Chapter 44 - Mission

The impact of this room was far greater than anything outside, the stone countertops were piled with chunks of meat, a bright red, indistinguishable as to which animals or which parts they once belonged, the dense and thick stench of blood was so overpowering that for those with a keen sense of smell, it was no different from breathing in solidified air, causing a choking sensation that shot straight to the top of the skull.

Xu Huo, unfazed, walked in and started rummaging through the heaps of meat and, to his surprise, flipped over a piece with a number on it—the skin may have been stripped off, but these few digits were as if they had grown into the muscle tissue, clearly visible.

“Bang!” The sound of a door being forcefully opened came from outside, followed by the voice of the Skinning Artisan Karl, “Five days of trial period, and only if you meet my standards can you stay to work!”

“What about the wages…”

“You still want to get paid during the trial period?” Karl barked irritably, “Clean this place up for me, and if I come back in three hours and see even a single cockroach, all of you can get the hell out!”

After that was another slammed door, followed by the sound of a car engine fading away outside the factory.

A short while later, someone in the workshop spoke, “Yang Can was taken away by the Skinning Artisan, he won’t be in trouble will he?”

“The Skinning Artisan just went fishing, Yang Can should be safe for now,” another voice said.

“They will be gone for three hours, this is an opportunity.”

“Qin An is right,” a female voice said.

“Let’s split up and act according to the plan we discussed earlier.”

“I’ll go look for the collection room with Qin An, Xian Dazhi, you and Zou Weichang stay behind to clean.

We’ll be back in no more than an hour.

We can’t give the Skinning Artisan any excuse to kick us out,”

“Fine, fine, you call the shots,” the fourth voice replied impatiently, “Just get going already.”

The sound of two sets of footsteps left the workshop, leaving two people behind.

The first one who had spoken said, “We should hurry up and get to work.”

“Are you as dumb as they are?

Seriously cleaning?” the impatient voice scoffed, “They go off to find the collector’s items, and we get stuck with the dirty work.”

“There’s no other way; Peng Fengnian said that the Skinning Artisan’s items are definitely hidden in hard-to-find places, and our abilities aren’t suited for that kind of task.”

“Easy for him to say, standing there without back pain.

The whole damn factory is this big, what’s so hard to find about secret chambers or basements?

Who can’t find them?”

“But Peng Fengnian mentioned that survivors from the Skinning Artisan scenario are nearly zero.

It can’t be that easy, can it?”

The other person let out a cold snort, and their footsteps moved from the front door of the workshop toward the back door.

“Zou Weichang, where are you going?”

“To the pigsty,” Zou Weichang chuckled oddly, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find some pigs that haven’t been skinned for more than six hours.”

“Didn’t Peng Fengnian say that’s impossible?

The pigs are all specially supplied; the Skinning Artisan must have raised them for a long time…”

“Everything Peng Fengnian says, huh?

Use your brain,” he retorted.

“Hey!” the moving voice halted, “There are a few other rooms beside, should we check them first?”

Zou Weichang ignored Xian Dazhi and went straight into the pigsty, with Xian Dazhi quickly following.

The workshop restored its silence, and Xu Huo stood still in the room, showing no hurry to leave.

These applicants were different from him; they were all ticket holders, having discussed strategies beforehand.

The known individuals included Qin An, Zou Weichang, Xian Dazhi, Yang Can, and Peng Fengnian.

Yang Can had been taken fishing by the Skinning Artisan, Zou Weichang, and Xian Dazhi were in the pigsty, and Qin An along with another female player went to look for the Skinning Artisan’s collection room upfront.

Whether the female player was Peng Fengnian or not was uncertain, nor was it excluded that some players hadn’t entered the Hao Wei Dao Fresh Meat Supply Factory.

Listening to their conversation, it seems that the task for players with tickets, like himself, is to choose one of three tasks: steal the treasures collected by the Skinning Artisan, rescue three children, or complete a job given by the Skinning Artisan.

Of the three tasks, the third appears to be the least risky, but that’s not actually the case.

The Skinning Artisan most likely knows that the applicants are players, allowing them to work for some reason, which is why he despises the applicants, and the dirty workshop outside must be left there on purpose.

Given this premise, it’s nearly impossible for players to complete the work he assigns.

Being driven away and failing to pass through can be considered lucky, as most players probably end up as pieces of meat in the slaughter room.

As for the second task, it presumably involves rescuing three children.

Whether escaping from the copy or passing through to obtain a Return Ticket, both are only for single use.

To complete the task, one must be able to take the three children with them, at least freeing them from their pig skins, which is almost impossible without a Special Item, unless the Skinning Artisan voluntarily releases them.

The most likely task to be completed is the first one, so these players have almost given up on the last two tasks.

Frowning, Xu Huo stuffed several rats into a sack and washed the blood off his shoes with a Cleansing Potion before climbing out of the window to return to the exterior of the pigsty.

Inside the pigsty, the simple-looking Xian Dazhi stroked the belly of a piglet and shook his head at Zou Weichang, “The lines are almost gone, carrying them out means they’ll live the rest of their lives as pigs.”

Zou Weichang was not surprised and lit a cigarette, puffing smoke while saying in a dazed tone, “Expected this before coming.”

Xian Dazhi said with pity, “Such young children, truly pitiful.”

“What’s there to pity?

It’s fate, they can only blame their bad luck,” Zou Weichang stamped out his cigarette butt and walked towards the workshop.

“But we’re not much better off, might even die before they do.”

Xian Dazhi followed him when suddenly, a large pig in the pigsty pressed its front hooves on the fence, bit Zou Weichang’s sleeve, and frantically tugged.

“Has this pig gone crazy?” Zou Weichang kicked it away, not treating it as a person at all.

I am a person!

I am a player!

Sima Xiao’er was knocked to the ground after the kick, shouting desperately, but the sound that emerged was the loud squealing of a pig.

He glared angrily at the two men in front of him, tried to charge at them again but was again kicked away.

“They can still be saved!” Xian Dazhi hurried to stop him.

“So what if they can?” Zou Weichang brushed off his hand.

“Even if rescued, can they get out?

This is the game world, where players can’t ensure their own survival, and ordinary people stepping out have only one path—death!”

“Don’t drag me into your excess of sympathy.

If the Skinning Artisan finds out we’ve been secretly releasing people, we’re all dead!”

Xian Dazhi had no strength to argue, turned away, and didn’t look at the pigs in the pigsty.

“Staying as pigs, they might even live a few more days,” Zou Weichang said as he walked away.

“Oink!

Oink!” Sima Xiao’er stood, pressing against the fence and calling out vigorously, but the two men still walked away without looking back, and he retreated in defeat, his look even more desperate than the others.

Just then, Xu Huo jumped into the pigsty and tapped the fence, “Red furred?”

Sima Xiao’er immediately scrambled up and charged towards him.

Xu Huo held down his pig’s head, “Don’t want to get out?”

“Oink?” Sima Xiao’er looked at him, confused but angry.

“What those two men said earlier makes sense.

Even if you get out, you can’t survive.

Having fewer people makes it easier to attract attention.”

Xu Huo cut the two seams under his belly and asked, “Did you get the game notification?”