Deadly Game: Almighty Boss’s Guide to Making Money

Chapter 1219. The Book at Night (7)

Banxia's tears suddenly fell.

“The boss never told me any of this… He only said that A-Yun got into trouble while trying to save the book.”

"It seems things aren't that simple." Ouyang Xichen took the logbook, his fingertips tracing the bloodstains. "Why did the bookshelf suddenly collapse? Was the rain really heavy enough to flood the top of the clock tower that day?"

Lin Xi suddenly recalled the image in the second book of codes—A-Yun was holding a copper whistle, and the window on the top floor of the clock tower was closed.

If the scene in the video is real, then the statement in the log that "the window was not closed" is false.

“Someone is lying,” Lin Xi said in a deep voice. “Or rather, someone is trying to cover something up.”

Just then, the red light in the crack suddenly brightened, accompanied by a low whimper, as if someone was crying down below.

The shaking of the ground intensified, and the bookshelves on both sides of the corridor began to shake violently, threatening to crash down.

"Hurry! There's no time to think!" Guo Yuelang shoved the logbook into his arms and dragged the group forward. "The clock tower entrance is just ahead!"

They had just rushed out of the corridor when a loud crash came from behind them, and the entire corridor collapsed completely.

The red light in the crack also disappeared, as if it had never appeared at all.

My eyes suddenly opened up.

An ancient clock tower appeared before them, its body covered with ivy, its rusty iron gate tightly shut, and its door knocker engraved with intricate patterns, like some kind of ancient talisman.

The light at the top of the tower grew brighter and brighter, and it became clear that it was a huge bronze bell with the words "Dark Night" engraved on it.

"This is it." Lin Xi looked at the iron gate. "But how do we get in?"

Banxia suddenly stepped forward, took out the silver ring engraved with the character "Xia" from her pocket, and gently touched the door knocker.

The pattern on the door knocker suddenly lit up, resonating with the character "夏" (summer) on the ring, emitting a pleasant buzzing sound.

With a click, the iron gate slowly opened.

So, Banxia really is the key!

—At least it serves the function of a key.

—Now I finally understand why they said it was 123 who found the key.

—Banxia seems to be in a terrible situation. Her mother is sick and needs money. The landlord is also raising the rent.

—That's right, NPCs have it tough too.

It's not easy, and we have to get through it together with everyone.

— Banxia is quite calm and doesn't hold anyone back, which I like.

Behind the door is a steep staircase that spirals upwards, leading to the top of the clock tower.

The stairs were covered with a thick layer of dust, clearly indicating that no one had walked on them for a long time.

The walls on both sides of the staircase are covered with portraits of the library’s past administrators. One of them is of the young Mr. Zhang, with A-Yun standing next to him.

Ah Yun smiled radiantly, holding in her hands the book "Essentials of Ancient Book Restoration".

“The book in the portrait…” Bai Ye suddenly pointed to the portrait. “It’s different from the one mentioned in the log.”

Everyone took a closer look.

Sure enough, the book in A-Yun's arms had a dark blue cover, while the book in the diary, "Essentials of Ancient Book Restoration," should have had a dark red cover. "Another lie. Someone is deliberately obfuscating the details of the day A-Yun died," Huang Jingjing said.

They walked up the stairs, and the higher they went, the more humid the air became, with a faint musty smell and a familiar, turpentine-like odor.

"It smells like oil paint." Lin Xi suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Someone has painted here."

As soon as she finished speaking, a sound of flapping wings came from above, and countless bats flew down from the top of the clock tower, a dark mass.

Bai Yueming reacted quickly, taking off his coat and waving it in the air in an attempt to scare away the bats.

"Everyone, crouch down! Don't look up!"

The swarm of bats circled for a while, but apparently found no prey, and then flew back.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and looked up to see a huge easel standing on the platform at the end of the stairs. The easel was covered with a white cloth, and there was obviously a painting on it.

"Could the last book of codes be inside the painting?" Quan Quan said, carefully walking onto the platform and lifting the white cloth.

The canvas depicts a scene from the top of the clock tower.

Ah-Yun collapsed at the bottom of the stairs, book pages scattered around her, and a pair of scissors stuck in her chest, her blue shirt stained with blood.

The bookshelves next to the stairs were intact, the windows were tightly closed, and the sky outside was clear. It hadn't rained at all.

In the corner of the painting was written a line of text: "The truth is always hidden behind the paintbrush."

"This is the truth?" Banxia covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face. "Ayun wasn't hit by the bookshelf, nor did she fall down the stairs... She was murdered!"

Lin Xi looked at the scissors in the painting and suddenly remembered the bloodstains on the diary.

The shape of the bloodstains was not caused by rolling down the stairs at all, but rather resembled the blood dripping onto paper after a person was stabbed by a sharp weapon.

“It’s that administrator,” Xiaoqin said. “He wrote the log; he’s lying.”

Just then, the painting suddenly began to shake violently, and the paint seemed to come alive as it flowed down, gathering into a string of light spots—this was the spacetime code of the third coded book.

The image formed by the light spots was clearer than the previous two: the caretaker secretly climbed to the top of the clock tower, intending to steal the "Essentials of Ancient Book Restoration" from A-Yun's hands, because a treasure map was tucked inside. A-Yun refused to give it up, and the two argued. In a moment of desperation, the caretaker grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed her...

"The third coded book has been successfully deciphered: Fragments of Memory - The Truth. All three coded books have been deciphered, and the code to time and space has been cracked. Countdown has ended."

The moment the cold electronic sound rang out, the paint in the painting suddenly faded, revealing the spine of the book—the five words "Book of Time and Space Code" were clearly visible.

The clock tower suddenly stopped shaking, and the bronze bell at the top of the tower rang out with a loud "dong-dong," the sound piercing the darkness and echoing throughout the entire library.

The frantically moving bookshelves gradually stopped moving and returned to their original positions. The red light in the crack also disappeared, as if nothing had ever happened.

Lin Xi looked at the cipher book and suddenly understood something.

The library is not taking away memories, but the truth.

It preserves these truths in a codebook, waiting for someone to decipher them and bring the hidden stories to light.

"We... cleared the game?" Xiao Qin looked at the calm surroundings and still couldn't believe it.

Guo Yuelang nodded and placed the logbook in his arms together with the coded book on the easel: "Now that the truth is out, the library will naturally let us go."

As the group walked down the stairs, Lin Xi smiled when she saw the portrait of Boss Zhang, as if she had finally let go of her obsession.

In A-Yun's portrait, the book in her hand has turned dark red; it is the very book, "Essentials of Ancient Book Restoration."