Chapter 50 - Fur

Xu Huo, who was almost forced to watch an entire reality show, was finally able to break free around ten minutes before twelve o’clock, the game time.

The Skinning Artisan gave up his bedroom to him and went to sleep on the sofa himself.

Only when it got quiet outside did Xu Huo sit up, instantly sober from his previous drunkenness, and after making contact with Peng Fengnian to confirm that Skinning Artisan had indeed gone to the office, he quietly crept out of the bedroom.

He went to the fur room outside and put on Skinning Artisan’s gloves to inspect every piece of fur.

Tang Pei and the others had also checked here during the day, and just like what he had seen, all the furs hanging here were animal skins, but Skinning Artisan had said there was human skin among them.

If the human skin wasn’t hung outside, then it had to be hidden among these animal furs.

The reason why Skinning Artisan would hide the human skin within the animal furs was self-explanatory.

He checked each piece of fur one by one and found at least three with a compartment inside.

Unsure if they contained human skin, he didn’t open them but simply memorized their locations and the characteristics of the fur before leaving.

Inside a small room next to the workshop, several players were waiting anxiously.

Hearing the knocking on the window, they hastily opened it.

Xu Huo jumped in, nodded at the people as a way of greeting, “Remember to call me Mr.

Wang when we’re outside.”

“So, Mr.

Wang, did you find anything?” Zou Weichang asked, arms folded, looking at him.

Xu Huo held a paper-cellphone to his ear so that Peng Fengnian could also hear what he was saying.

“The way to open the secret room is to push back the entire wall.” he said, “It’s not difficult, two players can handle it.”

Their expressions changed slightly.

Qin An blurted out, “You actually got inside the secret room?

How did you manage that?

How could the Skinning Artisan believe you?”

Xu Huo gave him a glance and calmly said, “There’s a radio on the office desk.

Recently, there’s been a major personnel change where Skinning Artisan started this instance.

I posed as an administrative staff who’s about to be transferred here through connections.

At least for the next day or two, I am safe.”

“I’ve heard from Peng Fengnian that each station is actually connected to a very large area, and although the instances inside are independent, the spaces between them can be connected.

It’s just that our level is too low.

We can only enter closed or semi-closed instances and cannot leave the instance area,” Qin An said, looking at Xu Huo as he spoke.

As Xu Huo had managed to bluff Skinning Artisan with this story, he must know a fair amount of insider information.

“Are you a Rank-B player, Mr.

Xu?” he probed.

“No,” Xu Huo lit a cigarette, but didn’t put away the lighter, “Peng Fengnian knows the specifics.”

He wasn’t too clear in his explanation, revealing it was just a guise to pry more information from their mouths.

“You’re really gutsy.

What if the Skinning Artisan didn’t believe you and became violent?” Yang Can, still sporting a slap mark on his face, said admiringly.

Although he was also a Level D Player, after receiving a slap, he felt a bit intimidated by the Skinning Artisan.

“There’s no method that is completely without risk,” Xu Huo repeated his earlier statement.

“So what are we waiting for?

Let’s go find Skinning Artisan’s treasures,” Zou Weichang said eagerly, fixated on him, “There must be plenty of great items in the secret room, and arbitrarily taking one should certainly be enough to clear the level.”

Qin An frowned and glanced at him but remained silent, turning to Xu Huo instead, “Something that can be considered a treasure must be something the Skinning Artisan deems important.”

“If there are too many targets, it actually becomes harder to find them,” Tang Pei also said.

“Do you have any clues?”

Peng Fengnian must have told you something about the Skinning Artisan,” Xu Huo tapped the ash from his cigarette into a cup of water.

“The Skinning Artisan’s knife can’t be used during the day, so what, does it have something to do with this?”

“The Skinning Artisan’s rare item should not be in the secret chamber,” Xu Huo said, “Factory boss Karl and the Skinning Artisan Karl are two different identities, the first task corresponds to the Skinning Artisan Karl, and his rare items are those furs between the skins.”

“Just now when I was coming over, I found a few furs that might be the rare items, but I wouldn’t recommend you go fetch them now.”

“The Skinning Artisan Karl, factory boss Karl, is there any difference?

Aren’t they the same person?” Xian Dazhi scratched his head.

Qin An was quick to react, “That makes sense, the game introduction also mentions the identity of the Skinning Artisan, he was the Skinning Artisan before, and now his main identity is the factory boss, so it’s within reason that the first task corresponds to the identity of the Skinning Artisan.”

“What if we get it wrong?” Tang Pei worriedly said, “We already have so little time to get close to those things.”

“I’ll arrange to go fishing with the Skinning Artisan tomorrow,” Xu Huo said, “You guys can take action then, the risk is relatively lower during the day.”

“But I still think the key to the first task lies within those furs.” He mentioned the location of three furs and added, “I have a request, if you get the furs and can leave the instance, you need to get the other two furs, hand them to me and then you can leave.”

“You don’t want to leave?” Tang Pei exclaimed in surprise.

“As long as the ticket-holding player clears the instance, the other players who were drafted randomly can also leave, there’s no need to take any more risks.”

“You want to save the people in the pigsty, right?” Xian Dazhi immediately said, “Count me in!”

“Are you crazy, playing the hero?” Zou Weichang said with a dark face, “How do you plan to save them?

Unless you can get the Skinning Artisan to release them willingly, do you really think holding on to two pieces of fur can make that psychopath compromise?”

The others felt that this possibility was very slim.

Xian Dazhi muttered quietly, “We still have to try.”

Xu Huo currently had no better way to save people and needed these players’ help.

He did not try to persuade them but instead said, “There’s an order in two days time, the Skinning Artisan has to skin the whole hide from six piglets while they’re still alive, and it has to be delivered fresh to the table.”

The faces of Tang Pei and the others immediately soured, they all knew those six piglets were actually six children!

“I’m in!” Xian Dazhi said, “I can’t let those beasts eat kids alive!”

“I agree as well,” Qin An said, “When the time comes, if we get the Return Ticket, there’s a chance we might really be able to rescue them, and if it doesn’t work, at least we tried.”

Tang Pei and Yang Can nodded at the same time.

“Of course, I have no problem with it, we’ll act tomorrow,” from the paper cell phone, Peng Fengnian’s voice paused before he suddenly said, “The factory seems a bit strange.”

“What’s strange about it?” Xu Huo immediately became alert.

“It suddenly got closer…” Peng Fengnian’s voice was cut off before he finished speaking.

“What happened?” Tang Pei and the others quickly asked.

“I’m not sure, just remember our agreed time is tomorrow, I’m leaving now.” Xu Huo hastily finished speaking and flipped out the window.

He looked up to see that the shadows of the trees, which he could faintly make out earlier, had completely merged into the darkness, and that darkness, like some kind of substantial thing, was enclosing the factory from all sides!