In terms of height, the little girl in the red dress looked only about seven or eight years old. She wore an exquisite little dress and tiny shoes, and even the small backpack on her back was a pink Disney Minnie style—meticulously detailed, looking no different from the real thing. The only exception was her face, which was covered by a thick layer of mosaic.

No eyebrows, no eyes, no nose, no mouth.

Only mosaic.

Brian Carter clenched his teeth, suppressing the urge rising from deep within to bash this little girl with a stick.

"Big brother, have you seen my book?"

No matter how clear and pleasant her voice sounded, looking at that face, Brian Carter only felt a chill run down his spine.

Brian Carter kept a cold face, staring intently at the little girl, not answering.

The little girl asked again, "Big brother, have you seen my book?"

Although this little girl looked very delicate and weak, Brian Carter thought it should be very easy to subdue her. But given how bizarre this place was, and the fact that the little girl's face was a mosaic—clearly not a real person—Brian Carter didn't dare to act rashly and could only cooperate. He pressed his lips together, and after a moment, tried his best to put on a seemingly kind smile: "Little one, what book of yours is missing?"

"Big brother, your smile is so ugly."

Brian Carter: "..."

Little girl: "My book is gone. Big brother, can you help me find it? Mom is so annoying, I hate reading the most, but she bought me so many books. Those books are so ugly, but if I lose them, Mom will get really mad. If the book is gone, Mom will kill me. Big brother, can you help me find the book?"

Brian Carter stopped pretending to smile. "Who is Mom?"

"Mom is just Mom. Big brother, you're so weird."

Logan Reed spoke up from behind, his voice trembling: "If you can't find the book, Mom... Mom will kill you?"

"Yeah, Mom will be really mad. Mom is really scary when she's angry."

Logan Reed said again, "But she wouldn't go as far as to kill someone, right?"

The little girl tilted her head, her right pigtail falling onto that mosaic face. Somehow, Brian Carter felt that if not for the mosaic, the little girl would be smiling right now. She was looking at him and Logan Reed with a pair of pitch-black eyes, then she said, "Hee hee hee, but if big brother doesn't help me find the book, I'll kill big brother too."

A bucket of ice water seemed to pour from head to toe. Brian Carter pressed his lips tightly together, glaring at the mosaic-faced little girl.

After a moment, he asked calmly, "Do you remember what book it was? I'll help you look for it."

"Um..." The little girl shook her head, her pigtails swaying from side to side, as if trying hard to think. She "um"ed for a long time: "I can't remember!"

Brian Carter had already guessed this would be the answer.

Suddenly, the little girl said anxiously, "Ah, I have to go to school. If I'm late, the teacher will kill me. I have to go now. Big brother, you have to help me find the book, okay?" With that, she slung on her backpack and ran back into the depths of the bookshelves.

The little girl disappeared, but this bizarre game had officially begun.

Brian Carter and Logan Reed had been hiding behind the service desk all along, not going out to interact with the little girl. The moment she disappeared, the computer at the service desk belonging to Brian Carter suddenly lit up, and the two of them walked over.

On the blue background of the computer, a passage of text appeared—it was clearly a diary.

Brian Carter read aloud: "November 15th, sunny. I lost the book Mom bought me! Mom will kill me!"

Logan Reed: "It changed! The words changed! November 16th, overcast. I fooled Mom, Mom still doesn't know the book is missing. Where is the book, where is the book. Mom really will kill me!"

The text on the computer screen changed again.

Brian Carter read: "November 17th, overcast. Mom seems to have found out, did she find out?" The text changed, and he continued: "November 18th, rainy. Hee hee hee... Mom really killed me."

Brian Carter and Logan Reed both fell silent.

"...Are we really going to die?" Logan Reed muttered to himself.

Brian Carter looked at Logan Reed.

Working at the library was very boring; every day they had to deal with all kinds of people. During breaks, they would sometimes chat about the oddballs they met that day. Logan Reed was the oddest of the oddballs—he seemed to have no job, came to the library every day to read, and was always muttering to himself. Xiao Zhao said Logan Reed had been dumped by his girlfriend in the past, became psychologically twisted, and that's why he was like this now.

In the minds of the staff, Logan Reed was just a very strange person—both funny and pitiful.

Now, looking at Logan Reed's expression, Brian Carter saw that he was truly pitiful.

Brian Carter could tell he was scared. Actually, he was scared too, but what they needed now was not fear. Brian Carter thought for a moment, then answered honestly, "Maybe we really will die."

Logan Reed's eyes widened in despair.

Brian Carter: "Wait, the words on the computer changed again. As a well-behaved and sensible little girl, Mosaic..." Brian Carter's expression twisted for a moment, then he continued reading: "Mosaic has only one flaw, and that is she doesn't like to read. Mom hates little girls who don't like to read the most, especially those who throw away books and then lie that someone stole them. But Mom doesn't know, Mosaic didn't lie, she didn't throw away that book—it was the devil who stole it."