Chapter 535: Life, the Universe, and Everything

A few regulars who spend all day in the library are very familiar with the layout and structure of the library. After a while, they returned to the fifth floor, holding the same book with a different cover in their hands - "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" written by Douglas Adams "The third volume, "Life, the Universe, and Everything", has both Chinese and English versions, as well as versions in other languages. The year of publication is also different.

Zhang Zian has also read this classic science fiction novel, but he never knew that there are so many versions of this book...

They found a free table and lined up the books so that they covered the whole table and it looked spectacular.

Some other readers didn't know what they were doing, and cast inquiring eyes one after another.

They returned to their seats and began typing in English.

[]: We have found the book you want, and we put it on the table on the first step of the stairs on the fifth floor. There are all editions, come and pick it up.

Including Zhang Zian, all the insiders looked at the table covered with books, waiting for what would happen. Especially Zhang Zian, although he thinks the answer will not be so simple, but he is also quite worried that one of the books suddenly disappears in full view, it will become a supernatural event, and it will cause a sensation...

Time passed by, and the air in the library was almost suffocating. The readers on the fifth floor were all sitting in their places, and no one stood up. Of course, there were no supernatural events such as books disappearing out of thin air.

[3.1415926]: This is not my book.

I struggled to make out the English sentence mixed in a string of pi, and a few regular customers I knew felt a little tight in the chest, feeling that I might have been tricked, and almost vomited blood! If they made a mistake, it doesn't matter, they can look for it again, but they obviously found the right one, but the other party refuses to admit it... Isn't this obviously cheating?

[]: But isn't this the book you want? Life, the Universe, and Everything, or which specific version do you want? I've heard people being picky about publishing houses...

[3.1415926]: My book has no title.

[Dashuaibi]: Your book has no title, it's about life, the universe and everything?

[3.1415926]: Yes, can you find my book?

[Jackdaw]: I'm sorry, we won't help, you have to find it yourself!

[Panbing Guozi]: That’s right, there is a limit to playing tricks,

Wanton consumption of other people's kindness, what you do will make people chilling.

[]: Don't be discouraged, everyone! Try again!

[Blue Flower]: hmmmm, I'm not familiar with science fiction, but I want to move a small bench and continue watching the fun.

Some of them spoke in Chinese, some in English, with indignation and jokes in their words. Zhang Zian waited for their verbal criticism to come to an end, and continued typing.

[Dashuaibi]: I forgot to ask before, you said that what you are looking for is your book, can I understand that this book is not provided by the library, but you brought it yourself?

[3.1415926]: Yes, it is the book that appeared in this world with me.

[Da Shuaibi]: The last question, this book is about life, the universe and everything, does it mean that the content of the book is very complicated?

[3.1415926]: Yes, can you find my book?

Zhang Zian understood that this book and this elf are probably in a state of symbiosis and depend on each other. This elf currently exists in this world incompletely, so it has no form. It must obtain this book to become a complete body.

At the same time, he also understood why the capture difficulty is extremely high-his task is to find a book that has no name, is not registered in the book, and contains everything from the more than two million books in the library!

Finding a needle in a haystack is nothing more than that, right?

And this shit is still a time-limited task!

cheating!

The conversation between Zhang Zian and the elves seemed completely inexplicable to others. The library was not allowed to bring in bags, nor was it allowed to bring in its own books. This conversation was illogical.

Sure enough, the elves are asking for help, asking for help from other people in order to survive.

Zhang Zian entered the game's electronic map interface again and looked at it. The light group representing the position of the elf was already very dim, like a mist before the sun rises, which may dissipate at any time.

[Dashuaibi]: I don't know if I can find it, but I will try my best.

[3.1415926]: Thank you.

Zhang Zian pushed aside the chair and stood up, walked quickly with light steps, and asked in a low voice: "Do you really want such an inexplicable book?"

"I have to find it." Zhang Zian replied.

He didn't have time to explain much, and it was a waste of time to even cover up. He waved his hands and went downstairs, leaving him alone in the wind, while other readers discussed in the chat room, waiting to see the end of this farce.

Zhang Zian came to the fourth floor and slowed down at the stairs.

Although he uttered bold words, he had no idea how to find them.

I don't know the size, thickness, binding, style, content, and classification of the book. How can I find it?

But he had a guess—that book appeared in this world along with the elves, that is to say, it was a book summoned from the void by the "Pet Hunter" game. Like the elves to be captured, ordinary people cannot see this book, but they can see it through the game capture interface!

