Fur

Xu Huo, who had almost been forced to watch an entire reality show, only managed to gain his freedom as the game time neared midnight.

Skin Stripper Karl surrendered his bedroom to him and went to sleep on the sofa.

Once it was quiet outside, Xu Huo sat up, shedding his previous drunken facade. He contacted Peng Fengnian to confirm that Skin Stripper Karl had indeed gone to the office, then stepped out of the bedroom with light, cautious footsteps.

He entered the Fur Room, donned Skin Stripper Karl's gloves, and began inspecting every pelt.

Tang Pei and the others had checked this place during the day, and just as they had seen, everything hanging here was animal fur. Yet, Skin Stripper Karl had claimed there was human skin among them.

If the human skin wasn't hanging out in the open, it had to be hidden within these pelts.

The reason why Skin Stripper Karl would hide human skin inside animal fur was self-evident.

He examined every single pelt. He discovered at least three with inner linings. Unsure if they contained human skin and unwilling to open them, he simply memorized their locations and the characteristics of the pelts before leaving.

Inside the small room next to the workshop, several players were waiting anxiously. Hearing a tap on the window, they quickly opened it.

Xu Huo jumped in and nodded at them as a greeting. "Remember to call me Mr. Wang when we're outside."

"So, Mr. Wang, what did you find?" Zou Weichang asked, arms crossed.

Xu Huo held the paper phone to his ear so that Peng Fengnian could hear him as well.

"The way to open the secret room is to push the entire wall backward," he said. "It's not difficult; two players can do it."

The group's expressions shifted slightly. Qin An blurted out, "You actually got into the secret room? How did you do it? Why would Skin Stripper Karl trust you!"

Xu Huo glanced at him and said calmly, "There is a radio on the office desk. There have been major personnel changes recently at this location where Skin Stripper Karl opened the instance. I pretended to be an administrative official about to be transferred here through nepotism. At the very least, I'll be safe for the next day or two."

"I've heard Peng Fengnian mention that each station is actually connected to a vast area. While the instances inside are independent, the grounds should be connected to one another. It's just that our levels are too low; we can only enter closed or semi-closed instances and cannot leave the instance range," Qin An said. "We can only speculate that every station city has an administrator, but how it specifically operates is completely unclear."

He stared at Xu Huo as he spoke; since he could bluff Skin Stripper Karl with this act, he must know quite a bit of inside information.

"Is Mr. Xu a B-class player?" he asked tentatively.

"No." Xu Huo lit a cigarette but didn't put away the lighter. "Peng Fengnian knows the specifics."

He didn't elaborate; revealing the impersonation was merely a tactic to extract more information from them.

"You've got guts. What if Skin Stripper Karl didn't believe you and attacked?" Yang Can, who still bore the imprint of a hand on his face, said with admiration. Although he was also a D-class player, he felt a lingering fear of Skin Stripper Karl after being slapped.

"There is no way to act without taking risks," Xu Huo repeated his earlier sentiment.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go find Skin Stripper Karl's treasures," Zou Weichang said, his eyes burning. "There must be plenty of good things in the secret room. Just taking one item should be enough to clear the level, right?"

Qin An frowned at him but said nothing, turning instead to Xu Huo. "Anything that can be called a treasure is at least something Skin Stripper Karl considers important."

"If there are too many targets, it won't be easy to find," Tang Pei added. "Do you have any leads?"

"Peng Fengnian mentioned something to you all earlier regarding Skin Stripper Karl." Xu Huo flicked his cigarette ash into a water cup.

"Skin Stripper Karl's knife cannot be used during the day. So what? Does this have something to do with it?"

"Skin Stripper Karl's treasures shouldn't be in the secret room," Xu Huo said. "Factory Boss Karl and Skin Stripper Karl are two different identities. The first task corresponds to Skin Stripper Karl, and his treasures are those pelts in the Fur Room."

"I found a few pelts that might be the treasures when I came over, but I don't suggest you go get them right now."

"Skin Stripper Karl, Factory Boss Karl—what's the difference? Aren't they the same person?" Xian Dazhi scratched his head.

Qin An reacted faster. "That makes sense. The game introduction mentions Skin Stripper Karl's identity. He was a skin stripper before, but his primary identity now is the factory boss. Since the third task is aimed at the factory boss, it stands to reason that the first task corresponds to the identity of the skin stripper."

"What if we get it wrong?" Tang Pei worried. "We don't have much time to access those things anyway."

"I'll ask Skin Stripper Karl to go fishing tomorrow," Xu Huo said. "You can take action then; the risk is relatively lower during the day."

"However, I still believe the key to the first task lies within those pelts." He stated the locations of the three pelts and added, "I have one request: if you manage to get the pelts and can leave the instance, you must retrieve the other two and hand them to me before you depart."

"You don't want to leave?" Tang Pei asked in surprise. "As long as the ticket-holding player clears the level, the random players in the same batch can also leave the instance. There's no need to take more risks."

"You want to save the people in the pigsty, don't you?" Xian Dazhi said immediately. "Count me in!"

"Are you sick in the head? Why play the hero?" Zou Weichang said with a dark face. "How do you plan to save them? Unless you can make Skin Stripper Karl release them voluntarily, do you really think you can make that serial killer compromise just by holding two pieces of skin?"

The others felt this possibility was slim. Xian Dazhi muttered under his breath, "We have to at least try."

Xu Huo had no better way to save the people for now, and he needed these players to help him act. Instead of trying to persuade them, he said, "There is an order in two days. Skin Stripper Karl intends to skin those six piglets while they are still alive and ensure they are delivered to the dining table fresh."

The expressions of Tang Pei and the others turned ugly instantly. They all knew those six piglets were actually six children!

"I'm in!" Xian Dazhi said. "We can't let those animals eat children alive!"

"I agree too," Qin An said. "If we get the return tickets by then, we might actually be able to save them if we take the risk. Even if it fails, at least we tried."

Tang Pei and Yang Can nodded in unison.

"I'm in, of course. Let's set the action for tomorrow." In the paper phone, Peng Fengnian's voice paused, then he suddenly said, "The factory looks a bit strange."

"Strange how?" Xu Huo became instantly alert.

"It suddenly got closer..." Peng Fengnian's voice cut off before he could finish.

"What happened?" Tang Pei and the others asked urgently.

"I don't know. Remember the agreed time is tomorrow. I'm leaving first." Xu Huo finished speaking hurriedly and vaulted out the window. He looked up to see that the tree shadows, which had been faintly visible just moments ago, had completely merged into the darkness—a darkness that felt like a tangible substance, closing in on the factory from all four directions!