Chapter 40

The moment she saw Qiu Yufei, Xu Ming's brain was stunned.

She struggled to get up and looked around. She found that she was on a bus. The surroundings were empty, and there were only Qiu Yufei and herself.

...Yes, she remembered that she and Qiu Yufei came to experience the hotel. Immersive horror hotel...

Xu Ming thought silently, and got up to get her luggage. But Qiu Yufei pulled her arm hard, and then she handed something to her with a serious face.

Xu Ming looked down in confusion, and saw that what she was holding in her hand was the work card of the Strange Talk Demolition Office.

Then, she turned over the work card and revealed the reminder paper tucked behind it.

[Don't believe what you see. Don't enter the hotel. Go find Mingming, get off the car together, gather with others, and then try to leave. 】

The signature is the Ghost Story Demolition Office.

Xu Ming: "..."

She raised her eyes suspiciously and met Qiu Yufei's nervous eyes.

Just as Xu Ming's brain began to work frantically and tried desperately to think about the current situation, the voice of the whale fat man suddenly rang in his mind.

"Yo." Its tone was a little lazy, and it sounded like it had just woken up. "You came out so soon? So efficient."

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

Very good, it seems that there is at least one person here who can understand the situation.

So without hesitation, he took Qiu Yufei out of the car. Looking up, there was indeed a hotel outside the car. The deliberately old-fashioned appearance looked like a dangerous building. On the outer wall were four conspicuous big characters, "Magic Cube Building".

Xu Ming looked at it from afar and frowned unconsciously. He took a closer look and saw that the door of the hotel was closed. Two staff members were standing outside the door, talking to another customer with dyed yellow hair, and it seemed that they were persuading him to leave. There was another girl in a Gothic skirt, waiting alone not far away, swiping her phone boredly, as if waiting for something.

There was a piece of paper taped to the closed glass door. Xu Ming leaned over and found a few lines of printed words:

[Our store is preparing a joint event with the special charity organization [Ghost Story Demolition Office].

[In order to cooperate with the event. The main store area is temporarily closed. Guests who have not checked in will be relocated to the branch area.

[The bus to the branch is about to arrive. Please be patient and wait.]

Xu Ming: ...

I understand the truth. But can anyone explain to her why there is a ghost story demolition office here?

When did she organize the joint name, why doesn't she know about it? !

Xu Ming was stunned again. The staff who were explaining the situation to people at the door noticed her at this time. For some reason, they looked very familiar with her, and one of them even waved at her.

Xu Ming became more and more confused, so he had to raise his hand and wave, pretending that he knew a lot.

By the way, he shook the whale man wildly in his mind and asked about the specific situation.

The whale man was rarely disturbed by her, and he screamed for a while, and finally began to explain. Xu Ming was halfway through listening when he saw a familiar figure coming out from the back of the hotel, followed by a hotel staff member, who seemed to be having a friendly conversation.

...It was Gu Yunshu.

Gu Yunshu was holding a glass of fruit drink in her hand, which seemed to be given by the hotel. She passed a thin straw under her mask and sucked it with a gurgling sound. While sucking, she nodded seriously to the person next to her.

When she saw Xu Ming, her eyes lit up obviously, and she immediately stretched out her hand and shook it slightly at her. Xu Ming subconsciously responded, and walked over quickly under Qiu Yufei's confused gaze. The moment he approached, he heard Gu Yunshu talking to the other party in a serious manner.

"...Yes, his name is Hongqiang. I used to be there." She heard Gu Yunshu say, "I died there, and then Hongqiang was demolished, so I was transferred to the demolition and relocation office."

"Welfare and such are not important. The main thing is that our director is a very good person, and I like him very much."

Xu Ming, who got a good guy card inexplicably: "..."

So what does this have to do with me?

And why is the guy opposite still nodding in agreement? Have we met before?

Xu Ming was silent again, and the whale man's rude ridicule rang in his mind.

Fortunately, Gu Yunshu still has a conscience. Seeing Xu Ming's confusion, she immediately came over, pulled him aside and began to explain in a low voice. Although she spoke haltingly, with the supplement of the whale man in her mind, Xu Ming finally understood the situation.

At least one thing can be confirmed now.

The hotel's explanation is reliable. The bus that is about to arrive can be taken.

After confirming this, Xu Ming felt much more at ease. Especially after discovering that there was indeed half of a strange egg-shaped object in his bag.

