Chapter 32

The reason why she had such an idea was that when Xu Ming heard the word "queue", she suddenly thought of an experience in college.

At that time, she was tricked by Qiu Yufei to go to a comic exhibition, and she queued until she was heartbroken. What impressed her most was that she queued for nearly three hours and finally finished the queue outside. She thought she had finally made it, but Qiu Yufei told her that she had to continue queuing inside.

... So she queued for another two hours, but still didn't get a seat. The stall they were going to closed up early and left.

This painful experience has since become a deep scar in Xu Ming's heart, so that when she hears the word "queue", she starts to automatically match keywords. However, after thinking about it carefully -

"Your colleague, that Brother Tang, believes that the hotel itself is the domain master, and the butterfly is the dodder, and the butterfly can only interfere with the first three cycles, right?"

Facing the stunned eyes of the other two, Xu Ming's brain turned quickly, trying his best to sort out the abrupt and chaotic thoughts in his mind:

"But what if, we made a wrong judgment on the core area? What if we are not in the core area now, but are still in the 'queue' to the core area, then even if the hotel is the first rule responsible person, we can't determine that it is the domain master.

"On the other hand, you also said that Brother Tang's description of the hotel from the fourth round onwards was very vague. There was no mention of butterflies either - is it possible that it was not until this round that he really came into contact with the 'core area', so his cognition was affected? "

This can also explain why he suddenly changed his mind and advised others "not to keep the sugar" - the strategy of "keeping the sugar" is based on the premise that the butterfly is weaker than the hotel and the hotel is the main body of the domain master. If the status is reversed, helping the butterfly is equivalent to helping the domain master, then "keeping the sugar" is actually an extremely unwise approach.

"..."

...So what is the "first rule responsible person"?

Fang Xueqing knew that her focus was a bit biased, but she still couldn't help being curious. Is this some kind of internal terminology of the Demolition and Relocation Office?

Xu Ming didn't know that the term he made up casually had become a patent of the Demolition and Relocation Office. He just looked at the other two for confirmation: "Do you think this idea is tenable? "

…"

The other two did not answer for a moment, but frowned and exchanged glances quickly. After a pause, Ling Guang slowly said:

"I roughly understand what you mean.

"To put it simply, you think that the butterfly is the domain master, and the hotel we first came into contact with was actually the dodder. The first few cycles are equivalent to the conveyor belt into the real core area. The dodder is taking advantage of the gap that we are 'approaching but not really entering' to control us..."

Xu Ming's eyebrows moved slightly, and he felt that his statement seemed to be a little different from his own, but the general meaning seemed to be correct.

So he nodded affirmatively, and then he saw Ling Guang shaking his head.

"But this is illogical again.

"If the hotel is the dodder, then what is its purpose? "

......?"

Xu Ming was startled when he heard it: "Purpose?"

"Yes, purpose." Ling Guang said seriously, "Dodder, to put it simply, is an abnormal existence that parasitizes in strange stories and uses the gaps and loopholes in the rules to steal. They are usually mutant roots that sneak in, or dead people who died in strange stories but accidentally gained special powers..."

"The biggest difference between them and the real owners of strange stories is that they are here to steal people, and there are very few opportunities to act, so time must be seized. Therefore, dodders often act faster and more urgently, pursuing high-efficiency direct hunting...that is, killing people. "Hmm... "

Xu Ming nodded slowly. She had actually seen similar content in the diary left by Tang Menglong, and she already had a general idea of ​​it. Taking

the previous Hongqiang Company as an example, Hongqiang's main body is the "tree", the main body of the ghost story. The monster hidden under the fifth floor is the "Dodder", which parasitizes on Hongqiang and secretly picks up leaks under the identity of a security guard.

Seeing her nod, Ling Guang continued: "But the hotel - or in other words, the current actions of 'White Chess' do not conform to the logic of 'Dodder's' actions. "

According to Xu Ming, the time that Bai Qi has in his hands is only the dozens of hours that the entrants spend on the highway, plus the first three rounds after entering the hotel. In comparison, the dozens of hours on the highway are even more suitable for action.

However, they did not arrange more traps in these two links. Even the only secret room that can kill people, at present, looks more like the work of Butterfly.

"Obviously there is an opportunity, but they don't kill people, and take it slowly. This is more like the usual practice of the domain master." Ling Guang concluded, "The only possibility is that they have a more important purpose than killing people, and everything they do is to serve that purpose..."

"But what is that purpose? "

...

