He was limited to a total of two hours. Time was tight, and if he made a wrong turn on any level, his opportunity for that day would be lost. There would be no chance to start over.
Mu You took a deep breath, set his timer, and resumed his action.
[...You’ve completed five rounds of the first floor corridor. Submerged beneath the Silence Curse, your surroundings are quiet, as if nonexistent. You feel a further deepening of the strange transformation within yourself...]
With each round, the game text’s prompt would alter slightly. Mu You realized that Jing Moniang’s strategy wasn’t a trick. Applying her method indeed induced a certain kind of transformation in his body.
Next, the second floor, and then the third floor...
Mu You, with precision, operated the options presented before him and quickly arrived on the tenth floor.
[...You have completed two rounds around the tenth floor corridor. You feel as though you have submerged into chaos. Everything surrounding you begins to fade into nothingness before your eyes. You feel as though you’re no longer a human, but a wandering ghost...]
The description on the tenth floor was even more eerie; he’s been expunged from the human realm!
Fortunately, so far everything was going smoothly. The time estimated was about right. As long as he maintained his pace, he would have more than enough time.
However, as he thought this, an unexpected event occurred.
[You suddenly hear a ’creak’ from a door opening downstairs. Inside this quiet-as-a-pins-drop library, the sound is unusually loud.]
"What the hell? Someone had to step in at this moment?" Mu You’s eyes twitched in surprise.
The text continued to pop up.
[Following the sound of the door opening, a pair of high heels could be heard. These footsteps are familiar to many at the academy. They belong to the librarian, ’Madame Mckenna’.]
[Ever since the ’Student Ghost Incident’ occurred in the library years ago, the academy has mandated that on the night of every full moon, the librarian would be tasked with patrolling the facility to prevent a similar tragedy from reoccurring.]
[The librarian’s arrival has disrupted your plan. Do you wish to abandon your action and retreat immediately?]
Mu You was speechless for a moment. A patrolling librarian? This was a complete hindrance!
However, Jing Moniang couldn’t be blamed for this. The patrolling rule was obviously established after her death; she couldn’t have known.
An opportunity that came only once a month, it would be a waste to simply retreat after getting this far.
[You chose to continue forward.]
[You hear the sound of high heels approaching your floor, floor by floor...]
[Suddenly, you hear a faint shriek from the rooftop, a blend of chaotic noise, similar to the low growl of a wild beast...]
[The sound of the growl seems to have left the rooftop, slowly moving towards the lower floors...]
Mu You cursed under his breath, his worst fear had come true.
This low growl was most likely the legendary Silent Beast.
He had been careful for an hour, not alerting this creature. But now the patrolling librarian had stirred it up with her footsteps.
[..You have reached the eleventh-floor corridor. Just as you were preparing to proceed, a Black Fog Ghost appears before you.]
[The upper half of the Black Fog’s body was humanoid, while the lower half was like floating smoke. It held a Big Axe in its hands and slowly floated down the corridor towards you, the low growl of a beast echoed from within the black fog, clearly audible to you.]
[Meanwhile, behind you on the staircase, the sound of high heels could be heard...]
Mu You twitched at the irony, as though both figured it out and acted based on his timing?
With no other option, blocked from the front and pursued from the back, he was sandwiched. At this point, all Mu You could do was stand still, relying on the Hermit Card for concealment.
He wasn’t worried about the librarian. The deep concealment provided by the Hermit Card would likely hide his presence. Even if she did find him, the worst he could get was a warning and some deductive marks. That wouldn’t be much of an issue.
What truly bothered him was the Silent Beast.
Would concealment even work in the face of this beast?
Never mind the librarian, but if she were to run into the Silent Beast, what would happen?
[You remain motionless as the Silence Curse masks your breathing and heartbeat. Three seconds later, you automatically entered into a deep state of invisibility...]
[The Silent Beast floats in front of you. It glances in your direction but doesn’t linger. It passes through you, as if you were just another everyday statue in the corridor.]
[The Silent Beast floats behind Madame Mckenna, raising its axe, but not striking. It hovers around, ready to react to the slightest movement...]
[Madame Mckenna holds a concealment-detecting lantern, illuminating everything in the corridor. She walks past you, oblivious to your existence, let alone the strange creature following her...]
"So that’s how it is..."
Mu You finally understood the situation.
It seems that normal living beings can’t see or feel the Silent Beast’s presence. His ability to perceive it, however, was because he used Jing Moniang’s loophole method, which temporarily rendered his body similar to the Silent Beast.
The repeated rounds on each floor were precisely for the Silent Beast to gradually become familiar and accept his presence. Thus, when he entered the haunted library, his existence would be overlooked by the Beast.