Chapter 16 The Wooden Sign

"Jiang-ge." Huai Yi, who was hiding under the table, also came out, approached Jiang Cheng and Fatty, and complained, "Damn, that was close. Fortunately, that thing's eyesight isn't good. I saw it walking straight towards me. I thought it had found me."

"But this ghost is so weird," Huai Yi muttered, touching his chin. "It just looks scary. Other than that, there's nothing special about it." It seemed he had also noticed the strangeness of the charred ghost.

Jiang Cheng briefly told him about the hourglass. Huai Yi understood it well, saying that it seemed they weren't the only ones restricted in the library.

This ghost was also severely restricted.

Not long after, footsteps came from the direction where the charred ghost disappeared.

The footsteps sounded light and brisk, not like a ghost, but a person.

Jiang Cheng and the others didn't let their guard down. They immediately separated and hid, until Shen Mengyun's figure appeared.

Wang Qi and Gao Yan were right behind her.

Seeing Jiang Cheng and the others, Shen Mengyun quickly said, "That ghost went upstairs after wandering around. Also, I saw earlier that the door leading to the second floor of the library was locked, but now it's open," she added.

Jiang Cheng hesitated for a moment, then immediately said, "Let's go up too."

Now the situation was quite clear. This mission was similar to the Medical Building, requiring them to break through layer by layer.

All the way to the fourth floor, to find the missing Xiao Hui, and the burned-down circulation desk, and most importantly... that book.

"And..." Looking at Jiang Cheng, Shen Mengyun's eyes were a little strange, as if there was something she couldn't figure out. "We also found a wooden sign next to the stairs leading to the second floor. On it..."

Seeing Shen Mengyun hesitating, Gao Yan walked over and urged, "Don't dawdle, let's go over there first. We'll understand everything once we take a look."

The group ran towards the stairs.

The library was much larger than they had imagined, and the structure was very strange, with many twists and turns, greatly limiting visibility.

Along the way, the two groups quickly exchanged information. According to Shen Mengyun, the ghost with the burnt smell had also found them, but because everyone hid well, the ghost looked around, didn't find anyone, and left again.

Based on the information provided by Shen Mengyun, Jiang Cheng roughly reconstructed the charred ghost's route of action in his mind.

It had almost circled the entire first floor of the library.

Judging solely from the search range, there were no obvious blind spots.

In other words, there was nowhere that was definitely safe.

Huai Yi thought for a moment and said, "Do you guys remember the door where the ghost came out? If we had hidden near there from the beginning..."

Shen Mengyun stopped and looked at him, asking, "You mean... right under their noses?"

"Don't even think about it," Wang Qi interjected. "When the ghost came out, it paused in front of the door for the longest time. Do you think it was warming up or something?"

Huai Yi recalled for a while, and after a moment, his face became embarrassed.

Wang Qi was right.

"By the way," Gao Yan said, tilting his head. "We also found hourglasses while hiding. More than one. They were placed in conspicuous locations every so often."

Jiang Cheng nodded. This was easy to understand; it was to make it easier for them to calculate the time.

When the sand in the hourglass ran out, it was time for the ghost to leave, which also meant they had entered the next stage and could go up another floor.

Arriving at the stairs Shen Mengyun mentioned, everyone saw the wooden sign.

On it, a line of words was crookedly written in chalk: Those who pass through here will obtain the first treasure, just like the Lord.

The words on it were the same as those on the blackboard behind the library door.

"The first treasure..." Huai Yi pondered for a moment. If he remembered correctly, it was something that could make those slaves disappear.

"Let's go upstairs first." At Jiang Cheng's suggestion, the group quickly arrived at the second floor of the library.

The layout here was different from the first floor. The structure was more compact, and the overall area seemed smaller than the first floor.

This was not good news for Jiang Cheng and the others.

After all, the smaller the area, the fewer places to hide, and the higher the risk of being caught by the charred ghost.

Fatty had sharp eyes and immediately spotted an hourglass standing on a bookshelf in the middle of the floor.

It looked very similar to the one they had seen before.

"Don't go over there yet." Gao Yan stopped everyone. After a moment, as if he had thought of an idea, he slowly said, "Before, it was Jiang-xiongdi who moved the hourglass, and the hourglass was turned over, which alarmed the ghost."

"In other words... we have the initiative in our hands as to when the ghost appears."

"Then what if we don't move the hourglass this time?" Gao Yan became more and more excited. "We won't move any of the hourglasses. We'll just stand here and not touch anything."

"Then wouldn't the ghost not appear? When the time comes, we can naturally leave."

Jiang Cheng looked at him with an expression of concern for someone with intellectual disabilities. This old thing was so afraid of death that he was dizzy; otherwise, how could he come up with such a stupid idea?

"The method you mentioned may be feasible. We won't die for the time being, and we might even be able to leave the Library Ghost Story safely," Jiang Cheng continued. "But have you thought about it? That also means we'll be trapped on the second floor of the library, unable to reach the fourth floor."

"If we can't reach the fourth floor, we won't be able to find the circulation desk, let alone Xiao Hui and that crucial book!"

"We can go find that notebook," Gao Yan replied quickly, seemingly having thought of a way out long ago. "Go during the day, so we won't be targeted by the Heart-Eating Demon."

The two asked and answered each other, with a hint of hostility.

At this critical moment of life and death, Gao Yan could no longer hide some of his emotions. He looked at Jiang Cheng with distrust, suspecting that he was hiding some important clues that he hadn't revealed.

In the end, Wang Qi stood up and quelled the argument with just one sentence.

"Then you can stay here." Wang Qi stepped forward and, in front of everyone, turned the hourglass upside down.

A few seconds later, with a "creak—" sound coming from not far away, things were settled.

Seeing the situation change, Gao Yan was also someone who could take things in stride. He said with a smile, "I was just saying, sharing my own views. Since you don't agree, just pretend I didn't say anything. Next, we should help each other."

"It's coming out." Huai Yi stared in the direction of the sound and said in a low voice.

With the previous experience, this time everyone naturally scattered, and Gao Yan turned around and ran into the depths of the library.

Shen Mengyun and Wang Qi also disappeared.

"Let's split up too," Jiang Cheng paused. "A little further apart than last time."

"This space is too small to hide three people," Huai Yi quickly replied after looking around, his tone a little anxious.

Jiang Cheng thought for a few seconds, turned to Huai Yi and Fatty, and said, "Don't stay here. Go inside with them and find a hidden place to hide."