Chapter 85.2

Editor: Kat

Proofreader: Junyans

Tanglang No. 1 and No. 2 listened to Wei Xun’s order and hurriedly put down the lifted robes of the mummified corpse. However, a “twig” was pushed down during the action, which fell on the crystal tile.

This bang was especially loud in the silent crystal tower, and the sound could almost reach its depths. Wei Xun saw a rust-colored liquid flowing out from the break in the branch, appearing almost like blood.

This iron tree was obviously not a living creature, so how could it bleed?

Wei Xun suddenly took the golden box out, capturing the liquid before it fell to the ground. It was simply because he really didn’t have any airtight containers on hand, and this golden box had previously been used by IV-1 to hold the fragments of the black stone jade skull. Now, Wei Xun was no longer afraid of radiation and opening the golden box had no effect on him, so he used it to resolve this emergency.

When this “blood” dripped into the golden box, Wei Xun keenly noticed that some of the long black hairs on the back of the bluish-black ancient corpse had dropped near the iron tree.

Was it affected by the “blood”?

No, it wasn’t.

Wei Xun noticed that at the gaping hole formed due to the “twig” falling from the iron tree, there were strands of black hairs. The black hairs had grown longer, as if they wanted to touch the liquid. And as for the black hairs that had fallen, they had fallen near the golden box.

These black hairs were afraid of the black stone jade skull fragments?

Wei Xun lifted the golden box up, down, left, right, left, and right, and helped the ancient corpse complete a hair removal session to confirm his conjecture. However, after the hair was removed, the back of the ancient corpse revealed a dark patch, as if it had been scorched by a fire.

The sap in the iron tree had also drained, and there was a thin layer of rust-colored liquid accumulated at the bottom of the gold box. The black stone jade skull fragments were soaked in the liquid, with no changes appearing to them.

Wei Xun was shaken by this strange liquid and its effects. Should he let the young fox eat the iron tree and the ancient corpse to store them away? He thought about this, leaned over, and picked up the iron black “twig” that had fallen to the ground. Suddenly, Wei Xun narrowed his eyes.

He saw that something seemed to be clinging to the bottom of the crystal tile on the ground.

The crystal tile on the second story was no longer as transparent as the first layer, but was semi-transparent, with a hint of a milky white color. The shadow could only be seen vaguely, but Wei Xun did see that there was a dark shadow clinging to the crystal slate.

Wei Xun took a step forward, and saw that the shadow also moved with him, always by his feet.

This thing was alive.

After Wei Xun stood in place, the color of the shadow under his feet became more and more intense, like a drop of ink, like—

It was penetrating the obstruction of the crystal stone wall and was gradually approaching Wei Xun.

No, it was not only approaching him beneath his feet.

Wei Xun looked around and found that except for above his head, there were faint dark shadows that were gradually approaching in the crystal stone walls around him, surrounding him like an airtight black prison.

If a normal person fell into this situation, one was afraid that they’d be so frightened that they would be stiff and unable to move. Those who were brave and could still move would choose the easiest option—which was turning around and fleeing in a panic.

Wei Xun stepped forward, but instead of going up the stairway to escape to the first floor, he walked to the black stone stairs leading to the next floor. There was no crystal stone wall there, so if something really was approaching him from below, it should reach this spot first.

Sure enough, Wei Xun saw a pile of wriggling human skins covered with black hair at the black stone stairs. The dense human skin blocked the way to the next floor. The black hairs on it were twisted and tangled like living creatures, extending in Wei Xun’s direction.

The “human skin” that had attacked Wei Xun by the underground lake was only one piece, but at this moment, there were probably hundreds of pieces of skin, including the ones in the surrounding crystal tiles that hadn’t appeared. After a while, the crystal slates around Wei Xun had turned completely black, like thick ink spreading, and on the ground closest to the soles of his feet, black hairs were already “growing” from under the crystal slates like grass after a spring rain, wrapping around his feet.

Seeing this situation, Wei Xun’s expression was filled with excitement and disgust.

“Wow, I’m surrounded by human skins!”

It was difficult to imagine how the audience felt when they suddenly heard this sentence in the dark. They were chatting happily in the barrage. Some people were worried about Wei Xun, and some people were discussing the nine-story 卍 crystal tower, but almost no one thought that Wei Xun could really find the real tower.

After all, it was just a Difficult-level tour, so it was impossible for this kind of thing to happen.

Some people felt that the earthquake just now was unusual, and they worried that IV-1 might be causing trouble and Wei Xun might be buried in the ruins.

But when they listened to Wei Xun’s occasional words, his tone was quite normal, and the audience was temporarily relieved. They just wondered if the earthquake would release some kind of poisonous psychedelic gas from the ground.

Otherwise, why would Wei Xun phrases like, “Ah, I’m sorry. I stepped on your face, can I trouble you to move your face away?” and “Is this black slate edible?”

When they heard the former phrase, they felt horrified and wondered if IV-1 had unsealed the difficulty by causing trouble. And when Wei Xun really encountered danger, when the audience heard the question, “Is this black slate edible?”, they all felt a sense of relief inwardly.

Once they heard the sentence, they knew that Wei Xun probably didn’t see something. It should be Wei Xun’s mental state being confused. This was why he saw illusions and had hallucinated!

But this was extremely dangerous!