The other existence was given to him, which was half of the root of this strange story.

Although curious, now is not the time to study this thing. So Xu Ming thought about putting this thing aside for the time being, and went back to comfort the nervous Qiu Yufei. After waiting for about another twenty minutes, the promised bus really showed up. Out of caution, Xu Ming was the first to go up and take a look. After seeing the person sitting in the driver's seat, he couldn't help but paused slightly.

It was an expressionless middle-aged man, also wearing the hotel's uniform.

For some reason, he looked familiar.

"You have seen this man before." The whale man reminded in his mind, "He came to your room to fix the air conditioner."

"...Oh." Xu Ming suddenly realized and nodded to the driver in a friendly manner, "Master, fix the air conditioner."

The driver: "..."

He looked at the steering wheel in front of him silently, not knowing how to answer this question for a moment.

On the other side, Xu Ming seemed to realize that his greeting was a bit ambiguous, and it sounded like a kind of brainless enthusiasm. He smiled awkwardly, waved to the back, turned around and walked into the car.

Soon, other people also filed in. Xu Ming and Qiu Yufei sat in a row, and the girl in the Gothic skirt and the yellow-haired young man were also sitting in the car. Gu Yunshu sat alone in the last corner, pulling the mask on his face and carefully covering his face.

The bus started immediately. The hotel outside the car window was getting farther and farther away. Xu Ming subconsciously looked out the window. He tried to stay awake, but he fell asleep as the car swayed.

——On the other side.

Not long after Xu Ming and the others left.

Another bus stopped at the hotel entrance.

Fang Xueqing poked her head out from inside, with a little hesitation on her face.

However, these hesitations turned into deep astonishment after she saw the notice at the door of the hotel.

"Hehe!" She couldn't help but pat her companion's arm, "Look at this!"

"Watching it." Ling Guang pursed his lips, nodded politely to the staff guarding the door, and was immediately pulled aside by Fang Xueqing.

"Don't panic, let's sort out the situation first." She flipped through the records in her mobile phone and asked in surprise, "Is this the second round?"

"I think so." Ling Guang also looked at his mobile phone, "You don't have any records about the first round?"

"Yes, but it looks very strange." Fang Xueqing pursed her lips, "And why are there so many ghost stories and demolition offices here..."

If it were just that, it would be fine. The key point is that when she woke up, she found that she was wearing her work badge of the Ghost Story Demolition Office.

More importantly, her rule book had obviously been activated once.

To be precise, she established the rules about the "door", but the relevant rules were not used, and eventually they automatically became invalid after the time limit; this can also be proved by her body, which was not damaged in any way, indicating that the "key" that could trigger the rules was not used in the end. Here

comes the problem. Since she activated the rule book, it means that the time has come to use it, but in the end she did not use it... This is very puzzling.

With many questions in mind, Fang Xueqing quickly browsed through her own records. After a while, she finally locked on a key word.

At the same time, Ling Guang seemed to have found something. His eyes paused slightly, and the two spoke in unison: "Gu Ming."

"..."

There was another moment of silence. Fang Xueqing hesitated and opened her mouth: "Something happened in the hotel, and she organized a rescue operation."

"But she is an intern." Ling Guang frowned.

"...My key should have been given to her." Fang Xueqing turned the record down.

"But she is an intern." Ling Guang continued to frown. "

...Some of the conclusions we derived in the first round were also provided by her." Fang Xueqing slowly raised her eyes.

"The problem is that she is not an intern?" Ling Guang's brows were twisted so tightly that they seemed to pinch a bug to death.

Fang Xueqing: "..." You ask me how I would know.

"Two possibilities." After a moment of silence, she slowly spoke, "Either, she lied, she is not actually an intern." "

Or, her unit does a really great job in training new employees."

"..." Ling Guang looked at her, and they both looked towards the hotel entrance tacitly. On the notice, the words "Strange Talk Demolition and Relocation Office" were particularly clear.

Out of some heavy worry, Fang Xueqing hesitated for a while, but still walked back to the front of the hotel and asked about Gu Ming's situation in a roundabout way. To her surprise, the hotel staff was quite straightforward and told her directly that the woman who "came to visit from other units" had already left and took the previous bus.

Regardless of whether the news was true or not, Fang Xueqing finally breathed a sigh of relief. And just as she was thinking about the subsequent arrangements, an even more surprising scene appeared.

