Sword Among Us
Sword Among Us - Chapter 176: Human Skin Masks

Chapter 176: Human Skin Masks

When Happy returned to the game, he noticed a strange atmosphere around him.

Little North chased after a middle-aged man with an unfamiliar face in a rage with his two precious zombies. He roared continuously while going after the man.

Lately, Little North had become very familiar and skillful in controlling the zombie puppets as he followed Happy around. His own abilities had increased greatly too, and now, trio complemented each other. Their teamwork could be considered great, and right then, Little North no longer had any problems with fighting against two Mystical Realm zombies at once.

However, the middle-aged man who had appeared in the mass grave was clearly no weakling. With a sword in hand, he moved about like an immortal, like a shadow and an illusion, despite not being Little North and his two zombies’ opponent. Sometimes, he would move around as swiftly as lightning, and sometimes, he was as slow as a turtle. He moved around Little North with incredible body movement. Because of that, he seemed to have an advantage.

“Brat, take this!”

Little North was lacking in body movement when compared to his enemy, but he was not that easy to deal with…

Little North gritted his teeth and roared, “Take this!”

He had already gained a very deep understanding toward how to control his zombies and how to defend. Every single time one showed a weakness, he would immediately have the other jump over to cover it. With the zombies’ fearlessness and their powerful and domineering bodies, his fighting strategy of trading a life for another life, he could always have his zombies protect each other at the critical moment. With that, the trio was never ambushed by the unfamiliar man.

It happened again right then. The Blessed Realm zombies came up from the side with their foul and rotten stench to stand in front of the unfamiliar, middle-aged man, blocking his path, albeit with great difficulty. They extended their palms, which were coated in poison, forcing the middle-aged man to give up on attacking and choose to protect himself.

As they continued exchanging blows, neither side could do anything to the other!

Happy did not speak to interrupt their fight. He focused his attention on the fight and watched it for some time. In the end, his gaze landed on the unfamiliar middle-aged man, and a slightly puzzled look appeared on his face.

The figure was very familiar, and the body movements… were even more familiar!

Who was he?

‘It’s him!’ A thought flashed in his mind, and Happy quickly connected the figure with someone he had been associated with for a period of time in the past. The puzzlement in his eyes instantly grew stronger, and he could not help but gasp softly. ‘But why is he here?’

The unfamiliar middle-aged man’s body movements revealed his true identity.

In the early stages of the game, there were few people who had high-tier lightness skills and especially those who had reached a high level. The middle-aged man’s figure and demeanor were also incredibly alike to the person Happy remembered. He was definitely the unkempt swordsman, All-powerful Medicinal Stone!

“Big Brother Happy!”

At that moment, the two finally noticed that Happy had logged in. The enraged look on Little North’s face faded away, and while filled with delight, he continued delivering his attacks.

“Hurry up and help me! This old coot has been wandering around the spot where you logged off in a very shady manner! He’s definitely a bad guy! Bastard… He’s really fast—”

As he spoke, the middle-aged man fighting against him shuddered visibly.

“Big brother?” As he spoke, he quickly swung his sword and jumped around thirty-two feet back. “Don’t! It’s a misunderstanding! I’m not here to go against Happy—” he began to explain, but was not given a chance.

“Bah! You’re still saying that you’re not! You’re still here though!”

When he heard the man call Happy by his in-game name, he felt like his suspicions proven, and without any hesitation, he summoned his precious zombies to attack together.

“I won’t fight against you. I’m here to catch up with your Big Brother Happy to talk about old days.”

He laughed while speaking and swiped at his face. It instantly changed into the image of a sleazy looking middle-aged man. The previous one was gone, and now he looked even more like a bad person.

Little North was dumbfounded by the sight. He stared at the item in the middle-aged man’s hands before crying out in surprise. “A human skin mask?!”

He stood a few feet away from the middle-aged man, and the zombie puppets had stopped foolishly by his side. They did not continue to attack together.

“It’s you?”

Happy pretended to be surprised.

When he saw that Happy had indeed recognized the person, Little North relaxed. The animosity on his face disappeared, and he retreated to Happy’s side.

“Big Brother Happy, you know him?”

“Yeah.”

Happy cast a glance at All-powerful Medicinal Stone’s unforgettable face and nodded. He also looked at the incredibly smooth and lively human skin mask All-powerful Medicinal Stone held in his hand.

“You got it from the brocade box?”

When All-powerful Medicinal Stone tore off his human skin mask, his action let Happy become much more at ease. If he had continued to hide his identity, he would need to truly be careful and on guard so that All-powerful Medicinal Stone would not get close to him and steal his items.

“Heh heh…” All-powerful Medicinal Stone cackled. “Not bad, right? One human skin mask can clone three different faces. What about your brocade box? Don’t tell me that you got some useless money. Based on my instincts, your luck could not be so terrible.”

“What now, Mister Thief? Did you come from afar because you have your sights on my items?”

“No way.” All-powerful Medicinal Stone giggled and put away his human skin mask before he walked over. “No matter what, we got acquainted with each other. Even if I feel like stealing, I wouldn’t steal your stuff, you know?”

“Then you came over this time because…”

Happy did not believe that All-powerful Medicinal Stone had come to chat with him to get rid of his boredom. He sized up the middle-aged man’s face and went straight for the main topic.

“I heard that you got into an argument with Class One Hall.”

The smile on All-powerful Medicinal Stone’s face did not disappear. He spoke with a careless tone. “In truth, once I separated from you at Mount Song, I also formed bad blood with Class One Hall. Damn them. They chased me for half a day for the stupid box. They surrounded me and blocked my path, and I nearly lost my life for it. So, I thought, why don’t we form an alliance and deal with Class One Hall in the future?’

Happy said nothing, but he quirked his eyebrows after he heard it. In his previous life, All-powerful Medicinal Stone seemed to have formed a bad relationship with Class One Hall as well. Could it be because of the box?

When that thought appeared in his head, Happy did not have a great change of expression and spoke calmly. “The fight for the brocade boxes only lasted for a while. Now that it’s over, it’s over. I don’t see anyone from Class One Hall coming to cause trouble for me. If I go causing trouble for them of my own initiative, it’d be rather bad on my part.”

“That’s because the timing isn’t ripe.” When he spoke, All-powerful Medicinal Stone’s usual calmness vanished. He gritted his teeth and said, “Besides, you also showed extraordinary strength when the quest ended, just like me. Damn it, not only did they chase me for an entire day, they’ve also been investigating my actions in secret. Every single time I go out of town, someone will follow. If I didn’t rely on the human skin mask, I’d have been killed multiple times already. Don’t think that you’ll be safe for long.”

All-powerful Medicinal Stone cast a glance at Happy’s relaxed and composed look and rolled his eyes.

“I ran into a person while I was in Dengfeng. At that time, I heard something about you. Should I relay it to you?”

His mysterious expression stirred up Happy’s curiosity. “What?”

“They said that they should set you up, but someone mentioned that their hall master said to temporarily leave you alone. Apparently, you’re from the University of South China, and they coincidentally have someone from the higher management who is also in the University of South China. They’re prepared to investigate you in reality.”

After saying all that, All-powerful Medicinal Stone’s mocking look froze, and he stopped speaking.

Little North had also noticed the temperature drop at that moment. He turned around to look and felt his eyelids twitch. He was shocked by Happy’s face, which had suddenly darkened!

“What was bound to come has finally come.”