As soon as these words came out, the room was silent again.

Xu Ming also had a thoughtful look on her face, and in her mind was the voice of the blubber man who kept echoing "yes, yes". She impatiently drove away the blubber man's voice, and suddenly thought of something else, and her eyebrows moved slightly.

"That candy." She pondered for a moment, and decided to provide another piece of information, "It's the white chess-shaped candy sent to us by the front desk."

"My colleague once studied it and said that it is a derivative of the root."

"..." This remark once again attracted the attention of the other two. Xu Ming quickly organized his thoughts and said slowly: "And that derivative will have an impact on monsters. So, will it want to use humans to deliver candy to butterflies, similar to poisoning... and so on. "

It still seems wrong. "

Before Xu Ming finished speaking, he realized the problem with his words.

From the current intelligence, with the increase in the number of cycles, the Butterfly Party's enthusiasm for the White Chess Candy is indeed increasing; but at the same time, the attitude of the hotel is becoming more and more cautious.

First of all, if they hope to use humans to poison, then of course the more the better. But the rule is that each guest can only have five candies, and even if there is a cycle, they will not be given one more;

Secondly, from the first round, their advice to the tenants was "find the staff first, then use the candy", and the use of candy was not the highest priority; in the second round, the staff became unreliable, and the best solution they gave was to find shelter first, and then "use candy".

It feels like candy has always been a last resort.

In the third round, they directly suggested that the tenants destroy all the unused candy - Xu Ming felt that this proved at least two points.

First, they also know that the candies will no longer be useful in the subsequent cycles.

Second, they actually don’t want the candies to fall into the hands of the butterflies.

Combined with what the whale fat man said before, this all makes sense. "White Chess Candy", as a derivative of the root, is both a poisonous mushroom and a nutrient; but from the perspective of the dodder, this behavior is even more puzzling.

Knowing that the other party wants it, but also afraid that the other party will get it. But still insist on giving candies to everyone who comes in.

...What is the purpose?

Xu Ming couldn't help rubbing his forehead. Now, even she began to question her own statement. Fang Xueqing pursed her lips slightly, but stood on her side again.

"I think what you said makes sense. Since you give candy, it must be because it is useful." Fang Xueqing said in an affirmative tone, "Otherwise? It can't be just to do good things."

"..."

Xu Ming paused again.

Fang Xueqing's last few words were full of sarcasm, and it sounded like a thunder in her ears.

She couldn't help but widen her eyes, and Xu Ming moved her lips subconsciously, but closed her mouth again - a bolder guess than the "queue theory" floated into her chest. It was so bold that she didn't know how to speak for a while.

After a long silence, she heard her whisper: "What if... it's true?"

"...Ah?"

Fang Xueqing looked over in confusion. Xu Ming's throat rolled, and although he found it incredible, he still insisted:

"What if it, the being that hands out candy... it really just wants to do good?

She knew that this idea was ridiculous, but it made sense all of a sudden -

why did it take dozens of hours to get in on the highway, and only three people could enter at a time? Why did you have to go through three rounds before you could officially enter the Butterfly Building, and the hotel had no death rules in place during these three rounds even though they had a chance? Why did it know that the candy it gave out would be eaten by the butterflies, but it still did it? Insist on handing out candies...

because sometimes, these candies can really save lives.

Whether it's the endless highway or the Rubik's Cube Building that appears first, their existence actually has only one purpose.

To delay the time for living people to enter the core area as much as possible.

They are not only buffer zones, but also two layers of deceleration zones with weak protective effects.

So the butterfly wants to use the scissors to shorten the number of days of the cycle-it doesn't want to confront the hotel head-on. It just simply wants to destroy the second layer of deceleration zone to make its eating efficiency faster.

"...In short, it is an abnormal existence that is kind to humans? "

Noticing the increasingly complicated looks from the other two people, Xu Ming quickly summarized and tried to express his meaning from another angle. While speaking, he couldn't help but think of Gu Yunshu, and the scattered corpses and blood-stained cleaning clothes on the first floor of Hongqiang Company:

"They also have a certain amount of power and the ability to interfere with the rules, but they choose to use this power to protect people as much as possible... Maybe it can be understood as dodder that does not hunt for food..."

"No."

Before he finished speaking, Fang Xueqing suddenly spoke.

Xu Ming looked over in surprise, paused for a moment, and said: "Of course, this is just my personal inference..."

