Silent Crown

Early in the morning in the quiet Jianlan Underground Palace, Dominic hunched before the towering copper door in the square, pushing it open slowly. An eerie breeze blew out from the darkness.

“Follow me.” He glanced at the youth behind him. “I’ll take you to the library.”

Ye Qingxuan nodded and followed closely, entering the darkness past the threshold. Behind him, the heavy door slammed shut. With the dim light from his lantern, he could vaguely see the person in front of him.

A breeze blew past in the surging darkness, extinguishing the flame inside the glass. Ye Qingxuan froze, his footsteps halting.

“What’s wrong?” Dominic looked back. Will-o’-wisps seemed to dance in his eyes, shining faintly and sending chills down Ye Qingxuan’s spine. Seeing his expression, Dominic laughed eerily. “Don’t be afraid. As long as you don’t have a light, there’s nothing to be afraid of on this path.”

The corners of Ye Qingxuan’s lips twitched. Not knowing what to say, he hurried to catch up, scared he would get lost.

All was still in the darkness, but Ye Qingxuan could not shake the feeling that someone following him. There seemed to be laughter in the faint wind, but when he listened for it, he could not hear clearly. Things he could not see wrapped around him as if scrutinizing his face and bare skin. Some opened their mouths, wanting to devour that sweet piece of meat, but the small bell on Ye Qingxuan’s wrist rang gently and they did not dare to get close.

They finally passed through the darkness. Torches lit up from the sides of the long tunnel. The flickering lights illuminated his body again, and he could finally let out the long breath he had been holding. His body had felt like it was going to dissolve in the endless darkness.

“We’ve arrived.” At the end of the tunnel, Dominic reached out and pulled open the metal door for Ye Qingxuan.

The metal door grated and creaked. The piercing sound echoed through the darkness like faint laughter. Behind the door was an empty, warmly lit hall. As if this place had been maintained year long, the glazed tiles were glossy enough to reflect one’s image. The chandeliers on the ceiling were spotless as well. Unlike most libraries, there was no rotting or moldy scent, nor was there any dust. Everything was in perfect state.

Lines and lines of ancient shelves, crammed with books, stood behind three rows of reading tables. Some of the books had been printed in recent years. They had innovative designs, and the ink smelled faintly of roses. Some looked like artifacts from the Dark Ages. There was sheepskin wrapped over the papyrus, emanating a metallic scent.

“The Library of the Royal Academy of Music is the largest library in all of Anglo. It was established to preserve civilization when attacked by the natural catastrophes. The library holds many confidential materials, letters, and conference records. Other than precious music scores and secret books, there are also dark secrets…” Dominic continued. “Everything here is top secret. If you accidentally see something you shouldn’t see, watch your mouth. I don’t need to say more, do I?”

“No, no need.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head forcefully, scared that doing anything wrong would end with his death.

“Good.” Dominic nodded. “Other than you, there are still some little things being raised here. Don’t be startled if you accidentally see them. The license bell on your wrist is only effective for one day. If you don’t get out of here before midnight, you will be treated as an invader. Understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“There are five levels here. You are allowed to browse in areas at and under the musician level. If you go to the wrong place, you will also be dealt with by the little things, understand?”

“Uh, yes.” Ye Qingxuan had started doubting how ‘little’ those little things actually were.

“Do not damage the books and do not think about stealing. These little things treasure old ties and are very particular. If you anger them…you understand.”

“I understand,” Ye Qingxuan sighed. “I’ll be dealt with, right?”

“You’re a bright student.” Dominic nodded, signifying that Ye could enter.

“One more question.” Ye Qingxuan asked curiously, “There aren’t any signs here. What if I accidentally go to the wrong place?”

“It’s easy,” Dominic chuckled. “If you hear footsteps behind you, it means you should turn back.” His shadow disappeared into the darkness.

The metal door slammed shut and Ye Qingxuan was left alone in the quiet library. But the feeling that he was being watched did not go away, in fact it got stronger. He sat on a chair in the reading section, gazing around. There was no one there. But when he closed his eyes, it felt as if the room were packed.

