Qi Bai stared at the repeatedly appearing placeholder symbols, utterly confused.
The belated little book attendant appeared in the air, carrying his books. The golden sparkles of his effect made his delicate, cute features look even more noble like a collectible figurine you could never afford!
“I sensed the doubts of an incompetent subordinate and have come in response to the summons!” the little book attendant chanted mysteriously.
Qi Bai internally groaned countless times not for herself, but embarrassed on behalf of others!
Before she could even ask her question, the little book attendant continued on his own.
“Some information involves other important terms, so it will not be disclosed; otherwise the transaction mechanism cannot be balanced!”
Hearing this, Qi Bai nodded to show she understood.
“Since you’re already here, why not explain the meaning of ‘luck value’? That Chen Anlan is lucky, sure, but his personality doesn’t exactly match someone who has everything go smoothly!”
The little book attendant, who had been just about to leave for the day, shivered at the request. Reluctant as he was, he still had to maintain the facade of a diligent, caring subordinate.
“You just need to know this: for Him, all beings are equal!”
The little attendant placed his hands behind his back, his delicate features serious, eyes staring off into a point in the air as if recalling something.
Qi Bai was about to follow up, but in the next second, he disappeared.
It was that familiar enigmatic voice again!
Though the information was sparse, Qi Bai started to form some hypotheses.
As the saying goes, all things are conserved. Applied to humans, this means advantages and disadvantages exist in balance there’s never only good or only bad.
Thus, Chen Anlan’s extremely high luck value likely corresponds to a significant deficiency in some aspect.
Qi Bai stopped dwelling on it. Thinking about going to the rooftop again that afternoon made her slightly uneasy.
Glancing at her still-plentiful points, she immediately started searching for information on the “Imperial Capital University Comprehensive Building Rooftop.”
To her surprise, the search result was: “Information unclear.”
It was the first time Qi Bai realized the information trading system had such a glaring loophole.
She typed “Qinghuai University incident,” only to receive another alert “Please refine your query information!”
Suddenly, Qi Bai understood why the system had her try different information collection and organization tasks using this information trading system effectively wasn’t as simple as she had imagined!
Once she grasped the difficulty of querying information, she actually felt relieved. Compared to passively accepting information or abilities from the system, it was far more reassuring to participate firsthand.
With no system guidance, Qi Bai had no choice but to take a leap of faith.
Fortune favors the bold and if all else failed, she still had a lucky “Euroruler” with her!
Time flew, and soon it was the agreed meeting time.
Chen Anlan was already waiting below Building C of the Comprehensive Building.
When Qi Bai arrived, she saw a tall, slender boy with his hands clenched together, fingers intertwined as if trying to rip the skin of his palms.
His shoulders slouched, muttering something she couldn’t catch.
Before Qi Bai could greet him, Chen Anlan, like a startled bird, looked up instantly.
“Anlan, with you in this state, I feel like there’s no way I’d encounter any danger up there!”
Qi Bai touched her arm, smiling: “No need for that you’d scare me to death before we even got there!”
Chen Anlan’s face flushed red, and his previously drooping expression brightened.
“I…”
Qi Bai didn’t let him dwell on it, grabbing his hand and briskly starting up the stairs.
“Eh…” Chen Anlan had no choice but to follow.
The first and second floors were fine; at the stairwell, voices and printer sounds from above and below were clearly audible.
Humans have a peculiar attachment to crowds the sense of safety they bring is irreplaceable.
But past the third floor, the sounds noticeably faded.
The two had been ascending one after the other, but their distance gradually closed, bodies tense.
After some time, Qi Bai could only judge her position by the floor markers in the stairwell.
For both their safety, she calmed herself and keenly felt her surroundings and her own heartbeat.
“Da-da ”
“Da-da ”
At some point, the footsteps in the empty stairwell became the only sound.
Qi Bai felt her pulse growing stronger, her heart beating anxiously.
She nervously glanced at Chen Anlan, expecting to see him shrinking back but instead, he was staring at the steps beneath him, lips silently moving.
“What are you doing?” Qi Bai asked.
“Ah…” Chen Anlan suddenly looked up, a little dazed.
“Oh… I’m counting the steps!” he realized.
Qi Bai relaxed slightly at this interruption.
“So, what floor are we on now?” she asked, smiling.
Chen Anlan replied immediately: “The seventh floor!”
Qi Bai’s expression changed drastically, pupils narrowing, breath quickening.
“But… we just climbed five floors!”
Her mind went blank.
Based on Chen Anlan’s previous mention of experiencing a “ghostly maze,” she had been counting the floors from the start. Unless her memory had been tampered with, she couldn’t have miscounted.
Both fell silent for a moment.
“Do we keep going?” Chen Anlan asked.
Qi Bai chuckled, a sudden thrill flashing in her eyes: “How interesting! Before we couldn’t reach the top; now we’ve mysteriously climbed two extra floors. Why stop? This Pandora’s box hasn’t even opened yet!”
Her smile widened as she quickened her pace up the stairs.
Chen Anlan watched her excitement, stunned, and hurried to catch up as Qi Bai’s figure raced ahead.
Sixth floor… seventh floor… eighth floor… ninth floor…
Qi Bai pondered the ever-increasing floor numbers, her eyes sparkling with a wild gleam, a hint of madness creeping into her expression.
“Huff huff what’s wrong?”
Chen Anlan’s confused voice came from behind.
“The floor markers keep increasing… but this building only has eight floors. How could there be a ninth?” Qi Bai’s excitement dulled as a sudden suspicion formed in her mind.
Externally, the building clearly had eight floors. They had indeed climbed nine, and she had carefully counted. Unless the building contained some secret dimension…
Worse, this might no longer even be the stairwell!
Chen Anlan!