Chapter 11: Human Skin Manor (Part 10)

“Based on the scoring, it seems that just because someone reaches an answer first doesn’t mean others won’t get points. As long as you present your reasoning or add details, you can still earn points. However, the system clearly requires us to actually speak up for it to count.”

Liu Wei glanced at Shen Qingqiu. He believed she knew the answers but just didn’t bother to say anything, which was why she didn’t get any points.

“So next time, after someone gives a conclusion, let’s make sure to give others a chance to speak.” These words were directed at Xiao Muyu.

They had already noticed that Xiao Muyu was a top player. While others had to rely on amulets when encountering the human skin, or ended up with nothing after sleeping through the night, she managed to earn a full ten points without any harm.

“Now that it’s daylight, let’s make the most of it and go outside to investigate. Some things can only be done during the day. We should also try to find that old lady, and see if we can get more information from her,” said Liu Wei, who was still taking on the responsibility of leading the group.

Actually, everyone knew that the two key players here were Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu. However, one of them was always succinct, while the other simply ignored everyone else. It was impossible to get them to speak up voluntarily, so Liu Wei, who had a decent level of intelligence and social skills, had to step in.

When they went downstairs, they found the old woman sitting on the second floor, sewing clothes amidst a pile of burlap.

She didn’t react at all when she saw them coming down, and just kept working the sewing machine. The group looked around; the bloodstains in that room on the second floor were still there, and the old woman’s room remained locked.

Xu Ran hesitated for a moment but eventually gathered the courage to approach her and said, “Granny, we really want to help you, but we don’t have enough information. Can you tell us what’s going on with the human skin in that room?”

The old woman’s feet skillfully moved the pedals, making the needle stitch quickly through the burlap. After hearing Xu Ran’s words, she stopped, turned her head to look at his youthful, expectant face, and with a bright smile, said, “Such a fair and clean child… It would be such a pity if you died. But unfortunately, my dear, Granny can’t help you. You’ve all made a mistake.”

Xu Ran felt a surge of fear, but forced a smile and said, “Granny, you must despise those human skins just as much as we do and want to be free from this endless torment. But you can only rely on us outsiders. If we die, it won’t benefit you, so could you please reveal a bit more information?”

The old woman didn’t respond to him. Liu Wei, noticing this, shook his head at Xu Ran, hinting that it wouldn’t be that simple.

“Granny, you just said it would be a pity if a fair child like me died, so please have mercy on us. Don’t you want those two young ladies to help you break free? For their sake, at least, could you give us a small hint?”

The old woman glanced at Xu Ran before lowering her head again, a pained expression flickering in her eyes.

Just as Xu Ran was about to give up, she suddenly spoke. Staring at Xu Ran, she murmured, “If my grandson were still alive, he’d be about your age now. Never mind… If you want to survive, you have to find it. Strike first, while you still can. It can’t harm anyone during the day.”

Xu Ran was momentarily stunned by her words. At that moment, a voice announced, “Congratulations, player Xu Ran, for unlocking a side task: Find the Killer Human Skin. Reward: 10 points. Task duration: 8 hours. Additional points: ***”

At the same time, everyone noticed that their own panels now displayed a new task.

“That f*cking worked?” Leopard muttered in disbelief.

Xu Ran’s fair face flushed with excitement, and he couldn’t help but make a victory sign. Since he was too young, he hadn’t yet learned to hide his emotions.

“Pretty boy just used his looks,” complained Leopard under his breath.

At that moment, the system made another announcement: “Attention, players. This task will be conducted in a quiz format, with points awarded based on your answers.

From now on, players are prohibited from copying, or sharing answers.

Violations will be treated as cheating. Both parties involved will receive zero points for the question. Severe cases will result in immediate disqualification!”

The group, who had just been buzzing with excitement, suddenly became dispirited.

“What kind of lousy rule is that? What if someone accidentally blurts out the answer? Will that count as sharing too?” Chen Dong, the shorter of the brothers, couldn’t help but voice his frustration. He and his brother couldn’t share answers between them either?

“Warning! Do not challenge the rules!”

Chen Dong: ……

“S-so what do we do now? This place is huge, and human skins can’t come out during the day. If that human skin ran off last night, where are we supposed to find it? There are so many of them too. How do we even know which is the one?” Xu Ran sounded a little panicked.

The others didn’t look much better. Seeing the group’s morale plummet, Xiao Muyu offered a suggestion: “The task is to find the killer human skin, but completing it depends on answering the questions correctly. If you manage to capture the human skin, then you could… Well, just think about it carefully.” She was about to explain more clearly, but a yellow exclamation mark suddenly appeared on the side task panel, prompting her to shut her mouth immediately.

Shen Qingqiu approached her and whispered, “Sometimes, saying less isn’t a bad thing.”

Xiao Muyu remained noncommittal, but her one remark had already caused some of the others to start grasping the true nature of this task.

After a moment, Cui Xiaoxuan took a deep breath and turned to head into the room on the second floor where the couple had died, and Liu Wei, after some thought, followed her.

Some people still seemed confused, like Leopard, who scratched the back of his head in puzzlement. “Aren’t we supposed to be finding where those human skins are hiding? It’s finally daylight; once the sun sets, we won’t be able to get out.”

“Let’s just go check it out.” Old Liao sighed and followed the others upstairs.

Xiao Muyu didn’t join them this time, as she had already inspected the crime scene when they were clearing the bodies. The remaining traces were obvious enough, but there was nothing particularly special about them.

Why could the human skin ignore the room’s protection, because it had been kept in the house?

Xiao Muyu’s mind flashed back to the blood-stained bowl. The viscous blood paste hadn’t yet coagulated, so was that blood recently placed in the bowl?

