The Gray Lady stood quietly at the center of the encircling bookshelves, the feather duster in her hand emitting a faint gray glow.
The books suspended in the air were like living flocks of birds, the rustling of turning pages converging into a low tide, ready at any mont to drown these three reckless intruders.
Her gaze was cold and empty. For this guardian, whatever was happening outside had nothing to do with her.
Her duty was singular: guard this place until the end.
"Leave."
The Gray Lady's voice rang out again, this ti carrying an irresistible pressure.
"Before you beco part of the stories here."
Lin Jie did not retreat.
He was acutely aware of the Gray Lady's power. Before this "demi-god" who held the entire history and knowledge of the Association, ard resistance was futile.
But he decided to gamble anyway, slowly reaching his hand into his coat.
William subconsciously tightened his grip on his gun, while Julian nervously held his breath.
They both knew this was a gamble.
If what Lin Jie took out couldn't move this old woman, they might very well be sliced to ribbons by flying pages in the next second.
Lin Jie's hand erged.
Resting in his palm were two objects.
A simple, ancient tal badge, its surface covered with the scratches of ti.
And a scroll of parchnt that looked ordinary but emitted a faint starlight.
The Gray Lady's gaze swept over the two objects.
Her previously unrippled eyes flickered violently the mont they touched the badge.
It was Gawain's badge.
The token of that Round Table Knight who had long since died in the South Seas, whose bones never made it ho.
And that parchnt scroll...
Although the star chart coordinates were written in Old English, that unique stroke, that sense of grandeur as if the entire starry sky had been compressed onto the paper's surface, was all too familiar to the Gray Lady.
"rlin..."
The feather duster in the Gray Lady's hand lowered.
The terror pressing on everyone's hearts dissipated.
She slowly walked forward, her eyes fixed on the parchnt scroll in Lin Jie's hand.
"This is his handwriting."
A tremor entered the old woman's voice. "That old madman... is he still alive?"
"No."
Lin Jie shook his head, extending the parchnt and badge towards the Gray Lady.
"To stop the Council's purge, to protect the seal at Tintagel, he turned himself into a tree."
The Gray Lady reached out, her wrinkled hand flinching back as if burned upon touching the parchnt.
But she quickly reached out again, gently stroking the scroll as if caressing the face of a long-lost friend.
"Turned into a tree..."
The Gray Lady murmured softly.
Her gaze grew sowhat distant, as if through this parchnt, she saw that rainy night decades ago, saw that young apprentice who always wore gray robes, carried an oak staff, and liked to sit in the corner of the library for entire days.
Back then, she was just a junior librarian, and he was already a candidate knight hailed as a "genius."
They had hunted snow monsters together on the ice plains of the North Sea, and studied ancient runic symbols deep within the Black Forest.
He was her senior, and also her half-ntor.
"He always said that if one day he didn't want to go on, he'd find a scenic place and plant himself there."
A bitter smile appeared on the Gray Lady's face.
"I never thought he'd actually do it."
She raised her head, looking at Lin Jie again. This ti, her gaze held a bit more scrutiny, and a trace of acknowledgnt.
"Since he entrusted such a thing to you, it ans he acknowledged you."
"It also ans the outside world has deteriorated to the point where he had no choice but to break his silence."
"Tell , child." The Gray Lady looked into Lin Jie's eyes. "What has happened outside?"
Lin Jie took a deep breath.
He did not hide anything, nor did he embellish.
In the most concise, objective language, he recounted everything that had happened during this ti.
From the purge, to Ackerman's atrocities.
From Lily's capture, to the destruction of Tintagel.
And... that truth about the "Projection Realm."
Julian, standing nearby, tily supplented with so data about Ackerman using the Earth Plough to damage the mineral veins, and the potential irreversible damage this behavior could cause to the world's entire structure.
The Gray Lady listened quietly.
Her expression remained calm throughout, as if listening to soone else's story.
But the floating books around them began to slowly descend, neatly returning to the shelves.
The killing intent in the air vanished, replaced by a deep, abyssal sorrow.
"Ackerman..." The Gray Lady softly uttered the na.
"A butcher who only knows slaughter understands nothing of protection."
"The Association's original purpose was to protect humanity from monsters, to maintain the last vestiges of order in this shattered world."
"Not to establish a dictatorial empire built on lies and massacre."
She turned, her back facing the group.
"I always thought that as long as I guarded the knowledge here, as long as I prevented those dangerous secrets from spreading, the world would be safe."
"But I was wrong."
"When the gatekeeper closes their eyes, the rats in the house beco the masters."
The Gray Lady waved her hand.
"Rumble—"
A deep chanical whirring sound ca from the depths of the darkness.
The towering bookshelves that had blocked their path like a maze began to slowly move.
They parted, revealing a straight passage leading to the core area.
At the end of the passage was a seemingly ordinary stone wall.
But in the center of the stone wall, there was a small, inconspicuous indentation.
"Follow ."
The Gray Lady lifted the hem of her skirt and walked towards that passage.
Lin Jie and the other two exchanged glances and quickly followed.
Arriving before the stone wall, the Gray Lady extended a finger and gently pressed it into the indentation.
A drop of blood seeped from her fingertip, falling onto the stone.
This was a bloodline authentication.
As the Gatekeeper of the Underground City, her blood was the authority.
"Click."
The stone wall slowly recessed inward, then slid open to both sides, revealing the space within.
It was a small chamber only a few square ters in size.
The chamber had no decorations, only a simple stone table. On the table rested a box carved from obsidian.
