My organs are too abstract.

Xu Yuan froze, his eyes wide with astonishment: "Skinning...playing a calamity?"

"That's right." The uncle nodded slowly. "Every 'patient' has their own unique talent, and the owner of this haunted house is also a 'patient'."

"His special ability is impersonation. The more realistic the person he impersonates, the more completely he can replicate their power."

"That powerful?" Xu Yuan was startled and couldn't help but ask, "Then if he played a legendary ghost or god, wouldn't he be invincible?"

"It's not as simple as you think." The uncle shook his head. "First, he can't impersonate someone out of thin air. He has to peel away the skin of a real thing and use it as a medium to activate his abilities. Second, the strength of the replica depends entirely on how deeply he immerses himself in the role. The deeper he gets into the role, the stronger his abilities become."

"Even so, this ability is still very strong. If it could impersonate a powerful being, it would be terrifying." Xu Yuan commented in a low voice, raising an eyebrow slightly. "It just requires skinning... This haunted house owner is quite a ruthless character."

"You're wrong about that. He's not actually that ruthless." The man shook his head and added, "Besides, I haven't finished speaking. This power is indeed formidable, but it comes with an inescapable side effect."

"Side effects?" Xu Yuan asked, puzzled.

"Aren't you curious why we're called 'patients'?" The uncle looked up at Xu Yuan, a bitter smile playing on his lips. "Because we are indeed sick. While possessing great power, we must also bear the corresponding 'complications'."

"For example, the more a haunted house owner immerses himself in the role he plays, the more he is assimilated by the character's personality, and his character gradually becomes inhuman. He may also develop a desire to wantonly cause pain and fear to others. This crazy desire must find a way to be released."

Xu Yuan asked doubtfully, "Is it not possible to not play the role?"

"It's difficult," the uncle shook his head. "Playing roles has become his instinct. It's both a way for him to gain power and a way to release his emotions. He can only fully express his emotions when he plays other roles."

"He built this haunted house to suppress the violence within him in a relatively gentle way—by scaring tourists—as a form of self-healing."

"I see..." Xu Yuan suddenly realized, instantly recalling the "curing" that the staff member had mentioned earlier, and his mind cleared up. "So that's what he meant by curing illness."

A thought struck him, and he turned to look at the older man, his face full of curiosity: "So, what are your complications?"

"My side effect is that when stimulated, I fall into an uncontrollable, brutal, and bloodthirsty state. When my power erupts, I lose all reason and become a monster that only knows how to kill." The uncle spoke calmly, as if he were talking about someone else's experience.

"Why is it that one after another, the side effects of their abilities are either harming or killing people?" Xu Yuan frowned. "According to you, wouldn't all the 'patients' be in great danger?"

"Not necessarily," the uncle shook his head. "The complications vary greatly from patient to patient, and the corresponding treatments and suppression methods are also different. Moreover, I have heard that some patients have very few complications, or even no side effects at all. Some are quite bizarre, but I have never seen them with my own eyes."

Xu Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, and he subconsciously looked at his left hand, thinking to himself: Could it be that my unruly left hand is a complication? Is it trying to "cure" itself by moving around uncontrollably?

But upon closer examination, it seems to be somewhat different from what the uncle told me.

The older man, oblivious to his unease, continued, "The haunted house owner had managed to suppress his desires and stabilize his condition by scaring tourists. But he was ultimately too impatient and greedy. Not long ago, after encountering a calamity, he had the audacity to skin it, imagining himself as the calamity, and gain even greater power."

"He failed?"

"No, he succeeded." The uncle shook his head, his tone suddenly becoming serious. "He successfully suppressed the calamity and also successfully skinned it. At first, he thought he had everything under control, but he seriously underestimated the terror of the calamity."

Xu Yuan's curiosity was piqued: "Why do you say that?"

The man was silent for a moment, as if recalling something, and slowly said, "For the first few days, he was just like usual, playing different roles in the haunted house to cure illnesses, without any abnormalities. But later, he wore the Calamity Skin for longer and longer periods of time. He was originally a cold person, but after putting on the Calamity Skin, he became unusually enthusiastic and frequently took the initiative to contact other NPCs."

"Until one day, without warning, he peeled off the skin of an ordinary employee... From then on, I realized that perhaps it wasn't him playing the role of calamity, but rather calamity that was invading his consciousness."

