Chapter 60 - Girl in the Painting

[Medal of the Radiant Gentleman: Congratulations, player.

The medal represents your illustrious achievements; players with the medal are highly recognized within the game for you stand on the side of light.]

[Twisted Mask: Don’t be fooled by its paper-like appearance.

Once worn, it causes a dizziness effect on anyone who sees it, including high-level players, preventing them from seeing clearly the face beneath the mask for three minutes.

Cooldown time: 24 hours.]

Xu Huo tossed the medal aside and put on the mask while standing in front of the mirror.

The mask, which once looked inconspicuous, now appeared as a slowly rotating black vortex, with only a pair of eyes visible.

“So this is a special item,” he remarked.

Ordinary items’ effectiveness depended on the user’s abilities, but special items like this seemed non-discriminatory with their blocking effect, treating everyone equally.

However, the duration of use was short.

After putting the mask into his inventory, Xu Huo cut his long hair and washed his head before stepping out of the washroom.

Unexpectedly, he saw a woman silently lounging in the living room, her naked body sprawled on the couch, holding the “Medal of the Radiant Gentleman” he had discarded to her chest, a familiar face flushed and beaming with satisfaction.

“Yu Qingqing?” Xu Huo frowned, only to see her running towards him, naked.

He kicked her back onto the couch.

The woman floated away like a piece of paper, an unnatural crack appearing on her abdomen, but it healed instantly.

She knelt on the couch, looking up at him with a look of grievance as she cried, her tears creating unusual wrinkles on the skin they touched.

“The Skinning Artisan’s painting…

You are the girl from the painting, how did you get out?”

The girl from the Skinning Artisan’s painting over the fireplace in his secret room could take on the appearance of anyone.

Though she looked human, she was just paper and should have been one of the Skinning Artisan’s items.

Even if the instance collapsed, she shouldn’t have appeared outside the game.

The pitiful-looking woman pointed to his trouser pocket, indicating that she had hidden inside and followed him out.

Xu Huo, not seeing any values above her head, asked, “You’re an item, can you be put into the inventory?”

The woman hesitated.

Xu Huo gave her a piece of clothing with a stern face, “Then you should leave.”

The woman began to cry again, but Xu Huo watched unmoved, even as her face swelled from the tears.

Wiping away her tears, her features returned to normal, and she proceeded to throw seductive glances at him with a coy smile.

Xu Huo lit a cigarette expressionlessly and pulled up a stool to sit down.

After an awkward performance, the woman pitifully picked up a broom and dust cloth and began doing household chores.

Xu Huo snorted coldly, and the woman knelt on the ground, pinching the cloth lowly as she looked up at him, gesticulating that she knew how to clean, cook, do laundry, and was good at housework.

The man with a heart of steel finally relented, “Do you know how to move things?”

The woman jumped up, clasping her hands together and lifting the three-seater couch with ease.

Xu Huo smiled with satisfaction and pulled up a random photo of a passerby on his tablet, “Change into this look, and stop wearing that face…

Where did you see this face?”

The woman immediately found Yu Qingqing’s photos from under the coffee table, the couch crevices, the TV cabinet, and some other unexpected places.

Xu Huo ordered the woman, “Burn all her photos in this house.”

He reached out again, “The medal.”

The woman twisted her hands reluctantly and handed over the medal with eyes brimming with desire.

Unfortunately, Xu Huo felt no pity for this face as he changed into his running shoes and left the rental apartment.

A tool that resembled a human and possessed some thinking ability, although he didn’t understand why it followed him, he didn’t consider it a bad thing— he was open to anything that could help him understand the game.

The house he rented was in a somewhat remote area, but a few miles away was a large natural park.

Xu Huo adjusted his timer, planning to run straight there.

He completed the several-mile run at a good pace.

When he reached the park, his breathing was barely affected.

Although he had sweated, he didn’t feel tired at all, especially his legs, which were like perfect machinery, devoid of the fatigue one would normally feel after a long, fast run.

He stopped to check his condition and then ran a few laps around the park.

After several laps, he himself felt tired, but if he disregarded the strain on his heart, he believed he could keep running at that pace.

The “tireless legs” were not truly tireless, but their endurance had increased manifold—it was like a piece of equipment whose parts had been upgraded with the latest and best, and consequently, other parts also had to be replaced to enhance the equipment’s overall performance and speed.

To reach the limits of his legs, his body would have to evolve further.

In this way, evolution potions again became indispensable.

Wiping off sweat with his shirt, Xu Huo took off his drenched top and walked out of the park to hail a cab.

Back in his residential area, he saw Nie Xuan’s car parked downstairs again.

He went upstairs and found his small rental crowded with people, including Nie Xuan and some special affairs staff, as well as a middle-aged man with a kind face.

Upon seeing him, the middle-aged man immediately came forward to shake his hand, “You must be Xu Huo.

I’m the chief of the First Research Institute Investigation Team of Ting City.

I’m here specifically to thank you for saving nearly forty innocent victims.

On behalf of the nation and these families, I thank you.

I’ve also brought you some of the latest research achievements from the institute, hoping they can be of help to you.”

Xu Huo glanced at the dejected Red furred, his expression indifferent, “It was just luck, I was also trying to save myself.

I had actually given up on those people at the time.”

Sima Xiao’er immediately looked up at him.

It was only after counting the rescued that he realized the two children who had first been sent into the storage room, along with a few Jin Guang Building employees who had forced their way in, had disappeared; no sign of life or death.

It was clear that his judgment had been wrong, that the entrance they had used was no exit, and that he had inadvertently caused the death of two children.

If he had waited a bit longer, perhaps everyone could have been saved.

Xu Huo’s words now undoubtedly offered him immense psychological comfort.

“Anyway, it was indeed you who saved them, and among those saved were also staff from our research institute.

We owe you a favor.

There was a misunderstanding due to some minor issues, and I’ve asked Sima Xiao’er to apologize to you,” said Chief Wu, cheerily pushing Red furred forward.

With a face turning red from restraint, Sima Xiao’er barely eked out an apology.

Chief Wu added that it was due to false information that the arrest had happened, and now that the incident was over and the person in question dead, it should be as if it had never happened.

“Here are five P1 Evolution Potions, three Muscle Enhancers, and one Antitoxin,” Chief Wu said as he produced three aluminum cases.

“Antitoxin?” Xu Huo paused.

Chief Wu nodded, “Research has found that all evolvers have a toxin in their bodies.

If they don’t take evolution potions over a long period, the toxin can destroy the evolver himself.

The antitoxin cannot eradicate the toxin, but it can delay its onset.”

“Is it useful?

Are there side effects?” Xu Huo asked straightforwardly.

“It has been tested on twenty evolvers.

It can at least double the time from onset to death.”

Xu Huo thought of Professor Han.

“Is it effective against the toxin carried by the aliens on the initial screening train?”