Tomb raiding: Today is another day I don't want to go home.

Chapter 43 The Wang Family

"Zhang Qiling?" Yan Huai didn't want to admit it. It must be that the bloodline sensing was wrong, right?

Zhang Qiling's greasy smile on his human skin mask froze. Was he recognized so easily?

"Why did you do this?!" Yan Huai covered his face, almost exploding at the thought of a certain possibility. "You're not going to wear this all the time, are you?"

Zhang Qiling wanted to nod, but after seeing Yan Huai's reaction, he was unsure—was it really that exaggerated?

"No, I'll use it tomorrow."

"That's good."

Yan Huai scratched his forehead, walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. After watching Zhang Qiling remove the human skin mask, his gaze followed Zhang Qiling's hand to the beer belly around his waist...

The beer belly was made of silicone. To make it stick to the skin, you had to apply a 2mm wide strip of silicone glue around the edge. But Zhang Qiling seemed to be using a different kind of glue, and it was quick-drying. Even though he only tore off a small piece, his skin still showed a red mark.

"Wait a minute!"

Yan Huai frowned deeply when he saw the red mark. He threw down the towel he was using to wipe the water stains, then knelt down beside Zhang Qiling and gently stroked the junction between the silicone and the skin with his fingers.

Zhang Qiling felt a sudden warm touch on his waist, and his body tensed up instantly, not daring to move.

"You sit here and wait for me!" Yan Huai looked for a while, then got up, grabbed a towel, and ran into the bathroom. Not long after, he came running back like a whirlwind with a towel soaked in hot water. "Keep the towel on, I'm going to find something to wash the glue and take this belly off."

Zhang Qiling sat in the chair and nodded blankly, pressing the towel tightly against her skin as if she were covering a fatal wound.

Yan Huai was satisfied, so he turned around and went out wearing slippers, a short-sleeved shirt, and shorts.

“Host, after turning left at the second intersection, there is a supermarket on the first floor opposite you. You can buy bath stones and soap there.”

"it is good!"

After Yan Huai crossed the intersection, he saw the supermarket that the system had mentioned. It was not large, and the goods seemed to be arranged very compactly.

Yan Huai lifted the heavy plastic curtain at the supermarket entrance and stepped inside. He looked down at the owner by the checkout counter and asked, "Excuse me, where are the bath stones and soap?"

"Oh, go inside and look for it on the third shelf on the right!" The supermarket owner, his eyes glued to the computer, replied without even looking up.

Yan Huai didn't mind. After thanking the shopkeeper, he found a shelf with all sorts of toiletries and daily necessities, following the shopkeeper's instructions.

"Which one is the bath stone? Which one is the soap?"

"The ninth item on the bottom row is the bath stone." The system scanned the goods on the shelf and said to Yan Huai, "Then, please turn around. The third row of the shelf is full of soaps. You can choose the seventh one. It is slightly more effective at softening glue than the others and will not have a significant impact on the skin."

"Hmm." Yan Huai reached out and took the bath stone and soap that the system had mentioned. But just as he turned around to pay at the cashier, he smelled a very faint smell of blood, as if it had been deliberately hidden.

Yan Huai stopped in his tracks. He pretended to be strolling around and looked at the cashier through the gaps in the shelves.

The supermarket owner was slumped over his computer desk, face outwards, his arms propped up as if he were asleep. But the smell of blood emanating from him told Yan Huai that the owner was dead.

A rustling sound came from not far behind him. Yan Huai temporarily put down the things he was carrying on the shelf in front of him. He turned his head and saw a dark figure slowly standing up from behind the last shelf. The figure was wearing a hood and its build was very similar to Yan Huai's...

As the shadowy figure drew closer, Yan Huai sensed it. It was red again, and its bloodline was thicker and purer than anyone he had encountered before.

Is it possible for people to fight?

"Host, there are surveillance cameras installed in the supermarket, but the signal has been deliberately blocked, and only the image of you entering the supermarket is recorded."

Upon hearing the system's notification, Yan Huai's gaze remained fixed on the dark figure.

The face beneath the hood was now visible under the supermarket lights; it was a face exactly like his own.

Yan Huai's eyes flickered slightly, and he said to the system, "Erase all traces of me along the way, and make the signal jamming even more thorough."

"Good host."

"Who are you?" Although he didn't know the man's purpose, Yan Huai had a feeling that it wasn't a good thing.

"I am Yan Huai!"

The sound is also...

Yan Huai calmly observed the person in front of him. The system had said that this was a world in the book, while he himself had his own original world, so there was no such person as Yan Huai here. This person was an imposter.

"You're just a counterfeit."

The man laughed, his gentle demeanor concealing aggression and indifference: "What will emerge later will be what you call counterfeit or substandard products."

Upon hearing this, Yan Huai's eyes flashed with deep thought, but before he could think it through, he caught a glimpse of the knife coming down from the fake Yan Huai's hand.

