Chapter 141

Consultant: [Did you encounter anyone knocking on the door?

[A very strange person kept knocking on the door and asked if you wanted to turn on the light. -7:56 No. 36 Speech]

Happy: [No. What happened? -8:48 37]

Dog: [I encountered this before, and I felt something was wrong, so I adjusted the time and ran away. -9:21 Strange Talk Demolition Office]

Dog: [Think carefully, could it be someone who came to save us? How about opening the door and taking a look? -10:00 39 Strange Talk Demolition Office 38]

Cat: [No!! ]

Happy: [Wow, what happened? The sudden reaction is so big, I have to use the exclamation mark- -||| Why don’t you write the number again? It’s so annoying, it makes me confused again. I just counted down according to the notes I saw-11:09 41】

Consultant: 【I ran away. That should not be a human. It gave me a strong sense of oppression. Except for negative emotions, I can’t see anything from it. -12:30 Speech No. 42】

Cat: 【Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it!

【No matter who encounters it, run away quickly, adjust the time to run! Leave as fast as possible!

【That’s not a human! It’s a hunting organ at the door! We are being targeted by it! 】

Happy: 【Calm down, calm down, only two people have encountered it so far, and nothing has happened yet. By the way, what's with the mosaic? -2:10 44】

Consultant: [I'm spying, I'll update you when I have news-3:05 45】

Dog: [@Cat, are you okay? I feel like something's not right with you. -4:00 46 Strange Talk Demolition Office】

Cat: [I'm sorting out what I know. Some things can't be expressed directly, I need to figure out a way to sort them out. Anyway, if you see that guy, just run away first, don't communicate, don't stay, don't look at his face. 】

Dog: [@Cat, what time are you? I'll go check. -7:00 48】

Cat: [Go away. 】

Consultant: [I'll go. I have some news that I want to confirm with you alone. 】

Happy: 【Well, let me check, does the weirdo you guys are talking about carry a light source with him, like it can glow?

【I heard a knock on the door.

【It seems to have come to my place.】

...

Dog: 【@Happy, what's wrong with you? Why do I feel like I missed a lot of information. -10:08.】

*

This part of the messages is the most difficult for Xu Ming to recall and sort out.

First, because of the large amount of information, second, because as time goes by, the number of spelling errors, grammatical errors, and nonsense in everyone's messages has increased significantly, making it more difficult to understand; third, because in the content she saw, there were obviously missing due to overlapping time, and the numbers were not connected several times; plus, starting with "Cat", everyone gradually stopped marking the time and number in their speeches, which made Xu Ming's sorting work more difficult.

...But she understands this very well.

Because not long after "Cat" revealed the identity of the person who called the lamplighter, the consultant of Anxin Gardening also used his ability to spy on two crucial pieces of news-

first, the guy called the lamplighter can move freely in each room. Revealing the time to it is tantamount to reporting the house number.

Secondly, it is now in a certain room. And in its own way, it peeks into all the messages.

... But from another perspective, the messages at this stage are also the most valuable to Xu Ming.

Because it was at this stage that the "cat" provided a lot of information it knew, about the door, about the key, about the person called the lamplighter - even the name "the lamplighter", Xu Ming learned it from the cat.

In the words of the cat, this is the name it gave itself. Because that thing is not a human at all, not even an independent conscious being. They are just hunting organs separated from a powerful being behind the door. In form, they are more like detached tentacles, or spores.

Yes, they - at least in the eyes of the "cat", there is definitely more than one of those things.

[What they hunt are not food, but puppets.] The cat wrote in a message to everyone, and it was obvious that he had dealt with this kind of thing before. [They will parasitize the prey they have captured, sucking the flesh and blood of the opponent while controlling the opponent, just like the iron nematode controlling the mantis. Once parasitized, it is difficult to escape, so the best way is to run away immediately after encountering it.]

[But they also have weaknesses. They don’t have the ability to open the door themselves, so they must wait for others to open the door, or spend some time trying to get past the door. Just use this time to quickly move.]

But the cat also has some puzzles: [The question is, why do they attack us?]

- This question once puzzled Xu Ming, and in the following messages, others also expressed the same doubt. Fortunately, the "cat" quickly gave the reason for its confusion.

[I thought we were brought here as backup keys.] The cat directly wrote in the subsequent message, [But people who have been parasitized cannot become keys. So why did they attack us?]

- No one answered its question, and no one could answer its question. As the only one among everyone who understood this thing, the "cat" was silent for an unknown period of time, and finally gave the answer again.

[I understand. We are not the key. Not the key it wants.

[We are the same as the roots here, just the food it prepares for itself, that's all.]

"..."

Xu Ming couldn't be sure how others would react after seeing this speculation. She only knew that after writing this sentence, the message on the paper was not updated again for several hours.

