184. The Awakened Librarians
"What's wrong, everyone? Why aren't you laughing?"
Houraiji Kyuushou leaned back in her chair at W Company, her fingertips lightly tapping the armrest. Her gaze swept over the group of suited executives before her. Her voice was light and cheerful, as if she were simply having a casual conversation with them.
"Are you dissatisfied with my proposal, or... do you want to die?"
"Let's make this clear beforehand—" She tilted her head, her tone nonchalant, "I won't hesitate to kill you all."
The conference room fell into a deathly silence…
The W Company executives' faces were ashen, but no one dared to utter a sound. Their gazes all turned to the chairman standing at the front—the man who had once been at the top of the city, now only able to silently stare at the almost absurdly young girl before him.
"The founder of the Fire Moth," the W Company chairman finally spoke, his voice low and steady, "There shouldn't be any conflict between us."
Kyuushou laughed upon hearing this.
Her laughter, crisp and melodious, echoed in the spacious conference room. The still-wet bloodstains on the floor, the lingering smell of rust in the air, the stiff expressions of the executives—all these contrasted eerily with her laughter.
The chairman of W Company, however, remained expressionless.
Only after she had finished laughing did Houraiji Kyuushou look at the chairman, a smile still playing on her lips, but her eyes gradually turning cold.
"Is this still The City?" she asked, tilting her head, her tone filled with incredulous mockery.
"How could you say such a thing?"
She slowly stood up, placing one hand on the table, looking down at everyone.
"Besides, didn't I make myself very clear yesterday?"
She raised her hand with a laugh—
"I am mortal enemies with evil…"
Houraiji Kyuushou slowly lowered her arm, her smile vanishing.
"Understand?"
Only heavy breathing filled the conference room.
"Either become broken wings, or accept the Fire Moth's offer." Her voice was soft.
"There are no other options."
"You should thank Xiling—originally, you didn't even have a choice."
Her gaze swept over everyone.
"After all, even I know—"
"A leopard can't change its spots."
Houraiji Kyuushou had long lost patience with these people. The more she killed, the more disgusted she felt. The darkness of The City was like a pool of filth, and these people were nothing more than the dirtiest worms in the mire.
The chairman of W Company remained silent for a long time. Finally, he slowly exhaled and reached out to take the contract.
It was a contract of servitude.
The contract contained only one clause:
1. From this day forward, everything in the company belongs to the Fire Moth.
Simple, direct, and without room for negotiation.
But what could they do?
Faced with an opponent on a completely different level, an existence they couldn't reach even with all their might, everything they were proud of was nothing but a joke in the other's eyes.
Either die a meaningless death or sign the contract and admit defeat.
He picked up a pen and signed his name on the paper.
"No! I disagree!"
Suddenly, a high-ranking official slammed his fist on the table, his face flushed, his eyes burning with anger and resentment.
The next second—
"Bang!"
His body exploded without warning, blood splattering like ink across the suits and faces of those around him.
Kyuushou lowered her hand, calmly observing the remaining people, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"Anyone else disagree? Step forward."
No one moved.
These people either valued their lives or harbored a glimmer of hope, but in any case, they chose silence at this moment.
Kyuushou didn't care about their attitude.
Because Xiling had already said—
"The day the Seed of Light was launched, the day of judgment had already arrived."
"Either be reborn."
"Or be condemned to eternal hell."
She casually pulled out a piece of paper and tossed it to the former chairman of W Company.
"Take a look, these are the Nest's new rules, effective today."
The man took the paper and glanced at its contents:
1. Harming others is illegal.
2. Coercing others is illegal.
3. Extorting protection money is illegal.
4.
The densely packed rules can be summarized in one sentence—
All violence, killing, harm, and coercion are prohibited.
And what they need to do now is ensure these rules are strictly enforced.
This means that the once high and mighty World Wings are now doing the foolish things they used to scorn—maintaining order and protecting the weak…
Kyuushou sat back down in her chair, crossing her legs.
"Got it?"
The meeting room fell silent.
