Stranger Danger

“It’s here!”

Ye Qing was resting and waiting on the third floor until the commotion began. He opened his eyes, and Kung Fu Frog leaped to its feet. Sounds like a kid, he deduced after listening for a bit.

“Time to go downstairs and pay our mysterious ghost a visit, Brother Frog!” Ye Qing whispered as he gently opened the door. After Kung Fu Frog had leaped onto his shoulder, he slipped out without a sound and reached the first floor in just a matter of seconds.

Ye Qing thought he was stealthy enough, but the sound vanished as soon as he reached the main hall. All was silent as if nothing had happened.

“It’s pretty alert, isn’t it?” A small smile crept on Ye Qing’s face as he felt around with his senses. Strangely, he could not sense any discomfiting aura in the bookstore. The fact that the ghost sounded crisp, clear and bright also contradicted the claims that a ghost was haunting this bookstore.

“Croak croak!”

Suddenly, Kung Fu Frog leaped off his shoulder and made a grab for a book on the bookshelf to his right. It was then Ye Qing heard someone crying, “Wah!” before a palm-sized, shadowy silhouette vanished in a flash of light.

“Croak…”

The silhouette was fast, but Kung Fu Frog wasn’t slow either. As soon as the silhouette disappeared, it kicked off the bookshelf and launched itself toward a different book.

“Wah! Wah!” The shadowy silhouette cried out again before leaving the book and vanishing once more. It sounded just like a human.

The shadowy silhouette was formless, shapeless, and seemingly capable of teleportation. Forget sensing it, he couldn’t even identify the direction in which it had disappeared to. The same could not be said for Kung Fu Frog, however. Perhaps it was because a Stranger’s senses were different from a human’s, but no matter how many times the silhouette vanished seemingly into thin air, Kung Fu Frog could always perceive it and chase it down in the next instant.

What happened next felt nothing like a ghost hunt and everything like a cat-and-mouse game, though in this case it was a frog and a “ghost”. The frog kept croaking and jumping all over the bookstore to catch the silhouette, while the “ghost” kept crying in alarm and teleporting away from it. The atmosphere was honestly more cheerful than solemn, not least because Kung Fu Frog clearly wasn’t going all out. Ye Qing could tell that it was just toying with the silhouette.

A bookstore… a ‘ghost’ who recites books at midnight… it looks kinda humanoid, and it’s capable of teleportation… Ye Qing slowly pieced together the clues while rubbing his nose and observing the fleeing silhouette. It was at this moment the answer came to him.

“I know who you are!” Ye Qing’s lips curled into a wicked smile. “You can come back now, Brother Frog!”

“Croak?” Kung Fu Frog skidded to a stop and shot him a look of confusion. The small delay was all the silhouette needed to disappear once more and let out a peal of childish laughter. “Stupid! Stupid! You can’t catch me because you’re stupid!”

“Heh…” Ye Qing chuckled and patted Kung Fu Frog comfortingly after his friend had returned to his shoulder. “It’s true that I can’t catch you, but I can kill you, you know?”

“Liar! Liar!” The childish voice taunted.

“Don’t believe me?” Ye Qing’s smile widened as he declared, “Tell me then, what happens if I burn every book in this bookstore?”

It was like someone had pressed the mute button. Dead silence abruptly filled the bookstore.

“Why so quiet? You were having so much fun calling me stupid, weren’t you?” Ye Qing asked casually, “I know exactly what you are, I know your true body is probably somewhere in a room on the second floor! That should be enough for you to know that my threat is no idle threat!”

“Show yourself, and I may yet decide to let you live. Stay hidden, and I will burn every book in this bookstore!”

Again, there was naught but dead silence. A few seconds later, Ye Qing decided that a bigger push was necessary and threatened, “You’re really not going to come out? I’m a man of my word, you know. I will burn the books if you don’t come out. On the count of three… two…”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

He didn’t manage to say one before a wail broke out, and the air on a certain bookshelf abruptly twisted as if grabbed by an invisible hand. The next moment, a palm-sized young girl wearing a twintail and a dress with black-and-white sleeves popped into view. Right now, the girl was sitting atop a book and letting out a heartbroken cry.

