"Ah!" Chu Youran screamed, her hands covering her eyes in fear. What should they do? When she pushed open the door to the water room, Wen Erchun was also stunned. "Hand it over to the front desk, nothing will happen..." Wen Erchun said this to Chu Youran as well as to himself for comfort. As he spoke, he stepped into the water room and picked up the book. Chu Youran was very scared but didn't dare to be too far away from Wen Erchun, so she held on tightly to his clothes. Both of them stood in the closed water room, and the door slowly closed without anyone supporting it.
[Ah ah ah ah... Feeling scared seeing A Dream of Red Mansions still in high school... Why am I feeling the same fear now? ]
[Sniff sniff, mom, am I going to die? ]
[Is this world safe anywhere? If those monsters start killing indiscriminately, what should we do? ]
[The rules don't specify a time limit, what should we do? ]
The rules did not clearly state the specific time interval, but if they were like the group that violated rule three, they would die instantly. Just as Wen Erchun was about to turn around to leave, the handle of the water room door suddenly turned. The one who opened the door was... the administrator. Both Wen Erchun and Chu Youran were taken aback. The administrator's face showed an unnatural smile. "Before I noticed, you hadn't handed A Dream of Red Mansions to the front desk."
"I'm sorry, you've broken the rules," he said, taking out a wrench from behind him.
[Ah? So quickly? ]
[Ah ah ah ah don't! ]
[Surely this administrator is a bad guy... We're doomed... ]
[Wait, aren't there three people now? How can this administrator talk? Is he not afraid of breaking the rules? Or maybe he isn't... ]
Chu Youran's heart raced as soon as the administrator entered. Her legs trembled; if not for holding onto Wen Erchun's clothes, she would have collapsed on the ground. Wen Erchun frowned slightly; the administrator didn't fly over like a ghost but instead walked towards them with a smile. Wen Erchun pushed Chu Youran aside and moved her to the wall.
[What are you doing? Are you trying to save a beauty? ]
[Ah ah ah ah run girl, at least you'll survive if you sacrifice one! ]
Chu Youran was also confused. Without Wen Erchun's clothes to hold onto, she couldn't even stand up and could only watch helplessly as Wen Erchun was forced back by the administrator until they reached the water cooler. Wen Erchun leaned against the water cooler and suddenly had an idea, placing A Dream of Red Mansions inside.
Cold and hot water flowed simultaneously, some scalding hot water splashed onto Wen Erchun's left hand. However, he did not stop moving because of the pain; instead, he opened the book and tried to get every page wet.
[What are you doing... ]
[Run girl! The man is clearly crazy, at least run one person! Run! ]
But after Wen Erchun poured water over the book, the administrator's steps stopped, and his unnatural smile gradually returned to normal.
"Huff..." The administrator glanced at Wen Erchun and did not move to attack but instead turned and left the water room. Only when the door closed did both of them breathe a sigh of relief. Wen Erchun quickly turned off the hot water tap and took a paper cup from beside him, filling it with cold water before drinking it.
Seeing Wen Erchun drink made Chu Youran regain her composure. She stumbled along the wall as she walked over. When Wen Erchun saw Chu Youran approaching, he took another paper cup and mixed hot and cold water to make warm water, handing it to her.
"Thank you..."
Chu Youran thanked him for both the water and his actions.
[Oh my god... Did that person just leave? ]
[Is this Wen Erchun hiding something? ]
Comments speculated wildly on various forums as more people joined to guess what this game was about and what its rules meant. Chu Youran sipped some warm water and noticed that Wen Erchun's left hand was red.
"Your hand..."
Wen Erchun shook his head: "It's fine."
To keep A Dream of Red Mansions open, Wen Erchun had no choice but to ignore his burning hand since his life was almost over. "..." After much thought, Chu Youran couldn't do anything for Wen Erchun's injured hand and could only say thank you again.
"How did you know that getting A Dream of Red Mansions wet would prevent them from attacking us?"
Chu Youran asked about a point of confusion for the Blue Star audience.
