After they said farewell to Antonio, Du Ze, Xiu, and the others walked on. The next questions were more and more difficult such as: the name of third Emperor of the Moonlight Empire, the number of people who died in the Battle of the Light Empire, and so on. Rachel and Old John have no knowledge of the human race's history. Fortunately, Xiu was able to answer those questions.
Du Ze remembered that the author had written that when Xiu was in the Magic School, his performance was outstanding. Whether it was magic or theoretical knowledge, the Moe Lord was always in first place which made Princess Kelly envious.
Du Ze glanced at the witch's handsome but extremely gloomy face – being too outstanding is not always a good thing.
Regarding this simulation, Du Ze thought it would be easy as long as they were able to answer the questions but he was too naive. In this library, what they need to guard against is not the simulation's challenges but the other tower climbers.
Whenever a tower climber is not able to answer a question, in addition to researching among the various books, there is another option: stealing other people's checkpoint. If a tower climber cannot answer a question, they can enter the checkpoint before the others do or they can simply kill the others, then they will not be stuck.
That method is more efficient than trying to find answers in the ever-growing sea of bookshelves. As they made progress in the simulation, they met many tower climbers who tried to get close to them. Xiu ruthlessly killed those who tried to steal their checkpoints. Du Ze stared at the disappearing corpses and felt as though the tower was mocking them: in this simulation, there are no monsters that threaten the tower climbers, but the tower climbers chose to kill each other.
They entered the portal and passed a long line of bookshelves. Then they heard a noise in front of the statue.
"Enoch!"
"Hey ... Don't worry, the thief won't ... die so easily! Cough."
"Miss, get out of there! It's dangerous!"
Why ...?
Du Ze took two quick steps and saw the gold mercenary team around a bend of the bookshelves. Enoch, Honey, and Bart were being attacked by the sphinx statue. When the statue is given the wrong answers, the only thing the tower climbers can do is to destroy it and wait for another statue to respawn.
The three people were in grave danger; Honey was even caught by the sphinx. Du Ze involuntarily looked at Xiu. The mercenary team's relationship with Xiu can be said to be bad. Du Ze was not sure if he would save them.
As Du Ze watched, Xiu silently raise his death scythe and a black crescent-shaped blade flew towards the mercenary team, cutting off the front paws of the statue that was about to crush Honey. Seeing that Xiu has attacked, Old John and the others quickly joined the battle and swiftly disposed of the sphinx.
Honey was watching all of this in shock and when she realized that she and her team were not going to die, the little girl burst into tears: "Waaaaah... what a terrible thing! I want to leave the tower ..."
Bart was helplessly trying to comfort Honey while the dejected Enoch approached Xiu, wanting to thank him.
"Dear brothers, thank you – ah!" Enoch pointed at Du Ze and shouted: "You're here, too?!"
Before Du Ze could respond, Enoch saw the Phoenix on Du Ze's shoulder and Old John next to him. The thief jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Is that terrible gnome around?"
Old John laughed and did not answer. Du Ze glanced at Xiu, it seems that the Moe Lord had given this idiot a serious psychological trauma.
Not seeing the gnome around, Enoch seemed relieved and continued to talk foolishly to Du Ze: "Hey! Where's brother Xiu?"
The object of your fear and the object you want to find is right in front of your eyes, young man.
Xiu's impassive, dark eyes looked at Enoch. The thief automatically fell into a guard position but he heard the Lich say: "I am here."
Huh? Du Ze was surprised that Xiu actually responded to Enoch. Enoch looked at Xiu in shock. Seeing Du Ze nod to confirm what Xiu said, Enoch began to speak incoherently: "Xiu, Xiu, how did you become like this?"
Xiu said casually: "An accident."
Bart came over with the weeping Honey and nodded to them. Enoch looked at Honey whose face still bore the trace of tears and appeared somewhat dispirited.
"... What's wrong?"