“...”

Ye Qing was a bit speechless, to be honest. He was sure that his threat would work, but it would seem that it had worked a little too well. You’re a Stranger, dammit. Where is your pride? You’re making me look like the bad guy!

That’s right. The “ghost” haunting the bookstore was none other than a Stranger, a “Book Sprite” to be exact. Born from the essence of the literary fate of a literary place, a Book Sprite was a pure-hearted, book-loving Stranger that was exceptionally knowledgeable in most areas of studies and capable of human speech.

Despite being Mundane-class and completely useless in combat, a Book Sprite was as rare as it was valuable, not least because the conditions necessary to bring about its birth were exceptionally stringent. For starters, it could only be born from a famous orphan work. Two, its place of birth must possess rich cultural flavor and immense wealth of knowledge. They must possess a strong fate for the literary so to speak. Three, its place of birth must be free from taint and evil spirits, and the owner, their family and even their relatives must be good people. Four, it took decades or even centuries for a Book Sprite to be born. And five, it was a matter of luck whether a Book Sprite would be born even if all of the above conditions were met, which made it near impossible to nurture a Book Sprite on purpose. It was why only literary and/or virtuous families stood a chance of giving birth to a Book Sprite.

Although a Book Sprite was harmless and useless in combat, it was by no means a powerless creature. Born from the essence of the literary fate of a literary place, it was naturally blessed with unparalleled knowledge and exceptional literary fate. Even better, it could improve another person’s fate and talent in the literary department. Listening to its recital could enhance one’s memory, improve one’s fate, clear one’s mind, and enable one to focus absolutely on a certain task without being distracted. Invaluable to anyone and especially a scholar, there was no literary and/or virtuous family who didn’t take pride in the fact that they owned a Book Sprite!

But of course, a Book Sprite also had its glaring weakness. For one, its true body was that of a book, so it was ludicrously fragile to put it mildly. It would die if its true body suffered extensive damage. Two, a Book Sprite could not travel too far away from its true body. This was how Ye Qing determined that the Book Sprite’s true body was in a room on the second floor and used that information to threaten the female Book Sprite to show itself.

Frankly, Ye Qing wasn’t expecting Endless Horizons to possess a Book Sprite. It was probably due to its long and storied literary history. As a bookstore that was easily over a hundred years old, it had naturally amassed an incredible amount of priceless orphan works. Not only that, it had never had a black-hearted owner. Finally, it was a famous location of literature and culture in Anyang. All these conditions had ultimately resulted in the birth of a Book Sprite.

Unfortunately for the previous owner, he must not read a lot of books in his time. He had mistaken it for a ghost-type Stranger and sold his heritage and the Book Sprite to Ye Qing. 𝑏𝑒𝑑𝘯𝑜𝘷𝑒𝑙．𝑐𝘰𝘮

Ye Qing didn’t care for the Book Sprite’s ability to improve one’s literary fate. After all, he wasn’t a licentiate trying to become the top scorer in the palace examination. What he desired was her unparalleled knowledge—even though it was a bit of an exaggeration on the author’s part. A Book Sprite was naturally familiar with all the books within its birthplace as it was born from the essence of its literary fate, but that was it. She didn’t know any book that Endless Horizons did not possess.

Ye Qing was completely fine with this though. “Just” all the books within Endless Horizons was good enough for him. After all, knowledge was power!

Back in the present, Ye Qing tried to calm down the girl after noticing that she wasn’t going to stop crying anytime soon, “Alright, enough. If you keep this up, you’re going to flood the bookstore with your tears!”

The young girl spread her fingers a little and took a peek. When she realized that her tears hadn’t even wetted the book beneath her butt, she scrunched up her face and cried, “Liar! Liar!”

Then, she began bawling again.

Deeply amused, Ye Qing replied, “Fine, fine! I promise I won’t burn you, so will you please stop crying already?”

“Really?” The young girl asked timidly while rubbing her reddened eyes.

Ye Qing chuckled. “I would never burn a cute little girl like you. It was just a lie to get you to show yourself!”

