The sources of light in the library were sparse, casting beams from above.
Qin Yue cautiously followed behind Gu Zhan, quietly asking, “Can’t we go anywhere outside the light? What happens if we do?”
Gu Zhan glanced at him and coldly replied, “You’ll die.”
Qin Yue: “…”
After entering the library, his kind and friendly buddy seemed to have turned into a completely different person, devoid of any warmth!
That said, Qin Yue didn’t dare to actually test it.
He could only helplessly follow Gu Zhan.
The books here were vast as the ocean, rows of spines lined up, and the words made his head spin.
After a while, Qin Yue felt as if he was drunk, swaying unsteadily.
Just as he was about to tumble into the darkness, Gu Zhan reached out and pulled him back.
Qin Yue mumbled in confusion, “I think I’m a bit tipsy… Why am I starting to feel dizzy from the words?”
“Stop looking.” Gu Zhan reminded him, “The words on this will make people lose sanity.”
“What? What did you just say?” Sanity value was completely new terminology for Qin Yue. He didn’t understand it at all.
Gu Zhan glanced at him, showing no intention of explaining, and turned to walk away.
“Hey, wait for me…” Qin Yue hurriedly followed.
He followed Gu Zhan’s advice and stopped looking at the words on the bookshelf. Sure enough, his dizziness improved significantly.
Qin Yue was timid and sensible, so he began to focus on the ground and Gu Zhan’s feet, following closely behind.
After walking for a while, he couldn’t help but ask, “But if I don’t look at the words, how am I supposed to find that person’s book?”
Gu Zhan shot him a glance, unable to help but think that if Mo Tuo were here, he would definitely mockingly look at Qin Yue and say, “Congratulations, you’ve discovered a blind spot.”
Wait, why was he thinking of Mo Tuo?
Gu Zhan shifted his gaze and said, “That’s precisely what you need to solve.”
“Ah?” Qin Yue was confused, “Are you saying I have to deal with dizziness while reading words and make sure I don’t faint?”
He couldn’t help but ask, “But how come you have no reaction at all?”
When he asked Gu Zhan, there was no answer. After waiting for a moment, Qin Yue answered his own question, “Could it be because you’re an experienced player with a higher value?”
Of course not.
Because Gu Zhan’s inherent talent was related to sanity value, he was hardly affected by sanity value.
Rather than restricting him, the value imprisoned him.
When sanity value reached zero, the boundary between him and the monster blurred, making it easier for him to take action.
Of course, he wouldn’t tell Qin Yue this; Gu Zhan simply replied lightly, “Mm.”
Qin Yue: “…” He felt something was off.
After walking for a while, Gu Zhan suddenly stopped and said, “They are gone.”
“What? Who?” Qin Yue had been secretly glancing at the books on the shelf the entire way, focusing all his attention on them and hadn’t noticed what was in this empty, spacious library.
Gu Zhan said, “The people who came in with us.”
“Ah?” Qin Yue was bewildered and finally looked around.
He hadn’t noticed before, but there were indeed other people among the rows and rows of bookshelves.
Qin Yue awkwardly said, “I thought we were all pulled into another dimension, and everyone was separated.”
After all, when he entered, he had watched the person in front of him disappear into the white mist.
Gu Zhan said, “That was just the door’s illusion; it separated us… but there is only one library, and everyone is inside.”
“Well, that’s not right.” Qin Yue finally noticed something strange, “There were so many people standing at the door just now; where did the others go?”
Gu Zhan said, “And after walking for so long, there hasn’t been any book about Ferdinand Milner.”
Qin Yue said, “Maybe it’s not here? This library is so big.”
Gu Zhan replied, “The teacher mentioned in class that Ferdinand Milner was born in 1678. The place we just passed was the biographies of all writers from 1500 to 1800, and there is no mention of Ferdinand Milner.”
“Maybe he didn’t write a biography?”
After saying that, Qin Yue felt it was unlikely. “If he didn’t write one, what about others… Is he not famous? Was he not included in the library??”
But then he thought, that shouldn’t be the case.
If he were really that unknown, why would their teacher have them research him?
Gu Zhan didn’t delve further into that question and instead asked, “How did the people who came in with us disappear?”
He was staring at the nearby bookshelf, where someone was also searching for books, just like them.
His method was more direct than Gu Zhan’s; he would take books off the shelf to read them, then put them back.
Qin Yue said, “Because they returned the books they had borrowed to the shelf? It seemed like it said something at the entrance…”
But borrowing a book required registration at the librarian’s desk; merely taking a book down to glance at it shouldn’t count as borrowed.
Gu Zhan said, “We’ll find out by trying.”
He directly took a book from the nearby shelf, opened the cover, and glanced at it.
Qin Yue was startled by his bold move and began to sweat, “Bro!!”
So reckless! What if the book devoured him? What if he was left all alone!
Fortunately, nothing happened.
Qin Yue breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, “So how could it be possible? If you can’t read in the library, what’s the point of it existing…”
Before he could finish, he suddenly heard a faint noise behind him, as if something had fallen to the ground.
Gu Zhan stood in front of him, quietly watching the direction from which the sound came.
Qin Yue was immediately drenched in cold sweat under Gu Zhan’s calm gaze and quickly turned around, “What was that?”
