114: Hidden rules!

Chen Du glanced at Ye Qiu.

As an S-rank Healer, Ye Qiu nodded knowingly.

The black energy on Zhou Qian's leg had completely dissipated, and the wound healed at a visible rate.

"I can walk! I can even crawl!"

Gritting her teeth, she desperately supported herself against the wall and stood up.

Being squeamish now was courting death; the desire for survival in her eyes was so intense it was practically overflowing.

"Very good."

Chen Du turned and looked toward the dark corridor deep within the factory building.

That was the path leading to the [Fine Processing Workshop] and also the passage to the Cold Storage.

"Everyone, line up."

"Crab Claw, take your people and walk in the middle."

The Crab Claw Man, who was about to slack off at the back of the line, froze, his face falling: "Ah? Boss, we..."

Walk in the middle? Wouldn't that mean being trapped between two sides?

"Either walk, or die."

There was no room for negotiation in Chen Du's golden pupils.

"Choose for yourselves."

"Go, go, go! We must go! It is our honor to scout the way for you!"

The Crab Claw Man shuddered and immediately adopted a sycophantic expression.

The team quickly reformed.

A total of 31 people.

Chen Du led Xia Xin, An Nuonuo, and other core combatants at the very front.

The Crab Claw Man led a group of defeated soldiers, nervously squeezing into the middle while clutching the frozen meat they couldn't bear to throw away.

The corridor was very long.

The walls on both sides were covered with rusty iron hooks.

Occasionally, a few yellowed slaughterhouse uniforms moved without wind, looking exactly like swaying hanged ghosts.

The further they walked inside, the lower the temperature dropped.

The dull sound of bone chopping also became clearer.

Dong dong dong!

"We've arrived."

Chen Du stopped.

Before them was a massive double-leaf airtight door.

The white paint was peeling, revealing a primer coat as red as a blood scab.

This was the [Fine Processing Workshop] they had visited before.

A sign hung crookedly above the door frame.

No one noticed the flashing LED electronic screen beneath the sign—[Current Operating Personnel: 0/15]!

"Refining?"

Xia Xin swallowed, instinctively tightening her grip on her bow: "That doesn't sound right. Are they chopping people up to stuff them into sausages?"

"Sister Xin, don't scare yourself! We've been here before; it's full of Second Elder Brother."

"What is there to be afraid of! It's not like we haven't been here before!" Chen Du pushed open the airtight door.

The expected stench of decay did not appear.

"This..." Xia Xin was stunned.

It was too clean here.

Unlike the hellish scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood outside, this place was so clean it was unsettling.

The several-thousand-square-meter workshop was paved with snow-white tiles, and Shadowless Lamps illuminated every inch of the space in a stark white glow.

Conveyor belts, meat grinders, stuffing machines... all the machine blades were polished brightly, reflecting the horrified and astonished faces of the crowd.

In the center of the workshop was still that massive enclosure.

Hundreds of plump, white live pigs lay there, as if performing some strange ritual.

They made no sound and did not move.

They just lay neatly on the ground.

"These... are pigs?"

Ye Qiu peeked in and let out a long breath: "You scared me to death. They look quite pleasant."

"Indeed! Compared to those ugly monsters outside, these are even a bit cute."

Zhou Qian also let out a couple of dry laughs, her tense nerves relaxing slightly.

As long as they weren't the kind of monsters with segmented limbs that opened their mouths and screamed for a bite, it was fine.

"Hehe! I told you! Sister Xin, you were just scaring people!" Lin Keke immediately perked up.

However.

Chen Du remained silent.

He noticed the LED screen above his head.

As everyone stepped into the Yellow Sensor Zone, the red text on the screen began to change.

[Current Operating Personnel: 1/15]

[Current Operating Personnel: 5/15]

...Xia Xin, Lin Keke, and the others followed closely.

[Current Operating Personnel: 12/15].

Chen Du's pupils suddenly contracted, and his danger intuition flashed a warning!

He spun around abruptly.

Looking at the Crab Claw Man's group scrambling to squeeze inside behind him, he roared sternly: "Stop! Don't come in!"

Fearing being left behind, the Crab Claw Man and his people had already crossed the yellow line.

Beep—!

[Current Operating Personnel: 16/15]... The originally green safe number immediately turned into a scarlet blood-red warning!

The text on the LED screen twisted and deformed, transforming into a line of monstrous artistic script:

[Warning! Overload of Operating Personnel Detected!]

[Current Count: 31 people]

[Approved Quota: 15 people]

[Excess Personnel Determined to be: Escaped Live Pigs]

[Initiating Cleanup Protocol!]

"What the hell?!"

Lin Keke's eyes nearly popped out: "They can do this too? Is this damn tourist attraction capacity control?"

"Retreat! Get out quickly!"

Li Yaozhi reacted extremely fast, turning to push the door open.

Clang!

The airtight door slammed shut, sealing tightly; not even a fly could escape.

Everyone was trapped like turtles in a jar.

At the same time.

Inside the central enclosure, a grinding sound of bones cracking echoed, setting teeth on edge.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

The plump, pleasant-looking live pigs that were lying on the ground suddenly all stood up!

Standing upright, like humans!

Their bodies swelled up like inflatable balls,

The pink skin tore open, revealing knotty dark red muscles underneath.

Their pig trotters differentiated.

They transformed into thick human hands with razor-sharp fingernails.

The stiff pig faces rapidly elongated and twisted, fangs flipped out, and bloodthirsty red light shone in their eyes.

In just two seconds.

Hundreds of live pigs had all mutated into two-meter-tall, Heavily Armored Pig-headed Men covered in muscle knots!

They casually grabbed the rusty iron hooks and Bone Clubs nearby.

Hundreds of scarlet eyes simultaneously looked toward the "meat" that was in excess.

"Raw materials... fresh... raw materials..."

Low, muffled roars echoed throughout the workshop.

"Aaaah! Ghost!!" Flat-top Haircut, who was closest to the enclosure, screamed.

The next second.

A massive Pig-headed Man leaped out of the enclosure!

The rusty iron hook whistled through the air and was flung out with extreme precision!

Pfft!

The iron hook pierced Flat-top Haircut's collarbone without resistance—the standard position for hanging pork!

"Ah—!"

Flat-top Haircut was lifted entirely off the ground.

"Save me! Boss, save me!!"

He struggled desperately, and the can of Luncheon Meat hidden in his pants dropped out.

It rolled gurglingly to the Pig-headed Man's feet.

How ironic.

He risked his life for a bite of meat, and now he had become the meat himself.

The Pig-headed Man didn't even glance at the can, suddenly yanking the chain!

Immense force erupted!

Flat-top Haircut was rapidly dragged toward the depths of the pig horde!

"No! No!!"

The Crab Claw Man watched helplessly as he was dragged into the dark red pig horde.

This was immediately followed by sounds of tearing and chewing.

Blood splattered out from the gaps in the horde, staining the pristine white tiles red.

"Ugh..."

The Office Lady's psychological defenses collapsed, and she immediately threw up from fear.

Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground, losing even the strength to run.

"16 over the limit..."

Chen Du stood at the front of the line, watching the bloody scene without any superfluous expression.

Everything happened too fast; he didn't have time to rescue them.

Of course, it was also possible he simply didn't want to save them.

Chen Du licked his dry lips and stated a conclusion that sent a chill down everyone's spine:

"In other words..."

"If we just reduce the number by 15 more people, the rest... can live?"