Two more hotel employees came out from behind the building, dragging a familiar-looking suitcase. After meeting each other, the first sentence they asked was if they knew Tang Menglong.

Fang Xueqing looked at Ling Guang in surprise and nodded cautiously. Then she saw the employee pushing the suitcase over.

"He lost something." He said, "He hopes you can take it away."

...!

Fang Xueqing's heart skipped a beat. Just as she was about to ask something else, the staff member turned around and left.

Turning her gaze back to the suitcase, she realized why it looked familiar - this was clearly the suitcase that Tang Menglong took with him when he left.

She opened the suitcase, which was filled with things piled up in a haphazard manner.

From spare clothes to mobile phones, keys, and notebooks for taking notes.

Fang Xueqing was stunned and stood there. After a long pause, she slowly closed the suitcase in front of her.

Ling Guang stood beside her and gently reached out and patted her shoulder. Fang Xueqing opened her mouth and closed it again, repeating it several times, before finally squeezing out a little sound.

"Do you think he is still there now?" she asked Ling Guang.

Ling Guang was unable to answer this question, and the hotel staff also remained silent on this. Fang Xueqing had no choice but to suppress this question in her heart until the moment she boarded the bus.

The bus was empty, with only the two of them sitting on it. The young man named Zhen who entered the first round with them did not show up again. It seemed that he was not a living person, so he left earlier by other means.

Fang Xueqing found a seat by the window, her heart still heavy. At the moment the bus was about to start, she seemed to see something and sat up straight.

Ling Guang looked over at the side in confusion. Fang Xueqing pointed at the door of the hotel, but her face was full of complex expressions -

she was sure that she saw it. Even if it was only for a moment, she did see it.

On the inside of the glass door, in the empty hotel lobby, a figure suddenly appeared at that moment.

A lonely, translucent figure.

Wearing clothes familiar to her, with an unfamiliar animal head, standing silently behind the glass door. The moment his eyes followed the movement of the car, it seemed to contain thousands of words.

Then in the blink of an eye, he disappeared again.

The car drove away quickly. When Ling Guang followed the probe to look, he could no longer see anything.

He retracted his gaze and sat back in his original seat. After a while, he heard him whisper: "Don't mention this part in the report."

"..." Fang Xueqing pursed her lips, wiped her eyes vigorously, thought for a moment, and finally nodded lightly.

After a moment, she whispered again: "Come to think of it, I seemed to have seen his work badge just now..."

Ling Guang: "..."

Ling Guang: "From the Magic Cube Building?"

Fang Xueqing: "The same as ours."

Ling Guang: "......"

Ling Guang: "So what unit does Brother Tang belong to now?

Fang Xueqing was silent again.

How can I know if you ask me.

*

At the other end.

Amid the slight swaying of the car, Xu Ming opened his eyes again.

With sleepy eyes, he was two seconds late when he saw the roof of the taxi. The next moment, a flood of memories suddenly came to him like a tide. Xu Ming was startled and sat up straight.

Almost at the same time, Qiu Yufei beside him also jumped up suddenly. Then there was a scream from the front seat - Xu Ming looked over the back of the chair and saw the yellow-haired driver leaning on the steering wheel, shaking visibly.

"...That, brother." Xu Ming spoke in time, trying to calm people down, "I know you are panicking now, but don't panic..."

Yellow-haired driver: ...

Thank you, very effective comfort.

Seeing that the other party seemed to still be in a state of shock over what happened in the hotel, Xu Ming felt helpless for a moment. Fortunately, Qiu Yufei had calmed down by now, and took the initiative to sit in the passenger seat, taking on the task of providing psychological counseling.

By the way, she emphasized that the two of them were good people, so that the driver would not be too frightened and abandon them halfway.

Xu Ming sat in her original position, rubbing her head desperately, trying to digest the memories that had just flooded in - all the circulating memories had just come up all at once, giving her a headache.

While digesting, he could occasionally hear Qiu Yufei's words in front of him, her tone was so sweet and gentle:

"...Everything before, just treat it as a dream, just move when you wake up, don't worry, there won't be any sequelae..." "

...Oh yes, I told you before, my friend has a family secret skill... Demolition office? Yes, that's right, it's their family, a family business passed down from the Qing Dynasty, a century-old family, specializing in fighting all kinds of evil things..."

"Anyway, don't be afraid, little brother, you see we've all come out..."

"Not out." Xu Ming took the time to look out the window and suddenly interrupted.

