He threw the box away in one of the outside toilets, throwing it into the refuse and watching until it sank down into the mess. He felt a little pity for it, since it was a tremendous waste of something that might have been expensive.

  Then Wu Hao crept back up to his room and tried to sleep.

  In the end, he got only two hours of sleep, and they felt like two minutes. Even that was haunted by nightmares of things passing in the shadows, a consequence of having the orb pressed to his chest as he slept. He hated every moment of the fear that it forced on him, but there was nowhere where it'd be safer.

  Before long, though, he was awoken by the same servant who always knocked on his door in the mornings, and even though he did his best to freshen up with a splash of water thrown over his face, the effects that skipping sleep had had on him were obvious enough that he actually struggled through the group training, even despite taking it easier because of his lack of qi.

  A problem that'd soon be resolved, he hoped. And then he could do with much less sleep, without these feelings of hunger and exhaustion. It hadn't been long since he'd lost his qi, and there was the annoying question if it'd ever been properly his for more than an hour in total, but it felt like months had gone by, and he was itching for the clarity it brought him.

  He'd stored the orb in his room, shoving it underneath his pillow. He wasn't too worried about having it stolen - he'd just kill himself and steal it from the library again - but having it out in the open felt like tempting fate.

  Blearily, he also realized he should probably respond to Jin Qilong, whose voice had managed to reach him after what must have been a few attempts.

  "What?"

  "I was just asking," Jin Qilong said. Unlike Wu Hao, who'd been sweating holes into his clothes again, Jin Qilong looked more or less fine, if a little out of breath. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing," Wu Hao said bluntly. "Why?"

  "You look exhausted," Jin Qilong said. He was more observant than Wu Hao had given him credit for.

  "Just tired," Wu Hao responded.

  Jin Qilong bit his lip. "Shan Kong noticed, though. He's been sneering at you every so often."

  Wu Hao stared at Jin Qilong.

  "Let him sneer," he said. "I don't care."

  But Jin Qilong shook his head.

  "I don't want to dismiss your win," he said, and hesitated before ploughing on. "But he wasn't prepared to get hit in the face, or for you to take a slash. Next time, he will be, and he won't be holding back."

  That was clear enough to Wu Hao. He'd felt it, after all.

  "And?" he asked, crossing his arms. The bandit's saber batted against his leg, and Wu Hao mustered the effort of painstakingly placing it back into its sheathe now that group practice was over.

  Jin Qilong groaned. "You never listen," he muttered. "Shan Kong's probably mastered a Sky-tier saber Art!"

  Wu Hao shrugged.

  "Are you stupid or arrogant?" Yi Wei asked, walking over. It seemed to be a phrasing she used often, because it wasn't the first time she'd asked Wu Hao that same question. "Or both?"

  "I'm neither," Wu Hao said.

  After all, what was impressive about mastering a Sky-tier Art? He could use several Sky-tier Arts if he had the qi for it, and he even knew of Heaven-tier Arts. He couldn't use any of them right now, but only right now.

  "Don't come running to me when you're beaten," Yi Wei said.

  She walked off again, her hands on her saber. She hadn't given much of a glance to Jin Qilong throughout the conversation, and apparently this must have prickled something in him, because he opened his mouth and spoke, almost offhand.

  "I'm pretty sure that she doesn't think too badly of you," Jin Qilong said.

  Wu Hao stared blankly. "What?"

  "She doesn't come warn me whenever I'm about to be beaten," he said. "I think she's interested in seeing if it really was a fluke, when you beat Shan Kong."

  Was she? Wu Hao could read her qi, and he'd never read anything that looked like interest, to him. But then again, the only time that he'd read interest in him was when he'd spoken to those two guys from the Jin clan, so maybe he was just figuring one of those emotions wrong? It was hard to say.

  "Does it matter?" he finally said.

  "No," Jin Qilong said. "I suppose it doesn't. Do you want to go to the library again?"

  Wu Hao blinked a few times. He had to fight the temptation to say that he'd just been, a few hours ago, but in the end he just nodded. Somewhere in his exhausted mind he remembered that drawing any attention at the moment would be a bad idea, and what would draw less attention than simply following the same routine as he had the last few times?

  "Sure," he mumbled. "Lead the way."

  Jin Qilong did, though he cast a few wondering looks at Wu Hao before they'd arrived. The doors of the library were open as usual, and a few guards stood at the entrance. It wasn't just the usual two, though: it was four, speaking in low tones.

