Deadly Game: Almighty Boss’s Guide to Making Money

Chapter 1216. The Book at Night (4)

"What's this?" She held up the book. "The live stream just said someone broke a taboo. Could it be related to this?"

—Waaaaah, I'm so touched.

—123 You actually watched the live stream in such a critical situation.

—She only glanced at it.

—At first glance, I saw the taboo. 123 is indeed lucky.

Is it possible that we've been spamming the screen too much?

—There are so many viewers in the live stream now, I'm worried they'll disconnect me.

— Probably not. If a crappy game lags, it should just shut down already!
Banxia leaned over for a look, and her expression changed slightly.

“These are ‘banned books,’ and there are many in the library. You can’t touch them, or the bookshelves will hold a grudge.” She pointed to the moving bookshelves. “They’re moving so fast right now, maybe because someone touched these.”

Lin Xi quickly closed the book and threw it far away.

"Don't touch it! The taboos not mentioned in the rules are more dangerous than those that are," Lin Xi said.

“You seem to be alright.” Ouyang Xichen looked at Lin Xi.

"Perhaps it's because I haven't encountered any words or images related to taboos yet."

As soon as Lin Xi finished speaking, the bookshelf on the right suddenly shook violently, and several books fell from the height, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

One of the books fell to the ground and opened, revealing a photo tucked inside—a girl in a school uniform with crescent-shaped eyes when she smiled, looking just like Banxia.

Banxia's face turned deathly pale instantly, and she subconsciously took a step back, bumping into Bai Ye behind her.

“That is…” Her lips trembled, and she couldn’t finish her sentence.

Lin Xi noticed that the spine of the book was printed with the five small characters "Time and Space Code Book".

"Found one!" Bai Ye helped Banxia up, his eyes fixed on the book. "It's over there!"

Just as he was about to rush over, he saw the bookshelf suddenly tilt forward, pressing down like a wall, accompanied by a whistling sound.

Bai Yueming reacted quickly and pulled him back.

"Are you crazy? Don't you value your life?"

The bookshelf crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The coded book was buried at the very bottom, with only a small corner peeking out.

"It seems it won't be so easy to get."

Ouyang Xichen took out the lighter from his pocket and lit it. The flame danced in his palm, making the light in his eyes flicker.

"The bookshelves protect these books, or rather, they guard them."

Lin Xi suddenly remembered the prescription she had seen in the basement and the Pinellia ternata pattern engraved on the key.

She looked at Banxia, ​​who was still trembling, and asked softly.

"Do you know something about this? Like these books, or this library?"

Banxia bit her lip and didn't raise her head for a long time before her eyes were red.

“I used to work here. The boss said that these coded books contain stories from the past, and each book corresponds to a person’s memories. If they are taken by unrelated people, the memories will become a curse and drive the bookshelves crazy.”

"Then is that you in the photo?" Guo Xinxin pressed. Banxia nodded, her voice trembling with tears.

"That was me at seventeen. I lost a diary here that year and never found it again... The owner said the diary was 'taken' by the library and became part of a coded book."

The live stream chat was flooded with comments at a rapid pace.

—It turns out Banxia isn't an ordinary NPC! She's connected to the library!
No wonder she knew where the medicine furnace was and about the forbidden books!
—Does that coded book contain her memories? Will getting it trigger something?
—Could it be that the two people who were just eliminated were the ones who touched her book?
—I have an idea. The electronic voice just said that the key to get in was found by 123. Could it be that Banxia is the key to get in?

—I'm not sure, but it seems so now.

—So the key they just found won't open the door either, and they'll need someone to open it!
— Probably not, the key they obtained was quite complicated and not easy to come by.

"So, to get the codebook, we need to get the bookshelf to 'recognize' us first?" Lin Xi asked thoughtfully. "Just like when we used the Pinellia ternata herb to unlock it?"

Bai's eyes lit up.

“That makes sense! Each book corresponds to a person's memory, so wouldn't we need something related to that person to make the bookshelf lower its guard?” He looked at Banxia. “When you were seventeen, was there anything special?”

Banxia paused for a moment, then took out a small silver ring from her pocket. The ring had a small "Xia" character engraved on it, and the edges were already somewhat worn.

"This was my favorite ring back then, but I lost it later... I found it in a drawer while I was sorting through old things yesterday."

She hesitated for a moment, then took two steps forward and gently placed the ring next to the coded book that was being pressed down.

Strangely, the bookshelf, which had been swaying, suddenly stopped, as if a pause button had been pressed. A few seconds later, the bookshelf slowly moved backward, revealing the complete coded book.

"It really works!" Xiao Qin exclaimed in surprise.

Bai Yueming bent down to pick up the book and turned to the first page.

There were no words inside, only a string of flowing light spots, like countless fireflies dancing on the pages. The light spots gradually converged, forming a blurry image—seventeen-year-old Banxia, ​​clutching her diary, secretly weeping in a corner of the library, while a torrential downpour poured outside the window.

"This is the code to time and space? How do we decipher it?"

A cold, electronic voice suddenly rang out: "The first coded book has been successfully deciphered: Memory Fragments - Rainy Season. Two more books remain, countdown 68 hours and 12 minutes."

The images disappeared along with the electronic sounds, and the pages of the book became blank.

Lin Xi closed the book and suddenly felt an even greater chill on her back—the moving bookshelves had stopped moving at some point, and all the spines of the books were facing the same direction, like countless eyes staring intently at the coded book in their hands.

"Looks like we're being watched." Ouyang Xichen extinguished his lighter, and darkness returned, with only a few flickering lights in the distance. "The next book will probably be even harder to get."

Bai Yueming tucked the book into his pocket, his tone carrying his usual flippant manner.

"Don't worry, we're so capable, there won't be any problems."

Lin Xi took a deep breath and glanced at the silent bookshelves—they were still, but she could sense that it was just the calm before the storm.

“Let’s go.” She took the first step. “To find the second book.”

The group set off again, their footsteps echoing through the empty library.

Guo Yuelang quickened his pace, passed Lin Xi, and walked in front.

Lin Xi walked along, pondering the matter.

The memories of Banxia correspond to the "rainy season," so whose past will the remaining two books hold? And what taboos will they bring to light?
One of the lights above suddenly went out, and the darkness spread forward an inch.

Lin Xi looked up and saw only endless shadows, much like those secrets trapped inside bookshelves, unknown to anyone.