"Sigh," Xu Yuan sighed, shaking his head. "Is this what it means to be a pitiful working person? Always being skinned alive and sucked dry by heartless bosses."

Uncle: "?"

Looking at Xu Yuan's serious expression, he was speechless for a moment, feeling that the way of thinking of this person seemed to be different from that of ordinary people.

Xu Yuan, however, remained oblivious and asked curiously, "So now, he has completely become a calamity?"

"Not yet," the uncle replied in a deep voice. "His consciousness and the consciousness of Calamity are currently in a tug-of-war, the two are locked in a struggle and restraint within his body. The consciousness of the haunted house owner is suppressed by Calamity, but Calamity is also bound by his original consciousness and cannot fully control his body."

"So that's how it is." Xu Yuan suddenly realized the key point. "No wonder the staff member at the door was acting strangely and contradicting himself when I first entered the haunted house. It turns out that there were two consciousnesses fighting each other for control within him."

"When he first realized something was wrong with him, he intended to close the haunted house immediately and stop tourists from entering, but in the end he couldn't overcome his sense of impending doom and eventually reopened the haunted house."

The middle-aged man sighed, his tone tinged with regret. "When he was still conscious, he added some reminders to the rules at the entrance, but unfortunately it didn't help."

Xu Yuan frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Then who's the owner of the haunted house? Could it be that staff member at the door?"

"No." The uncle's answer once again overturned Xu Yuan's understanding. "To be precise, everyone in this haunted house, including me, is now him."

"What?!" Xu Yuan exclaimed in shock.

"This isn't something he could do with his original acting abilities, but rather it comes from the power of the Calamity that's attached to him," the uncle explained slowly. "Skinning and acting is the haunted house owner's talent; while creating puppets and controlling clones is the Calamity's ability."

He looked down at the wooden body beneath the damaged skin, his tone complex: "The wooden sculpture beneath my skin is the embodiment of the power of calamity."

"He could only play one character at a time, but when the two abilities merged, it was as if every NPC in this haunted house became a character he split off and played."

"So that's why the NPCs here are all made of wood." Xu Yuan nodded in realization, then recalled his earlier discovery, "What about the corpse I found hidden inside a wooden carving downstairs?"

"This is the instinctive mechanism of calamity," the man explained. "It will kill any living thing that touches it for seven seconds, then hide the corpse inside a wooden carving and collect it as a collectible."

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment, then asked, "Will it peel off its own skin? I saw several skinned corpses downstairs."

"Calamity doesn't peel off skin on its own." The uncle pondered for a moment. "Only the boss would do that. It must be that when his consciousness was in a tug-of-war with the calamity, they interfered with each other, causing him to lose his mind and act out of control. The first time the haunted house employee was skinned, it was something he did when he was in a state of confusion."

"Skinning?" The uncle thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "Calamity doesn't skin people on its own; only the boss does that. It must be that when his consciousness was in a tug-of-war with Calamity, they interfered with each other, causing him to lose his mind and act out of control. These haunted house employees being skinned and turned into NPCs was something he did when he was in a state of mental confusion."

Xu Yuan nodded thoughtfully, "I see..."

"Wait a minute..." Xu Yuan suddenly thought of something, his gaze narrowing slightly, "Speaking of which, could the haunted house owner's puppet clone also possess his talent for skinning and impersonating?"

"That's right." The uncle nodded slowly. "It's precisely because the Calamity's abilities are so well-matched with his own talents that he's willing to do anything to impersonate Calamity."

"Is that really so?" Xu Yuan's face showed surprise. "If he were to peel off the skins of several 'patients' or calamities,' creating countless clones, wouldn't he be able to single-handedly form an army and sweep across the entire world? What else could this be but an absurdity?"

"Theoretically, that's true." The uncle paused, then continued, "But right now, the haunted house owner and the consciousness of the calamity are still entangled, and the two sides are deadlocked, which is why he's trapped in this haunted house and hasn't had this thought yet. If he had that idea, then it would indeed be dangerous."

"That's alright." Xu Yuan suppressed his shock, but a new question arose. "But you said that every character is played by the owner of the haunted house, but all the NPCs I encountered before were stiff and wooden in their movements. What's going on with that?"

"Because the boss's battle with the calamity is not over yet, he cannot directly control the clones. The NPCs can only act on instinct, following the pre-set haunted house script."

