Chapter 31 Part 3

Lamplight gathered on Tong Yuwu’s cheeks, blending into a warm, glowing arc. Within that soft illumination, the fine down on the Noble Miss’s face was faintly visible. Her breathing was steady, her body relaxed, with no trace of disgust or irritation.

Meng Yiran glanced down and saw her own cat hair still nestled quietly in that collarbone hollow.

The white strand lay against Tong Yuwu’s fair skin, blending seamlessly yet impossible to ignore. Staring at it for too long even lent it a strangely harmonious beauty.

The Little White Cat let out a massive yawn. After all the evening’s antics, exhaustion finally crept in.

At last, she licked her paw and closed her eyes, just like Tong Yuwu, before plummeting into deep sleep.

It was worth noting that the next day, when the staff arrived to collect the laundry, the Noble Miss issued a new command.

“Don’t send these out.” She pointed to the dirty laundry bin piled high with two sets of bedding. “Burn them.”

The Little White Cat, mid-breakfast, lifted her head from her bowl, her chin dripping with milk.

“Meow meow meow???”

The staff member paused. “Er, well…”

He offered an apologetic smile. “We can dispose of them for you at most. Burning isn’t part of our services.”

Tong Yuwu narrowed her eyes. “Then dispose of them.”

She even volunteered an extra instruction. “The farther away, the better.”

The staffer acknowledged it with a quick “Got it” and hauled the items away.