“Hmph! Liar!” she complained again. The Book Sprite had finally stopped crying, but she was still holding back a sob as evident from the occasional twitch of her shoulders.

Ye Qing continued, “Not only that, I give you my word that you are free to read your books whenever you want. You no longer have to sneak out during the night to read them. What do you say?”

Her eyes lit up immediately. “Really?”

“Really!”

“Yay! You’re a good human!” The young girl was so happy she forgot her sorrows and hopped on her feet. She had completely forgotten who was the bastard who made her cry in the first place.

“That said, I want you to do something for me in return. Is that okay?” said Ye Qing smilingly. His eyes narrowed like that of a fox who was observing its prey.

“What do you want?” The young girl asked innocently.

Ye Qing answered slowly, “I want you to read me a book for me every night. Additionally, I get to pick the genre. What do you say?”

The young girl tilted her head and thought for a moment. Since the arrangement did not sound disadvantageous to her, she nodded and said simply, “Okay!”

A smile spread across Ye Qing’s lips then. The reason he requested this was because he wanted to make use of her ability to enhance one’s memory and clear one’s mind, of course. For one, it would aid him in memorizing the contents of a book in the shortest amount of time possible. Two, it would save him from the need to read the book himself. And third, it would bring him and the Book Sprite closer.

Having gotten what he wanted, Ye Qing gave the Book Sprite a wave and said smilingly, “Alright, you can read your books now. I’m going to bed.”

“Hurray! That’s wonderful! You’re a very good human!” The young girl chirped happily while jumping up and down. She even started flying in and out of the books in excitement.

“Oh right, I almost forgot!” Ye Qing had already taken a few steps toward the stairs when he recalled something. “My name is Ye Qing. What is your name?”

“My name?” The young girl stopped flying and started biting her finger. She sounded surprisingly gloomy as she replied, “I don’t have a name!”

Ye Qing asked, “Do you want me to name you then? I swear I’m incredibly gifted at coming up with names!”

The young girl looked doubtful. “Really?”

Ye Qing thought carefully as he rubbed his nose habitually. A long time later, he said, “Since you’re born from a book, and your birthplace is Endless Horizons… let’s call you Wah Wah with a ‘h’ at the end!”

She was small and cute and had the tendency to cry “Wah!” whenever she was startled. Hence, Wah Wah was the perfect name for her!

However, Ye Qing changed his mind as soon as the words tumbled out of his mouth. “Actually, wait, Wah Wah is a little blatant… Let’s call you Wawa instead. In my prev—I mean, my hometown, Wawa means ‘little girl’ and ‘the return of spring’. It sounds poetic, doesn’t it?”

“Wawa?” The young girl bit her lip and mulled over the name. A short while later, she abruptly broke out in joyful laughter and chirped, “Wawa has a name! Wawa has a name now! I’m so happy!”

Suddenly, Ye Qing’s mouth curled into a foxy smile. “Since I’m such a good friend, how about I do you another favor, Wawa?”

“What favor?” Wawa asked puzzledly.

“I can take care of your true body for you.”

“No way!” Wawa replied without hesitation and watched Ye Qing warily.

Unaffected by her gaze, Ye Qing implored good-naturedly, “I’m doing this for your sake, Wawa. Just think. As a book, you’re so fragile that even a bug can hurt you, and if a rat decides that you look delicious, well, I wouldn’t be seeing you anymore. Do you really want that to happen?”

“Wah? Bugs? Rats?” Wawa abruptly turned deathly white as if recalling some terrible memory. She hesitated for a long time, but in the end, she acquiesced and said, “O-okay.”

After Wawa took Ye Qing to a room on the second floor, a book flew out of a bookshelf and landed in her hands. She reluctantly handed it to Ye Qing while instructing with a serious expression, “But you have to take very good care of Wawa, okay friend? You mustn’t let me be bitten by a bug, and definitely not by a rat!”

“I promise!” Ye Qing’s grin widened as he accepted the book. With Wawa’s true body in his possession, he could ensure her safety and more importantly, make certain that she would never be able to escape his grasp.

Muahahaha…