Players, Please Board the Train-Chapter 43: Skinning

Along with President Zhu, the three men were dragged into a side room. During the brief moments when the door opened and closed, a thick metallic scent of blood wafted out.
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
The sound of chopping blades rang out repeatedly, and soon the voices of those three men vanished completely.
The red-nosed man stepped out again, smiling with satisfaction at the herd of trembling pigs huddled together before continuing to drive them forward.
Several minutes later, everyone had been locked inside pig pens, coming face-to-face with other pig-like figures in neighboring enclosures.
The red-nosed man dumped a bucket of slop while cheerfully muttering to himself: "Eat well, grow fat. The better you grow, the tastier your meat will be."
"Pity there are no piglets. The old hogs will have to be sorted out too - stringy meat can be minced for dumplings."
The pigs pressed together in terror, the stench of bodily fluids permeating the air.
The red-nosed man wrinkled his nose and burst into laughter. Suddenly, as if hearing something, he glanced sharply to his left before slamming the gate shut and stomping away cursing.
Xu Huo overheard him grumbling "Not again" and "How annoying" before violently smashing an empty pig pen, his unhinged brutality on full display.
Once the footsteps faded, Xu Huo assessed his surroundings.
The neighboring pen likely contained those taken earlier - the numbers matched, totaling forty-one including his group.
Beyond them, several piglets lay motionless in distant nursery pens. The sow pens weren't empty either, containing three heavily pregnant sows.
Unlike the panicked newcomers, the piglets and sows lay deathly still, utterly indifferent to the arrivals.
Undoubtedly, they were also humans.
Xu Huo's gaze darkened as he retreated into the center of the pig crowd.
Every human-turned-pig bore a stitched seam along their abdomen. The crude stitching on those around him looked like hastily pinned-together skin, but the piglets' seams had fully fused with their hides, as if grown into the flesh.
Since cutting open his eye slit, Xu Huo had felt his pigskin tightening against his body. Given time, it might become impossible to remove.
Flexing his fingers, he manipulated the Omnipresent String to retrieve fragments of the Headhunter Demon's axe from his pocket.
With the metal shard in hand, he sliced the wrist seam open, reached through to sever the abdominal stitches, and tore the pigskin free in one motion.
As the hide came off, game notifications flashed:
[Player Extra has entered "Good Taste Fresh Meat Supply Plant," default participation in this D-class Random Dungeon activated.]
[Background: Where there's demand, there's harm. With customer needs ever-increasing, underground meat suppliers proliferate across worlds to ensure steady inventory.]
[Good Taste Fresh Meat Supply Plant is one such establishment.]
[As a supplier favored by underground restaurants, owner Red-Nosed Karl not only provides premium red meat but enables diners to serve it openly. His nickname carries weight in these circles.]
[Once a premier skinner, Karl has flayed between ninety-nine to a hundred thousand hides. Behind his crude exterior lies surprising sensitivity - he can smell pregnancy or illness through animal hides with masterful precision.]
[But booming business has overwhelmed Karl, forcing him to post help-wanted ads seeking efficient workers.]
[Several applicants have already arrived.]
[Dungeon Tasks:
① The more precious something is, the easier it's lost - Steal a treasure from Skinner Karl;
② Pigs Fly Free - Rescue three or more children;
③ Diligent Worker - Complete tasks assigned by factory owner Karl.]
[Time Limit: None]
[Completing any single task permits dungeon exit.]
The dungeon was contained within the factory. Applicants were either players or included players among them. Though time-unlimited, all three tasks posed challenges...
"Oink! Oink!" Nearby pigs frantically nudged him while neighboring pen occupants tried jumping over, eyes pleading.
One particularly persistent jumper caught Xu Huo's attention, but he averted his gaze after a glance. Tossing the discarded pigskin into a corner, he whispered: "I'll find an exit. If you can hide my escape from that man, I'll return to help you."
The pigs nodded vigorously. Two immediately flopped onto the hide while others piled atop, forming a living mound that completely concealed it.
Neighboring pigs mimicked the maneuver - except one that kept squealing angrily until Xu Huo shoved it down before slipping out.
Approaching the piglet pen, he found six motionless shoats whose eyes brightened at his approach but didn't approach or vocalize.
When he beckoned, they retreated fearfully. A pregnant sow waddled over and tapped her fully-fused abdominal seam with a hoof.
"Can't just cut this open?"
"You've fused with the hides?"
"Would forced removal kill you?"
Each question received a nod.
"How long until complete fusion?"
"Three hours? Five?"
The sow indicated five.
"Any way to free you?"
This time, she shook her head.
With the second task stymied, Xu Huo turned to the others. Skinner Karl should still be interviewing applicants.
Moving past the pens toward Karl's departure route, he noted the pens occupied the factory's rear - decently lit with forest views through windows. Ahead lay the main facility: slaughter, scalding, and processing lines.
This area contrasted sharply with the pens - ankle-deep in filthy slurry, machines caked with gore, teeming with vermin. A mop in the corner had dried into a pancake shape - not overwork but utter neglect.
Picking dry footholds, Xu Huo passed two rooms. One contained the pipe they'd fallen through, its gaping mouth welded to the wall. He lingered briefly before eyeing two decapitated hogs on nearby hooks and entering the other reeking room.