Chapter 36.1 ?

To Mint, the current situation was still unclear.

She only knew that not long ago, everything suddenly went haywire, as if a nightmare had descended. There were footsteps all around, chaotic footsteps, but she couldn’t see anything.

Because her friend’s hand was still covering her eyes.

Her friend’s hand was icy cold, and the voice was equally cold, weak. But the steps were firm as they supported her forward.

…But how could she manage to cover her eyes with one hand while supporting her arm with the other?

Mint didn’t know. Just as she didn’t know why her friend suddenly appeared in her room, or why they kept saying strange things.

Her heart was racing, her legs were weak as she walked, and the urge to scream was lodged in her throat. The obscured vision and the cold touch amplified her fear to the maximum. God knows how many times along the way she was terrified by her imagination, making her want to break free and run.

…But in the end, she did nothing unnecessary. Maybe it was trust, or just fear to the point of not wanting to think. She obediently followed her friend’s words, groping her way and being led to this room.

Even now, she wasn’t sure where she was… She only remembered her friend’s last words, “This place should be okay, it’s barely safe, wait here for now,” then helping her to sit somewhere. After that, there was no more sound.

But the cool sensation over her eyelids remained, so she obediently didn’t open her eyes, sitting quietly. Occasionally, she would hear others’ voices, faint and unclear. She could only guess that there were hotel staff nearby, who seemed anxious, occasionally speaking urgently in words she didn’t understand, sometimes mixed with the ticking of a clock.

After who knew how long, another voice appeared, but she still couldn’t hear clearly… She vaguely heard something about “demolition,” and then the voice quickly faded, as if covered by something.

So now… what exactly is going on?

Mint was very confused. But thinking of her friend’s instructions, she forced down all her anxiety and curiosity, sitting still and unmoving.

—Therefore, she had no idea that at this moment, Gu Yunshu, standing beside her, was tilting her head slightly and looking at her with a somewhat troubled expression.

They are currently in the room behind the front desk. As Xu Ming had predicted, the front desk area is still relatively safe, with no signs of butterfly invasion. Gu Yunshu was able to take off her sunglasses, and her clear eyes reflected the image of Mint not far away.

——Mint was sitting properly in her seat, wearing a mid-length lace nightgown, looking very tense. However, this was not what puzzled Gu Yunshu.

What concerned her was Mint’s face.

Even though Mint’s head was bowed, she could clearly see that Mint’s eyes and ears were wrapped in thick strands of hair.

Layer upon layer, it reminded one of a heavy cocoon. Gu Yunshu wanted to help pull some away, but as soon as she reached out, the hair rustled and a blood-red eye suddenly opened among the dense hair, glaring fiercely at her.

Gu Yunshu had no choice but to withdraw her hand. After a moment, she reluctantly turned and slowly walked out of the room.

At the front desk outside the room, Xu Ming and Qiu Yufei were huddled together, whispering, while the staff beside them were busy with their own tasks.

As for the huge figure they had once thought of as the “Domain Master,” it was now nowhere to be seen——Xu Ming said the blubberman told her that it seemed the figure still needed to rescue other trapped staff members, or the situation would worsen.

Gu Yunshu didn’t quite understand this, but she was relieved. After all, the presence of that figure was quite oppressive, making her uncomfortable when staying with it.

Gu Yunshu thought silently and walked straight towards Xu Ming.

Xu Ming was busy examining newly acquired reading records with Qiu Yufei and secretly continuing to draw new work badges under Qiu Yufei’s cover. Seeing her approach, she waved and glanced at the room behind her.

“The one inside, is she the girl living on the second floor?” She confirmed with Gu Yunshu, “What’s her situation? Is she willing to help?”

“Um……” Gu Yunshu hesitated briefly at the question. Instead, the staff member operating the computer beside them answered for her.

“She won’t talk to you.” The staff member said coldly, “Her friend is guarding her.”

Xu Ming: “?”

“Her friend is very fierce.” The staff member added promptly, “Very, very fierce.”

So now they all dare not go over there.

Xu Ming: “……”

Seems to understand, but not really.

In short, she couldn’t get the badge for now.

“I see……” Xu Ming showed some thoughtfulness on her face. Glancing at the newly torn reading record, her expression became more subtle.

The reading record came from two newly badged hotel staff——perhaps her performance was too convincing, and the person in charge of the Magic Cube Mansion quickly agreed to her face-to-face request to borrow staff.

Not only agreed, but before leaving, they also consented to Xu Ming’s request for further cooperation……of course, it might just be a desperate measure.

Anyway, Xu Ming now had two temporary workers and the right to continue developing temporary workers. This was a good thing for her.

The problem was, the reading records provided by these two temporary workers……

Good news, both temporary workers had excellent reading habits, reading proper literature.

Bad news, too proper.

——The two records in Xu Ming’s hands, one had names like Mencius, Confucius, and Zhuangzi in just 500 words, which she barely managed to locate in a certain philosophy history book using her university memory; as for the other one, Xu Ming was sure she hadn’t read it, but she definitely recognized the name inside, called Fugui.

……It was Qiu Yufei who first recognized it, saying it might be from “To Live”.

It made Xu Ming reflect.

The dead read “To Live”, while she, a living person, reads “Ten Dumb Moments of Bichon Frise”.

Honestly, it felt a bit apologetic.

Of course, the sources of these contents weren’t the point.

The point was, the extractable keywords seemed very limited.

This was also why Xu Ming was pondering continuing to badge more people.