Chapter 53: The Rift

Xu Huo hid in the pigsty for four hours until the darkness outside finally receded. After securing the pigskin, he first checked on the piglets, then circled around to the rooms where several players were staying.

Tang Pei and the others sat silently in the darkness, the air thick with the stench of blood and a suffocating stillness.

“Who’s dead?” he asked.

“See for yourself,” Qin An replied, rubbing his face with both hands and bending to look at the floor.

Xu Huo opened the door. The candle on the control desk was still burning. The first thing he saw was Peng Fengnian, his eyes wide open in death on the wall. Then, his gaze fell on the figure hanging in the center of the workshop.

It was no longer human—just a strip of raw red flesh, the skin peeled away, exposing muscles and blood vessels. Blood constantly dripped down the body into a bucket below.

The neck was suspended, yet the chest still faintly rose and fell.

In front of it, a whole sheet of human skin hung in midair, stretched flat and pinned at the edges with fishhooks like a grisly painting. The thin membrane even allowed candlelight to pass through.

The skinned victim was Zou Weichang. Though no smoke had yet risen, at this stage, death was inevitable.

Scanning the room, Xu Huo found no sign of the skinner. He was about to move Peng Fengnian down when suddenly the “corpse’s” eyeballs twitched. With veins bulging across his darkened face, Peng erupted in fury, leaping off the wall and swinging fists toward Xu Huo’s face.

Xu Huo dodged the blows, grabbed Peng’s arm as he turned, and lowered his voice: “Where did the skinner go?”

Peng panted heavily, his furious, hateful eyes mixed with fear. He opened his mouth but seemed unable or unwilling to speak.

Seeing his disturbed state, Xu Huo quickly dragged him into the players’ room.

Once the door shut, Peng went berserk, attacking wildly. Qin An and the others were caught in the crossfire. Yang Can and Xian Dazhi teamed up to restrain him. Yang’s face was pale as he said, “Could it be the skinner injected him with some kind of madness-inducing virus?”

Tang Pei clenched his teeth and slapped Peng across the face. “You’re still alive, so get a grip. Do you want the rest of us to end up like Zou Weichang?”

Peng’s eyes were bloodshot; he no longer listened to anyone else. Fixating on Xu Huo, his face was a portrait of collapse.

“You pretended to be dead on the wall and saw the skinner peel Zou Weichang alive,” Xu Huo said, staring at him.

---

Qin An and the others fell silent. The noise in the workshop hadn’t been loud but enough to draw their attention. After discovering Zou Weichang missing, Qin An immediately used his vision ability to survey the workshop. By then, Zou’s scalp had already been torn off.

Qin An couldn’t describe the shock he felt, but after one glance, he hid his traits, unwilling to look again.

“…Alive… he was peeled while still alive…” Peng Fengnian’s voice was hoarse and trembling. “He was still alive afterward…”

From the moment Zou Weichang was hung up, the skinner ceased being a mere game character in Peng’s eyes. Instead, he was a genuine homicidal maniac, capable of peeling a person alive with a smile, working for hours without his hands trembling. And Peng, having taken a fake death potion, couldn’t even close his eyes—he had to witness it all from start to finish.

“Why did you give us false information?” Peng glared at Xu Huo. “Zou Weichang sneaked out to get the beast hide. Because of you, he died like this!”

Qin An and the others exchanged glances, their expressions shifting. Qin An asked, “What do you mean? Isn’t the key to clearing the level the hide?”

“No!” Peng spat out a breath. “Zou Weichang failed. The skinner blocked him.”

“What exactly are you trying to do? What good comes from killing other players?”

Xu Huo scanned the five men, their faces shadowed, wary, ready to strike. His own face was expressionless, but his voice was cold. “Think carefully—is it really because of me that Zou Weichang died?”

“I clearly told you all that collecting hides during the day is safer. The agreed time was tomorrow daylight. Why did Zou Weichang go for it on his own?”

“Even if Zou Weichang was selfish, you gave false information first.” Qin An gripped a long whip. “If you don’t explain yourself today, don’t expect to leave!”

“I told you how to open the secret room. The key was my deduction. I also warned you to act during the day.”

“We’re all players. I told you everything you needed to know. Are you going to blame me for feeding you everything on a silver platter?”

“Burn your mouth and then turn around to blame me…” Xu Huo smiled softly. “I really wonder how you even made it to level D.”

Qin An and the others’ faces fluctuated. Xian Dazhi hesitated before saying, “You can’t really blame anyone. This is our first time here. He was only guessing. Even if he was wrong, it’s not entirely his fault.”

Peng Fengnian understood Xu Huo’s point—the fault did lie with Zou Weichang, but the price was too terrible.

“I want to know one thing: did you know the dungeon changes at night?” he asked.

---

“No,” Xu Huo answered frankly. “You just didn’t take the message seriously that the skinner’s knife can’t be used during the day.”

“If you’d been more observant, you’d have noticed the skinner actually has a split personality. By day, he’s the irritable factory boss, Red-Nosed Karl; by night, he becomes the skinner madman.”

“His office is clean and tidy, stationery and books neatly arranged—ranging from anatomy to philosophy—matching the game’s description of a ‘delicate inner mind.’ But he himself is unkempt, a heavy drinker and lecher, with a bedroom that’s long neglected. Isn’t that a glaring contradiction?”

“If the one wielding the skinner’s knife is the skinner’s personality, then it’s obvious who the Red-Nosed Karl at night is.”

“Knowing this important fact, sneaking out at night was you playing with your own lives.”

Peng Fengnian vaguely sensed the skinner’s drastic personality contrast but hadn’t fully considered it before being traumatized by the live skinning.

Looking at the man standing by the door, still fidgeting with a lighter, Peng felt a grudging recognition but couldn’t ignore Xu Huo’s cold demeanor when he first saw the corpse—as if human life was worthless in his eyes.

“Our cooperation is over.”

Xu Huo returned the paper phone to him and walked straight out.

“Is that it?” Yang Can watched his retreating figure and murmured, “Actually, I don’t think he’s wrong. He didn’t know Zou Weichang would act behind everyone’s back. And just now… we didn’t dare go out to save him.”

To put it bluntly, there’s a hint of helplessness and misplaced anger there.

Peng Fengnian covered his eyes, took a deep breath, then said, “Let’s rest first. At dawn, while the skinner’s out, we’ll search the secret room.”

No matter what they thought, after Xu Huo left, he returned to the pigsty and pulled out the red-haired man who had been picking at the stitches on his abdomen.

“Behave, and I’ll let you out.”