"My teacher and Vieruodis don't have much time left. I came here to see if there is any cure for their condition. Honey is here to help me. Enoch said sadly: "I didn't think it would be so dangerous. There's no way to quit now."
Tower climbers can give up their ticket and leave the Tower of God but they can only do this in the hall. This is one of the reasons why the death rate is so high. Once you enter the door of light, there are only two possible outcomes: you can clear the trial or die.
Xiu silent for a while then said: "I'll bring you along."
Du Ze couldn't help but look at the Xiu. The Lich didn't tell Enoch that Antonio was looking for Honey.
Hearing Xiu's words, Enoch's eyes instantly lit up. The rash fellow happily gave Xiu the black flame that was the gold mercenary team's combined tickets.
"I will have to trouble you, brother."
Du Ze was distracted and thought he saw the "professional teammate seller" title on top of Enoch's head level up. As Enoch's new teammate, some silly, cute person suddenly felt he was under great pressure. In this way, three people joined their team and Enoch finally became the Moe Lord's little brother. The thief proved to be a valuable ally since he is unexpectedly familiar with a variety of historical knowledge.
"Because if you don't know the historical background of a treasure, you can't tell what it's worth." Enoch grumbled: "That old ****ard gave me a pile of history books as high as a mountain and would not give me food to eat unless I finished them!"
The thief's "worth" clearly means the worth of stolen merchandise. Xiu glanced at Enoch: "You have a good eye."
—— Stole his most important treasure twice.
Enoch felt a chill and ran to Bart's side, instinctively keeping his distance from Xiu.
Honey recovered after a few rounds of questions. She was delighted to meet Xiu and the little girl who had been taught by the first Mage God knew a lot about different magical systems. After a few more questions, they once again had a problem.
"In the famous Bloody July Incident, why did Edward kill his kin with his own hands?" asked the statue of the sphinx.
"How is this famous? I never heard of it at all." Violet complained: "Why don't they ask some questions about demon history? Alice has read a lot of books and she knows a lot about it."
Alice smiled shyly. Enoch frowned then said, somewhat uncertain: "This is a part of Star Empire's history. My teacher mentioned this incident but didn't go into details."
"Stupid Enoch." Honey snorted: "We can't count on you!"
This is the second time they couldn't answer a question. This time they don't have Antonio's kind help so they can only search for answers in the sea of books, as Antonio suggested. Du Ze looked around. Now there are so many shelves that they no longer curve around like a paperclip. Instead, they form a huge labyrinth around the statue. This type of place is great for sneak attacks. The Tower of God, either intentionally or unintentionally, is helping the tower climbers use violent methods.
With Enoch's information they won't have to look everywhere but there are so many shelves and books that the search is extremely troublesome. Du Ze felt that they badly needed a search engine and admitted to himself that it was actually a good idea to let other tower climbers answer the question then steal their chance to pass the checkpoint.
The group discussed it and, because they do not know when the next batch of tower climbers will appear, they decided to split into two groups. A group will be left behind at the statue while the other group will try to search for the answer among the books. Although the hope of finding the information is slim, it's better than doing nothing.
Du Ze chose to join the search team. In addition to looking up the answer to the question, he also wanted to find out if there is information about the God of Creation. So Du Ze and Xiu partnered up with the others to search through the books for information. Each team received a magic communication sphere then picked an area of the library to explore.
Although it was a maze, each entrance goes to the statue so they would not get lost. Du Ze quickly searched the bookshelves. They are arranged according to a certain order so as to facilitate a search.
"The Battle of the Millennium," "The Dark Conspiracy," "The Age of Isolation," "A Brief History of the Star Empire" ...
Du Ze stopped. He pulled out A "Brief History of the Star Empire," opened it to the table of contents, and read it. This book roughly described the history of the Star Empire. The Bloody July Incident was mentioned. According to the book, Edward had to kill his tyrant father to restore peace and prosperity to the kingdom. Du Ze looked at the "A Brief History of the Star Empire" book in his hands and felt a little doubt because it was the official version of the event. Du Ze, who has received propaganda-type education since he was child, is very clear about this. It's not that official versions are completely false but, because it is the official version, it will always hide the dark side of the story.