"I'm not saying your analysis is wrong." Fang Xueqing shook her head, "I'm talking about the wording. "

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

"Possessing certain abilities, but choosing to stay in the ghost story area, trying to protect humans as much as possible. Such an existence cannot be called a dodder." Ling Guang supplemented, "We have another nickname for them."

"..." Xu Ming was even more puzzled, and after thinking for a while, he said, "What is it?"

In response to her, the two exchanged glances again.

After a while, Fang Xueqing spoke again, the volume was not loud, but the voice was very clear:

"For this kind of existence, we generally call it-

"Hu Yang."

*

Soon, another half an hour later.

Xu Ming finally left Fang Xueqing's room, feeling dizzy as if he had just finished three brainstorming sessions.

Despite this, his thinking was still very active. She was so active that she had already thought about a lot of things just for the short walk back to the room.

When she opened the door, Qiu Yufei was quietly waiting inside, and Gu Yunshu had already returned from exploring Room 8307. Xu Ming went to the bathroom to heat a hot towel and applied it to the still painful joints through her clothes. He asked her about her gains and learned, not surprisingly, that Room 8307 was completely empty.

All traces of Tang Menglong were cleared away, and the entire room was as clean as if no one had ever lived there.

This made Xu Ming sigh a little. Noticing Gu Yunshu's hesitant look, he couldn't help but ask again: "What's wrong? Did you find anything else?"

"...Well." Gu Yunshu said slowly, "I don't know if it's important or not, but I found powder."

Xu Ming: "?"

"The kind of powder on butterfly wings." Gu Yunshu said firmly, "Sprinkled in the corners of the room. Everywhere."

Does it mean scale powder?

Xu Ming raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking it was a bit strange. But considering that Tang Menglong himself had come into contact with butterflies, this matter didn't seem so difficult to understand.

But the whale fat man in his mind "hissed" obviously when he heard the words, and it sounded like he had a toothache.

Xu Ming was disturbed by it, and couldn't help but frowned. Gu Yunshu observed her expression and whispered, "So this matter is very important, right?"

Xu Ming was startled by her question. He wanted to say that he was not sure, but then he thought again and felt that Gu Yunshu must have a reason for asking this...

so he nodded vigorously.

Sure enough, the next second, Gu Yunshu's expression became more and more tangled.

Xu Ming was not in a hurry. He waited quietly while enjoying Qiu Yufei's free massage. After an unknown amount of time, Gu Yunshu finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Then there is one more thing I have to tell you." She whispered, "Before this, I also saw a butterfly."

"..." Xu Ming paused and sat up straight subconsciously, "Tell me in detail."

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly came to her senses and asked, "Does this have anything to do with you being caught by the hotel staff before?"

"..." In response to her, Gu Yunshu nodded with difficulty.

"I was in the corridor, on the second floor." Gu Yunshu said, perhaps because she found it embarrassing, her voice was a little lower this time, "Just when..., I suddenly saw a butterfly flying past the wall." The

butterfly was very beautiful, with wings as big as a palm, and gorgeous patterns like a flowing rainbow. But there was only half of it, and the other half seemed to be stuck in the wall.

Out of vigilance, she stared at it defensively for a while, and then the whole person became dazed. When she woke up again, she was followed by several hotel staff.

Xu Ming: "..."

So, why did you go to the corridor on the second floor?

Xu Ming was a little confused, but seeing Gu Yunshu's difficult and awkward look, he guessed that she really didn't want to talk about this. So he didn't ask any more questions, but just confirmed that this matter had nothing to do with the hotel and butterflies, and then he didn't ask any more questions.

What concerned her more was the blubber man in her mind. When it heard Gu Yunshu say that he had seen butterflies, it "hissed" loudly again.

This time it didn't sound like a toothache.

It was like the tooth was not treated completely, causing the tooth nerve to be exposed, and as a result, a mouthful of ice hit it.

Xu Ming couldn't help but ask it in his mind what was wrong; the blubber man, who was always very noisy, was unexpectedly silent at this moment, and only said not to worry, and wait for it to smooth it out.

…Xu Ming just happened to have a lot of things to sort out, so he ignored it and turned to look at Qiu Yufei and Gu Yunshu. He briefly told them the result of the previous brainstorm with Fang Xueqing and the others. After that, he looked at the time and found that it was already late,

so he quickly sent the two away. ——She still had half of her A Jiao cards to put on. Tomorrow she would have a meeting with the fake domain master, and she didn’t know what the result would be. It would be better to seize the time and finish putting up all the cards now.

