Chapter 31 Comrade, are you still recruiting?
The power of the masses is great. With the help of many passengers, Lu Yibei quickly explained the whole story to the young passerby.
The scorching sun beat down.
Standing on the bus station platform, she watched the bus fade away accompanied by rising heat, and sighed with mixed feelings.
Good-looking people, even if they are criminals, have a chance to find employment after prison; even if they commit m*rder, some will only focus on their beauty… Not to mention, Lu Yibei hadn’t done anything wrong to begin with.
I have to say, in this world where a large portion of people judge based on appearances, being good-looking really is advantageous.
But what about them? Am I really a pervert?
The doctor said I am a psychologically distorted potential murderer, Lu Yibei thought.
She imagined a girl who looked about fourteen or fifteen, exceptionally pretty, but was actually a seasoned pervert and murderer. After killing someone, she walks under the sunlight, and passersby unconsciously give her kind smiles.
No one would associate her with a criminal, and no one would know that she is carrying a kn*fe stained with countless bl**d in her backpack.
Lost in thought, Lu Yibei glanced at her reflection in the glass window by the roadside and nodded thoughtfully.
Yeah, just like that!
“But what does this have to do with me? What’s in my backpack is just a genuine toilet stick.”
Probably…
————
Moments later, at the Huacheng Library.
This library is nestled in a secluded corner of the city center of Huacheng, surrounded by a cluster of ginkgo trees. It is autumn, and the golden dried leaves fall, revealing the aged building with ivy climbing its deep gray walls, marked by the passage of time.
Lu Yibei walked through an alley and stood before the long stairs at the main entrance of the Huacheng Library, looking up as memories flooded back.
She, along with Nanling Yaohua and Su Mi, often came here during elementary school, and of course, they didn’t come here to study.
At that time, the library’s electronic reading room was the only place where nearby elementary school students could freely access the internet.
Although there were no games on the computers in the reading room, the happiness of elementary school kids was often simple; as long as they could watch a few episodes of cartoons or play some online mini-games, they would be content.
Lu Yibei still remembers that during that time, when the school day ended, the students would rush out like wild dogs, frantically running towards the library just to snag a spot in the electronic reading room early, so they could slack off for an hour on the way home.
Back then, she ran quickly but always slowed down just to keep pace with Nanling Yaohua, wanting to catch a glimpse of her silly smile when she turned around.
However, whether they could wait for Su Mi was entirely up to fate.
That kid had never been very bright; he could copy the simple word “good” ten times and still end up writing “d*mn it,” let alone more complex vocabulary, which he could directly turn into “Sanskrit” secrets.
Sometimes, the teachers couldn’t figure out whether he was insulting their intelligence or just genuinely not smart, so they frequently kept him behind after school for tea and heart-to-heart talks…
Later on, I don’t know which unfortunate child’s parent reported the library, but the electronic reading room was abruptly closed for years. By the time it reopened, the kids had all grown up, and the internet had become more widespread, so no one went anymore.
Everything froze in that year.
Even this library that had stood in the corner of the city for decades was about to be torn down with the construction of a new one. I heard it would move early next year…
————
While reminiscing about the happy times of childhood, Lu Yibei walked into the library, stood at the door and looked around, murmuring quietly, “It’s been so long since I’ve been here; how has this place become so eerie?”
Old buildings often have some flaws in their design.
Like the Huacheng Library, aside from a few reading rooms with decent lighting, other places such as the staff offices, corridors, and restrooms were quite dim.
Moreover, surrounded by old trees outside, it made the inside of the library bright and dark drastically.
The bright areas were flooded with sunshine, with golden leaves from the ginkgo trees outside.
In the dark places, shadows lurked, always making one feel there was something hidden in the unseen corners, or the portraits of famous figures in the corridor seemed to be secretly turning their eyes.
The main reason the library felt eerie was its extreme desolation, lacking any liveliness.
In the past, when Lu Yibei and a bunch of elementary school kids surged in, she had never felt it was eerie.
But now, in this age when information acquisition channels are rapidly increasing, few people are willing to step into a library and spend hours flipping through physical books.
Nowadays, everyone has a smartphone, employing a hundred and eight tactics to captivate others’ wills, making library business difficult.
Even if occasionally someone wanted to read or check information, they would go to the university city’s libraries or large bookstores instead of this dying place.
