My organs are too abstract.

Xu Yuan glanced at the hair clip in his hand, then looked up at Weiwei's head, which was completely devoid of any hair ornaments, and seemed to understand something.

He calmly withdrew his gaze, casually stuffed the hair clip back into his pocket, his face expressionless.

"It's nothing, let's go out first."

Zhao Ze was completely bewildered, and nodded blankly: "Oh, okay."

Xu Yuan led the group toward the exit, glancing at Wen Xiu discreetly along the way.

"Um?"

Wenxiu immediately caught his gaze and looked up. She saw Xu Yuan subtly gesture with his chin towards Weiwei, then quietly hand her something.

Wenxiu's heart skipped a beat. She took the hair clip without making a sound, glanced down at the rabbit hair clip in her palm, and her expression changed slightly. She was about to speak when she saw Xu Yuan shake his head, so she could only suppress her emotions for the time being.

The group walked straight down the corridor. After confirming that there were no more hidden dangers along the way, Xu Yuan suddenly stopped and turned to look at Zhao Ze.

"Aze, you take Xiaolong and the others down first and let Li Da know they're safe. I'll accompany Wenxiu and Weiwei and walk slowly; they've just been frightened and haven't recovered yet."

Upon hearing this, Weiwei paused for a moment, then quickly waved her hand, "No need, I'm fine..."

Before she could finish speaking, Wenxiu stepped forward slowly, gently took her wrist, and said softly, "It's okay, Weiwei, let's take our time, there's no rush."

Zhao Ze glanced at the three of them with a puzzled look, but without thinking much of it, he nodded in agreement: "Okay, then we'll wait for you outside."

After saying that, he quickly left with Liang Xiaolong and Liu Cheng. The corridor instantly fell silent, leaving only Xu Yuan, Wen Xiu, and Weiwei, whose wrist was being tightly held by Wen Xiu.

As soon as the group's figures disappeared around the corner, Wenxiu's gentle smile vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, calculating look. She tightened her grip slightly, feeling the cool, stiff touch beneath her fingers, and asked in an icy tone, "Who are you?"

Weiwei looked completely bewildered, then feigned ignorance: "I'm Weiwei."

"Yeah?"

Xu Yuan took the hair clip out of his pocket, slowly twirled it between his fingers twice, and gently waved it at her. "But how did your hair clip end up in my hands?"

His gaze fell lightly on the other person, and he asked softly, "Should I call you boss, or... calamity?"

The panic on Weiwei's face vanished abruptly, replaced by a soft chuckle: "You're quite perceptive..."

"Snapped!"

A crisp slap suddenly rang out.

"What are you babbling about?" Xu Yuan slapped her across the face, looking at her with a bewildered expression. "Just answer my questions, don't pretend to be so profound."

"Weiwei" covered her face, looking at him in disbelief: "You..."

"Still pretending?" Xu Yuan slapped her again, hard across her other cheek, his tone full of disgust. "Using another girl's voice to act like a ghost, how disgusting!"

"Weiwei" looked unwell, but ultimately dared not say anything more. She lowered her voice and switched to a deep, hoarse male voice, slowly saying, "I think we can talk."

"Snapped!"

The third slap landed loudly, and "Weiwei" was completely stunned, her eyes wide with confusion: "Why did you do that this time?"

"I really can't stand it." Xu Yuan rubbed his wrist, looking like he'd swallowed a fly. "Using a girl's body and making manly noises, it's even more disgusting than before."

"Weiwei": "..."

Wenxiu glanced at Xu Yuan silently for two seconds, thinking that he simply wanted to hit someone, but had no evidence.

But she was already somewhat used to Xu Yuan's way of doing things. She turned to look at "Weiwei" and frowned slightly: "There's nothing to talk about. You killed Weiwei. No matter who you are, there's no need to talk anymore."

"Weiwei" was about to speak when she caught Xu Yuan staring at her eagerly out of the corner of her eye. Her face instantly turned sullen, and she could only pinch her throat and say in a strange, awkward female voice, "What if...she's still alive?"

"Not dead?"

Wenxiu shuddered, a glimmer of hope instantly appearing in her eyes. When she learned of Weiwei's accident, she blamed herself for not acting immediately.

Hearing this, his emotions surged, yet he remained rational, probing in a low voice, "You clearly skinned her alive, how could she still be alive?"

"Heh..." Weiwei subconsciously curled her lips into a smile, but noticing Xu Yuan's slight frown, she immediately suppressed her smile and calmly explained, "Have you heard of deformed machines?"

"A malformed machine?"

Xu Yuan was instantly drawn to this word. Previously, at the entrance of the haunted house, the staff member had mentioned these two words when he saw the black rope on his wrist.

