High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 162: Chapter 86 Librarian_1

Zheng Qing held a large stack of books in his arms, his pockets were crammed with books, and he even held one book in his mouth. He was panting heavily against a tall bookshelf.

”If only the library were to allow the use of Space Equipment.” He said wistfully looking at the pile of books in his arms, being careful to breathe delicately to prevent his saliva from dampening the thin ”Hunter’s Diary” in his mouth.

Of course, he knew this was wishful thinking.

Neither Xiao Xiao nor the librarian of the Book Mountain Library had missed reminding him of potential dangers before he entered the bookshelf labyrinth.

Inside the bookshelf labyrinth, students are prohibited from carrying items like ink, flint, and other items that might stain books or start fires. They are also forbidden from bringing any form of Space Equipment so as to prevent ’Kong Yiji’-type scholars.

Zheng Qing once thought he could last a long time in the library if he filled his grey cloth bag with food and water and didn’t worry about getting lost.

He was indeed too naive.

Too young, too simple, sometimes naive...

”Three left, one right, left three, right one.”

”Turn at the sight of a bookshelf with a sign.”

Zheng Qing stood dully at a crossroads formed by several bookshelves, mumbling the mnemonic to find his way out of the bookshelf labyrinth. He was completely clueless.

He realized he had turned into a goldfish, maintaining effective memory for only three seconds.

”How many turns did I take just now?” He felt slightly dizzy, shaking his head. But soon, he cheered up again: ”Well, if I forgot, I’ll simply start again... the rules are pretty simple, anyway.”

”One left.” Seeing a pink octopus sign hanging from the side of the bookshelf, Zheng Qing, holding a stack of books, confidently turned left into a row of bookshelves.

The bookshelves in the Book Mountain Library were all low, but very long.

Each row was almost hundreds of meters long.

After walking for more than ten steps, Zheng Qing caught a glimpse of a book glowing white on the shelf next to him.

The seven golden letters of ”Professor’s Secret Lectures” stood out against the white light.

”Focus, focus.” He muttered, holding tighter to the stack of books in his arms, and ran determinedly towards the end of the bookshelf.

After running a few steps, he couldn’t resist any longer. He turned around and pulled that copy of ”Professor’s Secret Lectures” off the bookshelf.

”The last one!” he declared to himself, ”Any more and you’re a puppy!”

Just thirty seconds later, standing under another copy of ”Days Dancing with Dragons”, he couldn’t help but regret the vow he’d made a few minutes ago.

”The last one... perhaps.” he hesitated, reaching out for the book, then immediately pulled back, ”Never mind, wizards shouldn’t renounce their vows so easily.”

”But this book looks really fascinating.” Zheng Qing coveted ”Days Dancing with Dragons”, looking unknowingly at the writhing dragon on the cover, oblivious that his saliva was wetting the ”Hunter’s Diary” in his mouth.

After hesitating for a moment, he took a book from his arms and put it back on the shelf, then held the legendary ”Days Dancing with Dragons” in his arms.

”I didn’t take more.” He comforted himself saying: ”The total in my arms is still the same...the vow is not broken.”

The logic was so infallible that he couldn’t stop humming a few bars, and even danced a bit.

Only when he left the long corridor of bookshelves did he finally remember that he had planned to leave the library.

”How many left turns did I take just now?” He was once again clueless.

And so, he fell into the vicious cycle of ’planning to leave’, ’lingering on the bookshelves’, ’replacing the books in his arms’, ’forgetting to leave’.

By the time the librarian of the Book Mountain Library found Zheng Qing, he was exhausted from wandering around the bookshelf labyrinth and was sitting on the ground resting.

”That was quick!” exclaimed Zheng Qing, leaning against the bookshelf and slumped on the floor, sorting the pile of books in front of him. Looking surprised at the librarian, he said, ”I thought you only came to clear out patrons when the library was closing.”

”This is a special policy for newcomers.” The plump librarian hovered in the air, his eight tentacles lazily fluttering behind him. He squirted out a string of ink that formed a grim sentence in mid-air: ”If we only kicked everyone out at the end of the day, we’d never get to go home!”

Zheng Qing gave a dry laugh, realizing the truth of this statement.

The librarian of the Book Mountain Library was a nearly transparent octopus.

Or rather, a group of octopuses.

Because apart from the students being punished and the part-time helpers, the only one officially hired by the Great University with the identity of a librarian was this group of ’octopuses’.

Unlike other workers, they don’t wear complete grey work uniforms when on duty; most of the octopus librarians simply have a gray top hat on their bare heads.

Some librarian hats also had a red ribbon attached to them. Zheng Qing guessed that there must be differences in responsibilities among this group of octopuses.

Of course, such speculations were not things he dared ask directly—— everyone knew the librarians of the Book Mountain Library had a volatile temper.

It was rumored that all the octopus librarians were actually an extension of a powerful wizard.

A long time ago, while attempting a more advanced realm, that wizard stumbled and had to change life forms.

Although Mendel’s paradox states that wizards cannot simultaneously achieve free transformation between species, stable magic power, and independent will.

But once completely transformed into another creature, there would be no such restriction.

So that wizard turned into an octopus with powerful magic power and a complete consciousness — Mr. Octopus.

After the establishment of the Great University, the principal invited this powerful wizard to serve as a professor of transformation courses several times.

Perhaps due to the change in life form, Mr. Octopus started to develop strange habits like blowing bubbles, spraying ink letters, flailing his tentacles around aimlessly, and even developed a liking for cute little things.

Consequently, the professor named ’Octopus’ couldn’t manage to maintain a serious image in front of the students but was teased by the female students instead. Coupled with the loss of the language function, he couldn’t teach many basic magical skills to students. After a thorough discussion with the principal, the octopus professor decided to leave the classroom and enter the university library.

Now, including the Book Mountain Library of the Jiuyou Academy, all four academies’ libraries and the university library are under the control of this ’Octopus’ manager.

It is said that the wizard despises two things: flouting the rules and damaging books.

Most of the time, these librarians keep moving their tentacles, cleaning up bookworms, dust, rearranging books, and occasionally catching students who have wandered off.

Yes, catching.

For students who fail to strictly abide by the rules and end up getting lost in the library, these eight-tentacled librarians always use the most brutal means to kick them out.