Tap—tap—tap. The sound of leather boots striking the floor echoed through the silent library.
For the moment, no one moved. Every apprentice planned to let someone else test the waters first, watch what happened when the librarians gave chase, then decide how to play the game.
Just then, the sound of a piano note being struck suddenly rang out above Yu Xunge's head.
She did not waste time investigating why that sound had appeared, nor did she look up to see who had made it. She had no intention of gambling on whether the librarians could see her if she stayed where she was.
She immediately spun around and sprinted in another direction. As she ran, she transformed into an Orchid Mantis barely five centimeters long and landed lightly on the ground. The dagger hanging at her waist became a streak of markings on the mantis's petal-like legs.
She had been right. The instant the piano note sounded, eyes emerged one after another across the surfaces of every bookshelf.
Under the Eye of the Library's gaze, all concealment skills failed. A faint white glow radiated from every apprentice.
Yu Xunge, who had used Hide and Seek, was no exception. She was now like a moving firefly.
Almost the instant she left that lamp stand, a whip trailing afterimages lashed the spot where she had just been. Right after that, the woman in the suit appeared there in a braking lunge.
She looked toward where the piano note had come from, but halfway through raising her head, she flicked her whip at a nearby bookshelf instead—there was a closer target there!
Grapefruit, whose invisible state had been broken by the Eye of the Library and was about to slip away, dodged the whip's tip, rolled across the ground, and began to