hotmtlnovel Chapter 71 This bookshelf has a "pulse"!
Chapter 71 This bookshelf has a "pulse"!
The group walked up the wide staircase to the second-floor reading area.
Only a few students were engrossed in their books and showed no reaction to their arrival.
Soft light shone down from the ceiling, temporarily dispelling the chill in everyone's hearts.
They quickly dispersed and each took a spot.
Lin Feng deliberately chose a table against the wall and reserved a seat for Su Wan next to him.
He then took out his phone and quickly edited a short message:
[Instructor Su, I've secured a spot in the library. It's on the second floor in the reading area, the third table against the wall.]
The screen lit up quickly, and the reply was concise: "Received, coming right away."
After settling into our temporary base, the real task began—finding the reference books needed to complete the assignment.
The group exchanged glances and tacitly headed towards the maze-like bookshelf area.
The lighting in the lending room was much dimmer than in the reading area, and the books were arranged densely.
After about six or seven minutes, suddenly—
From the area categorized by psychology, a short, suppressed gasp came from.
It is Anna, the chosen one of the Grizzly Bear Kingdom.
She stood frozen in front of a bookshelf, her right hand suspended in mid-air, her face deathly pale, her pupils contracting sharply with fear.
Lin Feng and Sato Ichiro, who were closest to her, immediately rushed over.
"What's wrong?" Lin Feng asked in a low voice, a bad feeling already in his heart.
Anna's lips trembled, and she could barely utter a complete sentence. She could only gesture with her eyes to the bookshelf shelf she had accidentally touched earlier.
"It...it's moving...warm...it's still throbbing...like...like a blood vessel..."
Almost the instant she finished speaking, Sato Ichiro pointed to her cheek in horror: "Your face...!"
In the dim light, the skin on Anna's left cheek began to show a rough texture similar to paper fibers.
The color was also slightly yellowish, as if an invisible old parchment was trying to blend into the skin of her cheeks!
The "paper-like" area is still spreading slowly at a visible rate, causing a slight itching and numbness.
"Rule 3 has been triggered!" Lin Feng exclaimed softly.
【Rule 3:】
The library's bookshelves are made of solid wood.
If you touch a bookshelf that feels warm or has a pulse, discreetly withdraw your hand and place three books—one on Confucianism, one on Buddhism, and one on Taoism—with their spines facing inwards and their edges facing outwards.
Helping Anna is actually helping yourself!
After all, no one can be sure that they won't be the next one to break this strange rule.
Going through the response process is not only for saving people, but also to provide myself with a survival insurance policy in this eerie library.
Lin Feng pondered for a moment, then quickly made a decision:
"Most of the original texts of Confucianism and Taoism are in the classical philosophy section; I'll go look for them."
"The religious area should have Buddhist scriptures like the Diamond Sutra. Anna, Sato, you two go look for them over there!"
He paused, his sharp gaze sweeping over the two of them, and emphasized, "When you're looking, absolutely... don't touch any more bookshelves!"
Anna nodded vigorously, her nails digging deep into her palms, using the pain to force herself to stay awake and calm.
At this moment, she wanted to live more than anyone else!
After circling around for a while, Lin Feng finally found the "Classical Literature: Hundred Schools of Thought" section.
The tall bookshelves resembled rows of black walls, creating a sense of oppression.
The air was filled with a stale, musty smell, a mixture of old paper and ink.
His gaze, like a searchlight, swept rapidly across the spines of the rows of books.
There are many Confucian classics, such as Mencius, Xunzi, and Han Feizi. He quickly found the slightly old-fashioned Analects with its dark red cover in a conspicuous place.
He quickly pulled it out, opened the cover, and the familiar contents came into view, putting his mind at ease—this one should be fine.
Without daring to delay for even a moment, he immediately continued searching for Taoist books.
Whether it's the *Tao Te Ching* or the *Zhuangzi*, just find any original text!
However, things did not go so smoothly.
Everywhere you look, there are books like "A New Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching," "Zhuangzi and Modern Society," "Zhuangzi's Wisdom of Freedom," and "The Application of Laozi's Management Theory"...
The collection is dazzling, filled with interpretations, annotations, and derivative works by later scholars!
The modern gold lettering on the spine of the book reflected a cheap luster under the dim light, which was out of place with the ancient Analects in his hand.
He quickly moved between several bookshelves, his eyes sweeping over the rows of book spines, but his heart sank little by little.
No!
The original texts of the Tao Te Ching or Zhuangzi cannot be found at all!
The rules explicitly require "scriptures"!
Can these "second-hand goods," filled with personal opinions and modern interpretations, really be considered valid?
Lin Feng dared not gamble!
Just then, a line of red text suddenly appeared before Lin Feng's eyes:
That book, *The Book of Transformation*, is also a Taoist scripture.
It's a hint from the Ghost Stories Strategy Team!
Lin Feng snapped back to reality and immediately turned his gaze back to the bookshelf.
Where is the Book of Transformation? ... The Book of Transformation ...
His gaze, like a comb, meticulously examined every corner of the Taoist classifications.
Finally, at the very bottom of a bookshelf, in an extremely inconspicuous corner, he saw the thin, thread-bound book with a dark blue, almost black cover.
On the spine, the two ancient seal characters "化书" (Hua Shu) are almost blended into the dark cover and cannot be noticed without careful observation.
He almost held his breath as he carefully pulled the book out.
The book feels slightly heavy and cool to the touch, quite different from the modern printed books around it.
Upon opening it, the inner pages are neatly arranged in traditional Chinese characters in vertical format, with no extra annotations, only the original text.
That's it!
Lin Feng clutched the Analects and the Book of Transformation tightly in his hands, then turned and rushed back to the psychology bookshelf as fast as he could.
When he ran back to where he started, panting, Anna and Ichiro Sato were already waiting there.
Ichiro Sato was clutching a slightly worn copy of the Diamond Sutra with a yellow cover, indicating that their search had been relatively successful.
However, Anna's condition worsened.
The paper-like texture had relentlessly spread across her nose and was now encroaching on her jawline.
"The books are here!" Lin Feng lowered his voice, took the Diamond Sutra from Sato Ichiro, and neatly stacked it together with the Analects and the Book of Transformation in his own hands.
Ichiro Sato immediately helped pull out a thick psychology book, making room on the bookshelf for three books.
Lin Feng didn't dare to delay and carefully pushed the three scriptures into the newly vacated space.
And strictly following the rules, the spines of the three books are pressed tightly against the back of the bookshelf, while the common book edges of the three books face outwards neatly.
Just as the book's edge aligns with the edge of the bookshelf—
"Buzz..."
A very slight vibration, yet seemingly acting directly on the soul, suddenly spread out from the bookshelf.