Escape From the LibraryCh2 - Library 02

Yue Xingwen had been searching for the materials all day, and his temples were throbbing with pain. The strange hall in front him and the cold mechanical voice in his ears were like an illusion produced by the excessive use of his brain. He pinched his arm hard, but the clear pain was telling himโ€”โ€” This is not an illusion!

โ€œWho are you?โ€ Yue Xingwen asked in a deep voice. wYkpOM

The mechanical voice: โ€œHello, Iโ€™m the Library System Tutor.โ€

System Tutor? There was no figure around him, but the voice rang clearly in his mind. Yue Xingwen raised an eyebrow and said as politely as he could, โ€œWill you please let me out? Iโ€™m very busy and have to hand in my thesis tomorrow, I donโ€™t have time to accompany you to play games.โ€

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The mechanical voice: โ€œIโ€™m sorry, the students who enter <Escape From the Library> survival game canโ€™t leave the library before the clearance.โ€

Yue Xingwen held back the anger that filled his stomach, โ€œIs this a forced game? What if I insist on leaving?โ€ S1yPsO

The mechanical voice: โ€œYou can try it.โ€

Yue Xingwen kneaded his wrist gently, and suddenly, he turned around and swung his fist, smashing it into the glass door behind him at lightning speed! A loud โ€˜bangโ€™ rang in his ears, but the glass door didnโ€™t budge an inch, not even a trace of a crack appeared.

This was not the school library.

The libraryโ€™s glass door was made from common materials, but the punch he had just thrown out seemed to hit an ice-cold, hard wall, and the sharp pain coming from the back of his hand confirmed his reasoningโ€”โ€” for some reason, he seemed to have mistakenly entered a strange enclosed room and couldnโ€™t get out?

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Yue Xingwen took a deep breath, turned his head to look at the hall in front of him, and calmly asked, โ€œWhat are the rules of the game?โ€ Since he couldnโ€™t get out, he had to stabilize his emotions first and see what was this library in the end?

The mechanical voice: โ€œThe following is the reading information of the admission requirements for new studentsโ€”โ€”

  1. The library adopts the credit system. The courses include both compulsory courses and elective courses. Compulsory courses are instances that each student must pass and canโ€™t be skipped; Each student can freely choose the elective courses. After completing all the compulsory courses and earning a total of 100 credits, the student can graduate from the library smoothly and return to the original world;
  1. The library elevator will send you to various floors of the building, each floor corresponding to a different faculty or functional area. The floor you are currently on is: the functional area on the -1st floor, Libraryโ€™s Database;
  1. After finishing the course, there will be a systematic scoring, and the final points you will get are: Credits x Evaluation Score. For example, you have passed a 2 credits course with an evaluation score of 75 points, the final points you will receive will be 2 x 75 = 150 points. The higher the credits, the difficulty of the course will be greater, so please use your discretion in considering how you choose to take courses based on your strength;
  1. The bonus points can be used to purchase learning material in the Libraryโ€™s Database, including field of study-related skill books and field of study-related props. The remaining extra points can also be used to set up a research group and team up with other students to break through;
  1. Death during the compulsory course examination is equivalent to failure at the end of the term, and we do not give the opportunity to make up the examination. All those students who fail the examination will be sent back to the 1st floor to retake the exams; If you fail to pass after retaking the exam, you will be completely obliterated by the library system, and you will die in various accidents in reality;
  1. Students, please study hard, strive to earn your credits as soon as possible and graduate from the library.โ€

Yue Xingwen: โ€œ……โ€

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

His brain was buzzing, and he was eager to use both of his hands to rip his brain apart and get that voice out of his head completely. nQ6ivZ

Tef Wlcukfc mibrfv tlr fsfr, abbx rfnfgji vffq ygfjatr lc remmfrrlbc yfobgf tlr wlcv ugjvejiis gfrabgfv lar mjiw.

Lf tjv tfjgv bo regnlnji ujwfr yfobgf, jcv atfgf kfgf wjcs rlwlijg ujwfr lc gfjilas, ilxf frmjqf gbbwr, rmglqafv wegvfg jcv rb bc, yea atfgf kjr cfnfg j ujwf ktfgf atf gfji qfgrbc kjr byilafgjafv joafg atf ujwf ojliegf. Ktf ragjcuf gbbw tf fcafgfv atlr alwf kjr jmaejiis j โ€˜gfji-ilof regnlnji ujwfโ€™?

