Several regulars who spent all day in the library were very familiar with the layout and structure of the library. In a short while, they returned to the fifth floor, holding the same book with a different cover — Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Life, the Universe, and Everything. There were versions in both Chinese and English, as well as other languages. The year of publication was also different. It was as if eight immortals had crossed the sea.
Zhang Zian had also read this classic science fiction novel, but he didn't know that there were so many versions of it.
They found an empty table and arranged the books together. They covered the entire table, which looked magnificent.
Some other readers didn't know what they were doing, so they all looked at them curiously.
They returned to their seats and began to type in English.
[Coco]: We found the book you wanted. It's on the table on the fifth floor. There are all kinds of editions. Come and get it.
Everyone, including Zhang Zian, looked at the table full of books, waiting to see what would happen. Zhang Zian was especially worried. Although he didn't think the answer would be so simple, he was also worried that one of the books would suddenly disappear in front of everyone. That would be a supernatural event, and it would cause a sensation.
As time went by, the atmosphere in the library was almost suffocating. All the readers on the fifth floor were sitting in their seats. No one stood up. Of course, there were no supernatural events such as books disappearing into thin air.
[3.1415926]: This is not my book.
The regular readers who knew Coco felt a little depressed when they recognized the English sentence mixed with a string of pi. They felt that they might have been fooled and almost vomited blood. If they found the wrong book, it was okay. They could find it again. However, they found the right book, but the other party didn't want to admit it … Wasn't it obvious that they were cheating?
[Coco]: But isn't this the book you want? Life, the Universe, and Everything? Or do you want a specific edition? I heard that some people are very picky about publishing houses …
[3.1415926]: My book doesn't have a name.
[The Hottie]: Your book doesn't have a name. It's about life, the universe, and everything?
[3.1415926]: Yes. Can you find my book?
[Jackdaw]: Sorry, we won't help you. If you want to find someone, go find them yourself!
[Fruit Jianbing]: "That's right. There's a limit to fooling around. You're going to disappoint people by wasting their kindness."
[Coco]: Don't be discouraged! Try again!
[Blue Flower]: "Hmmmm, I'm not familiar with science fiction, but I want to continue watching the fun."
Some of them spoke in Chinese while others spoke in English. Their words were filled with indignation and ridicule. Zhang Zian waited for their condemnation to come to an end before he continued typing.
[The Hottie]: I forgot to ask. You said you were looking for your book. Can I understand that this book isn't provided by the library, but you brought it here yourself?
[3.1415926]: Yes, the book that appeared in this world with me.
[The Hottie]: "Last question. This book is about life, the universe, and everything. Does it mean that the content of the book is complicated?"
[3.1415926]: Yes. Can you find my book?
Zhang Zian understood. The book and the elfin were probably in a symbiotic state. They depended on each other. The elfin didn't exist in this world in its complete form, so it didn't have a body. It had to get the book to become complete.
At the same time, he also understood why it was so difficult to capture it. His task was to find a nameless, unregistered, all-inclusive book from the library's more than two million books!
It was like looking for a needle in a haystack!
And it was a f * cking time-limited task!
Damn it!
The conversation between Zhang Zian and the elfin was completely inexplicable. The library didn't allow people to bring their own bags or their own books into the library. The conversation didn't make sense.
The elfin was indeed asking for help. It was asking others for help in order to survive.
Zhang Zian entered the electronic map interface of the game again. The light that represented the elfin's location was already very dim. It was like the mist before the sun rose and could dissipate at any time.
[The Hottie]: I don't know if I can find it, but I'll try my best.
[3.1415926]: Thank you.
Zhang Zian pushed the chair away and stood up. Coco walked over quickly with light steps and asked in a low voice, "Do you really want such an inexplicable book?"
"I have to find it," Zhang Zian replied.
He didn't have time to explain. Even trying to cover up was a waste of time. He waved his hand and went downstairs, leaving Coco alone in the wind. The other readers were discussing in the chat room, waiting to see the ending of this farce.
Zhang Zian came to the fourth floor and slowed down at the top of the stairs.
Although he had made a bold statement, he had no idea how to find it.
He didn't know the size, thickness, binding, style, content, or classification of the book. How could he find it?
However, he had a guess. The book appeared in this world with the elfin, which meant that it was a book that was summoned from the void by the Pet Hunter game. Just like the elfin, ordinary people couldn't see the book, but they could see it through the game interface!
The situation on the fourth floor was slightly better because the bookshelves were full of literature and newspapers. If there was a book on one of the bookshelves, it would be quite easy to see it.
