Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“We should get going.” No longer dwelling on things that were not worth overthinking, Lilith nodded toward Liana. “Lead the way.”

“Oh, oh.” Liana took out a compass and carefully confirmed their direction. Just as she was about to move, she suddenly seemed to remember something important and slapped her forehead in annoyance. “Look at my memory.”

“What is it now?” Lilith said helplessly. “If we do not leave soon, it will be noon.”

“Haha, sorry, Mountain Ghost.” Liana scratched her head awkwardly. “I have to send my father a message every morning to let him know I am safe. Otherwise, I will get scolded.”

“Every day?” Lilith froze for a moment. “A hardcore doting parent?”

“Not really.” The light in Liana’s eyes dimmed. “It is just so I will not embarrass him outside, since I have no spirit power. Basically, he is keeping tabs on me.”

“Embarrass him? Keeping tabs on you?” Lilith frowned. Something about that logic felt off. Still, this was someone else’s family business, and it was not her place to pry. She could only wave her hand and say, “Then hurry up.”

Coincidentally, Lilith also wanted to see the communication methods of this world. From her conversation with Liana the previous night, she had roughly gathered that this world was very likely what her past life had called an Eastern fantasy setting.

Cultivation, immortal swords, all sorts of things that, in Lilith’s eyes, were far cooler than tedious magic. So would her way of sending messages be the legendary flying sword courier? Lilith felt a faint sense of anticipation.

“Wait, does she not have any spirit power?” Lilith suddenly realized this. It was a serious issue, because even the Spectrum Stone from before required magic to transmit images. If Liana truly had no spirit power, how exactly was she supposed to send messages?

The answer was soon revealed.

“Hello? Is that Father?”

Under Lilith’s blank stare, Liana rummaged through her all-purpose little cloth bag and pulled out something shaped like a small brick. After skillfully pressing a few buttons on it, she put the brick to her ear and began talking to the voice on the other end.

“Yes, I am very safe… I will be back soon… I will not cause trouble… okay, okay… I am hanging up now.”

‘Why was it a phone, damn it?!’ That’s right. The thing in Liana’s hand was a phone. It was not a large, high-tech touchscreen smartphone, but one of those old-fashioned brick-like phones for seniors. But it was still a phone, all right.

A phone appearing in a cultivation world. Was something seriously wrong here? The aesthetic was completely off the rails.

“Huh? Mountain Ghost, what is wrong with you?” After finishing the call, Liana noticed Lilith spacing out and leaned closer in confusion. “Is there something dirty on my face?” She thought Lilith had been staring at her.

“No… it has nothing to do with you.” Lilith looked at the phone in her hand. “Can I take a look at that thing?”

“The phone…” Liana hesitated. But from her expression, Lilith immediately understood.

“This is something very valuable, right? Sorry, I should not have asked…”

“No.” Liana suddenly handed the phone over and said seriously, “If it is Mountain Ghost, then it is fine for you to look.”

“Is… is that so…” That kind of trust really carried a bit of pressure with it.

Lilith took the phone. From its appearance, it really was an ordinary old-style phone. There were no logos on it at all, and once the screen lit up, it only had a single communication function. It was simplified to the extreme. Even the legendary brick phones of old were more useful than this thing.

Lilith focused her mind. In the shadows where Liana could not see, black liquid slowly seeped into the phone, and its internal structure unfolded in perfect detail within Lilith’s consciousness.

Inside the phone were circuit boards, wiring, and electronic components that Lilith did not understand. Yet among those components, a small stone stood out, embedded unnaturally within the device, pulsing with a faint light at regular intervals.

From it, Lilith could sense fluctuations similar to magic. That should have been the “spirit power” Liana had mentioned.

So it was a magically modified little gadget. No wonder it could still communicate in a desolate place like this, where there was definitely no signal tower.

Lilith handed the phone back to Liana. “Is this thing common where you live?”

“Probably not.” Liana carefully placed the phone back into her bag. After thinking for a moment, she said, “As far as I remember, only my father, who is the head of the family, and I have one. As for others… ah, right. Someone from the Wang family has one too. He even showed it off before.”

“I see.” Lilith nodded. It was not widespread. The quantity was small. And it had been modified to suit this world. Which meant… Phones were not native to this world. They came from the outside.

“Do you know where it came from?” Lilith asked.

“I do not.” Liana shook her head. “I am not interested in things like that.”

“I see.” The answer was exactly as expected. But it did not matter. Even if Liana did not know, someone else surely would.

“Then let us go.” Lilith spoke calmly. The phone itself was nothing special to her. She had only been curious about its origin, and once that curiosity faded, she quickly put it out of her mind.

At this moment, however, she had begun to grow interested in the world beyond.

“Hm? Why are you standing there?” Lilith noticed that Liana had not moved at all.

“Girl, do you have something else you have not finished again? If you keep delaying, we might end up spending another night in this lousy forest.”

“No, it is not because I have something to do. It is just that…”

Lilith heard a distinct tremor in Liana’s voice. She followed the direction of Liana’s trembling finger. In the dark forest, a streak of eerie green light flashed by. Then, a chilling figure silently stepped out from the shadows.

A ferocious face, razor-sharp claws and fangs, and dark gray fur. It was a wolf. A wolf as large as a tiger in Lilith’s memories. But wolves were pack animals, so there could not be just one.

Two. Three. Four. More and more wolves emerged from the darkness, surrounding the clearing from all directions. Before they realized it, Lilith and Liana were already trapped with nowhere to escape.

“Shadow Wolves? First-tier demon beasts?” Staring at the massive shadow wolves encircling them, Liana clenched her bag tightly and frowned in confusion. “This forest is within the range of the boundary marker. There should not be any demon beasts here.”

“Boundary marker? What is that?” Lilith heard another unfamiliar term.

“The boundary marker is something the Immortal Cloud Pavilion set up to divide the boundary between humans and demons. It is similar to a barrier. With it in place, any unapproved or wild demon beasts should not be able to enter.”

“And what exactly is this Immortal Cloud Pavilion? The name sounds nice.”

“Is now really the time to be talking about that?” Liana was on the verge of tears. “Mountain Ghost, should you not be helping me think about why I just went out to gather some herbs, yet ran into something this terrifying?”

“That is simple enough. Did you not say it yourself?” Lilith turned her head and looked at Liana with pity. “The boundary marker only stops unapproved and wild ones. So what if they were approved… or domesticated?” She paused, then spoke softly. “Someone wants you dead, silly girl.”