Chapter 57: Collapse
The Skinner's expression changed abruptly.
Before this, he had presented himself as an emotionless killing machine, his features and emotions embedded like fake skin onto a physical body. The fear he inspired was akin to the fear of a different species—he resembled a human but was not one, devoid of human emotions, fearless and without preferences, flawless and impossible to target.
But now, his calm face twisted, his eyeballs nearly bulging from their sockets. In an instant, he transformed from an invincible god of death into a mortal with weaknesses.
"A fair trade!" Yang Can, who had been hiding in the distance, suddenly shouted. Qin An, who was pinned under the Skinner's foot, instantly turned into a large stone, while Qin An himself was swapped over to Yang Can's side.
Freed, Qin An crawled out of the dog skin and hurriedly said, "Everyone be careful, that's the Skinner's trait—once you're wrapped in the skin, you can't use traits or items!"
Xu Huo had experienced the Skinner's trait firsthand in the pig shed. Once you put on the skin, not only were traits and items unusable, but you also developed an absolute, unshakable fear of the Skinner.
After all, the Skinner had flayed ninety-nine thousand skins—this was likely the instinctive fear animals had toward him.
"Skinner, you've killed so many people. Have you ever killed someone you shouldn't have?" Watching him move, Xu Huo brought the fire closer while kicking aside another burning tiger skin.
Both animal skins contained human skins—one was burned, the other held in his hand—but the Skinner didn't even glance at the one on the ground, his eyes fixed solely on the dancing flames.
"Killed too many to remember?" Xu Huo sneered. "Upgrading the instance? Getting a pass? As long as the Field family is in E27, don't even think about it!"
With that, he wrapped the torch in the wolf skin and vanished from the spot!
"Aaaaaah!" The Skinner howled as he charged toward the burning wolf skin. Peng Fengnian, still at the warehouse entrance, didn't understand what was happening, but he clearly saw the air around the wolf skin crack open with vertical lines. When the Skinner embraced it, it peeled and scattered like shredded paper!
"The instance is collapsing!" Peng Fengnian was stunned. Seeing the paper fragments form a vortex spreading in all directions, he rushed to the warehouse door and tossed a wooden box to Sima Xiao'er, shouting, "Give it to him!"
Sima Xiao'er was being jostled by people scrambling to escape. Caught off guard, he caught the box and opened his mouth to speak, only to see Peng Fengnian vanish on the spot, replaced by a swarm of mottled fragments. The moment they surged into the warehouse, everyone was swallowed by darkness!
Ting City.
In the temporary command room, every floor, every room, and even the restrooms of the already evacuated Jinguang Building were displayed on screens. As the image flickered, as if a frame had been cut, a figure suddenly appeared on the twenty-eighth floor, which had long been empty.
Xu Huo grabbed the edge of the floor and pulled himself up. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, or he would have fallen from the twenty-eighth floor.
Sure enough, wherever you left, you returned.
Just as he was about to leave, the game suddenly popped up a notification:
[Due to the collapse of the D-level instance "Good Taste Fresh Meat Supply Factory," all players and non-players in this instance will be forcibly ejected (rewards for players who cleared the instance remain unchanged)!]
He paused mid-step: The instance had actually collapsed!
Before he could think further, people began appearing out of thin air on the twenty-eighth floor—Yu Qingqing's agent, entertainment company staff, special affairs personnel from the research institute... Just as the game said, after the instance collapsed, everyone inside was forcibly ejected from the game.
Xu Huo walked up to Sima Xiao'er, who was holding the box with a dazed expression. "For me?" He recognized the box—it was the one Peng Fengnian used to store the paper phone.
Sima Xiao'er nodded blankly. Xu Huo thanked him, took the box, and left.
"Hey! You can't leave!" Sima Xiao'er tried to stop him, but a wounded colleague nearby grabbed him. "This person can still be saved!"
Sima Xiao'er glanced at the figure already disappearing through the door and could only grit his teeth and stay to help.
A flood of special affairs personnel and medical staff poured into Jinguang Building. Listening to the sounds of joyful tears, Xu Huo grabbed the "Omnipresent Strings" and jumped out the window, sliding down the wall to the twentieth floor before taking the stairs to leave the building.
No need to mention that the items left at the hotel had been taken over by the research institute again. He didn't rush to retrieve them but returned to his previous rental apartment.
The room had been cleaned, the broken furniture removed, along with the new refrigerator he had bought.
He opened the old, barely cooling fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and cleared out the unexpired cookies and bread to satisfy his hunger. Then, clutching his chest, he downed a bottle of D-level Self-Healing Agent.
The D-level Self-Healing Agent was effective. Within minutes of drinking it, the pain in his chest completely disappeared. He gently moved his arm, but the pain returned. Walking to the mirror, he saw that his entire shoulder was bruised and swollen—it seemed his shoulder bone was cracked.
He didn't know if the D-level Self-Healing Agent could speed up bone healing. Xu Huo didn't touch the wound again but sat on the sofa and opened the game interface.
The game notification about the instance collapse was still scrolling on the screen, the red text accompanied by fireworks effects.
[Congratulations, player Passerby A. In this random instance, you have dismantled an underground factory, making an outstanding contribution to maintaining game order. The game will default to completing three tasks for you. In addition to the clearance rewards for this instance, you will also receive a "Light Gentleman" medal and a special item.]
[Additionally, as this was a random instance, player level evaluation is not applicable.]
He raised an eyebrow slightly. The instance was recognized by the game, and causing it to collapse not only gave full clearance but also extra rewards?
This game world really had a sound mindset.
Leaning back on the sofa, Xu Huo's thoughts quickly retraced, finally settling on the last skin he had burned.
Initially, he had planned to set fire to the two human skins to buy time, but he hadn't expected that the wolf skin couldn't be ignited with ordinary flames.
Something more important than the "Skinner's Treasure," even protected by items—the human skin inside the wolf skin must be very special. His original intention was to use it to set a trap for the Skinner, but causing the instance to collapse was unexpected.
Still, this was a pleasant surprise, like scratching a lottery ticket for a "free refill" and winning the grand prize instead.
The thing hidden in the wolf skin must be crucial to the instance. If it was damaged or missing, the instance would collapse.
Hidden inside the wolf skin and hung in the factory, it meant that at least during the instance's opening period, it couldn't be stored in the item slot. Or perhaps it was part of the instance itself, unable to be stored, only hidden.
Let's call it the instance's core. If the core was destroyed, all players and non-players were forcibly ejected. Did that mean this D-level instance couldn't be reopened once it collapsed?
Xu Huo rubbed his chin. Judging by the Skinner's reaction, even if it wasn't that severe, it couldn't be far off.
Maybe Peng Fengnian knew some inside information. He took the paper phone out of the box and pressed it to his ear.