Upon entering the library, Lu Yibei headed straight for the inquiry desk.
Due to its age, the Huacheng Library’s modern equipment was lacking, and unlike university or large city libraries with electronic borrowing systems, it only had two, which were often out of order. To find a book, it was quicker to ask the staff directly.
“Excuse me, do you have the book ‘Huacheng Urban and Rural Construction Local Chronicles’? I’m looking for the version from 1995 to 2015.”
Behind the inquiry desk, two older staff members were basking in the afternoon sunlight coming through the window, dozing off.
Hearing Lu Yibei’s voice, one of the staff frowned, a hint of impatience flashing across his face, and he opened his mouth as if to complain.
But when he opened his eyes and saw the charming girl leaning on the tall, old-fashioned desk, her big, watery eyes sparkling with the pure glow of a newborn beast, his heart melted, and a warm smile quickly appeared on his face.
Good-looking girls always make people unusually patient.
“Please wait a moment while I check.”
He turned around, opened the computer screen behind him, and entered the book title into the library management system. After checking the alphabetical order by pinyin initials carefully, he looked back at Lu Yibei.
“Miss, you’re really lucky.” The staff member smiled and said, “This book was borrowed for a long time, and we couldn’t contact the borrower. We thought it was lost, but unexpectedly, the person returned it just this morning.”
“Right now, that book is stored in the third floor in the area for historical books. Would you like me to take you to get it?”
This difference in treatment was too obvious… Lu Yibei thought.
Faced with the exceptionally enthusiastic staff, she felt a bit shy and uncomfortable, quickly waving her hand.
“No, no thanks! Just tell me where it is; I can go get it myself.”
“No problem! If you can’t find it, you can come back and ask me again.” The staff member nodded.
As they spoke, he looked at the computer again and guided Lu Yibei in detail to the location of the “Huacheng Urban and Rural Construction Local Chronicles [95-15 version]” on the shelf.
Third floor, historical books area, on the upper left position of the third shelf…
Lu Yibei repeated the directions in her mind, turned around, and was about to head upstairs.
At that moment, a sudden fit of coughing erupted behind her.
“Cough cough cough——!”
Accompanied by the cough, a vague and strange phrase unexpectedly entered her ears.
“Uh… everything you see is an illusion… do not believe…”
The voice was quiet and faint, as if it came from behind several walls, making one doubt whether they were hearing things.
Who is speaking?
Catching that faint voice, Lu Yibei was taken aback, quickly turned around, and looked in the direction of the voice, her gaze landing on the staff member, causing her body to shudder slightly.
The sunlight outside filtered through the branches of the ginkgo tree, casting mottled shadows on the staff member’s face. He stared directly at her, his eyes empty and lifeless, like a statue.
A cool breeze swept past, rustling the leaves of the silver ginkgo trees outside, the shadows dancing.
In the silent library hall, their eyes met, and a chill quietly crept up Lu Yibei’s spine.
“Gulp——!”
She swallowed, and without changing expression, took the toilet stick out of her backpack, gripping it tightly, and cautiously asked, “Sorry, what did you just say?”
As she spoke, the staff member seemed to be revived from drowning, gasping greedily for air. As the air filled his lungs, his complexion gradually returned to normal, and his dilated eyes regained clarity, filled with confusion.
“I, I didn’t say anything!” the staff member said blankly, as if nothing had just happened.
“By the way, miss, didn’t you not find that book? Should I help you look for it?”
“No, no!” Lu Yibei shook her head vigorously, “I can find it myself!”
I know you have a deep moral sense and are kind-hearted, but…
You just looked like a ghost; who dares to let you accompany me!
If it weren’t for my desperate desire to check that local chronicle, I would have bolted by now!
Thinking this, she quickened her pace and ran upstairs.
Watching Lu Yibei’s departing figure, the staff member’s gaze deepened, then he took out his phone and swiftly sent a message to someone.
————
Arriving at the second-floor platform, Lu Yibei paused, confirming that the staff below hadn’t followed her, and saw no trace of herself in the reflection, leaning against the sunny window. Her feelings were like a tangled ball of yarn, countless thoughts interwoven and surging.
“……”
The strange behavior of that girl on the bus could be explained away as a prank or coincidence, but if I heard correctly, didn’t that library staff say something similar?
If they weren’t colluding beforehand, this would be a bit too absurd, like something was secretly controlling them.
