Chapter 116: Secrets of the Library (3)
Chapter 116: Secrets of the Library (3)
"No, don't abandon me, I'm almost there!"
"Quick, throw the dictionary over!"
"Ah—"
The twenty spirits suddenly dispersed, and the tides of the void surged forward.
Monkey, defenseless against the onslaught of the void, was instantly torn apart.
The dictionary dropped to the ground, continuously eroding from the void's effects. Chris's arm reached through the barrier, grabbing the dictionary at an astonishing speed.
"Ugh, that's disgusting!"
Chris's arm was battered and torn, but once the cooldown of his spirit summoning ability was over, the injuries would quickly heal. He examined the dictionary he had retrieved.
All the words on it were incomprehensible. It seemed to be a codebook for decoding.
"Showing cruelity and breaking promises. 5 emotionality points would be deducted."
The voice of the invigilator rang in Chris's mind.
"Ah... stop deducting, I'm already in the negatives."
Chris left with the dictionary and headed back to his dorm to rest and replenish his spent mental energy.
...
Gu Yi finished his work in the library. He, along with brothers Gao Qiang and Gao Da, went to the librarian's office.
The librarian registered the three of them and awarded them academic credits.
Currently, both Gu Yi's emotionality and rationality scores were 6 points.
"You are free to go now, but remember to keep quiet."
"Thank you, teacher."
The three nodded in gratitude and gently opened the door to the office.
Gu Yi bid farewell to the two brothers and headed straight to Section C. Annoying noises reached his ears, and negative bullet comments floated before his eyes.
"Chris next door already found clues to the basement. Why is Gu Yi still in the mood to read here?"
"Trash, real trash."
"I've never seen such a stupid adventurer."
"Just die, we're satisfied with just a normal level clearance."
Gu Yi closed his eyes, and the bullet comments turned into echoing voices in his head. He took two deep breaths and used psychological suggestion on himself again to block out the comments.
"I really want to kill them!"
With bloodshot eyes, Gu Yi stared at the floor, muttering angrily to himself.
Students around him looked at Gu Yi curiously. Only then did he realize he was in the library.
Luckily, the students and librarian just gave him a glance and didn't make a big deal of it.
Gu Yi covered his mouth and rested at a table for a while, frightened by his earlier violent thoughts.
"Calm down... calm down..."
He mentally cheered himself on.
All of this was the conspiracy of the weird world. They behaved this way to make him lose hope in humanity.
The warning Jin Xin gave himself in the real world was like a seed planted in his heart, and everything that happened in this dungeon was like fertilizing and watering that seed.
Gu Yi believed that all the bullet comments in front of him were indeed the thoughts of many people in the real world.
— They really want him dead!
"Should I end my life?"
"Maybe I should..."
"Do it!"
The effect of the psychological suggestion had worn off.
The gloomy whispers echoed once more in Gu Yi's mind. He took out a pen from his pocket, removed its cap, and slowly pointed it towards his own eyeball.
No!
Wake up!
Gu Yi suddenly lifted his head and dropped the pen just in the nick of time. His immense mental strength and will to live once again overcame the weird force.
Breathing heavily, he safely stored the pen in his pocket.
Something was off, something was definitely wrong!
Is it because of the environment here?
Gu Yi didn't dare to stay in Section C any longer. He quickly stood up, located that peculiar book on the shelf, and stashed the handwritten note in his pocket. Holding the book, he approached the counter and checked it out.
Gu Yi sat down by a desk, taking a look around.
Next to him was an elderly teacher engrossed in a book. He was using a magnifying glass and was reading, word by word, from a book larger than his own head.
After waiting for his skill to cool down, Gu Yi immediately used it on himself.
Finally, all was calm before him.
He opened the book, and it turned out to be a manual on how to concoct magical potions.
On the first page of the book was a potion named "Void Walk".
[Void Walk: Allows you to traverse the void without being attacked by it, lasts for 10 seconds.]
[Ingredients: 100ml of fresh blood, one dream fragment.]
The content on the following pages of the book was blurred and unreadable, only the first page could be read.
Gu Yi didn't know what a dream fragment was at the moment, but this at least provided him with a direction and a way to think.
Without the disturbance of bullet comments and whispers, Gu Yi finally had time to think calmly. He took out a piece of paper and pen from his pocket and wrote down all the clues he had gathered and the mysteries that still needed solving.
Known clues:
1. The rules for scoring.
2. Essential items to progress the story can be found in the dormitory's basement, the rooftop, and library's Section C.
3. The method of walking in the void.
Unsolved mysteries:
1. How to obtain a dream fragment.
2. The cause of his mental breakdown.
Gu Yi folded the top half of the paper and only looked at the two unsolved mysteries.
The method of obtaining the dream fragment wasn’t urgent for now. The most important thing was to solve the issue of his mental breakdown.
The situation earlier was too dangerous. When his mind was breaking down, he couldn't do anything; his only thought was to end his life.
If it was just because Section C's environment was too oppressive, and the bullet comments were too negative, it would not be enough to break him.
There must be something he overlooked.
Leaning back in his chair, Gu Yi looked at his school uniform. It wasn't until he focused his mental power that he realized the secret of his uniform. Taking it off, he snatched the magnifying glass from the teacher next to him and examined the patterns on the uniform.
Hanging.
Slitting wrists.
Beheading.
The patterns on the uniform were all violent and bloody images. No wonder he always felt uneasy wearing it.
"Student..." The elderly teacher whispered to Gu Yi, "Are you done with the magnifying glass?"
"I'm sorry."
Gu Yi quietly apologized and returned the magnifying glass.
There was no good solution.
Even if he didn’t wear the uniform, seeing other students wearing it, with those patterns, would subtly affect his mental state.
He couldn’t possibly ask other students not to wear their uniforms, could he?
Gu Yi had no choice but to constantly use psychological suggestions on himself to alleviate the mental stress. He would rather face off against giants and unspeakable's horror than endure this torturous mental agony.
"Students, the library will close in 10 minutes. The Void Passage will disappear in 20 minutes. Please return to your dormitories as soon as possible."
The librarian stepped forward, speaking softly.
Students in the library began to pack up their stationery and books, lining up to leave. Gu Yi wrapped the potion book in his school uniform, cradling it in his arms, and followed the others out.
He decided never to wear the school uniform again.