In the end, it was Landor who managed to ease the atmosphere with great difficulty and gave everyone encouragement in a bleak voice. Just as he had left his words of encouragement, the situation became turbulent again -

Cat and the Consultant left messages one after another, both saying that they were being targeted by the Light Man again, and Happy dropped a bombshell while the two were escaping, saying that she could use her abilities to get everyone items that could avoid being hunted down by the Light Man, but she couldn't do it herself, someone had to come to her and make a wish, so Landor asked about her time and quickly rushed over...

After that, the messages were seriously missing. There are often inconsistencies between what was said and what was said. Xu Ming tried hard to piece together what was going on, but could only figure out two facts:

First, Landor merged with Happiness successfully and made a wish. But when making a wish, something went wrong because she didn't have enough power - Happiness can make others pay in exchange for props with magical powers, so Landor wished for a pen that can prevent the Lantern Man from spying. In other words, the things written with this pen cannot be seen by the Lantern Man.

But it can only protect the Lantern Man himself, not the puppet parasitized by it.

When the two finally discovered this and tried to rescue her, Happiness no longer had the strength to exchange again - I don't know if it was because she was trapped for too long, both her spirit and her ability were much weaker than before. In addition

, the cat and the consultant successfully escaped from the attack of the Lantern Man again. At least they claimed so.

The cat fell silent again and did not speak for a long time; the consultant also spoke less frequently. I don't know if Xu Ming was suspicious, but the tone of her voice seemed to have changed slightly.

And Lando was also not at peace. After he and Happy fulfilled their wish, they were attacked by the Lightman together. Lando said that they both used the clock to escape successfully, but they escaped into different times; Happy said that she escaped, but she swore that she saw Lando being wrapped and swallowed by the light of the Lightman in the end. After he broke free, his behavior was very different from before -

and then there were those few notes that Xu Ming saw.

The happy mood became more and more excited, and in the end, he simply accused Landor of being crazy; the consultant finally found a way to leave, but his own condition was obviously very bad; Landor's message looked normal, but he was just looking at it, and no one could guess what it was like.

After that, there was the piece of paper that Anxin Gardening Consultant inexplicably left behind - to be precise, it was a note, a small piece torn from the "Employee Code of Conduct" shared by Landor. The content had nothing to do with the previous messages, and it felt like a private record of the consultant herself. She didn't seem to intend to let others see it, so she didn't put it on the display cabinet, but stuffed it into the doll's belly.

After that, there were the notes left by Xu Ming herself. One is Lu Yueling's record of what she saw, the next two are nursery rhymes she heard, and the next two are all nonsense notes she wrote to test the mechanism of this ghost place...

and so on. Thinking of this, Xu Ming's pen suddenly paused.

Then he raised his head suddenly.

Almost at the same time, Lu Yueling, who had been quietly listening to her thoughts, seemed to realize something and tentatively spoke in her mind:

"Well, Xu Ming. According to your idea, those mutant roots should not have escaped yet."

Xu Ming: "..."

She understood what Lu Yueling meant. It was because she understood that she was full of the urge to cover her face.

There is a high probability that they will not leave, and if they don't, it means that they are still in this mechanism - in other words, they may also see the words I left before...

Fortunately, there is nothing strange written on the notes I used for experiments - except for the very few that say "Mystery people get out of the strange stories", the rest are basically just four words, the Strange Stories Demolition Office.

...Of course, it is not something extraordinary. It's just that other unfamiliar mutant roots will probably be confused...

"To make an analogy, it's probably equivalent to someone who suddenly jumps into the work group and posts small advertisements crazily?" Lu Yueling said thoughtfully, "Or the kind that can't be kicked out."

Xu Ming: "..." Thank you, for helping me further confirm my position.

"Forget it, who cares about them." Rubbing his forehead again, Xu Ming took a deep breath, patted his trousers and stood up. After quickly putting away the paper and pen in his hand, he picked up the clock again, pursed his lips, and turned it hard -

just like Lu Yueling said. The records they left behind are likely to be seen by other people.

And correspondingly, there is a high possibility that someone will respond.

They first came in at around eight o'clock, and that was also the time when they left their first record. In other words, if anyone reads their message and wants to respond, the reply will appear at nine o'clock at the earliest...

Xu Ming tensed his muscles and turned the pointer back with all his strength, his fingertips trembling slightly due to fatigue. After finally dialing back the time they were at before, he immediately put down the clock and walked out the door. When he came back again, there was another piece of paper on the display case -

a piece of "Demolition Office Employee Code" with part of it torn off, and the handwriting looked like "Cat":

[Huh? I seemed to see something strange refreshed just now? Is someone else coming in? The same unit as the dog? ]

It was not Landor. Xu Ming's lips sank slightly, and he walked out quickly again. This time when he returned, no new messages were refreshed. What he saw was still the text of the nursery rhyme that he had dictated first.

