Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Deng Miao clung to Lin Yinxi’s arm, her nails almost digging into the flesh.
“Y-Yinxi…”
Lin Yinxi scooped blood from a corpse and smeared it over her own face and Deng Miao’s.
She pressed a finger just below Deng Miao’s lips.
Telling her to be quiet.
At last, the knocking reached Room 504.
Knock, knock, knock…
The door shook.
Under Deng Miao’s shocked, despairing gaze, Lin Yinxi placed her hand on the loose door handle and opened the dorm room door outright.
[Organizer must open the door to cooperate with inspections.]
A pitch-black, skinless face bent down and extended into the room. Dark red threads of blood covered the surface of its facial muscles like a spiderweb. Two cloudy eyeballs hung in their sockets, slowly turning.
The monster’s head probed slowly into the dorm room.
Its neck was very long, the joints extending forward one by one.
Deng Miao’s legs were shaking.
She felt as though those two eyeballs were looking at her.
Lin Yinxi bent down.
She grabbed a corpse’s arm on the floor and dragged it toward the door.
Scrape…
The blood left a sticky trail across the floor.
The monster’s eyeballs turned toward the sound at once.
Lin Yinxi did not look up.
She dragged the corpse to the doorway and stacked another severed leg on top.
Making the sounds of someone at work.
The Flayer’s eyesight was poor. It could not see them.
Its six pointed ears kept listening to the sounds in the room.
Verifying Lin Yinxi’s identity as Organizer.
Lin Yinxi made more noise dragging the bodies.
Everyone else stayed quiet, afraid the Flayer would hear them. She was doing the exact opposite.
A second later.
A black claw reached through the doorway.
Deng Miao stepped on a bloody drag mark and fell straight to the floor.
Lin Yinxi tossed the piece of corpse in her hand so it landed right beneath Deng Miao, cushioning her fall and stopping her from making the wrong kind of noise.
At the same time, she continued dragging another severed limb.
She absolutely could not stop moving.
The claw landed on top of Lin Yinxi’s head.
And tapped it gently.
It felt cold and sticky.
A scrap of flesh even fell from the Flayer’s fingertips onto her head.
It was as if, in the next second, the sharp nails at their tips would slit open the top of her head and tear off her skin in one whole piece.
Lin Yinxi remained utterly calm.
But the claw only rested on her head for a moment.
Then.
It slowly withdrew.
The unnaturally long neck also retracted outside, little by little.
The Flayer had left.
Deng Miao lay sprawled on the floor. She tried several times to get up, but her feet slipped and she failed every time.
At last, Lin Yinxi’s breathing eased a little too.
She took a moment to catch her breath.
The footsteps came back.
Clack, clack…
This time there was also the sound of wheels rolling across the floor.
What was going on?
Her heart, which had just settled, rose into her throat again.
Lin Yinxi had always been rather frail.
She tired easily.
Having to think and do manual labor at the same time, she felt as if half her soul were floating above her head, blowing bubbles.
There were not that many corpses in the room, but she had to pretend she was busy.
The Flayer appeared in the doorway again.
This time, its skinless face did not poke inside.
Instead, it slowly dragged a rusty flatbed cart over from the side of the corridor.
Iron wheels rolled across the floor.
The Flayer bent down.
And parked the cart outside Room 504.
Then.
After a short wait, the footsteps gradually receded.
A new commendation appeared in Lin Yinxi’s group chat.
[New notification]
[Rabbit Keeper: Flayer 002 has completed its repeat patrol of the fifth floor.
In addition to its assigned duties, it provided Organizer with a flatbed cart.
This demonstrates the spirit of mutual support and camaraderie among colleagues and is hereby commended.
A reward of 200 Rabbit Coins is granted as encouragement.]
Worried that moving the bodies would be too hard on Lin Yinxi, it had brought her the cart the students in the next room normally used to collect their parcels.
Lin Yinxi recalled the earlier group message.
Rabbit Keeper had told all departments to look after the new employee.
She was that new employee.
Lin Yinxi instantly felt more confident.
She was an insider now!
This was privilege!
Watching the Flayer come and go beside her upperclasswoman, Deng Miao was completely stunned.
A Flayer… had actually brought them moving equipment?
Deng Miao’s brain could not quite process it.
Her voice shook. “Y-Yinxi… That monster just now… was it helping us?”
Lin Yinxi had already put her phone away.
She nodded vaguely. “Yes, yes. So we should be grateful and get back to work.”
Lin Yinxi hurried to the door and dragged the flatbed cart inside.
“Screee…”
The cart was a little rusty, and the noise was piercing.
Deng Miao nearly jumped out of her skin. “Yinxi! That’s too loud!”
Lin Yinxi did not lift her head. “It’s fine. This counts as work noise.”
Deng Miao: “…?”
Lin Yinxi pushed the cart inside and glanced down at the group.
No new messages.
She turned toward the corpses on the floor.
“Get up, quick. Let’s put the bodies on the cart.”
Deng Miao froze. “Huh?”
She was utterly numb.
“Yinxi… shouldn’t we be using this time to get out of here?”
Lin Yinxi tossed a corpse onto the cart.
“Nope. Our assignment isn’t finished. It’s not break time yet.”
Deng Miao screamed silently: The world’s falling apart! Who on earth is giving you these assignments?!
Lin Yinxi looked up at the pitch-black corridor outside and spoke softly enough that only the two of them could hear. “We have to pile all the bodies on this floor by the emergency exit before we can leave.”
Deng Miao fell silent.
Could all this be part of Yinxi’s plan?
Deng Miao suddenly realized something.
It had been true from the very beginning.
Yinxi had not panicked.
Not once.
The Flayer came in, touched her head, left, then came back… Yinxi paid it no mind at all. That had to mean everything was under her control!
Lin Yinxi was exhausted from moving corpses.
Her muscles trembled. She did not want to talk.
Deng Miao pinched the flesh of her thigh. The pain brought feeling back to her legs.
She got up to help.
Only by working together did they manage to stack all the corpses by the emergency exit.
The fifth-floor organizing work was finished.
Lin Yinxi took out her phone, considering how to report her progress.
[New message]
[Flayer 002 has sent you a friend request.]
Lin Yinxi stared at her phone.
After a moment of silence.
Her thumb tapped Accept.
A second later.
It sent her a voice message.