# Chapter 400: Eat Before Going to Kill
"Why should I teach you? What benefit is there for me?" Butterfly Lady said with a hint of malice. "There are too many things you don't know. If you want me to teach you, you'll have to offer something in return. Otherwise, give me Rose Castle, and I'll consider teaching you."
Xu Huo smiled faintly. "Even without your help, I'll eventually learn. It's just a matter of time, sooner or later. Besides, I've only just entered the game, so there's no rush."
She kept going back and forth, negotiating terms with him, but she probably didn't really want Rose Castle.
Butterfly Lady tilted her head to look at him. "Aren't you after Rongxin Group's weapons? By yourself, unless you have other companions."
"No," Xu Huo said. "I just happened to stumble upon this matter. I don't necessarily have to get involved. Besides, as you said, there are too many things I don't know. If I run into advanced players, I'd just be throwing my life away. Staying at Rose Castle is fine."
"But I do know some other information. You could also offer something in exchange."
Butterfly Lady conjured a small fan in her hand. "A few words and you think you can turn the tables? Do you think staying here keeps you safe? I'll go back and share some interesting news with Duke Tar. He already dislikes you anyway, and it's quite a coincidence that you followed Vison Meni in the game. You probably can't stay in District 011 anymore."
"Otherwise, go to District 001. He Pu left something for you, so you might as well go pick it up. Too bad you don't know how to find it, and you don't even know how to use that stone in the photo album."
She laughed maliciously. "Good things are wasted on you. When another player kills you, I'll be sure to collect your corpse."
"No need for corpse collection. Just remember to take Rose Castle with you, so there won't be wanted criminals eating people here again," Xu Huo said calmly.
Butterfly Lady's expression darkened slightly. "Find out the transaction location for Rongxin's arms purchase, and come up with a suitable plan. If you can't, I'll kill you. If you're afraid of death, use your ticket to run away. Wanted criminals are detestable, but useless people like you occupying Rose Castle aren't any better!"
With that, she left Xu Huo's spiritual realm in anger.
In the garden, the two facing each other became animated again. Seeing Butterfly Lady about to leave, Xu Huo said, "It's almost time to eat."
Still with that expressionless face, as if the threat was just wind passing through his ears—in one ear and out the other.
Butterfly Lady grew even angrier. "I'm going to kill someone. Do I need to eat before that?"
"It's already prepared anyway. Eating first won't hurt," Xu Huo said leisurely. "I think it's going to rain soon. Need an umbrella?"
Butterfly Lady left him with a cold, beautiful silhouette.
After she was gone, Xu Huo sat back down, pondering what had just happened in the spiritual realm.
As Butterfly Lady had said, he knew nothing about He Pu. Of course, he was also skeptical about He Pu's choice of successor. Mr. Dong wasn't a real person after all, and his perspective on things was different. Some matters might not be clear. He could try to extract information from Butterfly Lady.
Although she refused to budge, this exchange had given him a bit more understanding of Mental Super Evolution.
Compared to him, Butterfly Lady's spiritual realm was very flexible. Moreover, her symbolic door zippers came in three colors: black, silver, and gold. As the color upgraded, the intensity of her spiritual power also increased.
Even though she had caused trouble in the library tower, he sensed that she hadn't shown much of her true strength. A door was ultimately just a door. As she said, she had hidden her real spiritual realm.
Hidden away. He could also hide the first floor.
Closing his eyes, Xu Huo thought about how to hide his spiritual realm.
"Dinner is ready," Mr. Dong said as he approached. "Should we save some for Butterfly Lady?"
"Save some," Xu Huo said, opening his eyes. "Do you know her taste preferences?"
"I'm not sure," Mr. Dong said.
"She likes spicy food, but not too spicy. Also prepare some cooling drinks. She seems prone to getting hot-tempered all day," Xu Huo said.
Mr. Dong acknowledged the request.
After dinner, Xu Huo went to the study and didn't return to his room until late at night.
When he woke up, Butterfly Lady had already changed into a red dress and was sitting in the dining room eating breakfast.
She had taken the host's seat, so Xu Huo had to sit to the side.
The two ate their meal without disturbing each other. Afterward, Duke Tar sent someone to pick her up, saying he wanted to introduce some friends to her. Meanwhile, Xu Huo received a call from Shi Youzhi, asking him to come help at the base.
When he went out, the rain hadn't stopped. Xu Huo proactively held the umbrella over her head, glancing at the gemstone flower hair clip in her hair. "Very beautiful. It suits you."
Butterfly Lady expressionlessly let him escort her to the car.
After watching the car drive away, Xu Huo drove to the base—the car was provided by the base, with only usage rights and no disposal rights. If he stopped working there someday, he'd have to return it.
Shi Youzhi had called him to help organize files.
Recently, there wasn't much to do at the base. Sanyang wanted to reorganize the old archives in the storage room, destroying those that were too old to free up some space.
"These are the ones. Just organize them. Put anything older than five years aside," Ai Jia said.
Xu Huo looked at the mountain of square boxes.
These boxes were equivalent to paper documents in District 014. Although technology allowed any data to be stored digitally, separate archives were still necessary.
These square boxes were like specialized hard drives that required special terminals to read. Unless using the Game Government's dedicated interface, using other instruments or accessing them outside the base would trigger a self-destruct program.
"EG23876 Orbit Error Record, EH992332 Orbit Attack Record, EG2344024 Orbit Weather Anomaly Record..." Xu Huo picked up a box and asked, "These files are only a few years old. Should we really destroy them?"
"In the game world, especially with dimensional tracks, changes happen very quickly. Sometimes a single day's weather can fill an entire record disk," Ai Jia said. "Especially during dimensional shifts, some space contact points have no pattern and change extremely fast. They have little reference value."
"When sitting on the train, you can't feel the changes outside," Xu Huo said.
"Of course not," Ai Jia explained. "Dimension trains travel through relatively stable areas during the day and only pass through space distortion points at night. But these places occasionally have high radiation. Even looking at them with your eyes can cause harm, so everything is shielded."
"So it's hard to survive outside the train?" Wan Tingfang was also there. "Then how do the xenomorphs survive?"
"Haven't you noticed how strange those xenomorphs are?" Ai Jia said. "Their lifespans are extremely short. They don't live long."
"If it's a place with space distortion, how do xenomorphs keep appearing?" Xu Huo asked. "Are the tracks also connected to instance worlds?"
She Ping beside him looked at him in surprise. "You're right. Some tracks are indeed connected to instance worlds, but those are high-risk instances."