Most of the people in the livestream room were worried about Wei Xun. When they heard him say “I’m surrounded by human skins,” the audience was immediately frightened. Their scalps grew cold and numb, but after thinking about it, people just joked around in the commentary barrage.

[Ha, ha ha, Wei Xun is so confused, how can there be a living human skin on a Difficult-level tour?]

[He speaks in a tone as if it’s really true. Sob, sob, it’s really scary, I really believe it]

[Don’t worry, there should be no spiritual things on this journey]

[But those bugs were real before!]

[The Insects of Evil are normal insects. Can they compete with human skin? Of course not.]

[Ah, I’m so worried about Wei Xun, could he really have gone insane? In the underground ruins, there were earthquakes. If he has really gone insane, I truly don’t dare to think about what would happen subsequently anymore]

[No, do none of you think that Wei Xun is speaking the truth? I feel that the earthquake just now was very problematic! Maybe IV-1 secretly snuck into the underground ruins to unseal the difficulty, so that he could kill Wei Xun secretly!]

[What a joke. If a tour guide wants to kill a mere newcomer, does he need to go to the extent of this trouble?]

[You guys, look at my Brother Wei’s face and call him a newcomer tourist?]

[Ah, let’s be honest, if IV-1 wants to get rid of Wei Xun, he may, indeed, have to play a dirty trick like this]

[No, it’s been more than two hours since the earthquake. If IV-1 really unsealed the difficulty, could Wei Xun survive these two hours?]

[When the difficulty is unsealed in a Difficult-level tour, it would reach at least Dangerous-level. Really, not to mention newcomers, even their whole little tour group wouldn’t survive]

[But Wei Xun has so many good props in his hands, have you all forgotten! To be reasonable, if the difficulty has really been unsealed, Wei Xun would only grow stronger]

[Sigh, I really think that the difficulty has been unsealed. If the difficulty was sealed, would Wei Xun be so fascinated? I heard him say “surrounded by human skins,” but I thought he was excited, not scared]

[What the fuck!]

The originally dark livestream room suddenly burst into a dazzling light, and it was Wei Xun who turned on the bright flashlight! Whether the audience doubted the difficulty was unsealed, or whether they felt that Wei Xun had inhaled poisonous gas, all of their eyes were brimming with tears instinctively due to the bright light. It was at this moment that they all saw the terrifying human skins with black hairs growing on them twitching about, surrounding Wei Xun from all directions!

“Ugh!”

At this point, those who ate early had already started to eat lunch, and many viewers were watching the livestream while eating. Because the livestream was a black screen, they proclaimed that they were just watching everyone chat on the commentary barrage. They absolutely didn’t expect that they would meet with the danger of witnessing bloody and ghostly scenes on their screens.

But now they regretted it.

[What is this stuff??? Motherfucker!]

[It’s really human skin, human skin with black hairs growing on it. This is definitely a supernatural element, it definitely is!]

[Fucking hell, I made an accurate guess. IV-1 is really making trouble. The earthquake definitely happened because the difficulty was unsealed!]

[What should I do, motherfucker, so Wei Xun wasn’t lying just now, what he said was true!]

[This is truly a little Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring built in imitation of the one in the Bon legend, my God, the Feihong Tour Party has been looking for it for three years in Tibet. They couldn’t find the real Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring, but there’s a small one here!]

[Such a large crystal tower, from natural crystal! The legendary iron tree, the mummified corpse of a gusin wizard, is this something I can see without paying?]

[The key is how to deal with these black-haired human skins. Wei Xun is surrounded, is it too late to escape now?]

[Damn IV-1!]

At this moment, in the commentary barrage, both the tourists and tour guides watching the livestream were all scolding IV-1. The tourists had long since felt a lot of grievances about tour guides. At this time, since IV-1 couldn’t beat Wei Xun head-on, he’d used such a shameless underhanded trick. It was really frustrating! The tour guides were also scolding IV-1. They felt that after watching how crazy Wei Xun was, there was a chance he was a Class X Special Tourist, so they were all observing Wei Xun, but IV-1 had pulled out such a trick.

At this rare moment, the tour guides and the tourists were unified in their thinking.

IV-1 is the shame of the tour guide industry!

[No, don’t turn off the flashlight, don’t turn it off! ]

The flashlight was quickly turned off, completely ignoring the pleas of the numerous audience members who wanted to continue watching in the commentary barrage. The livestream room was once again plunged into complete darkness, and all the audience could hear was the rustling sound of rubbing and squirming that made their scalps tingle. It was clear that in the darkened livestream room, there were human skins that weren’t visible that were gradually approaching Wei Xun. However, the darkness made their brains churn up much more terrifying scenes in their minds on what would happen.

Some people even discovered when the human skins covered in black hair encountered the strong light, they seemed to back away because of photophobia. This should have been a good opportunity to escape, but Wei Xun turned off the flashlight!

Could it be that he was really delirious?

The commentary barrage in the livestream room moved rapidly on the screen, but the comments that flew across the screen were mostly——

[Wei Xun is in danger!]

But the truth was that Wei Xun was not in danger. He had turned on the flashlight to record the spectacular scene of him surrounded by human skins, and how he acted like an og.

T/N: To standardise, I’m changing Mantis No. 1, 2 …and etc to Tanglang for the pinyin version.