Skinning Alive

Jin Rongxu fell silent. The frustration in his chest had nowhere to go, leaving him stuck in a state of unbearable agitation.

Everything Zhu Zeyu said made perfect sense.

And every word still grated on him!

He was clearly the captain, so how had Zhu Zeyu somehow ended up acting like the leader?

Jin Rongxu’s gaze swept over Zhu Zeyu’s sweat-soaked face, silently adding another mark to the account he was keeping against him.

Since that was the case, Jin Rongxu would make him cough up another portion of the rewards from this instance later.

That man was practically knocking on death’s door.

And before he died, Jin Rongxu certainly wasn’t going to make things easy for him!

“I sign a marriage contract with your daughter. And then what?”

From Zhu Zeyu’s perspective, Jin Rongxu had only hesitated for a few seconds before suddenly raising his head and asking Li Daochang, who stood in front of them:

“What’s the dowry? Tell me—what do I get? After we’re married, can I leave this instance with your daughter?”

The question was idiotic, but Zhu Zeyu let out a huge sigh of relief.

It was settled.

His little bluff had worked!

At the old, greasy dining table, Zhuyan pulled out his phone and checked the time.

Three hours had not yet passed. The potion was still active, and the new memories and thoughts had not yet refreshed in his mind.

But the three-hour limit was approaching.

If he really couldn’t find somewhere tonight where he could sleep for a full ten hours, Zhuyan would have no choice but to retreat back into his body, stop causing trouble and courting death, and obediently continue playing the role of “Zhu Zeyu.”

But if that happened, clearing the instance afterward would become much more difficult.

For example, as the [Hunter], how was he supposed to complete his task and spread Mother’s contamination?

Would stealing the remaining ashes from upstairs be enough to fulfill the conditions?

…

“Dowry?” Li Daochang’s voice grew shrill, and his face turned completely cold.

“We don’t have any such thing as a dowry here. You’re lucky enough to marry such a fine girl and enjoy a life of comfort, yet you actually have the nerve to ask for a dowry?”

It pulled a folded sheet of incredibly thick yellow paper from its pocket and slapped it onto the floor in front of Jin Rongxu.

“Sign it.” On that blue-gray face, which looked as though it had already begun to rot, a smile twitched into existence once more.

This time, the corners of Li Daochang’s mouth stretched far back, exposing eight filthy teeth.

“Bride price: ten thousand Bone Coins.”

If Zhu Zeyu hadn’t still needed to keep up the act, he would really have laughed out loud.

He remembered that Jin Rongxu had six hundred thousand Bone Coins in his account. This bride price alone would cost him one-sixtieth of his assets.

Li Daochang clearly hadn’t seen much of the world. It had named far too small a sum.

If Zhu Zeyu obtained the [Nightmare Book] later, would those ten thousand Bone Coins belong to him?

He turned his head, and sure enough, Jin Rongxu’s face had darkened.

“Ten thousand?!” Ma Dong burst out indignantly. “Why don’t you just rob us? We’ve cleared so many instances, and none of the rewards have ever amounted to ten thousand Bone Coins!”

Li Daochang suddenly took several quick steps forward. Its neck abruptly stretched out, bringing that corpse-like face almost nose to nose with Jin Rongxu’s.

Jin Rongxu instinctively leaned back. The military knife in his hand was already about to fly out when Zhu Zeyu reacted with lightning speed and grabbed it.

“Captain!”

“Ten thousand?” The knife was pressed against Li Daochang’s abdomen. Jin Rongxu took an expression of disgust and stepped back, laughing coldly without a trace of fear. “What kind of freak did you give birth to that you think you can demand ten thousand?”

Zhu Zeyu was dumbfounded.

Jin Rongxu looked like a fairly mature man. How was he still acting like a spoiled heir who relied on someone else to clean up after him in an instance filled with danger?

Before Zhu Zeyu could react, Jin Rongxu suddenly struck. The blade of the military knife swept through the air in a flash of silver light.

