Chapter 55 - Surprise Attack

Upon seeing the fish, Skinning Artisan’s expression immediately switched, and he stepped into the shallow water to grab the fishing line, weighing it and remarking, “What a catch, more than half a pound!

I’ve been here nearly half a month and haven’t caught a fish this big!”

Watching Skinning Artisan seamlessly switch his expression and personality, Yang Can was filled with suspicion and hesitation, considering whether to exit the instance, when Xu Huo suddenly stood up and pointed toward the factory, “There’s a fire over there!”

Skinning Artisan leaped out of the river in a flash, stormed over to Yang Can like a small mountain, grabbed his head and slapped his cheeks twice, then dragged him back saying, “I’ll butcher those bastards today!”

With Skinning Artisan’s fingers clamped onto his head like they were dug in, Yang Can couldn’t resist at all and was dragged back to the factory.

Once the three of them entered through the front gate, Skinning Artisan saw that the leather and fur section was unscathed but noticed thick smoke billowing from the pigsty and people shouting to put out the fire, then quickly grabbed an empty bucket and charged into the workshop!

“Bang!” No sooner had he entered than he fell flat on his back, a grappling hook flew from the side, snared his ankle, and hoisted him up to the beam!

Yang Can recognized the whip as Qin An’s prop and realized that they had made their move.

He dashed into the workshop, a slender, three-meter-long bone appearing in his hand, one edge sharpened into a cutting blade that whistled towards Skinning Artisan’s neck!

However, the anticipated beheading did not occur.

Skinning Artisan, hanging upside down, blocked with a bent arm to his head, and the bone knife seemed to strike metal, not advancing an inch and instead receiving two cracks from the rebound!

Yang Can’s expression also shattered as he cried out in distress, “My prop!”

“Forget that!” Tang Pei zipped past him like the wind, “Take out his left leg!”

Poison-coated darts weaved around Skinning Artisan, drawing his attention while also smearing poison on his skin!

The violent shaking of Skinning Artisan put a lot of pressure on Qin An, who gritted his teeth and persevered, “Hurry up, I can’t hold on much longer!”

“Almost there!” Tang Pei and Xian Dazhi had already climbed onto the beam, with Xian Dazhi holding down Skinning Artisan’s leg while Tang Pei wrapped her arms around his ankle, shouting, “You’re not you, I’m not me, you are me, I…”

Tang Pei hadn’t finished speaking when Skinning Artisan, ignoring the darts from Peng Fengnian, swung forcefully, grabbing a nearby hair shaver and fiercely smashing it towards the beam!

The beam collapsed thunderously, forcing Tang Pei and Xian Dazhi to retreat from the beam.

Dust kicked up, momentarily blocking the view, but Qin An was pulled forward by his own whip, his face turned pale as he tried to retract it, just before the other end went slack and a broken piece of the whip tail was thrown out!

Seeing a tall shadow rise within the dust, the players’ expressions all darkened!

“Clang!

Clang!” Skinning Artisan swung his arms of steel indiscriminately, hurling rocks without any target and bellowing furiously, “I’ll twist all your heads off!”

The players fell back again and again, but unexpectedly, Skinning Artisan slipped and crashed to the ground with a thud.

His left foot was being dragged by something into the pile of rubble from the collapsed beam!

“Now!” Peng Fengnian leaped in from a window and pounced on Skinning Artisan!

Xian Dazhi, Qin An, and Yang Can all rushed in too, using all their strength to pin down Skinning Artisan’s arms, while Tang Pei seized the moment to embrace his leg:

“You’re not you, I’m not me!

You are me, I am you!”

After chanting these lines, her expression visibly relaxed.

The next second, she lifted a rock and smashed her own left leg!

“Crack!”

“Crack!”

A sound, or perhaps two sounds of breaking echoed within the workshop.

In the next second, Skinning Artisan cried out in pain, kicked Tang Pei aside, and violently straightened his upper body, flinging the four players away with a sweep of his arms!

The players hadn’t intended to linger in battle and backed away in response, with Xian Dazhi even carrying Tang Pei off.

The players put some distance between themselves and Skinning Artisan, as Xu Huo retracted the piano wire that had tripped him.

He stared at Skinning Artisan’s left leg, which should have also broken when Tang Pei smashed his own.

“That was that female player’s special trait,” Sima Xiao’er said, coming up behind him.

“Mr.

Peng said he wanted to cooperate with us to save people, so I let them help.

He told you to act fast, this trait can only be maintained for five minutes.”

Xu Huo turned to look at him, “They passed the level with a human skin?”

Sima Xiao’er nodded, “You’re right, the human skin needed to pass the level was hidden among those animal skins.”

If the human skin could pass the level, then Zou Weichang’s death was purely bad luck.

The human skin was indeed a treasure to Skinning Artisan.

Remembering the moment the players had passed the level, when Skinning Artisan’s other personality had a moment of clarity, Xu Huo had a sudden thought and lowered his voice, “You make your move.”

Sima Xiao’er nodded and turned to go outside.

Inside the workshop, Skinning Artisan realized his left leg was broken and smashed the floor in a frenzy.

With each punch, a deep crater formed in the solid cement floor.

After over a dozen punches, his crazed and exposed behavior was like that of a wild beast!

This paralyzed several players who had wanted to take advantage of his injury to strike a finishing blow, completely deterring them from approaching.

At that moment, the front door of the workshop opened, and Xu Huo walked in, smiling cheerfully at the scene.

“Mr.

Karl, it seems your skills aren’t that great, need a hand from me?”

Peng Fengnian and the others were stunned: What was he playing at?

With his face turning red and his neck bulging, Skinning Artisan barked, “You flatter me, Younger Brother Wang.

A broken leg is nothing.

Even with just my hands, I can take care of these small fries!”

“Don’t move!” Sima Xiao’er jumped in from the window, holding the woman’s painting and some burning sticks.

“Let the people in the pigsty out, or I’ll burn her to death!”

The woman in the painting was restrained by tape within the frame, seemingly able to feel the temperature from outside as she evaded and silently suffered, extending her hand toward Skinning Artisan as if asking for help.

Grinding his teeth, Skinning Artisan actually jumped up on one foot and lunged at Sima Xiao’er!

Even Xu Huo was startled, but luckily Peng Fengnian and the others were quick to react and immediately used a whip to snare Skinning Artisan and pull him down.

Sima Xiao’er managed to escape and ran pale-faced towards Xu Huo, but was stopped by a fierce look from the latter.

He immediately turned and headed towards Peng Fengnian instead.Xian Dazhi and Qin An each held on to one end of the whip, choking Skinning Artisan’s neck and barely keeping him in place, struggling to hold back the enraged Skinning Artisan.

It was then that Xu Huo spoke again, “It’s just a woman, why delay business over her?

Get on with dealing with these people.”

“Besides, that’s just a prop anyway, looks like a person but isn’t a real one.”

“Are you really going to let people go because of her?”

The players glared at Xu Huo in anger, yet Skinning Artisan kept his gaze firmly on the woman weeping in the painting, his eyes showing pity.

As the flames almost touched the edge of the painting, he ground his teeth and said harshly, “Fine, I agree to your terms!”