Chapter 33: The Confrontation

"That is a baseless accusation!" Wang Wei roared in a fit of pique. "If we're going down that road, I could just as easily say you killed Zhang Xiong! There are four of you; wouldn't it be easy enough for you to kill someone?"

"Are you out of your mind? If we were in league with the Headless Butcher, would Brother Xu still be injured?" Yuan Yao retorted.

"Who's to say you aren't just putting on a show?" Wang Wei moved closer to Liu Yuanyuan. "The two of us are being ostracized now. Who are you going to believe—them or me?"

Liu Yuanyuan glanced back and forth between them. After a few seconds, she stepped back to put some distance between herself and everyone else. "I don't know who is telling the truth and who is lying. I just want to survive until the mission ends."

A savage glint flickered in Wang Wei's eyes, but when he turned his head, his face was filled with indignation. "I will not stay here with a bunch of murderers!"

Just as he was about to leave, Xu Huo, who had been crouching beside Zhang Xiong's body, stood up. His voice was hoarse as he said, "If you think you can clear this stage just by reaping the rewards of others' labor, you are gravely mistaken."

"The two who died in the lobby—you killed them, didn't you, Liu Yuanyuan?"

In an instant, everyone present turned to look at Liu Yuanyuan.

Liu Yuanyuan's eyes brimmed with tears, looking pitiful. "What do you mean? I don't understand..."

"While the others were distracted by the Headless Butcher, you and that rich kid named Li Zheng teamed up to kill Wan Zhikang. It just so happened that Wang Wei wasn't around. After Wan Zhikang was dead, you ambushed Li Zheng, then came to find us, falsely claiming the Headless Butcher had killed him." Xu Huo walked up to her, looking down at her with a scrutinizing gaze. "You put on a good act, Cannibal Player."

The shimmering tears in Liu Yuanyuan's eyes vanished. She brushed back her hair and gave a radiant smile. "Li Zheng was right. You’re much better than that half-baked Huang Junjie."

"When Du Lanlan and Xia Guo died yesterday, Li Zheng said you suspected someone among us was the culprit. He also said you didn't suspect players were killing each other, but rather that the Headless Butcher was hiding among us. I didn't believe him at first, but it seems you really do have some tricks up your sleeve."

"Are you the Headless Butcher?!" Seeing her walk toward him, Wang Wei scrambled backward.

Liu Yuanyuan scoffed. Shedding her previous delicate demeanor, she swayed her waist with a feline grace, blew a kiss to the group, and slowly began to pull the warehouse door shut.

"Honestly, when Li Zheng told me yesterday that the Butcher was a player, we planned to kill off all the other players. After all, if the Butcher is one of us, why bother trying to guess who it is?"

"It's a pity. I decided that rather than splitting the quest rewards with others, I’d rather keep them all for myself."

"Are you saying you're neither the Headless Butcher nor an accomplice?" Huang Junjie's pride in his judgment was dealt another blow. "How can you prove that?"

"What proof would I need?" Liu Yuanyuan acted as if she had heard a joke, casting a glance at Xu Huo. "If you don't believe me, ask him."

"Wait, wait!" Yuan Yao held up his hands. "What are you all talking about? Didn't we see the Headless Butcher with our own eyes? Why are we going in circles—why has the Butcher become a player again?"

"There is only one Headless Butcher. The most direct proof is that he has never been in the same place as all of us players at the same time." Xu Huo lit a cigarette, but the smoke irritated his throat, so he dropped it on the ground and ground it out.

"That's not right. When he appeared just now, all of us were there." Yuan Yao's eyes widened. "Could someone have been playing dead?"

Huang Junjie slapped his forehead. "When the Butcher appeared just now, he was missing something."

Yuan Yao looked confused, but Abel suddenly realized. "It was the axe!"

"Exactly," Xu Huo nodded. "There should have been someone under the Butcher's cloak, but after being struck by Zhang Xiong, his movements were more like an empty cloak. That cloak used a prop to enter, put out the lights, and then left, all to force the players to scatter."

"As for the weapon," he pointed to the bloody scratch on his neck, "it was likely something like a thin steel wire or a piano string. It's not very flexible; it can't move like a real person."

"That's the same prop used to retrieve the axe after Huang Junjie was attacked."

"That proves the Butcher is a player, but it doesn't mean the other players aren't accomplices," Huang Junjie said, his brow furrowed.

"There's no need to verify the identities of the other players," Xu Huo said with a smile. "According to the game background, the manor owner has offered a bounty for the capture of the Headless Butcher. As long as we catch the Butcher, the mission can be ended early."

"Then who is the Butcher?" Yuan Yao swallowed nervously.

Xu Huo's gaze shifted, and just as he was about to speak, Liu Yuanyuan interrupted him. "Wait a minute. Tell me first, what did you mean by that earlier?"

"I don't know how you concluded that I killed Wan Zhikang and Li Zheng, but why wouldn't killing all the players clear the stage? If all the players are dead, that means the Butcher is dead too. I should clear the stage."

"The woodcutter by the cabin is a player," Xu Huo said coolly.

Huang Junjie looked as if he had been struck by lightning. "He's a player?!"

"He's a player who stayed behind after failing to clear several previous dungeon games," Xu Huo summarized the information he had gathered. "He successfully lived until the end of those games but failed to clear them. In the games he played afterward, there were even players who survived alone until the end, yet still failed to clear."

"So that's how it is." Liu Yuanyuan's eyes flickered. "So you're certain that even if I kill all the other players, I still won't clear the stage."

She let out a sudden, loud laugh. "And I thought you were some kind of saint. If killing everyone could clear the stage, you probably would have done it long ago."

Xu Huo looked at her coldly. "You kill because your brain isn't up to the task; killing is all you're capable of."

The laughter stopped abruptly. Liu Yuanyuan's expression turned icy. "You're quite clever, aren't you? Then tell me, who is the Headless Butcher? Once I kill him, I'll come back to deal with you!"

Xu Huo turned to Huang Junjie and the others. "See? She can provide her own proof."

Huang Junjie looked at the trembling, furious Liu Yuanyuan with a complicated expression. While she had confessed without being prompted, there was really no need to be so blunt about drawing her ire.

"Ha!" Wang Wei, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly let out a laugh. His gaze was icy as he stared at them. "So, in the end, you've been suspecting me all along."

"That's right." Xu Huo looked at him, then paused to ask: "Before the other players arrived, you had already entered the manor, hadn't you?"

Huang Junjie and the others were baffled. Wang Wei narrowed his eyes. "I was indeed the first player to arrive at the manor. The game mission changes for the first player to reach the Hot Spring Manor, and the Headless Butcher's prop was left right at the entrance."

"To think you could even guess that. It seems the first person I should have killed wasn't Huang Junjie, but you."

Huang Junjie, now named, turned livid. Old grievances and new hatred surged within him, and a bamboo knife appeared in his hand. "Why bother talking to him? For a murderous maniac like this, just kill him and be done with it!"

Wang Wei sneered. "Du Lanlan, Xia Guo, Jia Xuyang, Zhang Xiong—I have already acquired the traits and props of four players. Do you really think you can defeat me?"