The Original Flaying Labyrinth

The members of the Official Division looked at the scene, finding it wrong no matter how they analyzed it, and turned their attention to the other side.

If you were to say the one standing in the room was a player, his murderous aura and lack of injuries—save for the slight grime on his hem—gave off a sense of oppression more terrifying than that of a mere pervert.

Especially since, despite not looking particularly deviant, the blood covering his hands proved he was no gentle soul; he looked ruthless and vicious.

If this was indeed the trapped player, it was far too bizarre. Just how twisted must a player be to play a pervert like this?

For a fleeting moment or two, they truly hoped both of them were members of the Ten Evils; at least that would mean the common sense they were familiar with hadn't been shattered.

In the end, it was the assistant who, within those few dozen seconds of silence, quickly broadcast the situation: "Received word from the intern administrator—the one wearing the Wolf-Head Mask is the player!"

The official administrators were even more bewildered: "Huh!?"

Zhang Anzai was currently far from calm; certain specific factors made it impossible for him to remain composed.

Before this, he could certainly manage rational thought. After all, two successful sneak attacks proved that even if this former player from the Ten Evils possessed strong abilities, he was still just flesh and blood.

As long as there was a health bar, he was far less terrifying than the supernatural freaks like the Mountain Peddler or the Road-Blocking Demon.

As a senior administrator who had been interning for over half a month, even if he hadn't seen such a situation, he had at least heard the reputation of the Ten Evils.

It was precisely because he knew they were notorious that he understood why the Official Division members would react so strongly.

Although it was difficult for these big shots to personally step in and help him fight, having them assist from the sidelines meant his probability of clearing the level was extremely high.

Therefore, after hiding in the previous room, notifying Xu Xinhai, and successfully landing a sneak attack, he was no longer worried about failing the clearance.

The only problem was that his situation was too unique. If nothing else, Xu Xinhai had seen him, as had Sister Wang from the Official Fourth Division. If they saw his player avatar, he would inevitably be exposed.

So, after notifying them, he had one more important task: to find something that could conceal his identity.

This item was not hard to find in this dungeon. Although he hadn't read the player's profile, he had roughly guessed the ability of this Mr. Li, and thus understood that he couldn't possibly have only the one mask currently on display.

Therefore, his rush into this studio wasn't just for the saw he was currently gripping, but for the Wolf-Head Mask he now wore on his face.

Increasing combat power was secondary; the main point was to reasonably cover his face so the Official Division wouldn't discover any clues.

"I just didn't expect the effect to be this intense..."

Zhang Anzai knew the Official Division wouldn't connect to the dungeon that quickly, so after entering, he first picked out a weapon.

For the sake of lethality, he chose the Meat-Sawing Blade, which looked the most effective.

Next was choosing a mask. That wasn't too hard to pick; he certainly couldn't accept a human-skin mask, so he chose the Wolf-Head Mask.

Who would have thought that the moment he put it on, he would be struck as if by lightning.

Having negotiated with the Official Division assistant using his administrator body, he had long since read Mr. Li's file.

Bi Gan, the loyal minister of the Shang Dynasty who had his heart carved out and his belly slit during the Shang-Zhou period, died remonstrating with his life, only to be harmed by Daji in the end. The story of such a loyal official was the best content to "hard-control" the people of the Celestial Empire.

This led to his status rising sharply after his death.

Because he had no heart, the ancients considered him impartial; thus, he was sometimes the god of commerce. Because of the act of digging out his own heart, he was also the patron saint revered by ancient leatherworkers.

The implication of this Mr. Li taking such a name was self-evident.

The few abilities unlocked by his 10% inheritance proficiency were all related to skinning and leatherworking.

His basic ability was a special attack on skin and flesh; regardless of the tool used, or even just a fingernail scratch, he could find the key nodes of the skin and flesh to cut or even separate them.

The 5% ability was Active Flesh, allowing him to keep wounds or even severed flesh active for a short time, self-healing and growing. It was primarily used on himself to stitch flesh together.

The wound on his forehead had long since stopped bleeding thanks to this ability.

And the most important was the final ability: Skin Stitching. It wasn't a technique for corpse-stitchers or morticians, but one that allowed long-active flesh to carry its original muscle memory and integrate into normal skin.

Severing, maintaining activity, and then grafting and stitching—this was how he created these special masks.

It had to be said, he was worthy of being a formal member of the Ten Evils, favored by those ruthless defecting players. Even at a low level, his ability effects were truly impressive.

The moment Zhang Anzai put on the Wolf-Head Mask—which had no stench, was still quite warm, and felt as if it were still fresh—he felt his entire head go numb.

It wasn't the numb, tingling sensation of an arm regaining blood flow after being compressed, but the itchy, numbing feeling of a wound gradually scabbing over as new flesh grew beneath the dead skin.

Following this came a change in his facial senses.

The mask certainly didn't reshape his bones, but he truly felt his nose and mouth elongating and his ears shifting upward.

Perhaps the nerves inside the mask had connected to his own facial features.

His hearing and sense of smell became instantly acute, and seeing in the dark environment was no longer a problem at all.

Although he hadn't tested it yet, his bite force seemed to have risen several notches as well.

However...

"This guy smells stinky, but shouldn't I eat him? I'm so hungry..."

Zhang Anzai had only pondered this for a second before he immediately shook his head, casting the dangerous thought out of his mind.

Beneath the murky yellow wolf eyes, Zhang Anzai's gaze became clear once more: No, what am I thinking? This mask really does change a person's personality. I can't wear it for too long; I must end this quickly!

Zhang Anzai rubbed the weapons in his left and right hands against each other.

Realizing that he had actually developed a slight urge for bloodlust, Zhang Anzai finally understood why Mr. Li was such a pervert.

Abilities are naturally inseparable from one's personality, but the mask was also an important factor in this.

Upon encountering such a situation, the Official Division naturally helped him by retrieving the original archived files of the Flaying Labyrinth for free.

The burnt human-skin mask on his face had been flayed from the original boss of this place. It was precisely because he wore this thing that Mr. Li's level of perversion had skyrocketed.

This had originally been a very standard dungeon where a humanoid pervert hunted players within a Box Garden Space; the original boss, due to severe facial burns, had developed a hobby of crafting human-skin masks, dedicating himself to finding the perfect face for himself.

In truth, it wasn't much different from how it was now, except that since he had arrived, the original boss had become a piece of equipment, and the difficulty had risen by several notches.

"It matters not, so long as the rewards after clearing the stage... are proportional to the difficulty!"