Old Brother

"Coming as a guest, one must at least greet the host." The skin stripper probed, "Did Mr. Wang work at the Tax Bureau before?"

Xu Huo did not answer his question, instead eyeing him with disdain. "Do you even have the standing to greet my brother-in-law?"

Without waiting for him to speak, he added, "Asking so many questions is useless. How many more days can you stay here? Is it really worth trying to cram at the last minute?"

"That's true." The skin stripper was a burly man; as his expression softened, he laughed with a hint of simple-mindedness. "A site like ours, which moves between various stations, certainly can't compare to the Super Player of a permanent station."

Xu Huo's fingers paused, and he said calmly, "A person must have ambitions, after all."

The skin stripper laughed heartily. "Once I head back from the E27 wormhole point, I'll have a chance to raise my dungeon level. By then, my Slaughterhouse can become a large-scale factory. My craft for making canned meat is top-tier; it's a waste that so much pork goes unreserved."

"Speaking of food," Xu Huo said after listening to him, "when are we eating?"

The skin stripper was full of enthusiasm. "I just slaughtered a few pigs today; the meat is still fresh!"

Xu Huo said with disgust, "It's dirty and smelly, how can one eat that? I saw live fish earlier. Let's kill and eat them fresh."

The skin stripper was disappointed that he couldn't show off his knife skills and culinary arts, so he raised his voice to call the players over.

Tang Pei arrived. The skin stripper glanced at her, then looked at Xu Huo. Seeing that Xu Huo only flicked a glance at the woman's chest before losing interest and looking away, he became happy again and ordered, "You lot, go prepare the fish."

Having said that, he ignored Tang Pei and invited Xu Huo to taste his collection of spirits.

Tang Pei lingered, hoping to get a hint from Xu Huo, but the man didn't even look at her. With no other choice, she had to do as the skin stripper commanded.

By the time the fried fish was brought over, Xu Huo and the skin stripper had already finished a bottle of strong liquor, and the two were chatting about women.

"...The women at E27 are no good, no feel to them." The skin stripper made a grasping motion with his five fingers.

Xu Huo loosened his collar, his face flushed from the drink. Leaning back against the sofa, he sipped his liquor and said, "The ones you find outside can't compare to those you raise yourself. Use the best potions and food from a young age, and you can make them look exactly how you want."

The skin stripper listened, mesmerized. He tilted his head back to gulp down a large mouthful of liquor, wiped his messy beard, and grabbed a piece of fried fish to shove into his mouth, chewing and swallowing meat and bone alike. "I've heard of people raising them to eat, but I never thought of raising them for use. The experience must be quite something."

Xu Huo smiled with a look that implied more than he said.

The skin stripper's boisterous laughter echoed from the conference room being used as a temporary dining hall. Three players entered the bedroom and came back out; when they returned to the Workshop with Tang Pei, who had been keeping watch, everyone was covered in a cold sweat.

"Still nothing." Qin An said, frustrated. "We don't have any mechanism props or luck-based props on hand. Relying solely on manpower is just wasting the time we fought so hard to gain."

"Perhaps opening the Secret Room requires a special prop," Tang Pei speculated. "That's why we can't find it."

"Then what do we do?" Xian Dazhi looked at them, lost and helpless. "My brain is slow, and I'm uneducated. I can help as a thug, but I'm no good at using my head."

Zou Weichang felt his anger flare when he looked at him. "If all else fails, do as I said: let's try our best not to provoke the skin stripper for these fifteen days, and leave with our Tickets once the game time is up."

Qin An had considered this, but Tang Pei gritted her teeth and said, "I don't have a Ticket anymore. Can any of you sell me one?"

The group fell into a heavy silence. Just then, the skin stripper's voice approached. "Brother Wang, I didn't expect you to like fishing too. I have a collection of fishing props; you'll definitely be interested."

"The so-called interest lies in letting things take their natural course; that's what makes it fun. Anyone can catch fish with props. True mastery lies in technique and keen eyes." Xu Huo's voice sounded a bit airy, clearly quite drunk.

"Exactly!" The skin stripper's palm, as large as a fan, slapped Xu Huo's shoulder with a heavy thud. "Brother Wang, we are of the same mind! You must stay for a few more days!"

Xu Huo slapped his shoulder back, looking like "best buddies." "No problem! Next time you come, I'll invite you to fish!"

The two walked into the bedroom with their arms around each other's shoulders. Xu Huo, whose silhouette was two sizes smaller than the skin stripper's, showed an aura that was not the least bit inferior.

He just walked into the skin stripper's bedroom like that?

Judging by his tone, the skin stripper was going to show him his collection. There were no props in the bedroom, so did that mean he could enter the Secret Room openly?

The players held their breath, daring only to communicate with their eyes, fearing that a single word might ruin Xu Huo's cover.

Once the door to the Fur Room closed, the group finally exhaled, a glimmer of hope rising in their hearts. Perhaps Xu Huo could steal the collection directly?

On the other side, Xu Huo, having entered the Fur Room, was startled by the various animal hides hanging vertically throughout the room.

Outside, the sky had already darkened. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of shadows hung from the hooks; at first glance, it looked like dozens of people hanging there.

"These..." He slowed his speech. The skin stripper, in high spirits, predictably cut him off. "What's there to see in these? They're either animal fur or human skin. What I have in my collection—that's the real treasure!"

Human skin?

Xu Huo scanned the Fur Room quickly, his gaze darkening slightly, before he acted as if nothing were amiss and followed the skin stripper into the bedroom.

Once inside, the skin stripper shook his arms and pressed his palms against the wall beside the bed. With brute force, he shifted the entire wall horizontally by more than a meter, revealing a passage wide enough for a person to pass through.

Xu Huo walked in first, and only after the skin stripper followed did he scan the Secret Room.

The Secret Room was slightly larger than the bedroom outside. Two single sofas faced each other, and on the table between them lay fishhooks, knives, and the unfinished liquor and glasses.

Three walls were lined with shelves. A dozen or so seemingly ordinary and inconspicuous items—such as matches, fishing rods, and bottle openers—were placed individually in compartments; it was unclear if they were props.

Piles of cigarettes, liquor, White Cash, and erotic magazines were scattered in the corners of the room, along with moldy fruit pits.

On another wall, there was a fireplace. Strangely, a piece of firewood was burning inside, yet the flames emitted no heat.

Above the fireplace hung a Female Portrait with a large chest and hips. Seeing Xu Huo look over, the woman in the painting gave him a flirtatious wink.

The skin stripper clapped his hands, and the woman jumped out of the painting naked, embracing him and beginning to kiss him.

She had the form of a human, but no human consciousness.

The skin stripper stroked her and said to Xu Huo, "Brother Wang, what do you think?"

"She comes whenever called. Give her a photo, and she can turn into any woman's appearance. She can play any game you want. You don't have a treasure like this, do you?"

"Indeed, I do not," Xu Huo said slowly, staring at the woman.