I Got My Cheat Skill by Acting My Way into a Horror Protagonist Role Chapter 86

The tall, thin man grabbing Xiao Gui'an by the collar had upturned white eyes, an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth, his brows slightly furrowed with an impatient expression.

The black gun was gripped tightly in his hand, pressed against Xiao Gui'an's waist and abdomen, carrying a deep sense of threat.

If one observed more carefully, they could see the tall, thin man's gun-holding hand was clenched so hard his fingertips were white, clearly indicating he wasn't exactly calm inside either.

"Hey, Gui Yi you little brat, making your big brother wait like this, huh?"

Zhao Jie, an unemployed drifter without any proper job, he had only studied a few years before mixing in society. Not entirely clean-handed, he usually scraped by through petty theft or odd jobs.

It wasn't until he was absorbed into this unknown pyramid scheme organization that he stabilized somewhat.

He usually loitered around shops offering work or part-time jobs, recruiting poor students or young people like Gui Yi who wanted to make big money but lacked social experience.

"University students who've studied a few years are really something special, huh..."

He lightly sniffed; a strong metallic rust smell lingered around him. The hoodie collar in his hand felt damp. Zhao Jie sensed something was wrong and looked closely.

This somewhat terrifying appearance was completely different from the usual impression Gui Yi gave. Zhao Jie's heart jumped in shock, he instinctively cursed and let go, "Holy shit!"

He waved his hand vigorously, took two steps back, and naturally the gun in his other hand also moved away from Xiao Gui'an's waist.

In the somewhat dim stairwell, beyond the half-open old door panel, the curtains inside weren't drawn either. The floor was a mess, several bloody footprints mottled across it, and faintly one could see some bits of minced flesh.

Zhao Jie had just gotten the gun, his confidence had increased considerably, trying to act like a tough guy. His mind was full of chaotic thoughts, then suddenly seeing such a scene, a stress reaction was normal.

They were all just ordinary people. Even if they usually fought and acted fierce, suddenly seeing a scene like a murder case, plus the somewhat oppressive surrounding environment...

His psychological defenses were directly shattered. He retreated several steps violently, his body swaying slightly.

The gun was now pointed directly at Xiao Gui'an's head, his hand trembling slightly.

The safety catch wasn't even off; truly a paper tiger that collapses at a poke.

Xiao Gui'an was also startled by his big reaction, reaching out to try and calm him, soothing Zhao Jie's emotions. He didn't think his fragile body could withstand a gunshot, "Calm down, calm down! Brother! Calm down! Don't let your hand shake!"

As soon as [Gui Yi] spoke, the unique clear, bright voice of a youth instantly dispelled the gloomy, cold feeling in the stairwell, pulling one back to the human world.

"Fake, it's all fake blood! It's... it's... a school... biology assignment! Yes, biology assignment!" Xiao Gui'an had a quick wit in emergency, his brain rapidly working, a seemingly reasonable excuse emerging from his mouth.

"Nothing happened at all!!—" The black-haired youth's face also showed some alarm, his round eyes wide open, looking like a victim himself.

They had caused some unexpected commotion. A tall figure originally standing at the corner of the floor below swayed and looked up.

[Gui Yi] just turned his head and met that icy cold gaze, like a poisonous snake, currently lying in wait, ready to deliver a fatal strike when the prey relaxed.

The other wore a medium-grey leather jacket, had a crew cut, and his waist area seemed somewhat bulging, probably also hiding something.

Meeting [Gui Yi]'s gaze, the young man who looked unfriendly sneered coldly, with some threatening undertones.

[Gui Yi] pursed his lips, his body seeming to shrink back slightly, immediately withdrew his gaze, and continued explaining, "Just, just that kind of prop fake blood used for filming TV dramas, I accidentally spilled it..."

"Ah? ... Oh... oh—" In Zhao Jie's memory, [Gui Yi] was a somewhat stupid, small-profit-grabbing poor university student.

Usually he looked quite easy to fool, probably incapable of doing something terrible like murder and hiding corpses.

He sheepishly put the gun away, wiped the cold sweat from his hand, and stuffed the gun into his coat pocket.

Taking a slight breath, Zhao Jie muttered under his breath; it wasn't just Gui Yi watching, he tried to regain face, "Hiding in the room all day doing what?! Go wash your face quickly, then come with us!"

