The City Library.
The witches were extremely nervous.
Even Silence, usually as calm as ice, was fidgeting uneasily.
This should have been the witches’ territory.
Starting at noon, the book anomalies began gathering at the library.
The book anomalies were incredibly friendly, practically treating the place as their own home. They formed groups of three or five and searched for books to read on every floor.
That was right—a whole group of winged book anomalies sat in chairs and “read” books all afternoon.
The bees around Honeythorn’s waist seemed to have encountered their natural enemy. Not one of them dared make a buzzing sound today; they simply played dead inside the hive.
“Lady Silence, the book anomalies seem to really like the library. It’s almost as if… as if they want to settle down here.”
Silence was panicking inside as well, but her expression remained impassive. “Books liking libraries is perfectly normal, isn’t it?”
“My lady, the problem is that we might be driven out! This is our headquarters, which we’ve operated for thousands of years!”
“Let’s observe the situation first and see if we can gather some information.”
The two witches walked among the shelves. The books paid no attention to the library’s original owners. They neither attacked nor acknowledged them.
In a corner, Silence found a book titled My Shadow Got Home Before Me Today.
The aloof Silence rarely initiated conversations, and when she finally did, she sounded a little stiff.
“Hello. Can we talk?”
My Shadow Got Home Before Me Today set down the mystery novel it was reading. “This is a library, not a place for chatting.”
“I only want to know why all of you came here today.”
“I don’t know either. Withering Poems called us here.”
“Thank you for the information. We won’t bother you any longer.”
After obtaining the information, Silence and Honeythorn immediately headed downstairs. They knew where Withering Poems was.
The library’s fifth basement level.
As expected, Silence found Withering Poems in its usual spot.
The moment they met, Withering Poems spoke first. “There is no need to be nervous, and no need to ask questions. Once dusk arrives, everything will become clear.”
5:59 p.m.
All the book anomalies gathered at the entrance to the lobby on the first floor.
A total of 896 winged books each found a place to settle.
Chen Miemie stepped through the front door.
The Forbidden Fruit Codex flew beside him.
His first words were an introduction.
“Esteemed books, congratulations on gaining your freedom. I am Chen Miemie, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Everlasting Moon. In the absence of The King in Yellow, I will have full authority to handle all affairs.”
The book anomalies cheered. They had only heard the first half of his statement. As their contractor, how could they fail to sense their connection with Chen Miemie? The second half was meant for the witches hiding nearby.
Withering Poems flew over with a small booklet strapped to its back.
“Minister Chen Miemie, this contains the names of all the books—a total of 897. They have all been compiled into a single volume.”
Chen Miemie accepted the booklet. Its pages were filled with densely packed book titles.
Beneath each name was a brief description.
The books themselves had provided the descriptions. Some explained their contents, while others detailed their functions and ranks. A few even listed their personal preferences.
The witches hiding nearby watched anxiously as Chen Miemie slipped the booklet into his pocket.
“Is Silence here?” Chen Miemie called into the empty air.
“I’m here.” Silence stepped out of hiding.
“And Chenpi? I heard she only ever stays unconscious for an entire day at a time. Is she awake yet?”
Silence nodded. “Lady Chenpi just woke up.”
“Bring her here. On behalf of the Everlasting Moon, I wish to negotiate with the witches’ highest authority.”
A few minutes later.
The green-haired little girl came charging up from underground, her hair a tangled mess.
Before she even arrived, her angry voice echoed up from the stairwell leading to the first basement level.
“You’ve got some nerve, Chen Miemie! Putting on such airs and making me come up here to negotiate…” She had not finished shouting when she emerged from the stairwell and found countless book anomalies staring at her.
Chenpi immediately lost her nerve. Her grumbling grew quieter and quieter until it stopped altogether.
Silence introduced them. “This is Mr. Chen Miemie, representative of the newly recognized anomaly species.”
Chenpi was not stupid. She had simply just woken up and had not received the earlier reports. Silence’s introduction was extremely formal, placing emphasis on the fact that the Chen Miemie before them was no longer the descendant of a witch, but the representative of a newly recognized anomaly species.
Chen Miemie’s negotiation was startlingly blunt. It consisted of only one sentence.
“From now on, the books will live freely in this city. The witches’ lives will not change. You are to get along with them.”
Chenpi did not doubt him. From the fact that Chen Miemie had inherited the mysterious shop, she already knew that he was no ordinary person.
“Then what will the relationship between the witches and the new anomalies be? Neighbors? Allies? Or something else?”
Chen Miemie countered, “For thousands of years, witches and humans have been intertwined in this city. What kind of relationship do they have?”
After leaving the city library, Chen Miemie made another trip to the Scholars’ Academy.
From that day onward, he could be considered to have officially revealed the identity of the new anomaly species to the outside world.
The trip had not taken long, but he had accomplished quite a lot.
When he returned to the shop at 7 p.m., the Scholars’ Academy had just issued a citywide announcement:
“Effective immediately, the book anomalies are officially recognized as members of the city. All citizens are asked to adapt to this new way of life as soon as possible.
“Humans, witches, and new anomalies are equal members of the city. They shall enjoy equal political, academic, and commercial rights, abide by the same laws and regulations, and share the responsibility of protecting the city.
“The Book Hunters Department is hereby abolished. In its place, the Reading Oversight Committee is established. Its members will be composed of books, which will patrol the city on a regular basis. Those who go too long without reading will receive appropriate punishment.
“The book Withering Poems has been appointed Grand Scholar and will take over matters concerning public security, law, and punishment.”
The announcement was sent out across the entire city three times. It was also broadcast three times over the radio. Each repetition delivered news more shocking than the last.
Everything had gone fairly smoothly, yet Chen Miemie’s face was black as a cast-iron pot.
The moment he entered the shop, he threw himself across the sofa and began rolling back and forth.
“What a lousy rule! What about my Mystery level?!”
It turned out that after the Frost Moon rose that evening, he had asked Xiao Shuang to display his status panel.
The number 4.99 was glaringly visible under the Mystery attribute, and it had completely broken him.
For anyone else, watching their Mystery rise from 3.99 to 4.99 in a single day would have been like winning the jackpot. But to Chen Miemie, it was nothing like that.
He had contracted hundreds of book anomalies. This wave should have sent him soaring.
Yet because the increase granted by contracted anomalies could not break through a major threshold, he had been stuck at Mystery 4.99.
“I’ve lost a hundred million for nothing.”
Qinghua came over and gently patted him on the head.
“Miemie, the situation was critical at the time, and most of the seals had not been properly repaired. If we had waited another day, the books’ passive abilities would have been released, and countless people across the city would have died or been injured. Your decisiveness was absolutely brilliant.”
Just as the circle of anomalies had finally managed to comfort Chen Miemie, something was happening at the Scholars’ Academy.
Beneath the dim moonlight, the historians were holding their pens and recording a new chapter of history.
“In the first year of the Eighth Epoch, the [Sealed Library] was officially renamed the [Moonlit Library], ushering in a new era in which anomalies, humans, and witches coexisted.”
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
