Xiao Xiao sniffed a few more times.
His brows lifted slightly.
Sure enough, there was a trace of demonic aura.
It was very faint. If he hadn't leaned in close to smell it, he wouldn't have noticed.
He flipped through a few more pages and sniffed them.
"Could it be..."
he murmured, "that these marks weren't made by bookworms..."
but by a monster's teeth?
A monster that liked eating pages...
He wasn't sure whether to call it refined or wasteful.
These books had been completely ruined because of it.
"No, not this one..."
A boy's muttering came from nearby.
Xiao Xiao peered through the gap between the bookshelves. The boy was staring intently at the book spines, running his finger over the title of each book.
"No, not this one..."
The boy bent at the waist.
"No, not this one..."
The boy crouched down,
"Not—"
"Ah!"
The boy let out a brief exclamation, his eyes lighting up.
He seemed almost unable to believe it.
He gripped the book tightly, then pulled it out.
A wide smile spread across the boy's face.
That was right. This was another book he'd been wanting for ages.
This bookstore was amazing.
So many rare old books.
But soon, the boy pressed his lips together, his expression turning serious.
He wondered what condition this book was in.
If it had been badly eaten away too...
Then he'd gotten his hopes up for nothing again.
Why hadn't he found this bookstore sooner?
If only he'd found it earlier...
After silently reproaching himself a few times, the boy took a deep breath and rested his hand on the book's cover.
He hesitated for a moment.
Then he gritted his teeth and opened the cover.
The intact pages before him made the corners of his mouth lift