Chapter 57: Breakdown

The flayer's expression changed abruptly.

Prior to this, he had appeared like an emotionless killing machine, his facial features and expressions embedded in his flesh like a fake mask. The terror he inspired was the fear of a different species. He resembled a human, yet was not human—devoid of human emotions, fearless and bold, without preferences, and utterly flawless, leaving no openings for anyone to strike.

Yet now, his calm face distorted, his eyeballs nearly bursting from their sockets, instantly transforming him from an impeccable god of death into a mortal burdened with weaknesses.

"A fair trade!" Yang Can, who had been hiding in the distance, suddenly shouted. Qin An, pinned beneath the flayer's foot, instantly transformed into a large boulder, while Qin An himself was swapped to Yang Can's side.

Relieved, Qin An crawled out from beneath the dog skin and babbled hastily, "Everyone, be careful! That is the flayer's trait. Once wrapped in his skin, neither traits nor props can be used!"

Xuhuo had already experienced the flayer's trait back in the pigsty. Once wrapped in skin, not only were traits and props rendered useless, but one would also be overcome by an absolute, irresistible terror toward the flayer.

After all, the flayer had skinned ninety-nine thousand beings; this was likely an animal's instinctive dread of him.

"Flayer, you've killed so many people—have you ever killed someone you shouldn't have?" Seeing him shift, Xuhuo lifted the fire closer while kicking away another burning tiger skin by his feet.

Both animal skins contained human skins tucked inside them; one was burned to ashes, while the other was held in his hand. Yet the flayer didn't even glance at the one on the ground, fixing his hollow gaze entirely on the dancing flames.

"You've killed too many to remember?" Xuhuo sneered. "Dungeon area upgrade? Obtaining a transit pass? As long as the Field family remains in E27, don't even dream of it!"

With that, he wrapped the torch in the wolf skin and vanished from the spot instantly!

"Aaaaaah!" The flayer howled as he lunged toward the burning wolf skin. Although Peng Fengnian, still standing by the warehouse entrance, did not understand the underlying cause, he clearly saw the air around the wolf skin crack into vertical lines. As the flayer embraced it, the space peeled away and drifted off like confetti!

"The dungeon has collapsed!" Peng Fengnian was dumbfounded. Seeing those paper fragments form a vortex and scatter in all directions, he rushed quickly to the warehouse entrance, tossed a wooden box to Sima Xiao'er, and roared, "Give this to him!"

Sima Xiao'er was being knocked this way and that by the crowd scrambling to escape for their lives. Catching the box out of nowhere, he just opened his mouth when he saw Peng Fengnian vanish from the spot, replaced by mottled fragments resembling a swarm of bees. The moment they surged into the warehouse, everyone was swallowed into darkness!

Ting City.

Inside the temporary command center, the screens of every room on every floor of the long-evacuated Golden Light Building—including the restrooms—were all lit up. With a flicker of the screen, as if a single frame had been cut, a figure materialized out of thin air on the twenty-eighth floor, which had long since been empty of people.

Xuhuo grabbed onto the floor and vaulted up, fortunately reacting fast enough; otherwise, he would have plummeted from the twenty-eighth floor.

True to form, one returned precisely to the place they had left from.

Just as he was preparing to leave, the game suddenly popped up a notification:

【Due to the collapse of the Grade D dungeon "Good Taste Fresh Meat Supply Factory," all players and non-players within the dungeon have been forcibly evacuated (rewards for players who have already cleared the dungeon remain unchanged)!】

His footsteps paused: the dungeon had actually collapsed!

Before he could ponder further, people began to materialize out of thin air on the twenty-eighth floor one after another: Yu Qingqing's manager, entertainment company staff, special operations personnel from the research institute... Just as the game stated, once the dungeon collapsed, everyone inside was forcibly pulled out of the game.

Xuhuo walked up to Sima Xiao'er, who was standing there in a daze, clutching the box. "For me?" He had seen that box before; it was the one Peng Fengnian used to hold the paper mobile phone.

Sima Xiao'er nodded blankly. Xuhuo muttered a word of thanks, picked up the box, and walked away.

"Hey! You can't leave!" Sima Xiao'er tried to stop him, but was pulled back by an injured colleague nearby. "This person still has a chance!"

Glancing at the person who had already vanished through the doorway, Sima Xiao'er could only grit his teeth and stay behind to help.

A massive influx of special operations personnel and medical workers flooded into the Golden Light Building. Listening to the weeping sounds of joy, Xuhuo vaulted out of the window using the "Ubiquitous Strings," slid down the wall to the twentieth floor, and then left the building via the stairwell.

Needless to say, the belongings he had previously left at the hotel had once again been taken over by the research institute. Instead of rushing to retrieve them, he returned to his former rental apartment.

The room had been cleaned up; the broken furniture had been hauled away, along with the new refrigerator he had bought.

He pulled open the old, poorly cooling refrigerator from before to grab a bottle of water, then swept away the unexpired biscuits and bread. After satisfying his hunger, Xuhuo clutched his chest and downed a bottle of Grade D healing potion.

The effects of the Grade D healing potion were immediate. Within minutes of drinking it, the pain in his chest completely vanished. He gently moved his arm, and the pain surged back once more. Walking over to the mirror, he saw his entire shoulder bruised and swollen; it seemed his collarbone was cracked.

Uncertain whether the Grade D healing potion could shorten the healing time for his bones, Xuhuo refrained from touching the wound further, sat down on the sofa, and opened the game interface.

The game notification regarding the dungeon collapse was still scrolling across the screen, bright red text accompanied by fireworks special effects.

【Congratulations, player Passerby A, for destroying an underground factory in this randomized dungeon, making an outstanding contribution to maintaining game order. The game will default to considering that you have completed three tasks. In addition to the dungeon clearance rewards, you will additionally receive the "Bright Gentleman" medal and a special prop.】

【Furthermore, as this was a randomized dungeon, player level evaluation could not be conducted.】

He raised an eyebrow slightly. The dungeon was recognized by the game, and causing it to collapse not only granted a full-score clearance but also yielded extra rewards?

This game world truly had a sound mindset.

Leaning back against the sofa, Xuhuo's thoughts spun rapidly, finally locking onto that last piece of skin he had burned.

Initially, he had intended to burn those two pieces of human skin simply to buy time, never expecting that the wolf skin could not be set ablaze with ordinary fire.

Something far more vital than "The Flayer's Collectible," protected even by props—it was easy to imagine that the human skin inside the wolf skin was extraordinarily special. His original intent had been to set a trap for the flayer, and causing the dungeon to collapse had been entirely unexpected.

Still, this counted as an unexpected windfall, much like someone aiming for a "buy one get another" soda cap and winning the grand prize instead.

Whatever was sandwiched inside the wolf skin must be crucial to the dungeon; if damaged or missing, the dungeon would inevitably collapse.

Hidden inside the wolf skin and hung within the factory, it meant that at least for the duration of the dungeon's opening, it could not be stored in the inventory slot—or rather, it was inherently a part of the dungeon itself, impossible to stow away and only capable of being concealed.

Let us provisionally call it the core of the dungeon. Once the core was destroyed and all players and non-players were forcibly evacuated, did that mean this Grade D dungeon could never be opened again once it collapsed?

Xuhuo stroked his chin. Judging by the flayer's reaction, even if it didn't reach that extreme extent, the situation could not possibly be good.

Perhaps Peng Fengnian knew something of the inside story. He took out the paper mobile phone from the box and pressed it against his ear.