If so, whose blood was it? The old woman’s? Xiao Muyu observed the old woman deftly moving her hands and feet to sew clothes. She didn’t seem injured.

Suddenly, Xiao Muyu felt as if she had just pierced through the fog, grasping an important clue. No wonder the task required answering a question rather than directly completing it!

However, she couldn’t afford to be hasty. The game tasks were never this simple. Since this task was available to everyone, it was likely a critical scoring opportunity, and if they didn’t find anything, they could fail the task.

Xiao Muyu turned to Cui Xiaoxuan and the others, and said, “Last night, the human skin didn’t just go to one room. Let’s all check the rooms again.”

Everyone agreed, and they went through the six rooms upstairs and downstairs in turn, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

The human skin had been blocked by three amulets after killing, and should have taken damage, so it didn’t strip Xiao Tian’s skin as well. Except for the bloody trail on the third floor, the areas where the human skin had passed through were mostly clean, supposedly cleaned up.

After she finished checking, Xiao Muyu suddenly asked, “But don’t any of you find it strange? Where did the stripped human skin go?” The few people present were stunned.

“Yeah, Xiao Sun’s… is gone.” Old Liao was still unable to calmly say the word, and just the thought made his knees soft.

“Maybe it ate the skin right away?” Liu Wei said with a hint of disgust.

“Everyone who died in the village has become a human skin, so he’s probably no exception,” Cui Xiaoxuan said quietly.

“What about those who didn’t come in yesterday? Did they also become like that?” You Qiaolian finally spoke up, likely influenced by Cui Xiaoxuan’s encouragement. However, since she was actually a scaredy-cat, she stuttered.

“Right, we should check that later. We didn’t pay attention when we went out earlier.” Liu Wei’s eyes glimmered.

“But how does that relate to finding the human skin? If the room had no clues, could the human skin from last night have sneaked out with spoils?” Cui Xiaoxuan looked at Xiao Muyu, hoping to get some feedback from her.

“Can the human skin really come and go as it pleases? If it can, what’s the reason? Just because it had been kept in the room? That doesn’t make sense,” Xiao Muyu muttered to herself, then she turned and went downstairs.

She seemed to be talking to herself, not caring whether others heard her or not, and walked straight down.

Shen Qingqiu watched her retreating figure and quirked her lips.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly, and there was no sign of anything unusual, except for the new graves in the woods by the house, which served as a grim reminder of the place’s terrifying and dangerous nature.

Shen Qingqiu looked at the empty space in front of the room. Only twelve players had entered yesterday, and some had died outside before the game could officially begin.

As she was lost in thought, a pale hand appeared in front of her: “Did you leave this?”

Shen Qingqiu looked down at the small twig in the pale palm. The twig, less than half a centimeter long, had visible break marks on both ends.

She turned to look at Xiao Muyu, who had handed it to her, and smiled slightly: “You noticed this? Your observation is sharp. Yes, I placed it.”

“Did you place one at every room?”

Shen Qingqiu nodded and, seeing the others going out one by one, leaned closer to Xiao Muyu and whispered in her ear: “Want to know what I found?”

With her hand behind her back and her body leaning forward, Shen Qingqiu tilted her head with a sly smile. Although she appeared quite charming, Xiao Muyu found her a bit annoying.

“The first person to discover the body today wasn’t Cui Xiaoxuan, was it?” Xiao Muyu said, without looking at her. Her tone sounded so normal, as if they were just having a chat.

Shen Qingqiu didn’t deny it and instead looked at Xiao Muyu with a ‘go on’ expression.

“You got up quite early, and the bed was already cold. Since you’ve placed the markers, you must’ve also gone out earlier to check on them. I don’t need you to tell me what you discovered—just confirm if my guess is correct.” After saying this, Xiao Muyu leaned in to whisper a few words in her ear.

As Shen Qingqiu listened, her smile grew more pronounced. “You’re very clever. I’m relieved; my efforts hadn’t gone to waste.” She then reached into her pocket and deftly tossed a few twigs of the same size onto the grass, making it seem as if they had never existed.

Xiao Muyu felt more confident after obtaining the answer. While she couldn’t reveal it directly, she could still play around the edges of the rules. However, Shen Qingqiu was indeed meticulous and eccentric, preferring to communicate in riddles rather than straightforwardly.

“What are those two whispering about? Aren’t we supposed to keep the answers secret?” Chen Xi couldn’t help but ask.

Leopard and the others were also watching them. They had gone to find the people who had gotten caught yesterday, but everything was clean, spotless. Now, confused and growing increasingly anxious, they felt a bit uncomfortable seeing Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu talk among themselves, avoiding the rest.

“It’s bad enough that they’re unsociable. We agreed to work together, and yet they don’t share any information. I really can’t stand these selfish types.”

“She’s already given us a hint, and the system requires us not to disclose the answers. We can only assume that the two of them know roughly the same thing. If we haven’t discovered those clues ourselves, hearing them might be considered cheating.”

Although Cui Xiaoxuan was also eager to know, she felt satisfied with what she already figured out. She could sense that Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu, despite not being very talkative, weren’t mean-spirited but rather just aloof.

“Easy for you to say. You aren’t lacking in points,” Leopard huffed. He then called over Old Liao, Chen Dong, and the others, suggesting they should quickly search the surroundings. The human skin had to be hiding somewhere, and it surely couldn’t have gone too far.

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Author had something to say:

Seeing that a similar work to mine made it onto the rankings and is ahead of me, while I’m being told the data is too poor and the story should be abandoned, it’s a bit disheartening. But I’ll still finish writing it, and I have some lovely readers who keep supporting me. Love you all.

I’ve been writing for so long, and the plot hasn’t let the two female leads flirt yet. Today, after writing four or five thousand words, their interactions felt really satisfying, haha.