Chapter 52 - Back of the Neck

Zou Weichang, following the location Xu Huo had given him, accurately found a leopard skin.

After feeling it for a half moment, he muttered a curse under his breath, then turned towards another piece of rhinoceros skin.

Similarly stroking it for a while, he suddenly tore the skin off and furiously threw it on the ground.

“Damn thing!” he cursed viciously as he barged into the Skinning Artisan’s bedroom!

As the bedroom door swung open and closed, Peng Fengnian, who was crouched against the wall, inwardly cursed “idiot,” while his peripheral vision stayed fixed on the Skinning Artisan just leaving the warehouse.

The Skinning Artisan was holding a candle in one hand and a rusty, thick iron chain in the other, casually tossing the chain onto a crossbeam.

After hanging it up, he tested its height and then lit an alcohol lamp beneath it.

The flame illuminated the metal hook hanging from the tip of the iron chain, and unlike the rust-covered iron, this metal hook, shiny as a mirror, began to redden under the fire’s blaze.

The emanating red glow spread out tangibly, quickly enveloping the entire workshop.

Perspiration formed on Peng Fengnian’s forehead; with his nose pressed against the wall, his eyes stared fixatedly at the dust mere inches away, not daring to even glance towards the Skinning Artisan.

He was one hundred percent sure that the red-glowing metal hook was a special prop, although its specific use was unclear to him.

He could only pray that it had no searching capabilities, and that his own prop “Invisible to You” would not be less effective whether he watched the Skinning Artisan or in the presence of light.

“Two little piglets,” murmured the Skinning Artisan as he moved.

“One is very naughty, damaged my beloved skin, and the other is disobedient, still hiding outside during playtime.”

“Which one shall I deal with first?”

He was still in the center of the workshop when he uttered the first sentence, but as he asked the latter, his voice seemed to be right next to Peng Fengnian’s ear.

Cold sweat streamed down Peng Fengnian’s face, his eyeballs quivering uncontrollably. Sёarᴄh the Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

He didn’t dare focus on the Skinning Artisan, who had suddenly entered his field of vision.

Simultaneously, in his left hand appeared a half-finger-length syringe.

With a clenched fist, the black potion injected into his palm, a dark vein protruded from the skin, swiftly racing along the arm toward the chest.

In the moment it reached the heart, he lay against the wall, lifeless.

“Dead?” The Skinning Artisan stood beneath him, raised the candle to look at the twisted body hanging above, shook his head regretfully, then walked out the front door, entering the fur room.

Inside the Skinning Artisan’s bedroom, as Zou Weichang finally realized something was wrong during his third attempt to jump out the window only to fall back to the same spot.

Originally wanting to keep the others in the dark and get the skin to pass the level ahead of time, according to the locations given by Xu Huo, he picked two pieces of skin but received no notification of passing.

It was clear he had been given false information.

Claims of working together to save people were just excuses, nothing more than to buy time and monopolize the good items in the Skinning Artisan’s secret room.

The idiots trusted him unconditionally, but Zou Weichang wasn’t so foolish.

What Xu Huo obtained, he also wanted a share of.

So, he went straight into the Skinning Artisan’s bedroom, finding the bed empty as expected.

There was no doubt the man had entered the secret room.

After several unsuccessful attempts at negotiations and failing to push through the wall, he planned to go back and call Qin An and the others, only to discover he couldn’t get out at all!

The instance had changed!

Zou Weichang suddenly remembered Xu Huo and Peng Fengnian’s sudden change in expression during their phone call; apparently, they had discovered the problem with the instance then.

Regretting his oversight, he immediately turned toward the bedroom door, but as he reached the door, a bright light and a pair of shadows faced him from the outside.

“Knock knock!” The person outside knocked on the door, singing in a light-hearted tone, “Little piglet, be good, open the door gently, open it gently, don’t break it.”

The slightly foreign tune that tingled the scalp was unmistakable, and even Zou Weichang, usually so slow to catch on, could feel that the Skinning Artisan outside the door was different from the one he’d encountered during the daylight.

No wonder Xu Huo had been silent for so long despite his calls from the bedroom; it looked like he’d already slipped away!

“Little piggy, be good and open the door, or I’ll have to come in myself,” the Skinning Artisan’s tone changed once more, twisting the doorknob at the same time.

It was do or die!

Zou Weichang steeled his nerve and flung a skateboard out of his hand!

The bedroom door fell with a clatter, and in the instant the skateboard flew out, Zou Weichang leaped onto it, vaulting over the Skinning Artisan and out of the bedroom!

The flame of the candle remained perfectly still, while the Skinning Artisan stood by the door, first glancing at the fallen door, then slowly lifting his gaze to Zou Weichang, his eyes bloodshot and barely turning, like a dead man looking at another.

Chilled to the bone, Zou Weichang’s cold sweat poured down; he had no time for thought as he dashed out through the swathes of hides!

As he was fleeing, he looked back and saw that the Skinning Artisan still maintained his original posture, but the half of his face illuminated by candlelight slowly curved into a smile.

A sense of dread sunk into Zou Weichang’s heart, prompting him to quicken his pace, but in the next second, he crashed into the hanging furs!

The furs wrapped around him like living things, hands to hands, heads to heads, hugging his body so tightly that when he tumbled off the skateboard, he had turned into a four-legged, blindfolded tiger!

Blind and mute, Zou Weichang staggered towards the exit, relying on his sense of direction, but after just a couple of steps, he was paralyzed by another force as the hides wrapped around his limbs force him into a kneeling, prostrate position, and both he and the hides trembled.

The Skinning Artisan walked over to his side, picked up his hind legs, and dragged him towards the workshop area.

Zou Weichang screamed for help, but all that came out was a series of untuned grunts.

Clawing at the ground, he managed to scrape a few faint marks with his feeble strength, which were almost negligible.

However, the Skinning Artisan looked back, came over to crush both of his hands with a foot, and said coldly, “Disobedient piglets must be punished.”

Zou Weichang let out a wretched scream as he was hung on the iron hook that had been heated red-hot by an alcohol lamp.

Then, the Skinning Artisan peeled off the external tiger skin, looked at Zou Weichang’s broken hands with regret, and said, “Bruised, this skin won’t look good when peeled off.”

Impaled through the nape by the metal hook, Zou Weichang’s eyes and lips simultaneously quivered as he hung there.

He couldn’t speak or move, and sweat poured from every inch of him.

The Skinning Artisan opened a leather case, taking out tweezers, files, and over a dozen small, varied blades, as well as a fish hook tied with fishing line.

He heated these items one by one, then checked the metal hook at Zou Weichang’s nape before moving around to the front, taking off his apron to carefully wipe the Skinning Knife.

“Some mammals, due to their juvenile memories, dare not move when their nape is pinched.

Whether it’s a newly weaned kitten or a grown tiger or leopard, they all have the same neural reflex; you don’t need to exert much effort to catch them, they will be content, docile, and obedient.

They won’t move when being skinned, which won’t spoil the beauty of the fur.”

“Humans are no different.

When the area of skin atop the cervical spine is hooked, the muscles relax.

Although pain can be felt, the nerves won’t cause the flesh to tighten, allowing the skin to be peeled off smoothly and evenly.”

“I call it ‘The Nape of Destiny,’ and it is currently resting on ‘The Lucid Iron Hook’; you have two more hours.” The Skinning Artisan lifted his head to look at Zou Weichang and contorted his features into a “smile.” “Let’s begin.”