Plan 02

The cold light of Frost Moon shone down on The Bag.

He wasn’t trained in intelligence work, and hadn’t formally taken over the affairs of the Book-Sealing Library yet, so he didn’t know Chen Miemie.

“Kill me if you want. I won’t say a thing. Whether I came to the Book-Sealing Library to disrupt the existing order or to assassinate the Grand Scholar and frame the Witch, I won’t reveal a single word.”

Chen Miemie was speechless. You just told me everything.

As expected of someone from the Mist Church—truly a “tough guy,” with “iron bones and an unyielding spirit.”

Seeing that they were still stuck on the same old framing scheme, Chen Miemie found it boring.

“Forget it if he won’t talk. Drag him out and kill him.”

At his command, red spider silk hoisted The Bag into the air and began dragging him outside to be “disposed of,” lest he dirty the carpet indoors.

“Wait! You’re not following the usual script! You’re supposed to threaten me, tempt me, and go through the whole process! If there’s nothing in it for me, why would I talk?” The Bag panicked.

“No need. Your information isn’t important. It’s your existence that matters.”

“Um… can I pay a ransom for myself?” The Bag had already realized that Chen Miemie and his group weren’t exactly respectable people. They definitely hadn’t intervened out of a sense of justice.

Chen Miemie put on an icy expression, as if to say, “I refuse to negotiate.”

The Bag had already been dragged to the door. Just as he was about to be pulled outside, he put away his frightened expression.

“Impressive. You win. I’ll tell you the plan.”

Chen Miemie was full of confusion. Impressive in what way? Does he think I’m playing mind games? I genuinely don’t care what he has to say.

Still, since The Bag wanted to talk, there was no harm in listening. Chen Miemie waved his hand.

The Bag was tossed back into the middle of the room.

“Who are you?” The Bag stared at Chen Miemie. “I need to know that I’ll be able to leave alive after I tell you.”

“Even if you tell me, whether you live or die will depend on my mood. It has nothing to do with the value of your information. You have five seconds to decide.”

Chen Miemie’s words were utterly unreasonable, but they reassured The Bag instead. If Chen Miemie had immediately guaranteed his release, that would have meant he was a hundred percent a liar.

Don’t ask how The Bag knew. He was the sort of person who constantly went back on his word.

“We’re preparing to attack the Book-Sealing Library.” The Bag revealed the first step of the plan.

“We? You mean the Mist Church?”

“Yes. Originally, once I had consolidated the strength of the church branches here, I would have begun laying the groundwork.”

“Hold on. Even if you succeeded in consolidating them, you’d only have a handful of people. With that kind of strength, who could you possibly attack?”

The Bag smiled faintly.

“That is precisely where our plan may succeed.

“Right now, everyone’s attention is focused on the Grand Scholars, the Witch, and the Society Alliance. We obviously can’t stand against those three behemoths with our strength.

“That’s why no one will expect that my real target is the Book Chaser.”

“The Book Chaser?”

“Looks like you’re not a local of the Book-Sealing Library. The Reading Day that comes once every 120 years is almost here. A great many people die after every Reading Day. Without the Book Chaser, the death toll would multiply several times over.”

“That doesn’t sound right. I heard that as long as you read on Reading Day itself, you won’t be attacked.”

“That’s true. Hardly anyone dies that day, because everyone knows that they’ll die if they don’t read. Even if they’re only pretending, they’ll read for the entire day.

“What I’m talking about is the few days afterward.

“Not every book anomaly that escapes its seal will obediently return to it. That’s when the Book Chaser has to act, speeding up the process of sending them back.

“During that process, quite a few people who don’t truly love reading will stop. If they happen to encounter one of the anomalies, they’ll be attacked.”

“I see. If you attack the Book Chaser, the book anomalies will run rampant for longer, and the city will descend into chaos.”

“Exactly. I want the city to become disorderly so I can fish in troubled waters.

“Once the mystics are busy doing the Book Chaser’s job, they’ll be more likely to leave openings. Then it’ll be much easier to make our move.”

“Be specific. What kind of fish are you planning to catch in those troubled waters?”

“Once the situation becomes chaotic, we’ll fan the flames between the Witch and the Scholars’ Institute, drive them apart from both sides, and create a few incidents of mutual slaughter.”

“The Book-Sealing Library is full of capable people. Your scheme to sow discord isn’t particularly clever.”

“It doesn’t need to be clever. Once the initial anger has been provoked, both sides will fight more and more fiercely, accumulating resentment and hatred. Even if the original incident is eventually uncovered, by then the situation will already have spiraled out of control. It won’t be possible to stop.”

“After causing all this trouble, what exactly do you stand to gain?”

The Bag answered without the slightest hesitation.

“We don’t need to gain anything directly. Once the other factions have exhausted their strength and grown weaker, we become stronger by comparison. On the surface, it may look like we’re hurting others without benefiting ourselves, but the church gains an invisible advantage.”

“You’ve told me everything so readily. How can you be sure I’ll let you walk away afterward?”

“I’m not sure. There’s definitely an element of gambling involved. You were able to recruit people from the Mist Church, so you probably have your own stance and aren’t a good person yourself. Either way, refusing to talk means certain death. If my plan happens to align with your interests, then I can survive.”

“Unfortunately, you bet wrong.”

“So our positions are opposed. That’s fine.

“You can still spare my life. After all, if I lose contact, the church will send someone else here. This time, they’ll hide completely in the shadows, like a venomous snake lying in wait, ready to strike at any moment.

“You may not fear them in terms of strength, but being constantly schemed against is an unpleasant feeling.”

“Interesting. You have quite a way with words. But I won’t kill you, and I don’t need to release you either. I have a friend who should find you very interesting. Judging by the time, she should be here soon.

“I’ll be leaving first. I hope you enjoy your time with her.”

Chen Miemie left, leaving The Bag alone in the room, bound up like a silkworm.

About ten minutes later, Silence’s car stopped outside Number One, Fairy Tale Road.

It remained there for less than three minutes before leaving again.

Whether it was Chen Miemie coming and going or the Witch’s little car arriving, the three people at the barbecue stall next door, Number Eleven, Fairy Tale Road, all acted as if they couldn’t see a thing.

Only after the street had fallen completely silent again did they relax.

Chen Miemie hadn’t spoken to them when he passed by.

Silence’s car hadn’t stopped in front of them either.

But they knew that, despite making no attempt to hide themselves, the three of them had effectively made contact with their new backer.

The skewers on the table had already gone cold, yet no one had touched them.

Lady Scab said, “Do you think The Bag will make it out?”

Book Without Words said, “If he’d fallen into Chen Miemie’s hands, then as long as he hadn’t been killed on the spot, he might still have had a chance to defect afterward. But now that he’s fallen into Silence’s hands… heh.”

Lady Scab wasn’t nearly so optimistic.

“Nothing is absolute. Who knows what kind of bargaining chips the church and The Bag might be able to produce? There could always be an unexpected turn of events. We should make more preparations.”

The two of them exchanged several more remarks before realizing that Boss Guan hadn’t joined the conversation at all.

“Boss Guan, why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t you have any thoughts?”

Boss Guan stared straight at the two of them.

“That’s not something we need to worry about.

There’s only one thing I have to do today: make sure you pay up. Don’t even think about skipping the bill.”