Chapter 13: Human Skin Manor (Part 12)

Warning: Violence and disturbing content.

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The moment they saw the question, several people were at a loss. With pale faces, they looked around at their companions, but others were either just as lost, or were deeply focused on the answer panel, too distracted to notice.

“What the hell is this question? Justify where the human skin is hiding? Is this an essay question?”

Suddenly, a voice warned: “No talking in the examination room!”

The same mechanical voice, devoid of any emotion, echoed through the hall, which had now become their exam room.

Leopard had no choice but to shut his mouth. The Chen brothers, who were entirely focused on answering the question, paid him no mind.

No one had a confident answer, and for some, the answer was a complete mystery. They had no idea where to even begin.

The ticking countdown echoed like a death knell, and in no time, forty seconds had passed. If they didn’t start writing soon, they would lose their chance entirely.

Without any clear thought, they scrambled to put something down, tackling the question like struggling students—filling in every related thing they could muster, hoping that at least some of it might be relevant.

They clung to the distant memory of their teachers’ kind admonishment: when it comes to essay questions, as long as you write something, you might earn partial credit for the process.

In stark contrast, Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu remained calm. Among the ten people present, it was evident just from their expressions and the speed of their writing, who were the ‘top students’, and who were the ‘underachievers’.

Only one minute left! Everyone glanced up at the time, then hastily returned to their frantic writing. Leopard’s face flushed a deep red, while Old Liao and a few others were sweating profusely.

Time slipped away, second by second, and the air in the room seemed to drain with it, the atmosphere growing so heavy it was suffocating.

Cui Xiaoxuan’s fingers had gone a little numb from the overwhelming tension. Even Xu Ran, the student who had faced countless exams, had never felt this nervous before. His hands shook uncontrollably, and his heart pounded so violently that he feared he might have a heart attack.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven…” As the final ten seconds were counting down, the tension reached its peak.

“Time’s up! Stop writing!”

“Ah~” Xu Ran let out a shaky groan, completely exhausted, while his fingers continued to tremble uncontrollably.

“I… I’ve never taken such… such a nerve-wracking exam in my life.” 20 points were at stake, with only one day left. Failing to score might really mean they only had a day left to live! The psychological strain was indescribable, simply torture.

After the test ended, the tension seemed to ease slightly. Looking around at their companions’ exhausted expressions, they couldn’t help but find it somewhat funny.

But seeing how calm and composed Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu were, a sense of unease crept in. People were often like this—when confronted with someone more capable, there would always be a bit of discontent.

“The scores for this question will be announced next!”

The system’s voice rang out, and the previously relaxed atmosphere instantly tightened to a fever pitch. Liu Wei and the others held their breaths, anxiously waiting.

“The highest score… goes to…” The system dragged out the announcement, making everyone’s hearts race.

“It’s… Cui Xiaoxuan!”

Everyone turned to look at her, their eyes filled with a mix of surprise, envy, and jealousy.

“It’s not Miss Xiao or Miss Shen?”

“They’re not invincible; they can’t always…”

The following words overthrew the unfinished claim.

“Also… Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu!”

“20 points, full marks!” The mechanical voice tried to mimic human cadence, but sounded a little incongruous.

“So, you actually found the human skin?” The Chen brothers asked in disbelief. While the group was stunned and mystified at this, there was one person who lowered their head without expression, clenching their fists.

The system then displayed the rest of the scores on a leaderboard in front of everyone.

Chen Dong and Chen Xi received 15 points, Liu Wei got 14 points, Xu Ran scored 12 points, Old Liao earned 8 points, and the Leopard only managed 4 points.

Each person saw the changes in their score panels. Their answers had already been graded, with the scoring criteria included.

For example, answering ‘The Last Supper’ or ‘Judas Iscariot’ would get 3 points, mentioning ‘someone provided blood to feed the human skin’ would get 2 points, saying ‘the human skin is still in the house’ would get 4 points, and noting ‘You Qiaolian is suspicious’ would get 2 points, and so on.

