Chapter 4103: The Tour

"I am indeed very beautiful... I hate the look in your eyes."

Wieg said, and the young Miss withdrew her slightly greedy gaze, leading the two of them further into the house. That the other party had taken a fancy to Wieg's appearance was something both Xia De and Wieg could see.

The interior structure of this house was naturally far larger than it appeared from the outside, but unlike the completely chaotic and disorderly interior of the 【House of Fakes】, the house followed a standard exhibition hall layout.

After leaving the foyer hung with all manner of portrait paintings, the three of them entered a large exhibition room filled with human bodies. These bodies were placed inside eggshell-shaped glass containers, and inside the containers was a completely transparent liquid. None of them wore any clothing, their bodies curled up and floating in the solution, able to display every detail of their skin's outward appearance.

"The skin objects worn on them are all the most basic kind; aside from looking somewhat nice on the outside, they aren't worth much, but they're sufficient for display at the entrance."

The young Miss leading the way introduced them as they walked. Wieg's face showed an expression of disgust, and she followed silently behind Xia De. Xia De, meanwhile, could sense that all of these bodies possessed faint vitality. But the people in the containers were not alive; the 【Tanners】 had merely used some technique to grant the corpses activity, giving them a better function as "display stands."

"Then the portraits on the walls—are those also skin objects on display?"

Xia De asked again. Dense oil paintings covered the walls, and the figures in every painting were uncannily lifelike.

"No, no, the ones in the oil paintings are skin objects that have, for various reasons, already been lost from the hall. If they ever have the chance to return, the paintings will be taken down."

The young Miss answered, then turned her head and said with a smile to Wieg:

"The skin object belonging to the Red Stone Viscountess can actually only be considered a fairly ordinary work by the Tanners. But she carried out quite remarkable modifications on that skin object. Once you return that token later, that skin object will also be qualified to be displayed in a deeper exhibition room of the hall."

Wieg did not care whether that skin object would be kept; she did not want to speak with this woman at all. After entering this house, she had developed a very restless feeling. She could clearly sense something deep within the house drawing her, and this sensation compelled her to want to dash toward the depths of the house immediately.

Fortunately, having drunk Xia De's blood in advance had suppressed part of the problem with Wieg's soul essence, so she could also perceive that this strange feeling was not naturally occurring, but rather some force compelling her to feel this way.

"It's Mother again... but at least we can confirm that a quarter of sister Aurora's body is indeed still here."

She thought to herself, not looking at any of the "exhibits" around her, simply staring at Xia De's back and following him closely.

After passing through this rather large exhibition hall, the three of them entered another corridor, then turned into a rather large lounge.

At this moment, nine people were already standing inside. Judging from the Whispering elements, two of the nine were, like that young Miss, anomalous entities within the 【Skin Object Hall】, while the other seven were outsiders like Xia De and Wieg.

The seven outsiders were of course also wearing skin objects, but the skin objects they wore were all damaged ones, and none of them covered their heads—clearly they too were wary that this might be a trap.

Xia De exchanged a glance with the slightly disguised Mr. Geral Delon, the "Construct Master," and neither of them spoke. As for the identities of the other five, Xia De was unable to discern them at first glance, but above one of their heads a "Fake Person" marker was clearly floating—the 【House of Fakes】 had indeed begun to act as well.

"A high-level Fake Person. It seems the 【House of Fakes】 is determined to win this time."

Among those present, only the "Construct Master" was a thirteen-ring; aside from the Fake Person, the other five ring sorcerers were all high-ring.

"What organizations might the remaining five people belong to? I wonder if any of my other 'old friends' are among them."

Xia De thought to himself, and the hand holding Wieg's also came to a stop in the room. The three unknown entities wearing skin objects quickly withdrew from the room. No one in the room spoke, and everyone was cautiously assessing the current situation.

And soon, that young Miss who had led Xia De and Wieg here appeared again. This time she held a small brass casket in her hands, and she gestured for the seven people present to take items from the casket:

"Please wear your identity tags on your persons to ensure safety during the upcoming tour. Please absolutely do not remove them from your bodies while inside the hall."

The so-called "tags" had no Whispering elements; they were just ordinary square metal plates with pins. Only after each person touched the tags did information written in the Carsonrick language appear on the metal plates.