Wenxiu's expression hardened slightly as she explained, "Deformed machines, like calamities, have an unknown origin, yet they possess bizarre and inexplicable powers. Simply put, they are a type of strange artifact that carries special abilities."

"I see." Xu Yuan nodded slightly, his face showing understanding.

"Weiwei" suddenly asked, "I remember you have a black rope, that's also a deformed machine, don't you know anything about it?"

"no."

"Weiwei" pressed on, "Didn't you feel anything when you used it?"

"No," Xu Yuan looked at the other person with a puzzled expression. "Why are you asking this?"

"Weiwei" stared at him for a moment, seemingly trying to determine if he was lying, before finally slowly shaking her head: "It's nothing."

"baffling."

Xu Yuan pursed his lips, then suddenly remembered the bodies he had seen before, those that were still twitching slightly after being skinned, and exclaimed, "You said the deformed machines have special powers, could it be that those people who were skinned are actually still alive?"

"That's right." "Vivi" nodded. "They've only temporarily lost consciousness. They'll wake up once their original skin is put back on."

Xu Yuan looked her over thoughtfully: "Since you're willing to tell me all this, it seems you're the owner of the haunted house, not a calamity?"

"It was me. I won this battle of consciousness." The boss sighed softly, his tone tinged with weariness. "Originally, my consciousness and that of the calamity were locked in a fierce struggle. You just destroyed most of its power, which allowed me to completely take control of this body."

"That's not right." Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow with a suspicious look. "Why don't you just tell us your identity directly? Why keep hiding it?"

The boss's tone was full of bitterness: "Too many people died this time, and the incident has become too big. The Sick Management Bureau has no way to explain it to us. Moreover, you two are ruthless. I'm afraid that if I open my mouth, you will kill me as if I were a calamity."

"How could you think of me like that?" Xu Yuan immediately became serious, his face righteous and stern. "Perhaps Wenxiu would think that way, but I have always been kind to others and never abuse violence."

Wenxiu: "?"

Wenxiu stared speechlessly at Xu Yuan, who was blatantly lying to her face. She then turned to the boss and asked in a low voice, "Since Weiwei can come back to life, what about the others?"

The shop owner shook his head: "Only those with relatively intact skin can be saved; the others, whose skin is severely damaged, are beyond saving."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan's expression changed slightly. He remembered that when he dealt with NPCs before, he almost shattered their skin and even their ashes. Wouldn't that have harmed innocent people?

The boss seemed to sense his thoughts and quickly added, "You don't need to blame yourself. The NPC staff in the haunted house have had their skin separated from their bodies for too long, and their bodies have long since lost their vitality and cannot recover."

"That's good."

Xu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Although he acted without knowing the truth, he would feel somewhat guilty if he had harmed someone else.

He immediately composed himself and urged, "After saying so much, why don't you hurry up and return what they've done?"

"it is good."

The boss lowered his eyes, his pupils shifting slightly, as if he were calculating something, or perhaps just weary. When he looked up again, his face was filled with only bitterness and submission.

He slowly raised his hand and pulled out a completely black scalpel from his body.

"Here, take this knife," he solemnly handed the knife to Xu Yuan. "It's hard for me to operate alone. You take the knife and peel this skin off me from behind."

Xu Yuan paused for a moment, then hesitated slightly: "But I don't have much experience?"

"No experience is needed. Just think about the idea of ​​'skinning' and it will guide you to do it on its own."

"That simple?"

Xu Yuan took the scalpel with some skepticism and slowly walked behind the boss, unaware that a strange light flashed in the boss's eyes.

The thought of "skinning" flashed through his mind, and sure enough, the knife seemed to have a mind of its own, and with a light stroke from the top of the boss's head to his back, it cleanly peeled off a complete human skin, revealing the stiff body covered with wood grain beneath the skin.

Xu Yuan couldn't help but exclaim, "So silky smooth?"

The wooden body, bearing the appearance of a middle-aged man and entirely carved from wood, seemed to have exhausted its strength. As soon as the human skin was removed, it staggered and collapsed to the ground, urging, "Hurry up, put Weiwei's human skin back into her body, and she'll come back to life!"

Why didn't you say so earlier?

Xu Yuan handed the human skin and clothes to Wenxiu and said in a deep voice, "There's no time to lose. Weiwei's body is in the innermost operating room downstairs. It's the one against the wall in the left corner. Go and help her recover. I'll stay here and watch over her to prevent any further complications."

"no problem."

Wenxiu took the human skin, carefully put it away, and turned to walk quickly downstairs.

The boss watched Wenxiu's departing figure, his eyes narrowing slightly, a barely perceptible hint of sinister intent flashing in them.

Xu Yuan toyed with the black scalpel in his hand, tossed it around a couple of times, and gently ran his left fingertip across the cool blade, unable to help but casually remark, "This scalpel is quite useful."

