Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Bai Fuling lowered his gaze to the line of sinister red crayon text.

If this were the real world, it would definitely make someone jump. If it were a 3D horror game, it would send chills down one's spine.

—But this was a pixel RPG game.

The pixel art style didn't lend itself to genuine horror. Moreover, Bai Fuling was already battle-hardened and completely unfazed by such supernatural nonsense.

So, Bai Fuling's first reaction wasn't fear, but excitement.

Was something special finally happening? He was now practically invincible!

—Except for the police who would have him detained according to the rules.

Faced with this peculiar line of text, Bai Fuling chose to tap the screen repeatedly, trying to trigger an event.

Anything unusual had to be an interactive key. Might as well tap it a few more times and see!

However, the text in front of him didn't change with his poking.

Nearby, Luo Qingyue watched Bai Fuling's excited smile as he continuously poked the book with his finger, and couldn't help but step forward to intervene.

"Wait, Little Friend, what are you doing? Stop poking, this isn't a touch-and-talk book—" Luo Qingyue approached, trying to stop him. As he tilted his head, his gaze fell on the book and took in the text.

Luo Qingyue's eyebrows involuntarily furrowed, and he muttered, "This again? Pranks are getting more and more frequent these days."

"Again?" Bai Fuling caught the keyword and stopped poking the book.

"This isn't a library book. Booklets not officially part of the collection are supposed to be collected uniformly," Luo Qingyue explained. "Citizens have found thin sketchbooks tucked into the shelves before. I remember taking away a similar booklet before—how did it end up here again?"

At this point, Luo Qingyue's expression showed a hint of confusion, then he shook his head: "I don't know who's so bored, maybe some kid."

"You think a kid discarded it? But it was stuck on the top shelf." Bai Fuling tilted his head.

"That is a bit strange... might be a mischievous kid who threw it up there. Of course, it could also be an adult, though I can't think of any adult who'd be this bored." Luo Qingyue let out the sigh of a weary corporate slave. "If everyone could just follow the rules, we library staff would have a lot less trouble."

A prank? Bai Fuling pondered the idea but wasn't convinced. After all, a game wouldn't include useless plot points.

He felt it was more likely a mission clue related to the Crescent Scythe Murder Case. Rather than a child's scribbles, the thin booklet seemed more like clues left by the killer. Especially with the colored paperclip hint.

Thinking of this, Bai Fuling glanced again at his character's sleeve on the screen. A faint pink pixel line wasn't very noticeable, but upon closer look, it was noticeable enough.

What was this for?... Some kind of marker?

Bai Fuling began to reason backward: Because his sleeve was torn, he pinned it with a paperclip → Because he went to get the book from the shelf, his sleeve got torn → Because he wanted to find urban legends, he came here to get the book.

In other words, the person whose sleeve was pinned with a colored paperclip should be someone exploring urban legends, searching for secrets, and then saw this peculiar booklet.

In front of him, Luo Qingyue reached out his hand and said to Bai Fuling, "Give it to me. I'll take this booklet away."

Bai Fuling wasn't in a hurry to hand it over. He first asked, "Do you have a pen?"

"Yes," Luo Qingyue replied instinctively, then asked, puzzled, "What do you need a pen for?"

Since explaining would be too troublesome and explaining to an NPC was pointless anyway, Bai Fuling simply repeated his request: "Give me a pen, thanks."

The NPC in front of him seemed to be the friendly type, likely to respond to the player's words. He thought.

Just as Bai Fuling predicted, despite the question mark still floating above his head, Luo Qingyue complied, pulling a click-top ballpoint pen from his pocket and handing it over.

Bai Fuling took the pen, selected it, and placed the tip on the booklet.

Luo Qingyue looked down and saw Bai Fuling write with a flourish a line of text below the red crayon smiley face on the page:

"Hi, are you Tom Riddle?"

Luo Qingyue: ?

While Luo Qingyue was still briefly stunned, Bai Fuling continued writing fluently in the booklet.

"Hello, I'm Ginny Weasley."

"Alright, actually I'm Harry Potter."

"Just kidding, long live Lord Voldemort!!"

"Hey, can you hear me? If you don't reply, I'll pierce you with a snake's fang."

"Hellooo, I'm J.K. Rowling, Venmo me 50 and I'll give you a revive armor to regain your glory!"

Luo Qingyue: ???

Ignoring the barrage of question marks above the NPC beside him, Bai Fuling focused his attention on the booklet in his hand, attempting to trigger some special plot with various sentences.

But the red crayon-drawn notebook showed no reaction.

The only effect was probably making this slightly creepy thin booklet not scary at all.

Alright then. Bai Fuling was somewhat disappointed.

He had thought this was playing on the "Harry Potter" trope, a magical diary horcrux that could converse by writing on it. Apparently, that wasn't the case.