The clearly nonexistent people were all obedient scholars. They read the ancient texts in the silent library wordlessly. They did not even make a sound while flipping the pages. They met each other’s eyes, deep like dark vortexes. Finally, their gazes fell on the youth who did not belong there, and they refused to avert their eyes. Their faces were blank white spaces!

Ye Qingxuan’s eyes flew open. The fantasy disappeared from his mind as if it had never existed. He shook his head. He could not keep scaring himself.

“Okay, let’s find out where the teacher records are first.” According to Charles, there was nothing that he would not know on the first level. Indeed, the shelves he walked past were all filled with geographical reports throughout time, and boring account books. Occasionally, he would see biographies, travel notes, and histories of other countries. But none of those meant anything to Ye Qingxuan.

He continued past the records area. The next area was filled with records of currency exchange rates between countries and other trade information. This would have been heaven for an accountant, but Ye Qingxuan did not care one bit. What did the trade war between East Tianzhu Company and Yunlou have to do with him? Giant sums were involved in it, and reading into it could have great benefits. Maybe he could even grasp the market’s future trends and make a fortune, but that was not Ye Qingxuan’s goal.

The next area was finally the musician area. The amount of the research material was dizzying. Ye Qingxuan squatted by a shelf and stared at an entire row of basic runes from each School, almost drooling. In the end, he bid them farewell with a broken heart and continued searching for the documents he needed.

Finally, he found a map of Avalon in the corner of the first level. “Wow, this place is big…” He gazed around at the dozens of bookshelves. The shelves were more than twice his height, filled with all types of books. A majority of them did not even have titles and only had a serial code. Trying to find something there without any type of catalog was like finding a needle in the haystack.

“Book management requires knowledge.” Now, Ye Qingxuan finally understood what the priest had meant.

Sitting on the floor, he looked up at the bookshelves that soared to the ceiling. He felt helpless. “Then let’s just look for the needle in the haystack.” Gritting his teeth, he pulled out the file closest to him. Opening it, he found that it was an intelligence record of downtown criminal organizations.

“Shaman: Tracking Investigation Report?” Ye Qingxuan was taken aback. Flipping through a few pages, he saw the faded text, “…According to investigation, Shaman left Avalon secretly five days ago and is very difficult to trace. This seems to be related to smuggler ships…” The passage was from six years prior. There were some bookmarks after it, marking later investigation results. Unfortunately, the results were, “untraceable,””did not appear” and finally, “disappeared.” Shaman, one of the ten legends of Avalon, the King of Downtown, had just…disappeared from the Royal musicians’ clutches?

There were no more investigation reports after that, much to Ye Qingxuan’s disappointment. The records had started when the mysterious Shaman had first appeared, and meticulously recorded every detail until his disappearance. He had gone from a nobody to the controller of all of downtown in just a few months.

Of the downtown gangs, first was the Caucasian Bear Claws, then the Indian Union, and then the Corsican Mafia. Every criminal organization downtown pledged their loyalty to the mysterious man, offering one-fifth of their monthly profits in exchange for the Shaman’s permission for them to operate.

The recorder had also made some hypotheses based on textual research, deducing how the Shaman negotiated with all of the gangs. He had also collected many rumors. The descriptions were so vivid that one could not put the book down. But at the most important part where the Shaman had fought with the elites who had ventured into smuggling…stopped. It ended with a disappointing “disappeared.”

“Did the author get castrated? Where’s the rest?!” Ye Qingxuan muttered angrily. He returned the file and took out another one from the shelf. This was one was…”The Bloody Butcher: Analysis of the Chrysanthemum Hotel Massacre?”

In shock, Ye Qingxuan chose another book. “Report of Handling the Soul Eater?” Following that was, “Ghosthand: Criminal Activity Record,””The Phantom Carriage: Path Analysis and Organization.” Finally, he understood what that bookshelf was for.

“Could it be the research files of Avalon’s top ten legends?”