Chapter 3796: The School Doctor's

A little earlier, roughly after Ye Xiao finished his first class of the morning, he decided to skip the second class, which was Flight, to go to the library and look up information. But as soon as he arrived, he found that the library was undergoing maintenance.

Ye Xiao felt that something was not quite right. Yesterday, he had checked the whereabouts of the Prime Universe Batman and the Arkham Batman, and discovered that the Prime Universe Batman had been in the library for the past few days, including yesterday, when others had seen him enter and stay for a long time.

When he wasn't there, the library was open to everyone; the moment he wanted to come and look up information, the library suddenly went under maintenance. Ye Xiao was no fool; he naturally sensed that there was a problem here.

What was even stranger was that, according to the opening hours posted outside the library, the library only took a half-day off each week, which was this morning. Yet, after Ye Xiao finished his morning classes and came back in the afternoon, the library was still closed.

This was actually because the book written by the Prime Universe Batman had caused a sensation among the film crew. Considering that the book wasn't exactly easy to read, Chris had simply organized a book club in the library, where everyone could read together, exchange insights, and the props team could draw model diagrams on the spot.

The crew members had no objections; after all, the conditions at the school were much better than at the filming base. It was midsummer, and no matter how much air conditioning they ran at the base, it was still hot. Unlike the magic school, where the temperature was regulated by magic, it was cool in the summer and warm in the winter, making it much more comfortable to work here than outside.

The crew occupied the place for an entire day, making Ye Xiao so anxious he was practically clawing at his own skin. In his view, the library being closed for no reason was absolutely a conspiracy hatched by the Prime Universe Batman to target him, specifically to prevent him from checking information and gaining a lead in intelligence.

Thus, as soon as the crew members dispersed at night, Ye Xiao rushed into the library.

As soon as he entered, he was stunned by what he saw. The Evil Batman was also a Batman, and a very formidable detective at that; he could tell at a glance that quite a few people had been active in here earlier that day.

It wasn't that the director's team hadn't cleaned up, but they weren't professionals. At most, they had tidied up the surface and left no trash behind. Although the library had a self-cleaning function, it didn't activate every single second; it usually started every few days, so the human activity traces left behind hadn't been completely wiped away.

Ye Xiao was shocked by the scene he saw: hundreds of people must have been active in here throughout the day, right? How could the school hold a large-scale gathering without notifying him?!

It wasn't that he was arrogant or considered himself such a big shot that he had to be notified of everything happening in the school. The point was that hundreds of people had suddenly vanished from the school, and had been missing for an entire day; it was impossible for the Batmen not to have noticed.

A Batman could achieve photographic memory, and he would be very attentive to details, basically remembering the face of every person he encountered. When hundreds of people were missing during meal times in the cafeteria, he would have noticed that certain faces he had encountered in the school were gone.

But Ye Xiao hadn't noticed any such phenomenon at all, which proved that the hundreds of people who had stayed in the library were not students or teachers from the school. Then who could they be?

Ye Xiao couldn't help but think of the anomalies discovered in the Magic Forest. He was certain that a mysterious person unknown to others was active in the Magic Forest. That was reasonable; even the Sorcerer Supreme might have blind spots. But hundreds of people? That seemed unlikely.

The Sorcerer Supreme wasn't blind; it was impossible for hundreds of people to sneak into the school and hang out in the library in broad daylight for an entire day without him noticing. So, only one possibility remained: the Sorcerer Supreme knew of these people's existence and had tacitly allowed them to behave this way.

The Prime Universe Batman kept running here; now it seemed there was definitely a problem, and there must be a grand conspiracy targeting him behind it all. Ye Xiao stood at the library entrance, took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down. He had to figure out what was going on.

Suddenly, he thought: Could it be that coming to the Magic School to learn magic was a trap from the very beginning?

It had to be said that paranoia, when utilized correctly, was also a skill. The paranoia of the Batmen made their vigilance far exceed that of ordinary people. Ye Xiao had stumbled upon the truth by accident, guessing the intentions of Schiller and the Prime Universe Batman.

It was just that his guess was slightly off-target. After seeing the traces of these hundreds of unidentified individuals, he believed that the goal of Schiller and the Prime Universe Batman was a "Hongmen Banquet"—that they had lured him to the Magic School, were waiting for a signal to throw a cup, and then hundreds of axemen would jump out from behind to surround him and finish him off in this universe.

Those capable of dealing with him were no ordinary people, but this universe didn't lack capable individuals. Ye Xiao had encountered quite a few people from the Marvel side in the Battleworld. If the Marvel superheroes were to gather, they might truly be able to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

Ye Xiao felt more and more that his deduction was correct: this had been a trap from the start. After all, it appeared that they really could learn magic—or to be precise, learn to use magic energy—and how much energy one could obtain depended on one's own ability. Although it wasn't something that could be achieved overnight, it at least provided hope.

How could such a good thing be shared with others? If he were the Prime Universe Batman, he would definitely keep this matter strictly under wraps, absolutely refusing to let anyone else know, let alone his rivals. Yet, this information had reached his ears, which suggested it might be a trap they had laid.