So he repeated the refresh process again, entered the room again, and the time jumped to eleven o'clock again. This time, a new message was refreshed smoothly, from "Happy":

[What was that just now? Was it the ghost story song of the Demolition Office? What the hell is this? I can't understand it at all.

】Refresh again, 12 o'clock. Consultant: [What nursery rhyme? I didn't see it. 】Refresh again, 1 o'clock. Happy: [Don't worry about it. What exactly is the way of leaving you mentioned? 】 2 o'clock. Myself: [Weird talk about the Demolition and Relocation Office, your good partner. 】 3 o'clock. Myself: [Weird talk about the Demolition and Relocation Office, your good partner. 】4 o'clock. Myself: [Weird talk about the Demolition and Relocation Office, your good partner. 】 5 o'clock. Cat: [@Dog, I don't care if you are crazy or not, I am going crazy. What kind of idiots and psychopaths are all in your unit? Have you never stopped sending out advertisements? 】 6 o'clock. Landor finally spoke: [Mingming? Are you okay? 】 7 o'clock. Cat: [@Newcomer, hello, can you see the message I left? If you can, please write down the exact time you are currently on this piece of paper. I will run to you as fast as I can. [Don't be afraid, I will protect you. Before I get here, no matter who knocks on the door, don't open it, okay? [It's okay if you feel it's unsafe to meet, you are testing the mechanism of this place now, right? If you don't understand something, you can leave a message on the paper and I will try my best to answer it! Also, remember not to open the door for anyone casually! ] Eight o'clock. Happy: [...Cats are crazy too? ? ] Nine o'clock. Lando: [Mingming, can you tell me the time you are here? I'll go find you now. Don't open the door for others. It's dangerous. ] Ten o'clock. Happy: [Don't trust him! He's the dangerous one!!] - After that, the topic basically didn't progress any further.

Kuai Le obviously didn't care much about her posting advertisements. After a polite warning, he kept asking about the consultant's way of leaving. The consultant basically stopped talking. Landor and the cat kept caring about her situation and occasionally mentioned their own situations.

Landor's wish seemed to be of some use. The Lantern Man hasn't appeared for a long time. But if it has parasitized some of these mutant roots, the situation is another matter.

Xu Ming tapped the paper with the tip of his pen, closed his eyes, and exhaled deeply.

Then he glanced at the current time and wrote with determination.

[@Lando The time I am currently at is 1:04. 】

After finishing writing, she put down the pen, turned around and glanced at the closed doors on both sides, found a relatively safe position, slowly sat down, closed her eyes and rested.

Lu Yueling listened to what she wrote, but was confused.

"That's not right, Xu Ming." She said in her mind, "Didn't you say before that the time was almost half past one?"

She couldn't see it with her own eyes now, but one point and four didn't look like "almost half past one".

"Yeah." Xu Ming still stared at the note in his hand and responded casually, "Actually, the time now is already one thirty-two."

"?!!" Lu Yueling was stunned again, "Then why did you deliberately write zero four..."

"I just want other people to see the time I gave, and I don't intend to tell them the real time." Xu Ming said indifferently, "What if someone has really been parasitized, then wouldn't I be seeking death?"

In comparison, it seems more important to prioritize screening out companions who have not been parasitized.

"......?" Lu Yueling typed out a question mark again, and then seemed to realize something, and said with sudden enlightenment, "Yes, Lando knows that you know that he doesn't know Arabic numerals..."

So if he had not been parasitized, Lando would at most ask Xu Ming to change the way he wrote it; and if he had been parasitized, he would most likely directly realize that Xu Ming had written the wrong time...

"Wrong." Xu Ming paused, but said.

"?" Lu Yueling paused again, "What's wrong?"

"We are not sure about the ability range of the controlled mutant root. Maybe even if Landor is parasitized, he still doesn't know how to count." Xu Ming said softly, "But...how to say it."

"If it is the real Landor, and he finds out that I deliberately used Arabic numerals, then his first reaction will definitely not be to ask me to rewrite it."

"Ah?" Lu Yueling was puzzled, "Then what will he say?"

Xu Ming didn't say anything, just tried to adjust his breathing, slowed down for a while, felt a little more comfortable, and then stood up again with the help of the display cabinet.

"You will know when you refresh it later." She said, turning around and walking towards the door on the right.

Just as her fingers were about to touch the door handle, the door behind her suddenly opened.

"Danger, don't open it!!" The woman in an elegant suit stepped in and spoke without thinking, holding another clock tightly in her hand. Xu Ming was startled by her and subconsciously retracted his hand - and almost at the moment when she retracted her hand, there was a familiar knock on the door.

And the same familiar stereotyped voice:

[Hello, do you want to turn on the light? ]