The sky darkened, the sun could no longer shine on the corner where Li Jia curled up, the wind was a little cold, but Li Jia's heart was warm. Now he saw everything as gentle and beautiful. The grass exuded fragrance, the sunset set the atmosphere, the woods rustled to accompany, and even the rocks carefully did the work of screens, blocking the angles where others might peek at him, as if they were looking forward to today's date just like him. But how much did he feel like paying attention to them? Every bit of his mind was longing for her arrival.
The danger he encountered last time did leave a shadow on him, but in the face of burning emotions, the danger was no longer the main issue. The worst that could happen was that he just had to stay away.
A figure was running towards him from a distance. Li Jia stretched his neck like a white goose and looked forward to it. It was indeed her. Li Jia could not wait to meet her. The gray figure was so familiar, as if he had known her for many years and they should be together every day.
"Li Jia!" When Serinda was still about ten meters away, she waved her hand and called his name. She always raised the ending tone, which was very exotic, and it made him feel itchy inside, as if a kitten's paw was scratching him. What a lovely person! Li Jia rushed to give her a hug, but Serinda quickly moved aside, and he missed.
Li Jia suddenly felt a surge of heat on his cheeks. He knew without looking in the mirror that his old face must have turned red. He had only known her for less than two weeks. What happened? Fortunately, Serinda didn't seem to be really angry. She just pouted her lips and put on a look of resentment. Li Jia scratched his head in embarrassment, and hesitantly took out a bag from behind and handed it to Serinda who was giggling.
"For you!"
Serinda took the bag curiously and found a green dress with small floral patterns inside. She pointed at the dress and then at herself, and asked in not-so-standard Mandarin, "Give it to me?"
Li Jia nodded repeatedly. She picked up the clothes and looked at them from left to right, seeming to like them very much.
"This is a new dress I got, try it on." Li Jia pointed at Serinda and motioned her to change into it.
She picked up her clothes and went into the woods. After a while, she came out wearing the dress. Li Jia was so surprised to see Serinda dressed up in a new outfit. The rough clothes completely covered her muscular figure, but after she put on the dress, her curves were in the right places, and her dark red hair like flames fell on her shoulders. She looked no less beautiful than the cover girl on the advertisement magazine.
Serinda herself was curious about how she looked in her new clothes. She swayed from side to side, looking at her skirt, but she didn't realize that there was nothing underneath the thin skirt. Li Jia stared at the waves in front of her, stunned, and suddenly felt more blood rushing to her head.
Maybe I should dig out another set of underwear, otherwise I might have a cerebral hemorrhage at any time, he thought to himself.
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This was already their sixth time walking around the campus, and Li Jia really enjoyed this feeling. He had never had a woman admire, appreciate, and rely on him so much. Serinda was so beautiful, and if he had met such a beauty in his original world, he might not even have the right to say a word, but now she was holding him like a little bird, as if he was her only support.
"Li Jia, let's go to the library today, okay?" In addition to her beauty, another thing about Serinda that amazed Li Jia was her intelligence. After just ten days of contact, she could communicate with him in simple Mandarin. In comparison, Li Jia's talent in Spanish should be classified as an idiot.
The library was one of the few places in the school that was lit at night. Every time she passed by there, Serinda would be curious and want to go in and take a look. Li Jia had refused several times before because her outfit was too obvious. But today, Li Jia felt that she should satisfy her wish, and that dress was the best disguise.
The school's defense was tight on the outside but loose on the inside. There was no guard at the entrance of the library, and the original card gate had been out of service for a long time due to lack of electricity. Li Jia led Serinda around the side and entered the lobby.
The library was very dark. Although some people lit oil lamps to look up materials, they only illuminated the area around a desk. Li Jia had to get very close to see Serinda's curious face, not to mention worrying about others recognizing her. Li Jia led her along, avoiding people on the street with flashlights or oil lamps, and a kind of excitement that could only be felt in spy movies surged in his heart.
