Q: "Siri, I am back. I still have a few last questions."
A: "Go ahead."
Q: "If one out of the five books that a group has gathered is incorrect, what would happen when they verify the books with you?"
A: "All five target books must be collected and presented together. Otherwise, the verification will fail and the event will continue."
Q: "Okay, in that case, would the four correct and verified target books be attributed to that particular team?"
A: "No, that would not count. Once the verification process is canceled, it means that the status quo remains, namely, none of the books are verified.
Q: "I see… There is still one most important question."
A: "..."
Q: "Is there any way to know the content of a book without activating its effect?"
A: "Yes."
The moment all the nine duoluozhongs attacked at once, the color from everything around them suddenly faded. Everything became white and warped. A sharp gust of wind brushed past her back, and Lin Sanjiu didn't even know where it came from. Even though she couldn't really see what it was, she felt a creepy, uneasy sensation crawling up the skin of her legs.
When Siri took the "How to Render" book and before she laid eyes on it, Lin Sanjiu already took a deep breath and activated her ability in her mind. At the same time, the sweat-covered card which Rena had been holding changed into thin pieces of book pages. At that moment, the spirit duoluozhongs around Lin Sanjiu still hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Lin Sanjiu shot a glance at the person standing at the stairs and then back at Siri.
When Siri saw the book, her mouth opened, preparing to say something... Lin Sanjiu had already smashed her fist violently at the constantly morphing duoluozhong. At the same time, Siri announced that the verification process had been canceled. As Lin Sanjiu had prepared herself for the situation beforehand, her attack threw the thing a few meters away from her. Lin Sanjiu turned back and swept her arms across the four books on the table. With a white light, the fours books were converted subsequently into her cards and she snatched them.
Lin Sanjiu didn't even care to look at the book in Siri's hand. Even though that book was very similar to the book that Silvan had with him, one of the words within the long title was different. That was more than enough to trick a duoluozhong.
Once Lin Sanjiu had the cards in her hand, she suddenly leaped up before she even had the time to look down. Following which, a black shadow swept past the spot where her ankles were at just moments before. Meanwhile, flashes of white light suddenly erupted from the stairs. Amidst the white light, two figures rushed toward the stairs; they were Reno and Silvan.
It was only then that Lin Sanjiu finally stopped holding her breath.
The critical part of their plan was for Rena to switch from being "hostage" to a "ticking time bomb". Considering the white light from the stairs, one of the few book pages have been activated. But, no one knew how the effect of a passage of that romance novel would affect the woman in the hooded cape.
"Fate had inadvertently led me to meet him. Many years later, on a winter day, I couldn't help smiling while reminiscing about the past. Those years of young love were too bright. They were so bright that, in contrast, the rest of my life became dull and colorless."
"From those words, it should at least have a blinding effect, right?" As this uncertain thought surfaced in Lin Sanjiu's mind, she suddenly couldn't move. She had been stopped forcefully. Behind her, black hair poured down from the ceiling, blocking the light. When the strands of hairs were about to touch Lin Sanjiu's shoulders, she fell to the ground and rolled away.
Boom! The explosion sound was very weird. For a moment, it was so loud that it sounded like it could destroy the world, then it became very soft as if just a passing breeze. This weird sound was accompanied by whirring shockwaves which started appearing. Coincidentally, one of the shockwaves brushed past Lin Sanjiu back and hit the long black hair hanging in the air. The hair was cut to bits and suddenly something made an indistinct scream.
Shortly after, a teenage girl's sharp voice rang out, "No! It's useless!"
Lin Sanjiu felt her heart tighten.
This time, that incredibly powerful attack was also from the pages in Rena's hand. The attack was very powerful probably because the passage described the intense emotions that an artist from the Romantic period felt when he was first sent to a battlefield. The attack was not only very powerful, but it had a wide area of effect. A few of the spirits who were unprepared for the attack instantly turned to smoke once they got hit by a shockwave from the attack. Though the West Wing team was quite far from the epicenter of the attack, they were flung far away despite trying to use all sorts of means to defend themselves.
Yet, such an attack was totally useless against that woman?
From Lin Sanjiu's view, she could see a few figures approaching her. The person leading the group was Reno. As he ran, he hurled his pages of almanac behind. He was quickly followed by a tall figure, Silvan. Lin Sanjiu could see that he was carrying a smaller person on his shoulders, it was Rena.
In the distance, a person in a hooded cape slowly stood up amidst the smoke and rubble of the destroyed stairs.
She dusted her Changpao and her sleeves rolled off her hands slightly. That was the first time Lin Sanjiu saw that woman's hand. It was a fair, dainty hand which certainly looked very human.
"I have to admire your bravery."
When Reno stopped beside Lin Sanjiu, panting, the woman in the hooded cape also started to speak slowly. She acted as if the chaos around her had nothing to do with her. She even laughed faintly for a second. Her voice echoed, "Handing me those books obediently was really your best choice."
"Rena lost some lives," Silvan whispered, and that immediately drew Lin Sanjiu's attention away from the woman. "So, the west wing team needs to come back."
The previous shockwaves killed a few duoluozhongs and the remaining duoluozhongs were stopped by the members from the west wing. For now, working with Lin Sanjiu's group seemed safer than with that scheming woman in the hooded cape.
Lin Sanjiu threw a quick glance at Rena, who had temporarily lost her ability to fight. Lin Sanjiu nodded at Silvan to thank him for looking after the siblings before she smiled at Reno, "You guys take care of Rena. Wait for me."
Rena was stunned, "You're going alone?"
The woman in a hooded cape suddenly moved. In a blink of an eye, she had already approached them. Lin Sanjiu didn't have the time to answer. She leaped up and took the woman head-on. The two women collided strongly in mid-air. The impact was so strong that it created a thunderous boom.
"I think she will come back very quickly," Silvan crossed his arms and smiled at Reno.