He roughly understood the rules of the library, the instance was equal to the course, completed the instance to obtain credits, and earned 100 credits to graduate. Now, he had limited knowledge of this โ€˜library systemโ€™ and could only follow the other partyโ€™s hints first and went on. Since it was a โ€˜credit systemโ€™, there must be other students from other majors coming to the library. Later on, he would ask someone else and see how he could leave this damn place as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Yue Xingwen simply said, โ€œOkay. What should I do next?โ€ MZhgqK

System Tutor: โ€œPlease take the Department of Chinese Language and Literatureโ€™s entrance exam. If you canโ€™t even complete the entrance exam for your own major, youโ€™ll fail even worse for the other facultyโ€™s courses.โ€

Yue Xingwen nodded, โ€œOkay, youโ€™re the tutor and you have the final say. Where are the exam papers?โ€

As soon as his voice fell, a huge 3 meters wide and 2 meters high LCD screen appeared out of thin air in the middle of the hall. A row of eye-catching characters appeared on the screen: [Library Department of Chinese Language and Literatureโ€™s Entrance Exam, please select the test paper: Test Paper A; Test Paper B; Test Paper C; Test Paper D; Test Paper E; Test Paper F]

Whenever Yue Xingwen encountered a question he didnโ€™t know on the exam, he would always choose C, and this time he also didnโ€™t hesitate: โ€œIโ€™ll take test paper C.โ€ dIcHbp

A white test paper slowly unfolded in the LCD screen and three words appeared at the same time: [The Exam Begins].

โ€œQuestion 1: Please say the idioms that contain numbers in 5 seconds, the more numbers the better, countdownโ€”โ€”โ€

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

5 seconds! Looking at the 5 seconds countdown that popped up on the big screen, Yue Xingwen didnโ€™t have time to think carefully about it and almost blurted out. โ€œBe backward both economically and culturally; Three obediences and four virtues for a woman; Every color under the sun; seven up eight down; ninety per cent sure!โ€

The countdown had just turned to 1. dFaJk6

A prompt popped up on the screen: โ€œCorrect answer. The answer consists of 10 numbers, and youโ€™ve obtained 20 points.โ€

โ€œQuestion 2: Please say the eight-character idiom containing the word โ€˜humanโ€™, the countdown is 10 secondsโ€”โ€”โ€

Yue Xingwen spoke at a very fast speed. โ€œPeople as the sacrificial knife, Iโ€™m a flesh of fish; It takes ten years to nurture a tree, but a hundred years to train a man; I will not offend other people if they arenโ€™t offend me; To have neither predecessors nor successors; When a man achieves the Dao, his poultry and dogs rise Heaven; People having the same mind as each other, and with the same reasoning behind it; Man proposes but God disposes; Words of a man on his deathbed always come from the heart!โ€

He recited eight consecutive eight-character idioms, barely having time to catch his breath. dWaLJF

When the countdown was over, a prompt popped up on the screen: โ€œCorrect answer, youโ€™ve obtained 32 points.โ€

โ€œQuestion 3: Please say five idioms containing gold, wood, water, fire and earth respectively, countdown 5 secondsโ€”โ€”โ€

Yue Xingwen reacted instantly and said, โ€œGolden cicada shell; Wooden heart; Without a ripple; To pour oil on the fire; Buried and at rest.โ€

โ€œCorrect answer, youโ€™ve obtained 10 points.โ€ xF62CO

โ€”โ€” Test paper C was actually full of idiom questions.

Yue Xingwen was somewhat glad that he had drawn the test paper C. It was actually not difficult for Chinese Language and Literature students to take the idiom exam. If they were given a course time to write slowly, he believed that they could write vast amounts of idioms.

However, students with slower responses might get stuck when asked to quickly say the relevant idiom in just a few seconds. This exam was still mostly about brain speed, the faster your brain thinks, the more idioms you try to say as required, the higher your score would be.

