Chapter 39.3 ?

“Damn!” Xu Ming cried out instinctively, the pain flooded her after a moment of stiffness. The wet feeling quickly spread, and her palm pressing on it was full of bloody wetness.

The oppressive feeling returned, she angrily looked up, just then, she felt her right shoulder suddenly lighten. Looking down in surprise, she saw that the strap of the insulated bag had broken at some point, and the bag with the root fell to the ground.

She was stunned, her first reaction was that her actions just now had broken the strap; the next second, she saw the bag seemingly kicked, sliding far away, and a small figure hurriedly climbing along the clothes.

“Quick, run, run!” The frantic voice of the blubberman echoed in her mind, “It will definitely prioritize picking up the root, let’s run!”

Xu Ming: “…”

I see. She suddenly realized.

Just now, it must have been the blubberman who sensed something was wrong, quickly climbed out, tore the insulation bag, and kicked it away to avoid further hatred falling on her.

“…” Xu Ming closed her eyes, momentarily unsure whether to praise the creature for being smart or call it cowardly.

In her head, the blubberman kept urging her to run. Xu Ming, holding her bleeding thigh, could only move towards 8107. The good news was that the butterfly seemed indeed attracted by the insulation bag, and although the oppressive feeling still lingered, it had slightly weakened.

From the blubberman’s perspective, the situation was clearer—the butterfly’s main body had stopped in front of the insulation bag, probing with its tiny claws, trying to figure out how to open the bag. After a moment of examination, it lost patience, slid its hand over the bag, and upon seeing the egg-like objects inside, it visibly froze, then emitted an incomprehensible angry screech—

This startled the blubberman as well. Just as it wisely retracted its head and began urging Xu Ming to run again, the surroundings suddenly changed.

Light and shadow flickered, the ceiling light suddenly turned on, and countless chaotic ticking sounds erupted—

A massive figure abruptly appeared in the corridor.

Then, without giving the butterfly time to react, it swung a heavy blow at it.

“…Wow.”

The blubberman was stunned, involuntarily making a bystander’s remark: “This is getting interesting.”

Still struggling to move away, Xu Ming, who was in excruciating pain, thought: “…”

She looked up blankly but saw nothing. In fact, the only changes she noticed were the ceiling light turning on and the oppressive feeling that seemed to tear her skin suddenly receding. She looked at the insulation bag still lying on the ground, pondered for a moment, then realized.

“Is the one in charge of the Magic Cube Mansion here?” she tentatively asked the blubberman.

The blubberman, busy watching the scene, nodded without hesitation: “Yes.”

“They’re fighting now!”

Fighting…

Xu Ming smirked at its choice of words. Out of caution, she struggled to retrieve a selfie stick from her bag, using it to hook back the nearby insulation bag.

After confirming the egg-like object was still inside, she breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the blubberman still engrossed, she asked offhandedly, “Who’s winning?”

The blubberman hissed, sounding hesitant: “It’s hard to say.”

Logically, the butterfly’s strength should be superior, but it seemed weakened from Xu Ming’s earlier attacks. Now, it was evenly matched with the Magic Cube Mansion’s leader, resulting in a stalemate, leaving the blubberman perplexed.

“By the way, what did you put in that bag earlier?” The blubberman, seeing her retrieve the root again, curiously peered towards the insulation bag. “It really scared me just now; I thought it would snatch the root away.”

But whatever it saw made it pause, looking furious instead. This provided an opportunity for the Magic Cube Mansion to launch a sneak attack.

Xu Ming leaned against the wall, panting, and shook her head slowly: “Nothing. There’s nothing in it.”

Except for the root, there was only the work badge wrapped around it.

“Really?!” The blubberman was even more bewildered. After a moment, it seemed to think of something, and its tone turned subtle: “Wait, speaking of the badge…”

“What name did you write on it?”

Xu Ming replied instantly: “77.”

Blubberman: “…”

You’re ruthless.

…Otherwise, should she have called it ‘Little Handsome’?

Xu Ming closed her eyes and glanced at the nearby 8107. Suddenly, she frowned, pulling back her hand from the door and began crawling away quietly.

However, her leg injury was too severe, and after a long effort, she hadn’t moved far, leaving a blood trail on the ground, looking quite horrifying. On the other hand, the blubberman seemed frightened by her condition, hesitating at the edge of the bag, debating whether to help. Unintentionally, it glanced towards the butterfly again and suddenly exclaimed, “Huh?”

“What?” Xu Ming immediately looked up, “Did the butterfly win?”

“No, no.” The blubberman’s voice turned strange, “Not only didn’t it win… it seems to be in a bad state.”

…A bad state?

Xu Ming furrowed her brows, pondered for a moment, then decisively took out her phone, opened the camera, and tried to find the butterfly through the lens.

Soon, under the blubberman’s guidance, she finally located the butterfly. Due to her condition, Xu Ming couldn’t see clearly, only vaguely noticing a pair of raised wings struggling and gradually shrinking, closing—

Behind it, something seemed to be spinning. Black thick lines intertwined into a grid. Xu Ming carefully discerned, finally realizing it looked like a rotating chessboard.

The chessboard kept spinning, and the wings continued to shrink until finally, they were entirely folded into a huge, bloated black shadow. From Xu Ming’s angle, she could vaguely see it writhing…

“Wow.” At this moment, the blubberman’s voice echoed again, filled with shock, “It turned into a bug!”

Xu Ming: “…?”

“A bug! A caterpillar!” The blubberman hurriedly explained, and Xu Ming could almost imagine its frantic gestures from its tone, “The butterfly turned into a big bug, I don’t know how… Ah, it seems to be planning to escape!”

“…” Xu Ming pursed her lips involuntarily.

Is it “turning into”—or “turning back”?