Ulong City Library.Eleven o'clock, midnight.
Zhang Xiaowai stood before the old library, built in the early last century. He gazed up at the weathered stone plaque, where the words "Ulong City Library" were almost entirely consumed by time and bird droppings. In his palm, he tightly clutched two items: a copper coin he'd found at a night market and a crumpled note with scrawled handwriting – "Library, third bookshelf, secret compartment."
The moon was hidden behind thick clouds, casting only a faint, pallid light through the gaps. The stone pillars in front of the library stretched long shadows, resembling a silent warning. Zhang Xiaowai's Ulong Halo hummed an untimely tune, like a supernatural intuition sounding an alarm: Tonight, bad luck was coming again.
"The third bookshelf!" Liu Piaopiao, like an adventurer with a treasure map, excitedly held up her flashlight. Her deer-antler hat bobbed left and right in the shifting light, looking like a moving hazard beacon. "The secret of the Ulong Tome must be here! With Detective Liu on the case, success is guaranteed!"
"Late-night library exploration, tomb-raiding level title!" Tang Xiaotang held up her phone, the camera already fixed on Zhang Xiaowai's face. She muttered, "Xiaowai bro, you have to get tens of millions of views tonight, and bring me to the trending topics too!"
Wang Dazhuang wasn't to be outdone. He hoisted what appeared to be a police baton, possibly borrowed from the security room, and confidently thumped his chest. "If there are any traps, secret doors, or monsters, I'll handle them all! I'll smash open a path to heaven with one swing!"
Zhang Xiaowai rolled his eyes, as if he could already foresee the night's disaster level. "Can you guys stop thinking about smashing things? The porcelain incident at the auction house still hasn't been resolved!"
Liu Piaopiao paid him no mind, darting into the library's doorway like a cat. She waved her hand, urging, "Zhang Xiaowai! Your halo is our golden finger for solving cases tonight! Hurry and trigger it, maybe it'll unlock a hidden storyline!"
The interior of the Ulong City Library was as dilapidated as its exterior. The wooden floorboards creaked underfoot, and the air was a mixture of mold, old paper, and an indescribable dampness. Every step felt like walking into a piece of history, or perhaps... a supernatural show.
The flashlight beams swayed in the darkness, like will-o'-the-wisps dancing in the library's deathly silence. Zhang Xiaowai, neck retracted, walked at the back of the group, silently lighting a candle for the night. "There won't really be anything ghostly, right? I heard whispers come from this place at night..."
"What are you afraid of?" Wang Dazhuang held his police baton high, a look of righteous indignation on his face. "My presence here is like a protective talisman! Let me tell you a cold joke to calm your nerves: Do you know why ghosts in libraries are the most civilized?"
Everyone: "...Why?"
"Even in the middle of the night, they only dare to 'turn pages'! Hahahaha—"
Liu Piaopiao shot him a glare. "Stop it, you might scare away the clues."
Zhang Xiaowai took a deep breath, glanced at the note, and finally arrived at the legendary "third bookshelf."
"Is this it?" He scrutinized the seemingly unremarkable wooden shelf. "What's the difference between this and the other bookshelves?"
"Secrets are hidden in plain sight!" Liu Piaopiao pulled out a magnifying glass, instantly adopting her detective persona. "Stop talking nonsense, let's start looking for the mechanism!"
She began tapping the bookshelf compartment by compartment. The first tap released a cloud of dust, making her cough violently, almost dislodging her hat.
"Dust trap triggered!" Tang Xiaotang barely managed to suppress her laughter, her camera recording Liu Piaopiao's transformation into a "dust-covered detective."
"Zhang Xiaowai!" Liu Piaopiao yelled, wiping her face. "Don't you have a halo? Do something useful!"
"Can you stop trying to get rich off my bad luck?" Zhang Xiaowai mumbled softly, but still stepped forward and tentatively touched the bookshelf. Sure enough, the Ulong Halo predictably activated again—
"Click—creak!"
The entire bookshelf tilted to the side, revealing a secret door embedded in the wall. Behind the door, a deep stone staircase spiraled downwards.
"A secret compartment! No, it's a secret passage!" Liu Piaopiao's eyes shone like a cat's. "Detective's intuition, never wrong!"
