Chapter 35.3 ?

At this moment, she heard Ling Guang exclaim softly. Fang Xueqing looked up in response and saw him looking in astonishment towards the direction of the elevator, even pointing and gesturing.

“It’s normal!” His tone was filled with undisguised surprise. “What about you? What does the elevator look like to you?”

Soon, he realized that his question was somewhat redundant—as soon as he raised his hand, Fang Xueqing also looked over. From her slightly parted lips, Ling Guang had no doubt that what she saw was the same as him.

“…What’s going on?” He was still in disbelief. “Could it be another illusion?”

Fang Xueqing didn’t respond, but carefully stepped forward, tried pressing the elevator button, and peeked inside.

“Who cares, at least it looks normal now.” She quickly made up her mind and stepped in first. If something else happened, she could still rely on her rulebook.

More importantly, she could vaguely feel that she… seemed more normal now.

For some reason, the oppressive feeling brought by those strange phrases earlier seemed to have lessened significantly, making her feel much clearer.

Ling Guang apparently felt the same, not dwelling on it too much, and soon followed her in.

The elevator doors quickly closed, followed by the familiar feeling of descending.

Moments later, Ling Guang’s hesitant voice sounded again:

“So, what does a young yet sincere intestine mean?”

Fang Xueqing: “…”

Why are you asking me, I don’t understand either! Weird!

Meanwhile.

On the first floor, at the hotel front desk.

Xu Ming raised an eyebrow slightly and made a casual gesture. Beside him, Qiu Yufei cooperatively lowered her head and pushed the paper forward.

“The modification I mentioned is roughly this level.”

Xu Ming spoke slowly, lightly tapping the tabletop. Spread out on the table was the paper she had casually taken with her when she went downstairs—it was the one the blubberman had read to her about the “stairs” and “elevator.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t her who took the paper but rather she had the blubberman bring it down. One reason was not wanting Qiu Yufei, who was following behind at the time, to see it, and the other was to keep a case to continue verifying the effect of “second level substitution.”

The subsequent developments were quite smooth. Without much effort, she led Qiu Yufei and Gu Yunshu down the stairs to the first floor, heading straight for the front desk. Along the way, they saw other staff, but their conditions were clearly not right—they kept circling within a small area, much like the strange guests described by the blubberman.

The difference was, they seemed to be able to hear Xu Ming’s voice and would respond to it. But that was all.

Around them, it was as if there were invisible walls Xu Ming couldn’t see. She could see them, but they couldn’t see her.

With no other options, Xu Ming and the others had to run to the front desk. There, three staff members were still on duty, looking relatively normal, without any mechanical behavior, though their faces were extremely serious.

The door to the room behind them was rarely open, and over their shoulders, Xu Ming could see someone sitting inside, with a puffy skirt draping over the chair.

Without time to think further, Xu Ming quickly shifted her attention to the staff. Without waiting for them to speak, she directly requested a meeting with their boss.

Then… as the blubberman put it, one of the staff’s heads exploded again.

Their boss descended upon him, his large body adorned with clocks swaying, looking down silently at Xu Ming.

Xu Ming remained calm and unhurried, confirming one thing with it—

“It’s 2 a.m. now.” She looked up at the air above, trying to appear attentive. “If we can hold out until noon, can we still check out here?”

The response was ambiguous.

It said, “Maybe.”

Xu Ming directly asked what “maybe” meant. This time, the answer came from the blubberman curled up in her bag.

“The current situation is simply that Butterfly Mansion has shifted itself to completely overlap with Magic Cube Mansion. Butterfly’s rules are invading, while Magic Cube’s rules have not been completely invalidated.”

The blubberman added quietly, “It probably means that if it’s not dead by then, it can process the checkout according to its rules.”

Xu Ming: “…”

Why does it sound like a setup for a flag?

But this clarified what needed to be done next.

“So, it means we just need to delay Butterfly’s invasion as much as possible, right?” She confirmed with the other side again, then without hesitation, asked Qiu Yufei to take out the paper with “stairs and elevator” written on it, and demonstrated a modification in front of it.

Then, facing the air in front of her seriously, she said:

“You’re in luck. Before this investigation, we studied Butterfly’s characteristics and made some preparations.”

“A few small measures should help you hold out longer. But for them to be most effective, you’ll need to cooperate a bit.”

“…” The response was a brief silence. Then the blubberman’s voice sounded in her mind again:

“It asks what specifically to do.”

Xu Ming: “…”

I’m not very sure myself, let me think about it.

But at least one thing was certain—

“First step, take these two and distribute them to your employees.”

As Xu Ming spoke, she casually slapped two items onto the table. They were two half-finished temporary work badges she had prepared before sleeping.

“Fill in the names and wear them directly. Prioritize those who are more conscious and communicative, and…”

“Those who usually have good reading habits.”

Magic Cube Mansion’s employees: …???