Chapter 4091

The maid led the group directly to the downstairs of that three-story building. The space here was almost completely dyed dim yellow, and Xia De even had the feeling of looking at the world through glass.

Not long after she knocked on the door gently, another maid in the house opened the door. This person looked exceptionally young and beautiful. Xia De and Vigo were both very sure that she was wearing leather items. The leading maid turned around and returned the same way, while the maid in the house continued to lead the group of eleven people into the building.

The dim yellow light illuminated the huge foyer. Strange halos in the corners of the field of vision made everything look more sentimental, just like the appearance of the sunset shining on the floor of the house in childhood. Soft sofas were placed against the walls on both sides of the foyer, and between the sofas were separated by small cabinets with flower pots.

"Please wait here, the Tanner will meet you individually."

The maid said very respectfully to everyone, so the five groups sat down in different positions and very tacitly kept their distance from each other.

After Xia De hugged Vigo and sat down, he went to observe the decoration in this huge foyer. Although this is a Fourth Era building, the interior style is very similar to the "Fragrant Mansion".

The building itself didn't look like it had too many special features. The stairs going up were directly opposite the door, and corridors extended to the left and right wings of the house on both sides of the foyer. This is a very common architectural structure.

The flowers placed on the cabinets were dripping with beauty, as if they had just been picked, and the dew on the petals also reflected the dim yellow color; the oil paintings hanging on the wall were a bit weird. Just those three paintings directly opposite Xia De and Vigo described whipping, branding, and water torture respectively. A normal house would absolutely not put this kind of oil painting in the foyer.

The waiting time was not long. Not long after the maid went upstairs, she returned here again, and then called the only group of three among the five groups up.

The eight people who were left behind didn't speak. Vigo looked at Xia De, but Xia De shook his head, signaling her not to make any moves.

Five minutes after the first group left, the maid appeared again. This time she called away two groups totaling four people. Then another five minutes passed, and the remaining two people besides Xia De and Vigo were called away, and during this period, none of the people who were called away just now came back.

Just when Xia De guessed whether the maid would never return, another five minutes passed. The maid walked down from the stairs and signaled Xia De and Vigo to follow her:

"Two guests, sorry to keep you waiting."

So Xia De and Vigo held hands and followed the maid up the stairs, and went directly to the third floor of the building. But this was not the destination. A ladder on the corridor connected to the ceiling, and above the ceiling was the small attic of this building.

The small attic emitted a faint light, looking very much like the scene that often appeared in gloomy horror stories. And the leading maid didn't mean to go up. She stood by the ladder and made a gesture of invitation, so Xia De climbed up first, and then reached out to pull Vigo up too.

The attic was quite low and not very large. The entrance was located at the east end of the attic, and the light came from the west end. A portable kerosene lamp was placed on the wooden desk, and a woman was sitting behind the table.

The other party's age was not easy to judge. She looked like she was thirty, but looking closely, she looked like she was in her forties. But her bald head was very conspicuous in this environment, and Xia De even felt Vigo beside him trying to hold back laughter.

It was only afterward that Vigo didn't want to laugh, because she saw clearly the mannequins often used in clothing stores standing behind the other party, and every mannequin was wearing leather items.

The leather items didn't fit the wooden mannequins like fitting the human body, which made the scene look even more weird. Vigo, who felt slightly uncomfortable, moved closer to Xia De again, pursing her lips and showing a look of fear.

Xia De naturally also saw the mannequins behind the bald woman. He even noticed the appearance of the leather items on three of them, which were very similar to the leather items worn by three of the nine people who went upstairs in advance.

"May I ask, are you the Tanner?"

Xia De asked, leading Vigo toward the table. Some old books and an old toolbox were placed on the table, and at the same time, Xia De smelled a strange ointment smell. Afterward, he reacted that it should be the oil used to maintain leather items.

The bald woman didn't answer, just looking at the two with a kind smile. Vigo's discomfort became stronger and stronger, so she also opened her mouth and said:

"A lady gave me leather items and said that I can come here to modify the leather items. May I ask if you can help?"

She took out the excuse just now again, but the woman still didn't open her mouth to speak.

Xia De, who thought of a certain possibility, frowned slightly, tightened his left hand holding Vigo, and after the two bypassed the table and came behind the table, he pushed lightly, and the bald woman opened her eyes and fell to the ground.

After a brief check, the leather item on the bald woman was peeled off by Xia De, and the one wearing the leather item was a woman without her own human skin. Xia De and Vigo didn't know her, but she was obviously just an ordinary person.

"What does this mean?"

Vigo didn't understand, while Xia De understood:

"Remember? The Number Three Lady of the opera troupe has been searching for information on various beautiful girls to make raw materials for the Tanner to make leather items."