“I could cut you down, so what—”

“Captain!”

This time, Zhu Zeyu truly panicked.

He lunged forward with lightning speed and forcibly seized Jin Rongxu’s arm before he could bring the knife down.

“Calm down! Take a good look at him. Are you sure he’s really Li Daochang?”

The tip of the blade was barely an inch from Li Daochang’s skin.

Cold sweat covered Zhu Zeyu’s forehead. He turned to look into Jin Rongxu’s eyes and desperately tried to patch up the situation.

“Captain, calm down. I… I don’t think what this person just said was right. The tone and manner of speaking…”

Originally, Zhu Zeyu had been unwilling to say any of this in front of Li Daochang.

Directly exposing its identity, without knowing what trouble that might bring, was far too risky.

But Jin Rongxu was unbelievably difficult to manage. Zhu Zeyu had no idea how he had managed to clear all those famous instances.

His horoscope?

That had to be one hell of a horoscope. Could he borrow it for a while?

Zhu Zeyu braced himself against Jin Rongxu’s oppressive aura and continued acting like a frightened little player.

“Captain, have you ever seen those… those silly little videos…”

“You know, the kind where people talk about enjoying a life of comfort, daughters, bride prices, and things like that…”

“Captain, the way Li Daochang spoke to you just now was really strange. The tone and choice of words sounded more like something a rural woman would say.”

Jin Rongxu was still gripping the knife. Zhu Zeyu’s inner thoughts and spoken words pressed into his mind together.

Compared with his verbal persuasion, the thoughts in his heart were even more direct.

“This is probably Zhang Xiaohong, Captain! Zhang Xiaohong!”

“How could Li Daochang, who has a grudge against Mother, possibly be this high-level?”

“It’s probably Zhang Xiaohong controlling him, or Zhang Xiaohong has possessed him outright!”

That made sense.

Jin Rongxu cast Zhu Zeyu a half-smiling look, then slowly withdrew the military knife and fixed his gaze on Li Daochang again.

Zhu Zeyu really was good at catching details.

But he was terrible at dealing with people, with emotional intelligence as low as a dog’s.

There was no point settling the score inside the instance. Once they got out, Jin Rongxu would make sure to skin Zhu Zeyu alive.

Li Daochang did not blink. It continued maintaining that eerie smile, standing motionless like a corpse that had stiffened after death.

It showed no reaction to Zhu Zeyu’s words.

Those murky gray eyes moved unnaturally, shifting from Ma Dong to the military doctor before finally sticking to Jin Rongxu once more.

Like spider silk that couldn’t be shaken off, Zhu Zeyu thought silently.

“Once you’ve made up your mind, sign it,” it said. Zhu Zeyu could clearly see the pale, peeling dead skin on its lips. “Once you sign, it’s final. The bride price is an advance payment, and you can’t be short even a single coin.”

First, it would take ten thousand Bone Coins to show its precious son.

It wondered how much wealth this man actually possessed.

Judging from that exquisitely crafted cloak, he surely had more than ten thousand Bone Coins.

In any case, once the contract was signed and the ceremony completed, everything on this man would belong to it.

Its precious son would have even more wealth and would be able to lead it to dominate the region!

“You. Pick it up.”

At that command, Zhu Zeyu hurriedly bent down, picked up the yellow paper from the floor, and handed it over with both hands.

This time, Jin Rongxu did not hesitate.

The military knife lightly sliced across his fingertip. A drop of crimson blood seeped into the yellow paper, slowly spreading into a small circle.

Zhu Zeyu finally relaxed completely.

Thank goodness.

The old ancestor had finally signed it!

The matter was settled.

It was just… just…

Zhu Zeyu looked greedily at Jin Rongxu’s face.

This man was unbelievably rich—and unbelievably stupid.

Ten thousand bone coins really isn’t much. Is there any way to take advantage of Li Daochang, bleed him dry, and pocket the entire six hundred thousand first?