Chapter 321 Hiding in hiding (3)
As everyone knows, the Jingsha city-state is one of the oldest existing forces in the Shendong Realm, and its prototype can even be traced back to the distant era before the Candlelight Calendar.
Over thousands of years, Jingsha has naturally accumulated a wealth of experience unimaginable to countless young forces. This wealth includes history, culture, customs, technology, and the inevitable—
case.
While Jingsha is a paradise, it's not a paradise. The multiracial environment is bound to create constant conflicts. Even with the most dedicated Divine Guards, incidents will inevitably arise. The average lifespan of the city-state's citizens is quite long, with a few immortals living for 1,800 years being common. Furthermore, the city-state's civil servants are notoriously inefficient, which inevitably leads to extended trial periods.
It's not uncommon for a murder investigation to take ten years, and cases stretching back a century are not uncommon. Some long-lived citizens, however, hold grudges and will even go to great lengths to collect petitions seeking re-examinations of cases dating back decades or even centuries, causing considerable headaches for the Supreme Court at Mansa Star Castle.
Officials were forced to preserve case materials for extended periods of time, just in case they were needed. The length of this "permanence" was specifically stipulated in the Jingsha Law: 100 years for civil cases, 250 years for criminal cases, 500 years for major criminal cases, and 500 years for highly confidential cases involving foreign affairs, military affairs, and internal affairs.
In order to preserve such a terrifying mountain of documents and files, Jingsha had no choice but to allocate funds to establish a special institution for the safekeeping of case materials. This is the "Jingsha Major and Above Case Written Materials Closed Storage Vault" located in the First Lineage Mansa Star Fort.
Abbreviated as "Big Library".
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"I always thought that the Big Library was a big library." Ji Huaisu's eyes were dull.
"If you've looked at the map, you'll know that the largest library in Jingsha is in Shiwensangai, just four stops away from our bookstore. Any institution established in Mansa Star Castle is closely related to 'business,' otherwise why would the gentlemen of the House of Lords be willing to give up their precious land?" said Vander. "But this library is really huge..."
The two of them were standing before a massive, pure white building. Oval in shape, it resembled the ancient Roman Colosseum, yet was dozens of times taller and larger. Its 257 floors formed a horizontal pattern along the outside of the cylinder, each composed of countless translucent cells, connected together like rows of giant insect eyes.
The library's administrators work in these small cubicles, ensuring complete transparency and oversight of data management. Only the cubicles above the 150th floor are closed; these are the "dust-sealed" sections of the library, confidential areas that must not be opened to the public without prior authorization.
"I heard from the Divine Guards that being a library administrator is the best and lucrative job in the industry. You can just sit in the office all day and get by, so those who can get the job are basically local residents of Mansa Star Castle." Chu Hengkong said.
"Master Jingsha is already a master, is there still a need to distinguish between masters among masters?"
"There are also so-called 'nobles' in the city-state." Chu Hengkong took out the tickets. "What should we do next? We only have enough tickets to go to the public level."
The public floors of the Great Library were open to the general public, and after the last war, they also accepted the business of burying letters, photos, and other materials. Vander had previously delayed going because he was waiting in line to get a ticket.
However, the Dust Layer would not be made public, and even the Divine Guards would have to go through a lengthy and complex application process to investigate. Chu Hengkong also had a letter from Cui Ke, which stated that the three of them were in the public interest and requested his assistance, but he doubted the usefulness of such a handwritten letter.
Fander's eyes rolled. "I think we should use Lao Cui's documents to explore the situation first. If that doesn't work... we can find a way ourselves."
"What is the penalty for trespassing into the dusty layer?" Ji Huaisu was more concerned about the law.
"It depends on the severity of the offense. The dusty section of the Great Library is on the same level as a military restricted area. If you just walked in and didn't do anything wrong, you'd just get a warning and a fine. But if you looked through important documents, you'd be charged..."
"What if I broke in and took away important documents?" Chu Hengkong asked.
"There's no doubt the circumstances are extremely serious and the nature of the case is extremely egregious. The minimum sentence is 20 years," said Fan De. "There's no need to go to such lengths just to read a book. If that doesn't work, we can just use some connections."
However, even Vander hadn't expected that they wouldn't even have a chance to find connections. After walking a few steps, they saw a dark mass in front of the Great Library. Looking further ahead, the crowd formed a zigzag maze like ants, with no end in sight.
A turtle team member slowly crawled over, and the pointer on its back pointed at a small dot a few hundred meters away, with the words "This is the end of the team" written on it.
"Please move and line up, three of you," the turtle team member said calmly.
Even Fander was dumbfounded: "Where did all these people come from?!"