They walked up to the second floor of the library. Li Jia asked Serinda to stand in front of the railing of the platform and took out a flashlight to shine forward. Suddenly, the stacked bookshelves and densely packed books appeared in front of them. Li Jia said to Serinda with some pride: "Welcome to the world of books."
In the darkness, Li Jia didn't see Serinda's expression when she looked at the books. It was a mixture of shock and fear. As a noble and a magic knight, she had seen a lot. But all the books she had seen in the palace, noble mansions, and magicians' studies combined might not be more than one percent of the books here.
Knowledge is power, this is a proverb passed down from ancient times.
A magician's power comes from books, not wands. - This is what her magic teacher said.
Therefore, no matter the royal family, nobles, or magicians, they all treasure their books. And here, so many books are placed in a place that is accessible everywhere, without guards or seals, and even a butler can take them and read them at will. This is really incredible. How powerful is the inheritance of this magician castle? She couldn't help but think of Pinto's words. This is a group of very dangerous people.
She had always believed that she was strong enough to not fear any opponent, but at this moment, she was shaken and panicked. As the saying goes, no matter how strong an ant is, it is no match for an elephant. At this moment, she felt that she was as small as an ant, and her opponent was as strong as a dragon.
What if... What if they want to conquer the surrounding territories? What if they want to be enemies with the Earl's Mansion? Even if they just want the Earl's Mansion to give in in many places... How can we possibly fight against a magician with such a background? Unless, we take these books...
"The collection of books in this library is considered large in our area, let alone yours. Look, there are books of all kinds, from heaven to earth, from ancient times to the present, from China to abroad, whatever you want." Li Jia's tone was filled with pride.
"Hey! Who's shining a flashlight up there?" A voice came from below, and then a flashlight shone on Li Jia. Li Jia was startled and tried to pull Serinda away, but found that she had caught nothing.
"Oh, it's Li Jia!" The person recognized Li Jia from a distance. Li Jia didn't see Serinda around, so he had to shine the flashlight and found that the person was Mao Kai, a top student in the technology group. The technology group had held several joint meetings with the business group to study the feasibility of producing basic chemical products, so they became familiar with each other.
"Oh, Mao Kai."
"Those of us who work with flasks and test tubes have to work overtime to look up information. Why are you from the business team here too?"
"Well... I don't have a cell phone to use now, so I can only read a book."
"Who said it wasn't? It's really hard to look up information now."
"What are you checking?"
"It's still about making three acids and two bases." Mao Kai came over and said to him in a low voice, "The professors and doctors in our technology group are going crazy. After more than a week, they can't even make hydrochloric acid. All the equations are wrong. I told them that it is more important to open their minds at this time. I speculated that there are some unknown elements in all things here that cannot be measured for the time being, but they just refused to believe it... I am going to design an experiment to prove my conjecture."
"You don't have to be in a hurry. You can take your time." Li Jia said casually.
"Time is running out! If we don't build our own industrial system quickly, how can we conquer the world?" Mao Kai waved his fist and said, "This is a good opportunity, Li Jia! Just like the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire with a small team. Why can't we use our technology to conquer these people around us?"
"Why... do we have to conquer them? We are getting along well with the people in the town now." Li Jia suddenly felt a little annoyed with Mao Kai's argument, and he retorted in a low voice.
"Do you think those noble lords will let us become powerful here? Impossible. We have touched their purses, occupied their land, and looked down upon their practices. In the end, we will definitely fight."
"You're overthinking it, aren't you?" Li Jia was thinking about Serinda's affairs, and was tired of listening to her. She quickly said, "By the way, our team leader asked me to find a Spanish dictionary. I have to look it up for him. I'll talk to you in detail next time."
"Hey, you guys just don't want to think further ahead! I told you long ago that this is a matter of life and death!" Seeing that the conversation was not going well, Mao Kai pouted and walked away.