The copyright for "Harry Potter" was still too expensive; this seemingly bootleg small game couldn't afford it. Bai Fuling mused.

Seeing Bai Fuling stop writing, Luo Qingyue finally couldn't help but speak up: "...What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to reply to it," Bai Fuling said cheerfully.

Luo Qingyue was silent for a second before replying, "It's a booklet."

Bai Fuling: "But it said 'Hi' to me. Why won't it reply to me anymore?"

Luo Qingyue was silent for two seconds before replying, "It's just a booklet."

Bai Fuling: "How dare a mere booklet act so high and mighty!"

Luo Qingyue was silent for three seconds before replying, "It's just an ordinary booklet."

Alright, it seemed this game's AI really didn't have "Harry Potter" data. After three rounds of dialogue, Bai Fuling finally confirmed it.

He gave up further testing and stored the possibly clue-related booklet into his backpack—along with the pen, which he didn't return to Luo Qingyue.

A ballpoint pen could be useful, especially in a library. Anyway, he'd keep it for now.

The expanded part of the backpack, flickering with black lines, wasn't very stable yet. The reliable part was the front section, but currently, the stable slots in the front were full again. So, Bai Fuling decided to do a bit of cleaning. After some consideration, he tossed out the fertilizer.

Luo Qingyue watched wide-eyed as the person in front of him pulled things from his clothes and tossed them out—one, two, three...

He looked closely and saw three large plastic bags on the ground, each with icons depicting fresh crops and marked "[Compound Fertilizer]."

Luo Qingyue: ?

"...Fertilizer? Where did you whip out so much fertilizer?" Luo Qingyue was stunned. "Why did you bring fertilizer to the library???"

Bai Fuling hadn't expected the NPC to be interested in items discarded by the player. After hesitating for just a second, he nodded and said, "To fertilize the library shelves, hoping they'll grow better and produce more books for bookworms to devour."

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other.

After a moment of silence, Luo Qingyue said, "Could you please stop giving the corporate slave a hard time?"

"You know that meme?" Bai Fuling's eyes lit up. "Is it the one that says [Could you please stop tormenting the dog]?"

Luo Qingyue didn't know about the so-called [Stop tormenting the dog] image, but he felt he could already empathize.

Someone save this poor corporate slave!

Bai Fuling bent down and picked up the fertilizer bags from the ground. He said, "I'll come back for them later."

Hearing this, Luo Qingyue paused. He looked at Bai Fuling, who was earnestly cleaning up the floor.

Seeing this scene, he felt somewhat moved, as if witnessing a mischievous Beagle dog suddenly becoming considerate enough to tidy its own mess.

He watched as the Black-haired Youth moved the fertilizer bags aside and picked up all the books scattered on the floor... and then there was no "then."

Luo Qingyue decided to pretend he didn't see the books that disappeared one by one as they were picked up. That way, he could keep the feeling of being moved ().

At least the Black-haired Youth had cleaned up the spot perfectly. Luo Qingyue thought silently.

He raised his hand and touched the small flower by his ear. The flower given by the person before him was still pinned there, emitting a fresh fragrance mingled with the scent of rain and sunshine.

Bai Fuling picked up a few books from the floor that he found useful. Taking advantage of having his back turned to Luo Qingyue, he quickly clicked [Consume] to register them in his personal library.

That was why he only picked up the books but didn't put them back on the shelves... like a vacuum cleaner that only takes in and never gives out.

Fortunately, Luo Qingyue was very understanding and didn't ask for details—or perhaps the corporate slave was tired and decided to turn a blind eye.

In any case, Bai Fuling finished collecting what he wanted. He steered his character to stand up straight, turned around, and asked, "Do you have old newspapers here? I'm also looking for newspapers from over a decade ago."

"Old newspapers?" Luo Qingyue showed a puzzled expression, then smiled. "Are you working on some social studies assignment for school recently?"

"No, it's unrelated to school." Bai Fuling emphasized seriously. "It's the famous Farmer Great Detective solving a case."

When there's a chance to boost detective reputation, it absolutely must not be wasted on good student reputation! He was already a [Rule-abiding] good student; he didn't need to add [Diligent and Studious] on top of that.

"Alright, Little Friend." Luo Qingyue still seemed to treat those earlier words as a joke. He mused, "If you're talking about newspapers from last year or the year before, I'm pretty sure I can dig them up for you. But over a decade ago... that's too long ago."

He thought for a moment. "Perhaps the underground storage room might have some. The library was renovated once. The underground storage room has some old library items piled up. They were never moved upstairs or cleaned out afterward."

Underground? Generally speaking, the underground of a building is a new map worth exploring, likely hiding treasures.

Bai Fuling originally wanted to agree on the spot, but after typing half his response, he deleted it.

