The Library

As dusk began to fall.

The main hall of Stone Marrow Hall had been tidied up, leaving only a single chair placed in the center.

In the dim light, Huai Shi held a candle, feeling like he was performing some sort of dark ritual.

"Is this really okay?"

"Probably not?"

Crow shrugged nonchalantly. "I know you want to find clues in the Book of Destiny's records about Old Yang, but I have to warn you, while the idea is good, you might not find anything useful through normal reading. After all, the most important thing to him was clearly his wife. Of course, if you want to eat some dog food, then forget I said anything..."

Huai Shi sighed. "Just say what you mean, can you stop being so cryptic?"

"I'm just afraid you won't be mentally prepared!" Crow whistled. "To find something useful, you'll need to use... a less secure method, you know?"

"Take a risk, right?" Huai Shi sighed and sat down in the chair.

"I won't go into the complex principles, you know about spirit channeling, right?"

"Duh, are you going to possess Old Yang or something?"

"Similar."

Crow shrugged in a very anthropomorphic way. "Simply put, you can think of it this way: the Book of Destiny itself is an operator for certain important items, and what you've been reading all this time is just the directory.

It's like you have a computer and you're planning some cybercrime—what you need to do now is use Old Yang's records as an account and password to secretly bypass the firewall and access a dangerous, prohibited server, and then search for Old Yang's own browsing history... Besides the internet police monitoring you, there's also the danger of being infected by Trojans and viruses, you understand?"

"Will I die?"

"Unlikely. After all, Old Yang was just an ordinary person. His records after death are just old files that will naturally be overwritten if left unattended."

Crow patted his shoulder. "At worst, it'll be a fate worse than death, right?"

"Oh, isn't that just my normal life?"

Huai Shi calmly accepted it, even having time to joke about himself. "Let's be quick about it, seize the time, hurry up."

"It's a great relief to see you have that kind of resolve. Take out the Book of Destiny."

Crow glanced at him, suddenly transforming into a puff of green smoke. The smoke dissipated, revealing the feather pen form of the branch of phenomena. As Huai Shi opened his palm, the Book of Destiny, now materialized with origin essence and merged with him, appeared in his hand.

The cover opened, and under its operation, Huai Shi's records from previous years disappeared. Immediately after, a hand-drawn, old-fashioned computer login interface appeared.

"Fortunately, I managed to intercept quite a bit of origin essence back in Old Pond Town, or you wouldn't even be able to afford the dial-up fee."

Origin essence equivalent to dozens of people flowed from the tip of the pen, turning into ink. Under its drawing, the dial-up progress bar slowly increased.

"Remember, once you're in, stay on the outside. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely do not go deep inside. No messing around, no looking around, no touching... In short, do nothing except what you came for. Hold the candle, and as soon as the flame goes out, come back immediately. Understood?"

Crow's final warning echoed.

The moment Huai Shi nodded, his vision went black. The ink on the book page twisted into a vortex, pulling him in.

It felt like falling for millennia, yet it might have only been a second.

Huai Shi seemed to experience many things during this process, but when he stood firm in the darkness, he quickly forgot them.

"Stop looking around—I erased those memories for you. If you don't want nightmares, don't think about them anymore. You only have three minutes, little bro, hurry up!"

Crow's urgent voice jolted him from his daze.

The candle in his hand was burning rapidly, illuminating the surroundings.

It looked like a dilapidated library, with dust and mold floating in the air. In the dead silence, Huai Shi stood among countless bookshelves, nervously looking around.

In the silent darkness where even death seemed to dissolve, he was alone.

If not for the candlelight in his hand, he would have gone mad.

A piercing scream echoed from afar, followed by a loud crash. In the roar, dust rained down rapidly from the ceiling beams.

He didn't know what was happening and desperately wanted to lift the curtain to look. But when he saw a pale eye staring intently at him through a hole in the tattered curtain, he wisely abandoned the idea.

"There are still two minutes and forty seconds left! How long are you going to dawdle!"

Crow berated him. "It's dangerous for your sister to keep watch for you, you know! Do you know what that sound was just now? You were almost discovered by a predator! Hurry up!"

Huai Shi dared not delay any longer. He looked down at the candle in his hand. After merging with Old Yang's fragmented records, the candle's light pointed towards the deepest part of the darkness, guiding him forward.

There seemed to be other things lurking in the darkness, with constant trivial sounds, but nothing could be seen in the dim light.

Only the sound of dripping water and faint rustling.

It was as if something was waiting.

Huai Shi quickened his pace, the sharp sound of his footsteps on the ancient floor echoing into the depths of the darkness. After a long while, he finally heard Crow's voice:

"It's this bookshelf, the third row, second from the left! Hurry, hurry! There's only one minute left!"

Following her instructions, Huai Shi found the book she mentioned among the uniform spines of the bookshelf.

All the books here seemed indistinguishable, with no markings on their spines or covers, as if they had been randomly placed there, neglected.

However, the moment Huai Shi opened it, a chill ran down his spine, and the Death Sense resurfaced—something had targeted him!

With a non-human, piercing shriek, the floor, bookshelves, and even the ceiling began to tremble. Wisps of blackness extended from within, spreading outwards like dark water, searching for the trace of its prey.

By the candlelight, he could barely make out its form, but he couldn't believe his eyes: it was all hair, strands woven together, twitching like snakes! Dry, cold hair greedily groped around everything. Struggles and screams echoed from the darkness, followed by unsettling chewing sounds.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Huai Shi swallowed, carefully shifting his position. Pitch-black hair, like snakes, slithered past his feet and flowed into the darkness.

