Chapter 353: The Torture for Dealing with Skin-Corpses

The ghastly pale human skin merged with the moonlight, approaching Ye Lin's bed without a sound.

However, the skin did not parasitize Ye Lin's body; instead, it burrowed into the mattress.

The ghastly pale skin lifted Ye Lin, mattress and all, and moved toward the bedroom door, which opened at that very moment.

The skin successfully transported Ye Lin out, and throughout the process, it did not make a single sound.

About five minutes later, Ye Lin, along with the mattress, was transported into a completely dark room.

Click.

A dim light flickered on, swaying unsteadily.

This sudden light startled Ye Lin awake; he snapped his eyes open, only to find his body wrapped tightly by the human skin, unable to move.

"Where the hell did you brats bring me? Is this still the country?"

Ye Lin looked around and discovered dozens of ghastly pale human skins floating beside him, and directly in front of him stood a dark, humanoid shadow whose features were unclear.

The appearance of these dozens of skins caused the entire room to fill with howling, ghostly winds and overwhelming resentment.

"Just like before, peel off fifty percent of the flesh from his body for everyone to share, and the remaining corpse will be for the brother whose turn it is to parasitize," the humanoid shadow said flatly, sealing Ye Lin's fate.

Following this, the dozens of skins grew excited; like sharks that had caught the scent of blood, they lunged forward and began to gnaw on Ye Lin's body.

The intense pain caused Ye Lin's expression to turn ferocious, yet the more he struggled, the tighter the skin wrapped around him constricted.

"Stop!"

At the critical moment, a sharp cry rang out; Xia Qinglan kicked the door open and lunged toward Ye Lin.

She seemed to know what the skin-corpses feared; holding a makeshift torch in her hand, she swung it forcefully, and those skins were frightened into retreating repeatedly.

She seized the opportunity to rush forward and likewise scared away the skin that was binding Ye Lin.

However, those skins still circled them, showing no intention of letting them go.

"Xie Hong, are you alright?"

Seeing the wounds all over Ye Lin's body, Xia Qinglan was instantly filled with guilt.

"Uh... I'm fine."

Ye Lin moved his body slightly; although some flesh had been gnawed away, it was not a major problem.

"Uncle Jiang... even you..."

Xia Qinglan looked at the humanoid shadow, her eyes filled with pain.

The shadow took two steps forward; it was indeed Uncle Jiang, who had just spoken about retrieving the other half of the flagstaff.

But at this moment, Uncle Jiang's expression had become cold and rigid; it was clear he had been completely parasitized by a skin-corpse.

Uncle Jiang reached out, grabbed the burning torch directly, and squeezed it hard, causing the flame to extinguish instantly.

Although skin-corpses fear fire, once they have found a host, they no longer fear flames.

Seeing this, Xia Qinglan immediately pushed Ye Lin toward the door.

"Run!"

She then spread her arms, blocking the path of the dozens of skin-corpses, attempting to use her own body to stop this group of creatures with an extreme craving for flesh.

Xia Qinglan closed her beautiful eyes, and just as she thought she was about to die under the mouths of the skin-corpses, a language she could not understand rang out.

"Shinzou wo sasageyo!"

Squish.

Ye Lin held a dagger and stabbed it directly into his own heart.

In an instant, the bonus from the Azure Mist Ring reached its maximum of 800%!

Originally, Ye Lin had intended to wait until the skin-corpses had gnawed on him enough before using a Forbidden Spell to finish them all off.

But he hadn't expected Xia Qinglan to suddenly appear, so Ye Lin had no choice but to self-mutilate.

"Forbidden Spell—Burning Reincarnation!"

As blood-red flames erupted from his body, the extra mental power bonus on Ye Lin reached a terrifying 16 times!

In this state, even with his eyes closed, Ye Lin could easily perceive every movement in his surroundings with his mental power!

He reached out, grabbed Xia Qinglan by the shoulder, tossed her behind him, and then gave the skin-corpses in the room a surprise.

"Forbidden Spell—Karma Fire Burning the Heavens!"

Boom! A purple-red fireball exploded within the narrow room; under the 16-fold mental attribute boost, this karma fire seemed as if it were truly pouring out from the deepest depths of the Nine Nether Hells.

Those dozens of floating, ghastly pale human skins were instantly burned into curled-up balls, emitting miserable wails.

Even Ye Lin was startled by the power of this Forbidden Spell; after coming to his senses, he suddenly slapped his thigh hard, causing Xia Qinglan to wince in pain.

"Damn it! I forgot to leave a live one!"

Ye Lin immediately rushed into the fire; the dozens of skin-corpses without hosts were certainly beyond saving, but the one that had parasitized Uncle Jiang still looked like it had a breath left.

Ye Lin hurriedly hoisted him up and rushed out, which allowed this skin-corpse to hold onto its last breath.

"Let's leave here first."

Carrying the skin-corpse and pulling Xia Qinglan, Ye Lin hurried away.

He had caused such a huge commotion here that it would surely attract more skin-corpses, and he did not want to be surrounded by a pile of them.

"Okay! Back to my place!"

Xia Qinglan led Ye Lin back to the small cabin from the beginning.

After returning to the room, Ye Lin poured the Source of Life, which had been absorbed through the renal tubules, onto the skin-corpse's face, successfully waking it up.

Although the awakened skin-corpse was severely wounded and dying, its eyes still stared at Ye Lin with resentment; if not for its heavy injuries, it would likely have lunged at him immediately.

"You can talk, right? Where is the other half of the flagstaff?" Ye Lin demanded.

Uncle Jiang must have been killed while going to retrieve the other half of the flagstaff; after a skin-corpse parasitizes someone, it continues to live as the host, which means that skin-corpse parasitism allows for the reading of the host's memories.

Therefore, the skin-corpse before him must know the whereabouts of the remaining half of the Human Emperor Flag's flagstaff.

"Hmph!"

The skin-corpse bared its teeth, revealing a mouthful of white, ghastly fangs, but refused to say anything.

"Tsk."

Ye Lin grew impatient; he then forcibly peeled the skin-corpse off Uncle Jiang's body and sprinkled the powerful itching powder he had obtained from Qiu Xingyuan directly onto the skin-corpse.

The human skin instantly began to twist, first curling into a ball, then stretching to its maximum, repeating this process endlessly.

However, the results were minimal; the reason Ye Lin had peeled the skin-corpse off Uncle Jiang's body first was to ensure it had no hands to scratch with.

For a skin-corpse that is nothing more than a layer of skin, this powerful itching powder is undoubtedly the greatest torture in the world.

After torturing the skin-corpse like this for half an hour, Ye Lin had intended to let it return to Uncle Jiang's body to interrogate it about the location of the Human Emperor Flag.

But at this moment, Xia Qinglan suddenly exclaimed.

"Xie Hong, look! There is writing on Uncle Jiang's body!"

Ye Lin looked down; Uncle Jiang's corpse was already mangled, covered in bite marks as if it had been torn apart by a pack of wild beasts.

But Uncle Jiang's left hand was clenched tightly; the back of his hand had been gnawed down to the bone, yet he still had not let go, and five blood-red characters were carved into his palm.

"North City, Old Locust, Temple."