But what does it mean to deliver that message in this ghostly manner? Is it guidance or some kind of threat?
d*mn, things are starting to feel off! Lu Yibei thought.
Although the words from the girl on the bus and the library staff were coincidentally aligned with what she was investigating and her suspicions, as if they were implicitly helping her.
However, the existence controlling the girl on the bus and the library staff seemed to be monitoring her every move in some way. Even if they genuinely wanted to help her, she didn’t want excessive interaction with it.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch; no one offers you help for no reason.
Free stuff is often the most expensive; who knows if that “thing” has any ulterior motives?
Compared to this bizarre method,
She would feel more at ease and credible if a beautiful and alluring older sister suddenly jumped out in front of her, pulled out a QR code from her cleavage, and sweetly said, “Spend money! Just 648, and you have a 5% chance to unlock a mystery. If you buy ten, you’re guaranteed to solve one!”
After pondering for a moment, she furrowed her brow and looked up at the stairs with a deepening gaze.
The old staircase was dim, the walls slightly yellowed like old photographs, and the portraits of famous people on either side of the corridor wore peculiar smiles.
“Though it’s a bit off, I still have to go upstairs, right?” Lu Yibei murmured to herself.
Finding the location of the abandoned factory from the “Huacheng Urban and Rural Construction Local Chronicles” is currently the only method I can think of to find the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, and it’s right in front of me.
I should go see first, if the situation seems wrong I’ll leave immediately!
If I encounter any real danger, don’t I still have that… self-defense technique of causing a water heater to explode?
Lu Yibei thought, steadied her mind, and stepped up the stairs.
————
The Huacheng Library has five floors. Aside from the first floor with the inquiry desk, staff offices, and a newspaper reading room filled with miscellaneous things, each subsequent floor holds different types of books.
Each floor of the library is spacious, with about a third of the sunlit areas featuring old desks and chairs, while the remaining space is filled with towering bookshelves, even taller than people.
These timeworn bookshelves, their paint peeling, stacked layer upon layer like tombstones, blocked the light, forming winding little alleys.
In a place like this, if there were eyes hidden behind the shelves quietly watching, it would be hard to detect, Lu Yibei thought.
Just as this notion crossed her mind, she suddenly stopped, feeling a heavy weight settle in her heart.
Without warning, the dark, prying gaze appeared again!
Her intuition told her that there were eyes watching her in the shadows, silently and deeply, with an ominous gaze.
It was more unsettling than the gaze of a teacher watching from the back door or window of the classroom.
But…
Where is the one lurking in the shadows? Lu Yibei pondered, peering into the third floor’s book storage room.
It was afternoon, and the book storage room was almost empty, quiet, filled with the unique scent of aged paper and wood.
A few soft footsteps could be heard from beyond her vision, as if someone was moving stealthily, exuding a hint of sneakiness.
The old wooden windows and doors swayed gently in the breeze, creaking with a whimpering sound.
Like an illusion, a murmur of indistinct whispers came, and with a gust of wind, it dispersed into the air.
There were definitely people in the book storage room, but Lu Yibei couldn’t find the source of the watching gaze.
Those eyes seemed not to exist in the real world, but were floating just a short distance from her.
That feeling was akin to being observed by a life form from another time and space.
I wonder, when we gaze dreamily at two-dimensional paper characters and call them our husbands and wives, do they feel something similar?
Such a thought inexplicably flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind.
————
Summoning her courage, Lu Yibei walked into the book storage room on the third floor. The bizarre situation she anticipated did not arise. Following the librarian’s guidance, she quickly located the book “Huacheng Urban and Rural Construction Local Chronicles [95-15 version].”
Holding the book, she selected a spot by the window and sat down, basking in the brilliant afternoon sunlight as she began to browse the materials in the quiet library.
In fact, if she could, she would have liked to borrow the book and find a relatively safe place, like squatting outside the police station, and then slowly examine it.
However, her current appearance didn’t match her old borrowing card, and she couldn’t check out the book. To read it, she could only remain here.
The pair of prying eyes was still present, but they only watched silently without making any strange moves, which relieved Lu Yibei a bit.
If they’re just watching…
As long as it’s not during private moments like bathing, you can watch all you want at other times! Lu Yibei thought, steadying herself and opening the thick book on the table.
