Chapter 51: Smell

This was exactly what Xu Huo had been unable to figure out: the Skinner dungeon was not a closed instance. If players could just hide outside the factory and not go in, it wouldn't count as forced participation at all.But everything happening in front of him made him realize that even if players hid outside during the day, at night they would definitely be driven into the factory!

If Peng Fengnian's information was true, the Skinner at night was far more dangerous than during the day. Opportunistic players hiding outside might even become the first targets, making it all the more perilous.

Hesitating between the pigpen and the Skinner's bedroom, Xu Huo chose the former.

Before the darkness fully closed in on the factory, he caught the rat that had been hiding outside during the day, tied it with strips of meat to the electrical wires on the workshop ceiling, then slipped into the pigpen. After signaling Sima Xiao Er and the others to stay quiet, he draped the removed pigskin back over himself and crawled into a corner.

The others were a bit bewildered by his actions when suddenly footsteps approached the pigpen's front door, causing everyone to hurriedly crowd into the corner, naturally covering him.

The heavy, slow footsteps didn’t belong to any player; Xu Huo was certain it was the Skinner, but this was different from the Skinner he had seen during the day.

Creak... The front door slowly opened. With a click, the electric light flicked on. A silhouette gradually appeared in front of the pigpen.

This person had the same face as the Skinner, the same red nose and tall stature, but the messy brown hair was neatly combed and slicked with hair oil, sticking tightly to the scalp. The thick beard was smoothly braided into a small ponytail with trimmed ends.

The bloodstained dirty coat was replaced by a clean white lab coat, over which was tied a leather apron. Two thin black blades shaped like crescent moons, about two fingers wide, hung on the apron’s edge. The patterns on the blades reflected faint light, resembling a pair of butterfly wings echoing each other.

Those were the skinning knives!

Through a narrow gap, Xu Huo watched this version of the Skinner, whose mental state was completely different from the butcher he’d seen before. A sudden thought flashed through his mind:

He absolutely could not be discovered!

As if sensing something, the Skinner turned his head. His calm and cold eyes looked toward the pigpen.

In that instant, Xu Huo’s limbs involuntarily stiffened. The Skinner’s figure grew larger in his vision, reaching toward him with a hand. He even felt an overwhelming despair, certain he could never escape!

The fear of death gripped his entire being. Thoughts of resistance, escape, or a desperate gamble faded away, replaced by a single cognition rapidly invading his brain—he would die here!

“Hucci!!” At that moment, a few meters away in the pigpen, a piglet screamed wildly, trampling over the other piglets as it fled from the pen, rushing crazily toward the dormitory behind.

The Skinner shifted his gaze and strode after the piglet. From a distance of over ten meters, he extended his right hand toward it. The once frenzied piglet immediately calmed down, trembling as it lay helpless on the ground.

The Skinner walked over and gently picked up the piglet, stroking its head softly. “Running around recklessly will damage the skin, and uneven color after skinning doesn’t look good. So disobedient…”

He paused, then grabbed the tag hanging from the pig’s ear. “So a customer ordered it.”

Regretfully, the Skinner tossed the piglet back into the pen and looked toward the larger pigpen. “There’s still a strange smell here…”

Before he finished speaking, the lights inside the pigpen suddenly went out. The darkness from outside stopped at the windowsill.

In the pitch black, the Skinner took a deep breath, then said with a pleasant tone, “A new smell. So there’s a disobedient piglet hiding outside.”

His footsteps quickly left the pigpen, even sounding somewhat eager.

In the darkness, the pigpen door had long been shut, but Xu Huo still couldn’t calm down.

His reaction when the Skinner had stared at him just now was abnormal. A person’s aura and presence were limited. Without external deterrence, no one should feel so terrified as to be unable to resist. Was this the Skinner’s characteristic?

After catching his breath, Xu Huo wrapped himself in the pigskin and climbed onto the windowsill, jumping out. Yet after passing through the darkness, he would fall back into the pigpen. This happened repeatedly. The night outside seemed like a barrier surrounding the factory. It appeared the factory wouldn’t return to daytime conditions for some time.

The one who drew the Skinner away had to be the recently arrived Peng Fengnian. If he didn’t last until the darkness receded, the Skinner would very likely turn back.

If possible, Xu Huo wanted to avoid direct confrontation, hoping Peng Fengnian could hold on a little longer.

As he pinned his hopes on Peng Fengnian, Peng Fengnian, who was hiding atop the wall at the workshop’s front door, also hoped Xu Huo would do something to attract the Skinner’s attention.

Hiding outside and not entering the factory was a dead end. Violating the game’s rules and trying to cheat would only cause the dungeon to backfire. He was certain the Skinner would list him as the first target. He knew his own level; in a fight, he was just prey. Thinking of all the rumors about the Skinner, his body trembled uncontrollably.

Inside the factory, besides the pigpen at the back, the Skinner’s bedroom and secret room, the slaughterhouse and the warehouse next to it occupied a full wall from floor to ceiling. The other rooms’ ceilings, aside from the beams carrying wiring, were mostly hollow. So as long as the angle was high enough, one could glimpse the situation inside other parts of the factory.

He had been thrown onto this wall as soon as he entered. After immediately hiding his presence, he didn’t plan to move. Whether it was the bedroom, office, or the fur room ahead, entering meant being trapped like a fish in a barrel. It was better to hide on the wall and wait until the Skinner passed before sneaking into Tang Pei and the others’ resting room.

Just then, the factory lost power again. He used all his traits and tools that could conceal traces, hoping to deceive the Skinner.

Less than half a minute after the lights went out, the pigpen’s back door opened. The Skinner’s figure entered. Although his face was unclear, the footsteps indicated he went to the nearby warehouse.

Peng Fengnian’s tense heart relaxed slightly. At this distance, if the Skinner had discovered him, he would have attacked first. The fact that he went to the warehouse meant Peng Fengnian hadn’t been found.

While he anxiously waited for the Skinner to reappear, a figure suddenly climbed out of bed inside the players’ rest room opposite the warehouse. Without anyone noticing, he silently left the room.

At such a close distance and with everyone on alert, it was impossible not to be noticed unless he used a trait or tool. Before their alliance, each of the six had briefly introduced their traits. Peng Fengnian knew this was Zou Weichang’s “Darkness Under the Light.”

What was he coming out for?

Zou Weichang, immersed in darkness, didn’t notice there was another person on the wall. He stealthily passed through the workshop, just avoiding the Skinner inside the warehouse, and exited the front door to enter the fur room.