After a long silence, the former chairman of W Company slowly lowered his head, his voice hoarse as he replied:
"Yes."
After Kyuushou left, those who remained began a heated discussion. However, their arguments were empty and meaningless; they could only act according to the demands of the Fire Moth.
The contract was not just a piece of paper; they had already witnessed the consequences of breaking it…
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The same scenario played out in other places. Not everyone signed a contract of servitude like Chairman W.
The rebels rose up, only to be instantly reduced to a cloud of blood mist, and even the entire company was crushed to dust by Placidusax's unparalleled power.
The sudden rise of the Fire Moth filled The City dwellers with fear.
Long-term oppression had numbed them, making them unable to easily believe in free kindness in this world.
But someone would always take the first step. Once a crack appeared, the barriers that imprisoned their hearts began to peel away layer by layer. Thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions… the number of followers is expanding at a terrifying rate.
This is good, but also… suffocating.
The City is small, yet vast and boundless, with mountains of trivial matters piling up…
"Hah! Aaaaaah! I'm going to twist! I'm going to take revenge on society!" In the enormous office, files piled up, almost completely burying the desks and chairs. From beneath one mountain of files came Xiling's painful roar.
"Okay, I'll twist too!" Kevin's voice immediately came from behind another mountain of files.
"Count me in!" The Tarnished joined in the wailing.
"Hahaha, count me in too!" Houraiji Kyuushou shouted in equal annoyance.
"Damn it! We've only swallowed 7 nests! Think about all the others to come; if we swallow them all, we'll be worked to death!" Xiling slammed his fist on the table in despair.
"But… what else can we do?" Kyuushou looked up from the mountain of documents, her face a mixture of frustration and helplessness.
"Should I leave all this to city dwellers? I don't trust them."
"So responsible, Chairman!" Xiling gave her a thumbs up, then burst into tears.
"But I'm not! I'll die if this keeps up! I'm a hero, not a corporate slave, and certainly not a super corporate slave!"
"Me too!" Kevin wailed along.
"Me too!" The Tarnished joined the chorus of sobs.
"Xiling! Think of something! I haven't even started university yet, and I'm already going to experience the life of a corporate slave? I don't want to!" Kevin reached out to Xiling as if grasping at a straw.
"Quickly, use your invincible hero power to think of something!" The Tarnished weakly reached out a hand for help from behind the pile of documents.
"Help! Help! Omnipotent hero power!" Xiling's mind raced, a sudden flash of inspiration striking him.
"A tuner... can't be like them, can it?"
"People from Company A?" Kyuushou looked up from her busy work, and a hint of doubt appeared in her eyes.
"Yes and no," Xiling's thoughts became clearer with each thought.
"It should be the people from our former company, the Lobotomy Library..."
"Those people... surely they won't cause any more trouble, right? Even if they do... We'll deal with it later! I can't worry about that now, otherwise I'd really have to go hypnotize people to work!"
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Gariom—the former tuner- awakens again after an endless slumber. What bizarre and fantastical new stories await her?
Too much work, never enough work.
So she chooses to enjoy life.
Gariom elegantly finished a document, picked up a cup of black tea, took a sip, savoring the aroma lingering on her lips and teeth, and sighed contentedly:
"Quite a fine black tea, a flavor I've never tasted before."
However, the atmosphere around her felt completely out of place…
"How much time has passed? The changes in The City… are simply too outrageous." Giovanni, rapidly reviewing documents, spoke with disbelief.
The other librarians, these former members of the Lobotomy Library, reacted similarly.
"Oh, why think so much?" Xiling sipped his cola lazily, sitting in his chair.
"Once you've finished these documents, I'll naturally let you out so you can see for yourselves what The City has become."
That's right! Xiling chose to awaken all the librarians deep within the library and made a deal with them: he gave them a chance at rebirth, and the price... was to handle this mountain of documents for him! Initially, the librarians were full of suspicion, inquiring about the whereabouts of Angela, who should have been the library director.
Xiling revealed everything without reservation: how to turn Angela into a human and throw her out of the library, the current state of The City, the ideology of the Fire Moth, and the reforms they were currently undertaking.