The two people sitting in the front seat were obviously frozen, and they turned their heads at the same time: "What?!"

"I said, we haven't left yet. I guess we still have to walk a distance." Xu Ming raised his chin calmly towards the outside, "Look, we are still on the highway."

How can a car be parked on the highway for a long time without anyone paying attention. What's more, this road is too quiet. There is no car in front, behind, left, or right.

It is obvious that it is still in the strange area, but it has reached the edge.

The yellow-haired young man's face turned pale: "What should we do now? Should we jump directly from the viaduct?"

"No, no, no, no, it's not necessary." Xu Ming quickly dismissed his terrible idea, and after thinking about it, he said, "Let's drive forward and see. Since the hotel is willing to let us go, there is no need to stop us in this place."

The young man was panicking at the moment and had no other ideas, so he nodded. The car started quickly.

The good news is that Xu Ming guessed right. After driving forward for a while, a signpost actually appeared on the originally empty road.

...The subtle thing is, what was written on it.

[0.6km ahead of the exit]

[Strange Talk about Demolition Office]

Xu Ming: "..."

No, wait, why is there something about the Demolition Office again?

Did she forget something again? Has she done this before? She has no recollection of it!

This time, the first person to react was the blubber man lying in her bag and looking at the mirror. He looked up and soon said "Oh" in sudden realization, and began to chatter in Xu Ming's mind.

"It should be when you put up the sign in the hotel that it saw it." The blubber man said, "It probably thought that as long as it has this signature, the words it wrote will not be changed."

Everything they experienced at this moment, whether it was the bus that sent people out or the sign in front of them, was undoubtedly all temporary modifications made by the Magic Cube Building while Butterfly was weak.

Such a big change must correspond to a huge cost. At the same time, there is also the risk of being changed back after the butterfly recovers - from the perspective of the Rubik's Cube Building, it will naturally try every possible means to ensure the durability of the text.

Xu Ming: "..."

Xu Ming: "So, what do they mean by adding '怪談恷徦' after this?" "

Maybe it's similar to '有怪談不怪' or '砆商知'." The whale man guessed.

A term that contains subtle wishes.

Commonly known as superstition.

Xu Ming, who inexplicably became a superstitious person: "..."

In any case, having a signboard will always make people feel more at ease. Xu Ming decisively ignored the driver's hesitant and questioning eyes, and simply told him to drive according to the instructions. Then he lay back on the chair like a big shot, was silent for a moment, and suddenly remembered another important thing.

"Wait." She almost jumped up on the spot, "Where's Gu Yunshu?" "

On the roof of the car." The whale man shrank back to look in the mirror, "Maybe under the car."

"..." Xu Ming was silent again.

That's fine.

It's okay as long as it's not lost, it's okay as long as it's not lost.

After driving a few hundred meters forward, as the sign said, the exit ramp suddenly appeared. The yellow-haired driver held his breath, gritted his teeth and rushed down. The moment the car drove out of the ramp, the atmosphere around him changed significantly -

a kind of lingering faint depression immediately dissipated, and the sound of the real world instantly filled the eardrums. It was obviously evening now, but Xu Ming clearly felt that the surroundings suddenly became bright.

There was an endless stream of people on the highway. The vehicles returning from the other world merged silently into the busy traffic, as if they had always been there.

It was only at this moment that Xu Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief. She took out her cell phone and checked the current time, and found that it had actually been less than an hour since they entered the strange story area.

I just don't know what the people who entered the strange story area earlier or later than them were like when they came out...

Xu Ming thought silently, fiddling with her cell phone, and couldn't help but sighed with relief.

Great. Fortunately, I brought a power bank before going out this time; after entering the strange story area, I also figured out where it was in time, and didn't use their sockets in a daze.

Otherwise, I'm afraid I would have to waste another cell phone.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look at the two people in front of her again. Just when I was about to remind them to pay attention to their phones, I looked up and saw Qiu Yufei with her head slightly lowered, one hand covering her mouth, and a moved look on her face.

Xu Ming was stunned when he saw this, and it took him a while to react. She might be too excited and happy after just leaving the ghost story area. He pursed his lips helplessly, thought about it, and then went over to pat her shoulder gently.

"It's okay." There was a rare gentleness in her tone, "It's all over. Isn't it still early now? It's just right to go to the hotel you booked."

Qiu Yufei raised her eyes and looked at her, with tears of emotion in her eyes, and nodded vigorously.

