Chapter 26 Library_1

As night was about to fall.

Stone Marrow Pavilion, the hall, had been tidied up, leaving only a chair placed right in the center.

In the dim light, Huai Shi was still holding a candle, feeling as though she was partaking in some kind of cult ritual.

"Is it really okay to do this?"

"Probably?"

Raven shrugged indifferently, "I know you want to find clues in the Book of Fate's records about Old Yang, but I need to remind you that although it's a good idea, you might not find anything useful through conventional reading—after all, the most important thing to him is obviously his wife. Of course, if you're interested in some dog food, ignore what I said..."

Huai Shi sighed, "Just get to the point. Can you sell less suspense?"

"I'm just worried you're not mentally prepared," Raven whistled softly, "To find something useful, you'll need to use some... less safe methods, you understand?"

"Taking a risk, right?" Huai Shi sighed and sat down in the chair, preparing herself.

"I won't go into all the principles, but you're familiar with mediumship, aren't you?"

"No kidding, are you suggesting Old Yang should possess me?"

"Something like that."

Raven anthropomorphically shrugged 'its shoulders', "Simply put, you can think of the Book of Fate as the control device for some important object, and what you've been reading so far is just the index.

It's like having a computer and planning some cybercrime—you need to use Old Yang's record as the username and password, quietly breach the firewall to access a dangerous banned server, and then look for Old Yang's own browsing history... The risks involved include being tracked by network monitors, and the dangers of trojans and viruses being implanted, you get it?"

"Could it kill me?"

"Not likely, since Old Yang himself was just an ordinary person, and his post-death records are just a bunch of old files that would get naturally overwritten if left unattended."

Raven patted her shoulder: "At worst, it might be about living a fate worse than death, right?"

"Oh, isn't that just my regular day?"

Huai Shi accepted her fate with calmness, even finding the time to joke about herself, "Let's be quick about it, hurry it up."

"Your determination really reassures me, bring out the Book of Fate."

Raven gave her a glance and suddenly turned into a wisp of blue smoke, dissipating to reveal the quill of an Event Branch. As Huai Shi opened her palm, the Book of Fate, now Source Materialized and fused with her, appeared in her hand.

The cover opened, with her manipulation, the countless records of Huai Shi over the years were hidden, followed by the appearance of a hand-drawn, old-fashioned computer login screen.

"Lucky I intercepted quite a bit of Source Substance back in Old Pond Town, or you wouldn't even be able to afford the dial-up fee."

Source Substances from dozens of people flowed out from the tip of the quill, turning into black ink, slowly filling the progress bar of dialing under her sketching.

"Remember, once you're in, you can only stay in the periphery, absolutely absolutely absolutely absolutely do not delve into the inner side, no messing around, no random looking, no careless touching... in short, don't do anything other than what you're supposed to do. Keep the candle in hand, and as soon as the flame goes out, immediately return, understand?"

Raven gave her one last reminder.

At the moment Huai Shi nodded, the world before her eyes darkened, the ink on the pages of the book suddenly twisted into a vortex, pulling her within.

It felt like falling for countless years, and yet it seemed to last only a second.

Huai Shi seemed to have experienced many things during this process, but as soon as he steadied himself in the darkness, he quickly forgot them all.

"Stop looking around—the memories, I helped you erase them. If you don't want nightmares, then stop thinking about them. You've only got three minutes, buddy, hurry up!"

The Raven's urging voice woke him from his daze.

The candle in his hand was burning rapidly, illuminating the surroundings.

It looked like a dilapidated library, with a scent of dust and mildew floating in the air. In the deadly silence, Huai Shi stood among countless bookshelves, anxiously looking around.

In the quiet darkness where even death seemed to melt away, he was alone.

If it weren't for the light of the candle, he would have lost his mind.

From afar, there came a scream, followed by a loud bang. Amidst the roaring sound, dust fell swiftly from the beams.

Not knowing what had happened, Huai Shi really wanted to draw the curtains and look outside, but when he saw through the broken curtain holes the pair of ghastly pale eyes staring at him from outside the window, he wisely abandoned that idea.

"Two minutes and forty seconds left! How long are you going to dawdle!"

Raven scolded, "It's also very dangerous for your sister to keep watch for you! What do you think that sound was just now? You were almost discovered by the Predator! Move faster!"

Huai Shi dared not dawdle any longer, he looked down at the candle in his hand, and after merging with Old Yang's fragmented records, the light of the candle pointed towards the deepest part of the darkness, guiding him forward.

In the darkness, it seemed there was something else; faint noises kept coming, but he couldn't see anything in the dim light.

Only the sound of dripping water and the soft rubbing sounds.

As if waiting for something.

Huai Shi quickened his pace, the sharp noises from the ancient floorboards being trod on carried into the depths of the darkness, and only after a long while did he hear Raven's voice:

"That's the bookshelf. Third row, the second book from the left! Hurry up! Only one minute left!"

Following her directions, Huai Shi found the book she mentioned among the uniform spines on the shelf.

All the books here seemed indistinguishable; even their spines and covers bore no markings, as if they had been carelessly tossed aside, neglected by everyone.

However, the moment Huai Shi opened it, he was suddenly seized by a chill, and the premonition of death surged again—something had set its sights on him!

In a scream not of this world, the floor, the bookshelves, and even the ceiling began to tremble, and tendrils of pitch-black stretched out from them. Like inky water, they spread towards the surroundings, reaching out for traces of their prey.

With the light of the candle, he could barely make out its form, yet he couldn't believe it: it was all hair, strands upon strands converged together, twitching and convulsing like snakes! The dry and cold hair greedily searched everything around, and from the darkness came sounds of struggle and shrieks, followed by an unsettling chewing noise.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Huai Shi swallowed hard and carefully shifted his position. The black hair slithered past his feet like snakes, flowing into the deep darkness.