Qiu Yufei would be scared when she saw this, so she simply let her go back to her room first. With Gu Yunshu following her, she felt more at ease.

The other two naturally had no objections, and they got up and walked out. The difference was that one walked towards the door and the other walked towards the window.

Looking at Gu Yunshu's back as she was about to leave, Xu Ming's heart moved again. When she reacted, he had already spoken and called her again.

Gu Yunshu had already stepped onto the windowsill. He turned his head calmly and looked at her quietly, waiting for her next words.

Xu Ming paused again and was silent for a while before he finally sorted out the questions he wanted to ask from a pile of complicated thoughts.

"By the way, do you still remember what you did in Hongqiang?" After a little hesitation, she chose this sentence as her opening remark.

Hearing this, Gu Yunshu just tilted his head expressionlessly.

"I remember some, but I forgot a lot." She said truthfully.

The memory of the dead is not good to begin with, not to mention that she has "died" once more than others.

Xu Ming listened, his brows furrowed involuntarily, but he continued to ask: "Then do you remember that you were trying hard to help others in Hongqiang?"

"..." Hearing this, Gu Yunshu's usually calm expression rarely showed some ups and downs, and then she nodded lightly.

"Yeah, I remember this."

"I think you are amazing." Xu Ming said from the bottom of his heart, and couldn't help but sit forward, "Then can I ask, what did you think at the time? Or, the reason... or something like that?"

She asked this seriously, but at the same time she felt that her question was redundant. Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Gu Yunshu tilted his head again, as if he was in very serious thinking.

After a while, she spoke softly.

"I don't have any special thoughts." She said, "Death is a very painful thing. Death without freedom is even more painful."

"So, I want to see others live as much as possible. That's it."

Xu Ming: "..."

As expected, my question is redundant.

Xu Ming thought silently, nodded and thanked Gu Yunshu. The latter stared at her for a while, and after confirming that she had nothing else to do, he turned over and climbed out of the window, crawling away along the wall like a human spider.

Not long after she left, the dozen or so A Jiao who were left at Qiu Yufei's place climbed in through the window one after another. One by one, one by one.

It was like dropping black gold dumplings.

Xu Ming had already made preparations. As soon as they came in, she immediately picked up a pen and started drawing work badges. With the previous experience as a foundation, she drew faster this time. In less than forty minutes, she completed all the card-dealing tasks.

In this way, all the Ajiao can be included in the rule book, and the room suddenly became much emptier. Xu Ming felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. He lay on the bed with a sense of relief and flipped a few pages of the rule book. However, he couldn't help but let out a low "ah".

The whale man was standing on the bedside table at this time, constantly pulling out tissues to make a small nest for himself to spend the night. He jumped over immediately upon hearing the sound, and rushed forward without saying anything:

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Has it been upgraded again--"

Xu Ming looked at it with some disdain, lifted it farther, and then handed the rule book over: "Well, almost."

It was indeed upgraded. And it was upgraded in two aspects.

The first is the "Weird Tale Demolition and Relocation Office". Xu Ming had been busy fooling people before and had not paid attention to it, so that he only noticed it now-

the "Weird Tale Demolition and Relocation Office" entry under "Paper Robe Authority" has made a qualitative leap. It was originally only a third-level basis, but now it has been upgraded to a "second-level rule basis"-that

is, this title now has the same effect as common sense, and Xu Ming can use it as a basis to establish or modify non-core rules in the current weird story area.

...Of course, there is still a price to pay.

And behind the newly added "Second-level rule basis" logo, there is a small bracket that says "only for the current ghost story area". Therefore, Xu Ming has reason to suspect that the upgrade of the Ghost Story Relocation Office is probably temporary. When it comes to the next ghost story area, it is estimated that its classification will drop back to "third level"...

But who cares, she is not Conan's physique, and she will fall into the ghost story area every time. At least now she has finally figured out the corresponding upgrade method, which is also good.

In comparison, what surprised Xu Ming even more was that this temporary upgrade seemed to be counted into the overall unlocking progress of the rulebook -

the second skill under "Rotten Fruit Replacement", the few lines of handwriting that were originally vague, have now become clear and completely visible.

Before Xu Ming said anything, the whale man who realized this got excited first, and couldn't wait to lie on top, reciting the new skill he had just unlocked with interest:

"'Double substitution: When you enter the monster story area, you can get the last text you read within five days before using the skill from the last page of the rule book, and you can extract keywords from it and replace them with the text provided in the current monster story area for modification.