Soon she lowered her eyes again.

Her eyes were still fixed on the meter diagonally below.

That's great. Qiu Yufei thought with great relief.

The taxi meter did not count the time they spent in the ghost story area. The fare was still a normal amount.

It's really great.

*

Ten minutes later, they finally arrived at the real "immersive horror hotel".

This was the hotel that Qiu Yufei won in the lottery and had a free experience.

Qiu Yufei still remembered the incident at the Rubik's Cube Building, and inexplicably developed some resistance to this hotel. If she didn't want to waste her high-speed rail ticket, she would have even planned to turn around and go back directly - and even after checking in, she was a little nervous, and she went to the front desk and asked to delete all the horror elements in the experience package. Even though it was a loss

, she accepted it. Xu Ming didn't care about it and let her arrange it. Anyway, she was here to get a free ride, and the accommodation experience of this hotel itself was not bad.

The most important thing is that compared to the experience of a 1,600 hotel, she has more important issues to study.

"So... this counts as absorption, right?"

That night, in Xu Ming's room.

Xu Ming sat cross-legged on the bed, staring at the open rule book in front of her with a tangled face; on both sides of her were the whale man lying beside her out of curiosity, and Gu Yunshu sitting obediently on the edge of the bed.

Her bag was placed on the sofa. There was no trace of the half egg-shaped object in it, but there was another page filled in the rule book.

On the page was a hand-drawn, half-broken worm cocoon. Below was a simple line of text description:

[A gift from a boutique hotel, a blessing that will never fade. When you tell a lie, others will be more likely to believe it; this blessing is only valid in the ghost story area.]

...How to say it, it's really very simple.

Compared with other skill descriptions, it's so simple that it's touching.

But this also became a point of doubt for Xu Ming.

"That butterfly looks pretty fancy. It can build a secret room and brainwash people..." She said, trying to turn the page back, "How come the corresponding root has such simple skills?"

The whale man was not surprised at all.

"You only got half, so it will be discounted." It raised its head and yawned, "Besides, after the root is integrated into the rule book, the effect itself will be weaker."

As the saying goes, the blackened one is invincible, and the whitened one is three points weaker.

Xu Ming: “……?”

“Oh, actually it’s still a question of establishing a connection.” The whale man clicked his tongue and sat up straight. “It takes a long time for non-humans to melt the roots before they can use them. How can you swallow the roots and immediately exert all the effects? This is too unreasonable.”

Compared to non-human roots, it is more difficult for humans to obtain rule books, but correspondingly, they also have their own advantages, such as being able to stack the effects of multiple roots when they are first melted; for example, as long as new roots are melted in, the corresponding abilities can be obtained immediately.

But this advantage is far from being invincible. In some aspects, there are still limitations.

"I'm not a human, so I don't really understand the rule book. But as far as I know, some of the skills in the rule book can be upgraded." The whale man yawned again, "Anyway, you can figure it out slowly, and be careful not to get robbed before you figure it out."

Hearing him say this, Xu Ming immediately thought of the strange man who had run to several floors below his house. She pursed her lips unconsciously, and it was getting late when she saw the time, so she simply put away the book and planned to just do it and go to sleep.

After all, she was really tired.

Hearing this, Gu Yunshu got up very consciously and went to the closet. Xu Ming looked at her with a subtle expression, wanting to persuade her to go out to sleep, but changed his mind and gave up.

In this hotel, she and Qiu Yufei booked a double bed room, and the two of them slept in one room. Qiu Yufei seems to be a little stressed now. She asked Gu Yunshu to sleep outside because she was afraid that he would be frightened accidentally.

Thinking of this, Xu Ming subconsciously glanced at his phone and then frowned.

By the way, it's already this late... where is Qiu Yufei?

*

Same time.

In the hotel's own sauna room.

Qiu Yufei took a nice bath as soon as she entered the hotel. After the bath, she still felt unsatisfied. She said hello to Xu Ming and went out to steam in the sauna. At this point, she finally felt comfortable.

The sauna area of ​​the hotel is on the third floor, and Qiu Yufei and her friends live on the 12th floor. Qiu Yufei wiped her forehead and pressed the elevator button. She saw a beautiful young lady sorting clothes inside. When she saw her come in, she smiled at her embarrassedly.

The girl was pretty and dressed uniquely, wearing a black Lolita dress and a matching headpiece. She looked as delicate as a doll and was very pleasing to the eye.

