Thinking about the sweet reward he'd gotten for squashing the "undying cockroach" last time, Qin Yang searched carefully once more, unwilling to give up.
A moment later, Qin Yang returned to his seat, dejected.
He had scoured the entire Area 1 and Area 2 of the library, only managing to slay two unlucky flies in a corner.
But this didn't trigger a system reward.
In the end, Qin Yang could only come to one conclusion.
This crazy system was spouting nonsense again.
A Beast Emperor in the library? How was that possible?
What was a Beast Emperor?
It was an existence even more terrifying than a Beast King!
In terms of power, a Beast Emperor was a Star Beast powerful enough to rival, or even surpass, a human Grandmaster.
If there really were a Beast Emperor in this library, no one here would be able to escape.
At this thought, Qin Yang couldn't be bothered to deal with this stupid-ass system anymore.
'If there really is a Beast Emperor, I wouldn't be able to escape with my current level of strength anyway.'
The more Qin Yang thought about it, the more depressed he became. How did he end up with such an unreliable system?
"[Ding! A Beast Emperor has been detected. Host, why aren't you fleeing for your life? Do you have a death wish?]"
"[With the Host's current strength, you are completely unable to contend with a Beast Emperor!]"
"[Host, you must not overestimate your own abilities and throw your life away for nothing!]"
Seeming to notice Qin Yang's inaction, the system's tone grew anxious.
It urged him on relentlessly, its tone even carrying a hint of frustration at his lack of initiative.
'Fucking moron...'
Qin Yang rolled his eyes, unable to stop himself from cursing inwardly.
After all the commotion from the system, he lost all interest in reading and snapped the Seven-Star Step Technique manual shut.
Seeing Qin Yang close the book, a flash of crimson light glinted in the eyes of the small purple spider dangling above him. It then scurried up its thin silk thread and vanished into the ceiling.
'It finally shut up...'
Qin Yang went outside for a smoke. When the system's alerts finally stopped, he let out a sigh of relief.
If that dumbass system had kept nagging him, he really would have had a breakdown.
In the blink of an eye, it was noon.
Qin Yang made a beeline for the cafeteria.
If you weren't passionate about food, you had a few screws loose.
As a dedicated chowhound, Qin Yang was almost always the first to arrive at the cafeteria.
'That guy Xia He actually didn't show up for work all day.'
'Looks like he really had a wild night...'
Qin Yang didn't see a trace of Xia He all the way until their shift ended in the afternoon.
「The next morning.」 Xia He finally appeared.
"What happened to you? Did you get your kidney stolen?"
Qin Yang couldn't help but ask as he watched Xia He limp in.
'Don't tell me he fell for a honey trap last night?'
Xia He had a look on his face like he'd lost the will to live. "Don't even ask. I have the absolute worst luck."
Then, Xia He explained why he had skipped work the day before.
The night before last, Xia He had indeed gone to Platinum Han and even called over a pretty girl.
But before he could even get to the fun part, he was caught in a vice raid by the Star Martial Police Bureau.
He spent a night in a holding cell, and it wasn't until the next day that Mr. Xia came to bail him out.
After returning home, Mr. Xia took off his belt and gave Xia He a taste of what "deep fatherly love" truly meant.
"My dad is ruthless! He nearly beat me to death!" Xia He grimaced, his face a mask of misery.
"Tough love, you know..."
Qin Yang comforted him verbally, but inwardly, he was sneering, 'If I were your dad, I would've hit you even harder!'
Xia He's incident was just a minor interlude in Qin Yang's laid-back life at the library.
Afterward, Qin Yang's life returned to its usual peaceful routine.
Go to work and read, eat with gusto, practice Martial Arts after clocking out.
All on his own initiative—a model of self-discipline!
...
One day, Qin Yang was reading a book in Area 1, his assigned section.
He was holding a book titled *The Compendium of Star Beasts*.
Star Beasts came into being in a way similar to humans: ordinary animals would absorb the Power of Stars, activating a latent bloodline. This triggered a mutation, granting them a variety of strange abilities.
These abilities were bizarre and varied wildly in strength.
There were terrifying Star Beasts born with innate control over supernatural forces like wind, fire, thunder, and lightning.
Some Star Beasts could even shapeshift into human form and possessed high intelligence, allowing them to hide within human society.
But the ones humans feared most were the powerful Star Beasts that possessed terrifying destructive capabilities and violent temperaments.
The appearance of such a Star Beast in the human world would invariably lead to disaster.
If a Star Beast of the Beast King or Beast Emperor level appeared, unless an Innate or Grandmaster expert intervened, not even humanity's modern weaponry could stop these terrifying existences.
"Hey, are you okay, sir?"
"What's wrong?"
"There's a spi... der..."
THUD!
"Qin Yang, hurry, come take a look!"
Just as Qin Yang was immersed in the world of his book, Xia He's panicked voice suddenly called out from the adjacent Area 2.
'What's that guy up to now?'
Qin Yang frowned, dropped the book in his hands, and quickly rushed over to Area 2.
"Sir, how are you feeling?"
A middle-aged man was lying on the floor, and Xia He was crouching beside him, asking questions in a fluster.
Qin Yang walked closer and saw that the man's face was turning purple. He was foaming at the mouth and convulsing uncontrollably.
'Is he having a medical episode?'
'Epilepsy?'
"Spi... spider..."
The middle-aged man managed to force out a single word before passing out completely.
'Spider?'
Qin Yang froze for a second, then his gaze sharpened as he looked at the middle-aged man's neck.
There, on the man's neck, was a dark purple patch of skin that looked quite unsettling.
'Was he bitten by a venomous spider?'
'Is this guy gonna turn into Spider-Man?'
"What are you spacing out for? Call an ambulance!"
A life was on the line; there was no time for idle thoughts. Qin Yang kicked the dazed Xia He and then notified the library's security staff.
A few moments later, the ambulance arrived and took the unlucky man to the hospital.
Afterward, a few security guards came to Area 2 to ask about the specifics of the situation.
"I don't know either. He was just over there reading. One minute he was fine, and the next he started convulsing and foaming at the mouth... It nearly scared me to death."
Xia He explained to the security guards with a troubled look on his face.
"Aren't there any security cameras?"
Qin Yang couldn't help but interject.
The security captain's expression turned ugly. "The spot where he was sitting is a blind spot for the cameras."
He could only pray that this incident had nothing to do with the library.
Otherwise, if the library management blamed him, he wouldn't be able to keep his job as security captain.
"Qin Yang, you don't think that guy is gonna croak, do you?"
Xia He looked thoroughly shaken; the man's sudden collapse had clearly frightened him.
The incident happened in the area he was responsible for. If something bad happened, he would probably be held accountable and might even be fired from the library.
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"
"He collapsed on your turf, after all."
Qin Yang rolled his eyes, but his gaze swept across the library's ceiling.
'A spider?'
'Did the man see things, or was he really bitten by a spider?'