Chapter 258: Notebook
“Found it, this is… a notebook?”
After a thorough search, Zhang Qian soon discovered a somewhat strange book in an inconspicuous corner of the bookshelf.
But calling it a book wasn’t quite accurate, because this thing was very thin, more like a booklet.
Its dark brown cover hadn’t decayed due to the corrosion of time, and lightly tapping it with a fingernail still produced a crisp sound; the material was somewhat like wood, but much lighter.
There wasn’t much content on the cover. Zhang Qian flipped it back and forth several times but couldn’t find any existence of information; it seemed the outer hard shell only served to protect.
Should he open it to take a look?
Zhang Qian was still a bit hesitant about the answer to this problem.
This thing was suspected to be the source of the attack, so it definitely needed to be dealt with somehow, but who knew if opening it would cause him to lose consciousness and be pulled into some space like before.
Moreover, simply opening it might not necessarily resolve the attack, and if he got ambushed while dazed, Zhang Qian wouldn’t have the ability to fight back or resist.
But to tear this book apart…
Zhang Qian looked at his left hand with a strange expression.
The index finger of this hand looked out of place with the surrounding body. Under the influence of the administrator’s supernatural power, the original flesh and blood had transformed into something like pages, and it could even be flipped casually.
That ghost’s purpose didn’t seem to be to kill him, but just to complete some kind of ritual, wanting to turn him into a book.
As for the reason, if he hadn’t guessed wrong, it should be because a book had been destroyed before, so another book was needed to replenish it.
“And if I remember correctly, after that biography was destroyed, I also checked the bookshelf, and the empty spot on it had disappeared, yet it actually ended up here.”
Retracting his gaze from the empty position on the bookshelf, Zhang Qian was momentarily undecided.
It definitely wouldn’t do to not resolve it; no one could withstand wave after wave of attacks. But tearing the book might bring out another administrator, right?
After all, there was no rule stating there could only be one administrator; even ordinary libraries had many staff members, let alone a huge space like the ghost ship.
After thinking it over, no matter what he did, it didn’t seem safe; every option had risks.
“Whatever, thinking so much is meaningless.”
Zhang Qian steadied his mind and quickly made up his mind.
Thinking like this any longer was just wasting time. The previous attack had been dangerous enough; he didn’t want to play around with an enhanced version of the administrator.
Tear it, then. Even if it might bring a new administrator knocking, it could also resolve the current trouble, right?
Just as Zhang Qian gathered true qi in his hand and began to exert force with a serious face, a voice from not far away suddenly startled him, causing his action to halt abruptly.
“Hold on!”
This voice… it sounded somehow familiar.
Zhang Qian turned back thoughtfully, and sure enough, he saw a familiar figure wearing a Zhongshan suit.
“Yue Linhai?”
But this guy in front of him, though he always claimed to be Yue Linhai, wasn’t the person Zhang Qian was waiting for.
Looking at the face that was younger and more normal compared to Yue Linhai’s, Zhang Qian suddenly realized.
Got it, it’s a disguised illusion!
Too bad, I’ve already seen through it…
“There was a little accident on my father’s side. He ran into the captain early and couldn’t get away, so he could only entrust me to come take you along.”
The familiar feeling of silence swept over him. Having experienced it before, Zhang Qian naturally understood that this thing was the mark of time stop, meaning the person in front of him really wasn’t an imposter.
Zhang Qian silently swallowed back the skepticism he had nearly blurted out, but it still caught the attention of little Yue Linhai.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Seeing Zhang Qian a bit distracted, Yue Linhai kindly asked.
“Nothing, just a minor wound.” Zhang Qian shook his head, then showed his finger that had already been affected by supernatural erosion.
It was indeed just a minor wound, but it couldn’t heal no matter what. Even though true qi could prevent this erosion from spreading further, it couldn’t expel this eerie power for the time being.
Or rather, even if it was expelled, the finger turned into paper might not recover.
“Tch, this is really a bit troublesome…”
Yue Linhai knew the general situation upon seeing the wound and gave Zhang Qian a helpless look, saying, “Just recuperate slowly. As long as you clear the supernatural power bit by bit, it shouldn’t spread. As for this finger of yours, it probably won’t…”
“Crack.”
The sudden crisp sound of bones cracking interrupted what Yue Linhai wanted to say, making him raise an eyebrow involuntarily.
Zhang Qian, the perpetrator, acted as if he hadn’t noticed anything, holding half his finger and examining it from side to side, seemingly hesitating where to put it.
Yue Linhai had to praise the unflinching Zhang Qian: “As expected, you’re a ruthless person. I didn’t misjudge you.”
Looking at the finger segment that was put away, Yue Linhai felt a bit regretful.
If Zhang Qian ate it, it might even give rise to a famous story in the future.
In ancient times, there was Xiahou Dun pulling out his sword to eat his eye; now, there was Zhang Qian breaking his finger for survival—both were ruthless.
“Not bad.”
Zhang Qian didn’t have much feeling about it. After all, as mentioned before, this segment of finger didn’t feel like part of his body at all; it had no sensation when touched.
So in reality, the wound he felt was only as big as the cross-section of the finger, much smaller than the large wound on his waist before.
“Ahem, you don’t need to take it too seriously. I’ve seen plenty of ghost controllers missing hands or feet; you’ve just lost a segment of a finger, which is nothing at all.”
Yue Linhai thought Zhang Qian was ignoring him because he was feeling a bit sad now.
Understandable; turning into a disabled person out of nowhere, even a ghost controller couldn’t take it, right?
But gradually, the sympathy in Yue Linhai’s eyes turned into shock.
What is this?
“Wait, what’s going on with you?” Yue Linhai pointed at Zhang Qian’s finger.
If he wasn’t seeing wrong, a segment of bone had grown out of thin air from the tip of the finger, and soon blood vessels and muscle wrapped around it, looking like it was about to recover completely.
Zhang Qian was also staring at his finger with curiosity, suppressing the urge to pick at it before calmly saying, “I already said it’s just a minor wound, not a big problem.”
The feeling of recovery was quite unique—not painful, but a bit itchy, and inexplicably a little comfortable…
“Huh?”
Yue Linhai’s face was full of question marks. “You this…”
“Keep it low-key, keep it low-key. As a cultivator, having some special traits is normal, right?” Zhang Qian smiled humbly.