Ye Xiao had considered this point when he came, but he wasn't entirely without means of self-preservation, and Lucifer had come with them; it was worth taking the risk for the sake of magic.

Ye Xiao began to pace inside the library. Since he already knew the other side intended to make a move, he had to come up with a way to break the deadlock—he had to learn magic while also escaping unscathed.

As he walked, he reached a bookshelf. Turning his head, he saw several brightly colored books on this shelf, which looked particularly striking since the other books were either black or gray. Ye Xiao just glanced at them and discovered the problem:

The colors of these books seemed to be the same as the lamp hanging above the counter; how could it be such a coincidence? Could there be some mechanism here?

In fact, during the day, the props team had discovered that the mechanism they had set up—those books used as puzzles—had inexplicably been moved to a corner. But they hadn't thought much of it, assuming that someone who came to borrow books had messed them up. To shoot a few empty shots, they had restored them.

When Ye Xiao saw this, he knew there was definitely a problem. This puzzle wasn't difficult; he solved it after a brief glance. As soon as he moved the books into place, he heard a rumbling sound coming from behind the counter.

Ye Xiao turned and walked over, seeing a secret door open behind the counter. His eyes darted around, and he peered into the room with great vigilance, but seeing nothing, he stepped inside.

After walking in and seeing the ancient decor, Ye Xiao frowned slightly. He walked to the desk and saw Saphir's notebook.

To be precise, this was no longer the original notebook the Prime Universe Batman and his counterpart had seen, but an upgraded version re-edited and annotated by the Prime Universe Batman.

Many things in this version corresponded to the compendium he had compiled, forming a system. For instance, there was an excerpt Saphir had casually copied regarding the efficacy of the magic fish's mucus, which came from the compendium written by Batman. These were all additions made by Batman on top of the original, achieving a seamless integration.

Not only that, but he had also added a large amount of profound dark magic notes. In addition to some genuine dark magic knowledge from Kamar-Taj's heritage found on the bookshelves behind, he had added his own inferences and rigorous deductions, with a writing style consistent with the compendium.

Ye Xiao was also a Batman; compared to fairy tales, he could naturally read this style better. After flipping through just a few pages, he concluded: this person was absolutely a dark magic master.

"This is truly interesting," Ye Xiao couldn't help but reveal a smile, "to think that a dark magic master is hiding right under the Sorcerer Supreme's nose."

Suddenly, he realized the key to breaking the deadlock:

The mages in their universe also had all sorts of strange enemies; he didn't believe this universe didn't have any. Although the Sorcerer Supreme was powerful, he couldn't possibly be invincible. On the contrary, the more powerful he was, the more people would want to use schemes and tricks to pull him down.

It seemed this Saphir was the Sorcerer Supreme's mortal enemy. If that was the case, he was the best partner he could hope for.

Ye Xiao sized up the furnishings in the room, confirming that someone had been active here recently. He went out to the registration counter, took paper and a pen, and left a letter for the other party.

Although he felt he could cooperate with the other party, after all, a dark magic master wasn't a good person; running into them rashly was too dangerous. So, he left the secret room in a hurry.

He hadn't forgotten that he came to check information, so he went to the science section, searched around, and finally found the compendium compiled by the Prime Universe Batman, took the book, and left the library.

Not long after he left, the Prime Universe Batman arrived. He entered the secret room, saw the letter left by Ye Xiao, and lowered his eyelids in satisfaction.

Opening the folded letter, Ye Xiao's handwriting was slightly messy, clearly in a hurry. What he said was quite to the point, nothing more than explaining the benefits of cooperation and making a slight threat to the other party.

The benefits of cooperation were all nonsense; the key lay in the threat. In the letter, Ye Xiao emphasized that the secret room had been discovered by him, and if the two couldn't cooperate, Ye Xiao would find a way to let the Sorcerer Supreme discover the secret room, and would also let the Sorcerer Supreme know what he had done in the Magic Forest.

Ye Xiao's judgment of the situation was very accurate; a dark magic master couldn't possibly confront the Sorcerer Supreme head-on, otherwise, he wouldn't be sneaking around here. This was also the most powerful bargaining chip he had in his hands.

The Prime Universe Batman knew that Ye Xiao was under too much pressure and was eager for success, which was why he hadn't realized for a moment that the design of the secret room mechanism, which he had restored to its original state, was too crude, resembling a child's toy. But after he returned to the dormitory and calmed down, he would soon realize that something was wrong—such a shallow mechanism couldn't possibly be the work of such a formidable dark magic master.

And in order to let him know how brilliant Saphir was, Batman picked up his pen and wrote the following letter:

"I truly did not expect that someone would fall for such a stupid trap. Did you think that if I really wanted to hide the secret room and prevent it from being discovered, I would create such a childish mechanism? Poor fellow, you don't know yet, but the moment you opened my notebook, you were already cursed..."

"I really didn't expect that such a stupid trap would also have people take the bait. You think if I really wanted to hide the secret room and not be discovered, I would manufacture such a childish mechanism? Poor guy, you don't know yet, right, when you opened my notebook, you were already cursed..."