Even though the conversation between Shen Qingqiu and Chen Xi was unclear to the others, they realized one thing: Shen Qingqiu knew someone would open the old woman’s door tonight.
Once they understood this, everyone turned their gaze towards Shen Qingqiu with complex expressions of disappointment and blame.
Shen Qingqiu noticed but didn’t care. The lives and feelings of these people had nothing to do with her.
In this world, there were many tragic people and many who lost their lives. Being able to live again in this place after death was already a blessing.
“You don’t have to save her, but I opened this door, so I must go in first.” This was directed at Shen Qingqiu and Chen Xi.
Shen Qingqiu took a step back and nodded, “Suit yourself.”
The others watched him walk into the old woman’s room hesitantly, unsure whether to follow.
The old woman, tightly bound, continued to struggle, making low growling sounds like a wild animal, instilling fear and agitation.
Annoyed by her noise, Shen Qingqiu reached up to rub her ear. Just then, Xiao Muyu walked over, expressionless, and stuffed the old woman’s clothes into her mouth, bringing instant silence.
Cui Xiaoxuan was speechless.
Shen Qingqiu observed this and leaned back against the wall, smiling slightly as she watched Xiao Muyu. Her gaze then shifted to the old woman, who was clearly different from the one they had seen before.
Feeling safe, Cui Xiaoxuan finally had the leisure to think about the situation, “What’s wrong with this old woman? She seems possessed.”
Liu Wei was equally puzzled, “How did she suddenly become like this? Was it because those two barged in?”
Shen Qingqiu glanced at Xiao Muyu, then leaned over and said, “Miss Xiao doesn’t seem surprised at all.”
When they saw that the old woman had killed the leopard, Xiao Muyu was only slightly surprised and quickly composed herself, showing no shock that the old woman was capable of killing.
Xiao Muyu responded indifferently, “I noticed calluses on her palms that aren’t from sewing. And on her fingers, there was…”
“White stuff, exactly, you saw it too,” Shen Qingqiu interjected.
“White stuff? What does that mean?” Xu Ran was confused.
“The fluid on human skin is white,” Cui Xiaoxuan had also noticed but hadn’t thought much of it until now. Hearing Shen Qingqiu’s words, she quickly recalled and concluded.
“Fluid from human skin? The old woman touched human skin?” Liu Wei’s face turned pale at this thought. If the old woman had touched the skin, it meant she and the skin were not just victims of a curse.
“I only glanced from a distance and didn’t think much of it. But I smelled a faint fragrance from the sewing machine in her parlor, the same scent as the human skin, and the stitched marks on the skin we killed the first day. Putting this all together, some things become clear.”
“If I’m not mistaken, if you go in now, you might see something interesting,” Shen Qingqiu raised her eyebrows and glanced at the room.
Liu Wei and Lao Liao, already eager to investigate, hurried inside after exchanging looks.
As the lights came on, they pushed the door open, stepping back in shock with eyes wide open.
“Ah!” Xu Ran couldn’t help but scream, grabbing Liu Wei in terror.
There, at the entrance, was an old sewing machine, and next to it was a wooden rack with about seven or eight human skins hanging on it!
One of them, fresh with blood, lay on the sewing machine.
“These… these skins… were all sewn by the old woman,” Lao Liao stammered, trembling.
“She’s a total psycho,” Liu Wei muttered.
Chen Xi continued searching, and from what he found, he had quite a haul.
Shen Qingqiu didn’t care if Chen Xi found clues or harbored blatant resentment, but that didn’t mean she had no dissatisfaction.
Xiao Muyu noticed Shen Qingqiu more than anyone else. She could tell what Shen Qingqiu was going to say just by the look in her eyes.
“Doesn’t this human skin look familiar to you?” This mocking and cold remark sent shivers down everyone’s spine.
“What… what do you mean?” Cui Xiaoxuan stammered. Chen Xi, who had been rummaging, froze, staring at the bloody skin, then glaring at Shen Qingqiu with a desperate, disheveled look.
Xiao Muyu frowned. Shen Qingqiu was truly frightening, someone you wouldn’t want to encounter twice or make an enemy of.
“Fresh human skin. Where else could it come from? The answer is obvious.”
She coldly stared at the restless old woman, her tone gentle yet menacing, “Grandma, that skin has already been used. Only fools trip over the same stone twice. Can you be as bold with a torn skin?”
The old woman froze, and Xu Ran, ignoring his horror, checked and tightened the ropes.
“Shen Qingqiu, what the hell do you mean? Explain yourself!”
Chen Xi couldn’t take it anymore, like a furious porcupine wanting to stab Shen Qingqiu.
“If you don’t understand, we outsiders certainly don’t,” she glanced at her watch, “13 hours left. Are you sure you want to waste time arguing?”
Chen Xi’s face darkened. Despite finding many things, they only revealed some of the old woman’s secrets. He needed their help.
Seeing Chen Xi relent, Shen Qingqiu continued to examine the room’s layout, and Xu Ran dragged the old woman over to prevent her from escaping.
“She’s trapped herself,” Xiao Muyu commented, looking at the items inside. There were several human skins hanging, aside from the one on the table.