He searched the fourth floor but didn't find it. There was no book on any bookshelf. If he could find it on the fourth floor, the difficulty of the task wouldn't be so high.
Zhang Zian went down to the third floor. From now on, it was like entering hell mode.
He helplessly looked at the bookshelves in the foreign language reading area on the third floor. This meant that he had to carefully filter the bookshelves one by one because the book could appear on any bookshelf. There were six levels on each bookshelf, and the book could appear on any one of them. There were dozens or even hundreds of books on each bookshelf, and the book could be stuffed between any two books.
To find the book, he had to hold up his phone and point it at an area on the bookshelf, observe it through the game interface, and then observe it with his naked eyes. Then, he had to compare the two and find the extra book that he couldn't see with his naked eyes but could be seen through the game interface. How difficult would it be to find it from more than two million books and a specific stone from a mountain of books?
Even if there was a path to a mountain of books, it would still take time to reach the top!
What Zhang Zian lacked the most now was time!
If he was too close to the bookshelf, the range of the phone's camera was limited. If he was too far away from the bookshelf, it was easy to miss it … He tried several times and found that it was best to stand at a moderate distance, so that the first six layers of the bookshelf just happened to fill the entire vertical space of the phone screen, and then he scanned each layer with his eyes.
The horizontal length of the bookshelf was very long. On average, Zhang Zian had to repeatedly compare each bookshelf more than a dozen times. The bookshelf had two sides, so the number of times it was the sum of the number of times it was the front and the back.
In order to avoid mistakes, it took at least 20 seconds for each comparison. The focus of his eyes repeatedly switched between the phone screen that was close to him and the bookshelf that was slightly further away …
The bookshelves were densely packed with books of dazzling colors. Green, yellow, black, white, red … they were all mixed together like a large dye vat. Especially since these books were in foreign languages, the twisted cursive characters on the spines of the books were nauseating if one looked at them for a long time.
After looking at the front and back of each bookshelf, it didn't take long for Zhang Zian to feel dizzy. Waves of nausea and nausea came over him. Even so, he gritted his teeth and persevered.
However, looking at the remaining hundreds of bookshelves on the third floor, and the number of bookshelves on the second floor, he clearly knew that unless he was extremely lucky, he would never be able to find the book before the elfin disappeared.
His arms were already sore from holding the phone in the same posture and height for a long time. This was after he had learned a pair of unicorn arms from Old Time Tea. If he had been weak in the past, his arm muscles would have cramps in a few minutes.
When he came down from the fifth floor, he had brought the book Modern Genetics: An Analysis from Genes to the Surface. He had been holding it under his armpit, pretending to be an ordinary reader looking for a book. But now that his arms were sore and tired, the book had become a burden, and it was meaningless to pretend to be pretentious.
So he found an empty space on the bookshelf and wanted to put the book back.
"Store Manager Zhang, are you still looking for books?"
Zhang Zian kept the posture of putting the book down. He turned his head and saw Meng Li standing next to him with two books in his hand. He looked relaxed, and the woolen coat that he had taken off earlier was back on him.
Meng Li noticed the English monograph on modern genetics in Zhang Zian's hand and was deeply surprised. His remaining doubts completely disappeared, and he thought that Zhang Zian was really concentrating on studying modern genetics.
"Store Manager Zhang, have you finished reading such a thick monograph in English?" Meng Li asked politely.
Zhang Zian subconsciously pretended to be pretentious and said, "... I skimmed through it. The content of this book is a bit shallow and can't satisfy my appetite. I'm looking for something more profound."
Meng Li smiled and said, "I'm afraid that you can only study the latest papers if you want to go deeper."
Zhang Zian didn't want to dwell on this issue, so he changed the topic and said, "Mr. Meng, are you also looking for books?"
"I've finished. These two books are about arithmetic ultrafiltration, mainly about solving the infinite element Diophantine equation." Meng Li raised the two books in his hand.
Zhang Zian pretended to understand and smiled.
Meng Li looked at the sky and said, "It's almost noon. I have to rush back to school. Store Manager Zhang, are you going to stay here for a while? "
Zhang Zian nodded and said, "A little longer. I haven't found the book I'm looking for yet."
"Oh, is it also about modern genetics?" Meng Li asked casually out of courtesy.
"Uh... no, it's about life, the universe, and everything else," Zhang Zian said with a bitter smile. He was prepared to be laughed at.
However, Meng Li didn't laugh at him. Instead, he was slightly surprised and asked, "Store Manager Zhang, you really have a wide range of hobbies... Besides modern genetics, you also like to study mathematics?"
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