Xia De was the last to take the cold metal from the casket, and saw written on it—

【Quality of Worn Skin Object: Extremely High】

【Quality of Own Human Skin: Male/Perfect】

This information was quite simple. Xia De then looked at the metal plate in Wieg's hand, and the information on it was even simpler—

【No Skin Object Worn】

【Quality of Own Human Skin: Female/Perfect】

Xia De and Wieg exchanged a glance, but still pinned this metal plate to their clothing. The other five did the same, and everyone could see the contents of the metal plates on the others.

"Are we guests, or are we the marked prey you've tagged?"

The only woman among the ring sorcerers besides Wieg asked, and the young Miss who had taken back the metal casket answered with a smile:

"Of course, honored guests, you are our most distinguished guests."

Her expression as she looked at the seven carried a certain depth of meaning, but in the end she stretched out her hand and pointed at Xia De:

"Aside from this young and handsome Mr., the rest of you six are all here today because you already had entanglements with the hall. Each of you has come with a purpose, but please do not be impatient. After completing the hall's tour, you will obtain what you desire.

Skin Divination has long since written your fates within the hall. Many matters from the previous generation can be resolved in what follows."

This was somewhat surprising to Xia De. He had originally assumed that aside from himself, Wieg, and the Fake Person, the remaining six had come here for the powerful "Life Fire Seeds" contained within the skin objects. He hadn't expected them all to have their own purposes, just like Wieg.

But the main body of the 【Skin Object Hall】 arriving in Arcadia City was absolutely a recent occurrence. So many people connected to it appearing here seemed like coincidence, but upon careful reflection, this also seemed to be the ripples of fate caused by the Chosen One's story.

The young Miss then instructed the nine people on precautions during the tour, and led the group out of the lounge. Outside was still a corridor, only the corridor's appearance was completely different from before.

But the young Miss showed no intention of explaining; she merely introduced:

"We will pass through the hall's first floor, second floor, and third floor in sequence. There are multiple viewing items along the way. Please absolutely do not fall behind, and do not wander about inside the hall at will. Now please follow me. This is the first floor's precious skin object exhibition hall. If any of you are interested, you may negotiate a purchase directly with me."

She stopped, pushed open a large door on one side of the corridor, and led everyone into a brand-new exhibition hall. Just like the previous exhibition hall, this one also used corpses to display the specific appearances of different skin objects, only here every skin object was not only beautiful, but because they came from transcendent beings, they also possessed extraordinary power.

Not only human skin objects, but also those of elves, halflings, dragon-blooded, vampires, and even some long-vanished races could be found here.

In front of every skin object there was a placard informing visitors of the specific origins and contained powers of the skin objects. As the young Miss led everyone through the exhibition hall, the group even saw a unicorn.

It was a scene of misery Xia De had never imagined. The pure-white sacred beast curled up in the solution still emitted a faint glow, but even people without any life-detection ability could tell that it was now merely an "empty shell."

It was dead, and its pure hide had been flayed off and placed here. As long as one was still a normal human, no matter how iron-hearted, one would feel sorrow at this moment.

"She" sighed softly in Xia De's ear. Wieg pressed her lips together, the rims of her eyes reddening. The others' expressions weren't great either. Only the young Miss leading the way continued her introduction on her own:

"This unicorn's skin object was obtained by the hall at the end of the Fourth Epoch. Back then, many interesting stories occurred over this skin object. It can be worn on an ordinary four-hoofed mount, allowing your ordinary mount to possess a sacred appearance.

Alternatively, after casting some peculiar little spells on a partner, you can also have her or him wear this skin object."

The Miss smiled:

"If any of you are willing to purchase, the hall can give away that ancient incantation from the *Pink Book* for free."

Of course no one paid her any attention, but the young Miss didn't mind:

"Not wanting to buy is fine too; our tour still has a long way to go. So for the next ten minutes, everyone may look around freely here, and afterward we proceed to the other areas."

"If one wishes to purchase skin objects here, what is used for payment?"

Someone in the crowd suddenly asked. Xia De, gripping Wieg's hand, turned his head and saw it was an eleven-ring old Mr. He was the oldest-looking among the group, with very recognizable cobalt-blue eyes—clearly a magical eye.

The young Miss revealed a charming smile:

"Each skin object requires an individual quote. If you're interested, guests, please come find me at any time. However, we don't accept things like souls here; the hall has very refined taste."

She paused briefly:

"The simplest form of payment you can think of is, naturally, barter — trading pelts for pelts."