Librarian

Inside the Grand Library, Bai Zhi's words unconsciously created an eerie atmosphere.

"Uh... these kinds of things are probably just speculation, right?"

He took out the gold coin he had previously obtained from his pocket and looked at it several times, his face Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part with reluctance.

The Elite Level item was already the highest -Level Item she possessed; she didn't have many of them herself. The happier she was before, the more disappointed she was now.

"Although it's just a guess, I have a few pieces of evidence to support it."

Holding up a finger, Bai Zhi spoke seriously.

"First of all, after you entered this Dungeon, you should have seen the information about three other Player Dungeon, right? To be honest, they are my companions. I entered this Dungeon to find them, but they are not here."

"So what?"

A Pure Smile, Shy Blushing Cheeks.

"I suspect they, like us, are trapped in the story of this Library, endlessly reincarnating within it."

Looking up at the book Levitation above the table, Bai Zhi's expression was one of nonchalance.

"In this Grand Library, there are Story One after another that we need to complete. Although there are short breaks in between, and although we get rewards after each story completion... don't forget, we're here to Walkthrough Dungeon, not to farm Equipment and Dungeon."

"But this story forces us to go in, and since we can't resist anyway, we might as well farm more Equipment and items."

The Chronicler spoke up, somewhat unconvinced.

"What's the point of farming more? You can't take it out anyway. Greed, sometimes, can push you into the Abyss of destruction."

With hands fingers interlaced in front of him, Bai Zhi leaned back in his chair, his voice deep and serious.

"Furthermore, one of our Player has disappeared, and we've all lost our memories of him. If I hadn't written down this information on a sticky note and secretly stuck it on the back of the table beforehand, we wouldn't even have noticed it."

"I don't remember a Player named Instant."

She frowned slightly, A Pure Smile, Shy Blushing Cheeks and began to speak.

"I don't remember either, but he definitely existed... or rather, he once existed."

Bai Zhi glanced at the empty seat next to him and pursed his lips.

"We can't say that Instant seized the future, or that the Instant seized Setsuna, can we? Since a bizarre disappearance occurred in the Library, it means that the Library is not safe. Considering that no one disappeared in the previous two incidents... there must be a rule that causes a person to disappear when alone in the Library."

Bai Zhi reached up and touched his chin, looking thoughtful.

"If that's the case, then the number of participants for the fourth story should be four... Let's talk about that in an hour."

"... So what should we do next?"

Subconsciously, Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part glanced at the book in mid-air and asked Bai Zhi a question.

Bai Zhi's flawless performance in two consecutive Dungeon is enough to establish Bai Zhi position in this temporary team. He's just riding on the coattails of others, which isn't shameful.

"It's simple: explore the Library, find a way out, complete the story, collect relevant clues, and then leave the story."

As he spoke, Bai Zhi snapped his fingers.

As he moved, a Shadow Guard emerged from the Shadow beside him and handed him a sketchbook amidst the envious glances of the others. After doing so, the Shadow Guard disappeared back into the darkness.

"Previously, I had been sending Shadow Guard to search for relevant information in this Library, but unfortunately, as soon as they entered the story, the Shadow Guard in this Library would disappear, but it's not a big deal..."

Bai Zhi placed the sketchbook he was holding on the table and distributed one to each person.

"There are 3,084 bookshelves in this Library, and the collection is too vast to count, but a preliminary estimate is over several hundred thousand volumes. This is a topographical map of the Library drawn by the Shadow Guard; you can take a look."

"... Are we looking for books in this Library?"

He took the Sketch Paper, glanced at it, Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part couldn't help but look up and ask.

"That's right. In this Library, all the books look the same from the outside, but there are a few exceptions. Their cover colors are different. Shadow Guard aren't living beings, so they can't take the books. And what we need to do is... um?"

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Bai Zhi suddenly turned his head and looked at the gloomy atmosphere behind him, shrouded in rows of bookshelves.

Since the book appeared above the Four-Sided Table, their Four-Sided Table is now the brightest spot in the Grand Library, while the rest of the Library is noticeably dimmer.

"What's wrong?"

Upon seeing Bai Zhi's unusual behavior, the others couldn't help but feel a sense of unease and quickly followed suit, asking him questions as well.

"There's something wandering over there by the bookshelf. One of my Shadow Guard just disappeared. Be careful not to get caught by it... Has it appeared again?"

After giving a brief explanation, Bai Zhi, with his eyes half-closed, secretly summoned Shadow Puppet and quickly headed towards the scene of the incident.

Unless he can share vision with the Shadow Guard at some point, the information he obtains from the Shadow Guard will ultimately be limited.

Soon, Bai Zhi arrived at the area where the Shadow Guard had been killed. With the help of the Shadow Puppet's vision, he finally saw the true face of the Monster that had been lurking in the bookshelf area since the beginning. At the beginning, one of his Shadow Guard had been killed by this guy.

However, after seeing the other party's true face, Bai Zhi couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.

It wasn't some grotesque Monster as expected, but a perfectly normal human being, looking like the Librarian of this Library, wearing a uniform, except that his face was expressionless, like a mechanical puppet.

At that moment, the other person was bending down to pick up a book that had fallen from the bookshelf to the ground at some unknown time.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Bai Zhi suddenly seemed to have thought of something. Taking advantage of the fact that the other party was not paying attention to him, Bai Zhi manipulated the Shadow Puppet to take a book from the bookshelf next to him.

Then, just as the Librarian was about to put the book he was holding back on the shelf, Bai Zhi swapped the book he was holding with the one the librarian was holding.

After doing all this, the Shadow Puppet disappeared back into the Shadow, and then returned to the Four-Sided Table with the book.