Du Ze realized that he was looking in the wrong place. Since Enoch said that it was a secret, it will certainly not be found among these history books. History is written by the victors so it is not always truthful. Du Ze looked through the bookshelves and finally found Edward's autobiography.
After a cursory reading of the autobiography, Du Ze found that Edward's situation was really messy. His father, Charles, also killed his father so he was particularly wary of his children, Charles suppressed the prince and even tried to use drugs to control his children. Edward was the best of the princes. He found a way to neutralize the drug control and led a rebellion in July. The rebellion was a success, Charles died, and Edward ascended the throne. But when Edward sat in the same position as Charles, he suddenly understood his father's fears and, because of that, Edward killed all his brothers.
"In the famous Bloody July Incident, why did Edward kill his kin with his own hands?"
Because of selfishness. Like Charles, Edward killed those who threatened his rule.
Du Ze turned the book to the last page, which had Edward's thoughts written on it.
[Lonely, solitary is the king. Unique among his people, the king must accept loneliness. He does not need anyone's approval or understanding.]
Du Ze immediately thought of the protagonist of "Mixed Blood." He turned his head but did not see Xiu.
Du Ze: ?
*********
He found Xiu at a corner bookshelf, holding a book in his hands and reading it very carefully. Du Ze glanced at the title – "A Guide to Fusion Magic."
Aware of Du Ze's arrival, Xiu closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Seeing that Du Ze was staring at the book in puzzlement, Xiu explained: "I read the book at school before but left before I could learn it."
Xiu's voice was expressionless but even though it did not show any emotion, it made Du Ze felt very uncomfortable.
That first time they couldn't answer the sphinx's question, Xiu didn't know the answer because he left school. The people there could not accept Xiu when he became undead. Even though Xiu's nature did not change much, everyone there could only see Xiu as an evil undead and opted to expel him.
–He isn't one of us; his heart will certainly be different.
Du Ze felt a pain in his chest as if a needle had stabbed his heart. Du Ze enthusiastically grabbed Xiu's hand. The skin of Xiu's palm didn't have even a hint of body heat which made Du Ze's distress even more severe. He could not help but squeeze that hand, wanting to warm it up.
"When we leave this tower, we can go back." Du Ze earnestly said to Xiu: "Whatever you haven't done, I will do it with you."
If you haven't finished learning, go to school and learn it. Going back to finish what you haven't finished – even if you can never go back to the past, we can still make up for some regrets, right?
Xiu lowered his eyes and stared at their clasped hands. The soul flames in his dark eyes flared up.
"Are you comforting me?"
Hearing Xiu's hoarse voice, some silly, cute person's social barrier started acting up – is he going to blow it?
The Lich's expression was very gloomy. Du Ze eyes widened as Xiu placed his pale fingers on Du Ze's face and lifted Du Ze's chin.
"Then comfort me a little more," said Xiu softly; the sound was almost a whisper. Xiu bent his head and pressed his bloodless lips on Du Ze's.
Du Ze felt as if snow had fallen on his mouth softly. It was ice cold at the entrance of his mouth, about to melt. Du Ze could not help but stick out the tip of his tongue to lick the other's lips. Xiu took the tongue into his mouth and gently sucked on it as though it was a bit of honey he has reluctant to swallow.
The kiss went on for a long time so even though it was not intense, Du Ze finally felt out of breath. Xiu, holding Du Ze whose mouth was open wide as he gasped, slid his hand into Du Ze's clothes. Du Ze felt as though a piece of ice was suddenly attached to his navel. He shuddered.
Xiu felt the delicate quivering. His eyes were very black, the kind of black that had sucked out all the light around him.
"No breathing, no temperature, isn't this form very scary?"
Du Ze embraced Xiu tightly and shook his head.
"You are Xiu."
That's enough.
Xiu closed his eyes. How can he describe this person?
