Chapter 31

To be honest, Xu Ming was actually a little frightened when Fang Xueqing opened her mouth.

But soon, she reacted.

"So, the information he gave you before was not this?" Xu Ming probed, "His previous suggestion was 'keep the sugar'?"

Fang Xueqing was still immersed in thought, and nodded indifferently after hearing this. Xu Ming understood instantly.

This makes sense. Why in that urgent situation, the words relayed by someone were the ambiguous "don't leave the sugar" - this was aimed at an existing suggestion.

"Then may I ask again?" Xu Ming tried his best to appear sincere, "What did he say to you before?"

As the only person who has survived to the fifth round, Tang Menglong's information is absolutely valuable. Moreover, Xu Ming had a hunch that more information about Butterfly was in the other party's third and fourth rounds of records.

Fang Xueqing glanced at him and was about to speak, but Ling Guang frowned again and raised his hand to interrupt her.

"Wait a minute." He looked at Xu Ming suspiciously, "Aren't you asking about the information about Butterfly? And how can you be so sure that we have the information given by the other party?"

Xu Ming looked at him strangely, as if he had heard some unnecessary questions.

"At present, there are only two forces that can be confirmed, Butterfly and Hotel. The white chess candy was given by the hotel and can be used to deal with monsters, and this monster is most likely on the side of Butterfly, so I guess that your colleague's attitude towards this candy is most likely related to his research on Butterfly.

"As for the second question..."

Xu Ming blinked and said calmly: "I'm actually not sure. But I heard from the director that your company has a special means of intelligence exchange, which can report discoveries to the headquarters even in the ghost story area. When she mentioned this, she was quite envious. "

- In one sentence, both the other party and himself were lifted up, perfect!

Xu Ming couldn't help but applaud himself in his heart after he finished speaking. Looking at the two people who were gardening with peace of mind, Ling Guang was not mentioned for the time being, at least Fang Xueqing was very pleased to see it.

"It's not that great..." She muttered softly, and met Xu Ming's thirst for knowledge with a look, and was stunned again. After a moment, she finally sighed as if she had made up her mind.

"Actually, you guessed it right. The candy incident is indeed related to butterflies-but let me say in advance, we can share the current intelligence, but it may not be authentic. "

"Not authentic? "Xu Ming's eyes moved slightly, "Why?"

"Because now all the relevant clues come from the reports of my colleagues." This time it was Ling Guang who spoke, "but we can't be sure of his mental state at the time."

"......?" Xu Ming's face changed slightly, "You mean, the information he submitted is difficult to understand?"

Ling Guang shook his head: "No, on the contrary."

"This is what confuses us the most."

*

Just as Xu Ming guessed, Tang Menglong's records about butterflies only need to be recorded in his third and fourth rounds.

Fang Xueqing and Ling Guang did not hide it this time and directly shared the relevant notes. Xu Ming scanned it quickly and soon understood why Ling Guang gave a "just the opposite" evaluation.

Because this part of the information, at least in her opinion, is very clear and logical enough.

The record starts from the first day of the third round. At this time, Tang Menglong's companion Lao Zhang has been killed and used as a sacrifice to start the cycle in advance. In this round, the murderer Miss A has disappeared, and Tang Menglong has become the "number of laps" in the entire hotel. "The tallest person.

Or maybe it was because he was different from A. He had never experienced a secret room. So even after entering the third round, he still maintained a pretty good mental state and had enough clear cognition to remember the various changes that took place in the third round -

first of all, the name of the hotel really changed. From the "Magic Cube Building" in the first round, it completely changed to the "Butterfly Building". Secondly, various decorations and ornaments with butterflies began to appear in the room; and the most surprising thing was that he found two guest rules in the room.

The first one still used the name of "Magic Cube Building", and the various requirements were similar to the second round of guest rules, except that the restaurant was changed . The opening hours of the Butterfly Building have been changed again. The restaurant has been solemnly suspended and guests can only book meals through the front desk. In addition, new requirements have been put forward for the handling of "White Chess Candy".

It still recommends that tenants use candy to ensure safety when encountering "strange things"; but at the same time, tenants are required to crush and throw away all remaining candy immediately after using it once. If a staff member comes to your door and says he wants to recycle the candy, don't believe it and don't hand it over.

The second tenant instructions are under the name of "Butterfly Building". However, this is not so much a "tenant instruction". It is more like a letter of denunciation, which directly exposes the tenants' The fact that they have been trapped in the hotel, and actively provide them with various solutions.

Including but not limited to hiding in any room with "13"; watching quietly for at least one minute when seeing a butterfly; collecting as many white chess candies as possible, waiting to be handed over to the butterfly; and the way to end the current cycle as quickly as possible.

