by N. Heller
"What bullshit is this!"
As Lin Sanjiu grew increasingly frustrated, Reno suddenly exclaimed softly, "This!" Both Lin Sanjiu and Rena looked over at the same time.
"Luo Bixue knew very well that Li Yulong was a man that was destined to have more than one woman. Besides, she was willing to allow Li Yulong to have more women, to share her burden..."
"This is worse than the previous book!"
"What can this shitty book do?" Rena asked with a frown. Much to their surprise, the book's effect was incredibly useful.
[A Description of Twisted Logic]
If such a plot devoid of normal human logic can be rationalized in a few thousand words, you can twist everything in your reality.
"Quick, let's do it now!" Lin Sanjiu's eyes lit up. She patted Reno's shoulder and he reacted immediately. He grabbed the book and ran out of the book section. Each book can be employed in its unique manner with minute differences between the users as it is entirely based on how a user interprets its effects. After a few seconds, Reno suddenly turned back and gestured for them. Lin Sanjiu and Rena immediately rushed toward him.
The west wing was quiet, though they could occasionally hear some footsteps. Even though west wing team was very close to Lin Sanjiu and the siblings, they did not notice anything unusual downstairs.
"We only have five minutes," Reno blurted rapidly as he crouched hastily beside a desk while he surveyed all possible crevices and hiding spaces. "Right now, our existence had been twisted. If someone were to look for us, they would still see us in the books section… While the item is activated, we can't attack anyone. Let's find the book!"
There were 200 computers in the multimedia section. The possibility of searching through all the desk spaces in five minute was slim. However, none of them had the time to complain now. They grabbed every single second they had and searched the area for anything that looked like a book.
"We still have 3 minutes."
"We still have 2 minutes."
"We still have 10 seconds!" While the teenager shouted anxiously, Lin Sanjiu's fingers trembled when she touched a cool and smooth cover of a book…
She grabbed it and saw its title: A Girl's Sorrow.
Chapter 259 - Getting the First Target Book!
Lin Sanjiu could not remember the exact sequence of what happened next.
"We only have 5 seconds left, let's retreat!" Reno yelled. Meanwhile, she grabbed the book and sped toward the books section. At the same time, Siri's monotonous voice announced, "Progress report: two books have been found". Suddenly, there was a shout from the west wing. This was quickly followed by a bright flash behind her...
Everything happened at the same time around her. Lin Sanjiu found herself overloaded by a whirl of information.
Her mind came to a blank. She couldn't even hear the noise around her clearly, as if she was underwater and the sounds were far away. She saw Reno and Rena's back and the tall bookshelves just in front of her.
Suddenly, a loud explosion broke through Lin Sanjiu's zoned-out state, piercing right through to her higher consciousness. This time, the attack was different. It scrapped past her heel and hit the ground. The floor tiles, tables, and chairs were instantly pulverized. Lin Sanjiu clenched her teeth and flew up, finally dashing into the walkway between two bookshelves.
The attacks outside stopped abruptly.
Lin Sanjiu could hear the siblings' labored breaths. Lin Sanjiu looked at them and realized that there was a long gash on Reno's arm. It was so deep that she could see his flesh and half his body was covered with blood. However, the teenager seemed to be ignoring his pain. Even though he had a wincing expression due to his wound, he sounded very excited, "Did you grab it? Which book is it?"
Lin Sanjiu slid to the ground as she leaned against a bookshelf. She smacked the "A Girl's Sorrow" book on the ground. She couldn't help let out a long sigh of relief in her mind. When the two kids saw the cover of the book, they immediately made many "Oohs and Aahs".
It sure wasn't easy to get their hands on this one book!
However, they still couldn't let their guard down.
After resting for five to six seconds, Lin Sanjiu was the first to leap up.
"That last attack scrapped past my heel…" She looked down at the kids. "The west wing was right behind me. Their attacks can't hit at that angle. Did you see where the attack originated from?"
