# Chapter 754: Space Rotation
Peng Fengnian confirmed before nodding and asked, "What's wrong with this photo?"
Xu Huo went back to compare photos of the same location taken at different times and finally understood what felt off about this instance space.
Although no other players could be seen from the Mirror Hotel, the traces left by other players still appeared here, because the space where the Mirror Hotel was located and the real Museum City where the Corpse Hotel was situated were rotating.
When the ticket players—the dozen or so players who came with Xu Huo—entered Museum City, most things in the city were untouched, with no obvious changes in appearance. But on the first night, things changed.
Changes inside other venues were hard to spot, but the Decapitation Cemetery was right there, impossible to miss.
For example, he could now see the traces of the Decapitation Cemetery being dug up and coffins opened. Therefore, under normal circumstances, on the second day, whether at the Corpse Hotel or the Mirror Hotel, the excavation traces at the Decapitation Cemetery should have been visible. Yet in the photo Peng Fengnian took on the afternoon of the second day, the Decapitation Cemetery was intact. On the third day during the day, the traces appeared again!
But this anomaly wasn't based on time.
If it were a daily time loop, then every morning should show a brand new Museum City. So the real cause of this time distortion illusion was space.
Earlier in the hotel, he had found it strange. That type of monster clearly had more than one, and their disappearances and appearances followed a pattern, but not being able to catch any clues was truly abnormal.
But now it all made sense. That monster hadn't entered the hotel through some undetectable passage—it had been in the hotel all along, never leaving. What was changing was the Mirror Hotel and this Museum City!
The question now was: what rules governed the space rotation of Museum City?
He didn't speak. Peng Fengnian beside him stretched his neck trying to see something in the photos, then asked after failing, "What's wrong with the photos? They look no different from the others to me."
"The difference is obvious." Xu Huo pulled out the photo that captured the Decapitation Cemetery. "Take a look."
Comparing them, Peng Fengnian understood. "Why was the cemetery dug up in the morning but restored in the afternoon?"
"It's not restoration—it's swapping," Xu Huo said.
Restoration happens within one space, affecting time. For example, Mr. Dong's "Static Rewind" could restore broken still objects to their original form, though not completely—just maintaining the shape.
Space swapping, on the other hand, meant Museum City had at least two spaces swapping inside and out. For instance, on their first night, Xiao Ling dug up the cemetery. By the next morning, the space that had been dug up had swapped to the Mirror Hotel side. So the previously flat cemetery had also been dug up on the morning of the day before yesterday.
But Xu Huo had changed direction toward the mannequin building near the gate after meeting up with Xiao Ling and the others the day before yesterday, without going back to the cemetery. If he had gone back then, the dug-up cemetery would have already swapped to the Mirror Hotel, and they would have seen an intact cemetery.
Of course, this couldn't be verified. Even if he had gone back then and found the intact cemetery, he might have dismissed it as the instance space refreshing.
The clue was still in these photos. The cemetery photographed on the afternoon of the day before yesterday was intact again, meaning the space had swapped again—either the swapped-out space had been swapped back in, or there was a third intact space.
"You mean the Mirror Hotel and this Museum City are actually multiple spaces swapping back and forth?" Peng Fengnian grasped his meaning and said in shock, "Then how many spaces are there... no, if the entire Museum City is swapping, how do we get out?"
"I have no leads on that yet," Xu Huo admitted frankly.
After all, this might just be expanded content of Museum City, possibly unrelated to completing the mission. And so far, he hadn't triggered any side quests.
Peng Fengnian was disappointed but perked up again, flattering him a couple of times before saying he would tell his companions about this.
Xu Huo had no reason to stop him. They might even have useful props on hand.
After the man left, he leaned back against the chair again, gazing at the cemetery from afar, pondering the instance mission.
Since one could enter the Mirror Hotel from the Corpse Hotel, this hotel was likely the core of Museum City's space. If so, the disappearances of people staying in the hotel probably didn't start only after the instance opened. And with so many people in the Decapitation Cemetery having their heads cut off...
"Could it be that the hotel space swallowing living people caused panic, leading to so many being executed in a ritualistic manner?"
The progress on the game panel suddenly jumped to 56.
This puzzle answer was simpler than Xu Huo had imagined. Perhaps he didn't need to guess the space part—just submitting that the hotel swallowed people could complete one progress.
Long Aotian was the only one last night who hadn't entered the Mirror Hotel. Maybe he had already completed this progress.
Time quickly reached 12:30 PM, the time when ticket players started the instance. Xu Huo subconsciously glanced at the main gate, but when he turned back, scattered white bones had appeared near the pits in the Decapitation Cemetery.
Before entering the Mirror Hotel yesterday, some skeletons had left the cemetery. Now white bones appeared here, indicating that some players outside had fought with these bones.
But unfortunately, he hadn't felt any changes around him. Could space actively avoid players' gazes?
Unable to guess the answer, Xu Huo temporarily stopped thinking. Regardless, based on the monster's activity patterns and the "scenery" changes at the cemetery, at least 6:00 AM and 12:30 PM were the nodes for space rotation.
"Did you see the scenery change?" Peng Fengnian climbed up from downstairs again, this time apparently using a different silencing prop.
"I saw it. Do your companions have a way out?" Xu Huo asked directly.
Peng Fengnian chuckled. "I came to brainstorm, didn't I?"
"What's your theory?"
Peng Fengnian said seriously, "We all think we might be able to get out during the space rotation nodes."
"At 6:00 AM, everyone was in the building dealing with that monster." At the time, Lin Zhenhuai was holding a detection prop.
"Teacher Pan still thinks it's at night, because we all entered at night. Although it might not be at the space rotation node, this hotel area is different from other parts of Museum City. If there's an entrance or exit, it might not follow the space rotation rules," Peng Fengnian added.
This Teacher Pan's thinking was similar to Xu Huo's, but it was just a rough guess. "We'll wait until tonight to see."