Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“Who dares cause trouble in the Ye Family’s Grand Library, you little thief!”

No sooner had Lilith finished what she was doing than another figure leapt down from the upper floor. It was an elderly man.

His hair and eyebrows were both snow-white, and his posture carried the weight of age, making him appear frail and near the end of his years. Yet his eyes burned with a sharp, piercing brilliance, not the slightest hint of weakness visible within them.

As expected, a place so important to the Ye family could never be left without a powerful guardian. The moment the old man landed, his gaze locked onto Lilith and he barked angrily, “Who are you? How dare you cause trouble in the Ye Family’s Grand Library!”

“Hey, hey, old grandpa, you can’t just accuse people like that,” Lilith said, spreading her hands innocently. “I came in with your family head’s permission. How could that possibly count as causing trouble? It’s clearly Old Huang who refused to cooperate with me.”

“Nonsense! Even if Landon were muddleheaded, he would never casually allow outsiders to enter this place. I say you’re a spy sent by the other two great families!” The old man roared, “Let me capture you first. Then we’ll see what you have to say after a proper interrogation!”

“Well, if that’s how it’s going to be.” Lilith gave a slight nod, as though signaling something unseen.

The old man suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Yet instead of panicking, he burst into loud laughter. “You little thief, do you really think I didn’t guard against such underhanded tricks?”

He spun around abruptly. His palm turned the color of polished gold and jade, hard as iron, already prepared as it struck toward the black crystal bat that came crashing toward him.

“…!”

Lilith shrugged. “Even if you saw it coming, do you really think you can stop it?”

“What?” The old man’s expression changed drastically. His Jadeforce Palm, a technique he had honed to the Realm of Perfect Manifestation, was shattered in an instant by the strange club wielded by another identical little thief who had appeared behind him.

The moment it broke through, the black crystal bat did not slow in the slightest and continued smashing straight toward the old man’s face. The old man hurriedly tried to dodge, but what greeted him was a small fist that had already been waiting for him.

“It’s over.” The old man shut his eyes in despair. ‘My life ends here.’

The fist slammed heavily into his cheek.

In that instant, “Ahhhh—!” A scream rang out.

Yet the old man opened his eyes in astonishment. He rubbed his face again and again, disbelief written all over him. “I’m… actually fine?”

He lowered his gaze toward the ground. The petite girl was clutching her hand, rolling around while screaming miserably. “Ow, ow, ow… why is that old fossil’s face so damn hard… it hurts so much…”

Old man: “……”
Lilith: “……”

“Who told you to punch him with your bare hand?” Beside her, an identical girl twitched at the corner of her mouth and said, “Using a normal human body to punch a martial artist of at least the ninth rank… is there something seriously wrong with you?”

“You were just thinking the same thing, like the situation was already settled. And you still dare criticize me.”
“Nonsense, when did I—”
“Heh. I’m you and you’re me. How could I not know what you were thinking?”
“……”

“Enough!” The old man roared in fury, like a lion whose mane had been set ablaze. “You wretched little thief! You dare toy with this old man again and again. Just wait until I capture you, then I’ll make sure you regret it!”

“Ooh~, I’m so scared.” Lilith weighed the black crystal bat in her hand, a faint curve forming at the corner of her lips. “But are you really that confident?”

“Hmph. I merely need to be cautious of that strange stick in your hand. Without it, you’re nothing more than an ordinary little thief with a bizarre cloning trick.” Looking at the two identical girls before him, so alike that he could not tell which was real and which was fake, the old man sneered.

“Besides, as long as you don’t manage to hit me, what difference does it make if you turn into one or two more?”

“Oh, so one or two won’t work?” Lilith said in sudden realization. “Then what about ten? Twenty? Or perhaps… a hundred?”

The old man’s smile froze instantly.

“What’s this, a group fight? Let me see, let me see!”
“Don’t push, don’t push! There’s barely any room here. Ow! Whose rib just jabbed me!”
“Let me go first, let me go first! That old man looks like a real scumbag. I’m taking the first swing!”
“My big club has been starving for action for ages, hehehe~”

The old man slowly turned his stiff neck. Without him noticing in the slightest through his perception, the entire library had somehow been filled to the brim by that strange girl.

