Chapter 45: The Secret Chamber

Red-head, otherwise known as Sima Xiaoer, first shook his head, and then went mad as he tried to bite Xu Huo. This man clearly knew he was a player yet acted as if nothing was wrong, and didn't even intend to let him out!

Xu Huo placed a large hand over the pig's snout, saying coldly, "If you want to be discovered by the Skinner, keep acting up. The one who was butchering pigs just now is the Skinner. Do you want to know how he earned that title?"

Sima Xiaoer froze, his front trotters immediately scratching frantically on the ground.

Without needing to look, Xu Huo knew what he wanted to say. "I can't let you out for now. Incomplete stitches might slow down the fusion rate with the pigskin. Those people outside are ticket-holding players who won't care about the lives of the people inside the pigsty. If you want to save the others, do as I say."

After hesitating for two seconds, Sima Xiaoer nodded.

"You guys too." Xu Huo turned his head to glance at the surrounding pigs. "If you want to walk out alive, you only have yourselves listen to me."

A group of pig heads bobbed up and down frantically.

"The later I am discovered, the greater the chance of rescuing people." He patted Red-head's pig snout. "Stay here and cooperate with me."

"I'm heading out first, I'll be back tonight."

With that, he slipped silently over the pigsty wall and into the fruit orchard outside.

Good Taste Fresh Meat Supply Factory was situated on a higher hillside, surrounded by numerous fruit trees. Below the slope, to the left of the factory, was a river.

The area around the river was open terrain, while the extension of the fruit trees led into a patch of woodland.

Xu Huo glanced in that direction, circled around the warehouse and slaughterhouse to the front of the factory, and entered the front office.

Inside the office, there was a desk with a bookshelf behind it. One side held books on philosophy and anatomy, while the other held adult gossip magazines and photo books.

He casually flipped through a couple of books and put them back where they were, then turned his attention to the items on the desk.

On the left-hand side, a stack of account books was neatly arranged alongside stationery items like paper, pens, and a utility knife. On the right-hand side casually sat a radio, a teacup, and a landline telephone.

In front of the desk were two exquisitely crafted leather sofas, sandwiching a fragrant solid wood coffee table. The tea set was delicate; no tea was brewing in the teapot, and the teacups were arranged evenly around it at equal distances.

Hanging on the wall directly opposite was an oil portrait of the Skinner, with a vase holding fresh flowers resting on the shelf below it.

This office was clean and meticulous, creating a jarring sense of incongruity.

Time was tight, so Xu Huo didn't linger. He turned on the radio, dialed the volume down to the lowest setting, and began browsing the ledger while listening.

The order information in the ledger encompassed at least twenty different restaurants and small shops, with delivery dates spanning three months. The earliest entry was for three days later: the Baugainvillea Restaurant wanted six six-month-old piglets, with the requirement that the Skinner skin them while they were still alive, ensuring the skin remained wrapped around the piglets without ruining the guests' appetite.

Xu Huo's gaze lingered on the highlighted word "appetite" for two seconds before he closed the ledger.

By this time, the radio had finished broadcasting the weather and switched to current affairs news.

"...According to reports, the highest administrative officer of this district stepped down a few days ago. The new successor is Carol Field, the grandson of Carmen Field, who is known as the 'Morning Star of Field'. He has arrived accompanied by his seven wives at 13:00 district time this afternoon..."

"...Miss Jin Xueer, who is about to become his eighth wife and hails from the most prestigious Jin family in this district, personally came forward to receive them and expressed a warm welcome to Carol Field and his seven wives..."

"...The arrival of Carol Field has prompted numerous personnel changes..."

Listening to the news, Xu Huo's expression shifted several times.

Sure enough, the game of the dimensional rift not only could use instances to invade the real world, but it also constructed a social system of its own. People managed this society, complete with money and consumption. Game managers, players, and even ordinary people could all become part of this social framework.

Now, he was even starting to believe what Professor Han had said on the preliminary trial train: perhaps the game originated from an advanced civilization.

"Thud!" A muffled sound came from the inner room, and a woman's indistinct voice said, "...Stop looking... Do the work first..."

Xu Huo immediately stood up, restored the items he had touched to their original positions, and left the office the way he came.

As he walked past the slaughterhouse, he saw the other two players had returned to the workshop, and the four of them were cleaning up.

Glancing at the sky, he picked up a sack and walked out toward the fruit orchard, choosing a concealed spot to hide.

The Skinner returned shortly after. Following him was Yang灿 (Yang Can), whose face was swollen to the point where his eyes could barely open. The players didn't dare to ask questions, because the Skinner was flying into a rage.

"You bunch of useless trash, you can't even sweep the floor properly!"

"You dare to apply for jobs looking like this? Only someone out of their mind would hire you!"

"No dinner tonight, you're all working through the night!"

With that, he slammed the door and left, locking the front door of the workshop as well.

"Are you alright?" Xian Dazhi asked Yang Can.

Yang Can opened his mouth and gestured inside. "Two teeth knocked out, just because I didn't bait the hook right."

The others fell silent for a moment before Qin An spoke up, "If we don't clean this place up tonight, we'll probably all be getting slapped tomorrow."

Hearing this made their teeth ache. Yang Can asked, "Did you guys find anything?"

"Ask Tang Pei." Zou Weichang pointed his chin toward the female player.

"The front hallway has the cold storage and office on the right, and walking into the left leads to a large fur room. It's full of complete pelts of rare animals, some groomed to a glossy shine—they must all be the Skinner's collectibles."

"At the very back is the bedroom. Qin An and I measured it; the bedroom is only half the length of the fur room. There should be a secret room on one side. Compared to the pelts outside, the real collection should be in there," said the female player Tang Pei.

"Did you go in? What's inside?" Xian Dazhi asked eagerly.

Tang Pei shook her head. "Couldn't open it. We tried every mechanism we could think of, but it's useless."

"Don't you have a universal lockpick?"

Tang Pei let out a breath. "Qin An used his perspective vision. That secret room is practically a bank vault; the door alone is half a meter thick, and there isn't even a keyhole. It can't be opened."

Disappointment was written all over the other three's faces. Yang Can twisted his mouth and said, "I thought this task would be the easiest one, but I didn't expect it to be this hard."

A door and wall comparable to a bank vault practically ruled out all brute-force methods. Although they were Tier D players, they simply didn't possess high-damage props.

"We have to find a way to open the door," Qin An said. "Otherwise, even if we forced it open, the Skinner would deal with us long before we got our hands on the collection."

"Ask Peng Fengnian."

Tang Pei nodded, pulled out a paper cell phone, and held it to her ear. Before she even had a chance to explain the situation, her expression shifted. A moment later, she told the others, "Peng Fengnian says there is another player here."