The boss nodded, subconsciously agreeing, "It is indeed quite handy..."

Does it have a name?

"I named it Guihai (Returning to the Corpse)."

"Guihai... that's too awful." Xu Yuan frowned. "My sword shouldn't have that name."

The shopkeeper instinctively explained, "This knife can only cut flesh, it won't kill. Even if you dismember someone, there won't be any blood, and it can be put back together. Isn't that a fitting name?"

"It's still a knife of kindness?" Xu Yuan's eyes lit up, and he cherished it even more. "Then it suits me even better."

The shop owner paused, then realized something was wrong and asked in confusion, "Wait a minute, this is my knife. What do you mean 'your knife'?"

Xu Yuan looked at him with a bewildered expression: "What are you talking about? The knife is already in my hand, how could it possibly be yours?"

The shop owner was completely dumbfounded: "But isn't this what I just handed you?"

"Yeah, didn't you just say 'this knife is for you'?" Xu Yuan nodded confidently, taking it for granted. "Doesn't that mean you're giving it to me?"

The boss's eyes widened: "Is that what I meant?"

"Oh, don't be so petty." Xu Yuan shook his head and interrupted him seriously. "If this knife follows you, it will only do evil. Only if it follows the kind me can it become a blade that does good. That's what it means to make the best use of something."

"Look at yourself now, you're being dragged down by this. I'm saving you from this misery." He looked at the wooden body before him, which seemed to want to say something but couldn't, and put on a compassionate expression. "No need for thanks, it's what I should do."

The boss took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and gritted his teeth as he argued, "But this is my knife!"

"How can you prove it? Is your name engraved on the knife? Or will it respond if you call it?" Xu Yuan immediately became displeased.

"Then how do you prove it's yours? Do you think it will respond when you call it?" the boss retorted angrily.

"What's wrong with you?" Xu Yuan frowned, his tone displeased. "Aren't you just deliberately picking a fight?"

The boss almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He finally understood that the man in front of him was a complete scoundrel who was clearly trying to rob him.

He gave Xu Yuan a deep look, as if he had suddenly thought of something, and forcibly suppressed his anger, closing his eyes and remaining silent.

Seeing that he had given up, Xu Yuan felt bored and simply fell silent as well.

"I'm so sleepy, why isn't Wenxiu back yet?" After sitting quietly for a while, he yawned widely, muttering lazily, "You're not lying to me, are you?"

"Why would I dare lie to you?" The boss shook his head, then suddenly opened his eyes and asked calmly, "Are you very tired?"

"Of course I'm tired. I've been busy for so long, all because of your mess. It's messed up my biological clock. Strange, why am I so sleepy..." Xu Yuan rubbed his temples and yawned several times in a row. His eyelids were so heavy that he could hardly lift them. "I can't take it anymore... I need to sleep for a while."

After saying that, he leaned against the wall, slowly closed his eyes, and after a short while, his breathing became steady and long, and he actually fell asleep on the spot.

"This idiot seems genuinely unaware that using deformed machines comes at a price."

The boss looked at the sleeping Xu Yuan, slowly stood up from the ground, and a cold smile instantly appeared on his originally calm face.

He hadn't lied to Xu Yuan about the effects of the scalpel, including Weiwei's recovery.

However, what he didn't tell Xu Yuan was that using this scalpel came at a price.

Each complete dissection and reassembly of the body is like undergoing a high-intensity surgery, draining the user's energy and plunging them into an overwhelming state of fatigue.

Compared to patients and calamities, the number of deformed machines is extremely small. However, just like patients have complications, every deformed machine comes with a price to pay. This is common knowledge that all deformed machine owners should know.

He had always thought that Xu Yuan was pretending to be Tang and wanted to trick him, so he dared not make any rash moves.

Unexpectedly, this person really knew nothing about the deformed machine and was outsmarted by him.

A smug look of triumph flashed across his face, followed by a hint of confusion in his eyes: "He knows nothing about this. Does that mean his monstrous device requires no price to pay?"

Thinking this, a glint of greed flashed in his eyes.

"We can't worry about that now. Since he's asleep, that woman will be back soon." A burning greed flashed in the boss's eyes. "Let's take advantage of this moment, skin him alive, and then get that woman. We'll make a killing this time."

He's tired of wearing ordinary people's skin; today, he'll taste what it's like to wear a patient's skin!

In a flash, without the slightest hesitation, he stood up abruptly and reached out to grab the scalpel in Xu Yuan's hand!

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the hilt of the knife, Xu Yuan, who had been fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes, raised his hand, and slapped him hard on the wooden head.

Xu Yuan looked confused, a hint of morning grumpiness in his eyes, and snapped impatiently:

What are you doing?