Li Jia and Mao Kai didn't know that when they were talking about conquest, Serinda heard all these words. A life-and-death struggle? Sure enough, they were thinking about conquest. These people came suddenly, they were powerful and ambitious, and they obviously didn't like the nobles. So maybe Pinto was right...
When Li Jia saw him walking away, he started to look for someone anxiously. He called out twice but didn't see Serinda answer. He searched several bookshelves but didn't see anyone. Just as he was getting anxious, a fragrant breeze blew over and suddenly a hand grabbed his flashlight.
"Ah, Serinda! Where have you been?" Li Jia breathed a sigh of relief.
"There was someone there, and I was afraid, so I hid myself." She answered timidly.
"Mao Kai is a typical dreamer. Don't listen to his nonsense." He patted her hands. "Okay, it's good that you haven't been discovered. You've seen this side before. Let's go quickly. I'll take you home."
"Yeah." Serinda let Li Jia drag her out of the library in a hurry, but no one noticed that in the corner of the library, there was a scroll that was glowing red...
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When Xiao Chen woke up from the illusion, he found that the "Shadow Scroll of the Sea of Consciousness" in his hand had lost its luster, leaving only an empty page. The book spirit had told him that each person could only read this book once. If a meditation space was formed, then in the future, when entering the illusion to practice, one only needed to sit down and meditate. If not..., then this person would have no chance in this life.
"You're finally awake!" Luo Ling, sitting on the desk not far away, shouted with joy.
"How long... was I unconscious?"
"Four hours and twenty minutes."
"I feel like I've been in there for several days." Xiao Chen looked at Luo Ling with a wry smile. His eyes suddenly stayed on the corner of her mouth, which seemed to be stained with a little red. "What's wrong with the corner of your mouth? Is that blood?"
"Ah... The weather is dry in autumn. I've been waiting for you so anxiously that even the corners of my mouth are dry and cracked." Luo Ling playfully licked the corners of her mouth with the tip of her tongue. "How's the book?"
"Luckily you didn't read it. This book is very dangerous. I almost died. You may not be able to withstand it." Xiao Chen closed the book. "I have to seal this book temporarily to prevent others from reading it by mistake. Oh, and you can't read it either."
Luo Ling raised her eyebrows, but hesitated to speak.
Xiao Chen thought she didn't believe him, "I'm definitely not exaggerating."
"Is it dangerous? Aren't you here well?" Luo Ling asked.
"It was a narrow escape from death." Xiao Chen roughly told Luo Ling about his experience in the illusion, and Luo Ling listened very carefully.
"The book spirit also said that not everyone's meditation space is unsafe. Maybe you're just unlucky." Luo Ling said finally.
"According to my guess, the more experiences one has and the more one knows, the larger the meditation space will be, but the danger will also increase. Aren't there enough neurotic professors and doctors in the school? I dare not let them try this. Let's wait until I understand the meditation space better." Xiao Chen analyzed.
Luo Ling finally agreed with him and asked, "Can you use magic now?"
"Let me try!" Xiao Chen hoped that the devilish training would bring immediate results. He quickly closed his eyes and tried to feel the changes in his surroundings, but nothing happened. He stretched out a hand again and focused his mind on it, but there was still no change. He said self-deprecatingly, "I think I need a spell or something to release magic, right? If I become a magician like this, others will be jealous and cry."
"Try this." Luo Ling handed him two scrolls, which were on the bookshelf together with "Shadow Scroll of the Sea of Consciousness".
After Xiao Chen held a scroll in his hand for a moment, he suddenly shouted, "I feel it!"
He picked up another one and quickly added, "This one too! There is a force that is responding to me. Although I don't know the effect, I seem to be able to attract them. I can't help but want to stimulate them!"
Luo Ling quickly took back the two scrolls and said, "Don't do anything rash. Let me keep them until you figure out their functions."
It was already late, so the two decided to try again after a while to see if they could open more book seals. But when they returned to the school through the underground passage and walked out of the underground palace, they saw the campus in front of them was illuminated by the fire.
That's the library burning...