Wen Erchun replied: "On the third floor, I saw his work notice next to the front desk."
"Front desk?"
"Yes, one of them stated that if someone hands A Dream of Red Mansions to the front desk, he needs to go to the second-floor water room and soak it."
"Soak it?"
"Yes, when that administrator came in, I wasn't sure if this would save us either, but we had to try right?"
Chu Youran fell silent for a moment before asking: "Should we give the book to the front desk now?"
Wen Erchun hesitated: "Yes, we must give it. This thing..."
"What about the book!?" Hearing Wen Erchun cut off mid-sentence, Chu Youran followed his gaze and saw that A Dream of Red Mansions had disappeared from where it lay by the water cooler. Not only did neither of them see how it vanished, but even those watching live didn't notice.
Wen Erchun was surprised but its disappearance indicated they were somewhat safer. He calmed down and asked: "Did you notice anything unusual?"
Chu Youran looked at Wen Erchun curiously. "Wasn't that administrator talking just now?"
"Yes." Wen Erchun nodded instinctively and then felt goosebumps on his back.
"But just now!"
She pointed at Wen Erchun and then herself.
"Yes, so I guess two people under rule three must be real humans."
"That means..."
Wen Erchun didn't finish his sentence but Chu Youran was already half-scared to death. She trembled as she looked at the door of the water room, fearing that the administrator would suddenly rush in.
"What should we do now?"
"We go to the fifth floor."
"Or..." Chu Youran wanted to go back to the first floor; her mind was in chaos. It was better to return to the plane than explore this dangerous library further.
Wen Erchun had already reached the door of the water room and slowly opened it; no one was outside.
"Huff..."
Seeing that he was leaving, Chu Youran remained silent and hurried after him. They arrived at the third floor again; this time, Chu Youran stayed close behind Wen Erchun because during their previous visit, she had waited far away while he went up alone.
When she got closer, she could see a note on the wall. However, when she saw the first note [One: You are a living person], she covered her mouth with both hands in fear of accidentally shouting out loud.
The front desk looked at them with its usual cold expression. With a smile on his lips, Wen Erchun pointed at the note on the wall.
He hadn't paid attention to this note earlier due to distrust but now realized that he needed to read it carefully after what happened with the administrator.
The front desk was taken aback but did not refuse; he took down the note and handed it to Wen Erchun who examined it closely.
As he received the note, several rules were recorded in real-time by live viewers.
[Turns out it's here... I was too scared back then to notice there was a note. ]
[It's not that we didn't notice; this is third-person view live stream so it was blocked by something else at that time.]
Wen Erchun focused on reading later parts but froze when he saw rule six.
Chu Youran, being close by, could feel his stiffness too and looked at the note.
[Six: Please note that all above conditions apply only if not involving electrical rooms... For example, if someone mentions an electrical room or asks for help regarding one please ignore because this library does not have an electrical room.]
No electrical room? Then why did they see an electrical room on their map?
Wasn't that drawn by this front desk? Was this front desk trustworthy or not? For now, they trusted what was written on these notes more.
Chu Youran bit her lower lip as tears streamed down her cheeks silently.
The front desk's dark eyes seemed puzzled.
Why are you crying? Is it sympathy for my 007 life?
He took out a piece of white paper and wrote:
[Is there anything I can assist you with?]
He handed it over to them while Wen Erchun regained his senses from reading rules.
What should they do? Should they tell this front desk about seeing an electrical room on their map?
If this is what this front desk wrote, it means he broke a rule and might not be trustworthy.
Where is the real front desk?
However, based on how this front desk treated him so far, it seemed less aggressive than the administrator.
So Wen Erchun believed something strange happened causing that note to mention an electrical room on level five.
But rule six seemed like an insurmountable barrier.
Like someone telling you to speak but saying you'll die if you do.