Branding knife...

If he really wasn't still lying in his own system space, Yan Huai wouldn't be able to tell whether the knife was real or fake for a while. These people's purpose might not be as simple as finding someone to replace him.

"The eighth task is now issued: replace the Wang family members who are disguised as the host. Upon completion of the task, you will be rewarded with the ability to identify bloodlines, the illusion of a phoenix bloodline tattoo, and the talents possessed by the phoenix bloodline (duration: indefinite). If the task fails, all system rewards will be cancelled."

While dealing with the fake Yan Huai in front of him, Yan Huai was also receiving the tasks issued by the system.

It turns out that these people all came from the Wang family, and Wu Sansheng's previous actions were most likely to be to guard against the Wang family.

"That's what makes it terrifying; I can't be sure if Wu Xie will still be Wu Xie in the next second..."

Recalling what Wu Sansheng had said, Yan Huai suddenly understood a lot. A murderous intent flashed in his eyes, and his actions became increasingly ruthless.

Meanwhile, the fake Yan Huai also sensed something was wrong. Even when he used a knife, he could only fight Yan Huai to a draw, but now he was gradually falling into a disadvantageous position. However, he had already alerted Yan Huai, and he had no choice but to either die or Yan Huai die.

Taking advantage of the gap in the parry, the fake Yan Huai distanced himself from Yan Huai. He hurriedly reached for his lower back, where a signal flare was prepared. It was originally meant to be used after killing Yan Huai, but if he didn't use it now, he would be the one to die.

This time, their understanding of Yan Huai was not detailed enough. Faced with a sudden appearance of an unknown force, they adopted the methods of elimination and infiltration, which was a miscalculation on their part.

"Host, he wants to use a signal flare."

Yan Huai narrowed his eyes, and an invisible pressure from his bloodline instantly descended upon the fake Yan Huai, preventing him from firing the signal flare.

"Uh—" Yan Huai gave no chance. He flashed over and his fingertips, which had transformed into dragon claws, grazed the neck of the fake Yan Huai.

Before long, only a single, horrified corpse remained lying in the pool of blood...

How can this person's face look so much like mine?

Yan Huai squatted beside the corpse, remembering the human skin mask that Zhang Qiling had just used. With a thought, he reached out and touched the corpse's face. He held the corpse's head and examined it over and over, almost tearing the head off, but still found nothing.

Isn't it a human skin mask?

Yan Huai kept this question in mind. He stripped the clothes off the corpse and swapped them with his own. During this process, he saw the bloodline tattoo on the corpse's back: a red phoenix reborn from the ashes.

"Can his bloodline tattoos be hidden?"

“Host, your bloodline tattoo is something you are born with and cannot be hidden, but you can burn it.”

"An inextinguishable flame?"

"Yes, host, the system can protect everything else here perfectly."

Yan Huai understood. He changed his clothes, stood up, and released the inextinguishable flame from the system space. At the same time, a hidden protective shield spread out, covering the entire supermarket.

The moment the undying flame touched the corpse, it turned into a pile of black and white powder, which, under Yan Huai's gaze, dissipated without a breeze...

After dealing with all of this, Yan Huai walked to the supermarket window, raised his hand and launched the signal flare in his hand. The white fireworks rose into the air and disappeared without a trace in no time.

Before long, seven or eight members of the Wang family with phoenix bloodlines poured into the supermarket. One of them, who seemed to have some seniority, walked to Yan Huai's side, bowed his head, and called out, "My lord!"

Yan Huai's expression remained unchanged, and the corners of his lips curled slightly. He glanced to the side and said, "Clean up the rest."

"Understood!" With a wave of his hand, the other members of the Wang family cleaned up the mess in the supermarket, including the innocent supermarket owner.

Yan Huai remained calm, but a sense of doubt arose in his heart. These people did not suspect anything about the disappearance of the fake Yan Huai's body. Perhaps this was related to the system's instruction to use the Undying Flame to destroy the corpse.

"My lord, this is a copy of the clothes Yan Huai wore before."

Yan Huai reached out and took it. When he put it on in front of these people, the phoenix tattoo on his back was clearly visible to them.

Walking towards the shelf displaying bath stones and soap, Yan Huai said calmly, "Go back and tell them that Yan Huai is in place."

"Yes, my lord!"

"Congratulations, host, on completing mission eight. The system is issuing rewards. Congratulations, host, on obtaining the ability to identify bloodlines, the illusion of the Phoenix Bloodline Tattoo, and the talent possessed by the Phoenix Bloodline (limited time: indefinite)."

Yan Huai stepped out of the supermarket, thinking to himself: The Wang family, assassination and infiltration, huh! But how can counterfeit goods compare to the power of God... (To clarify, God refers to the true master, especially Yan Huai himself, and has no other religious connotations.)

"Signal jamming off, that's it for today."

"Good host!"