IWBL: Chapter 230

Xiao Li didn’t tell all of his stories. After all, these stories were too long and it was estimated that he would need to write a list. From these stories, he randomly selected a few representative examples such as respecting the elderly, loving the young and helping a young girl find her own ‘body’…

Wang Huai, who had seen the forum and knew the truth, had an expression: ‘subway, old man, mobile phone.’ (TL: It seems to be a popular meme/emoticon in China)

He was standing closest to Xiao Li and watched attentively as the live broadcast room grew in popularity and there was a sharp increase in the barrage. The barrage screen might be mostly full of confused question marks and angry curses but this didn’t stop Sherlock from being popular.

Tut, this was really—

Wang Huai shook his head.

Wang Huai had actually figured out how to stand out at this welcome party. In fact, the truth was very simple as long as they realized that this broadcast, this program was for ghosts, not humans. They just needed to master this core idea.

The previous people might have described the reasons for their sentencing and tried to exonerate themselves, but they ignored this fact. The reason for exoneration was based on the viewpoint of a human but these ‘reviewers’ were ghosts. The careful thoughts that worked for humans weren’t feasible for them.

From this perspective, the opposite was true. The thing they should do was to exaggerate their crimes. If they killed one person then they should kill two, indirectly making a fault in order to please the ghosts. This completely opposite way would earn popularity.

The rules might require them to ‘defend’ their crime but they could start from another angle, which was to add to their crimes. Who said that adding a crime wasn’t a defense? For example, the first Yu You. He completely focused on why he killed his wife. This might not conform with the moral views of humans and even ran counter to some of the barrages but this was the trap of the welcome party.

Whitewashers would only provoke certain ghosts that had the ‘same viewpoint as humanity’. However, this was a minority. Most of the silent ghosts were killers.

Wang Huai could completely fake his crime to get first place but this was on the premise that there was no Sherlock among the prisoners. Sherlock single-handedly turned this quick-witted winning method into a contest of absurd stories.

Fake crimes couldn’t beat him because Sherlock was telling the truth. In a sense, he might be whitewashing himself but the victimized ghosts on the barrage were angrily telling their tragic experiences and helping him ‘exaggerate the crime.’

Wang Huai clearly knew that he couldn’t beat Sherlock so he didn’t even bother to struggle. As he did so many times after meeting Sherlock, it was better to sit beside him and be a salted fish. After all, in this type of game, why work when he could lie down and win?

Thinking for himself, carrying the big beam on his own, being burdened with the lives of himself and other people… this type of psychological burden couldn’t be imagined by ordinary people. Therefore, most of the bigshots were a bit gloomy and psychologically pressured. Most of them were a bit abnormal.

It wasn’t just Wang Huai looking at the barrage. Even the jailer in the distance seemed to be in a trance for a moment. It seemed that there had never been such a scene since the adjudication prison started cooperating with this supernatural variety show…

After Xiao Li, apart from a few old prisoners who went up, the reincarnators decided not to do anything and just casually told a story.

One reason was that they were afraid of being targeted by ghosts. The other reason was that experienced reincarnators knew the importance of keeping alive. In an instance world, there was no need to do things that they weren’t sure about. In addition, Sherlock had always been considered a bigshot with a good reputation, unlike those people in the Judges. Therefore, the reincarnators made such a choice.

The thing that made Wang Huai feel strange was that the Moss duo chose to give up. After taking to the stage, they ended their statements in just three sentences. This wasn’t like Moss’s personality…

Moss and Mo Di were the last two people to go up. The moment they had finished speaking, their eyes met Wang Huai’s eyes. Moss looked away and didn’t greet Old Wang, who was at the top of the reincarnator rankings.

10 minutes later, the results of the popular broadcast room came out. It was as Wang Huai expected. Sherlock was undoubtedly number one. Then the broadcast was heard again. “The most popular person can enter the library for an hour. It will take effect immediately.”

Xiao Li raised the communicator device in his hand and waited a while for a guide. He looked around before asking the radio, “No one is going to take me?”

The broadcast didn’t respond. It seemed this was the answer of the adjudication prison. Xiao Li had some regrets. He had just been imagining how he would be led over by the jailer. If he fell asleep again then he might’ve been treated as a sandbag. This scene was too exciting.

Xiao Li thought so as he looked up at the beehive-like building in front of him. He wanted to see the figure of the jailer but to his disappointment, he couldn’t glimpse them with the naked eye. Xiao Li turned his scattered thinking to imagine such a scene. He also deliberately upgraded it.

As everyone fell on the ground asleep, the jailer grabbed him, carried him on its shoulders and walked toward the library. In addition, if he was a big, fat guy then four jailers would be needed. One to grasp the feet, one for the hands, one for the legs…

Black men carrying the coffin.JPG.

