Chapter 221 - 153: Human Skin Blood Robe Case

A moment later, Xu Huo got in the car.

There were only three people inside. Wang Chao had run over to Li Jianye’s car, and Xu Huo couldn’t be bothered to take the front passenger seat anyway.

Li Jianye, Wang Chao, and Niuniu were in the car not far away.

HUMMM!

The car started. Zhang Liang yawned, then stepped on the gas, slowly pulling out.

They reached the exit.

But there was still no sign of the second car.

Xu Huo frowned. He signaled Zhang Liang to stop and picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Chao Zi, Chao Zi."

A moment later, a voice came from the other end.

"I’m here."

"Where are you guys?"

"Brother Huo, there’s a bit of a crowd over here. We can’t get to the car."

’A crowd?’

Xu Huo paused, his brow furrowed. "What do you mean, a crowd?"

"There’s a cosplayer by our car, and a bunch of people are crowded around. There’s no room for us to get in."

Wang Chao struggled to explain, but he wasn’t making much sense.

Xu Huo’s brow tightened. He tossed the walkie-talkie down.

"Let’s go check it out."

He and Zhang Liang got out of the car and headed back toward the parking lot.

Clear footprints marked the pristine white snow.

After walking for a bit, a cluster of figures stood out starkly against the white snowflakes, an utterly incongruous sight.

Some of them held cameras, while others stood around, whispering to each other.

"What’s going on here?"

"No idea. Who is she supposed to be cosplaying?"

"Never seen it before..."

"Maybe some kind of zombie?"

"Kinda looks like it. The realism is just insane!"

"Isn’t she cold?"

"Aren’t you wearing a short skirt too? ... She must be wearing something, right? But damn, the cosplay is so fucking realistic!"

The crowd’s murmurs reached Xu Huo’s ears.

Xu Huo moved closer for a look.

By the passenger door of the car where Wang Chao should have been, a woman was standing. She stared into the side-view mirror, her hand reaching up to stroke her own face.

’What’s so strange about her?’

She wasn’t wearing any clothes!

That’s right. The woman was naked, completely exposed.

Her bare skin was covered in all sorts of dark marks.

If you looked closely, you would see they were black threads, stitched into her body like the seams on a leather ball.

Black grime, crimson stains, the stitches on her back...

It was an incredibly bizarre sight.

Fortunately, the creases that appeared when she bent over made it clear it was some kind of bodysuit, so there was no need to panic.

Yet, she seemed completely unaware of anything unusual.

She stood in the falling snow, ignoring the fine white flakes that landed on her, naked and barefoot in front of the mirror.

She raised her hand, caressing her face—that strange, stitched-together face—with an obsessed look and an unreadable expression in her eyes.

"Whoa, where’d this cosplayer come from? So dedicated!"

"Ma’am, could you turn and look at the camera?"

A few photographers were still talking, but she acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing.

Wang Chao sidled up to Xu Huo and whispered.

"Brother Huo, who is this person?"

"Doesn’t she have any decency!?"

Xu Huo ignored him. Frowning in thought for a moment, he reached out and pushed aside the people in front of him.

"Excuse me."

Xu Huo squeezed through the gaps in the crowd, moving from the outer edge to the inner circle.

The onlookers watched him in silence, their faces full of confusion.

Xu Huo walked up to the woman.

She was still staring at her reflection.

She was... a very beautiful woman.

Fair, delicate skin, long fingers, and a swan-like neck.

However, the hideous black threads on her face ruined that beauty.

Then again, that beauty was a product of the bodysuit itself.

"Excuse me, please move."

Xu Huo spoke softly, standing less than a meter away from her.

The woman acted as if she hadn’t heard, and continued to gaze at the mirror.

"Excuse me, please move."

Xu Huo asked again.

She still didn’t move.

This time, Xu Huo frowned. He reached out and tapped her on the shoulder.

The next moment...

SNAP!

A sound rang out.

The seam on her back split open.

The bodysuit slowly peeled off.

SLAP!

The bodysuit fell, landing on the ground and revealing a naked body to the crowd.

But at that moment, few people were admiring her pale, smooth body.

Their eyes were all fixed on the ground, staring at the so-called bodysuit. They swallowed hard.

What was wrong with the bodysuit?

Nothing.

It was a very realistic bodysuit.

On its underside was a layer of fat that hadn’t been fully scraped away, bright red muscle tissue, and white fascia.

The skin now emanated a sickening, foul stench.

Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, turning crimson the instant they touched it, before they could even cover it.

In an instant.

Everyone was plunged into a dead silence.

The people around them became as still as statues. It was as if no one was even breathing.

Until...

The woman noticed what had happened.

She looked down at her naked body, but that very motion caused the unknotted stitches on her face to come loose.

SLAP!

A sheet of skin—a face—slowly fell to the ground, its fatty inner side exposed.

The woman froze. Then she glanced at the mirror, as if she had just seen something horrifying.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!"

She screamed, snatching the face-skin and pressing it back against her own face.

She then picked up a pre-threaded needle from the ground.

She raised the needle and thread, bringing it toward her face.

SHLICK!

The needle plunged deep into the flesh of her face, piercing right through the skin of the mask!

She yanked it hard!

The black thread scraped through her flesh, drawing blood as it was pulled tight, before she plunged the needle back into the mask-skin.

DRIP. DRIP. DRIP...

Blood trickled from the wound and dripped onto the ground, staining the white snow red.

The two face-skins.

She was sewing them together again.

The woman caressed her face, looking in the mirror.

She didn’t cry out, didn’t scream. In the freezing, sub-zero weather, she seemed to feel nothing at all.