Hmm. Just in case, maybe it's better to prepare some food before opening up a new map. Bai Fuling thought. A new map not only means new treasures but also new monsters.

Maybe there would be slimes attacking the player underground? Although Bai Fuling hadn't encountered any non-realistic creatures so far—the only supernatural being he'd seen was the black mysterious tentacle monster.

Hmm... maybe he'd encounter it again underground? Last time, the black tentacle blob disappeared down a sewer.

Thinking this, Bai Fuling typed into the dialogue box again: "Okay, then I'll check the underground storage room for old newspapers next time."

"Uh—sure." Luo Qingyue hesitated for a moment but still nodded in agreement, then lowered his voice to add, "But remember not to tell anyone. The head librarian doesn't allow us to open the underground storage room door casually."

"Mmhmm, mmhmm." Bai Fuling agreed readily. He knew such special locations were usually secret.

"You don't have any other books you're looking for?" Luo Qingyue offered kindly. "If you need, I can help you search for more."

"No need, I plan to head back to school." Bai Fuling's words took a turn. "—So, the wheelchair?"

Luo Qingyue: ?

How did they circle back to the starting point again!

He didn't understand why the person before him was so obsessed with the wheelchair, but facing that pleading, hopeful look, Luo Qingyue inexplicably felt that saying no would be cruel.

He hesitated for a moment, then said quietly, "...Alright, I don't use it anyway. It's at my home right now. I'll get it for you next time, okay?"

"Great!" Bai Fuling's eyes lit up, then he tentatively added, "I'm a student, so... give it to me as a gift?"

"Fine." Luo Qingyue sighed. "I'll gift it to you. I hope you'll take your studies seriously."

"Of course I study hard. I'm a good student." Bai Fuling declared with certainty. "I'm the most rule-abiding one in the school."

This was absolutely the truth. Although the player took unconventional paths, the player had never violated school rules or discipline! If there were any awards for discipline, Bai Fuling would definitely deserve one.

Luo Qingyue kept his doubts to himself on that. He found it hard to imagine a beagle's school life—though perhaps it behaved differently at school than outside?

Actually, thinking back carefully, the Black-haired Youth before him had never done anything excessive; he was just a bit lively... maybe more than a bit.

Luo Qingyue walked Bai Fuling to the library entrance. The doorway was crowded with people, and the noise seemed somewhat chaotic.

"Crash—"

"Boom—!"

A flash of light came from outside, followed by the rumbling sound of thunder in the background. Bai Fuling shifted his view and discovered that pixelated heavy rain had started falling outside without him noticing.

No wonder he felt the surroundings had darkened considerably. Bai Fuling suddenly understood. He thought his phone was running out of battery and the screen had entered power-saving mode.

"It's raining?" Luo Qingyue was taken aback. "No wonder people are crowded at the entrance—looks like a heavy thunderstorm. Did you bring an umbrella?"

Bai Fuling had his bright yellow raincoat, but hearing Luo Qingyue's question, his first reaction was: "If I say no, will you give me an umbrella?"

Of course, one should always try to obtain free items!

Luo Qingyue: "...No. I meant, if you didn't bring an umbrella, you could stay in the library for a while." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't bring an umbrella today either."

"The library doesn't have spare umbrellas?"

"It does, but—" Luo Qingyue pointed toward the entrance. "Obviously, they've all been taken."

Oh no. Too late. Bai Fuling looked at the empty spare umbrella rack with great frustration. If only he had gotten through the dialogue faster earlier!

Speaking of which, why are NPCs competing with the player for umbrellas? As NPCs, they should either carry umbrellas with them or be perfectly fine walking in the rain.

Bai Fuling's mind was racing.

He steered his character toward the exit.

An invisible wall seemed to block him at the library entrance. Bai Fuling couldn't get out.

"The rain is too heavy; you can't go out like this."

A line of text popped up on the screen.

Oh, right, almost forgot to change clothes. Bai Fuling clicked on the outfit menu, put on his bright yellow raincoat, and then continued controlling his character to walk out.

But he still couldn't leave. The text on the screen changed slightly.

"The rain is too heavy; perhaps you should wait for it to ease up a bit before leaving."

What's going on? Bai Fuling widened his eyes. This was the first time the player had encountered an invisible wall!

They're actually not letting the player leave??

He wasn't having it and repeatedly tried to glitch his way out. However, the text on the screen remained unchanged, only the same prompt kept popping up.

"The rain is too heavy; perhaps you should wait for it to ease up a bit before leaving."

"The rain is too heavy; perhaps you should wait for it to ease up a bit before leaving."

Finally, Bai Fuling gave up on glitching through the main entrance and decided to try the classic escape method—jumping out a window. He planned to leap from a second-story window of the library.

As he turned his character around to head for the stairs, he noticed the light inside the library had gotten even darker. The player's visible range was severely limited.