As he spoke, seemingly feeling it wasn't satisfying enough, he kicked the door again. The already worn-out door panel emitted a strained creak.

"Get down here quickly!" After the false alarm, Zhao Jie originally wanted to show off the gun he just got, now completely lost that interest.

As they left, the man in the leather jacket gave [Gui Yi] another malicious look.

If it had only been Zhao Jie coming, maybe Xiao Gui'an really could have found an excuse to temporarily lay low.

But unexpectedly, another person came too. That guy was clearly different from the outwardly strong but inwardly dry Zhao Jie; obviously there to supervise.

If he didn't leave, he'd probably be forcibly escorted at gunpoint.

What do you mean the threat isn't big?

Isn't this threat big enough?

Given his situation, besides obediently following them, he really had no other choice now.

So much blood, couldn't be washed off cleanly in a short time.

After washing his face, hastily wiping his hair with a towel, Xiao Gui'an followed the Proxy System's stuttering instructions, found a black mask to wear, at least able to cover up a bit.

Carefully locking the door, Xiao Gui'an could only pray the troublesome matters could be resolved within two hours.

It would be even better if Xu Zisheng could get stuck in traffic or something on the way.

His phone was completely broken, utterly unusable.

Wondered if the Proxy System could help him call a housekeeping service or something.

[System, can you make a phone call?]

[Wor...ld... has... alrea...dy... start...ed runn...ing... 『Gui Yi』... does not... possess... the abil...ity... to call... through the air...]

Right, it seems he really has to proceed step by step, down-to-earth, no loopholes to exploit.

No phone if he wants one, no money if he wants it, empty-handed both ways, no money to offer, only his life to give.

Reaching downstairs, Xiao Gui'an realized he wasn't the only one. On the other side, there was also a young man who looked like a ruffian hoodlum, hovering around Zhao Jie and the crew-cut man like a lackey.

The hoodlum youth was nodding and bowing, seemingly flattering Zhao Jie extremely pleased. Even his unfriendly face seemed to look a bit more agreeable.

As for the crew-cut man standing on the other side, his face held some mocking expression, but he didn't say anything.

"Oh, you're down, Gui Yi!—" Spotting [Gui Yi]'s all-black figure, Zhao Jie called out, then walked side-by-side with the crew-cut man in front.

The hoodlum youth naturally got left behind. He was clearly on the same level as [Gui Yi], belonging to the lowest-level guys.

He had dyed messy red hair, wore a somewhat awkward-looking suit, and came over to talk to [Gui Yi], "Hey there, brother, Gui Yi... Gui Yi... Gui Yi?"

His tone went up and down several times, finally seemingly confirming something. The hoodlum youth slightly raised his brows, "Your name is quite interesting..."

"Mm..." Xiao Gui'an nodded lightly. Although it was their first meeting, he felt this hoodlum youth gave him an inexplicable sense of incongruity.

Xiao Gui'an didn't really want excessive contact with him.

"Me, I'm new recently, just call me Li Qiwen... I'll be under Brother Zhao from now on too, we'll probably be partners or something in the future, haven't heard Brother Zhao mention you much..."

Li Qiwen seemed quite proficient in social niceties, possessing the experience gained from roughing it in society. He patted [Gui Yi]'s shoulder, "Brother, why aren't you answering me..."

"By the way, what's that smell on you? Why does it so much resemble... blood?!"

After withdrawing his hand, Li Qiwen looked at his hand, now stained with some blood, and exclaimed.

Zhao Jie noticed the commotion behind him, didn't pay much mind, turned his head and answered for Xiao Gui'an, "That thing, it's fake! That... filming prop fake blood stuff! University students always mess with these weird things, utterly useless..."

"Don't make a fuss! Haven't seen any of the world at all—"

Fake blood?

Not necessarily.

Li Qiwen reacted, a trace of undetectable glint flashed in his eyes, then he hastily wiped the bloodstain from his palm on his cheap black suit, piling a smile back on his face, "Okay, okay..."

Although startled, Li Qiwen didn't distance himself from Gui Yi because of it. Instead, he leaned in again, asking unobtrusively, "Hey, brother, why aren't you answering? In our line of work, poor eloquence won't do..."

