Xigaoqi's answer instantly set off towering waves in Lox and the Emperor's hearts.
The powerful psychic fields around them even fell into momentary disorder from the violent turmoil in their minds, stirring invisible ripples through the library's silent air.
As though sensing the threat, the obsidian walls gave off a soft glow and absorbed those psychic fluctuations until they vanished.
"Here? On the lowest level of the Black Library?"
Lox's voice trembled with disbelief. He even took an unconscious step forward, as if he wanted to seize the Laughing God and demand an explanation.
His gaze swept across the seemingly endless bookshelves around them, as though searching for traces left behind by that familiar figure.
A visible ripple also crossed the Emperor's majestic, solemn face. His blazing gaze remained fixed on Xigaoqi.
Yet after the initial shock, reason quickly returned.
This answer seemed... not entirely unexpected.
"Of course... with his wisdom and ability, the rules of the Black Library may have been more like an interesting puzzle to him than an insurmountable obstacle."
"Oh, it was far more than simply being 'smart enough,' my dear neighbors."
There was an exceedingly rare note in Xigaoqi's voice, one that almost carried reverence. Even the smile on Its mask seemed to lose some of its mockery.
"It was near the end of the twenty-first millennium of your human era, a... very delicate point in time. The afterglow of the Dark Age of Technology had faded, and the fractures within humanity had already cut deep to the bone, beyond repair."
It paced back and forth, Its movements no longer so exaggerated. Fragments of memory seemed to have made even this eternal Laughing God serious.
"One day, he came. Not as you did, brought in by me, nor like those lucky ones who endured countless