187. Guests
Even the rising sun couldn't completely dispel the city's gloom. The back alleys, unconquered by the Fire Moth, still reeked of slaughter and bloodshed.
Several figures stood beside two still-warm corpses; they were all rats of the alley—the lowest of hunters.
Today, they had luckily harvested their prey.
"Boss, do we...really have to continue like this?" A fat man's voice trembled as he whispered to the leader, who was busy harvesting kidneys.
The action abruptly stopped.
The others frantically winked at the fat man, silently urging him, "Shut up! Apologize!"
They didn't truly care about the fat man's life or death; they simply didn't want any complications. They only want to finish the harvest quickly, earn their living money, and escape the scene.
The expected roars, insults, and even the fall of the knife did not materialize. The man calmly stood up, his filthy face turning to the fat man, his eyes unfathomable.
"So, what do you think we should do now?" His voice was terrifyingly low. "Go beg the Fire Moths for mercy? Or go to the Silver Church and beg them for a job?"
He opened his blood-stained hands:
"Don't be foolish. You, me, all of us… are destined to be 'purged.' The winds of change in The City have shifted…" He paused.
"But we are the stumbling blocks in their way, understand?"
With that, he bent down again, the cold blade slicing through the flesh of the second corpse. The others exchanged glances, an inexplicable feeling spreading through them—the boss… seems to have changed?
Yes, he has changed.
If it were before, the fat man would already be a new commodity.
But now it's different.
Without one person, there is forever one less companion who would obey his orders and share his guilt.
The man was terrified. As he had said, they were the trash to be swept away.
He feared facing that day of reckoning alone.
Just as he lifted the garment of the second corpse, an unusually clean invitation suddenly appeared on the pool of blood.
[We cordially invite you to visit the library.]
[The library's collection will become everything you desire—knowledge, wealth, fame, even power.]
[However, the library holds many trials. If you fail the trials, you too will become part of the collection.]
"What…is this?" The man frowned, clutching the spotless invitation.
His men gathered around, bewildered.
The man's gaze was fixed on the words "everything desired", "power", as if his mind had been seized by an invisible hook.
After a moment of deathly silence, he abruptly stood up, his voice carrying a desperate resolve:
"Hey! Everyone! Get ready to move. We're going to this place!"
"Huh? Boss! This place looks incredibly sinister!" a tall, thin man couldn't help but exclaim, but fell silent instantly under the man's icy gaze.
"I know there are risks," the man said, clutching the invitation tightly, "but behind those risks might be our only way to survive! I've said it before, we're all lambs to the slaughter! If we don't want to be crushed, we must obtain power! Let's go! I don't want to waste any more words!"
Silence enveloped the group of desperados.
Finally, they silently signed their names on the eerie invitation.
-----
"Kiana, you should get ready." Xiling's gaze returned from a screen displaying a scene unfolding in the back alley. He expressionlessly reached out and moved a foot that was restlessly rubbing against his thigh away.
Caught red-handed, Kiana tilted her head and smiled slyly:
"What, you don't like it?"
"Damn it..." Xiling only managed to utter two words before being interrupted by Kiana's laughter.
"We'll talk about it tonight, Kiana winks."
"Tonight, my foot! I called you here to help, not to cause trouble!" Xiling stood on higher ground, pointing irritably.
"Fine, fine, men, sigh..." Kiana sighed dramatically as she slowly slipped on her boots.
"I am still a man!"
"It's okay, Xiling!" Kiana instantly perked up, giving a thumbs up, "I like men and women equally! Maybe... it'll be even more exciting!" "
Xiling expressionlessly raised two straight middle fingers at her.
-----------
A blinding white light flashed, and the heavy library doors were slowly pushed open.
The intruders stepped inside, instantly overwhelmed by the boundless, towering sea of books before them, their astonished gazes lost in this temple of knowledge.
"This... is even more astonishing than I imagined," the leading man murmured, his voice echoing in the empty space.
"Is that so? Then what did you imagine it to be like?" A sudden voice rang out, like a drop of ice water. The hairs on their heads stood on end, and they instinctively assumed fighting stances! Their gazes were fixed on the source of the sound—a chair had appeared on the high platform symbolizing the library's central hub.
Seated in the chair was a figure, his face shrouded in flowing gray-white mist; only his silhouette suggested it was a man.
Beside him stood a white-haired girl.
Although they couldn't see the expression on the person in the mist, they clearly sensed a…condescending scrutiny, as if carrying a cold smile.
Xiling looked at these first guests, nodded slightly, and thought to himself, "It seems the library's invitation is still valid; my worries were unfounded."
"Welcome, guests, to the library," Xiling's voice rang out again.
"Who I am is unimportant. You only need to know that I am the librarian, the scribe."
"This is the place where your long-cherished wishes will be fulfilled. However, whether you can grasp that faint glimmer of hope…"
"It all depends on yourselves."
The leader suppressed the trembling in his heart and stepped forward:
"Then what should we do?"
A faint chuckle came from the mist:
"Cross your… 'trial.'"
"Since you signed the invitation, it means you've made a choice."
"Then, from now on…"
"The trial begins!" "
The instant the words fell, the entire library seemed to be distorted and reshaped by an invisible force! A bone-chilling cold filled the air!
The figure shrouded in mist, along with the girl beside him, vanished like a phantom!
"Crack...crack..." A teeth-grinding, freezing sound rang out.
The group looked down in horror, only to see crystal-clear ice, as if alive, rapidly spreading upwards from their ankles! The piercing cold instantly robbed them of their senses and the ability to think, leaving only a final, frozen expression of terror on their faces.
They became several lifelike ice sculptures.
"Done," a relaxed voice rang out.
Immediately afterwards, a crisp snap of fingers echoed in the empty hall.
"Bang—crash!"
The ice sculpture shattered! Along with the life frozen eternally within, it turned into shimmering ice crystal fragments scattered across the floor.
A few faint wisps of light, each containing a certain essence, drifted from the shattered wreckage, drawn together as if by some unseen force, and flowed into Xiling's body, which had reappeared high above.
"It's just the light from a few people, yet it caused a clear fluctuation in the Seed of Light..." Xiling sensed the subtle changes within his body; his brow furrowed.
"What's the principle behind this...?"
Kiana gracefully moved closer to him, asking curiously, "What's wrong?"
Xiling told her about his perception and confusion. The two sat down on chairs, falling into a brief moment of contemplation.
Soon, they exchanged a knowing glance, reaching a very pragmatic conclusion:
"Forget it, let's not dwell on things outside our area of expertise."
"Exactly, even if we guess right, we might not be correct."
"Let's focus on preparing... for the next group of guests."