The Little White Cat finished her breakfast stewing in resentment. For once, she didn’t trot to the door to see Tong Yuwu off. When the Noble Miss slipped on her shoes and reached down to scoop her up, the cat unleashed a vengeful barrage of rubbing. Only after watching her leave covered head to toe in fur did the Little White Cat’s mood lift slightly.

~~~

A few days later, Ling Ge—the devoted frontline gossip source for her one and only audience, Meng Yiran—burst in with the latest scoop.

“The verdict’s in! The verdict’s in!” Ling Ge barreled into the room, breathless and babbling. “The school posted an announcement. Huff. Investigation concluded—that whole thing was just an accidental explosion.”

Meng Yiran caught her meaning instantly and shot to her feet in excitement. “The school’s wisdom shines!”

She poured Ling Ge a glass of water and passed it over. “So Tong Yuwu’s in the clear, right?”

Ling Ge shot her a look. “But because Tong Yuwu ‘failed to render aid,’ violating the academy’s rules on mutual friendship and support among students, they’ve sentenced her to three months of volunteer work at the First Library. Basic cleaning and upkeep.”

Meng Yiran’s face crumpled. “What kind of nonsense is that?

“Mutual friendship? Did those three thugs show any to their victim?”

“Heh, you just count your blessings.” Ling Ge finally caught her breath, snatched the glass, and chugged it down. “This is blatant favoritism. An incident riddled with suspicious details gets rubber-stamped as an ‘accident’ and that’s that.

“The volunteer gig is just window dressing to soothe the families of those three injured students.”

Meng Yiran slumped back into her chair. “Whoever starts trouble is the real loser here. Seriously—if those three hadn’t picked the fight in the first place, none of this fallout would have happened. Tong Yuwu’s getting dragged into it for nothing.”

Ling Ge nodded. “Fair point.” She threw up her hands. “But that’s the ruling, and it’s final. No changes.”

Propping her cheek on her hand, Meng Yiran mused, “By the way, where even is the First Library?”

She ran through her mental map of the places she’d visited lately. “I know there’s the Grand Clarity Library smack in the center of campus, and the Second Library to the east for ancient texts.”

Ling Ge pondered deeply. “You just jogged my memory about that First Library…”

Meng Yiran leaned in. “What about it?”

Ling Ge: “It’s… a little odd.”

Ling Ge sat down beside Meng Yiran. “Come to think of it, I first heard this campus legend back when I was a freshman. One of our senior sisters told us that Clarity’s current scale came from several expansions. At the start, there wasn’t even the Grand Clarity Library—just the First Library and the Second Library for the whole school.

“For a while, lots of students reported getting lost inside the First Library. No matter what they did, they couldn’t find their way out. By the time they finally made it back, it was the dead of night, well past curfew by over an hour. And yet the place isn’t that big, with signs everywhere. Even a kid wouldn’t get lost in there.”

Meng Yiran’s mouth twitched. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this story belonged in a ghost novel, not the magic world she now inhabited.

“Sounds pretty spooky, but isn’t this a magic academy? Didn’t anyone from the administration look into it?”

“Of course they did, but they didn’t find a thing,” Ling Ge said with a shrug. “The school inspected it and declared everything fine, but students kept getting trapped until some late hour when they were finally ‘released.’ Getting lost isn’t a huge deal anyway, and since no one’s died, maybe the school just didn’t prioritize it.”

As she spoke, she was quick to add, “This is all secondhand, though. I don’t know all the details.”

Meng Yiran nodded. “Uh-huh. And then?”

“The First Library got sealed off for a bit. Not long after, the new library was built, and the school moved out all the useful books and equipment, leaving behind just the outdated or obsolete stuff.” Ling Ge rocked back and forth in her chair. “Gradually, hardly anyone went there anymore.”

Meng Yiran frowned. “If that’s the case, why not just shut down the First Library altogether? What’s the point of keeping it?”

Ling Ge shrugged. “Beats me.”

Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Maybe without the First Library, the Second Library wouldn’t be the ‘second’ one. Renaming everything would be a hassle.”

Meng Yiran burst out laughing at her wild imagination.

Ling Ge continued, “This kind of punishment volunteer work means you have to stay at the site from eight in the morning until nine at night, except during holidays and class time.

“In other words, that brat from your family won’t be able to bug you at night anymore.”

“Ah…” Meng Yiran opened her mouth, unsure what expression to make.

“What’s wrong?” Ling Ge widened her eyes. “Isn’t that great? You’ll have way more free time.”

She went on, “You’ve pretty much mastered the basic spells from your clan lately, right? Didn’t Teacher Liya say she’d help you develop your own magic system?”

Meng Yiran’s eyes lit up as she nodded vigorously. “Yeah!”

She hadn’t expected to learn magic herself at first, but Teacher Liya and the Ling siblings had been so thoughtful, already making arrangements. Meng Yiran felt deeply guilty—their kindness far outweighed anything she could offer in return. But it was exactly what she desperately needed right now, so she had no choice but to accept. She tucked away her gratitude, vowing to repay them properly someday.

Ling Ge’s eyes went wide, her brows dancing with excitement. “You have to take it seriously.”

Meng Yiran nodded emphatically. “I will. I won’t let down Teacher Liya or any of you who’ve nurtured me.”