Rena was looking for a few medical books on emergency treatment for her brother. When she heard Lin Sanjiu, she stopped and tried to remember what had happened. She held on to a book and replied a little hesitatingly, "At that time, the situation was very tense. It was too chaotic so I didn't notice… But, judging from that angle, it should be from the east wing or the south wing, I guess?"
The east wing and south wing relatively far from the multimedia section. Yet, there was a large book section between the north wing and the multimedia section so they could eliminate the North wing first.
"It came from the south wing," Reno replied, still panting. He took a few books from his sister. They had titles like "First aid for External Wounds", "Recovery and Treatment", etc.
"I got this wound from the people in the south wing. When the team from the west wing discovered us, the one in the south also started attacking us."
Rena's face turned white with anger, "Are they taking advantage of us just because of our position? Everyone just attacked us randomly! We can't take this lying down!"
Lin Sanjiu wasn't worried about that. She contemplated for a moment. Before she could say something, a cold woman's voice suddenly interrupted her:
"You, missus from the central hall, did you guys find a target book just a minute ago?"
The person who spoke was the woman from the south wing. It was actually very difficult for Lin Sanjiu's team to deny this.
From the other teams' perspectives, they had left the books section unexpectedly. Braving significant risks, they hid themselves in the multimedia section using some sort of method. Next, when they ran back to the books section, Siri suddenly made an announcement. Everyone around them wasn't stupid enough to believe them even if they denied that they found that book.
Just when Lin Sanjiu was nervously trying to think of the best way to word her answer, Silvan suddenly spoke with his low, nice-sounding voice. However, his words were not as pleasing.
"I think we can discuss about the two books that were found later. Instead, right now, I hope that you can give us a clue about how we can find the other target books… After all, you wouldn't want to be enemies with all four wings." His spoke with a calm demeanor and it did not sound like a threat at all. Though he sounded very sincere, Lin Sanjiu really wanted to curse him!
With Silvan's words enforcing everyone's impression of them, it seemed as though their team had found two books!
Lin Sanjiu figured that Silvan probably was aware that they had discovered his secret when he saw them running from the multimedia section. In order to hinder and get rid of his competition, the first step he took was to just set them up as a target for everyone else.
"You sure act fast," Lin Sanjiu cursed softly. Despite how disgruntled she felt, she had to admit that she had to applaud Silvan's quick thinking. She could feel the siblings looking at her; they seemed at a loss as to what to do. Lin Sanjiu weighed their options in her mind quickly and felt that they did not have much choice. She clenched her teeth and spoke out loudly.
"Honestly speaking, we don't mind sharing the clue we have." When she said that, the kids were shocked. "We actually found this book by chance."
She stressed the word "this book", hoping that someone would understand what she meant.
"There are so many bookshelves and over a hundred thousand books. We just had a massive headache after searching for such a long time. Thus, we decided to search around the areas without books first, trying to eliminate those areas before finally searching the bookshelves again. Lo and behold, we actually found a target book." Lin Sanjiu tried
to make her words sound as truthful and sincere as possible, "We only know that much."
The people around them might not necessarily believe her words. In any case, admitting that they found a target book in a non-book section was more than sufficient!
When the library erupted into a flurry of murmurs, Rena couldn't help tugging Lin Sanjiu's sleeve, "Why did you admit that we found a book?" the girl was a little anxious, "You even told them so much!"
"We don't have any other choice," Lin Sanjiu sighed softly. "If I don't say that, the other teams would think that we are holding some important clue. By then, with Silvan fanning the flames, we will have to deal with enemies attacking us non-stop. If I give them a clue now, we will have a chance to prepare ourselves while they try to find the other books."
Reno's wound had stopped bleeding after he used the healing effect of a book. When he heard Lin Sanjiu's explanation, he quickly asked, "Prepare ourselves? What are we going to do next?"