Go kill someone. Kill everything and it's over.

The guests are all fake, they have no heads. The staff are all fake, they are cats that eat mice, with eyes like bells. Everything you see is fake, only when the butterfly wings are sprinkled with scales and floating by, you can see a glimpse of the truth under its cover.

——At least that's what was written on the guest instructions that Tang Menglong saw.

The words were obviously tempting, but from the following records, he was not greatly affected, and the subsequent records were still clear -

on the first day of check-in, apart from the two instructions, he did not find anything more. I went out to explore alone, and the hotel had not changed at all.

On the second day of check-in, I could occasionally glimpse a flash of butterfly wings within my field of vision. If I went to look for them, I would become dazed.

On the third day of check-in, I could see more butterflies. If I stared at them, I would hear strange sounds. If I followed the movement of the butterflies, I would see strange rooms in the corridor, but it was difficult to see the house numbers. On the fourth

day of check-in, I could vaguely see the house numbers, and vaguely made out the shape of "13". When checking out, the attitude of the hotel front desk was very different from before, and became very cold and defensive.

On the other hand, this time, in addition to investigating everywhere, Tang Menglong also paid attention to reminding other tenants at all times to help them avoid risks. Perhaps because of this, this cycle was very peaceful, with only one accident on the day of check-out.

Two more people were trapped in the secret room and failed to check out in time.

"...Oh no." Xu Ming couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he saw this.

That's right - one of the trapped people is probably Tan Tu.

He should be in the first round now, and he will go directly to the second round after escaping from death. When Tang Menglong is in the fifth round, he will be in the third round, just when he is connected with the butterfly.

... I just don't know what the scene will be like in the fourth round?

Xu Ming thought silently, and subconsciously turned back again. When he saw the large blank space behind, he was stunned.

"That one." She nodded inquiringly and pointed to the blank notebook in her hand, "Gone?"

"Actually, there was." Fang Xueqing shrugged, "but I didn't copy it."

Xu Ming: "......?"

"The company feels that those texts may not be safe, so copying is prohibited..." Fang Xueqing said, "But if you want to know, I can repeat it."

Xu Ming naturally had no reason to refuse, and Fang Xueqing did not delay. She took a sip of water and said directly:

"To put it simply, in the fourth round, he suddenly found that he could not see the butterflies again.

"I went to look for it on purpose, but I couldn't see any trace of butterflies. At the same time, the hotel finally underwent earth-shaking changes. There were countless more rooms and countless unfamiliar guests - what was even more weird was that those guests, fortunately, only lived in their own world. Unable to communicate, unable to touch, and repeating the same movements every day, just like..."

"Like NPCs?" Xu Ming tentatively interjected.

In response to her, Fang Xueqing's affirmative eyes.

"Of course, those guests who are still in normal rotation can still be contacted. But for some reason, I often can't find them. The same goes for the hotel staff. The frequency of seeing them is much lower than in the past. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be anything strange."

"Nothing strange?" Xu Ming repeated in disbelief, "Then what about the guest rules? Are there any changes in the guest rules?"

"There are no guest rules." Ling Guang supplemented on the side, "At least he said there are none."

- That is to say, there may be.

Hearing Ling Guang's hidden meaning, Xu Ming couldn't help but pursed his lips.

"Then what? "She asked softly, "Was the suggestion to keep Tang proposed at that time?"

"Indeed." Fang Xueqing nodded bluntly, "Congratulations, you guessed it right again."

Xu Ming:...Thank you, I'm not happy at all.

"This suggestion is actually based on Brother Tang's overall analysis of this strange story." Ling Guang said slowly, "The time given was when he was going through the fourth round. "

At that time, perhaps because he had already experienced many cycles completely, Tang Menglong thought he had a certain grasp of the situation, and began to try to write his own interpretation and analysis into the report -

he believed that there were two forces in the current strange stories. One was the main body of the strange stories, that is, the hotel, namely the "Butterfly Building". The "butterflies" that appeared with the cycles were dodders that parasitized in it, and their purpose was to infiltrate the first three cycles of the hotel and steal food.

The two additional tips they had obtained through the "pickpocket" were actually aimed at the "butterflies".

The first one was that corpses raised animals, animals raised mice, mice raised butterflies, and butterflies looked for Find scissors, and use scissors to offer corpses -

In the first three rounds, the monsters that appear are all incarnations of butterflies, so the hotel will provide white chess candies to drive them away. As the cycle progresses, the appearance of the monsters will become closer and closer to the original form of butterflies, which is also the proof that butterflies are gradually infiltrating the cycle.

