The Klementinum Library in Prague was a labyrinth of dark oak, gilded globes, and the heavy, intoxicating scent of ancient parchment. To the world, Chen Feng had vanished again. To the local Czech villagers, he was simply "Pan Knihovník"—Mr. Librarian—the strange man in the red cardigan who lived in the attic and spoke to the books as if they were unruly pets.
Chen Feng had fully committed. He had traded his flashy blazer for a deep burgundy wool cardigan with leather elbow patches. He wore his spectacles perched on the tip of his nose, and he had spent three days perfecting the "Librarian Glare"—a look so devastatingly silent it could make a poltergeist apologize for rattling its chains.
"Gary, do you hear that?" Chen Feng whispered, standing in the center of the Baroque Hall.
"Hear what, Boss?" Gary asked, currently struggling to organize a shelf of 17th-century theological debates. "I only hear my knees cracking and the sound of a spider building a web over the 'Geography' section."
"Exactly," Chen Feng breathed, eyes closed in bliss. "It's the sound of time forgetting to move. In Chicago, time was a taxi driver shouting at you. In Africa, it was a sandstorm. Here, in the heart of Bohemia, time is a sleepy cat. It just curls up in the corner and purrs."
Chen Feng spent his mornings hand-dusting the globes with a silk cloth, treating the Earth like a fragile heirloom. He appreciated the Czech way of life—the hearty goulash that stayed in his stomach for three days, the way people spent four hours discussing a single poem, and the fact that no one in this mountain village knew what a "social media influencer" was.
However, being a Librarian was proving to be the most difficult challenge the Sovereign had ever faced. It wasn't the secret agents or the "Aegis Net" that troubled him; it was the sheer, chaotic stubbornness of human knowledge.
1. The Dewey Decimal Dilemma
Chen Feng hated the Dewey Decimal System. To a man who had seen the beginning and end of universes, categorizing a book about "Beekeeping" under 638.1 felt like a cosmic insult.
"Gary, this book on Alchemy is sitting next to a book on Basic Chemistry," Chen Feng complained, his face flushed with uncharacteristic annoyance. "One is about turning lead into gold through spiritual enlightenment; the other is about boiling liquids. They are not neighbors! They shouldn't even be in the same zip code!"
2. The Great "Manuscript" Camouflage
The Manuscript of Fate was currently disguised as a "Beginner's Guide to Czech Grammar." This was a mistake.
A local student—a nervous girl named Lenka—had tried to borrow it three times. Each time, Chen Feng had to use a subtle Perception Warp to make her think the book was actually a brick.
"It's... it's very heavy, Lenka," Chen Feng told her, sweating. "You aren't ready for the grammar of the universe. Try this one about 'Cooking with Mushrooms' instead."
3. The "Shush" of Power
The greatest challenge was the Sovereign's voice. When Chen Feng "shushed" a noisy group of tourists, he accidentally tapped into his primordial authority.
The tourists didn't just go quiet; they became physically incapable of speech for forty-eight hours. The local authorities were now investigating a "mysterious viral laryngitis" that only affected people who talked in the library.
One rainy afternoon, as Chen Feng was painstakingly repairing a torn map of a world that no longer existed, a black raven landed on the windowsill. It wasn't a normal bird; its eyes were like glowing coals.
It dropped a scroll onto the desk. It was from the Regional Deities of Asia, the ones he had turned into geckos and gravel.
"Thief. Librarian. Fraud. The Emperor's First Breath is cold without its throne. You may hide in the dust of the West, but the East does not forget. We have made a pact with those you call the 'Gala Five.' Your 'Quiet Life' is an illusion."
Chen Feng sighed, picking up his library stamp. He stamped the back of the raven's wing with a bright red [OVERDUE] mark.
"Gary," Chen Feng called out, his voice echoing through the silent halls. "The world is trying to interrupt my reading time again. They've formed an alliance."
"The Gala Five and the Ancient Gods?" Gary popped his head out from behind a shelf of encyclopedias. "Boss, that's a lot of firepower for a man who just wants to categorize mushrooms."
"It is," Chen Feng said, a small, dangerous smile playing on his lips as he tucked the Manuscript of Fate under his arm. "I suppose I'll have to show them the most terrifying thing in any library."
"What's that?"
"The late fees," Chen Feng whispered. "And the fact that I've finished my book. I'm ready for a new chapter."