Huadun Cipher

If Huadun's library had to be described with one adjective, it would be "exactly as it appeared."

The dilapidation outside complemented the antiquity within perfectly. It had no intention whatsoever of deceiving the public.

Still, the building's design was rather interesting. The vast hall had no separate rooms at all; instead, bookshelves lined all four walls, packed full of books.

Looking up, Zhou Yi could see all the way to the ceiling. Faint patterns were still visible on the three-story-high roof.

The staircases hugged the walls. The second and third floors were just like the hall, with bookshelves crammed with books covering all four walls.

With everything laid bare at a glance, it felt as though one had stepped into an ocean of books.

Except...

"Achoo!"

Who knew how long it had been since this place was last cleaned? The air reeked of dust.

With his enhanced senses and exceptionally sharp eyesight, Zhou Yi could even see dust motes drifting through the air.

"An ocean of books? More like a polluted ocean."

There were too many books here, and Zhou Yi had no particular goal in mind. He simply wandered around the first floor, seeing what was on the shelves.

"History of the Interstellar Alliance. Read it."

"When Humanity Came from the Universe. Read it."

"The Days We Said Goodbye to Earth. Read it."

"Complete Records of Huadun's Past Principals? Now this is interesting."

Zhou Yi flipped through the book in his hands. It was clearly compiled by Huadun itself, containing the résumés and accomplishments of every principal since the school's founding. It was essentially a collection of brief biographies.

"How did they even include the time a principal's wig got blown away by the wind during a schoolwide speech??"

The more Zhou Yi read, the more astonished he became. What kind of school was Huadun? This book included so many embarrassing stories about its principals. How could a book like this actually be placed in the library?

After casually browsing around twice, Zhou Yi was sure of it. The books on the first floor were mostly basic introductions to the origins and history of the various star systems and the Interstellar Alliance, along with some chronicles of Huadun itself.

Those history books were no secret. Teachers had even covered them in class, and Zhou Yi had read them all long ago.

As for Huadun's little secrets, Zhou Yi lost interest after skimming through them.

Other than proving that Huadun had an unbelievably open school culture, they contained no useful information.

"No wonder there are so many books. Not one of them is worth anything."

Thoroughly dissatisfied with the first floor, Zhou Yi headed straight up to the second floor, hoping it would give him a surprise.

The layout of the second floor was no different from the first. Every book looked older than Zhou Yi himself.

If there was any difference at all, it was probably that there was even more dust...

Zhou Yi followed the bookshelves along the second floor, examining the books bit by bit as he walked. The light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He could not help pulling out books one after another and flipping through them rapidly.

This one was good!

He pulled out another.

This one was good too!

Zhou Yi piled all the books he liked together, and before long, he had built a small stack.

The second floor really had given him a huge surprise!

If the books on the first floor were all ordinary histories and school records that could be found anywhere, then the second floor was entirely made up of reference books!

As everyone knew, military academies primarily trained Mech Warriors, who were divided into two types: Mech Infantry and Mech Masters.

Every military academy trained its students differently and taught different material.

Almost all knowledge related to mechs was confidential, making it difficult to find on the Star Brain.

That was why Zhou Yi still knew so little about mechs.

But nearly all the books on the second floor concerned mech studies, organized into categories in painstaking detail.

There were not only books about Mech Infantry, but also plenty of study materials for Mech Masters!

"Shouldn't this stuff be every school's secret? Huadun is really comfortable just leaving it out in the open in this library?"

Even as excitement surged through him, Zhou Yi could not help marveling again.

Huadun really was a remarkable place.

Naturally, Zhou Yi would not let such a wonderful opportunity pass. They were all reference books, so he could not be bothered pulling them out one by one. He simply found the most basic introductory book and began reading.

When it came to mechs, he was like a seed that had only just sprouted. Everything beyond it was incomparably fresh and fascinating.

Perhaps because cultivating the Star Gathering Art had strengthened his senses, Zhou Yi read extremely quickly. Even the obscure content he had never encountered before entered his mind with almost no effort.

He finished one book very quickly.

Not enough. Still not enough.

Like a withered young sprout receiving a drop of clear water, he wanted only more at that moment.

Zhou Yi pulled out another book and continued reading, reading, comprehending, and thinking all at once.

"So that's how it is. How amazing. The world of mechs is this incredible."

The pile of finished books at his feet grew larger and larger, as though Zhou Yi had suddenly entered another world.

Eventually, he no longer cared about reading in order or by category. He carried an armful of books down from the shelves and piled them beside himself, then sat directly on the floor, heart and mind wholly immersed in this murky ocean of books.

All that unfamiliar yet novel knowledge flooded into Zhou Yi's mind. He used his own thinking to organize it, rapidly absorbing and digesting it, even drawing inferences and raising questions.

Whenever he could not figure out an answer to a question, he searched for it in the next book, or the one after that, connecting everything together.

Time slipped by bit by bit. Zhou Yi read faster and faster, while the bookshelf before him grew emptier and emptier.

The light gradually faded. Only when Zhou Yi could no longer make out the words on the pages did he finally stop.

Rubbing his sore eyes and throbbing head, Zhou Yi finally closed the book in his hands.

The library had fallen into disrepair. No one came to read, no one came to clean, and over time, even all the lights had broken. When night fell, the place became dark as well.

Everything around him was dark, yet Zhou Yi's eyes shone so brightly at that moment that they were almost frightening.

He stood and stretched his body, which had become stiff from sitting too long, preparing to return the books beside him to their shelves.

In just over half a day, he had finished every book on an entire shelf.

Naturally, he had skipped the portions repeated across different books, absorbing only the new knowledge and content from each one.

Zhou Yi looked around and was very satisfied with his speed. There were so many books on the second floor, and the farther he read, the more repeated knowledge there would be.

At his pace, he would finish them all sooner or later.

"Hm, what does this say?"

When he had been taking books earlier, all his attention had been on their contents. Only after clearing his mind did he notice a line of words written on the wall behind the bookshelf he had emptied.

"Huadun, a place where miracles begin."