The chill in Ji Li's body was burned away by the unmanifest karma fire. The heat washing over his face seemed ready to scorch his pupils out, and the roiling flames carried the helplessness of hell itself.
The scorched stench of death kept forcing its way into his nostrils, making him feel as though he stood in an endless hell, suffering with no hope of release.
Pain and wailing filled his ears. Stubborn roars mingled with unexpected panic, making him feel every bit of it himself. Even his skin prickled with goosebumps.
He whipped his head around. A raging fire had already erupted to his right, where a howling "Fire Person" kept smashing her head against the wall, making that wall of books sway precariously.
Books set alight, a branch manager burned alive, all amid flames that soared toward the ceiling.
Wei Guang's death had caused no stir, but this second victim of the karma fire struggled to roar out a single word as her last testament.
Once that word left her mouth, she died and turned to ash. The entire southern wall of books came crashing down.
With one wall fallen, a new area was unlocked.
Under the gaze of two heaps of ash, the five remaining branch managers looked at the newly revealed area with peculiar expressions.
Behind the wall lay an incomplete bedroom.
Incomplete in the literal sense: it was half a space facing a fireplace, with half a bed to one side and a carpet abruptly sliced in two.
It was as though part of a complete bedroom had been forcibly cut away and fitted behind the wall to accommodate the Study Room's layout.
The clues in this half-bedroom were equally sparse. Aside from half a carpet and half a bed, there was one intact fireplace.