Recalling the nice reward he'd gotten from squashing the "undead cockroach" last time.
Qin Yang, unwilling to give up, searched carefully once more.
A moment later, Qin Yang returned to his seat, crestfallen.
He had searched all of Library Zone 1 and Zone 2, only managing to slay two unlucky flies in a corner.
But this didn't trigger a system reward.
Ultimately, Qin Yang could only come to one conclusion.
'This insane system is spouting nonsense again.'
'A Beast Emperor in the library? How is that possible?'
'What is a Beast Emperor?'
'It's an existence even more terrifying than a Beast King!'
'In terms of power, a Beast Emperor is a Star Beast even stronger than a human Grandmaster.'
'If there really were a Beast Emperor in this library, not a single person here would be able to escape.'
At that thought, Qin Yang couldn't be bothered to deal with this idiotic system anymore.
'If there really is a Beast Emperor, I wouldn't be able to escape with my pathetic level of strength anyway.'
The more he thought about it, the more frustrated Qin Yang became. 'How did I get stuck with such an unreliable system?'
"Ding! A Beast Emperor's presence has been detected. Host, are you not going to flee? Do you have a death wish?"
"With your current strength, Host, you are no match for the Beast Emperor!"
"Host, you must not overestimate yourself and throw your life away!"
Seeing that Qin Yang wasn't moving, the system's tone grew urgent.
It urged him on relentlessly, its tone tinged with a hint of frustration at his inaction.
'What a complete moron...'
Qin Yang rolled his eyes, cursing inwardly.
After the system's commotion, he lost all interest in reading and snapped the Seven-Star Movement Technique manual shut.
The moment Qin Yang closed the book, a blood-red glint flashed in the eyes of the small purple spider dangling above him. It then scurried up a thin strand of silk and vanished into the ceiling.
"Finally, some peace and quiet..."
After stepping outside for a smoke, the system's alerts finally stopped, and Qin Yang breathed a sigh of relief.
'If that dumbass system had kept at it, I really would have had a breakdown.'
Time flew, and soon it was noon.
Qin Yang headed straight for the cafeteria.
'If you're not passionate about food, you've got problems.'
As a dedicated foodie, Qin Yang was almost always the first to arrive at the cafeteria.
'That guy Xia He didn't even show up for work today.'
'Looks like he really had a wild time last night...'
By the end of the workday, Qin Yang still hadn't seen a trace of Xia He.
The next morning, Xia He finally appeared.
"What happened to you? Did you get your kidney stolen?"
Watching Xia He limp in, Qin Yang couldn't help but ask.
'Did this guy run into a honeytrap last night?'
Xia He looked completely despondent. "Don't even get me started. I've had the worst luck of my past eight lifetimes."
Then, Xia He explained why he'd skipped work the day before.
The night before last, Xia He had indeed gone to Platinum Han and even called over a couple of pretty girls.
Only, before he could get to the fun part, he was caught in an anti-vice raid by the Star Martial Police Bureau.
He spent the night in a holding cell, and it wasn't until Mr. Xia came to bail him out the next day that he was released.
After he got home, Mr. Xia pulled out his Seven Wolves belt and gave Xia He a taste of what he called "deep paternal love."
"My dad was brutal! He almost beat me to death!" Xia He grimaced, looking completely miserable.
"It's tough love, you know..."
Qin Yang offered empty platitudes, but inwardly he was thinking, 'If I were your dad, I'd have hit you even harder!'
Xia He's misadventure was just a minor interruption in Qin Yang's laid-back life at the library.
After that, Qin Yang's life returned to its usual tranquility.
He went to work to read, ate with gusto, and practiced his Martial Arts after his shift.
The very picture of self-discipline!
...
One day, Qin Yang was reading in Zone 1, his assigned section.
He was holding a book titled *Star Beast Compendium*.
Star Beasts came into being when ordinary animals absorbed the Power of Stars, activating a latent bloodline within them. This triggered a metamorphosis, granting them all sorts of strange abilities.
These abilities were bizarre and varied in power.
There were terrifying Star Beasts born with innate control over supernatural forces like wind, fire, thunder, and lightning.
Some could even transform into human form, possessing high intelligence and lurking within the human world.
But what humanity feared most were the powerful Star Beasts that possessed both terrifying destructive capabilities and a savage, violent nature.
The appearance of such a Star Beast in the human world was guaranteed to trigger a catastrophe.
When Star Beasts on the level of a Beast King or Beast Emperor appeared, not even humanity's conventional weapons could stop them. The only hope was for an Innate or Grandmaster-level expert to intervene.
"Hey, sir, are you okay?"
"What's wrong?"
"There's a... a spi...der..."
THUD!
"Qin Yang, hurry, come take a look!"
Just as Qin Yang was lost in the world of his book, Xia He's panicked voice suddenly rang out from the adjacent Zone 2.
'What's that guy getting into now?'
Qin Yang frowned, tossed his book aside, and hurried over to Zone 2.
"Sir, how are you feeling?"
A middle-aged man was collapsed on the floor. Xia He was squatting beside him, asking questions helplessly.
Qin Yang moved closer and saw that the man's face was turning purple. He was foaming at the mouth, and his entire body was convulsing.
'Is he having a fit?'
'Epilepsy?'
"Spi... spider..."
The middle-aged man just managed to force out the word before fainting.
'A spider?'
Qin Yang froze. His gaze then narrowed, focusing on 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 poisonous spider?'
'Is this guy going to turn into Spider-Man?'
"What are you spacing out for? Call an ambulance!"
A man's life was on the line; there was no time to think. Qin Yang kicked the stunned Xia He, then went to notify library security.
A short while later, an ambulance arrived and transported the unlucky man to the hospital.
Afterward, a few security guards came to Zone 2 to inquire about the situation.
"I don't know, either. He was just over there reading, seemed perfectly fine, and then he suddenly started convulsing and foaming at the mouth... It nearly scared me to death."
Xia He explained to the security guards, his expression glum.
"Aren't there any security cameras?"
Qin Yang couldn't help but chime in.
"The spot where he was sitting is a camera blind spot," the head of security said, his expression grim.
He could only pray that the library wouldn't be held responsible for the incident.
Otherwise, if the library's leadership held him accountable, he'd be out of a job.
"Qin Yang, you don't think that guy is going to... croak, do you?"
Xia He looked shaken, clearly frightened by the man's sudden collapse.
The incident had happened in his section. If the man died, he'd probably be held responsible, maybe even fired.
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"
"It happened on your watch, after all."
Qin Yang rolled his eyes, but his gaze swept over the library's ceiling.
'A spider?'
'Did the man just imagine it, or was he really bitten by a spider?'