The situation on the fourth floor is a little better, because the bookshelves are full of literature and newspapers. If there is a book on a certain bookshelf, it is quite easy to see.

He searched on the fourth floor, but couldn't find it. There were no books on any of the bookshelves. If he could find it on the fourth floor, the task would not be extremely difficult.

Zhang Zian went down to the third floor, and it was like entering hell mode from now on.

He looked helplessly at the bookshelves in the foreign language reading area on the third floor, which meant that he had to filter carefully one by one, because this book could appear on any shelf. Each bookshelf has six floors above and below, and this book may appear on any floor. Dozens or hundreds of books are lined up on each shelf, and this book may be stuffed between any two books.

To find this book, he must point his phone at an area of ​​the bookshelf, observe it through the game capture interface, then observe it with the naked eye, and then compare the two to find out what is invisible to the naked eye but can be seen through the game capture interface. How difficult is it to find that extra book from a collection of more than two million volumes, to find a specific stone from a mountain of books?

Even if there are roads on the mountain of books, it will take time to climb to the top!

What Zhang Zian lacks most now is time!

Too close to the bookshelf, the mobile phone camera can take a limited range of shots, too far away from the bookshelf and it is easy to miss... He tried a few times and found that it is best to stand at a moderate distance, so that the first to sixth floors of the bookshelf just fill the phone screen The whole space vertically, and then scan layer by layer with eyes.

The horizontal length of the bookshelves is very long, and Zhang Zian has to compare and contrast each bookshelf more than a dozen times on average - the bookshelf has two sides, the sum of the number of front and back.

In order to avoid omissions, it takes at least 20 seconds for each comparison, and the focal length of the eyeballs is repeatedly switched between the close-up mobile phone screen and the slightly distant bookshelf...

The colors of the densely packed books on the bookshelves are dazzling, green, yellow, black, white, red... all mixed together, like a big dye vat, especially these books are foreign titles, the twisted spines on the spine The swashbuckling characters in the book will make you sick easily if you read them for a long time.

After reading the front of each bookshelf and then going around to look at the back, it didn't take long for Zhang Zian to be fainted, with bouts of nausea and nausea, even so, he gritted his teeth and persisted.

However, seeing the remaining hundreds of bookshelves on the third floor, and only a few more bookshelves on the second floor, he clearly knew that unless he was lucky, he would never have time to find the book before the elf disappeared.

Holding the phone at the same position and height for a long time, his arms are already sore. This is after he trained a pair of unicorn arms with Lao Cha. If it were replaced by his weak body before, his arm muscles would cramp within a few minutes.

When he came down from the fifth floor, he also took the "Modern Genetics: Anatomy from Genes to the Surface" and kept it under his arm, pretending that ordinary readers were looking for a book, but now his arms are sore Tired again, this book has become a burden, this pretense is meaningless.

So he looked at an empty space on the bookshelf, and he was going to put the book back.

"Master Zhang, are you still looking for books?"

Zhang Zian maintained the same posture of putting the books, and turned his head to see—Meng Li was also standing beside him holding two books, looking leisurely, the woolen coat that he took off before had been put on again.

Meng Li noticed the English version of modern genetics monograph in Zhang Zian's hand, and was deeply surprised. The only doubts he had before were completely dissipated, thinking that he was really concentrating on the study of modern genetics.

"Mr. Zhang, have you finished reading such a thick English monograph?" Meng Li asked politely.

Zhang Zian subconsciously pretended to be coercive: "... I just flipped through it roughly. The content of this book is a bit shallow, and it doesn't satisfy my appetite. I want to find something deeper."

Meng Li said with a smile: "No matter how deep it is, I'm afraid we can only study the latest papers."

Zhang Zian didn't want to get entangled in this issue, so he changed the subject and said, "Mr. Meng, are you looking for books too?"

"I've already searched for it. These two books are about arithmetic ultrafiltration, mainly studying the solution of infinite element Diophantine equations." Meng Liyang picked up the two books in his hand.

Zhang Zijian smiled as if he could understand.

Meng Li looked at the sky: "It's almost noon, I'm going back to school. Manager Zhang, do you want to stay here for a while?"

Zhang Zian nodded: "Stay a little longer, I haven't found the book I'm looking for yet."

"Oh, it's also about modern genetics?" Meng Li casually asked politely.

"Uh...that's right, it's about life, the universe and everything." Zhang Zian said with a wry smile, mentally prepared to be ridiculed.

However, Meng Li did not laugh at him. Instead, he was slightly startled, showing a look of surprise, and asked, "Master Zhang has so many hobbies... Besides modern genetics, do you also like to study mathematics?"