Q: "Siri, if nobody finds the five books even after a long time, what would happen?"
A: "In that case, the book searching event would just continue... until the books are found. Or until the number of days that have passed exceeds the total amount of lives that every participant has. Then, everyone's lives will be deducted all at once."
Q: "Doesn't that mean that everyone would die?"
A: "After that, I would open the doors once again and invite the next batch of readers to join the event."
Q: "Okay. If a team gathers all five books but does not verify them with you, what will happen?"
A: "It will be treated as if no team had won yet. "
Q: "That means the verification process is a necessary step. Must we come over to your work desk to verify the books? If I raise five books in the air and show them to you, will that suffice?"
A: "No."
Q: "Well, then can you tell me what is the total cumulative lives of all the surviving people in the library have right now?"
A: "Yes."
Q: "Then, tell me!"
A: "522."
Q: "Huh, that much… Can you tell me how many lives each individual person have?"
A: "No. This does not directly affect the length of the book searching event."
Q: "Anyway, you can put things in whatever way you want. How did the location of the five target books disappear from the library's system?"
A: "The librarian of this library enjoys reading. When the library was closed, she would spend the whole day in it. She would have a book in her hand wherever she went, whether she was eating or just taking an afternoon nap. It might be because she had been too lax, but she finally discovered that five books were missing only after some time."
Q: "You must be that librarian!"
A: "No comment."
Under the cover of the darkness, Lin Sanjiu and Rena approached a corner of the library quickly and stealthily. They stopped and listened for any movements in the corridor behind the wall.
From the clues Reno gathered after talking to Siri, they basically came to the conclusion that the librarian had lost the five target books during her leisure time, moving around the library. The books that were found in the reading sections and the multimedia section seemed to prove their conjecture. Since Siri mentioned "eating and taking a nap", it seemed to hint that the librarian was living a normal everyday life. However, there wasn't any canteen in the library...
Lin Sanjiu scanned their surroundings and found nothing unusual, then gestured to Rena. The two of them slipped into the corridor. In the darkness, a lit green sign with the words "washroom" hung above their heads.
After their team split up in pairs, Silvan pulled down his personal ballistic eyewear and covered half his face. Somehow, that action left a lasting impression. "Let's have a chat with the people in the west wing." He placed his arm casually over Reno's shoulder as if both of them had already known each other for years.
"You both should be careful when you are searching for books, the south wing is way too quiet." Lin Sanjiu remembered Silvan's advice when she and Rena pushed open the thick wooden door to the female washroom. Controlling their strength, the wooden door opened soundlessly. A dull yellow light lit the washroom. Though the wattage of light wasn't that high, it was undamaged. They could see the basins, hand dryer, and cubicles in the silent washroom.
After a sweeping glance to guarantee no one was around, Rena felt slightly relieved. She closed the wooden door and mumbled quietly, "I hope the book is in this washroom…"
This was already the fourth washroom they had searched. After they had searched the two female washrooms in the Central Hall, they headed to the second floor of the east wing. If they still couldn't find any books, Lin Sanjiu was seriously considering checking the male washrooms.
"Are we going to search the cubicles individually?"
As they did not meet anyone on their way there, Rena lowered her guard. She walked into one of the cubicles without even checking and grumbled, "It is disgusting to search around these toilet cubicles. Siri is really…"
Lin Sanjiu walked into the second cubicle and answered her offhandedly, while she placed the cover of a toilet bowl down. Then, she checked the space behind the toilet bowl.
"Hey, are you really going to keep your name from big brother Silvan?" Searching for a target book certainly didn't deter Rena from small talk, "There aren't many gentlemen like him. Besides, not everyone from the Twelve Worlds Centrum works for Puppeteer…"
"I'd rather not. I think it is fine if you call me just Jiu."
Perhaps, during her time in the Garden of Eden, Gong Daoyi's unpredictability had left her very unsettled. As a result, Lin Sanjiu just couldn't bring herself to trust Silvan, who was also very attractive-looking. Furthermore, she didn't think well of the man's uniform attitude of gentleness to all the women around him.
After Rena checked the first cubicle, she walked past Lin Sanjiu and entered the third cubicle, "Ugh! This is so dirty! I've heard that female toilets are way dirtier than male toilets, maybe I'm witnessing it right now..."
"These young kids always seem to have an endless amount of energy. No matter how many battles they fought, and how many wounds they'd gotten. After some rest, they immediately go back to their lively, bubbly selves." Lin Sanjiu thought to herself and smiled faintly.
She didn't find anything in her current cubicle. When she left, Lin Sanjiu looked behind the cubicle door, checking conveniently.
She found a female satchel bag hanging from the hook on the door.
Lin Sanjiu couldn't help feeling excited. She reached for it and took it down. From the feeling of the PU leather of the bag, she could feel a something thick inside the bag. Lin Sanjiu opened the bag and found a book as expected. She pulled out the book and looked at the title under the light. It was "The Heart-Stealing Consort Escapes With a Baby".
Just as she averted her eyes from the cover of the book, Siri's muffled voice sounded over the speaker through the corridor and the wooden door. "Progress report: the fourth book has been found."
Lin Sanjiu couldn't contain her delight as she exhaled and a smile appeared on her face, "That's great. Now, we only need the last book… I don't think we will find another book in a washroom. Let's find for a spot that is suitable for an afternoon nap."
Looking at the book in her hand again, Lin Sanjiu couldn't help joking, "Say, it's quite appropriate to find this book in a toilet cubicle."
After she said that, Lin Sanjiu suddenly realized that something was amiss.
The washroom was too quiet.
Her body stiffened as she looked at the gap under the divider between the cubicle she was in and the adjacent cubicle. She saw a pair of donned red leather high-heels. The person was standing in the same spot that Rena was just moments before. Almost as if she or it noticed Lin Sanjiu looking, the pair of feet took a step back as if ready to bend down.