“There’s even detailed scoring criteria?” Leopard grumbled, but he suddenly froze when he saw the final item.

The conclusion: The human skin was among the ten people in the room, and it was You Qiaolian!

He quickly looked up and found that everyone who had been sitting next to him had stood up and started backing away, leaving him the only one still sitting there in a daze.

He abruptly turned to look at You Qiaolian, who had always been meek and timid like a quail. She was now wearing a strange smile, which grew more and more distorted.

Behind those pale lips, a row of sharp, serrated teeth suddenly bared themselves at Leopard, causing his face to change with fright as he shouted, “Oh my God!”

After frantically scrambling off the chair, he quickly backed away. However, he didn’t notice that both Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu had instinctively stepped back as he moved.

A hissing sound continued to come from You Qiaolian, and they stared in shock as her skin seemed to puff up as if inflated, slowly peeling away from the flesh.

“She… she’s shedding her skin!” Cui Xiaoxuan’s lips turned pale with fear.

She had already been horrified upon realizing that You Qiaolian was the human skin, and had kept her distance all afternoon. However, seeing her transform into the human skin with her own eyes still made her heart race. The visual impact was a direct assault on her soul!

“Stop her!” Shen Qingqiu leaped onto the table and swung a chair with all her might, smashing it down onto You Qiaolian’s head, knocking her to the ground in one swift, decisive blow.

This strike would have left an ordinary person unconscious with a bloodied head. Yet even with her head knocked askew, You Qiaolian was still glaring at Shen Qingqiu. Struggling to get up, she emitted a chilling, sinister laugh. In the next moment, the skin on her face peeled away from the top of her head down to her neck!

The sight of the skinless head dripping with blood was so shocking that Shen Qingqiu flinched and turned her head in disgust, unable to look directly at it.

Meanwhile, Xu Ran and Cui Xiaoxuan both vomited, unable to bear the sight.

Most of them were newbies, and while they knew this was a supernatural instance, they had never experienced such a direct critical blow. This sight not only made them incapable of helping, but nearly left them paralyzed on the floor.

“Now is not the time to be scared. Are you all ready to end up like this?” Shen Qingqiu’s tone was cold and stern. She frowned and kicked the revolting, exposed head back down to the floor.

At that moment, a piece of clothing fell from above—Xiao Muyu had jumped over the table. After snatching a coat from the dumbstruck Xu Ran, she rushed over to wrap it around You Qiaolian’s head.

Then, she quickly used her right hand to twist the sleeves around You Qiaolian’s neck, feet firm against the floor and strangling with all her might. The human skin’s laughter was reduced to a choked gasp, as if its life was being squeezed out of it, before abruptly stopping.

“Now, it can’t scare anyone anymore. Hurry up and come over here!”

Shen Qingqiu: ……

The other seven dumbstruck people: ……

Boss, you’re a badass! A werewolf!

Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but want to give her a thumbs up.

Xiao Muyu’s actions had tightly choked the human skin, including its neck. The human skin struggled desperately, its surface stretched taut yet it couldn’t break free.

Xiao Muyu gritted her teeth, her hands showing visible veins as she strained. “Hurry up! It’s too strong; I can’t hold on!”

Xu Ran, though young, always boasted himself as a man. He gritted his teeth and tore the last piece of clothing from his body, using it to restrain You Qiaolian’s legs, which had already separated from the flesh. He tied them up with all his might!

Immediately, everyone swarmed over the human skin. They held down its arms, stepped on its back, and tore off their clothes. In a rush, they bound the human skin to the body so tightly that it couldn’t remove itself.

For the first time, the players restrained this human skin, which had roamed unchecked in the instance. It looked so miserable, unable to exert any power at all.

Inside the tight cloth wrappings, the human skin had just begun to catch its breath to scream, but the sound that came out was almost like crying. The group of human skins outside was suddenly gone, having all run off.