Yue Xingwen was a member of the schoolโ€™s debate team and had a fast thinking, and he often made people dumbfounded at the debate tournaments. Such a test paper like this was not difficult for him and he scored over 60 before the fourth question. w3CFXK

System Tutor: โ€œStudent Yue Xingwen has passed the entrance exam. Please collect the reward for passing the exam.โ€

Yue Xingwen froze for a moment, he thought he would have to finish the entire test paper, but he didnโ€™t expect that after obtaining 60 points, he wouldnโ€™t have to do the rest of the questions, and there was a reward for passing the exam. In this way, most students could pass the entrance exam, even if they only scored 2 points for a question, they could still pass after answering 30 questions, as long as they got 60 points before all the questions on the test paper were given. This was equivalent to โ€˜novice taskโ€™ in the game, and would there be novice equipment for completing it?

Yue Xingwen looked around expectantly, โ€œWhat is the reward?โ€

A thick book suddenly appeared from the bookshelves around the empty hall. It slowly floated in front of Yue Xingwen, as if it was controlled by a spell. Bde7f0

Yue Xingwen took a closer look โ€”โ€” it was actually <Modern Idiom Dictionary>

However, this dictionary was not the same as the dictionary he memorized in high school. Although it was also a thick book, like a brick, which could smash people to death. The cover of the dictionary was written with the golden words โ€˜Published by the Libraryโ€™, and the red hard cover looked luxurious.

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Yue Xingwen opened the dictionary, only to see several rows of printed characters appear on the first page of the dictionaryโ€”โ€”

[Modern Idiom Dictionary] vMPoQ

Source: Obtained from entrance exam, or by using points to exchange it at Libraryโ€™s Database

Publisher: Library

Skill Book Limitation : Chinese Language and Literature students

Skill Book Level : Level 1 (Can be upgraded with points) J21fDA

Please view the following content for unlocked Idioms.

Yue Xingwen flipped over a page.

In the upper left corner of the second page was a Q-version image of a โ€˜child lying on the groundโ€™, followed by a line of red wordsโ€”โ€”

To prostrate oneself in admiration: Use this skill to make a designated target to get down and โ€˜prostrate oneself in admirationโ€™ to you; cooldown 5 minutes. xpU3nV

Turning back further, this page contained a Q-version image of 15 children, in which 7 children were flying in the sky, and 8 children were crawling on the ground. There was also a text description followed the imageโ€”โ€”

Seven up Eight down: Use this skill to select 15 targets within your field of view, sending 7 of them into the air and 8 to the ground; cooldown 1 hour.

On the fourth page, there was a chubby golden cicada shedding its shell.

Golden cicada shell: When you are being controlled or surrounded, this skill can release control and move to a designated place 10 meters away; cooldown 24 hours. jHolXV

A phrase appeared after he flipped over the page again: โ€œMore idioms can be unlocked after the skill book is upgraded.โ€

Yue Xingwen: โ€œ……โ€

Was this here to be funny? The interpretation of the idioms were completely deviated, turning into weird skills, and accompanied by a cute Q-version image?

At present, this thick book of <Modern Idiom Dictionary> had only three idioms appearing on the first three pages, and the rest were still blank. Apparently, the skill book he drew could be upgraded with points, and after the upgrade, more idioms would be recorded and the book would become more and more powerful. ZhS94o

Yue Xingwen asked curiously, โ€œThe questions of the test paper C that I chose were all about idioms, and I was given a <Modern Idiom Dictionary> as a reward at the end. What are the topics of the test paper A, B, C, D, E, and F in the entrance exam? Are the rewards different?โ€

Library Tutor: โ€œTest paper A is about punctuation, and the reward is <Punctuation Encyclopedia>;ย  Test paper B is about misspelled words, and the reward is <Chinese Dictionary>; Test paper D is poem appreciation, and the reward is one of three choices of <Tang Poems>, <Song Poems>, <Yuan Poems>; Test paper E is about contemporary literature, and the reward is the collection of works by well-known contemporary writers; Test paper F is classical Chinese writing, and the reward is the relevant ancient texts related to history of the classics.โ€

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The rewards seemed to be quite rich? Yue Xingwen then asked, โ€œCan I use points to exchange these books in the Libraryโ€™s Database?โ€

Library Tutor: โ€œYou can. The Libraryโ€™s Database is always open to students of this major, and all these reference books can be exchanged with points.โ€ pBh2qJ

Yue Xingwen swept the bookshelves that surrounded the four walls in the hall, and there were countless exchangeable reference books, including <Lu Xunโ€™s Complete Works>, <Zhang Ailingโ€™s Complete Works>, and other complete works of well-known contemporary writers were included; The ancient text such as <The Analects of Confucius>, <Book of Songs>, and <> were also quite comprehensive.