"'After the replacement is completed, if the language can still be kept smooth and logical, it is considered a successful modification, and the rules are still in effect and the validity remains unchanged. And you can change the objects of the rule constraints.

"'Please note that this operation requires a price. The smaller the difference between the replacement word and the original word, the smaller the price you have to pay.

"'The extractable text does not include any content related to the strange story area, chat records, rules, addresses, text in videos or pictures, content that the reader cannot understand, content that the reader has completely forgotten, and individual store names, names of people, places, etc. The upper limit for extraction is 500 words.

"'If there are other entities in this strange story area that are bound to this rule book, their reading texts will also be automatically captured after this skill is activated. The capture order is random, and you can switch the text you see by tearing the page. The torn page will not lose the skill effect and is only applicable to the current strange story area'..."

The whale fat man's voice became smaller and smaller when he finished reading. By the time he finished reading, he was almost dizzy.

Xu Ming was also dizzy and only roughly understood a little bit - to put it simply, this skill is keyword replacement. It's just that the keywords must come from the reading records of the person who is bound to the rule book.

And there are a lot of requirements... After thinking about it, I still feel that practice makes perfect, so I turned the rule book directly to the last page, and found that there were indeed hundreds of unfamiliar words on it.

The words were a bit small, Xu Ming tried hard to make out, and read aloud unconsciously: "'How to instantly improve the appearance of a sunken skull? Ten tips to teach you how to easily shape a high skull...'"

...confirmed that this was definitely not her reading record.

Xu Ming subconsciously looked to the side, and the whale man instinctively hid to the side, but still tried to be righteous:

"Why are you looking at me? If there is something you don’t understand, of course you have to search it online!"

It happened that Xu Ming’s laptop had no password, and it secretly searched it with the browser when Xu Ming was not at home... After the search, it carefully deleted the search history.

Who would have thought that the browser did not betray it, but the rule book did.

Xu Ming: "..."

I understand, I will give the laptop an encryption code when I go back.

With a complicated look, she tried to tear off the page according to the skill instructions. The moment she tore it off, a new page appeared out of thin air below, with the same fine handwriting on it.

But there was only one line. It was

really just one line, and the number of words was very small. The fat man curiously leaned over to take a look, and still read while reading: "'Shockingly hilarious, Bichon Frise's ten stupid moments'... Huh? That's it?"

The fat man was dumbfounded: "What is this?"

Xu Ming: "..."

Xu Ming: "...The title of the short video I watched in the car before I came here."

She pretended to be calm and tore off this page as well, and put it together with the fat man's reading record. After thinking about it, she seemed to think that hers was too stupid, so she deliberately covered the fat man's on top.

The whale man looked at her movements, wanting to say something but stopping himself. Looking at the rule book again, after Xu Ming tore off that page, no new content "grew" out.

No wonder. Now besides the two of them, the only ones who are still connected to the rule book here are probably Qiu Yufei, Gu Yunshu and the group of A Jiao.

Qiu Yufei doesn't carry her work badge with her all the time; Gu Yunshu doesn't have the habit of reading text, she prefers watching TV; as for the group of A Jiao, let alone.

Confused.

"In this case, this is a skill that depends on luck." The whale man smacked his lips for a while, and finally understood, "Who knows when he will enter the strange story area!"

So what the text you get in the end depends entirely on luck, and as for whether the text you get can be used to modify the rules, it is even more metaphysical.

Of course, there is another way to improve the practical effect of this skill, which is to carry a group of binders who love reading, or develop a group of binders who love reading in the strange story... But in the eyes of the whale fat man, this seems to be more difficult than looking at the face.

"Eh... boring."

It muttered and fell back with a snap: "I thought it was a new skill that can save the day."

"Emergency?" Xu Ming raised his eyebrows slightly, took it aside, and picked up the rule book again.

The whale man sat up suddenly: "Of course. According to what you said, we are getting closer and closer to the core area of ​​the monster story. But we still have no idea of ​​getting out... If we don't count on new skills, can we count on those two

people who are concentrating on gardening?" "Don't say that, they help a lot." Xu Ming said, and while speaking, he picked up the rule book again, took out a pen from somewhere, and started writing and drawing again, and I don't know what he was writing.

The whale man felt tired, turned around and climbed onto the bedside table again. Halfway up, he heard Xu Ming say faintly:

"Besides, if it's just for a few of us to leave..."

"I already have an idea about this."