“…In 1995, relocation, Huacheng Paper Factory [image][image]… the architectural style seems a bit different…”
“…In 1997, closure, Huacheng Sugar Factory [image][image]… there are no chimneys here…”
“…”
Lu Yibei carefully flipped through the “Huacheng Urban and Rural Construction Local Chronicles [95-15 version],” constantly comparing the information in the book with the memories of the abandoned factory in her dream.
Time quietly slipped by. After more than an hour,
When she reached about two-thirds of the book, she suddenly paused, slightly taken aback, as the content in the book showed a disjointed gap, with incongruous sentences following one another.
Furthermore, Lu Yibei carefully compared the page numbers of the two adjoining pages, and her eyes instantly trembled slightly.
Page 336… page 343… three sheets of paper missing, a total of six pages?
Officially published books should not have binding errors; did someone tear them out?
This “Huacheng Urban and Rural Construction Local Chronicles” was quite thick, but the printed paper was relatively thin, making it hard to detect if three sheets had been torn out from the middle.
Staring at the book in front of her, Lu Yibei furrowed her brow. She felt she had found the abandoned factory from her dream, and that information about it was hidden in those six torn pages.
But who tore them out? Was it the previous borrower?
Lu Yibei thought hurriedly as she flipped to the first page and pulled out the borrowing record card tucked in the cover, looking at the last entry.
Gu Xiniang? This name sounds a bit familiar…
Wait, Gu Xinian, Gu Xiliu… Liu Nian?
d*mn it, this wouldn’t be Gu Qiqi’s siblings, would it?
Just as she was pondering, she suddenly sensed the dark gaze watching her disappear, quickly followed by the sound of footsteps approaching.
She looked up and saw a familiar yet strange face.
Round face, thick eyebrows, a straight nose, short chestnut hair, amber eyes, tightly pressed lips, looking somewhat like Gu Qiqi.
If Gu Qiqi didn’t suddenly change gender overnight, then this person must be related to her and is most likely the one who borrowed this book before, Gu Xiniang… Lu Yibei thought.
“Miss, are you very interested in this book?”
“…” Lu Yibei looked down at the book in front of her, then narrowed her eyes at the young man before her, nodding, “Uh, what’s up?”
The young man smiled slightly, “Do you know that what you see…”
d*mn it! Not again? Lu Yibei caught a hint of something off and interrupted, expressionless, “I guess your next line will be, everything I see is an illusion, right?”
“Uh…” The young man was clearly taken aback, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
“Looks like I guessed right!” Lu Yibei smirked, continuing, “And I bet you want to say, don’t believe it, right?”
“And I know your name is Gu Xiniang and that you’re a member of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, right?”
Although Lu Yibei was not entirely sure, she still said this, and upon seeing the young man’s confused and flustered expression, she instantly confirmed that she was right.
With the identity of the person before her confirmed, she felt a sudden clarity in her heart.
If the prying eyes observing me belong to a member of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, and the girl on the bus and the library staff member were also from the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, then all the strange things I encountered before can be explained. Lu Yibei thought.
The young man widened his eyes, looking at her, as if saying, “What the hell? How does she know these things?”
He tried to glean something from her expression but came up empty-handed.
The girl before him appeared frosty, with no expression, as if she carried an invisible aura that kept all scrutiny and glares at bay…
d*mn it, who is this girl? Gu Xiniang thought anxiously.
Earlier, after the gathering had ended, he had acted according to his uncle’s instructions, subtly leaving some clues about the mutual aid society for the young boy named Lu Yibei.
The library’s missing pages from the local chronicle was one clue, and that librarian was indeed a member of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society.
However, Gu Xiniang hadn’t expected that he would not meet Lu Yibei, but rather this girl of questionable background.
He had used the connections of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society to investigate her background but found nothing, prompting him to consider the notion of revealing himself to her.
But upon meeting the girl, he realized that not only did she know his background, but she was also so calm, which felt very wrong.
It should be known that the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society is notorious and infamous; ordinary people wouldn’t react so indifferently upon encountering a member of the mutual aid society.
She… Can’t she be the “doctor”?
Flashes of those nightmarish white figures drifted through Gu Xiniang’s mind, suddenly making him feel like he was baiting fish, setting nets, only to have someone hook him up instead, wanting to get up and flee.
At this moment, Lu Yibei’s slightly excited voice drifted into his ears.
“I finally found you! Comrade, are you still recruiting?”
Gu Xiniang, “???”