The Library Tutor reminded him, โ€œYour points are definitely not enough to exchange too many reference books, because most of the Department of Chinese Language and Literatureโ€™s reference books have more than 2,000 points to exchange, while only 300 points are needed to upgrade the reference books. Normally, we encourage students to upgrade and use the reference books they get at the initial stage. Each book has its own characteristics, and to learn more is not as good as to learn proficiently.โ€

Yue Xingwen remained calm and collected as he voiced his opinion. โ€œDo the students from other majors who enter the library also get reference books as a reward?โ€

Library Tutor: โ€œDifferent majors have different rewards, there are a lot of props for science majors, but for the Department of Chinese Language and Literature studentโ€”โ€” words are your best weapon, right?โ€ rhuHS3

Yue Xingwen agreed. โ€œThatโ€™s right.โ€

It seemed that his guess was correct. The library had pulled in a lot of unlucky people from other majors besides him. Yue Xingwen paused and firmly said. โ€œThe next thing Iโ€™ll be doing is to take the compulsory course, right?โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s right. The elevator has arrived, please start your journey.โ€

Yue Xingwen closed the dictionary and tried to put it away. As if it had sensed its ownerโ€™s intention, the brick-sized dictionary actually turned into a small book icon imprinted on his palm. He tried to raise his hand and the dictionary re-appeared. When his mind tried to put it away, it would obediently turn back into an icon and return to his palm. Rr5o7U

Pretty good, this dictionary was easy to carry and quite obedient.

Yue Xingwen folded his palm, taking quick steps to walk forward.

With a โ€˜dingโ€™ sound, an elevator appeared in the middle of the hall, and as Yue Xingwen stepped into the elevator, a gentle male mechanical voice rang in his ears, โ€œStudent Yue Xingwen, your current floor is: the Libraryโ€™s Database on -1st floor, and the floor you will be delivered to is: 1st floorโ€”โ€” Faculty of Medicine.โ€

His field of vision fell into darkness. D3YlJm

Yue Xingwen felt the elevator rising rapidly, and after only 3 seconds, the elevator door slowly opened in front of his eyes.

The system beep sounded in his ears once again: โ€œWelcome to the Faculty of Medicine floor. Compulsory course <Escape From the Laboratory>, 2 credits, challenge begins.โ€

Translator's Note

ไธ€็ฉทไบŒ็™ฝ : Yฤซqiรณng’รจrbรกi : poor and black; have a poor foundation and a thin base;

Translator's Note

ไธ‰ไปŽๅ››ๅพท : Sฤncรณngsรฌdรฉ : according to Confucian ethics, obey in turn three men: father, husband and son; plus the four virtues: morality,ย  physical charm, propriety in speech, and efficiency in needle work;

Translator's Note

ไบ”้ขœๅ…ญ่‰ฒ : Wว”yรกnliรนsรจ : multicoloured; colourful; of various/all colours;

Translator's Note

ไธƒไธŠๅ…ซไธ‹ : Qฤซ shร ng bฤ xiร  : Be like a well in which seven buckets are coming up and eight going down โ€” be in an unsettled state of mind; be agitated; be perturbed; be in a mental flurry of indecision; be in twenty minds; it actually means ‘at sixes and seven’ but it won’t make senses in the description for the skills later, so I’ll use its literal meaning

Translator's Note

ๅๆ‹ฟไน็จณ : Shรญnรกjiว”wฤ›n : practically certain; to be a cinch; confident and success.

