94 Sacrifice

"This is beyond my expectations," Lin Zhuyue spoke, "I don't know what to do." She rubbed her head and brushed her hair aside. Even within all the strangeness of this shop, this was a unique product.

"What were you expecting," the woodchopper asked her inquisitively. "Could it be, you don't like books?" As he asked that question, his voice turned a bit quieter, as if fearing his statement may come true if spoken out.

"I do like the occasional stories," Lin Zhuyue corrected his misunderstanding. "For example, the Extended Delights' bestseller, 'Social Outcast in another world with every woman (except the ugly ones), is my personal favorite. Oh, there's also 'I have no friends but I own slaves, even though I think it is wrong, but I fear rejection,' and 'I refer to my old master as big daddy, thus he expelled me'," she rambled on, thinking about all the books she had read. "But lately, they don't seem to excite me as much. They cannot compare with the excitement I gain from the Store of Fates."

"Uh, I see." The woodchopper nodded, absentmindedly. He didn't quite understand her words, but it was nice to hear she didn't hate stories. "You seem the type that doesn't let others define her. That is nice."

"Did you just call me weird?" Lin Zhuyue did not miss that fact. "I will let it slide for now since I am strapped for time, but in exchange, you have to explain what exactly your whole book club has to do with the wizard."

"Gladly," the woodchopper said. He'd have done so even if she did not ask, but seeing her this incentive, the man could not help but feel gleeful. "See, we collect the rumors, stories, experiences, and myths related to the wizard, and try to build an accurate biography surrounding him."

The older woman librarian took over from there. "You've come just at the right time, actually. We've been planning to read the third book, so you can take the first one and study it. That one's a classic and always reserved by others, so the chance comes rarely."

Lin Zhuyue noticed something and asked, "How many renditions are there?"

The librarian and the woodchopper looked at each other. They counted in their heads, until the woman spoke, "Currently, we've written around 15?"

"That's a lot." Lin Zhuyue felt the heavy pressure of these words. How big was the pile of books, if it had 15 volumes? In the first place, what had the wizard achieved and how long did he live to get this much coverage? Even the royal family only had two. She probably could not finish one book before the instance ended, let alone 15.

The librarian coughed, noticing Lin Zhuyue being hesitant. "Once you start, you will be hooked in no time, I promise! For example, the first book starts out with the wizard's broken meridians, after he lost in a bet against his younger brother for the clan leader position. He was cast into this old land, in hopes that he'd get out of the family's sight. But fate had other plans, as he picked up a green glowing stone, which later turned out to be a priceless artifact from the heavenly court! This allowed him to partially harness the powers of those who had ascended, and the first thing he got was the healing powers from the Death Constellation. Aren't you intrigued just by hearing the plotline?"

Lin Zhuyue was skeptical. "And you found that all through collecting records and hearsay?"

"I admit, some of it has been added as an embellishment, but it's only to make it more interesting for the children," she said. "But there's no one who knows more about the wizard than us, I promise!"

"Woah, so they write fan-fiction," Shou muttered, watching Lin Zhuyues' instance with great interest. Needless to say, he had never come in contact with the cult. He always thought this village held nothing of importance, and only the witch was the strong one, but now he felt a hint of regret that he hadn't tried harder to understand that place.

Thankfully, through Si's magic, he could now relive the tales he had once missed. In fact, he himself had reached a 35% completion rate already. He'd be a lot higher if the witch did not keep running away from him and properly cooperated.

Lin Zhuyue sighed and sat down on one of the fluffy cushions, her expression tired. This did not help her at all. She grabbed a teacup and took a sip. The warmth seeping from that cup was comfortable for her hands. A nice herbal aroma cleansed her mouth and washed a bit of that weariness away. 

"Will I have to sell my soul to the devil," she asked herself, the devil, in this case, referring to Ran Wei. She watched the book club members. They appeared to have big smiles, much unlike the usual residents she saw above. It was hard to tell at a glance, but she realized that they too had blackened out body parts. Even the kids had a missing eye or limb, but that did not stop them from enjoying themselves. Though the books may not be real, they still found happiness in them. Was it a false bliss if their emotions remained true? Hard to say. "Ah, what a pretentious thought," she spat out in annoyance. Lin Zhuyue wasn't a philosopher, after all.

"So, do you want to lend the book," the librarian asked nervously."

A sudden idea came to Lin Zhuyues's mind. Maybe it was birthed from all that thinking. Maybe she should do that more often. "Actually, how does the story end?"

"Eh, you want to know the ending? That's spoilers, you know?" The librarian asked if she was sure, but seeing the young woman's determination, she found it hard to reject her. "Well, we are still currently writing the story and have yet to reach the halfway point, so we don't know how it ends. . ." The plump lady paused. "Is what I'd like to say, but in the end, the wizard is revived through the heavy sacrifices of mankind, and he will return to defeat the wicked witch."

"Is this bogus, or are you telling the truth," Lin Zhuyue asked, a little flustered, as this appeared to be rather important information.

The librarian lifted her hands in innocence. "It's the truth! In fact, we created the book club sorely for this. It's been stated that the wizard cannot die, and when the right person came, they'd be able to wake him from his slumber. We have found the prophecy a long time ago."

"Can I take a look at it," the young lady said in an agitated voice.

"I wish I can show you, but I have never seen it either," the woman replied. "It's buried together with the founder of the book club. But, on my life, this is a hundred percent the truth."

Lin Zhuyue clenched her fist. This information, she wondered, would it be worth a completion rate of 50%? if it was the truth, then definitely. She opened her status window, just as Shou had taught all of them once:

║Name: Shou • Age: 24 • Species: Human • Level: 2 • Bloodline: - • Affinity: Fire

Cultivation Base: Breeze of the West

Skills:36 Aerobics, Travelers Path.

Conquered Instances: Deadly Witch Hunt (67%)║

Lin Zhuyue gasped. What a humongous jump! It was so high that it may as well be confirmed. She had found the last key to the story. Not only her, Shous' eyes opened wide as well, and his drowsiness all but disappeared. He called for the others to look at her story, and they were shocked to the core.

Though they had yet to see the end, they finally felt like there was light within this endless tunnel.

—One way to complete the instance was to revive the wizard, who would go fight the witch! Truly, the weakness was the wizard the whole time, who only needed a sacrifice to awaken him.

"But how are we supposed to do that," Mei Xue asked herself. "Is there a certain ritual to it? Or do we have to do it during the full moon or something?" If it was time-restricted, that'd cost a lot of money.

"Also, I don't feel right about needing to sacrifice someone or something," Zhang Yong spoke thoughtfully. "There's no explanation given on who exactly was needed and how many. In the end, the conditions are still too loose."

The customers nodded, a little regretful. They were so close to a solution, yet, they had no way to grasp it. This was like having ones crush in front of them, naked, yet unable to touch them, for there was a thick glass wall in between them.

At the same time, Ran Wei talked to the receptionist. She was yet to know of the devastating news that Lin Zhuyue had completed her task. The receptionist spoke, "Oh, by the way, there's something that might interest you."

Ran Wei ate her food. "What do you mean?"

"It's just something random, but do you know recently there's a rumor going around that the statue is actually alive? People say they can hear the thing whisper," the receptionist said with a hushed tone. "It would talk about 'death', 'body', 'revival', and how it 'needed to be in front of the statue'. I wonder what that means? Anyways, it's real spooky, alright."

The customers looked at each other, in disbelief. What great irony. They looked at Ran Wei and Lin Zhuyue. These two, even with all their inner strifes, really knew how to work together.