Chapter 254: Endless Attacks
In an unremarkable corner of the library, several tall bookshelves formed two narrow aisles, but now these aisles were almost completely piled up with dry corpses.
Zhang Qian forcefully shook the unknown remnants off the wooden stick, panting a bit while also feeling some doubt: “Damn… Yue Linhai isn’t playing me, is he? Why hasn’t he arrived yet?”
He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he retreated from that space in the book, only knowing that in this short time, he had already encountered nine waves totaling eighteen librarians.
These things were simply endless to kill, every death was only temporary, and before long they would regenerate out of sight.
Even though these inhuman guys all looked the same, the supernatural power contained within them was different, and Zhang Qian could clearly feel their strength gradually increasing.
“Crack.”
Zhang Qian stomped on the eye that flew toward him on the carpet, feeling that he couldn’t keep wasting time like this.
“I originally thought I just needed to hold out until Yue Linhai arrived, but now something must have gone wrong on his side, so I have to figure out a way myself…”
Glancing at the aisles on both sides, these two narrow passages were now completely blocked by corpses, piled up into half-person-high corpse heaps.
This was still the result of Zhang Qian intentionally controlling it; if all piled together, it would probably completely seal off the path.
“I just dealt with two, the next attack should still have a little time before arriving, perfect time to go out and look for clues, and also change location to avoid really being piled to death by these corpses here.”
Stepping on the somewhat shriveled carpet, Zhang Qian’s gaze swept around the surrounding space from time to time, while thinking about the information he had just obtained.
After these attacks, although Zhang Qian hadn’t completely eliminated the fierce ghost behind them, he had detected some patterns.
First was the interval between attacks; although the number of attacks so far showed no end, the interval between each attack was fixed, about two or three minutes.
It was precisely because of these intervals that Zhang Qian had time to catch his breath; otherwise, if they came continuously without end, even if he was much stronger than them, he would be worn down to death.
Next was the change in intensity between each wave of attacks: the librarians in the first attack were roughly at a level worse than ordinary people, the second reached the level of a normal Ghost Hand, and the third was only slightly weaker than the current enhanced Ghost Hand.
As for the most recent ninth attack, those two gave Zhang Qian a feeling already approaching Feng Quan’s Ghost Mist; even Ghost Hand couldn’t deal with them, and he had to handle them personally to counter.
Fortunately, the growth speed of this supernatural strength wasn’t doubling; the later it got, the slower the growth speed, otherwise if it really strengthened eight times at the previous rate, Zhang Qian would truly be powerless, with no chance of resistance at all.
After a few steps, Zhang Qian had arrived in front of the pile of corpses on the right side.
Looking at these fierce ghosts with numb expressions in front of him, he hesitated for a moment in his mind, but still didn’t step directly on them.
It wasn’t because he felt disgusted, but rather a slight unease.
Strangely enough, despite encountering so many librarians, Zhang Qian still hadn’t figured out what their supernatural power was, nor had he understood their attack method.
It seemed that from their first appearance until now, these eerie figures just wanted to continuously approach Zhang Qian, and they wouldn’t resist even when attacked by Ghost Hand, just like scary marionettes.
However, the supernatural power on them was real, so it was best not to make contact if possible.
His gaze shifted, and Zhang Qian lightly tapped the ground with his toe, stepping on the nearby bookshelf for leverage to leap over the corpse pile.
Then he landed lightly without making a single sound.
“Good, no accidents happened…”
Zhang Qian looked back and saw those things just unconsciously twitching their limbs, then withdrew his gaze.
During the first few encounters with the administrators, Zhang Qian had already confirmed that these guys carried no clues on them; the clothes they wore were just ordinary clothes with no hidden information inside.
If he really wanted to find clues, he would probably have to start with the books inside the library.
Zhang Qian didn’t believe these things were rootless water; there must be some fierce ghost or some supernatural item influencing them to continuously generate this bizarre supernatural phenomenon.
As for what that item was, since this was a library, that item was likely some special book.
However, the terrain in this library was very complex, and the space seemed problematic too, so finding where to look was truly a problem.
Thinking it over, Zhang Qian looked toward the direction where the footsteps first appeared.
While walking, he observed the surrounding environment. “It seems every attack starts with footsteps, and those footsteps begin as only one path, suddenly splitting into two only after approaching the intersection near me, so the place where the footsteps appear is likely the source.”
After walking a few steps, Zhang Qian estimated the time in his mind; it seemed the next wave of attacks was coming again.
It would be best to find a better spot, because he still had a few guesses he wanted to verify.
After walking a few more steps, Zhang Qian stopped. “This position is fine.”
This was a place like a crossroads, with a very open view around, and every aisle relatively long, providing enough reaction time.
The reason for choosing here was that Zhang Qian had some doubts about the fierce ghost’s splitting method.
“That corner before, although it looked like two aisles, actually those two aisles were more like two sides of a square, and I was at the apex. The position where the footsteps appeared was another apex, so it could appear simultaneously on the two adjacent sides after splitting.”
“But at this position, the four aisles lead in completely different directions; I’m curious what that administrator will do.”
Would it give up splitting and appear only from the nearest direction, or appear unreasonably on all four sides at once?
Whichever the result, Zhang Qian had ways to cope; after all, at most it was Feng Quan’s level, so even four appearing together at once, what could they do.
“It’s coming…”
The familiar footsteps sounded again, and Zhang Qian immediately looked toward the right front following the sound.
Adding the direction heard from the corner before, it seemed possible to determine the location of the source.
But for now, he still needed to handle this wave of attacks first.
