Breaking the Seal

9:19 p.m.

[Sealed Library], City Library, Basement Level Five.

About twenty minutes ago, books all over the city had gone berserk. The Decaying Poem had broken out of its seal on the library’s fifth basement level, setting off alarms that had yet to stop.

It wasn’t just the City Library. Throughout the entire Book-Sealing Bureau, countless sealed sites were in the same state. Even the broadcasts meant for the public had been replaced by shrill emergency warnings echoing everywhere.

In theory, now that the Decaying Poem had left, no one should have paid any attention to this sealed site. In reality, however, someone who absolutely should not have been there had arrived.

“Thank goodness the alarm was already sounding. Otherwise, with my strength, even with authorization, I couldn’t have made it to this level. I would’ve been discovered long ago.” Despite being relatively safe for the moment, the figure remained extremely cautious.

After some effort, the figure used a pair of scissors classified as a Mysterious Item to cut through, one by one, the four chains that had bound the Decaying Poem.

Looking at her hands, drenched in blood from the scissors’ severe backlash, the figure had exhausted all her strength. She collapsed onto the floor, unable to move another inch.

“I didn’t expect someone to take advantage of the chaos to do this. Even more surprising—I never thought it would be you.”

The witch’s voice rang out, making the figure flinch in fright.

The figure looked toward the newcomer with trembling legs. “Lady Silence… I didn’t expect you to come down here personally.”

Silence glanced at the severed chains scattered around them and at the blood-soaked girl who had lost all ability to move.

“Dong Ruixue, you’ve worked at the library for ten years, haven’t you? You’ve hidden yourself well. Are you going to tell me yourself, or would you rather experience my methods?”

After her initial fear, Rui Xue gradually regained her composure. Before doing this, she had known that she wouldn’t escape unscathed. She had never expected to get away.

With her position, she could forcibly grant herself access to Basement Level Five, but she couldn’t erase the record of her visit. She simply hadn’t expected to be discovered so quickly.

“Lady Silence, you’re certainly perceptive. If you’d arrived any sooner, I might not have completed my ‘mission.’

“You don’t need to interrogate me. I’m afraid of pain, and I’ve already finished my work, so there’s no need for me to keep anything secret. This was a plan arranged by Stone Whisperer. He told me to destroy the seals here.”

Silence didn’t ask why Stone Whisperer had done it. Instead, she focused on the girl herself.

“You’re one of the children from the Four Seasons Orphanage. Why did you join Stone Whisperer?”

“Join him? No. I’m not his subordinate or an agent. I’m only cooperating with him on this one matter.

“He wanted to create a crisis threatening the entire city in order to break through certain stagnant conditions. He convinced me. That cheapskate didn’t even pay me.”

Silence had learned what she wanted to know. She waved her hand.

“Take her away and lock her up.”

Honey Sting emerged from the shadows. A swarm of bees appeared and flew away with Rui Xue by the collar at the back of her neck.

Still bleeding profusely, Rui Xue was dragged across the floor, leaving behind a long trail of blood.

After Rui Xue had been taken away, Honey Sting asked in a low voice, “She’s lost too much blood. Forget putting her through torture—even if we leave her alone, she’ll die, won’t she?”

Silence waved dismissively. “You handle it. Just don’t let her die. Anyone capable of doing something like this may need to be interrogated later.”

“Yes.”

Once Honey Sting had also left, the composure on Silence’s face began to falter. Even after presiding over the witches’ affairs for several centuries, she still found the situation extremely troublesome.

Every time Reading Day came around, [Chenpi] would fall unconscious. Now that Granny Mortar was imprisoned as well, Silence didn’t even have anyone to discuss the matter with.

The chains sealing the Decaying Poem were hardly easy to repair.

If Reading Day had not suddenly arrived ahead of schedule, if Rui Xue—who possessed the authority to enter—had not betrayed them, if the Decaying Poem’s escape had not caused the alarms to blare nonstop and created a blind spot under the light, and if those painstakingly prepared scissors had not existed, how could anyone have entered Basement Level Five and succeeded?

Even when someone as powerful as the King in Yellow had entered before, they had been detected.

Witches excelled at destruction and potion-making. Repairing seals, however, was the field of human scholars.

Without hesitation—and with no concern for saving face—Silence contacted the Scholars’ Institute to request assistance in repairing the seal.

At present, the person in the entire Book-Sealing Bureau most skilled at repairs was undoubtedly President Yu.

Unfortunately, bad news came from her side as well. The Society Alliance beneath her had just been damaged, and she would have to finish repairing it before she could come over.

As for Stone Whisperer himself, he had appeared in the Grand Scholars’ council chamber.

At that moment, all four Grand Scholars other than himself and President Yu had gathered there, along with a group of senior scholars, to discuss how to respond to Reading Day’s early arrival.

“Stone Whisperer, how did you get out? You should be back in your cell.” Luo Lang was still furious whenever he saw him.

Stone Whisperer didn’t answer. Instead, he looked around the room first.

“Where’s Oilpot? Find him immediately.”

“Absurd. At a time like this, you’re spouting nonsense. Guards, seize Stone Whisperer!” [Zhiliao] gave the order directly.

The guards at the door exchanged glances, uncertain what to do.

On the one hand, Stone Whisperer was a prisoner under accusation. On the other, he was still a Grand Scholar. [Chenpi] had never actually issued a written order dismissing him, and he remained the direct superior of these guards.

“I have important business to take care of. I’ll return to my cell afterward.”

Suddenly, someone rushed into the council chamber.

“Report! The seal beneath the Scholars’ Institute has been completely destroyed!”

Everyone turned to look. The person who had arrived was none other than Oilpot, the man Stone Whisperer had just asked them to find.

Stone Whisperer’s face twisted with pain as he cursed inwardly: You spend every ordinary day slacking off, Oilpot. Why did you have to move so quickly this time?

The matter had already happened, so there was no point in throwing his accomplice under the carriage.

“What do you mean by ‘completely’ destroyed?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. It’s been utterly destroyed—the kind that can’t be repaired.”

Stone Whisperer flew into a rage. “Who told you to destroy it completely?”

Oilpot grimaced. “It wasn’t me! I went on ‘patrol’ because I was worried. When I arrived, I found that the book had broken free and destroyed the seal completely on its own.”

“That’s impossible!” Rotten Wood spoke up. “Nothing like this has ever happened during Reading Day throughout history!”

Luo Lang added quietly, “What’s impossible about it? Reading Day has never arrived early in history either.”

As reports from all over came pouring in, every scholar in the room furrowed their brows, Stone Whisperer most of all.

His original plan had been to cause minor damage at several sealing sites and create a little trouble for the city.

He had never expected the book anomalies to take matters into their own hands and completely destroy every seal.

That meant nearly a thousand anomalies had permanently escaped containment.

Stone Whisperer felt as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.

The fake destruction he had planned had become real destruction. The controllable minor crisis he had designed had transformed into a genuine crisis capable of destroying the entire city.