With caution and a sense of having no other choice, the librarians agreed to the deal.
However, when they actually began to touch those documents, everything went wild—
From petty theft in the neighborhood to group murders, street gang fights, the operation of the Silver Church, the establishment of new-style schools, the fate of the rebellious World Wings... a vast and complex array of matters surged forth, requiring their constant judgment.
The more they processed, the more fervent their curiosity about the outside world became, and the speed of their processing increased dramatically.
Looking at this group of promising young laborers, Xiling nodded in satisfaction—except for the tuner who remained perpetually sipping tea with an air of leisure.
"Alright, guys, get back to work. Don't mess things up, okay? I see everything." Leaving this instruction, Xiling nonchalantly tossed the work to them.
No sooner had he left than a woman's voice rang out amidst the piles of documents:
"You…do you think he's trustworthy?"
"Lisa, whether he's trustworthy or not," Daniel continued, reviewing the documents without looking up, his voice calm, "we have no choice."
The others remained silent, tacitly agreeing with Daniel's words.
Yes, there was no other choice. Faced with this deal, besides accepting it, the other path was to return to slumber.
And that slumber might be eternal.
The oldest-looking man present, "Gariom", raised his head, his gaze falling on the soothed tea-sipper.
"What did you notice? From the moment you awoke until now, you seem to have done nothing?"
Gariom set down her delicate teacup, a faint smile playing on her lips.
"Why do you say that?"
Her words instantly drew everyone's attention.
She simply maintained that smile, slowly uttering a chilling truth:
"Before him… for the first time, I felt that my power was so… insignificant."
The first thing she saw upon awakening was an unfamiliar face. The thought of attacking had barely formed in her mind when doubt arose. However… even a monster as strong as him was not invincible.
Deep within the library, Xiling nestled comfortably into a recliner, letting out a blissful sigh:
"No work...so relaxing!"
After his exclamation, he casually activated the chat group's quest system:
[Popularity & Prestige] 2648521311
[Goal to be Achieved] 1000000000
[Trust] 80316421
[Goal to be Achieved] 100000000
"Tsk...still a bit far from the goal, but it's getting closer, after all, there are more and more people." Closing the panel, Xiling peacefully closed his eyes.
With the quest essentially complete, he was now more concerned about another issue—the Seed of Light.
Although his progress in corrupting the Seed of Light was decent, there were still some remaining seeds he hadn't collected outside.
"I must activate the invitation immediately!" Although he wanted to say this, Xiling felt he needed to rest first.
To deal with those Seeds of Light, his magic was almost completely depleted. Then, upon seeing them, Lock Mother wanted to attack, and he expended even more energy to suppress them… burning them all away.
"Forget it, I'll get some sleep first… I'll deal with the bigger problems when I wake up." The thought had barely formed when a heavy sleepiness engulfed him. Only his steady breathing remained in the quiet library.
Houraiji Kyuushou was still leading a group from the Elden Ring world in their conquest of the World Wing.
Dan Heng, Luo Tianyi, Lemuen, Kiana, and Elaina were focused on the operation of the Silver Church—Kiana was responsible for opening spatial portals, Luo Tianyi for spreading warmth; her Voice of the Stars was a rather absurd ability— he could genuinely make Luo Tianyi's music bring joy to people. Kevin's figure disappeared in the direction leading to the outskirts of The City.
The Tarnished were engrossed in studying the captured Singularity technology.
Dan Heng had considered summoning the Atral Express crew for support, but ultimately dismissed the idea. Even as The City changed, its deep-seated darkness remained, so he abandoned the idea of finding manual labor.
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In the depths of his sleep, a hazy echo rose from the depths of Xiling's consciousness.
No… There was more than one echo.
The voices were indistinct, like the whispers of a man and a woman.
What were they saying?
Xiling listened intently, but could not make out what they said.
Finally, he gave up trying to think, letting the two voices linger in his ears.
After an unknown amount of time, Xiling vaguely sensed someone entering the library.