The air inside the library felt frozen, the dampness even colder than outside.
Yu Qing was running through the fire escape, feeling as if her heartbeat was about to freeze solid.
The fire escape door on the top floor closed softly behind her with a barely audible “click,” yet in Yu Qing’s mind, it exploded like thunder.
Terror flooded her, draining all her strength in an instant.
She leaned against the cold, rough cement wall, gasping for breath, the icy air stabbing her lungs with pain.
The cramps in her lower abdomen grew even worse from the frantic running and tension, as if a hand was twisting violently inside her stomach, leaving Yu Qing nearly unable to stand upright.
But…
She couldn’t stop!
Yu Qing gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stand straight and move again.
She pressed close to the wall, quickly heading downstairs.
The voice-activated lights in the fire escape had long since broken.
Yu Qing couldn’t tell if that was good news or not.
The darkness hid her figure well, but it also made moving downstairs much slower.
Narrow and shadowy, only a small window every half-floor let in a faint sliver of night, illuminating the dust floating in the air.
Yu Qing’s steps became unsteady in the darkness.
Her footsteps echoed loudly in the confined space, the sound amplified with a hollow reverberation.
She tried her best to control every step, but it barely helped.
Suddenly, as she reached the sixth floor, Yu Qing froze, listening uncertainly to the sounds around her.
Upstairs, she could faintly hear the shuffle of footsteps and muffled voices, coming quickly down the path she’d just escaped from!
They really went to the storage room!
And found out she’d already escaped—now closing in, step by step!
Damn!
How did they know she took the fire escape?
Yu Qing’s heart dropped.
She didn’t realize for a moment that the pursuers could simply split into three groups and search every staircase.
But that didn’t matter now.
Continuing down the fire escape was clearly a mistake.
If the people above knew she used this route, any smart pursuer would have others circle up from the lower floors.
If she kept going, she’d be trapped between both ends!
A complete pincer.
She couldn’t risk heading to a crowded floor—any floor with someone on it would be enough.
As long as there were people, her pursuers probably wouldn’t dare act too brazenly.
Resolving this in her mind, Yu Qing immediately pushed open the sixth-floor fire escape door and slipped into the library’s reading area.
This floor was the Social Sciences and Literature Reading Area.
Tall bookshelves stood like city walls, crisscrossing into a maze.
The lighting was dim, with only a few reading lamps on, their patchy glow falling across dusty book spines.
Maybe because today was Anniversary Day, most people had gone to see the performance, and with the rain, no one felt like studying.
Few students remained on this floor, and you had to look far to spot anyone buried in their books.
But it was enough!
Yu Qing melted into the sea of shelves, quickly hiding her presence, shifting her position to give herself more escape routes and sightlines.
She hunched her shoulders, pulling her hoodie’s hood down to cover her wig and cheeks more completely.
Behind thick glasses, her sharp, bright eyes swept her surroundings.
Her small, agile figure darted behind the bookshelves, moving quickly.
After finding a dead angle where she could watch the floor’s exits, Yu Qing crouched down, peering through the gap beneath the shelves to monitor the distant passage.
Her heart pounded wildly, her breath ragged from exertion.
No matter how hard she tried to control it, her rapid breathing seemed painfully loud in the silent, empty space.
Her instincts screamed—the net closing around her, her pursuers about to reach this floor.
Sure enough.
Not long after she crouched down, the fire escape door was pushed open by a group of people in matching dark jackets.
They moved quickly and efficiently, using special hand signals as they spoke, like people trained for this—definitely not students here to study.
Yu Qing watched as they searched the area like treasure hunters, checking every possible hiding spot.
Their eyes were sharp, scanning the gaps between shelves like hawks.
As the group drew closer, Yu Qing considered moving to a new spot—maybe even leaving the floor altogether.
But just as she prepared to act, she noticed another group exiting the sixth-floor elevator.
Student Union?
Why would they be in the library now?
Yu Qing paused, wanting to see what this group was up to.
“………”
Wait.
Are they really from the Student Union?
Yu Qing stared at the armbands on their arms, symbols of the Student Union, then narrowed her eyes at their faces, suddenly unsure.
The reason was simple—they looked way too old.
Even at a glance, these people had to be nearly thirty.
So, were they impostors?
If so, did that mean Fu Yi or Fu Mingxuan had already seized control of the Student Union?
It was hard to say.
Armbands could be faked in no time.
For either of them, mass-producing armbands was totally possible if they wanted to.
But overthinking didn’t help.
Real or fake, those armbands would fool anyone at a glance.
Let alone if they were genuine.
The only good news was that these two groups weren’t working together.
If she could use that, maybe they’d get in each other’s way.
Like now—their goals were both to find her, but with no coordination, they sometimes even stared each other down in brief confrontations when their search areas overlapped.
This subtle standoff gave Yu Qing a sliver of breathing room.
Like a rabbit trapped between two leopards, she maneuvered desperately through the bookshelf maze, exploiting the chaos and confusion.
Her space shrank, and Yu Qing kept moving, inching closer to the nearest stairwell.
But the closer she got, the harder it became.
Hope and urgency mixed in her chest as the stairwell loomed nearer.
She scanned the area for another hiding spot.
Peeking from behind the shelf, she tried to see where the searchers were, but unexpectedly, someone rounded the corner right in front of her.
Yu Qing could see the rainwater clinging to their raincoat collar and the sudden gleam in their emotionless eyes.
Damn it!
Her heart stopped.
Fear froze her blood.
Almost by instinct, she dove for cover, but her foot slipped.
She tumbled awkwardly into the narrow aisle between two shelves, smacking into the hard metal with a dull thud.
Pain exploded in her body, her vision going black as agony tore through her stomach.
“There’s movement over here!”
A man’s low voice rang out, footsteps closing in.
Damn!
Yu Qing curled into the corner, biting her lip to stifle any sound.
Cold sweat trickled down her temple, burning her eyes.
She heard the man’s footsteps stop at the aisle entrance.
Maybe he was scanning the area, trying to guess where she was hiding.
Pawn.
Yu Qing could already see herself being caught and kicked out of the Gambling Game—a total defeat.
It’s over…
Was she about to be captured…?
Despair washed over her like a freezing tide.
She clenched the Metal Collar in her pocket, knuckles white from the force.
If things got out of hand, the Collar was her last hope to turn the tables.
But just as disaster struck, a crash echoed from the nearby shelves—a whole row of books had toppled over.
The searcher’s attention snapped in that direction.
“Over there!”
He shouted, footsteps pounding away toward the sound.
The danger passed.
Yu Qing collapsed to the floor, gasping for air.
She was soaked in sweat, like she’d just crawled out of water.
The sudden relief made her want to close her eyes and rest, but Yu Qing forced herself to stay alert, trying to process what had just happened.
Who was it?
Who knocked over the books?
Was it a coincidence, or…