Mei Gui and I found ourselves on the fifth floor.

She moved to pull the door back open so we could meet back up with the girls, but I stopped her.

"Didn't you want to know about...?" I didn't finish the sentence, purposely leaving what I meant out. Mei Gui, however, understood me, possibly thanks to our telepathic connection.

"Master...you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Whatever you do, I will follow."

I sighed. "I was planning on telling you and the other girls anyway. It's only a matter of time before you all find out anyway."

"In that case...we shouldn't talk here, Master," she eyed our surroundings. There were people at tables, reading. They would occasionally spare us a glance, wondering what we were doing, just standing there.

I followed her gaze. "I'll speak to all of you later, at the hotel."

Mei Gui nodded in return. "Understood, Master."

The two of us returned to the girls after that, pulling open the door and walking through.

"Woah, you're back...from the other side, no less," Feng Mian mused. "I take it you two beat the Gatekeeper?"

Mei Gui and I exchanged glances, and we shrugged. "It was harder than expected, but yeah."

"Well? What does the Gatekeeper look like? What are its attack patterns?" Xiang Peng asked.

I pretended to think for a moment, then smirked. "You'll have to find that out for yourself."

"W-Wha...but you two already beat it, so why can't you tell us to make things easier?" Yu An Yan asked, genuinely confused with me.

I shrugged. "This is a good training opportunity, trust me. If four of you go as a team, you can take the Gatekeeper down, no problem. That I guarantee...unless, of course, you do something stupid."

Of course, this was all just an act. The truth was, I had no idea what the Gatekeeper looked like, since I didn't have to fight it at all. But if I said that, it would lead to suspicion, and I didn't want that. I remember making an agreement with the girls not to hide anything from them, but...the Founders had asked me not to share their existence with anyone else. Mei Gui, having met Sigil, was an exception. The Founders' power was practically limitless, and I wanted to avoid rousing their anger, if possible.

"...Nya...bwut, I always end up doing someting stupid..." Amane complained, looking down at the floor.

Patting her head, I chuckled. "Relax, Amane. You'll be fine. That's why there are three other people going in with you."

She seemed to feel a little better after that, and wiggled her tail happily.

"Now then...the first group, Feng Mian, Qing Yue, An Yan, and An Xue," I said, turning to them. "You four have fought together before, back at the Advancement Exams in Shenzhen, so you have good synergy."

The four of them nodded, and swiped their library cards on the devices one by one. The door swung open, and they entered into the portal.

*****

Around 15 minutes later, they came back, exhausted.

"Whew...we managed to beat it, somehow..." Feng Mian let out a deep breath, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"Yeah...hah...that really was difficult," Yu An Yan agreed, panting.

"Nicely done," I remarked. "So? Did the Gatekeeper come as a surprise for you?"

"Surprise? That's an understatement, Big Brother Xuan Kai!" Qing Yue complained, running over and hugging me tightly. "You know I'm scared of spiders...and you still didn't tell me what the Gatekeeper was?!"

She seemed to be on the verge of tears, so I quickly hugged her back and rubbed her head gently. "Look...if I told you, wouldn't you just have been more scared? Besides, you managed to beat it. So everything's fine, right? All fears are meant to be conquered - you just conquered your own."

"..." she didn't respond, and instead just embraced me even tighter. It seemed that the boss was some kind of spider.

"I...I'm afraid of spiders...too..." Yu An Xue murmured quietly, blushing and looking away. I realized what she wanted, and patted her head gently too. She smiled happily as I did that, as the other girls looked on in jealousy.

I sighed. "Right...now then, the next group - there's only four of you left, anyway. Obsidia, Xiao Su, Amane, and Xiang Peng. It's up to you."

The four of them nodded determinedly, and headed inside after scanning their own cards.

*****

In the end, all of the girls managed to beat the Gatekeeper successfully, in teams of 4. We entered the fifth floor without bothering to let Four-Eyes and the others know. We browsed through the shelves, hoping to find something useful.

But alas, all we could find were books on various parts of Xenith, including non-Human territory. This was useful information to have, but not exactly what we were looking for.

As we read, we lost track of time, and before we knew it, it was around time we would have to retrieve the antidote from Melvia.

We exited the Library, and when we passed by the fourth floor, we saw Four-Eyes and his group, still engrossed in reading. I had wanted to avoid confronting them since we were in a hurry, but-

"Oh, you're back!" Ling Ling jumped up and ran over to us.

