Chapter 256: The Information Lin Sanjiu Uncovered
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
"That's impossible!" Reno almost couldn't control his volume, being the first to react to that information. "There are at least 800,000 books in each wing! Are you saying that they have finished searching through all those books so quickly?!"
"Who, where and which book…" Rena also became anxious. "Why didn't she announce that information?"
"Could this be pure luck?" Lin Sanjiu thought doubtfully.
The rules of Kisaragi Library's book-searching event were very clear. It wasn't the sort of mystery where they had to understand the underlying logic to get the right answers. It was as direct as can be. The participants just had to look for the books. There wasn't any sort of wordplay or trickery.
Under this condition, even Nüwa would have to slowly search through the books manually. A person had to be a wizard if he could just point out the locations of the book with his mind.
"Are there really abilities that work like magic?" Lin Sanjiu sighed softly. She scanned through multiple books in front of her with her higher consciousness. The titles flashed past her eyes quickly. Some of the titles were very close to the target books but when she paused to take a closer look, she would find titles like "The Alluring Consort Escapes With a Baby" and other titles that were just slightly different. It was disappointing.
"I've heard of that before, in Twelve Worlds Centrum. However, that's like witchcraft and nobody knows if it is true," the teenage boy, who appeared more worried than before, answered Lin Sanjiu as he understood where she was coming from. "If there is someone with that ability, that person would be able to find the next book very quickly."
However, what happened next proved that the incident had nothing to do with witchcraft. For the next 28 hours, Siri did not make any further announcements that another book had been found.
Perhaps, everyone had been affected by the announcement that a book had been found, so no one from any of the four wings made any sound. There wasn't any other sort of disturbance. It was as if all the other teams, like Lin Sanjiu and the siblings, were fully engrossed in finding the target books.
After searching futilely for a long time, someone finally took action.
They suddenly heard a hoarse but penetrating voice. The person had a grating voice, like the sound of sandpaper scraping on a surface. The siblings who had been sleeping with their heads together woke up abruptly, startled by the voice. While they still looked a little drowsy, they could hear the person speaking with the ear-abusing, bad-sounding voice, "Hey… You fella from the east wing, what did you ask Siri? Why was there an announcement that someone had found a book after you guys went to ask her a question? I don't mean to insinuate anything, I just want to know your question."
Nobody knew what was wrong with the person's voice. It sounded like sandpaper and the sound of nails scratching a blackboard. The person's voice was so creepy that it could give people goosebumps.
When Silvan finally spoke, the siblings had a sort of "our-ears-are-saved" feeling.
However, what he said was a little hard to understand:
"I can tell you what we asked her. There is no need for us to hide anything," Silvan said with a breezy voice, as if he was unaware of the hidden intentions of the speaker from the west wing, "Peach, why don't you tell that man what you asked Siri?"
The woman spoke immediately, "I asked Siri, 'Do you know where the five books are?' Then, Siri replied that she didn't know."
All the people who were listening intently to her were a little flabbergasted by what she said.
"She took the effort to run downstairs but she asked Siri such a stupid question? If Siri knew where the books were, would she need so many people to look for the books?"
Almost as if he could read everyone's mind, Silvan suddenly raised his voice and said, "If you don't believe me, please feel free to approach Siri and ask her to tell you the question we posed. That would prove that we are not the ones who found that book."
The library fell silent once more after his words. The west wing had already picked on the east wing a couple of times. Obviously, they would not go downstairs right now and reveal themselves to their opponents. The south wing and the North wing were also guarding against each other. They were all afraid that they would be taken advantage of if they went downstairs to question Siri.
The only exception was the team in the central hall.
"We will go and verify." A nice-sounding, crystal clear voice rang out from the bookshelves below as everyone's attention turned to the central hall.
After being attacked by the people from the north wing, Lin Sanjiu's team did not face any further hostility from the other teams. When they fought with the north wing, they had only taken two lives from the members. That could not be compared with the animosity between the north and south wing. In conclusion, they were definitely the most suitable team to approach Siri.
"But, I hope our dear friends from the west wing and south wing wouldn't try any sneak attacks this time."
As the cold, clear voice traveled from the bookshelves, a skinless person stepped out. After 28 hours, Lin Sanjiu's muscles, fat, and blood vessels had all fully developed. She was only missing her skin and thus looked even scarier. The contrast between her voice and her appearance created a slight commotion, but very quickly the library became quiet once again.
Lin Sanjiu's every step gave everyone the impression that she walking normally, but she was the only one who was clearly aware of the very, very narrow gap between her sole and the ground. If she relaxed, she would immediately float up in midair. She had carefully chosen a book for defense and had converted it into a card. She held the card tightly in her hand and solidified her higher consciousness to an unprecedented extent. She braced herself for any unexpected, sneak attacks as she headed toward Siri.
Thankfully, everyone seemed eager to know the outcome she would get. Nobody tried to attack Lin Sanjiu even when she was near Siri's work desk.
"600 meters ," Lin Sanjiu thought to herself silently when she stopped.
Siri looked the same. When Siri saw Lin Sanjiu approaching, the librarian looked up with her gold-rimmed spectacles.
The library was very quiet. Lin Sanjiu could almost feel the needle-like gaze behind her back. Lin Sanjiu suppressed her unease and asked softly, "Did the east wing team ask you that question? Are they telling the truth? Please answer me with the speaker."
As Lin Sanjiu's request didn't affect the rules, Siri followed her instructions. She shot a glance at Lin Sanjiu before speaking into a microphone, "Yes, the east wing team asked me if I knew where the books were."
Her words sounded clearly and loudly, reaching every corner of the library.
"How did you answer them?" Lin Sanjiu tried to speak as quietly as possible so as to ensure that Siri was the only one who could hear her, "Please use the speaker to answer me."
"I replied, 'I don't know'." Everyone heard Siri's voice loud and clear. It stirred up another round of whispering. No one expected that the east wing team would ask such a useless question.
The sudden commotion was interrupted by the voice of the woman from the south wing, "Miss, could you help me ask Siri a question?"
"Could you help me ask if the east wing team only asked that single question?"
"Here it comes!" Lin Sanjiu pursed her lips.
If people were just whispering previously, this woman's request had stirred up a large commotion.
The quiet discussions from the teams from the four wings filled the library, but Lin Sanjiu did not walk back to the bookshelves. Instead, she looked around. The teams from all four wings were still shocked by the woman's question. Meanwhile, they did not notice Lin Sanjiu's unusual behavior and couldn't care less about attacking her. However, Lin Sanjiu knew that she only had a few precious seconds.
Grabbing this opportunity, Lin Sanjiu asked a question so quickly that it was almost impossible for anyone to catch what she said. However, Siri wasn't just an ordinary person. She fully understood Lin Sanjiu question and answered Lin Sanjiu.
When Lin Sanjiu heard the answer from Siri, she controlled the intense emotions she felt. She turned and rushed back to the bookshelves as fast as she could. Lin Sanjiu, who had almost completed the full construction of her body, moved so quickly that she was just a blurred image and the only thing acting against her was just air resistance.
"Boom!" She had just taken a few steps when the spot she was standing in previously was blasted to bits by some unknown force.
When Lin Sanjiu finally reached the bookshelves, she let out a sigh of relief. When the siblings saw her, they quickly asked, "How was it? Are you alright?"
"As expected." Lin Sanjiu was so worked up that she didn't even bother asking who attacked her, "Silvan found that book!"