Chapter 477: A Sweet Name
Butterfly Lady did not head toward the other rooms. Instead, with a single wave of her hand, two interlocking circular metal gears appeared before her.
Xu Huo had seen this kind of gear once before. Compared to chains, it was a step closer to the core of Butterfly Lady's spiritual world.
The two gears meshed and rotated, and with a series of clicking sounds, the continuously multiplying rooms collapsed and shattered from far to near toward her location. Then, the doors on all sides of the room began to disappear, leaving only one remaining.
She stepped forward and pushed it open, but what appeared was not the corridor of the library, but a new spiral staircase.
"Your progress is really something." Butterfly Lady let out a light snort. With a flick of her finger, the number of gears increased geometrically, quickly filling the space where the staircase stood. Once all the gears were spinning under the drive of the central gear, the darkness and the staircase shattered like fragments. What unfolded before her was the snow-white corridor of the library, along with the white staircase standing at its center.
Butterfly Lady gracefully opened the door to the adjacent room, and the next second, she appeared at the bottom of the library. Looking at the few materialized objects still placed on the desk, she said indifferently, "Giving up so soon? No fun."
Xu Huo walked out from a room on the first floor and said with a smile, "I was afraid you'd tear my place apart."
Butterfly Lady glanced at him, then sat down beside the table before saying, "He Pu didn't choose wrong. You have exceptional qualities."
Xu Huo sat down across from her. "I came to Rose Castle purely by chance. I just happened to meet Mr. He Pu's standards."
"It wasn't chance." Butterfly Lady rested her chin on her hand and looked at him, though her gaze was somewhat distant. "He Pu had a prediction prop. It could make judgments based on his needs. He came to District 011 with a purpose—to wait for a suitable heir."
"So that's me?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me for saying so, but there shouldn't be few players who could see through the fake He Pu's identity."
"But only you were holding his lighter," Butterfly Lady said. "That's fate."
"Building a connection through a single item?" Xu Huo pondered for a moment. "Is there really such a prop?"
"There is," Butterfly Lady's attention returned to him. "The fact that we're sitting face to face right now is proof."
Xu Huo knew she wouldn't elaborate on this topic, so he changed the subject. "What's your relationship with V. Fan Xiao?"
"He raised me for a while." Butterfly Lady showed a hint of a smile. "I was pretty young back then. I followed him around setting fires everywhere. It was fun."
"An adoptive relationship?"
"He wanted to be my dad, but my real dad is still alive." Butterfly Lady shrugged regretfully. "I reluctantly call him uncle. Before he got sick, he was a handsome older man. Too bad the illness ravaged him beyond recognition. I don't even want to look at his photos."
Xu Huo's gaze lingered on her face for a moment. "Is there really a player called Butterfly Lady?"
"A notorious cannibal player." The fake Butterfly Lady, Bai Kou, said with a sweet smile. "I borrowed her name to do some bad things."
Xu Huo smiled along with her. "I still don't know your real name."
"Bai Kou. Fan Xiao called me Kou Kou." Bai Kou said.
Xu Huo ran the name through his mind. "Is it your real name?"
Bai Kou let out a "pfft" laugh. "Of course not. I made up that name to fool him."
"Kou Kou." Xu Huo called her name and said seriously, "It sounds very nice."
Bai Kou stared at him for a few seconds, then stood up and left his spiritual world.
Xu Huo returned to the room, the smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth.
It was clear that Bai Kou had deep feelings for Fan Xiao. Her casual narration was just a way to mask her true emotions. After a moment's thought, he walked to the balcony and said to the next room, "Want to listen to some music?"
"You know how to play?" A voice came from the room after a while.
"No, I'll just stream it online." Xu Huo answered bluntly.
Bai Kou's response was even blunter—she swept the floor-to-ceiling window shut from across the way.
Nevertheless, Xu Huo still took out his communicator and selected a few sleep-inducing songs to play.
He left the communicator on the balcony and went back to his room to sleep.
The music didn't stop all night. It wasn't until the next morning, when Mr. Dong knocked and came in, that he retrieved the communicator. Mr. Dong also informed Xu Huo that Bai Kou had left in the middle of the night, her whereabouts unknown.
Xu Huo nodded to show he understood. He first drew a vial of blood for storage, then after breakfast, he took out the glasses and played back the printed materials about Dr. Wu that he had photographed.
Previously, Dr. Deng had mentioned that the biological characteristics Dr. Wu left in each place were different, leading some to speculate that "Dr. Wu" was a title rather than a single person. These materials indeed recorded in detail several identities Dr. Wu had used in the past. One-third were solitary, with no relatives or friends, his social network established only after taking up a position.
Two-thirds of the disguises included family members. As for how these family members came about, they were usually impersonated. This was difficult to verify. If not for the fact that his biological characteristics differed from the person being impersonated, it would be nearly impossible to determine they weren't the same person.
Since he could perfectly deceive relatives and friends, mimicking the same biological characteristics wouldn't be hard. The fact that Dr. Wu didn't do this was probably because he didn't want to implicate the families of those he impersonated.
The places where Dr. Wu worked were mostly related to pharmacology—either pharmaceutical companies or private laboratories. He rarely disguised himself as other identities. Therefore, the materials speculated that he was still conducting pharmaceutical research while evading the Game Government.
Of course, Xu Huo believed his purpose was to deliberately spread the Perfect Evolution Potion. But he couldn't be sure that the Perfect Evolution Potion was completely without side effects. Additionally, the evolution potions had grade distinctions, and perhaps later versions of the potion hadn't been developed yet.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but recall the things V. Fan Xiao had left in District 001. Since Bai Kou said he had deliberately settled in District 011 to wait for an heir, could what he left behind be the potion?
Given V. Fan Xiao's abilities, finding the Perfect Evolution Potion wouldn't be surprising. Moreover, after developing evolution sequelae, he had been conducting pharmaceutical research. Although no more information about the Perfect Potion was found in his materials, the scarcity of data itself suggested something was amiss from another angle.
He called Mr. Dong in and directly asked him if he knew about the Perfect Potion.
"Mr. He Pu once searched for it, but didn't find it," Mr. Dong replied.
Mr. Dong wasn't lying. Had Fan Xiao really not found it, or had he deceived Mr. Dong as well?
After sending him out, Xu Huo continued reading Dr. Wu's materials.
The most important information in the encrypted file, which he had only seen two pages of, was that Dr. Wu might have had a daughter, and she had died.
This was information he had already learned from Dr. Deng.
"Ding ding." A message came in on the communicator. He opened the projection. It was from Dr. Deng, informing him that he had found a job that provided room and board and had already made contact with the laboratory, making it very convenient to conduct potion tests.
Xu Huo glanced at the address. It was the largest pharmaceutical branch under the Rongxin Group.
(Chapter End)