had been swept away like dust. Once she was swept aside, her body became rigid and she could not change her direction. She tried to hold on to the shelves to regain control over her body but it was futile, she only managed to pull down many books from the shelves.