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Just after starting high school, Xia Yue Zhong found herself thinking about the dream she’d had that morning.
In her dream, she was back in elementary school. With the help of a kind stranger, she found an animal hospital and called the police. The officers soon tracked down and arrested the still-arguing pair. The bloodstained stick was enough to prove the man had abused the kitten, but because the cat survived without lasting injury, it turned out to be the man’s luck—the abuser got off with nothing more than a fine that barely hurt his wallet.
Her father had been furious, poring over the law books to see if charges like intimidation or unlawful detention could lead to heavier punishment, but for lack of evidence, all he could do was repeatedly warn her never to take alleyways without security cameras again.
Still, as she thought about it now, she couldn’t help feeling a little vain—she’d handled those heartless adults so calmly as a child. That was seriously cool.
“Do you want to borrow this book?”
The question came from Lil’ Yu, her twin sister—a delicate face, a naturally wavy short ponytail, petite like a little Yorkshire terrier with a ponytail. The two of them looked almost identical.
They were in the school library. Loving any place filled with books, they couldn’t wait to start borrowing on the very first day they got their student IDs.
Hearing her sister’s question, Xia Yue realized she was holding a wine-red hardcover book—Marelin High. The cover showed a school building with a clock inlaid above the doors, the size of a manga volume, looking quite out of place among the light novels.
“Huh? Why am I holding an extra book? Do you know where it belongs?”
Lil’ Yu shook her head.
But Xia Yue had another trick—if she really “read” something, she could even see which kind of tree the paper was made from. This ability had let her recite descriptions of the items on the cat abusers years ago and successfully pit them against each other.
But as a child, revealing such “descriptions” had earned her strange looks—she soon realized not everyone could see them. Thankfully, even though her family couldn’t see what she did, they believed her: her mother gave her a protective amulet, and her father repeatedly warned her not to tell anyone about her power. So, with Lil’ Yu’s help, she learned how to blend in.
She’d searched online and found a word that gave her a sense of belonging—“Yin-Yang Eyes”—except those see ghosts, while she saw… words.
The wax-polished green patchwork linoleum floor, rows of old beige-painted iron shelves, and the curling yellowed pages of fantasy translations: if she “read” them, everything appeared to be made of words—dense text describing names, shapes, materials, even origins and histories.
The longer she read, the farther back she could trace—but looking “too deep” made her eyes hurt, so she could never truly know everything.
Living things were the hardest—their descriptions were so complex and abundant that they made her skin crawl. Their text flowed like tens of thousands of pulsing word-veins; even a glance left her dizzy. Eventually, she learned to only look at people’s outlines.
Books, thankfully, were much simpler. She could easily tell which shelf a book belonged to.
“Hm? That’s odd…”
Xia Yue opened the book, but there were no descriptive “texts” to be seen, as if something was hiding them. All she could find was a bizarre introduction: this was a school named Marelin.
Such a kindergarten-level mistake wasn’t funny at all—it just left her with an eerie sense of wrongness. Carefully, she carried the strange book back to the counter while checking out the books she’d actually chosen.
The librarian, however, was delighted and pointed out the book, recommending, “Why not borrow it too? This month’s pick!” Next to her was a whole stack of the same book, clearly being pushed.
“Oh, that’s all right, maybe another time—”
The librarian had already scanned it out.
Xia Yue was dumbfounded. What, is she competing for the world record in book checkouts? Doesn’t even listen to what people say?
Lil’ Yu, not missing a beat, put Marelin High back on the counter: “This one was extra, please take it back.”
Xia Yue quickly distanced herself from the desk as well. “We’ll borrow it next time. Please cancel and return it for us. Thank you!”
With that, she hustled her sister away.
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Strangely, as Xia Yue bought a drink on the way home, she found Marelin High was still in her bag.
“Didn’t we just return it?”
Lil’ Yu guessed, “Maybe that person checked out two copies at the start.”
“Really… Don’t tell me it’s an author gone mad from selling books, sneaking into the library to push sales? Shouldn’t they do that in a bookstore?”
Xia Yue unconsciously gripped her protective amulet tighter, insisting they go back to return the book. It wasn’t her first time dealing with objects with strange “descriptions.” Like the time she got obsessed with a new game—a palm-sized black little man wrapped in threads had started following her everywhere. Her sister couldn’t see it at all, but fortunately, it seemed to fear their family cat.
As for how these things appeared, she never figured it out. One thing she was sure of—don’t get close, don’t touch, don’t even meet their gaze.
But even after a return trip, the book was still in her bag when they got home.
“This book again! Is it haunted?”
“What’s wrong?” Lil’ Yu looked confused this time.
Xia Yue held the book up for her sister to see, suddenly realizing it was a brand-new hardcover—no library barcode, no official school stamp, not even an author’s name.
The book wasn’t thick. Opening it, a fresh-paper scent wafted out. The first page was a table of contents, but with no page numbers, making it oddly meaningless.
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Contents
1. Personal Study
2. New Sprout Hall
3. Story Command Archive
4. Student Affairs Office
5. Academic Affairs Office
6. Locked
⋯⋯
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What kind of school simulation game location guide is this? Locked locations?
She tried to flip further but couldn’t; strangest of all, the items’ descriptions were flowing, as if the book were alive, giving her chills.
But even though the descriptions were moving, they weren’t as densely overwhelming as living beings; instead, it felt as if the book was guiding her reading order, nudging her toward “Personal Study.”
“That’s just a blank notebook,” Lil’ Yu said, puzzled by her sister’s alarm, but she was used to it and calmly stated what the object was.
Lil’ Yu also brought over the large orange tabby cat they’d once rescued—Gummy . Now, there was no sign of old scars; the cat was fluffy and especially beautiful. Gummy curiously pressed his paws on the pages, as if trying to catch a fruit fly.
Xia Yue didn’t react; she was too absorbed in reading. When she saw “Please enter the personal study,” the words seemed to grow, filling her entire vision.
“Yue!”
Her sister suddenly called, grabbing her, and the cat leapt onto her head in alarm—but all Xia Yue could see were the four characters: Personal Study.
Then, as if falling, a dizzying sensation swept her away, and before she could even scream, she found herself in a small, narrow room.
Just her, her sister, and a cat.
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