Chapter 29: The Lust for Slaughter

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“Du Lanlan and Xia Guo died so horribly. Who among us could have done that?”

“I think the Head-Cutting Demon is appearing and disappearing at will. Maybe he deliberately used the smoke screen to confuse us, making us turn on one another first!”

“You’ve forgotten that anyone who touches the Head-Cutting Demon statue is cursed. Xia Guo happened to be the one who died tonight. Doesn’t that prove anything?”

Huang Junjie and Yuan Yao instinctively glanced at Xu Huo, who merely said, “I don’t think Du Lanlan ever touched it.”

“So what? The Head-Cutting Demon just killed two birds with one stone.” Liu Yuanyuan examined her fingernails, utterly unconcerned. “Trying to reason with a killer… You men really have too much time on your hands.”

“Have any of you noticed where Du Lanlan went or what she was doing?” the rich second-generation heir asked, sweeping his gaze over everyone before finally looking at Wan Zhikang.

Wan Zhikang wiped away his sweat. When he saw the others staring at him again, his face fell. “Why are you looking at me? I’m not some peeping tom. How would I know what she did?”

Everyone else shook their heads, and the courtyard suddenly fell silent.

“Since that’s the case, we’ll split up. A few people will stay behind to take care of Du Lanlan and Xia Guo, while the rest go repair the wires.” Huang Junjie brought the mutual suspicion to an end and volunteered to deal with the bodies.

The other players exchanged glances. Nothing showed on their faces, but each was making his own calculations.

In the end, Zhang Xiong and his two companions, along with Wang Wei, went to repair the wires. Xu Huo and Yuan Yao stayed behind to help. The rich heir and Liu Yuanyuan left as well, while the college student remained crouched in a corner, making no attempt to move.

With both Du Lanlan and Xia Guo missing their heads, they could not simply be buried. Nor could the bodies be left beside the hot spring. Xu Huo and Yuan Yao lifted the mattress, placed the corpses on the wooden boards beneath it, and covered them with a bedsheet.

When Xu Huo turned back and saw the college student sitting on the threshold, wiping away tears, he frowned. “What are you crying for?”

“Why is everyone picking on me? Do I really look that easy to bully?” the college student demanded angrily. “I only hid a knife because I wanted to survive. I haven’t killed or harmed anyone, so why does everyone get to bully me?”

Yuan Yao patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. “Who can we blame for being weak? The game is brutal. One careless move and you lose your life. It’s only natural for the others to be cautious.”

The college student glanced fearfully at the bedsheet on the bed, already soaked through with blood, and fell silent.

Huang Junjie called Xu Huo out into the courtyard and asked him outright, “How can you be sure it wasn’t the Head-Cutting Demon?”

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Xu Huo stared at him without saying a word.

He remained silent for so long that Yuan Yao and the college student also turned to look, then followed his gaze toward Huang Junjie.

Huang Junjie suddenly understood. “You suspect Yuan Yao and me?”

“Brother Xu!” Yuan Yao cried out.

“Don’t be nervous.” Xu Huo took out a lighter but did not produce a cigarette. “I trust Yuan Yao.”

Yuan Yao visibly relaxed. He immediately moved behind Xu Huo and glared at Huang Junjie as though they were united against a common enemy.

Huang Junjie gritted his teeth. “Then you should know from asking him that I didn’t have time to kill anyone.”

Xu Huo grinned and reached out to pat him on the shoulder, striking directly over his wound. Huang Junjie instinctively shoved him away, his face turning deathly pale as wariness filled his eyes.

“I was only joking.” After confirming that the wound was genuine and that Huang Junjie had not used any special medicine to heal it, Xu Huo continued, “What do you think of the Head-Cutting Demon’s strength?”

“He’s obviously very powerful,” Huang Junjie replied. “He knows this mountain resort better than anyone, appears and disappears without a trace, and kills without making the slightest sound…”

He gradually fell silent. Then he looked at Xu Huo with a complicated expression, realization dawning on his face. “So that’s it.”

Yuan Yao scratched his head in confusion. “Brother Xu, what exactly do you mean? What does it matter that the Head-Cutting Demon is strong?”

“If it really was the Head-Cutting Demon, there would have been no reason to touch the circuit breaker,” Huang Junjie explained. “The first power outage wasn’t an accident either. Everyone reacted strongly at the time, leaving their rooms immediately and gathering in the lobby.”

“When the power went out the second time, our first thought was also that the circuit had tripped. We waited for a while before anyone came out. After that, we gathered near the storage room, until the sound drew us to this room.”

“Exactly.” Xu Huo nodded. “The greatest danger in this instance is the Head-Cutting Demon. It wouldn’t be strange for someone to die at his hands, and there would be no need to prove that he exists. Cutting the power and pulling down the shelving were merely ways to prove that a certain player had been with the others.”

“Wasn’t that just adding an unnecessary complication?” Yuan Yao slapped his forehead.

“Who do you suspect?” Huang Junjie asked hastily.

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Xu Huo turned toward the college student. The latter had been listening intently, so when he suddenly met Xu Huo’s eyes, he jumped.

“It really wasn’t me! I took the knife, and the power hadn’t even gone out yet. If you don’t believe me, ask Wang Wei. I went out while he was taking a shower. When I returned to my room, he must have heard me. I even waited for him before leaving the room together!”

“When you hid the knife during the day, did anyone see you?” Xu Huo asked.

The college student hesitated. “I’m not sure. Everyone was looking for food at the time. If someone had seen me, would they really have let me take the knife away?”

“You suspect Wang Wei?” Huang Junjie thought there had not been enough time. After all, the college student had already returned to his room when the power went out, and Wang Wei had been in his room then as well.

“I’m not sure.” Xu Huo changed tack. “But if someone killed under the guise of the Head-Cutting Demon and deliberately gathered all the players together, then there’s only one purpose: to divert attention and make the others believe the danger came from outside rather than from another player.”

It was actually a workable strategy. Given the background of the instance, whenever players saw a corpse, they would instinctively assume the Head-Cutting Demon was responsible. Even if they later began to suspect one another, the fact that everyone had seen the body together would temporarily patch over that contradiction. The players would not easily turn on one another. By the time they realized what was happening, several players would have already been lost. Once mutual suspicion took hold, it would be impossible to say whether anyone would survive in the end.

But if they assumed that the Head-Cutting Demon was among them, then every player became a suspect. Players who could vouch for one another would naturally form groups, and with everyone suspicious of everyone else, it would be extremely difficult to attack anyone who was alone.

The next time the Head-Cutting Demon appeared, he would either have to show himself alongside several others or take on multiple players at once. Either way, the situation would become clearer. At the very least, it would no longer be so easy to hide in the shadows and kill.

“There’s a problem with that, too,” Xu Huo said. “Someone might figure out that the Head-Cutting Demon is one of us.”

“What problem is that?” Huang Junjie was stunned. Then he added, “Wait. Are you saying there isn’t actually a Head-Cutting Demon?”

“That’s impossible,” Yuan Yao said. “The instance description says the Head-Cutting Demon has been here for decades.”

The college student clutched his head, his expression blank with bewilderment. “What are you talking about?”

“The Head-Cutting Demon is most likely a player.” Xu Huo turned the lighter over in his hand. “If you knew that, what would you do to complete the instance’s objective?”

Huang Junjie opened his mouth, then fell silent.

“Exactly.”

With a sharp click, the lighter flared to life, illuminating Xu Huo’s face. The flame cast a stark boundary between light and shadow across his features.

“I would kill every other player.”