The box had no lock, only a Latin inscription carved upon it:
"Pacta Sunt Servanda." (Agreents must be kept).
The Gray Lady walked to the table, gently stroking the box.
"This is what you seek. The 'Initial Protocol,' or... the 'Knight's Covenant.'"
"This is the vow jointly signed with their blood and souls by the Original Round Table Knights when they created the Association."
She looked at Lin Jie, her expression complex.
"Do you know what this ans? It ans responsibility, and it also ans a curse."
"Open it."
Lin Jie nodded.
He stepped forward, placing both hands on the lid.
The familiar, deep-seated resonance from his bloodline surged again, stronger than any previous ti.
He took a deep breath and forcefully lifted the lid.
Inside the box lay only a single scroll of parchnt that looked sowhat yellowed, its edges slightly frayed.
Lin Jie reached out, his fingertips touching the parchnt.
Reverberation Touch activated.
"Hum!"
The world vanished. Lin Jie felt his consciousness instantly pulled into a grand historical scene.
It was Britain over a thousand years ago.
Upon a war-torn, devastated battlefield, fresh from a great battle.
Twelve armored figures sat around a massive stone table.
Their bodies were stained with blood and mud, their armor damaged, the blades of their swords notched.
But their eyes were still bright, still filled with hope.
At their head was a king with golden hair and a resolute face.
Arthur Pendragon.
And beside him stood a young rlin.
"The world can't hold on any longer."
Arthur's voice echoed in the wind, carrying a king's compassion.
"But we are still alive. As long as we live, the spark of civilization will not be extinguished."
"We will use the power of the Grail to project a new world upon these ruins."
"A world without disaster, where humanity can live and work in peace."
"But this requires a price."
rlin raised his staff.
"We will beco the foundation stones of this world."
"Our bloodlines will guard this secret, protect the people here, for generations."
"We swear."
Twelve swords were drawn, their points aid at the center of the round table.
"Never to enslave."
"Never to betray."
"Never to let darkness consu the light."
"If we break this oath, may our bloodlines end, our souls forever fall into purgatory."
Lin Jie saw that scene.
He saw those twelve knights cut their palms, letting their blood drip onto that parchnt scroll.
That blood seeped into the parchnt's fibers, turning into still-flowing words.
That was... a blood covenant.
"Whew—"
Lin Jie's eyes snapped open, gasping for air, the weight of history pressing on him so heavily he could barely breathe.
He understood.
Why Ackerman was willing to destroy Tintagel at any cost.
Because they had betrayed the oath.
"I have it."
Lin Jie carefully placed the parchnt scroll inside his coat, close to his chest.
"Thank you."
Lin Jie bowed deeply to the Gray Lady.
"No need to thank ."
The Gray Lady shook her head, weariness showing on her face.
"I'm rely doing what a librarian should. Returning a borrowed book to its true owner."
At that mont.
A piercing alarm suddenly blared through the underground archives, red warning lights flashing.
"Warning! Warning! Unauthorized intrusion detected in the lower-level archives!"
"Janitor units are intervening!"
The tremors from the ground grew increasingly violent.
It was the sound of heavy machinery operating, and also the sound of large numbers of fully ard mbers breaking through the blockade lines.
Reinforcents had arrived.
They had blown open the elevator shaft above and were rappelling down to force entry.
"It seems your ti is up."
The Gray Lady glanced upwards.
"The elevator shaft is sealed. It's full of their people up there."
"Then how do we leave?" William asked, already raising his gun, ready for combat.
"Take the sewer."
The Gray Lady walked to a corner of the archives.
There was a large iron cover that looked like a disused drainage outlet.
She waved her feather duster. The iron cover sprang open, revealing a dark, gaping hole.
A damp wind, carrying the distinctive fishy sll of the Thas, blew up from below.
"This is an old transport pipeline. It leads directly to the riverbed of the Thas. The exit is beneath an abandoned shipyard."
The Gray Lady pointed at the hole.
"Hurry, slide down the pipe. It's about two kiloters to the exit."
"What about you?"
Julian looked at the Gray Lady, his eyes full of concern.
"Don't worry about ."
The Gray Lady straightened her long skirt and picked up her feather duster again.
She stood before that stone wall, her back slightly hunched but exceptionally firm.
"I am the Administrator here. If anyone wants to cause trouble here, to break the rules of this place."
"Then they'll have to ask my permission first."
She turned her head, smiling at Lin Jie.
"Go, child. Don't let rlin's sacrifice be in vain."
Lin Jie looked at this old woman.
He knew he couldn't persuade her, just as he couldn't persuade rlin.
These guardians of the old era all had their own pride.
"Take care."
Lin Jie wasted no more words.
He took one last look at this library filled with secrets, then turned and jumped into the black hole.
William and Julian followed closely behind. With the three figures disappearing into the depths of the pipe, the Gray Lady waved her feather duster. The iron cover snapped shut, perfectly sealed.
She turned, facing the elevator shaft entrance that had been blasted open.
Countless Inspectors in black uniforms and gas masks poured in like a tide.
The squad leader at the front roared.
"Hand over the docunts!"
The Gray Lady said nothing, gently waving the feather duster in her hand.
The countless massive bookshelves around her began to tremble once more.
Thousands upon thousands of books flew from the shelves, swirling in the air like a blizzard blotting out the sky.
"Quiet."
The Gray Lady's voice was soft, but at this mont, it drowned out all the noise.
"In the library."
"Silence is required."
As her words fell.
Those books transford into countless sharp streams of light, sweeping towards the invaders.
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