Through the combined efforts of Mia, Alice, and Little Guardian, a massive bookshelf had been moved to a corner of the platform.
The moment Lin Ye placed his hand on the bookshelf, a strand of pure white substance merged into his body, shattering the mental barrier instantly. Even with the young girl helping him bear the mental impact, he was still affected.
In that instant of contact with the bookshelf, it felt as though he was truly standing inside some ancient library, surrounded on all sides by books he couldn't comprehend. He was immersed in an ocean of knowledge, on the verge of drowning within it.
Fortunately, Mia quickly pulled his body away from the bookshelf, while Alice and Little Guardian hastily reinforced him with two new layers of mental barriers.
The mental barriers shattered one after another, with Alice and Little Guardian constantly replenishing them with fresh barriers. But soon, Little Guardian stopped because that high-backed chair had made a run for it.
It retreated along the pathway away from the platform, refusing to let Little Guardian keep milking it for all it was worth.
Luckily, Lin Ye had already managed to break free from that ocean of knowledge. Though his mind was crammed full of all sorts of chaotic information, he could at least move normally again.
"How do we take this bookshelf with us?"
Seeing Lin Ye's miserable state, Alice wanted nothing to do with touching the bookshelf. She didn't hate learning, but she also didn't want her head filled with knowledge.
"How should I know?"
Lin Ye had no intention of using the World of Ashes to carry this bookshelf. The World of Ashes was tightly connected to him, and if this damned thing entered that realm, he would be soaking in that ocean of knowledge every single day.
"You'd better… pray to… that junior of yours… as soon as possible… and ask her… to help you… use that… Gray World relic… to carry this bookshelf."
The young girl's voice sounded in Lin Ye's ear, choppy and intermittent, like using a phone with no signal.
"Junior, save me!"
Lin Ye hurriedly began praying to that junior. He had always been one to take good advice.
"Well, well, if it isn't Senior Lin Ye. I thought you'd already forgotten all about me."
The junior's voice was crisp and clear in Lin Ye's ear, as if it came from the depths of his own heart.
'How could I ever forget my cute little junior… Can you still control that relic?'
Perhaps because of the system, after integrating that Gray World relic into his body, Lin Ye hadn't felt any influence from it. He could barely even sense its existence.
"Of course not. You should trust the system a bit more. That relic has a deep connection to the Gray World, and I also have a deep connection to the Gray World. So when you actively pray to me, I can form a very tight link with you."
The junior's soft voice whispered in Lin Ye's ear.
'Can that Gray World relic hold this bookshelf? Will I be affected?'
The entire space had turned pitch black. Even though Lin Ye was using Mental Acceleration, the situation around him was deteriorating at breakneck speed.
"No, it won't. The Gray World can make you forget anything, so it can naturally seal away this bookshelf too. But I must warn you: don't come into contact with this bookshelf again until you've completely mastered a complete rule. I'll help you gray out the memories from before, but if it happens a second time, I won't be able to help you anymore."
The junior's tone became slightly more serious.
'I understand.'
It seemed that coming into contact with that bookshelf was far more dangerous than Lin Ye had imagined.
"See you next time, then."
The platform beneath Lin Ye's feet turned gray. The gray spread rapidly outward, soon covering the bookshelf, which slowly sank into the gray expanse.
The moment the bookshelf vanished completely, the chaotic knowledge in Lin Ye's mind also disappeared along with it.
The gray area dispelled the surrounding darkness, and Lin Ye hurriedly seized the opportunity to open the door marked with the Exit.
The white substance flashed briefly in Lin Ye's hand. Having escaped the darkness, Mia forcefully broke through an invisible barrier and, with speed bordering on teleportation, carried everyone out of the Storage Point.
By the time Lin Ye came to his senses, they were already standing near the coastline. The cruise ship hadn't returned yet, so he still had some time to fish here.
"Damn, I almost got trapped in that darkness. Good thing you dispelled it; if we'd waited just a little longer, we might not have made it out."
Mia bumped Lin Ye with her shoulder. She had genuinely thought they were done for.
"That must be some kind of time-related power. I didn't even have time to adapt to it."
Alice imitated Mia and bumped Lin Ye too, thinking this was some kind of celebration gesture.
"Shouldn't we leave this place as quickly as possible? What if the owner of that place comes after us?"
Little Guardian didn't go around bumping people. She didn't think they were safe just because they'd made it here. She wouldn't relax until they were back in the Shelter.
Just as Little Guardian spoke, the sky suddenly darkened. A black ring appeared high above, and even the seawater was dyed black.
The entire process took less than a second, as if someone had simply turned off the world's lights.
"It actually dares to chase us here? Does it not know whose territory this is?"
Mia said, brimming with arrogance.
A Dinosaur Body materialized behind her and smacked her head with its tiny claw.
As soon as the Dinosaur Body appeared, the world regained its brightness. The black ring began to descend, quickly arriving right in front of them.
"Give me back that bookshelf, and we'll call it even. Otherwise, I'll destroy your avatar."
The black ring didn't make a sound, but everyone could understand its meaning.
"Just you? This isn't your Storage Point, you know. If I weren't worried you'd run off, I wouldn't have bothered calling for backup."
The Dinosaur Body behind her gave Mia the confidence to be cocky. She acted like one of those arrogant villain's lackeys, practically ready to leap into the sky.
"That's right. You still haven't apologized to me. Your organization has attacked me twice, and this is the third time. If you can't offer enough sincerity, you're not leaving."
Lin Ye joined in the arrogant posturing.
Even though he had almost no combat power here, that didn't stop him from bossing the enemy around.
The black ring suddenly exploded, sending countless fragments flying toward everyone at a speed close to teleportation.
Even in his Mental Acceleration state, Lin Ye couldn't track the movement trajectories of those fragments.
He couldn't even react.
A barrier materialized in front of everyone just in time, blocking those fragments.
The moment the black ring shattered, the Dinosaur Body vanished from behind Mia. It crossed space, and like a true dinosaur, bit off the enemy's head from within the void.
The black ring was only the enemy's weapon, but this attack wasn't fatal. It didn't even severely wound the opponent.
Thump!
Alice shot, forcing the enemy out of the void with a single bullet.
A black-haired girl appeared behind the enemy and drove her hand into the enemy's body.
"So that's what I was saying. It really doesn't know whose territory this is."
Mia placed another barrier around Lin Ye before cheerfully starting to pick up the scattered black ring fragments nearby.
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