"Ling Ling...we're in a library..." Cherry reprimanded.

"Ah, right, sorry..." Ling Ling giggled in embarrassment.

"So? Did you guys manage to beat the Gatekeeper we couldn't?" Four-Eyes asked curiously, with a serious expression.

"Yeah, we did," I replied, as our representative. "It was pretty difficult, but we managed to do it."

"Hm...looks like you're stronger than we are then," Cherry said, sighing. "Well, it can't be helped."

"Hmph. Stronger?" Shi Yan scoffed, eyeing me with disdain. "Nah. if we didn't have such a dimwit on our team, we would've already beaten it."

"Who's the dimwit you're talking about, I wonder?" Four-Eyes said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"Who do you think, dipshit?" Shi Yan stood up, and grabbed Four-Eyes' collar. But the glasses kid was not fazed in the least.

"Break it apart already, the two of you!" Cherry slammed the table and yelled in an unusually loud tone.

"Um...Cherry, we're in a library," Ling Ling added quietly from beside.

"H-Huh? Ah, right...sorry," she cleared her throat, and apologized to everyone around. "Anyway...we aren't going to get anywhere if you two keep fighting like this. And in front of our friends too. Shameful."

I waved her concerns off. "Don't worry about it. Now then, we're in kind of a hurry, so we'll be off."

Cherry nodded. "Got it. See you."

"Aw....I kind of wanted to ask for tips, but..." Ling Ling murmured, dejected.

"We'll be back here tomorrow, if you're willing to wait until then," Feng Mian spoke up.

"Oh, sure!" Ling Ling's eyes brightened up immediately. "We're here everyday until the preliminaries!"

"Speaking of, when are the preliminaries?" Yu An Yan asked, frowning.

"Hm...today is the 2nd of February...so the preliminaries are in exactly 1 week," Four-Eyes analyzed calmly.

"I see..."

"Let's have a good fight at the prelims then," I said, concluding our conversation.

"Yeah. Looking forward to it."

*****

We headed for Old Man Leng's shop after that. Melvia was already there, waiting for us.

"My, you made me wait for a quite a while, little boy," she said upon spotting us.

"She's lyin'," Old Man Leng quickly interrupted ruthlessly. "She literally just got here."

Melvia sent him a glare, but he just shrugged it off.

I cleared my throat. "In any case...do you have the antidote?"

"Oh yes, right here," she said, taking out a vial from somewhere inside her robe. Truly fascinating.

I reached out for it, but she then moved it away from me. I narrowed my eyes.

"...What?"

"Before I give you this...how's getting that Starflower going?"

I sighed, and retracted my hand. "Look...first off, I have no way to verify that the antidote in your hands is really an antidote, and doesn't have some kind of poison attached to it. Second, I will get you what you want. I thought we already established that consensus yesterday. Why are you questioning my progress?"

"Mm...I suppose that's true. I shouldn't doubt in my cooperators' abilities," she said after some thought, then handed the flask containing the antidote to the 1 Year Curse over to me.

I accepted it gratefully, and then passed it on to Lan Xiao Su.

"One more thing," I said.

"Hm?"

"Do you know of a way to send packages outside of The Fortress?"

"Huh...I see. So the antidote is for someone not inside here, is it?"

I nodded. Melvia smiled, then looked to Old Man Leng mysteriously.

"What. Oh, no no no. Don't you even think about it, Melvia. I quit doin' that kind of shit a long time ago."

"Oh c'mon, Old Man Leng...these poor children need your help," Melvia argued in an overly dramatic tone.

Old Man Leng glanced at us, back at Melvia, then at us again. He sighed. "Alright...fine. But this will be the last time I'll ever be doin' somethin' like this, ya hear me?"

"Of course. Your wife wouldn't be happy about this, though..."

"I'll...keep it a secret from her," Old Man Leng said after a short hesitation. "And you kids too. Don't go leaking the word if you want to get that antidote sent."

We all nodded immediately in agreement, unable to argue.

"Alright. I'll...hit up some of my old buddies in the industry," he said, retreating to the backroom of the store.

Melvia, with a playful grin on her lips, let out a breath of admiration. "Ah...how nice to see...the 'Silver Mailman' back in business."