He thought it might be some ghostly apparition, but when he looked back, there was only a book quietly lying on the ground.
The place was spotless; every row of bookshelves connected from the ceiling to the floor, and the books were neatly arranged. A single book lying on the ground seemed quite out of place in such an environment.
Gu Zhan said, “There was someone there just now.”
Qin Yue was startled and broke out in a cold sweat again, “What?”
Gu Zhan walked over and picked up the book.
It seemed someone had opened it, as it was lying open with the cover facing up. Gu Zhan kept the pages down, casually closed the book, then turned it over to look at the cover.
It was titled Postpartum Care for Sows.
It had nothing to do with the book they were looking for.
Yet Gu Zhan was quite sure, “This is the one.”
He handed the book to Qin Yue, “You take it.”
“Ah?” Qin Yue was confused, “This? Ferdinand Milner was a writer, right? Did he also raise pigs?”
Gu Zhan said, “Under what circumstances can we not find the book we’re looking for in the library?”
Qin Yue shook his head foolishly.
"Either the library didn’t record it at all, or the book’s cover has been switched." That’s why those people had to flip through the books one by one; without looking at the contents, they couldn’t know if it was the book they were searching for.
Qin Yue was even more confused. “Those people who disappeared…”
Gu Zhan said, “Because they read Ferdinand Milner’s book.”
Qin Yue: “??”
He was completely baffled. “What do you mean?”
Gu Zhan didn’t want to explain anymore and moved ahead to find the next book that had fallen to the ground.
The library hadn’t actually omitted Ferdinand Milner’s works; it was just that all of his books had their covers swapped out. Only by opening them could one find the right book. However, anyone who read a book written by Ferdinand Milner would disappear from the library for some unknown reason, leaving only the books scattered on the floor.
The solution to this was simple: let someone else benefit.
Those who had been through the scenario were seasoned players and quickly realized this. They stopped flipping through books one by one and began to look for the books that had fallen to the ground after someone reading them had vanished.
Gu Zhan quickened his pace and moved deeper inside.
Soon, they discovered a book lying on the floor. Gu Zhan stepped forward and bent down to pick it up, but someone was quicker, snatching the book before him.
Gu Zhan looked up to see it was An Heyan.
An Heyan looked at Gu Zhan apologetically and said, “Sorry about that.”
He didn’t intend to give the book to Gu Zhan.
Behind them, Qin Yue whispered, “He stole it! We saw it first!”
An Heyan replied, “Sorry, but there’s no such thing as first come, first served here.”
That made sense to Gu Zhan, who wasted no time and reached out to grab it.
They were in a library, where loud noises were prohibited, so An Heyan had to dodge. Their movements weren’t fast, resulting in a small-scale scuffle within the confines of silence.
Suddenly, Xu Ke appeared out of nowhere and shoved Gu Zhan from behind.
The area lit up was already small, and Gu Zhan stumbled out.
Qin Yue wanted to pull Gu Zhan back, but it was too late. Gu Zhan’s figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.
“You guys!” Qin Yue glared angrily at An Heyan. Less than an hour ago, they had been sitting together chatting and eating snacks! Why?!
An Heyan smiled at Qin Yue and said, “You should be grateful that Xu Ke has found his book.”
Those chilling words reminded Qin Yue suddenly, and he tightly hugged the book in his arms.
An Heyan added, “Just a reminder: you should leave quickly. The longer you stay in the library, the greater the dangers you will face.”
“You!” Qin Yue’s face flushed red with anger. “What right do you have to say that!”
An Heyan shrugged and replied, “I’m just reminding you. Think what you want, A Ke, we’re leaving.”
Qin Yue felt powerless and could only watch as An Heyan and Xu Ke disappeared.
Though they were despicable, their words held truth.
He had to leave immediately. As a newcomer, he was seen as a weak target, and with a book in hand, he was an easy object of contention for others.
Even though the book was actually given to him by Gu Zhan.
Thinking about this, Qin Yue felt a pang of pain. He was still too naive, watching Gu Zhan disappear without being able to help…
Filled with regret, Qin Yue reached the entrance of the library and unexpectedly found many people standing outside, all surrounded by a layer of blue, transparent shields.
Huh? What’s going on?
As Qin Yue walked out, he saw Gu Zhan near the entrance!
Like the others, he was trapped inside a blue shield.
Qin Yue excitedly approached, wanting to speak to Gu Zhan. But Gu Zhan shook his head at him, signaling for him to hurry and leave.
He could see Gu Zhan’s mouth moving but heard no sound.
Qin Yue quickly realized that Gu Zhan, trapped in the blue shield, couldn’t communicate with those outside.
And An Heyan and Xu Ke acted so boldly because they knew that being pushed into the darkness didn’t mean “death”—it just meant being confined within the blue shield at the entrance.
This shield looked familiar; Qin Yue often found himself trapped in such a shield while waiting to respawn after being killed in a game.
He finally understood that by staying here, he couldn’t help Gu Zhan at all; he would only be a burden.
After a moment’s hesitation, he gritted his teeth and left the library, clutching the book.
Before leaving, he turned back to glance at Gu Zhan, silently vowing to stand by his side! If Gu Zhan couldn’t find his book, he would give him this one!
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