Lin Sanjiu did not answer him, she stared at Siri's work desk which was some distance from them.
"I have an idea…"
The light from the rising sun poured through the window clearly illuminating the muscles at the back of Lin Sanjiu's neck. Rena suddenly noticed a honey-colored piece of skin at the back of Lin Sanjiu's ear.
" Huh! " Rena exclaimed in her mind.
She saw Lin Sanjiu suddenly reaching to touch the small patch of skin before laughing softly. "I think we made the right decision to choose the central hall," Lin Sanjiu said.
Chapter 260 - The Quiet Central Hall
No one could predict that Kisaragi Library would fall into an unprecedented chaos after 7 hours.
After searching for almost a day, there was no progress report about the third book from Siri. Finally, someone got impatient. The sound of the first explosion which ignited the chaos came from the library's ceiling. This was quickly followed by a successive series of booms and bangs with fire and sparks flying everywhere. Then, the library fell into darkness.
No one saw clearly the direction which the attacks were launched from. All the lights were destroyed in an instant.
"Hey, youngster from the east wing!" Right after the library became dark, the man with the fingernails-on-blackboard voice suddenly rang out. His voice was so loud that the ceiling vibrated noisily as if his voice had been amplified a few hundred times.
"I know that you have at least one target book. You better hand it over now!" The ear-piercing voice almost seemed to have a life of its own, boring right into the listeners' mind, giving the listeners the urge to roll about holding their head.
Perhaps it was the sudden darkness or the unexpected yelling demand, but the library fell into an abrupt silence for two seconds. Shockingly, the next person that spoke wasn't Silvan.
The woman from the south wing spoke with a cold, ruminating voice.
"My blond-haired brother, considering the current circ.u.mstances, why don't you just come clean with us?" The woman from the South wing scoffed, "I'm not as intelligent as you. It took me this long to realize something. Both of you have already formed an alliance with that skinless person from the central hall, right? You guys coordinated your words so well, you really fooled the rest of us. You probably released the information that the target books are in the non-book sections after you guys found a book as a team, right? "
The library went silent for a moment before Silvan replied. He did not raise his voice purposely like the people from the two other wings, yet everyone could still somehow hear his deep, mellow, gentle voice. Everyone could even hear the breath between his words clearly, like a lover whispering in their ears. "Miss South Wing, what do you mean by that?"
His voice was like a feather gliding softly across his listeners' necks. Even the woman from the south wing needed some time to calm herself before she could continue speaking without blushing, "I said that you guys had all this planned out! There is only a small reading area with tables and chairs in each of the four wings, but there is a large reading area connecting two different wings. You put on a joint performance with the people from the central hall. After each getting a book, you guys are waiting for us to fight amongst ourselves!"
Just as she finished her sentence, a person with a "rustling" voice added impatiently, "Youngster, there should be a book in the reading area connecting both our wings, east and west wing. A moment ago, we prepared ourselves well before heading there to search for one of the target books. However, we found nothing. We didn't find a single book and we didn't meet you guys!"
"Oh?" Silvan exclaimed as if considering something. After a while, he suddenly asked, "Our friends from the north wing, aren't you going to say something?"
"This book-searching thing requires too much mental work," the man with a top hat laughed softly and spoke with a cold, stony voice, "We have our own way of leaving this library. You guys can go ahead and fight for the five books."
They actually chose to stay out of the tussle.
Meanwhile, the central hall was silent. There wasn't a single sound coming from them. The skinless person and the pair of teenagers seemed to have suddenly become deaf and dumb. They did not make any responses despite the ongoing conversation.
Silvan suddenly frowned slightly in the dark. The woman named Peach had been observing him silently. When she saw his expression change, she immediately whispered, "What happened? Is something wrong?"
Despite her questions, she did not sound even a little anxious, instead, she sounded like she had the same blind confidence that Silvan had, "What should we do next? Tell me what to do and I'll execute it immediately."