In the slightly open central hall, between the rows of bookshelves, within the stairwell, and even across the higher floors above, they stood everywhere. One after another, packed densely together, every single one of them was that same peculiar girl.

Each of them held the strange black crystal bat, staring eagerly at him with eyes gleaming green, like a pride of lions watching a helpless calf.

Cold sweat slowly dripped down the old man’s forehead.

‘Run. I have to run. I have to escape and call for help!’ This was the Ye family’s territory. As long as even the slightest disturbance spread beyond this place, no matter how bizarre that strange girl’s abilities were, she would surely meet her end here!

“Trying to run? Too late.” Lilith stood on the second-floor railing, sneering as she issued orders to the girls below. “Girls, get him. Avenge… whoever that was just now!”

……

A few minutes later, the old man, now bruised, battered, and completely unconscious, was tossed into a corner like a broken sack. His memory of the beating had also been erased. When he woke up, he would probably spend quite some time in utter confusion.

But what did that have to do with the cultured young lady Lilith at this moment? All she wanted now was to quietly read some books.

“Still… there are way too many books.” She sighed and looked toward her clones. “Split up and read by sections. Skip the cultivation manuals.”

“Huh? But I don’t want to read.”
“Exactly! What’s so great about books? Why don’t we just rush over and beat up that Landon? We’ll get every answer we want.”
“I agree with the one above! Let’s go beat the hell out of him!”

The clones were filled with resistance.

“That’s enough!” Lilith glared at them. “You’re my clones. How can you disobey me? If I tell you to read, then you’re going to read!”

“But precisely because we’re your clones, if we don’t want to read, doesn’t that prove you don’t want to read either?”

Lilith’s expression froze.

“Hey… don’t tell me you’re planning to make us read everything while you slack off.” The clones immediately grew suspicious.

“N… nonsense! I love reading.” Lilith hurriedly pulled a book from a shelf and opened it.

“You’re holding it upside down.”

“Oh… oh.” Lilith quickly flipped it around and pretended to read a few pages. “See? That’s how much I love reading.”

She puffed out her chest proudly. In response, she only received a sea of eye rolls from her clones. “Forget it. Since the main body has already gone this far, there’s no point in continuing to argue.”

The clone who had spoken first earlier shook her head helplessly and walked toward a nearby bookshelf. “I’ll set an example. I’ll handle all the books on this shelf.”

“Wait.” Another clone suddenly grabbed her. “That shelf is full of martial manuals, isn’t it? Didn’t we say we’re skipping the manuals? Are you trying to sneak over there and slack off?”

The leading clone’s gaze instantly sharpened. “So you all saw through that? In that case, I’ll sacrifice myself and take the other side instead.”

“The other side… isn’t that all lewd novels? Seriously, why would a proper library like this even have lewd novels?” one rather serious-looking clone couldn’t help complaining.

“Nonsense. What lewd novels? Those are texts of the great Dao of the union of yin and yang within the human body. This path… can reach the heavens!” declared a charlatan-like clone who had ripped off the old man’s white beard and pasted it onto her own chin.

“No, you’re all still too young for that. I alone shall bear this sin!” proclaimed a chuuni-style clone covering one eye with an eyepatch, preparing to sacrifice herself.

“You were literally born a few minutes ago. Who do you think you’re fooling?” A delinquent-style clone chewing a toothpick punched her straight in the other eye.¹　

“Hey! Who stepped on my foot?”
“Damn it, who grabbed my butt? You’re even groping your own butt now?”
“You b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲, you grabbed my ahoge! I’ll fight you!”
“I’m neutral! I’m neutral!”
“That’s exactly who I’m beating!”
“……”

And so, more than a hundred identical versions of herself began wrestling with each other before Lilith’s increasingly despairing eyes. The entire library instantly descended into complete chaos.²