One Step Ahead Is Genius

There is Library in this castle, but it is located underground, or rather, it cannot be called Library; it is more like a book storage room.

According to Anna, they are free to move around the castle and its Castle Perimeter, including the underground Library. Yesterday, the Player did discover the existence of the Underground Library, but few were willing to go Underground Library, as it's the place with the highest probability of Anomaly Incident.

Not only was it deserted, but it was also underground, making the environment extremely oppressive. Going there would be like an old man hanging himself—wanting to live too long?

Yesterday, all the Player did was search the various rooms inside the castle, including Bai Zhi, because other Player had been there before them, and perhaps those Player had left some crucial clues in the rooms.

Unfortunately, the room was spotless.

Yesterday, while Hide and Seek, Bai Zhi even risked searching each room for any traces or clues left by the previous Players, but in the end, he found nothing.

--And then today Bai Zhi learned that there are Maid who are responsible for cleaning the entire castle every night.

Although he had suspected this during the night, speculation and confirmation are two different things. With those dutiful Maid cleaning, it would be strange if the castle still contained any clues or traces left by the previous Players...

On the way to the Underground Library, Bai Zhi first made an excuse to go back to his room, stood at the door and glanced inside, and then quickly rejoined the group amidst the bewildered looks of the other Player.

Where have you been?

Seeing Bai Zhi return, the Dead Zero frowned slightly and asked him a question.

After all, he made an excuse to leave midway to go back to his room to get something, but he didn't even go inside the door. He just glanced at it and then quickly came back... This series of actions is a bit too inexplicable and suspicious.

"Just confirming something... You'll find out soon enough."

Bai Zhi looked unconvinced.

"..."

For some reason, the Young Girl felt a little suffocated.

It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the Underground Library.

When the group of seven arrived at the Underground Library, they were greeted by rows and rows of bookshelves, piled high with books of all colors.

"Unfamiliar characters... Do you really think there are clues here?"

After taking a book from the bookshelf and casually flipping through a few pages, Fengxi’s Bone frowned and turned to Bai Zhi to ask a question.

"We're not looking for this kind of book here; we're looking for something else."

Bai Zhi glanced around and shrugged slightly.

"Other Player came here before us. They may have died, or they may have managed to escape. But whether they were all wiped out or some managed to escape, they should have left something behind... and that's what we need."

"Every night, the guards and Maid would clean the entire castle. Even if they left any clues, the Maid would remove them."

Fengxi’s Bone frowned slightly.

"This should have been confirmed last night, right?"

"Some waste will naturally be disposed of, but what about the things that aren't waste? For example, like this..."

With a slight pursed lip, Bai Zhi glanced around the vast Library and snapped his fingers lightly.

"Bang!"

With a soft thud, several books fell from a bookshelf about two or three shelves away from them due to the vibration.

Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, Bai Zhi walked over, picked up a book from the ground, and then returned to the other side.

"Now you should understand, right?"

The words "[Advanced Mathematics]" were prominently displayed in the book that Bai Zhi was holding up.

"... Is that so?"

Looking at the book "[Advanced Mathematics]" in Bai Zhi's hand, which seemed out of place among the surrounding books, Fengxi’s Bone nodded after a moment of silence and exhaling.

"If that's really the case, then we might actually find some extremely important clues in this Library."

"So now you all understand, right?"

With a hint of regret, Bai Zhi patted the textbook in his hand, which had been shredded by the Toilet Paper Mine, and looked at the crowd.

"Now that you know, what are you all standing there for? Hurry up and get moving! Don't you know that time is money? If each of you wastes a few minutes, the seven of you here will have wasted an hour, okay?"

Someone looked at him with a disappointed expression.

No, we don't understand.

Watching the interaction between the two people in front of him as if it were gibberish, Steel Bones shook his head with a dark expression.

"... I think I've explained it in great detail, haven't I?"

Seeing the expressions of agreement on everyone else's faces, Bai Zhi rolled his eyes, somewhat speechless.

"I've already explained it so clearly and in detail, do you still want me to explain further? How do you expect me to explain why '1+1' equals 2?"

"... Could you two please consider how common feel? Thank you."

Seeing the look of astonishment on the other person's face, as if he had seen someone going to the toilet but not knowing how to take off their pants, Military Boxing Steel Bones's lips twitched slightly as he barely suppressed the urge to give the other person a beating on the spot.

"We're not very good at riddles, so please just reveal the answer directly."

"... Let me explain."

Fengxi’s Bone glanced at Bai Zhi and sighed.

"The things Players leave behind in this castle are all cleaned up by the dutiful Maid, which is why we found nothing in those rooms yesterday, and couldn't find any clues or traces left by previous Player... This is what we learned this morning."

At this point, Fengxi’s Bone turned and glanced at Bai Zhi.

"You already discovered this yesterday, so when you returned to your room earlier, it was to check on the whereabouts of the textbooks you deliberately left there, right? Some junk items are indeed thrown away as trash by Maid, but Item like the books scattered on the table are collected by them..."

Fengxi’s Bone tossed aside the textbook in Bai Zhi's hand.

"You had already anticipated this development, so you left certain marks in the textbook using Skill or items to confirm it, right?"

"Yes, you're actually quite quick to notice these things, since it's easy to spot if something you left in your room disappears."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Bai Zhi wore a relieved expression, as if to say, "You finally understand."

"... Therefore, if previous Player left any clues, the most likely location for those clues is in the Library."

March-shi shook her head slightly and gave a wry smile.

"If previous Player also discovered this pattern... no, as time goes by and they spend more time inside the castle, they will inevitably discover it, so..."

"So? So what are you all doing still standing there? Do you really think we have a lot of time on our hands?"

Bai Zhi put the textbook, now completely mangled, back into his Inventory and sighed helplessly.

"This Library is quite big. Who knows which shelves the Maid will put all those collected books on? If we keep wasting time, it'll be noon soon!"

"..."