"It's okay. Don't worry," Silvan looked behind and consoled her. When Peach caught his gaze, she couldn't help lowering her head to avert it immediately.
"I just find the people from the central hall strange. As for the other teams, I don't even care about them," Silvan continued.
The current situation was very obvious. The south wing and west wing had silently formed an alliance at some point in time through some unknown means.
"But with the worth wing involved, I don't think the people from the south wing can do much," Silvan said casually. He narrowed his dark green eyes which were like the green cenotes in the forests, "I'm not afraid of those people in the west wing, but the central—"
Before he could finish his sentence, there was an unexpected turn of events.
A whistling sound filled the air and a few black shadows appeared on the banisters on the second floor of the south wing and north wing, at the same time. They were so fast, it was as if they flew there. Almost at the same time, Siri's monotonous voice rang out, "Progress report: the third book has been found."
Footsteps rang out from the area near the west wing. The noise traveled through the reading area between the east and west wing, heading toward the west wing.
"What's going on?" Peach was really shocked this time around. She held Silvan's sleeve helplessly. "Who found that book? Why are they all attacking us… Huh?"
She suddenly noticed what was wrong but momentarily couldn't make sense of the situation. The black shadows on the second floor of the north wing jumped down. They were targeting the team in the central hall. The two people from the south wing quickly rushed over to the entrance of the east wing—that was the staircase from the east wing leading to the central hall.
The situation should be very dangerous for them, but Peach sensed Silvan letting out a sigh of relief, as if he had gotten a burden off his mind. She did not know why he was relieved but she didn't care to know. With a trembling voice, she asked, "What should we-we do?"
"It's alright," Silvan seemed to pity her uneasiness. He touched her hair and said, "Didn't I tell you what to do? Let's act now."
Peach nodded firmly. She turned and sprinted.
She had just left when a loud boom came from the few bookshelves at the edge of the east wing. The bookshelves at the frontline were damaged. Someone among the people from the west wing, had a terri
fying amount of strength. That attack flung a few tall bookshelves into the air, as if it was as simple as fl.i.c.k.i.n.g a few water droplets. The floor shook and the bookshelves started falling over, one after the other. Once the people from the West wing were convinced that the target books weren't on the bookshelves, they had no qualms destroying all these stupid hindrances.
"Be careful, don't touch the books!" the man in the top hat snarled. "Have you found them?"
He came prepared this time. His members were all holding different books. They were either about spying on one's love rival, seeing through tricks or area surveillance. If Lin Sanjiu and the siblings were still in the central hall, they would definitely find them using the effects from their books…
However, after searching the book section upside down, the man with the top hat was stunned.
"Where are they?!"
Chapter 261 - The... Pet in the North Wing?
The whole library shook non-stop amidst the shouts and occasional flashes of light. After some sort of large collision, dust and debris poured down from the crevices of the ceiling directly onto Reno's face. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried his best to suppress his urge to sneeze.
If he were to make any careless sound, the attacks from the south wing and the north wing would instantly obliterate all his lives. This was because Reno was lying directly behind the corpse from the north wing. In other words, he was currently in the middle of the central hall, in a wide-open space, in a vulnerable place that was exposed to everyone. He pressed his back tightly against Siri's work desk. Within the pitch-black library, Siri's face was the only thing that was illuminated by a white light. As she moved, the light on her face from the monitor screen shifted. One could even vaguely see a few lines of words from the reflection on her spectacle lens.
She lowered her eyes and threw a glance at Reno through her spectacles. Then, she stared back at her screen once more without saying a word. As Reno's hiding spot was on the other side of Siri's computer screen, there was a strong contrast between the bright light and his dark hiding spot, as a result, it was the darkest spot in the whole library. Furthermore, he was shielded by the mutilated corpse in front of him. This was also the reason why no one discovered that there was someone hiding right under their noses even after such a long time.