It's this dark, so why isn't the library turning the lights on? Fortunately, the player had a flashlight. Bai Fuling pulled a flashlight from his backpack, clicked it on with a "snap," and a beam of light illuminated the path ahead.

Luo Qingyue stood at the front desk, rummaging through a drawer. When the light shone over, a small exclamation mark popped up above his head.

"Where are the library lights? Let's turn them on." Bai Fuling walked over.

"...That's the issue. I already tried, but nothing happened. Maybe the circuit tripped," Luo Qingyue said, continuing to search through the drawer. "We need to check the electrical box—where's my flashlight?"

New plot? Bai Fuling guessed. It felt like one of those random side quests, like fixing an electrical box while passing by.

Since he had nothing better to do, Bai Fuling didn't mind taking on a small task. True to his playstyle of never skipping dialogue or a quest, Bai Fuling blinked and said, "I have a flashlight. I'll go to the electrical box with you."

"Thank you so much," Luo Qingyue let out a sigh of relief. "I thought I'd have to fumble in the dark or use my phone's flashlight... You know, phone lights aren't very clear."

After all, in the game's setting, phones aren't meant for lighting. Bai Fuling thought. Each item has its own purpose—very RPG-like.

"Why did the power suddenly go out?" Luo Qingyue lifted a hand to his head. Whether it was from bending over and searching for too long or something else, he looked a bit dizzy. He muttered, "...I'm a little hungry."

"Don't you have food in your drawer?" Bai Fuling leaned over, very naturally swiping a few cookies, then handed Luo Qingyue a piece of chocolate. "Here, have some."

"I might have low blood sugar... I'm not sure. But I remember eating quite a lot for my last meal," Luo Qingyue mumbled, taking the chocolate. "Alright, let's make this quick."

Luo Qingyue led the way slightly ahead, with Bai Fuling following behind.

The further they went, the quieter it became. Most people had left before the rain intensified, and the remaining ones were mostly gathered chaotically in the first-floor lobby.

In the darkness from the tripped circuit, the library was very dark inside, while the entrance area was somewhat brighter, so everyone crowded there.

Bai Fuling walked forward with his flashlight.

The flashlight cast a straight beam. After they'd turned a few corners, a set of stairs appeared ahead—stairs leading downward.

—The library lobby was on the first floor. Downward stairs meant this was the way to the basement.

This set of stairs looked quite long and relatively steep, so one really had to watch their step. However, for the player, this wasn't a big issue.

Bai Fuling remembered Luo Qingyue mentioning earlier that the old newspapers were in the underground storage room. Since they were already heading to the basement, could they grab the old newspapers while they were at it? They should be in the same place, right?

"Are the electrical box and the underground storage room both here?" Bai Fuling asked.

"Both are here," Luo Qingyue said. "Watch your step."

As the words fell, it seemed like a very soft, almost imperceptible sentence followed, "...I think I'm a little hungry."

But the dialogue box only showed the first half. Bai Fuling wasn't sure if he had misheard. He tapped the screen, but nothing more popped up.

So Bai Fuling decided to continue progressing. He followed Luo Qingyue downward, the background sound filled with "tap-tap" footsteps, crisp echoes stretching far and long.

After reaching the bottom step, Bai Fuling shone his flashlight forward and saw the electrical box not far away, flashing with green lights and red dots.

Here it is! Bai Fuling took a few quick steps to get closer.

For this kind of small task, the player didn't need to be an electrical expert. The most crucial part was finding the electrical box.

Now, he probably just needed to flip a switch or, at most, solve a simple puzzle like connecting wires of the same color or arranging switches in a certain order.

Bai Fuling controlled his character to approach, ready to complete this small task and then attend to his own business, like looking for the newspapers or something.

But unexpectedly, he couldn't find the interaction button.

Bai Fuling circled the electrical box twice and decided to cheat by directly asking the NPC for help: "How do you turn this on?" he asked.

"..."

The scene was quiet. Luo Qingyue didn't answer.

There seemed to be a faint sound of swallowing.

Bai Fuling shifted his perspective and saw Luo Qingyue standing not far away. In the darkness, his figure was somewhat blurred.

Hmm. Alright. Bai Fuling thought. I have to say, there's a bit of a horror atmosphere now. This is much better at building tension than before.

He decided to try once more: "How do we handle this electrical box task?"

A rustling sound came from not far away as Luo Qingyue took a step forward. Bai Fuling shone his flashlight over and saw clearly—

Luo Qingyue's soft, slightly curly bangs still rested neatly against his forehead, a bit long, partially obscuring his eyes but not completely covering them. Those eyes gleamed with a shimmering light in the darkness, like the eyes of some animal.

In that brief moment, Bai Fuling suddenly remembered Luo Qingyue's last words.

What had he just said?

—Oh, he said he was a little hungry.