Translator's Note

ไบบ : Rรฉn : it can be people/person/man

Translator's Note

ไบบไธบๅˆ€ไฟŽๆˆ‘ไธบ้ฑผ่‚‰ : Rรฉnwรฉi dฤozว” wว’ wรจi yรบrรฒu : to be the meat on sb’s chopping block, to be at sb’s mercy;

Translator's Note

ๅๅนดๆ ‘ๆœจ็™พๅนดๆ ‘ไบบ : Shรญ niรกn shรนmรน bวŽiniรกn shรน rรฉn : It takes ten years to nurture a tree, but a hundred years to train a man. A good education program takes a long time to develop. Cultivate / Metaphorically training talents is a long-term solution / It also means that it is not easy to cultivate talents;

Translator's Note

ไบบไธ็Šฏๆˆ‘ๆˆ‘ไธ็Šฏไบบ : Rรฉn bรนfร n wว’ wว’ bรน fร nrรฉn : we will not attack unless we are attacked; I will offend nobody unless I am offended. It is used as a warning that I will not initiate an attack, but if anyone challenges me, I will surely counterattack;

Translator's Note

ๅ‰ๆ— ๅคไบบๅŽๆ— ๆฅ่€… : Qiรกnwรบgว”rรฉn hรฒu wรบ lรกi zhฤ› : to surpass all others of its kind before and since / to have neither predecessors nor successors;

Translator's Note

ไธ€ไบบๅพ—้“้ธก็Šฌๅ‡ๅคฉ : Yฤซrรฉn dรฉ dร o jฤซquวŽnshฤ“ngtiฤn : to ride on sb else’s success; Once one man gets a government position, all his cronies get in too; Once sb has cracked the problem, every Tom, Dick and Harry can do it;

Translator's Note

ไบบๅŒๆญคๅฟƒๅฟƒๅŒๆญค็† : Rรฉn tรณng cว xฤซnxฤซn tรณng cว lว : Refers to reasonable things, everyone will think the same;

Translator's Note

่ฐ‹ไบ‹ๅœจไบบๆˆไบ‹ๅœจๅคฉ : Mรณushรฌ zร i rรฉn chรฉngshรฌ zร i tiฤn : The planning lies with man, the outcome with Heaven;

Translator's Note

ไบบไน‹ๅฐ†ๆญปๅ…ถ่จ€ไนŸๅ–„ : Rรฉn zhฤซ jiร ng sว qรญ yรกn yฤ› shร n : When a person is dying, what he says is true and kind.

Translator's Note

้‡‘่‰่„ฑๅฃณ : Jฤซnchรกntuลkรฉ : the cicada sheds it carapace; vanish leaving an empty shell (้‡‘) means gold;

Translator's Note

ๆœจ็Ÿณๅฟƒ่‚  : Mรนshรญ xฤซnchรกng : heartless (ๆœจ) means wood;

Translator's Note

ๆฐดๆณขไธๅ…ด : Shuวbล bรน xฤซng : peaceful (ๆฐด) means water;

Translator's Note

็ซไธŠๆต‡ๆฒน : Huว’ shร ng jiฤo yรณu :ย  to aggravate a situation (็ซ) means fire;

Translator's Note

ๅ…ฅๅœŸไธบๅฎ‰ : Rรนtว” wรฉi ฤn : RIP, rest in peace (ๅœŸ) means earth.

Translator's Note

Q-version image: cute cartoon image

Leave a Comment

17 comments

  1. Heal and kill with words

    When I saw ‘child lying on the ground q-version’ my first thought was Qiqi silent protest meme

    Thanks for the chapter ~

  2. super intrigued! the author is the one who wrote card room, right? it looks like they have a thing for literature… which should be pretty evident. because they’re an author. thank you for picking this up!

  3. I WAS SWEATING FOR WENWEN! That 5 seconds countdown took be aback oh my god๐Ÿ˜ญ

    Thanks for the chapter.๐Ÿฆ‹

  4. debate team <3 i udually hate debate bros but when its a literature student instead of a poli sci student i know if found an alphabet mafia comrade

  5. “are the students from other majors who enter the library also get reference books as a reward?” do instead of are^^

    “โ€”only to see several rows of printed characters appeared on the first page of the dictionaryโ€”” appear^^

    “publish by” i think ‘published’ suits it more as it’s been made already? hehe idk ๐Ÿ˜…

    thank you though for translating!!<3