If this was broadcasted live, Xiao Li believed the ratings would be very high. Unfortunately, the jailer didn’t appear from beginning to end in his welcome party. Not a single one of them. It seemed that the adjudication prison didn’t intend to do such a friendly performance on this entertainment program.

***

At the end of the library passage, Xiao Li stood alone at the door. There were other people standing with him. They came with Xiao Li but as long as they were here, the entrance of the library was just a smooth wall.

Zheng Yi looked to the left and right. He confirmed there was no mechanism on the wall and asked Xiao Li, “Sherlock, do you have a key that suddenly appeared on your body? Or a chant or something.”

Xiao Li replied ,”Yes.”

Zheng Yi immediately became excited. “What is it?”

He saw that Xiao Li didn’t intend to pull out a key and determined it was his second guess. “A chant?”

Xiao Li told him, “Yes, open sesame.”

“Open sesa—” Zheng Yi’s repetition abruptly stopped as he realized Xiao Li’s joke.

“…It isn’t a chant? I almost repeated it just now,” Zheng Yi complained pitifully.

Xiao Li coughed lightly. “There is no chant and no key. The reason should be that you are all here.”

He didn’t express it bluntly but everyone understood what he meant.

“Okay, we will leave first. You go in.” Ye Zeqing stated. “Be careful.”

His eyes scanned Zheng Yi with contempt as he spoke. He wanted to show how caring he was and how low Zheng Yi’s IQ was. Zheng Yi tried several times to refute it but he was silent. He really hadn’t used his mind just now.

Shen Chenzhi squeezed Xiao Li’s hand. “I’m leaving first. Call me if you have something.”

Xiao Li’s lips curled up. “Is it useful to call you here?”

Shen Chenzhi replied earnestly, “I can feel it.”

Then he would come over. At any time, any dimension, any world.

Xiao Li didn’t speak. He just waved his hand to signal for Shen Chenzhi to leave. It wasn’t until they left and Xiao Li was left alone that the wall in front of him reacted. It consciously floated and a wide door seemed to pass through infinite obstacles to appear in front of him, waiting for him to push it open.

Xiao Li didn’t directly enter. It was just to the conversation that suddenly appeared in his mind after the other reincarnators left.

[Shh, don’t make an obvious reaction. Act like nothing is happening.]

Xiao Li was silent for a moment as he recognized the owner of this voice. He spoke in his mind: [Pseudo-Logoi?]

[It seems that you still remember me. He left and so I have a chance to appear.]

Xiao Li thought this ‘him’ was the jailer and he thought: [Why are you looking for me?]

The god of lies: [Actually, it isn’t anything serious. The place you are about to enter is the oldest library in the entire universe. There are many secrets recorded in it that you can’t see.]

[…I can go in for an hour.]

Pseudo-Logoi: [No, the books inside are a vast sea of stars. Even if I go in and don’t use my divine power, I would need an hour to find what I am looking for, let alone a human like you.]

[However, I can help you and give you the information you want most now.]

[As long as you agree and make a deal with me.]

Xiao Li didn’t answer. [Can you come in? Isn’t this a neutral organization?]

[I cheated the rules. It is difficult to change the rules but it is simple to say something while ‘he’ isn’t paying attention.] Pseudo-Logoi answered with a smile. [How about it? It is a bargain. I can even let you know how to change the fate of your world.]

[Of course, there is also the existence of the task book in your hand. Aren’t you curious about who he is?]

Xiao Li took a step at this time, his hand pushing open the door to the library. He spoke coldly and with a bit of arrogance: [Thank you but there is no need. I’m not curious.]

Who would want to make a deal with the god of lies? The simpler he spoke, the more complicated the truth behind it might be. He might not have said a single word of truth.

Before Pseudo-Logoi had time to confuse him with more words, Xiao Li entered the library and completely cut off contact with him.

***

The library was huge. It wasn’t a library in a real sense. It had no bookshelves, no physical books and no paper. If he had to use a metaphor to describe it, this place was more like a starry sky. The background was night and the bright nebula was suspended in the universe, beautiful and dazzling.

The moment he walked inside, it felt like he was in the universe. There were no books here, only a sky full of stars. from time to time, there would be a dazzling brilliance falling down like a meteor.

Due to the time limit, Xiao Li never stopped. He reached out a hand to grab a halo. The moment he touched it, he felt a whirlpool of thoughts flood into his mind. His mind moved and a brand-new piece of knowledge appeared in it.

This first sentence immediately stunned Xiao Li. If it was released, it would definitely cause an uproar and he would even be chased by certain gods.

[The so-called gods are just powerful ghosts.]

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Proofreader: Tofu