Qiu Yufei couldn't help but look at her a few more times. She accidentally made eye contact with her, but she was not embarrassed and said openly, "Your dress is quite nice."

"Thank you." The other party responded politely. Qiu Yufei was in a good mood and followed up with, "I think I saw your dress on the Internet..."

"It's from the same series as Mint." The girl lowered her head and adjusted the lace edge of her cuffs, and said casually, "The two sets of clothes are from the same series, but the styles are slightly different. Hers is Gothic, and mine is Bavarian style."

"..." Qiu Yufei was stunned when she heard her words.

In fact, she didn't hear what the girl said at all - she only heard the first half of the sentence.

"That one." Qiu Yufei looked at the constantly changing floors above her, and finally couldn't help but swallowed her saliva, "Excuse me, what mint are you talking about..."

"Mint, in the Rubik's Cube Building." The girl looked up at her, and said matter-of-factly, "You just saw it not long ago, you wouldn't have forgotten it so completely, right?"

Qiu Yufei: "..." It's because I didn't forget it, so I have to ask one more question, thank you.

As if she saw her stiffness, the girl finally couldn't help but laughed out loud: "Look how scared you are, aren't you out? What are you still afraid of?"

"I'm her friend. I don't leave the room very often due to my health. But I remember that I have met you."

"Oh...oh." Qiu Yufei was silent for a moment, and nodded as if she understood, "Is that so."

She then remembered what Xu Ming and An Xin Gardening had said - after most people leave the strange story area, their related memories will be somewhat lost and blurred, or even misremembered.

Thinking about it this way, Bo He did say that she came here with a friend...

"Sorry." Qiu Yufei smiled embarrassedly, "I don't remember it clearly." "

It's okay." The girl said, still lowering her head and adjusting her sleeves, "You haven't seen me before, so it's normal that you can't remember clearly."

...But didn't you just say that we had met?

Qiu Yufei began to murmur in her heart, and seeing that there was still some time before the 12th floor, she became a little anxious. Just as she was fidgeting, a glimmer of light suddenly passed over her head. She felt a buzzing in her ears and froze instantly.

- The entire interior of the cabin was made up of polished metal walls. Regardless of front, back, left, or right, the reflections were all very normal, except for the top of her head.

On the flat metal plate, the scene below was vaguely reflected. Next to her was the image of the strange girl, but this time, the reflection was clearly tilted up.

Exaggeratedly tilted up. The neck was almost completely turned over, exposing the entire face, with the chin raised to an alarming height, like a completely broken flower plate.

Almost at the same time, she heard the voice of a girl next to her.

She still lowered her head, her tone was nonchalant, and somewhat matter-of-fact:

"I know what you are wondering about. Don't think too much, I just said that I have seen you.

"You couldn't have seen me in the first place.

" "Because I died a long time ago."

Qiu Yufei: ...

A few seconds later.

Xu Ming, who was trying to find someone on WeChat, suddenly received a message from Qiu Yufei.

The message was very simple, six words, revealing all the turmoil -

[There is a ghost, arrogant, come quickly]

Xu Ming: ...

I may have thought too much.

Putting away the phone, Xu Ming thought silently.

Looking at Qiu Yufei like this, she doesn't look stressed at all.

*

So, a few minutes later.

In Xu Ming's room.

Looking at the girl sitting calmly on the sofa opposite him, Xu Ming rubbed his forehead, and looked at the pajamas placed not far away with some attachment.

"That one." She coughed, "Excuse me, who are you..."

"Lu Yueling." The girl in the long skirt nodded politely, "My friends call me Xiaoliu."

Xu Ming nodded slowly: "Oh... Hello Xiaoliu."

"But we are not friends yet. So just call me by my full name." The girl continued.

Xu Ming: "..." Is this kid okay?

Staring at the girl in front of him for a while, Xu Ming closed his eyes, and finally couldn't help but sighed: "Mint's friend, right? I remember you."

Unlike Qiu Yufei. She often remembers things in the ghost story area more clearly. If I remember correctly, those hotel employees mentioned her-the one who protected Mint and came to the front desk room as soon as the accident happened, and stayed there until the moment before they opened the door.

This is also what makes Xu Ming feel strange now.

"Why did you come to us?" she asked puzzledly, "I thought you would follow Bo He."

"Why should I follow her?" Lu Yueling asked back without hesitation, "I have already done my best by helping her leave the hotel. Why are you still following her? Are you helping her cheat in the final exam?"