The so-called scissors refer to those who are bewitched by butterflies after entering the third round. Butterflies deceived them and used them to kill people.

Tang Menglong guessed that it should actually be some kind of sacrificial ceremony, which is the so-called "scissors offering corpses." And with the power of this sacrifice, the butterfly can further destroy the cycle and reduce the number of days of the cycle by one day overall.

The second one is easier to understand -

[The more it loops, the closer it gets. Time will shorten the sound of its wings. Those who have escaped death can hear it most clearly.]

The first half of the sentence is completely consistent with the previous analysis; the "people who have escaped death" in the second half of the sentence naturally refers to those who were once trapped in the secret room but escaped because of the reset of the loop.

The secret room is a means of stealing butterflies. Those who have entered the secret room will naturally have a connection with the butterfly, so they are more likely to be deceived and more likely to be used.

In addition, from other details, it can be seen that the first three In the rounds, the butterfly gradually invaded the rules, including but not limited to occupying the restaurant, influencing the customers' cognition, and adjusting the rooms... The more it loops, the stronger its presence becomes. This is why the tenant instructions for each round are different in the first three rounds.

Tang Menglong believes that from the second round, the butterfly has begun to interfere with the rules and mixed its own words into the tenant instructions. In the third round, the butterfly's interference reached its peak, and the rules formed were even enough to cover up the main body of the strange story.

But that's where it ends.

"As a dodder, the butterfly's influence only exists in the first three rounds-this is the conclusion given by Brother Tang. "Fang Xueqing concluded, "and starting from the fourth round, the butterflies will no longer be able to engage in poaching, and the tenants will also come into contact with the real 'Butterfly Mansion'. So the focus of the ghost story is actually after the fourth round."

Unfortunately, they currently lack information after the fourth round.

In addition, as the invasion deepened, the butterflies apparently gradually gained the ability to break the cycle, and the demand for white chess candies increased significantly. Therefore, Tang Menglong at the time speculated that white chess candies might be beneficial to butterflies, and suggested in the records that all the white chess candies needed by butterflies should be kept until the third round, so that butterflies can further improve their status.

This is also the origin of the suggestion to "keep the candies."

Xu Ming heard this, but couldn't help frowning: "What does it mean? He wants to use butterflies to defeat the domain lord? "

It's not certain that it will be defeated, but as its strength increases, the actions of the domain master will definitely be more restricted." Fang Xueqing said, "It may even force the domain master to modify the rules of the monster talk in order to launch further defense. "

If the domain master wants to modify the established rules, he will have to pay a heavy price. In other words, this will be a great weakening for humans.

There is also a more ideal state, that is, the butterfly that has grown to a certain extent can directly overthrow the domain master and get the root of this strange story - this will lead to two situations. First, the butterfly chooses to leave after grabbing the root, and the strange story will begin to collapse naturally; second, the butterfly failed to grab the root, but robbed the control of the root. Then it will most likely become the new domain master and establish a new strange story in the same place.

And the formation of a new strange story takes time. This means that this ghost place will be closed for a while, at least one or two years - for humans, it is even better.

This suggestion is also in line with Anxin Gardening's consistent style of behavior, so the person who received the report at that time did not think there was anything wrong and submitted it directly.

It was not until two days later that Tang Menglong, who was still in the fourth round, suddenly made a strange statement.

"Strange?" Xu Ming raised his eyebrows, "How strange?"

"He said that the map of the hotel suddenly had a very significant change, which made him always go the wrong way." Fang Xueqing said lightly, and there was no hesitation when repeating it for half a second, which showed that she was deeply impressed by this sentence.

"So much so that he often bumped into his horns."

"......?"

Xu Ming was stunned again: "Horns? What horns?"

"Not sure." Fang Xueqing said, "But judging from his description, it should be the horns growing on his head."

"..." Xu Ming was even more confused now, "So he, has horns?"

What's the situation? Is it some new distortion characteristic?

Fang Xueqing shook her head: "Of course not. That's the weird part."

Tang Menglong is a human, and humans don't grow horns.

But since then, he has mentioned this from time to time in his reports, constantly mentioning his own horns... and the words he used were extremely natural, as if he didn't realize there was anything wrong with it.

Even in the last report he submitted, he mentioned his "hooves."

He said that his hooves were so beautiful.

Xu Ming: "..."

She imagined Tang Menglong's state when he wrote this sentence, and her scalp tingled for a moment.

"Because of this, the information he originally provided has become suspicious." Fang Xueqing crossed her arms and couldn't help sighing, "Because we can't be sure when he was affected, all the information related to the fourth round has to be questioned."

Xu Ming: "... Including the analysis and suggestions he gave?"

