"Ugh, that hurts." Xiao Xiao touched the wound on his face and winced. This wasn't fake.
Xiao Xiao's mind was elsewhere, his gaze vacant. The vast reading room was utterly silent.
Faint voices drifted over from far away, jolting Xiao Xiao awake and making him feel as if he had returned to reality.
He shook his head hard, trying to clear it and push away his thoughts.
Xiao Xiao took a few steps forward and crouched to pick up the books scattered across the floor. He reached out, then paused; his fingers were still stained with the blood from where he'd touched his face.
Xiao Xiao frowned. He had nothing on him to wipe his hand with, so he switched to his left hand and picked up the books one by one.
"Hm?" Xiao Xiao looked at the book he'd just picked up... a notebook? What was a notebook doing here? Had someone left it behind?
He took a look. It was just an ordinary black notebook, with a little dust on it.
Maybe someone had accidentally stuffed it in with the books?
Xiao Xiao guessed that was what had happened. He'd meant to put it back on the shelf with the other books, but something kept nagging at him. It was clearly just an ordinary notebook, the sort you could find anywhere, yet he couldn't stop thinking about it.
Xiao Xiao's fingers unconsciously brushed over the book in his hand. He suddenly felt a little ridiculous. If he was curious, he could just open it and look. But for some reason, his heart was pounding.
Xiao Xiao set the book on the shelf and swallowed. Feeling a little awkward, he opened the notebook with his left hand.
Huh? It was blank?
He flipped through it quickly. The entire notebook was the same: unused, brand-new pages.
Xiao Xiao stared blankly, then chuckled at how pointlessly nervous he'd been. He'd thought there might be something unusual in it.
His recent experiences had left him a little jumpy, seeing danger everywhere.
Heh, this wasn't some novel. Just as Xiao Xiao was about to close the notebook, a flash of color caught the corner of his eye. He hurriedly flipped to that page, and in his haste, the sharp edge of the paper sliced his finger. Blood welled up and, before he could react, dripped onto the slightly yellowed page.
"Ow!" Xiao Xiao cried. In his fluster, the blood on his right hand also smudged onto the page. He looked at both his hands and gave up trying to save the notebook.
But when he accepted the inevitable and looked down at the notebook, he froze in surprise. The aged-looking page was as blank as ever... without a trace of blood.
What was going on?
The blood had definitely gotten on the page.
Xiao Xiao wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He stared harder, examining the notebook from every angle.
Huh? Xiao Xiao rubbed his eyes. Was he really seeing things?
Why did it look like a pattern was faintly appearing on the page?
Xiao Xiao leaned closer.
There really was a pattern.
The lines on the yellowed page gradually came into focus. Vermilion seeped through. Was this...
Xiao Xiao's eyes widened slightly. Reflected in his pupils was a "strange-looking" fish.
It was shaped like a carp, but had six legs and a bird's tail.
Unlike the aged-looking page, the vivid cinnabar seemed alive, slowly flowing across the paper.
Xiao Xiao thought he heard a splash. A vibrant figure sprang to life, and when his gaze accidentally met its eyes, he saw a strange smile filled with sly, childlike malice.
He snapped back to his senses. In the quiet room, all he could hear was his own ragged breathing.
What was going on? A chill ran down Xiao Xiao's spine.
Was that a monster?
Was the one from earlier one too?
Its unusual appearance, its overly human expressions and gestures, its ability to appear and disappear without a trace—everything about it seemed uncanny and sinister.
Xiao Xiao turned to another page. Under his intense gaze, a shadow gradually appeared on the yellowed, blank paper.
The image grew clearer. It was the monster from earlier!
It was shaped like a mouse, but had a rabbit's head and a deer's body.
A pair of scarlet, vertical pupils glinted with cold arrogance. Its taut limbs looked ready to spring at any moment and deliver a fatal blow to its opponent.
He could almost hear the low, threatening growl rumbling in its throat.
Its little body had let out a roar so deep and ferocious.
Xiao Xiao still remembered how dizzy he'd felt at the time.
It wasn't until the pain in his cheek brought him back to his senses.
Now he could no longer laugh it off by telling himself he'd only imagined what he saw.
Something really had happened to him.
He had a feeling that his life might not be as peaceful and uneventful as he'd first thought.
Xiao Xiao felt confused and afraid. His head throbbed in sharp pulses, yet deep inside, in a hidden corner of his heart, something was brewing, growing restless. Was it anticipation or excitement?
He searched through the entire notebook, but found only those two images.
He flipped back to those pages and noticed some ancient, unfamiliar writing beside the drawings. Though he'd never seen those characters before, somehow he could understand them. He couldn't help murmuring, "Qiuqiu fish... Ear Mouse?"
Were those... the monsters' names?
After thinking it over for a long while, he came up with an idea. The notebook seemed to show things based on his own experiences. He'd only seen those two kinds of monsters, so those were the only ones it showed.
But what was this supposed to mean? Did it want him to go around exorcising monsters?
Uh, he was just an ordinary person.
He wanted a cheat ability.
Still, these monsters didn't seem as hideous as the ones in books and stories. Maybe he'd just been lucky and run into the more... Xiao Xiao rubbed his chin. Uh, friendly monsters?
They were friendly, right? Xiao Xiao thought uncertainly about Qiuqiu fish's eerie laugh, Ear Mouse's ferocious growl, and its gleaming sharp teeth. Well, at least they hadn't hurt him, right?
"Student, why have you knocked all the books onto the floor?" The librarian had appeared at some point and was frowning at Xiao Xiao disapprovingly.
Uh—Xiao Xiao jolted, snapping back to reality. His heart skipped a beat. Whew, he nearly had a heart attack!
He looked at the books scattered across the floor, then glanced at the librarian, whose face was showing a hint of anger. Xiao Xiao touched his rapidly pounding heart and could only force an apologetic grin. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to. I'll pick them up right away."
"Student, you should take good care of the books. This is a library, not your personal..." Seeing that Xiao Xiao was being cooperative, the librarian's expression softened, but she still stood to the side watching him clean up, her lecture uninterrupted.
Xiao Xiao wanted to tear that Ear Mouse limb from limb. It was the one who'd made the mess, but he was the one suffering for it!
Xiao Xiao quickly picked up all the books and put them back where they belonged. He promised over and over not to do it again before he was finally allowed to leave.
The whole interruption calmed his previously chaotic thoughts a little. Xiao Xiao had always been the type to take things as they came. Since it had already happened, there was no point obsessing over it. Besides, so far, all he could do was see monsters, and he hadn't been hurt.
Well, he hadn't been hurt too badly. He reached out to touch the wound on his face, then abruptly stopped. A strange expression crossed his face, and he hurried to the nearest window. He only stopped when the tip of his nose was almost touching the cold glass.
Xiao Xiao's heart pounded. The window was clean, clearly reflecting his face, which was pressed far too close to it.
He touched the injured spot and wiped away the remaining blood. This was where he'd been cut open earlier, but the face reflected in the glass no longer had any wound. The skin beneath his fingertips was smooth and unbroken. The injury caused by the fierce wind seemed to have been nothing but an illusion.
Xiao Xiao couldn't help pinching his cheek. The pain made him grimace.
Heh. After gaining the ability to see monsters, was his body changing too?
Was he about to become Superman?
Before you continue