At those words, the little girl grew bashful and waved it off. “Ahem, no need to be so formal.”

While the two chatted idly, Tong Yuwu—who had no afternoon classes—arrived at the First Library.

Peeling chunks of wall plaster, yellowed and cracked bricks… the dilapidated building resembled a frail old man who had wandered into a world of youthful vigor, utterly out of place amid the vibrant energy of Clarity Magic Academy.

Even though it wasn’t a holiday, the front doors were tightly shut. Tong Yuwu pushed them open, stirring up a cloud of dust. In the shaft of sunlight, she spotted an elderly man napping at the front desk on the first floor.

The old man, disturbed by the sudden light, frowned and cracked his eyes open.

Spotting Tong Yuwu, he slumped back down without so much as lifting his gaze. “First floor, second floor—look around as you like. To borrow books, you’ll need…” He cut himself off mid-sentence, then straightened up. “You’re that volunteer they shipped over here, aren’t you?”

He rummaged sideways through the clutter on his desk. “Uh, I think it was yesterday morning or sometime… I got a document about it.”

Tong Yuwu stepped inside the library and stood before him, nodding in confirmation. “That’s me.”

The Noble Miss had delicate, fair skin and spoke in soft, gentle tones, as if she belonged to a world utterly apart from this dilapidated, decaying building. Yet reality loved its cruel jokes, forcing these two worlds to collide and casting a body worth a thousand gold into the dust.

“Alright.” The Old Man paused in his work, stretched lazily, and gestured around the room. “This place, top to bottom—it’s all yours to manage from now on!” He reminded her, “The tools are in the Storage Room at the back. Be careful when you’re cleaning—don’t break anything… Eh, whatever. If you do break something, it doesn’t really matter, but you’ll have to dispose of it yourself.

“Don’t open the doors when there’s nothing to do. If you spot bookworms or gray mice in the corners, don’t make a fuss or any noise.”

He coughed once, then delivered his final summary: “In short, do whatever you like—just don’t disturb my sleep, and we’re good.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he flopped back onto the desk. Within seconds, he was snoring again.

Tong Yuwu paid it no mind. She headed toward the back in search of the Storage Room the Old Man had mentioned, glancing around as she went.

It was still afternoon. Though the main doors were shut tight, the library wasn’t dim inside. The original architect must have poured a great deal of thought into creating a space perfect for reading; sunlight streamed through the tall stained-glass windows, brightening every corner except the front desk.

What a pity that these meticulously designed features now drew no students at all. Instead, they had become a playground for swirling dust and flying ash.

Tong Yuwu wasn’t in any rush to start cleaning. Along the way, she noticed a half-empty bookshelf lined with tattered old volumes. She plucked one at random, sending up a cloud of dust.

Anyone witnessing the scene would have been transfixed. The motes of dust danced in the sunlight like golden fairies, hovering around the beautiful Noble Miss. She had a lovely face, and even the oversized mage robe she wore did nothing to diminish her refined air. She lowered her head to open the book cradled in her arms, her slender fingers—pale as glowing porcelain—alighting on the yellowed pages like butterflies.

In that moment, the crumbling building, the towering windows, and even the rows of weathered wooden shelves etched with intricate grain all seemed to bow low. They cradled her like stars around the moon, reduced to mere opulent backdrops and devoted servants.

By the time she closed the book, dusk was falling.

A voice suddenly called out in her mind. Tong Yuwu returned the volume to its shelf, took a few steps forward, and spotted a long staircase. She climbed it, soon arriving at the Second Floor of the First Library. But the stairs didn’t end there; they continued a short way farther, terminating at a door secured by a rusty iron lock that wordlessly warned “Keep Out.”

The Second Floor enjoyed even better light than the ground level. The ceiling in the center had been cut away, leaving part of the area fully open to the sky—and incidentally revealing that the topmost 3rd Floor was only half a story high.

The call emanated from the Second Floor, from that sky-exposed spot. Its former glory was long faded; Tong Yuwu could only imagine the scholarly haven it had once been from the two dilapidated sets of table and chairs up there.

The setting sun nudged gently at her back, urging her onward. She advanced, but halted just before stepping into the Open-air Area.

The voice grew more insistent, almost solidifying into something that could drag her inside.

Instead, Tong Yuwu pivoted gracefully. The tap-tap-tap of footsteps echoed once more—but they were the sound of her retracing her path.

In that instant, the entire Second Floor quivered faintly before settling back to normal: still decrepit and rotten, still choked with dust. It merely awaited the sun’s departure, ready to vanish into the unseen abyss of night.

Down at the front desk on the first floor, the Old Man had roused himself. Spotting Tong Yuwu heading for the exit, he called out, “It’s still early. Where are you off to?”

Tong Yuwu didn’t look back. “Going home to feed the cat.”

The unusual reply left him momentarily stunned. By the time he gathered his wits, she had already swung open the library doors.

He smacked his lips and called after her in a dry voice: “Oh. Don’t forget to come back.”

All that answered him was the sharp click of the doors shutting.