"The whole area beyond this point is under surveillance. If you feel like someone is looking at you, it’s because of that ability."

Serena opened the gate to the underground section. The lights flickering above their heads dimmed once in a while, and there was a noticeable increase in humidity.

It was already hot outside, and with no air conditioning, this place felt like a furnace threatening to burn him alive.

"Is it even possible to stay alive under such conditions? Isn’t it boiling hot?"

"You will find that humans are often far more resilient creatures than expected. The conditions in which we thrive are different as well."

"Well, that’s true. But I was more concerned about the condition of the books. Won’t the humidity ruin them?"

"Oh, that’s what you meant? I almost took your words the wrong way. Anyway, I should also apologize for testing you like this. But you’ll need this patience if you want to face our librarian."

Serena warned them, and the humidity slowly started to ease. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that the place had become freezing instead.

Ice had formed on the ground in front of them, and it seemed barely contained behind the door.

"If you’ve come here to harm my books, then I’ll freeze you. Enter further at your own risk."

A far-too-young voice spoke emotionlessly.

Rin was no stranger to child soldiers at this point. They were in the middle of an apocalypse, and expecting children not to protect themselves would be a foolish endeavor.

Most of the young and elderly population had perished, but those who survived were truly remarkable individuals who had adapted to this new world. So they deserved to be treated with the same respect as everyone else.

But looking at the face of the six-year-old girl staring back at them, it was hard not to give in to human instinct and feel sorry for her.

Since they could neither show too much sympathy nor start the conversation without sounding rude, Rin and his party continued to stare at her.

The librarian, on the other hand, walked toward Rin and reached for his chest with a curious expression.

"Since you have nothing to say to me, then I’ll look for it myself. I’ll search for proof of what you want from me."

Rin instinctively flinched. He had a feeling that letting himself be touched by that little girl would not benefit either of them.

But the more he avoided her, the more determined the librarian became. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"What are you hiding? Show it to me. Serena, help me."

Shelly grabbed the small librarian the second she reached for Rin. It looked like a stalemate, but one side clearly had more leverage than the other.

"We have your librarian. Can you please let Rin go now?"

"Hmm, but would you be able to make it out of here alive after touching our librarian? There might be three top rankers here, but we have the advantage in numbers."

Well, in terms of raw power, Rin alone could take out this entire establishment, but Madam Yao was signaling for him to stand down. She must have had a plan in mind.

Rin trusted her to do the right thing since Alex’s core was involved.

"Alright, since both sides have made their positions clear, let’s compromise. Rin, allow her to try and read your memories. But in return, she must not try to read anyone else. Is that a deal?"

"Well-"

"Deal."

Serena sensed the trap and tried to interfere, but the child under her care was far too excited to listen.

Rin was usually not one to agree so easily, but the final nail in the coffin was the system’s reassurance.

[Rookie, this system has a 100% no-outsiders policy. Your memories are the system’s memories. Emergency external-block protocol will be implemented.]

"Shelly, you can let her go now."

Rin signaled the pink-haired girl. Shelly looked visibly upset but followed his lead.

And the librarian wasted no time taking advantage of the situation.

"Hey, now show me your story."

The librarian reached for Rin’s chest and then paused with a frustrated expression.

"Huh? Why can’t I see anything? This is not right. What did you do? Hey, let me see-!"

"It looks like you are unable to see anything, Miss. As per our agreement, you will stop trying to look into us now, right? You made a promise, so now you have to keep it."

Madam Yao knelt in front of the young girl and patted her on the back.

That only frustrated the young girl enough to make her curse.

"Ugh! Why you-! You tricked me! How dare you trick me? I won’t forgive this humiliation."

The girl raged, only for Madam Yao to grin back at her.

"I am sure it’s frustrating, little girl. Welcome to the adult world. I’m sure you’ll be more careful with your next mistake."

"Serena, kick this rude lady out. I don’t like her."

Serena rubbed her forehead slowly as she considered what to say next and whose side to take. But she ultimately made a decision and placed a hand on the young girl’s shoulder.

"Librarian, you know our boss’s rules, right? If you make a mistake, then you need to own up to it as well."

The librarian looked like she wanted to cry. There was a twisted mix of worry and delight on her scrunched-up face.

"Ugh, I really don’t want to help. These people are weird, and you are becoming weird because of them too. I don’t like it."

The more they tried to coax the librarian, the more she seemed to shy away from their touch.

Rin looked at Albus, wondering if his ’protagonist’ charm could coax the child into cooperating. But Albus looked just as clueless as everyone else.

Madam Yao, who had the most experience with children, had caused this situation in the first place, so asking her to fix it did not seem like the right choice.

That left Reina and Shelly, and one of them was certainly better at handling children.

But Reina looked uncomfortable, so Rin decided to step forward himself to smooth things over.

"Hey, why don’t we reach a compromise-"

"Actually, can you leave it to me? I can try to coax the kid if you want me to."

Shelly’s offer was unexpected, and even Rin looked at her in shock. But Shelly looked confident, which made him want to trust her.