"Are you here to watch Wild Kingdom? Forget about the librarian assimilated by Hell. She won't find you before the candle burns out!"

Huai Shi gasped, "What the hell is this place?"

"Isn't it a bit late to ask that now?" Crow sighed. "You have fifty seconds left."

Huai Shi dared not waste any more time. He opened the cover, and by the light of the book, he saw dense writing on the pages. But the script didn't seem to require reading; the moment it was looked at, it came alive, burrowing into his consciousness along his gaze, transforming into countless fleeting images.

The first thing Huai Shi saw was that bastard Old Yang squatting on the toilet, psyching himself up.

"My eyes..."

Huai Shi instinctively held his breath and quickly flipped past this section.

All the records seemed fragmented and disorganized. He could only flip downwards randomly, with very few large sections, mostly trivial matters. There was even a memory of confessing to his art teacher after getting a red star in third grade.

"Old Yang, you were quite precocious..."

Huai Shi sighed. Seeing the candle was only half-burned, he quickly flipped past this part and continued searching.

Soon, he saw his pale-faced sister-in-law in the hospital room, with a spirited Old Yang sitting by the bed.

"Don't worry, wife, I've got money! By the end of the month, we'll transfer you to the provincial hospital. I've already found specialists." He gently covered her slightly pale hand. "In a couple of years, when you're feeling better, give me a big baby boy, or a girl, I'd love either..."

Looking at her smile, Old Yang smiled too.

It was as if he had found salvation.

Huai Shi sadly turned the page.

But as he looked further down, the memories became fragmented, a series of broken images filled with pain, fear, and unease. Finally, a figure appeared.

A mocking smile, dry yellow hair, and those red gloves that Huai Shi would never forget.

"Then, it's settled."

As his fingers spread, they covered Old Yang's face.

A chilling sensation flooded his brain.

What followed were continuous nightmares and trances, more and more fragments appearing. It was like being drunk, maintaining daily life, but more often gradually turning into a walking corpse, not even knowing what he was doing.

"Huai Shi, can you do it? Twenty seconds left!" Crow urged.

"Almost there, almost there!"

Huai Shi watched the rapidly burning candle and frantically flipped downwards. Fragments, fragments, fragments. Going to the hospital to deliver food, transferring money at the bank, calling to chase the final payment, and then, receiving a call...

"The Tachibana Group's welcome party needs a cellist, right? Leave it to me... Huai Shi, you've met that kid before, haven't you? His skills are fine, right? Yes, it's settled then."

After hanging up, Old Yang smugly crossed his legs. He hung up the phone, pulled out a notebook, jotted down a brief note, and texted Huai Shi: "That kid will be so happy he'll jump for joy when he knows."

However, as he was writing the address, his expression suddenly stiffened.

The address he sent was completely different from the one he had just written down.

Then, he dialed an unknown number and reported stiffly, "Transporter Number 4 is in position."

"Very good, come to me."

A hoarse laugh came from the phone.

Old Yang stood up and picked up his keys.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew, and the candle's flame flickered.

The residual light flickered and died.

A strand of black hair quietly coiled around Huai Shi's ankle, bringing a chilling sensation, as if frozen by ice... It slithered upwards, strand by strand...

Instantly, Huai Shi's upper body went numb.

"Damn it, how did the ripples of the Silver Sea reach here... Huai Shi, come back, immediately!" Crow's furious voice echoed. "You've been entangled!"

"Almost there, almost! I'm almost finding it..."

Huai Shi ignored her and sped up, flipping the pages backward. But the countless strands of hair extended faster and faster, dodging the candlelight, growing behind Huai Shi, spreading, entangling his limbs, tightening their grip.

Meanwhile, Old Yang was driving, heading east along the main road, turning left onto Binhai Avenue... Huai Shi accelerated again, hearing the distant sound of the sea tide.

The black hair wrapped around his neck, tightening, making him unable to breathe.

The candle trembled, its last glimmer about to be extinguished.

Old Yang had already stopped the car, walked out of the underground parking lot, and moved forward at a pace that drove Huai Shi mad. He turned left, went up, and climbed the stairs.

Huai Shi felt his cervical spine groan. The hair was moving upwards, along his face, about to enter his eyes and nostrils.

A premonition of death, like falling into an ice sea.

Gradually growing cold from the inside out.

At that moment, he saw Old Yang push open a door.

In the darkness beyond the door, a familiar face was revealed.

The candle went out at that very instant.

Darkness surged forth like a spring, swallowing him whole.

In the final moment, an unseen force tugged at him, pulling him upward. It ripped through the pitch-black fog as if he were riding a roller coaster in reverse, hurtling upward at breakneck speed. But then, a strand of black hair floated up, coiling around his ankle like a rope and dragging him down.

"Get off!"

Huai Shi used his last ounce of strength, his invisible axe cleaving down, severing the black hair.

As he lost consciousness, the only thing he heard was an enraged scream from the darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the familiar living room. He bent over, frantically vomiting the last remnants of food from his stomach, and heard Crow's furious scolding.

"Are you fucking insane?! You were so close! So damn close! You were about to be assimilated there! To stay forever in Depth 27 of Hell, keeping company with those ghastly things!"

She glared at Huai Shi, "That thing has taken notice of you now! You absolutely cannot go back there until you break through to Fifth Tier and become one of the crowned!"

"I found him..."

Huai Shi gasped for air, his face a mess of slobber and tears, but his eyes shone with a terrifying brilliance, like high beams on a highway in Hell.

"I found him..."

He rasped, "I found him!"

Sorry, I have a bad cold and forgot to set the automatic update.