Vigo was a little enlightened:

"Could it be that the Tanner treated us as prey lured by that person?"

"Does not exclude this possibility."

The communication in the heart was very fast. Xia De, who straightened his waist, didn't care about the woman on the ground anymore, and walked quickly to the entrance of the attic with Vigo. However, the trapdoor had been closed. Xia De tried to pat it a few times, and the sound of bang-bang sounded very dull. This trapdoor was obviously locked from the outside.

Although this is a scene constructed by relics, the Document-level relic itself is not very strong, and this house doesn't have too many supernatural characteristics. Wanting to open this door is not difficult for Xia De and Vigo. However, the two didn't do so, because a yellowed slip of paper was stuffed in from the crack of the trapdoor.

The letters on the slip of paper were quite clear—

【There is a skinning toolbox on the table. Only after one person is skinned can the other person leave.】

"A room that cannot be left without skinning."

Xia De muttered in his heart, and returned to the table with Vigo. The metal toolbox was opened by them. Needles, threads, tweezers, and tape measures were neatly arranged inside. Of course, there were more various knives of different sizes.

One-third of the tools in this box had whisper elements, which meant that many of the tools here were relic derivatives produced by the 【Leather Item Hall】. Relying on these tools, even an ordinary person who couldn't even kill a chicken would think they could easily peel off a leather item. The task on the slip of paper was actually not difficult.

"Only the leather items peeled off in the double pain and torture of body and soul can obtain the most beautiful posture. If you can add betrayal and love, jealousy and vanity to it, then that leather item will be more beautiful."

Vigo said softly about her understanding of leather items, and reached out to take out a small knife of the smallest size from the box. The handle of the knife looked very heavy, but Vigo felt it was very light in her hand:

"If I pass away early, peel off my leather item and leave it to you as a relic, will you miss me forever because of this? When you sleep with other girls, let her wear my leather item. In this way, it can be considered that I will be with you forever."

This sentence fits the speech of an ordinary person whose spirit is somewhat collapsed, but this sentence was not in the plan discussed in advance. Seeing Xia De looking at her with slight astonishment, Vigo shook her head and put the small knife back:

"Just don't know why, slightly emotional."

"Maybe you should drink medicine."

Xia De reminded, Vigo then took out the essence bottle and took a sip, then asked:

"Since you don't want my skin, what should you do now?"

The windows of the attic were also locked. Xia De also didn't try to force them open. Afterward, he checked the drawers of that table again, and after confirming that there was no harvest, he looked at the mannequins standing in the shadows of the room.

The mannequins were wearing leather items, and the leather items were wearing clothes. Seeing Xia De reach out to check those things, Vigo didn't go to help. She really felt that these things were disgusting.

And this check actually had a harvest. Xia De found a simple attic map and a key in the pockets of two different mannequins.

According to the map, after moving the box in the corner, a new trapdoor appeared on the ground. The key exactly matched the keyhole here. After opening the trapdoor, below was an unknown room on the third floor.

After tying the rope in the attic to that table, Xia De climbed down along the rope first, and then he caught Vigo who jumped down while pressing her skirt from a high place. The gas lamp was on in this room, and it looked like a reception room on the third floor.

And in the reception room, the maid who led the two here was waiting for them.

"So, are you the Tanner?"

Xia De asked while blocking in front of Vigo. Although it was an interrogative sentence, Xia De could almost confirm his conclusion.

The maid nodded, maintaining the maid's etiquette and said:

"Two guests, not everyone is qualified to trade with me, and you are the first time to come to my presence.

Wearing leather items, or becoming leather items, this requires testing to proceed. A qualified leather item wearer should not fear leather items, and should not easily kill people at will because of the temptation of leather items. These two points are very important. You passed the test, so what is the purpose of the two?"

Xia De looked at her. The distance between the two was not particularly close at this moment, but Xia De still couldn't determine how strong the other party was. The power of relic derivatives cannot be judged simply by the strength of whisper elements, not to mention that the other party is wearing more than one leather item, which seriously affected Xia De's perception ability.

No one knows what the truth is under the layers of leather items worn by the "Tanners". The information given by the Doppelgangers believes that the Tanners are monsters composed of layers of leather items. Under the skin is skin, and under the skin is skin. When the last layer of skin is torn open, there is nothing left.

This statement is also the mainstream view of researchers on the 【Leather Item Hall】 at present. The Tanners might have been ordinary living beings a long time ago, and later they put on layers of leather items for themselves, while they themselves gradually wore out until they didn't exist at all. And contemporary researchers generally believe that the Tanners don't need containers to store leather items at all; they themselves are the best containers.