"You know, the bill referendum is coming up soon." Team Turtle craned his neck. "Supporters want to find cases in the library to use as propaganda, while opponents want to find information that can help criticize the bill, so they're all crowding into the large library..."
“How long will this queue take?”
"Seven days, I guess. Actually, they know they can't make it, and they're just wasting time here just to slow down the other faction... Everyone's bored out of their minds, and since I can't see the information, neither can you..."
"No, this team won't be seven days long..." Ji Huaisu suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my god, this is amazing!"
Chu Hengkong looked at her from a distance and immediately understood where her exclamation came from.
The receptionist at the entrance of the library is a sloth.
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The sloths' speed evokes the idiom "flowing like clouds and running water." Their movements are as swift as drifting clouds, their articulations like the gentle flow of a winter stream through the woods. Standing before them, you're lost in the imagery of nature, reaching a state of harmony between man and nature. It's only when someone suddenly pushes you from behind that you realize you've already completed the admission process and nearly two hours have passed.
"The move by the Great Library is too cruel." Vander's eyes widened.
Ji Huaisu exclaimed, "How can they allow such efficiency? If they let Huilong City get up early and cause trouble!"
"First, sloths are naturally fast. If you use their speed to challenge them, you're being racist, which is very detrimental to the unity of all races in Jingsha," explained Fander. "Second, the sloths aren't mutators, but ordinary citizens. If you're using their strength as an argument, I'm sorry, you're committing a serious form of discrimination. Finally, the sloths are doing their jobs conscientiously and diligently. What right do you have to accuse them of having a poor work ethic?"
“Fuck!”
"It's absolutely impeccable once it sits there." Chu Hengkong commented.
"These old hands are still the best," Vander sighed. "Whoever wants to argue about the bill can argue about it, but there's no way they're going to increase the workload of the Great Library! If my guess is correct, the sloths will be on duty all week, and the queue will be at least seven days away."
Chu Hengkong always preferred action to waiting. He squeezed his way to the front of the team and said to the sloth team member, "Excuse me, I'm from the third team. I have a letter of introduction from the captain - you're welcome!"
Slowly enough to make out every hair, the sloth raised its paw as if to salute, but Chu Hengkong, sensing its momentum, quickly stopped it. It carefully examined the seal (which took almost five minutes), then looked up (two minutes), smiled (half a minute), and said, "Divine Guards...official business...please...right..."
Chu Hengkong almost wanted to fly to the right, but Team Sloth hadn't finished speaking yet: "Right...Team Member...Handle..."
"Team member Youwo...are you...there...?"
The sloth Ding Ling, Ding Ling had to set an alarm (took 1 second, Chu Hengkong did it for him), and got a reply about a minute later: "I...will be there soon..."
Chu Hengkong couldn't stand it any longer: "Is the team member on the right also a sloth?"
"No...it's..." Team Sloth smiled, "It's...wo..."
Chu Hengkong used his keen warrior perception to detect the breath coming towards the gate. He probed behind the door with his spirit, and suddenly his eyes went dark.
"snails……"
"Sorry to bother you. I'll come back later." Chu Hengkong simply turned around and said, "I'm sorry for wasting everyone's time."
No one blamed him, as the line was filled with snoring. The woman at the front of the line was awakened by the ringing of a bell. She blearily opened her eyes and saw a gentle sloth smile.
"Excuse me...how...can I help...you...?"
The lady closed her eyes, and it was unclear whether she was asleep or unconscious.
Chu Hengkong quickly walked back to reunite with the two of them and spoke first: "There's no chance of getting in through the main gate."
"It seems we've already eaten three ice creams." Ji Huaisu yawned. "So this is... another intentional... 'accidental incident'?"
"I can't say," said Vander. "If it were anywhere else, I'd definitely suspect someone was trying to mess with me, but considering this is Mansa Star Fort, I honestly think they're probably like this every day."
"How can the people of Jingsha accept this level of efficiency?"
"I must remind you that their private industry isn't that fast either. If a bookstore manager was away all year round in other places, it would have gone bankrupt long ago."
Chu Hengkong observed for a while and suggested, "Let's fly to the top of the library and find a window to go in..."
"Need I repeat, this is Mansa Star Fort. The first team of elite soldiers is definitely faster than those people in the amusement park."
"What should I do? Are we really going to wait for the sloth?" Ji Huaisu rolled his eyes. "I feel like I can figure out how to make it evolve faster than I can wait in line!"
"Oh my, it seems these two tourists are quite critical of the efficiency of our Jingsha civil servants~"
At this moment, a familiar female voice was heard. Fander looked up and saw a white-haired female mercenary standing not far away, holding an ice cream cone in her hand.
"Unfortunately, the locals are the same." Li Ke finished her ice cream cone in one gulp. "I know a shortcut. Want to come with me?"
(End of this chapter)
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