Seeing the almost mummified You Qiaolian, everyone felt a bit incredulous. Had they become this powerful? Xu Ran stuttered, “Is this… is this enough?”

The group cautiously gathered around the restrained human skin and looked at each other. “It seems… it seems like it’s okay now.”

“Phew,” Xu Ran let out a long sigh and sat on the floor, patting his chest with lingering fear. “That really scared me. I thought we were done for. Thanks to Sister Xiao and Sister Shen, you’re really too amazing. I’m truly in awe!”

Shen Qingqiu’s lips twitched. “Don’t call us ‘sisters’ so casually.”

Xu Ran smiled and scratched his head. “It’s to show my respect. We would’ve been completely lost without you two, after all.”

Leopard thought about his own pathetic performance. Despite his imposing stature of 1.8 meters, two women had completely outdone him. He blushed, unable to say anything.

“Really, we owe it all to you two. We were caught completely unprepared.” Liu Wei also felt somewhat ashamed.

“So, Miss Shen and Miss Xiao, this isn’t your first time in an instance, right?” Chen Xi suddenly spoke up.

Shen Qingqiu shot him a glance, and he quickly looked away. “What I mean is, Miss Shen, you two have a lot of experience. Many of us are facing this for the first time. If we want to survive, we have to rely on you. I hope you can be kind-hearted…”

“Excuse me, everyone here is new to this instance. Xiao Muyu is not necessarily more experienced than you. Also, she’s not saying anything about you two, and I’m not bringing it up. Are you so intent on making things difficult for yourselves?”

Chen Dong and Chen Xi’s expressions changed slightly, and they stammered, “We didn’t mean anything by it…”

“You’re asking us whether it’s our first time in an instance; don’t you two brothers have any self-awareness?”

She didn’t know why Xiao Muyu hadn’t exposed them, but she didn’t want to say anything because it wasn’t her concern—everyone looks out for themselves, after all. However, if they were going to play dumb in front of her, they couldn’t blame her for calling them out.

“Brothers Chen aren’t first-timers?” Xu Ran caught on to what Shen Qingqiu meant and looked surprised.

“But they have amulets,” Old Liao reminded them.

“I’m not a first-timer either, but I also had an amulet,” Shen Qingqiu calmly admitted.

“How is that possible? It was clearly stated that only newbies can obtain noob amulets. How did you get yours, Sister Shen?”

Shen Qingqiu casually dusted off her hands and then leisurely sat down on a nearby chair. She glanced at her right hand, then nonchalantly nodded toward Xiao Muyu and said, “Took it from her.”

The people in the room could practically feel their foreheads twitch. Such… such a shameless behavior, yet she said it so boldly!

That was an amulet, something that could save a life, not some cabbage you could just grab!

Cui Xiaoxuan and the others all turned to Xiao Muyu, whose face was filled with cold indifference and exasperation, as if seeking confirmation.

Xiao Muyu’s expression remained wooden as she nodded. In truth, she wanted to say that it hadn’t been taken by force, but stolen.

Shameless people were truly incorrigible.

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Author had something to say:

Many of the little cuties in the comments guessed correctly—one of them figured out it was “The Last Supper” as soon as I mentioned Da Vinci’s painting, and others guessed Judas, the betrayer. A lot of readers said they understood, while I didn’t, but that’s not true. Cui Xiaoxuan really did understand, Liu Wei figured out most of it, and Xu Ran only got it because of Xiao Muyu’s hint. The human skin was among them due to the need for someone to provide blood. As for the other details, he didn’t know much and was just guessing.

The system’s maliciousness is already very obvious. As for Xiao Shen, she’s not just obviously malicious, but brazenly so.

These two leads are ruthless, each more savage than the other—both are like wolves in sheep’s clothing. Even ghosts are pitiful facing them. They’re a perfect match: one found the skin too ugly and kicked the head to the ground, while the other immediately covered the head and strangled it.

Human skin: “I’m having a really hard time.”