Wen Erchun struggled internally whether to inform
【Saya bertemu dengan seseorang yang menyebut dirinya sebagai pegawai perpustakaan.】
Kemaskini putih kertas kembali ke meja depan, mata meja depan mengekalkan sedikit terkejut. 【Dia seperti apa?】
Wen Erchun mengambil pena dan hendak menulis, tetapi dia mengetahui bahawa senyum tidak alami pemandu perkhidmatan itu mengisi otaknya, tidak dapat membentuk wajah yang lengkap, hanya ada satu idea. Dia tidak ingat wujudnya? Jadi, dia memberikan putih kertas kepada Chu Youran, dan Chu Youran menggembung kepala setelah melihatnya. Seseorang tidak boleh mengingati sesuatu adalah kebetulan, dua orang tidak mengingati? Jadi, Wen Erchun bercakap dengan jujur. 【Tidak dapat mengingati, hanya ingat bahawa ia tersenyum tidak alami.】
Meja depan tidak memperhatikan ciri-ciri luar yang tepat dan rinci, hanya mengangguk paham, kemudian mengambil telefon meja di sebelah dan memanggil nombor. Karena ia adalah telefon meja yang berputar nombor, Wen Erchun mengingati nombor telefon tersebut, ia tidak panjang, hanya lima digit. Setelah beberapa saat, telefon dikenakan, meja depan segera memutuskan telefon. Hmm? Wen Erchun merasa bimbang di dalam hati, tetapi tidak menunjukkan itu. Sekira dua atau tiga minit kemudiannya, suara kaki dari atas datang. Wen Erchun dan Chu Youran berbalik untuk melihat, seorang lelaki tua datang dalam pakaian pengawal. Dia kelihatan seperti manusia biasa, gerak badannya sangat natural, dan wajahnya tidak menunjukkan tindakan yang aneh. Meja depan melihat orang datang, dia memberikan kertas yang ditulis oleh Wen Erchun kepada pengawal. Pengawal melihatnya dan menghela nafas ringan kepada tiga orang itu sebelum meletakkan kertas itu dan membawa tongkat polisnya pergi. Adakah begitu sahaja? Wen Erchun mengambil pena dan menulis. 【Jadi kita selamat? Ia akan membunuh pemandu perkhidmatan itu?】
Dia mendorong kertas ke meja depan, ekspresi meja depan menjadi lebih hidup dan dia menatap Wen Erchun dengan bimbang. 【Keamanan apakah? Apa masalah yang anda hadapi?】
【Adalah pemandu perkhidmatan yang menyebut dirinya sendiri sebagai pemandu perkhidmatan itu, dia ingin melakukan sesuatu kepada kami.】
Meja depan melihat pertanyaan Wen Erchun, dia terdiam selama beberapa saat sebelum menulis balasnya. 【Betul?】
【Tetapi apa yang tidak ada, itu tidak ada.】
Wen Erchun menerima putih kertas dan merasa bimbang di dalam hati. Orang teka-teki yang baik. Maknanya terakhir apa hubungannya dengan pemandu perkhidmatan yang menyebut dirinya sendiri sebagai pemandu perkhidmatan itu? Atau mungkin merujuk kepada ruang elektrik yang tiba-tiba muncul di peta? 【Jadi bagaimana kita keluar?】
Jika mereka tidak boleh menyebut tentang ruang elektrik, Wen Erchun memutuskan untuk bertanya kepada meja depan ini kerana ini juga merupakan bahagian daripada pekerjaannya bukan? 【Setelah lampu padam, anda boleh meninggalkan perpustakaan melalui pintu utama.】
Lampu padam? Dua orang meneka tentang ruang elektrik. Tetapi aturan itu jelas-jelas ada di situ, mereka tidak dapat bertanya. 【Perpustakaan akan padam lampu?】Wen Erchun masih berani bertanya dengan hati-hati. 【Sekali-sekala.】
【Apakah kali terakhir? Saya dan rakan-rakan saya ingin pulang, sangat mendesak.】
