Chapter 253: 1.5-34

As Melting Snow stared at the number displayed for the total of books he collected thus far in complete and utter confusion, he couldn't help but think the game might be bugged. That would be the only explanation why, after filling up six shelves, the quest counter would say that he only put back two.

'There's no way this quest is bugged; if it was then, it wouldn't have counted any of the books.' Rubbing his chin, Melting Snow thoughtfully looked at the shelves. 'Maybe I should read the quest once again. I could have missed something.'

Glancing away from the bookcase, the furry-eared boy turned his focus back on the transparent blue screen that was in front of him. Using his finger, Melting Snow scrolled upward so that he could reread the quest from the beginning.

[You have angered Pan Yingjie, and he has given you approximately 1 hour to fix the bookcase and organize the books. Each book must be put in its 'PROPER' place. No one can offer you help!]

After rereading the quest description once again, Melting Snow realized his mistake. He thought that the NPC just wanted the books to be put back neatly, but he should have known that it couldn't be as simple as that.

His understanding from that second reading was that the Pan Yingjie wanted him to the books back in the exact order they were in before they fell. With how rare this quest is, that would make more sense than what he was doing.

But even if the difficulty of this quest made sense, Melting Snow still didn't know how he would be able to complete it. 'Omg, I can't believe this! How will I know where they go? I'm not a librarian.'

Sighing softly to himself, Melting Snow picked up one of the books nearest to him and began thoroughly searching it. Tapping into the knowledge he gained from doing multiple quests, he knew that NPCs wouldn't just tell a player to do some sort of outlandish thing above their skill level without leaving a hint.

However, the only thing he could find was five lines of letters and numbers written very tiny on the book's back cover. And after checking a few of the others, Melting Snow saw that they had the numbers there as well.

This didn't help him, though; it only confused him more. Melting Snow was a 23rd-century boy, after all. He has no idea what the numbers on the back of the book meant since all books can now be read digitally.

Melting Snow began racking his brain, trying to come up with an idea on how to put the books back in their precise place. While he was thinking, he so happened to catch a glimpse of the quest timer.

[Time left: 36 minutes 48 seconds]

'Oh crap, what to do? My time is going to run out before I think of anything.' Melting Snow inwardly screamed as he tugged on his ears in worry.

The grey-eyed boy was starting to panic; he didn't know what he should do at all. Melting Snow knew that if he failed this quest, it would be over; he and Drifting Cloud would be kicked out of this place.

'Drifting Cloud, that's right! I can ask him for help.' Melting Snow could slap himself for being so stupid. Although he couldn't get any physical help on the quest doesn't mean he couldn't get mental.

Quick as he could, Melting Snow opened the party chat function and connected the voice chat.

'Come on, Drifting Cloud, hurry, and pickup.'

~

As soon as Xinya got back to his table, he put himself to work, copying all the useful material from the books the librarian had gathered for him. Even though he had great hope that Melting Snow could complete his task, there was still a sliver of doubt.

So using his time wisely, Xinya deviated his time from taking pictures of certain important pages to taking shorthand on things that might not be so important.

While he was reading about why an established lucerne will survive, even a scorching burn because of the massive underground root reserves and growing points, he got a voice call through party chat.

Knowing that it could only be Melting Snow, Xinya hurriedly picked up the call and answered.

"Hello?"

~

"Drifting Cloud, I need your help!! When that librarian NPC said to put the books back, he didn't mean just to put them back neatly in place; he wanted them in exact order!" exclaimed Melting Snow in a panic tone.

"Calm down, we will figure this out," Xinya replied soothingly. He had a feeling that the NPC would pull some sneaky trick, and he was right.

Listening to what the green-eyed man said, Melting Snow, started to calm down. If the man was this calm, he must have some idea of how to help him.

After giving the matter some thought, Xinya asks, "Do the books have call numbers on them?"

"Call numbers? What is that?" asked Melting Snow, totally bewildered.

Xinya should have expected this. No one, especially a young boy of Melting Snow's age, would know an obscure library system from hundreds of years ago.

"A call number is an address on books that help people locate materials in the library." Xinya sighed, "But since you had to ask, there's no point in going that route."

"Then what should I do?"

Xinya wondered that too. Since he needs the boy to complete his quest, he needs to think hard. Suddenly an idea hit him, it was a stupid one, but he knew it could work.

"Melting Snow, I got an idea, but first, I need you to remove all the books, if any, you already put on the shelf. Then, using your fastest speed, I want you to try all the books one at a time in a spot until the quest says the book counted for your quest. You are going to have to do that over and over again until the entire shelf is filled. Is that something you can do?" asked Xinya.

Melting Snow thought about his friend's plan and had to agree it was a stupid idea, but he also knew it would work. "Yeah, I can do it. Thank you so much for the idea. I'm going to go start on it right now!"

Before Xinya could even reply, Melting Snow had already hung up the call and started taking the books off the shelves.

"I didn't even get to ask about how he will be reaching the top shelves of the bookcase," Xinya said softly before going back to his books.