... I'm just asking, no need to be so excited. And I just want to ask you why you don't go back with her, why do you look like you tacitly agree that "following" means being someone's helper.

Xu Ming fell silent again. She suspected that this child might have watched too much Liao Zhai.

On the other side, Lu Yueling seemed to realize that she was a little excited. She cleared her throat and lowered her head again: "We are already people from two different worlds. There is no point in following her. And she has already remembered... She must be either scared or crying at this moment. It's annoying to think about it."

So she separated from Bohe the moment she entered the highway. Instead, she followed Xu Ming and their car and followed them all the way here. The process was smooth.

Xu Ming: "..."

Looking at the other party with some complexity, Xu Ming took a deep breath and was about to say something else when he heard the other party say:

"Also, I have something to ask you."

Xu Ming: "?"

"When the organization escaped at the end, you should have met many people." Lu Yueling curled her lips, "There was a woman wearing red shoes. I wonder if you have seen her?"

Red shoes... Xu Ming frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head uncertainly. During that last period of time, she was too busy, constantly drawing work cards and changing the words, and didn't pay any attention to the people who came.

Gu Yunshu, who was sitting in the corner, seemed to have thought of something when he heard this description, and he couldn't help but tighten his back.

"So, why are you asking about this?" Xu Ming asked curiously, and then frowned again, and something suddenly flashed through his mind, "Wait, I remember. When we met Bo He in the first round, she said that there were two friends with her. So the red shoes you are talking about, could it be..."

"No." Lu Yueling retorted without hesitation.

Realizing that he had made a mistake, Xu Ming waved his hand apologetically. Unexpectedly, the next second, Lu Yueling said:

"I thought of her as a 'friend' at that time, but she fooled me. I thought she was a good person."

She said, curling her lips: "In fact, we only got to know each other after entering the hotel. And it was after I 'died'.

"At that time, I was very confused and didn't know what to do. That's when the woman appeared. She said she would teach me to adapt and how to protect Bo He. But in return, I have to use my own strength to help her."

"Help her?" Xu Ming couldn't help but sit forward, "How to help?"

Lu Yueling opened her mouth and closed it again. After pondering for a moment, she suddenly exhaled: "Forget it, there's nothing to hide.

"After I died, I had something extra on me. It should be considered a prop, right? The effect is quite special. To put it simply, people I consider as 'friends' can get more protection."

"That woman originally wanted to exchange the things in my hand for intelligence, but I felt that I couldn't give it to her, so I didn't agree and just let her become my 'friend' temporarily. Bo He was probably influenced by this, so she thought that woman was also her friend..."

Xu Ming seemed to have noticed something and couldn't help but frowned.

"Wait a minute, you said, she wanted the things in your hand..."

The "props" that people suddenly get after death are undoubtedly roots.

And a person who would specifically ask for the "root"...

As if thinking of something, Xu Ming glanced at Gu Yunshu unconsciously, but saw that the other's hands on his knees were now clenched tightly.

This made Xu Ming frown even more. Looking at Lu Yueling again, she tentatively said: "Then do you know, the woman with red shoes, she entered the hotel for..."

"To steal something." Lu Yueling said absent-mindedly, "Butterfly - that's what you call that monster, right?"

"I don't know the specific situation, anyway, her purpose is to steal the monster's treasure. She originally said that if the thing was taken away, the butterfly would no longer exist, and I really believed it, and I even pointed out the room number 13 to her. It turned out not to be like that at all..."

Lu Yueling was still recalling something unhappily, but Xu Ming didn't listen anymore.

At this moment, she suddenly figured out the problem that had puzzled her for a long time.

Why did the manager of the Rubik's Cube Building suddenly show strong anger towards herself after solving the butterfly problem?

"Oh my..." Xu Ming murmured involuntarily, and suddenly felt absurd.

The reason is actually very simple. Because the root was not taken by the white chess side, and it thought it was taken by itself; just like she thought that the white chess stole the butterfly's root!

Both sides thought that the other side had messed up everything, so they were both angry and upset.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Ming realized another fact that made him a little scared -

the other side's anger dissipated later because it realized that it was not the root that was taken away by itself.

And the reason why it believed so much was probably inseparable from the inquiries made by the superiors.

...But what if I didn't ask that question at all?

Xu Ming was slightly startled.

He broke out in a cold sweat after realizing it belatedly.