Tang Xiaotang was so excited she nearly jumped up. "This scene is amazing, Xiaowai bro! We need to add background music and five levels of special effects for this one! Next time, we can directly take you to film a supernatural variety show!"
"I think it's more like filming a paranormal accident scene..." Zhang Xiaowai shivered, staring at the pitch-black stone steps. "Are we really going down? Maybe it's the Shadow Syndicate's bunker."
Before he could finish speaking, Liu Piaopiao had already bravely stepped onto the stairs, her back looking like she was about to explore a tomb. Wang Dazhuang quickly followed, leaping down. "Don't be a coward! With me here, anyone who dares to touch you is challenging fate itself!"
Zhang Xiaowai wore a look of utter resignation, pushed step by step downwards. The flashlight beam grew dimmer the further they descended, and their footsteps echoed between the stone walls, as if someone were whispering in their ears.
At the end of the stone steps was an unexpectedly spacious underground chamber. The four walls were covered with strange symbols, identical to those on the torn pages of the Ulong Tome, as if an entire history of cryptic messages had settled here. In a corner sat an ancient-looking wooden chest. On its lid lay a single yellowed sheet of paper, its edges torn, but the outline of a map in the center was still faintly discernible.
Liu Piaopiao rushed over and snatched the torn page. "Found it! The third torn page of the Ulong Tome!"
Just as everyone was almost overcome with excitement—
"Click."
Tang Xiaotang's foot stepped on a raised floor tile. A hidden mechanism suddenly activated, and with a tremendous rumble, the iron door at the passage entrance suddenly dropped, trapping them firmly in the underground chamber.
"No way!" Zhang Xiaowai almost wet himself on the spot, squatting down with his head in his hands. "This is definitely a trap! The Shadow Syndicate's trap!"
"Calm down!" Liu Piaopiao took a deep breath and quickly began to examine the walls. "It's just a mechanism, a detective isn't easily defeated!"
No sooner had she spoken than she pressed a protruding point on the wall. With a hiss, an old water pipe on the wall burst, spraying her face with cold water, her hair plastered to her cheeks.
Tang Xiaotang laughed so hard she couldn't straighten up. "I definitely have to add a 'Water Curtain Cave' filter to this shot!"
Wang Dazhuang swung his police baton at the iron door. "The power of fate, open for me!" But the iron door didn't budge, and his hand felt like it was about to fall off from the impact.
Just as they were in a frantic scramble, a heavy thud of footsteps echoed from a dark corner of the underground chamber. Three masked figures in black silently appeared. The leader sneered and spoke, "Zhang Xiaowai, your Ulong Halo is truly miraculous. Every time, it helps us find the right location."
Liu Piaopiao stood in front of Zhang Xiaowai, clutching the torn page tightly to her chest. "Don't even think about it! If you want to steal the tome, you'll have to ask my magnifying glass first!"
The man in black scoffed and lunged forward with his club.
Zhang Xiaowai frantically retreated, accidentally bumping into a nearby bookshelf. The wooden shelf crashed down, hitting the back of one of the men in black's head. The man immediately fell unconscious.
Liu Piaopiao seized the opportunity, flung her magnifying glass, and struck the second man in black's face. Wang Dazhuang swung his police baton, delivering a swift and decisive finishing blow.
"Why does the Shadow Syndicate always lose?" he cheered, raising his arms. "Because they can't stop the blow of fate! Hahahaha!"
The third man in black, seeing he was outnumbered, turned to flee, snatching the torn page as he went. But before he could take three steps, Zhang Xiaowai kicked over a nearby bucket of water, making the floor instantly slippery. The man in black stumbled, slipped, and the torn page of the tome flew back into Liu Piaopiao's hands.
"Halo invincible!" Liu Piaopiao held up the torn page, glowing as if she had won the lottery.
Tang Xiaotang filmed the entire process, so excited she was incoherent. "This... this has to be a series! Xiaowai bro, your halo needs to be in the national archives!"
Zhang Xiaowai slumped to the ground, feeling as if he had been drained. He looked at the yellowed torn page, a chill running down his spine.
The torn page of the tome had been found, but the Shadow Syndicate's pursuit would not end here.
In the dark corner of the underground chamber, a pair of eyes silently watched them—
Awaiting the activation of the next mechanism.