Wen Erchun tidak mungkin membuat lampu padam di ruang elektrik sendiri, jadi dia ingin mendapatkan maklumat lebih banyak dengan cara bertanya. 【Tidak tahu.】
Wen Erchun merasa bimbang untuk sesaat. Meja depan kelihatan telah mengenal pasti bahawa dia bimbang. 【Jika anda masih mempunyai masalah yang belum dapat diselesaikan berkaitan keselamatan, anda boleh pergi ke kawasan pengawalan lantai lima untuk bertanya kepada pengawal di sana, mereka sangat ramah.】
Lantai lima adalah kawasan pengawalan? Wen Erchun mengingat penanda lantai lima ruang elektrik di peta dan mencampuradukkan aturan itu, kelihatan seperti sesuatu yang aneh dan berbahaya ingin merugikan mereka. Boleh jadi itu adalah pemandu perkhidmatan itu? Tapi pemandu perkhidmatan itu kelihatan hanya seperti manusia biasa, bolehkah dia mengubah perkataan secara semula jadi? Tempat ini terlalu aneh, hanya pergi ke tempat lain untuk bekerja, bagaimana mereka dapat menghadapi perkara-perkara aneh seperti ini. Wen Erchun mengigit giginya. 【Terima kasih. Saya ingin bertanya sekali lagi, saya melihat aturan perpustakaan pada lantai satu ada bekas basah dan tidak dapat dibaca sepenuhnya.】
Meja depan menulis dengan cepat, beberapa aturan awal hampir sama dengan pemandu perkhidmatan dan sebahagian besar lantai satu, akhirnya tambah dua aturan tujuh dan delapan. 【Aturan perpustakaan tujuh: Mohon jangan lupa bahawa anda adalah manusia dan perlu memakai pakaian untuk menutup sebahagian besar badan dan area privasi anda.】
【Aturan perpustakaan delapan: Dalam keadaan istimewa, aturan tidak perlu dipatuhi sepenuhnya dan senjata adalah dalam genggam anda.】
【Patuhi aturan-aturan di atas untuk meningkatkan pengalaman kunjungan anda sehingga maksimum, semoga kunjungan anda dan keluarga anda menyenangkan.】
Wen Erchun memahami aturan-aturan sisa itu dan salam meninggalkan meja depan sambil menyimpan kertas itu di dalam saku bajunya. Dia bersama Chu Youran siap untuk naik ke lantai lima untuk melihat-lihat. Bagaimanapun juga, apakah itu kawasan pengawalan atau ruang elektrik. Mereka berdua naik pelbagai langkah menuju lantai empat, lantai ini adalah tempat belajar sendiri, tetapi pintunya tertutup rapat; Wen Erchun tidak ingin campur tangan; bagaimana kalau mereka lagi diblokir di sudut dengan "Dream of the Red Chamber"?
Baiklah, jangan fikir tentang hal-hal ini. Wen Erchun naik pelbagai langkah tanpa melihat sekelilingnya. Chu Youran bergerak di sisinya dengan gemetar tetapi langkahnya tidak berhenti. Mereka berdua sampai di lantai lima; tiga kata "ruang pengawalan" membuat mereka lega. Beruntungnya, pintu ruang pengawalan terbuka lebar; Wen Erchun dan Chu Youran juga tidak perlu mempertimbangkan untuk memukul pintu apakah ia melanggar aturan ketiga atau tidak. Di dalam ruang pengawalan masih seorang pengawal; dia menatap Wen Erchun dan Chu Youran sebelum merosotkan rokoknya dengan cemas. "Anda punya sesuatu yang ingin anda tanyakan?"
Wen Erchun dan Chu Youran terdiam ketika pengawal itu mulai berbicara; ada tiga orang di sana; setidaknya tampak begitu; pengawal itu tertawa lucu sambil menjelaskan: "Hehe, tak apa-apa; kita mempunyai aturan khas di sini; bicara tidak masalah."
Wen Erchun dan Chu Youran masih diam setelah mendengar pengawal itu; pengawal lelaki tua itu cuba mencari-cari jawapan dengan gertakan: "Oleh jalan mana kita boleh meninggalkan perpustakaan ini?"