Next to the sewing machine was a large vat emitting a strange odor, with milky white liquid dripping down the sides, spreading to the rack.
Xiao Muyu counted, noting that there were eight skins, each with fine stitches, matching the marks she had seen on the skin that day.
Three of them were still wet, likely recently taken from the vat.
Cui Xiaoxuan felt nauseous, suddenly realizing, “Miss Xiao, could these three skins belong to the three dead people?”
Xiao Muyu glanced at her silently, but the answer was clear, making Cui Xiaoxuan retch again.
“Three people? But Xiao Tian wasn’t skinned. Could it be…” Xu Ran’s expression was grim, looking at the old woman with a mix of anger and fear. This pervert actually dug up bodies to skin them.
“So, after death, you become one of them. The rules have been hinting at this all along,” Xiao Muyu said softly, taking a deep breath.
“That’s fucking ridiculous…” Liu Wei, usually calm and composed, couldn’t help but curse.
“Chen Xi, what did you find?” They didn’t want to stay a minute longer and sought to resolve things quickly.
Chen Xi glanced at Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu, with a hint of pride he didn’t even realize he had.
“Seeing these things, we can clearly understand now. Those human skins were very likely caused by the old woman. So, it wasn’t that the skins trapped her, but rather that she created the skins. The task was likely a deliberate misdirection.” After saying this, he produced a photograph.
It was a black-and-white family photo, showing signs of age and wear.
There were seven people in the picture. Sitting in front were a couple, the man in a tailcoat and the woman in a white dress, appearing to be in their fifties. Behind them stood two tall, handsome men and a girl with a sweet smile, affectionately placing her hand on the couple’s shoulders. These three looked very similar, suggesting they were siblings.
In the corner of the photo was another woman holding a young girl, clearly separated from the family. Her gaze was empty and cold as she looked at the camera, her pale face marked with a somber expression, completely out of place in the photo.
“Do you see this woman?” Chen Xi pointed at her.
Cui Xiaoxuan and the others quickly looked over, then glanced at the old woman.
“It’s her,” he said, pointing at the old woman.
“I also found a notebook in her drawer, with some things recorded in it. Take a look.”
They passed around the notebook, each one showing surprise. It seemed to be written by a woman, and the content was heart-wrenchingly tragic, causing them to frown repeatedly.
“I can’t take it anymore. Why can’t they leave me alone? Living is too painful.
I am just a slave to their family, a plaything.
I have new hope.
Xiao Yun can speak now. She called me ‘mom’. Xiao Yun…”
Large sections of the notebook mentioned Xiao Yun, with the tragic, despairing words occasionally revealing a glimmer of warmth and hope.
After a few blank pages, there was another line of writing, this time deeply etched into the paper, filled with intense hatred and anger.
“They are beasts! Beasts! My Xiao Yun was only thirteen, thirteen!”
“They all deserve to die. I want to hack them to pieces, peel their skin, and draw their tendons!”
After reading this, everyone’s expressions were very complicated. Despite the disjointed entries, they could piece together a rough idea of what had happened from the snippets.
“This Xiao Yun, I guess she was her daughter. They suffered some tragic fate, driving her to want to kill them,” Chen Xi’s previously gloomy and cold expression now showed a hint of confidence, like a spark in the ashes.
“Them?” Cui Xiaoxuan was deeply absorbed in the matter and couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes, the people in this photo. I believe they are the ones she referred to.”
“Are you sure?” Liu Wei frowned.
Chen Xi’s confidence wavered slightly but he persisted, “I’m sure. This photo appeared very strangely. It’s the only photo in the house, and her expression in it is off. She shows no happiness in this family photo.”
“Five people. The old woman once said that the disaster of the human skins started with a family of five who were killed and then skinned,” Xiao Muyu recalled.
This was mentioned by the old woman on the first night. The past couple of days had been so tense that they hadn’t thought of it until Xiao Muyu brought it up.
“She killed them? Could it be that the family in the photo is the same one she killed and skinned?”
This realization was shocking, but it made sense, explaining why the old woman was making human skins.
“She also mentioned that if her grandson were still alive, he would be about Xu Ran’s age. It seems her daughter had a child, but he also died.”
These few words, combined with the evidence, pieced together a rough outline of the truth for the group.
But to understand exactly what happened, they would have to wait until the old woman, seemingly possessed, recovered.
“No wonder she’s the only one alive. But now that we’ve uncovered her past after opening this room, we still don’t know how to resolve her predicament,” Cui Xiaoxuan said, confused.
“She has no predicament. Xiao Muyu already said she’s trapped herself,” Shen Qingqiu’s words made Xiao Muyu look at her, surprised by the use of her name.
“Trapped herself? Are you saying the old woman has trapped herself? Then how can we resolve her predicament?”
“She has no physical predicament,” Xiao Muyu added. “Remember, I mentioned that failing the task would turn you into one of the human skins. Becoming a human skin is not gaining superhuman abilities but enduring an eternal torment.
“This old woman can cultivate human skins and sew them, so it’s not that the skins trapped her, but she trapped the skins. Her predicament is her refusal to let them go, binding herself in the process.”