He thought of a ray of sunlight that he had seen in the orphanage. It melted the ice on the window little by little, until it shone on him and it was if it warmed him to the center of his heart.
This presence is more dazzling than the brightest light.
From the first time they met until now, only this person has ever been able to redeem him.
Du Ze felt Xiu's hand sliding downward. Though he did not mind doing it with Xiu, isn't the location a little inappropriate?
"Someone will come …"
Xiu cast a spell. A few ghostly wisps of light appeared and drifted away.
"I'll know if somebody comes." Xiu pressed Du Ze against a bookshelf and his cool hands wandered all over Du Ze's body. "You are very warm …"
That's because your body doesn't have any warmth. At the thought of what Xiu said before, Du Ze felt uncomfortable. He even wanted Xiu's body temperature to be normal when Xiu touched him.
Cautious because of their location, Xiu only took off Du Ze's pants. After he prepared Du Ze's place, Xiu lifted him up. Du Ze put his arms around Xiu's neck and wrapped his legs around the Lich's waist. He felt the cold, hard thing squeezing into his body inch by inch – compared to the intense heat from the previous times, this intrusion made him feel a bit strange, as though a popsicle was invading his body. Du Ze could not help but cling to Xiu. Whether it was the thing in body or the man he held, all he could feel was a coolness.
That's the temperature of the undead.
"It hurts?"
Xiu wrote a magic charm on Du Ze's skin. It instantly burned then enveloped Du Ze and the pain from the invasion of a foreign body immediately disappeared. Du Ze recognized this as the undead magic that Xiu once performed on him in the Lost Land. To think that it would be used again in this situation! Du Ze did not know whether he should laugh or cry. In the beginning, he never would have expected that Xiu would ever do this. Now, not only does he want to find the author to talk about life, the author must also want to find him to talk about life – the protagonist and the reader have become gay, how can he endure it!
Now that the pain is gone, his other senses are particularly intense. Stimulated by the cold temperature, his inside walls became slightly numb. Xiu slowly thrust in and out several times with his cold sex. The friction on the inner walls finally brought his temperature up. Xiu held Du Ze up and forcefully pressed him against the bookshelf.
Because of their position, Du Ze always felt that he was going to fall down so he had to use his arms and legs to hang on to Xiu as Xiu moved him up on down with rapid, forceful, jerky movements. Du Ze's tingling inner walls gradually relaxed. A sweet, sharp feeling spread from his back and diffused throughout his body. Du Ze's couldn't stop his toes from curling up.
"Ah …"
The foreign body inside him gradually warmed until it matched his internal temperature so that Du Ze cannot distinguish it from his own body. Du Ze moaned softly. Even knowing that this was not a real library, he still instinctively lowered his voice. His nerves were still tense.
The soul flames in Xiu's dark eyes flared fiercely; it was so tight that even he could not bear it. His sex has become hot and he pumped in and out repeatedly. The walls squeezed around his sex so hotly and tightly that he felt like he was going to melt inside the walls that wanted to keep him inside.
Embraced by Xiu for such a long time, Du Ze buried his face in the hollow of Xiu's neck and panted as he came. His inner walls contracted during his orgasm. Xiu did not hold back and climaxed at the same time as Du Ze, shooting a cool liquid inside Du Ze. That icy cold feeling in his body excited Du Ze and some more white liquid spurted out of him.
When Xiu put him down, his legs shook and he almost fell down on the floor in a heap.
"I'll help you out." Xiu, holding du Ze, inserted his fingers into Du Ze's rear. "It's not good to keep that in your body."
The cold liquid dropped down to the floor and, after a while, it dissipated into the air as smoke. The undead have no real physiological mechanism; that was just a simulation. After being cleaned up, even leaning on Xiu's arm, a silly, cute person had difficulty walking. However, Du Ze was not given time to rest since the magic sphere they used for communication started flashing.
This was the signal that meant there was some kind of trouble and everyone has to return to the statue right away.
********