"To be honest, I originally thought this part was quite reasonable." Fang Xueqing said bluntly, "Until you said, 'Don't hold back the sweetness.'"

Xu Ming pursed his lips slightly, thinking: "In other words, this sentence did not appear in his report?"

"Absolutely not." Fang Xueqing was very sure, "and according to the scene you described, he should have been in a state where he wanted to convey information but it was too late, so he could only switch characteristics temporarily, so as to entrust someone he met by chance to pass the message to us..."

Tang Menglong's own distorted characteristic is "wall grass", which has the ability to switch to other characteristics. When he entrusted others to pass the message, he may have switched to "yellow croaker brain".

This characteristic allows humans in the same monster talk area to remember one thing firmly, and the related memory will not be erased for any reason.

On the other hand, the secondary switching characteristics of the wall grass will bring great side effects to the body. Even so, it still insists on using it... It shows how urgent Tang Menglong is to convey his feelings.

...But such an urgent behavior, coupled with a reminder of "don't leave sugar", makes people a little confused.

"To keep the sugar, to put it bluntly, is to make the butterfly grow bigger and continue to check and balance the hotel." Xu Ming looked thoughtful, "He also said not to keep the sugar... that is to say, he thinks that the butterfly can't continue to grow?"

"This is also what confuses me." Fang Xueqing added very naturally, and it seems that she has tacitly included Xu Ming in the scope of discussion, "Because apart from the weirdness he finally showed, at least the previous report, especially the analysis and treatment of the butterfly, is not unreasonable."

It can even be said that it is very consistent with their usual logic.

Because human beings have limited power. So driving the wolf to swallow the tiger has always been their usual strategy. In particular, many strange stories often do not give an outlet on the surface. The internal struggle between the dodder and the tree is the biggest chance for humans to escape.

This is also the reason why they were nervous when they heard Xu Ming wanted to dismantle the butterfly - being able to dismantle the tree is of course a good thing, but dismantling the dodder? That may not be the case.

Xu Ming did not respond for a while, but continued to ponder the words left by Tang Menglong. After pondering for a while, he suddenly seemed to think of something and raised his head: "Is it possible that he made a mistake before?"

The other two: "......?"

"Tang Menglong suggested making the butterfly bigger because he thought the butterfly was a dodder." Xu Ming said slowly, "But what if it is not?"

"It's not a dodder?" Fang Xueqing frowned, "Then what is it?"

"Well... maybe it's also a tree?" Xu Ming said uncertainly: "Or is it the domain master?"

Butterfly Building, Butterfly, these two names sound very suitable.

"Impossible." Fang Xueqing said, "The domain master must be the hotel itself."

Xu Ming: "...? How do you mean?" "

'When entering the core area of ​​the ghost story, the first set of rules you come into contact with must be from the domain master'. This identification rule applies everywhere." Fang Xueqing said firmly, "And the first set of rules we came into contact with after entering here are the guest instructions given by the hotel."

Xu Ming looked thoughtful when he heard this, and murmured: "Didn't you say that there was a highway before we came here..."

"Of course the highway doesn't count." Almost at the same time, the voices of the whale fat man and Fang Xueqing rang out, Xu Ming was startled by the noise, and then he saw Ling Guang also nodded:

"The highway belongs to the marginal area. It is like a buffer zone surrounding the core area."

In this non-core area, anyone can easily leave rules. Although they have never seen any rules there.

Xu Ming nodded again with sudden realization, and the voice of the whale man in his mind sounded again: "Actually, Gu Yunshu also said this to you before."

Xu Ming: "......?"

"But it was during the first round, you should have forgotten it." The whale man continued, "She also said at the time that there were still many dead and living people wandering on the highway, and they couldn't find the exit to get off..."

... So miserable?

Xu Ming frowned again. Just when he was talking about the highway, he asked casually. Fang Xueqing responded quickly: "Yes, that highway is like that.

" "I don't know what kind of strange mechanism this is. After entering, you have to queue up on the highway first. It takes dozens of hours to enter the core area, and only three people can enter at a time. I have never seen such a weird thing..."

She said casually, and Xu Ming seemed to notice something while listening, and he said softly.

"You just said, queue up?" She looked at Fang Xueqing.

Fang Xueqing was puzzled by her look: "Yes, what's wrong?"

"...Nothing." Xu Ming said, his brows wrinkled more tightly, "I just suddenly had a rather bizarre guess."

"That is, is it possible that we are still queuing now?"

Fang Xueqing: "......?"

Her expression froze and she looked at him with a strange look. Xu Ming rubbed his forehead. Although he felt it was absurd, he still tried to sort out his thoughts and continued slowly:

"Or, how can we be sure that we are now in the core area of ​​this strange story?"