"And what about you?" Xu Yuan suddenly turned to look at the middle-aged man, his tone puzzled. "You're also one of the NPCs in this haunted house, so why do you have independent consciousness and are so different from the others?"

"I don't know either." The man slowly shook his head, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes. "Perhaps it's because I was once a 'patient'? Or perhaps it's because... I'm already dead. Maybe it's a combination of both."

"What did you say? What do you mean you're already dead?" Xu Yuan didn't quite understand.

The man paused for a moment, not answering directly, but changing the subject: "You just said I'm an NPC in this haunted house, but that's not quite right. I do come from this haunted house, but I've never been an employee. My origins can be traced back to the predecessor of this haunted house."

Xu Yuan was slightly taken aback: "The predecessor of the haunted house?"

"That's right, it's the Ren'ai Hospital that was abandoned seven years ago." The man's tone was filled with reminiscence and complex emotions. "I was a patient at Ren'ai Hospital back then."

"A patient from seven years ago...?"

"Yes, I'm already dead. The owner of the haunted house stole my body, skinned me, and wanted to impersonate me and steal my power."

"I should have completely vanished from the world and become his costume. But now, the haunted house owner is entangled with disaster, and both his consciousnesses have fallen into silence. By a twist of fate, my skin, which had been peeled off, has come back to life."

Xu Yuan's eyes widened in astonishment: "Could this be the legendary... Impure World Reincarnation?!"

The middle-aged man was taken aback: "What do you mean, 'filthy'?"

"It's nothing," Xu Yuan shook his head, then continued, "So you mean, you've been resurrected?"

The man nodded slightly: "I suppose so. But once the battle between the boss and the calamity ends, and either side regains control of the body, my consciousness will once again fall into silence and disappear completely."

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "What if he dies?"

After a moment's thought, the man slowly said, "Without his power to support me, my body, which is sustained by human skin and strange power, would most likely perish along with him."

"I have another question," Xu Yuan paused for two seconds, then looked directly at the middle-aged man, "What's your take on this matter?"

The middle-aged man was slightly taken aback: "What is it?"

"What are your thoughts on the fact that your own corpse was skinned and then resurrected in this way?"

"To be honest, I don't know..." The man paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Logically speaking, he desecrated my corpse, so I should hate him. But it is precisely because of him that I was able to come back to life and see this world again. From that perspective, it seems I should be grateful to him."

Xu Yuan didn't reply, but kept walking forward, his eyes scanning the dark and eerie haunted house, carefully searching for traces of Zhao Ze and the others.

Looking at his profile, the middle-aged man couldn't help but ask, "If you were in his shoes, what would you do?"

"Me?" Xu Yuan suddenly laughed without hesitation, his tone cold and sharp, "Is there any need to ask? Of course, we'll take him and his old Feng down with us."

The older man couldn't help but say, "But you also know that if he dies, you will perish with him."

"Since I've died once, I'm not afraid to die a second time." Xu Yuan shook his head slightly, his eyes cold. "Besides, anyone who tries to control me or use me must die. That's my principle."

The older man looked into his eyes, as if remembering something, and suddenly sighed: "If I had had your determination back then, I would probably be happier while I'm alive."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan asked curiously, "How did you die back then?"

"Are young people these days so direct in their questions?" The middle-aged man looked at Xu Yuan's serious expression, smiled helplessly, and still answered truthfully, "Back then, I set fire to this hospital, and then I got killed."

"Who killed him?"

"I don't know." The middle-aged man shook his head solemnly. "I didn't even see who attacked me or what methods they used before I died."

"What?!" Xu Yuan exclaimed in astonishment, "You're actually this bad?"

"?"

The man's expression froze, a question mark slowly appearing in his mind, and his originally solemn emotions became somewhat disjointed.

He looked at Xu Yuan, took a deep breath. If his limbs hadn't been broken and he hadn't lost his fighting ability, he would have definitely gone to spar with this kid again.

Xu Yuan, however, ignored his earlier words and continued to press on with curiosity, "Why did you burn down this hospital?"

"Because this hospital is trying to mass-produce 'patients'." The man's tone was somewhat cold.

Xu Yuan was taken aback: "Creating 'patients'?"

He was about to ask another question when suddenly a series of hurried running sounds came from not far ahead, accompanied by anxious shouts: "Brother Ze, Weiwei, run!"

Xu Yuan's expression brightened, and he immediately recognized the familiar voice: "Little Dragon?"