Chapter 43 - Skinning

Along with Director Zhu, three people were dragged into a room on one side.

In the few seconds it took to open and close the door, a thick smell of blood drifted out from within.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

The sound of chopping and slicing rose in succession, and the voices of those three people also vanished.

The red-nosed man came out again, looked at the huddled, trembling pigs with satisfaction, and continued to herd them out.

A few minutes later, everyone was locked in the pigpen, facing the people in the next pen who looked just like pigs.

The red-nosed man, while dumping a bucket of pig feed, happily muttered to himself, “Eat up, eat plenty.

The more you fatten up, the better the taste of your meat will be.”

“Too bad there are no piglets.

The old pigs have to be picked out too—grind the tough ones up to make dumplings.”

The pigs squeezed together, shivering, and the smell of incontinence filled the air.

The red-nosed man laughed heartily, sniffing the air.

Suddenly, as if he heard something, he turned his head to look to the left, slammed the fence shut with force, and walked away, cursing under his breath.

Xu Huo heard him say “they are here again” and “these people are so annoying.” Between his words, he also smashed an empty pigpen, his violence and agitation plainly visible.

Once his footsteps had faded, Xu Huo turned his head back to survey his surroundings.

The neighboring pen should contain the people who were taken away previously.

The numbers matched up, making a total of forty-one with those on his side.

Apart from them, a few piglets lay in a faraway nursery pen, and the sow pen wasn’t empty either; three big sows inside had high, bulging bellies.

However, unlike the panic here, the piglets and sows looked as though they were dead, indifferent to the newcomers.

Without a doubt, they were people too.

Xu Huo’s expression darkened as he moved back and squeezed into the middle of the pig herd.

All the people turned into pigs had a seam on their stomachs.

The stitches on those around him were so rough that it was apparent they were crudely sewn together, but the ones on the piglets were different—the stitches had fully merged with the pigskin as though they had grown into the flesh.

And since cutting the eye holes earlier, the pigskin on him had been growing tighter as if it meant to fuse with his skin; he feared that if too much time passed, the pigskin wouldn’t come off anymore.

After moving his fingers a bit, Xu Huo used “Omnipresent Strings” to hook out fragments of Beheading Demon’s Axe from his pocket.

Having successfully retrieved the fragments, he cut open the pigskin on his wrist, extended his hand, severed the stitches on his abdomen, and with a tug, he managed to peel off the pigskin.

The moment he shed the pigskin, a game notification lit up:

[Background Introduction: No trade, no hurt.

With the increasing demand from customers nowadays, more and more underground meat suppliers have emerged.

To ensure an ample supply, these factories often randomly appear in different worlds.]

[As a meat supplier that’s popular among underground restaurants, the factory’s boss, Red-nosed Karl, is not only able to provide customers with tasty red meat in no time but also allows gourmets to proudly serve it on their tables.

In the underground restaurant scene, the nickname Red-nosed has some renown.]

[It’s said that Karl was an unrivaled Skinning Artisan; he’s skinned no less than nearly a hundred thousand hides in his career, possessing a delicate heart contrary to his vulgar appearance.

His skill was so refined that he could sense whether an animal was pregnant or sick just by the feel of its fur.]

[Instance Task: ①The more valuable things are, the easier they are to lose—steal a treasure from Skinning Artisan Karl;

②Piglets flying toward freedom—save more than three children;

③Hardworking laborers—complete the task assigned by factory boss Karl.]

The instance location was right in the factory.

Those who came to apply for jobs were either players or had players mixed among them.

Although there was no time limit, all three tasks were not easy…

“Huff!

Huff!” The big pig beside him desperately pushed against him, and those from the next pigpen also tried to jump over, their eyes filled with longing and pleading.

Xu Huo noticed that one of them was especially enthusiastic, but he merely glanced at it before turning his gaze away.

He threw the peeled pigskin into the corner and whispered, “I’m going to find a way out.

As long as you don’t let that person just now discover that I’ve slipped away, I’ll find a way to come back for you.”

The big pigs hurriedly nodded.

Two of them ran to the corner, lied directly on the pigskin, and covered it with their bodies.

The others also squeezed over, scrambling with their limbs, and managed to pile up into a small mound.

The people in the next pigpen did the same, squeezing into a heap, with only one persistently howling in anger.

Xu Huo pushed it back and crouched down as he climbed out of the pigpen.

He came to a small piglet pen not far away, where six piglets were lying quietly.

Upon seeing him, their eyes sparkled, yet they neither approached nor made any noise.

He waved at the piglets, but instead of coming closer, they retreated in fear.

A big pig with a swollen belly walked over and struggled to knock on its own abdomen with its front hooves.

The stitches had completely blended into the skin.

“Can’t this just be cut open directly?”

“Have you grown together with the pigskin?”

“Will you die if the skin is forcibly peeled?”

He asked each question, and the big pig nodded each time.

“How long will it take for the skin to grow attached to the flesh?”

“Three hours?

Five hours?”

The big pig chose five hours.

“Do you know of any way to get you out?” he asked again.

This time the big pig shook its head.

With no clues about the second task, Xu Huo could only try the other two.

Artisan Karl should be conducting interviews with the applicants now and wouldn’t be back so soon.

He passed through the pigpen, walking in the direction where Skinning Artisan had left.

The pigpen seemed to be located at the very end of the factory.

The lighting was still bright, and from the window, one could see a vast stretch of woods.

Beyond the pigpen lay the main part of the factory with an integrated production line for slaughtering, dehairing, and cleaning pigs.

However, this area was completely different from the clean pigpen behind.

The floor was covered in dark sludge, even the machines were smeared with blood.

Flies, cockroaches, and rats were everywhere, and the rag in the corner had dried into a cake-like form—this didn’t look like they were too busy to clean, it looked like it had never been cleaned.

Xu Huo chose the driest spots as he walked.

To the side were two rooms, one of which was where he and the others had fallen.

A conspicuous pipe outlet was welded onto the center of the wall, and the dark, gaping pipe led to an unknown destination.

He lingered for a few seconds before stepping out again, sparing a glance for the two rotten-headed pigs hanging from the hooks beside him before opening another door that reeked of stench.