  They were stopped at the entrance, and even Jin Qilong was given a quick look-over.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  "Excuse us, young master," one of the guards said. His voice was that of a man who wasn't used to doing much apologizing. "Someone stole from the library last night. We are on high alert as a result."

  Jin Qilong's eyes went wide.

  "Stole from the library?" he asked, his tone hushed. "What did they steal? Books?"

  The guards shared a look, then nodded to Jin Qilong.

  "A selection of books from the second and third levels," the spokesman of the bunch said. "And several other treasures from higher levels, too."

  Wu Hao couldn't stop himself - his eyes went wide, his mouth fell open.

  "The third level and up?" he asked, and Jin Qilong echoed him a moment later.

  Were they counting from the top down? It couldn't be that he'd somehow ended up an entire level higher than he'd meant to. He hadn't had the clearest view in the darkness of the library, but he was certain he'd only taken books from the second level.

  "That's right," the guard said.

  "What books?" Jin Qilong asked.

  The guard threw a look at his fellow colleague, who shrugged, as if to say he didn't know either.

  "You'll have to ask Librarian Zhu, young master," he said, turning back to Jin Qilong. "When he gets back, at least. He's in a conference with the local elders, at the moment."

  Jin Qilong looked a little worried. "Will he get punished, do you think?"

  Again, the guard shrugged.

  Wu Hao's mind was still whirring, though. How had the theft of a treasure and a book turned into robbing the entire level?

  Jin Qilong had a few other questions for the guards, but Wu Hao didn't pay that much attention and it was clear the men didn't actually know anything about the case, either, so eventually they wound up walking inside.

  It didn't look disturbed, really. It was as he'd left it, though the stairs leading up to the second level and above had been covered with a heavy tarp that prohibited entry to the higher floors.

  "Wow," Jin Qilong said. "I'd expected a lot more chaos. The thief must've known what he came for."

  Wu Hao grunted, as noncomittal a sound as he could make.

  "Maybe it's more of a mess at the second level," he said.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "Maybe," Jin Qilong said, craning his neck up to look. He easily evaded a table in his way without even looking as he walked through the library, one of the advantages of having qi.

  "Seriously, though," Jin Qilong said. "What's going on? You look like you haven't slept in days. Are you actually worried about Shan Kong? I know the feeling, but -"

  "It's not that," Wu Hao said irritably. Why would't Jin Qilong just let this go? Why was he going this hard on the questions, anyway. Did he want Wu Hao to admit to weakness? "It's just bad dreams."

  "Nightmares?" Jin Qilong repeated. "Of what?"

  Wu Hao managed an angry look at Jin Qilong, who recoiled back.

  "Sorry," he said awkwardly. "I won't ask again."

  "Yes, Young Master," Wu Hao muttered. "I'll go look for a book, then."

  "Right," Jin Qilong responded, as glad to have the awkwardness over with as Wu Hao was.

  At that moment, though, the sound of footsteps approached. Harried footsteps. Librarian Zhu rushed into the little nook where both of them sat, thoughts clearly heavy on his mind. His brow was creased, his lips drawn into a grimace. His qi hadn't been kept so tightly constrained as it had been every other time Wu Hao had met the man, and his beard was fluttering in its breeze. There seemed to be none of the feigned weakness in him, now.

  "Librarian Zhu," Jin Qilong said. "What's -"

  "Young master," Librarian Zhu said, reining himself in slightly. His eyes roved over the both of them, and then landed on Wu Hao.

  And then, in a blur of motion, he suddenly stood before Wu Hao without seeming to have taken a step or crossed the space in between. Air rushed around from his wake, ruffling the pages of hundreds of books at once. A withered hand landed on Wu Hao's shoulder.

  "You," Librarian Zhu said. He stared down at Wu Hao, taller now that he was standing unhunched. "Was it you?"

  "Was what who?" Jin Qilong asked in a baffled tone, but something had sunk like an enormous weight in Wu Hao's belly. He stared up into the man's eyes and knew that the other man already knew, or at the very least suspected. He tried to rip the hand off, but whatever he did he couldn't budge Librarian Zhu's thin arm.

  Finally, Jin Qilong realized what Librarian Zhu was implying, and his jaw dropped.

  "You think he's the thief?" he asked. "That's absurd!"