"Caught a cold, throat hurts a bit, don't want to talk much..." [Gui Yi] pulled the black mask up higher, a slightly hoarse voice coming from underneath.

After replying, the black-haired youth moved to the side, putting distance between himself and Li Qiwen, completely covered in black, head lowered not speaking, seeming somewhat gloomy.

Having made an unwelcome advance, Li Qiwen rubbed his nose and also walked obediently, not approaching again to make conversation.

Their group twisted and turned out of the alley and directly got into a van.

Inside the van sat several youths who looked even younger, both boys and girls, all dressed in hoodlum-like attire. Despite their young age, they deliberately dressed towards maturity.

Zhao Jie drove in front, lit a cigarette, the van instantly filled with smoke, "Let me tell you, you guys really hit the jackpot this time! We have a big order this time..."

"Our unit even arranged a physical examination for you this time, think about it carefully, where else could you get benefits like this?"

The few young people endured the smoke, nodding in agreement.

After getting in the van, Li Qiwen quieted down, keeping his head down playing on his phone, not joining the conversation.

Seizing this time, Xiao Gui'an exchanged some information with the Proxy System about the situation.

As a character who originally didn't exist in the real world, 『Gui Yi』 definitely couldn't go to the government-prepared game pods for the instance, otherwise once something happened, the involved aspects would be very broad, and even the systems would find it hard to handle.

So naturally, they should avoid people as much as possible, choosing methods with minimal external contact.

[System, aren't game-protection pods and Connection Helmets quite expensive? 『Gui Yi』 is an orphan, hasn't had much savings since childhood, having an independent game pod at home is clearly quite suspicious, what reason did you come up with for me?]

[...Sup...er...mar...ket... grand... prize... give...away...]

Ouch—

That reason actually seems quite convincing for a moment.

[Alright, then send me the relevant character information to look over, so it won't be bad if I give myself away later—]

[Okay, uploading relevant data now, current upload progress is 1%... 2%... 3%...]

The Proxy System seemed to be stuttering extremely badly. Ten minutes later, the progress bar barely reached 5%.

This isn't called stuttering; it's almost like crashing.

Twisting and turning, the van drove for nearly an hour before stopping outside a somewhat dilapidated factory. This place wasn't some secret base; everyone present had been here two or three times.

Except for the previously non-existent [Gui Yi] and Li Qiwen, who seemingly had just been absorbed into the pyramid scheme organization not long ago and weren't very familiar, the others all walked in with practiced ease.

Xiao Gui'an looked at the surrounding environment, quietly, like a transparent person, dutifully following behind them.

Li Qiwen also seemingly curiously glanced around a few more times, then lowered his head to look at his phone again, seemingly typing some information on a chat page and sending it out, before slowly putting the phone away.

"Hey, Gui Yi, how come you don't play on your phone at all?" Even in the van earlier, only Gui Yi was sitting quietly, eyes closed pretending to sleep.

He shouldn't have brought it up; mentioning it made Xiao Gui'an remember his phone that died before achieving anything, a few strands of resentment emerging from his whole person, "I don't have a phone. It got thrown out the window by me today, then fell downstairs and shattered—"

"Hahahaha, brother you really love joking!" Li Qiwen's mind clearly wasn't truly on chatting; he didn't mind being seemingly given the cold shoulder, "What a coincidence? Who has luck that bad! ..."

Xiao Gui'an: ...

Someone better sleep with one eye open tonight—

There were quite a few people inside the factory. Besides the former pyramid scheme organization employees, there seemed to be many new faces as well.

Talking about some welfare physical examination, it was just a few guys in white coats briefly recording height, weight, measuring blood pressure and such.

Simple and routine physical checks, seemingly without much significance.

An ordinary pyramid scheme organization...

The organization personnel seemingly casually wandering around nearby, each with their backs subconsciously straightened, carrying a faint hostility, sharp eyes, all looking like trained fighters.

Is the system even reliable? He felt like he had entered a thieves' den that would be hard to escape from for a while.

And he himself was that lost lamb waiting to be slaughtered, or rather, this string of people receiving physical examinations were all prey on the spider's web.

The more Xiao Gui'an thought about it, the more wrong it felt, even starting to feel a faint pain in his kidneys.

What are they checking our bodies for?

This couldn't be about starting human organ trafficking or something, could it?

His life is over!—