"Are you here to watch Animal World? Leave that librarian assimilated by Hell alone, she won't find you before the candle goes out!"

Huai Shi gasped in a breath of cold air, "What the hell is this place?"

"Isn't it a bit late to ask that now?" Raven sounded resigned. "You've got fifty seconds left."

Not daring to waste another second, Huai Shi opened the cover, and with the book's light, he saw the dense writing on the pages. But the writing, it seemed, didn't need to be read, as it sprung to life the moment his gaze touched it, slipping into his consciousness like fleeting shadows.

At first glance, Huai Shi saw Old Yang, that rascal, squatting on a toilet, psyching himself up.

"My eyes..."

Huai Shi instinctively held his breath and quickly flipped past that section.

All the records seemed to be fragmented, lacking a coherent system. He could only flip through haphazardly, rarely finding substantial entries—just trivial matters, even including the time in third grade when he received a 'little red flower' and confessed to his art teacher.

"Old Yang, you were pretty mature for your age..."

Huai Shi sighed and, seeing only a small stub of candle left, he hurriedly flipped past this section, continuing to search below.

Soon, he saw his pale-faced sister-in-law in the hospital and Old Yang, sitting beside the bed, looking spirited.

"Wife, don't worry, I've got money now! At the end of the month, we'll move to the provincial hospital. I've found a specialist." He gently covered her slightly pale hand: "In a couple of years once you're better, give me a big fat son or even a daughter, I love them all..."

Seeing her smile, Old Yang smiled too.

It was as if he had been redeemed.

Huai Shi sadly flipped a page,

But looking further down, his memory showed gaps, a succession of shattered intents filled with pain, fear, and unease, until at last, a figure appeared.

With a mocking smile, straw-yellow hair, and a pair of red gloves that Huai Shi would never forget.

"Then, it's settled like that."

As fingers spread open, they covered Old Yang's face.

A cold sensation poured into his brain marrow.

What followed were continuous nightmares and confusion, more and more fragments emerged, as if he were drunk, maintaining daily life, but more often he slowly became like a walking dead, even unaware of what he was doing...

"Huai Shi, can you make it? 20 seconds left!" Raven urged.

"Almost, almost!"

Huai Shi, seeing the candle almost burned out, frantically flipped further, pieces and pieces, pieces, delivering meals to the hospital, making bank transfers, calling to urge for the final payment, and then, receiving a phone call...

"The Tachibana Group's welcome party is short of a cellist, right? Leave it to me... You've met that kid Huai Shi, haven't you? He's got skills, hasn't he? Eh, right, that's settled."

After hanging up the phone, Old Yang smugly crossed his legs, hung up the phone, pulled out a notebook to jot down the essentials, and sent Huai Shi a text: "That kid will jump for joy when he finds out"

Only, while writing the address, his expression suddenly stiffened.

The address sent out was entirely different from what he had just noted down.

Then, he dialed an unknown number, robotically reporting, "Courier number 4 in position."

"Good, come to me."

A hoarse laugh came from the phone.

Old Yang stood up and picked up his keys.

In that instant, a gust of wind came, and the candlelight flickered faintly.

The last gleam flickered.

A strand of black hair quietly entwined around Huai Shi's ankle, bringing a cold touch, as if frozen by a block of ice...creeping upwards, searching strand by strand...

In an instant, half of Huai Shi's body went numb.

"Damn it, how can the waves of the Sea of Silver transmit over here... Huai Shi, come back, immediately!" Raven's angry voice came through: "You're ensnared!"

"Quickly, so close! I'm almost there..."

Huai Shi couldn't afford to respond to her, flipping the book's pages faster, but those countless strands of hair extended increasingly swiftly, evading the candlelight, growing behind Huai Shi, spreading, twining around his limbs, tighter and tighter.

Meanwhile, Old Yang was driving, heading east along the avenue, turning left onto Coastal Great Avenue... Huai Shi sped up even more, hearing the sound of the distant tides.

The black hair wound around his neck, tightened, and he couldn't breathe.

The candle quivered, its last beam of light about to go out.

Old Yang had parked the car, exited the underground parking lot with slow motions that drove Huai Shi insane, turned left, ascended, climbing the stairs.

Huai Shi felt his vertebrae cry out; the hair moved upwards, across his face, about to burrow into his eyes and nose and mouth.

A premonition of death, like plunging into a frigid sea.

Gradually chilling from the inside out.

In that moment, he saw Old Yang push open a door.

Into the darkness beyond the door, that familiar face was revealed.

Just at that moment, the candle went out.

Darkness surged like a fountain, engulfing him.

In the final instant, an invisible force tugged at him, upward, bursting through the pitch-black mist, like a rollercoaster ride in reverse, speeding upwards, but then a strand of black hair floated up, coiling around his ankle like a rope, pulling him down.

"Off with you!"

Huai Shi used his last bit of strength, an invisible axe chopped down, severing the dark hair.

In the moment he lost consciousness, only an angry scream echoed through the darkness.

When he opened his eyes once more, he was back in the familiar living room, bent over, violently vomiting the last bit of food in his stomach, with Raven's scolding in his ears.

"Are you out of your mind? You were so close! Just a little bit more and you would have been assimilated by that place! Left to keep company with those ghosts in the level 27 hell forever!"

She glared at Huai Shi, "That thing has remembered you! Don't even think about going there again before you break through to the Fifth Stage and become Coronated!"

"I've found it..."

Huai Shi gasped desperately, drooling and crying all at once, yet his eyes shone terrifyingly bright, like the high beams on a highway through hell.

"I found him..."

He murmured hoarsely: "I found him!"