  Wu Hao tried to shuffle backwards, but the old man had chosen his position well, and there was nothing behind him but a table and a dead end full of bookshelves. With a wave of his hand, Librarian Zhu summoned power and pushed the table along until it'd scraped its way across the floor enough to block the only other exit.

  "I will inspect him for contact with the treasure," Librarian Zhu stated. "Unless one is very careful in handling these sorts of things, it always leaves traces of qi. I trust you agree that this is necessary, young master. To... clear my doubts, if nothing else."

  It wasn't a question, it was a command.

  "There's no need," Jin Qilong tried, but he was too late.

  Librarian Zhu's qi roared through Wu Hao. It had to be some sort of modification of the same art that he'd have used to read Wu Hao's potential. The qi was thick, and while it ran roughshod through his body, that was because of its quickness, not because of its innate nature. It smelled of mustiness and dried blood, but more than anything it currently spoke of a lack. A lack of anger, a lack of movement somehow, and a cunning there that made Wu Hao realize that, one way or another, he wasn't getting out of this.

  And then there was the realization that Librarian Zhu had already decided that he was to blame. Why he'd settled on Wu Hao, he didn't know, but clearly he had.

  Wu Hao might have simply killed himself then and there, if not for the fact that Librarian Zhu's qi running through his body made it hard to reach his own vital qi. Besides, with the old man's attention dominating him so completely, his attempt to do so would be detected before it'd even get a chance to begin.

  After a long, horrible moment in which Wu Hao had almost begun to believe that Librarian Zhu was searching in vain and would release him, the old man's eyes narrowed in victory, and there was a glint in his eyes as he found what he'd been looking for.

  "There!" he shouted, and with a whirling blur of motion his hand snaked out, his fingers clutched at Wu Hao's throat, and raised him high up into the air, so high that Wu Hao's feet dangled uselessly.

  A pulse of qi blasted out from Wu Hao's body, mottled white and black. It was indistinct and faded too quickly to be seen clearly, but Wu Hao thought that he'd seen stripes. He hadn't even had a chance to consume the fucking thing.

  Shit.

  "Librarian Zhu!" Jin Qilong shouted. Wu Hao glanced over. The other boy's hands were clenched to his side in anger. That was a first, then. Almost a pleasant surprise, if not for the circumstances. "Let him go!"

  "Young master, you don't understand," Librarian Zhu said coolly in response. "I know what I've found. This boy is the thief - or perhaps one of the thieves. It may have been a gang, brought here from the inside by this peasant..."

  "You're wrong!" Jin Qilong argued. "He can't be!"

  "And why is that?" Librarian Zhu responded, eyes narrowing. "Do you have an argument for why traces of the White Tiger Core should be on him, perhaps?"

  Huh. So it had a name.

  Jin Qilong sputtered ineffectually, before finally he managed a desperate-sounding plea. "Because he just isn't! He's my friend, he can't be a thief!"

  Librarian Zhu snorted. "Young master, a thief is a thief and always will be. You've read enough books that I would hope you were wiser than this."

  Wu Hao's throat strained against the librarian's fingers as he fought for breath, and when they loosened slightly, he spoke.

  "Tell me one thing," he rasped. "Why lie and say I stole from the third floor?"

  "Silence, whelp," Librarian Zhu barked. His fingers clenched tighter in nervousness.

  "I couldn't have touched the third floor if I'd wanted to," Wu Hao continued. "So -"

  Finally, though, it all clicked into place, and a surprised belly laugh ran through Wu Hao.

  "Do not -" Librarian Zhu said, eyes narrowing. He seemed to realize what Wu Hao had realized, and his fingers carved trenches into Wu Hao's neck as he tried to squeeze his throat shut enough that he wouldn't speak.

  And then something cracked in Wu Hao's neck, all of his limbs went numb, and then there was blessed darkness as his neck sagged in ways things with bones inside them were not meant to.

  Wu Hao woke abruptly, feet twitching as he jerked up in his seat in the library. A surprised sigh leaked from his lips in the middle of trying to read out a word, and Jin Qilong directed a baffled look at him.

  "What?" he asked. "What's up?"

  But Wu Hao didn't answer, and instead he smiled to himself.

  Well, well, well, Wu Hao thought. So Librarian Zhu had been embezzling from the library, had he?

  Things truly were the same everywhere he went.