Chapter 28: Suspicion
"What do you mean by that?" The rich second-generation frowned at him. "When the power went out, everyone was over by the circuit breaker. You yourself only came over after hearing the commotion. Who could have split off to kill someone?"
"I've already checked," Xu Huo said. "What fell should have been the shelving unit next to the hot spring pool. Du Lanlan and Xia Guo—two people—were killed without even a cry for help. It's highly likely there was a huge gap in strength between them and their attacker, and there aren't many signs of a struggle around either."
"You think the shelf just fell over on its own?" Wan Zhikang looked at him like he was trying to take everyone for idiots.
"It could have been knocked over by accident, or it could have been the wind. There are so many uncertain factors—how can you be sure someone was here when the shelf fell?" Xu Huo said meaningfully. "You can use game items to create an alibi too."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then the realization hit them. Right—from the power outage to when they discovered Du and Xia's bodies, there had been several minutes in between. Since the two had been killed without crying for help or any sounds of a fight, the shelf suddenly toppling over made no sense. It was like it had been deliberately staged for the players to see.
"Maybe it was a coincidence," Abel said. "The fixtures here are old and soaked in moisture. It wouldn't be strange for one to lose its footing."
"Coincidences are a separate matter," Huang Junjie said. "At the very least, we need to confirm that none of the players are suspects in the murder. Otherwise, how can we work together to deal with the Headchopper?"
"That's the truth." The rich second-generation started first. "Before the power outage, I was with Liu Yuanyuan the whole time. After that, when I came out to check the circuit breaker, I ran into Zhang Xiong."
Zhang Xiong nodded. "When I came down the hallway, he had just stepped out. I also saw Liu Yuanyuan smoking."
Liu Yuanyuan corroborated the story. "Zhang Xiong did pass by the door."
"When Zhang Xiong came out, Yuan Yao and I heard the noise," Huang Junjie also said.
Before that, Zhang Xiong had been in the same room as Wan Zhikang and Abel, so the three could vouch for each other.
Wang Wei had arrived at the storage room together with the college student, but he hesitated before speaking. "But before the power went out, he stepped out for a while."
The college student's expression visibly turned panicked. "It wasn't me! I didn't kill anyone! I was already back in the room before the power went out! Right when the power cut, I called out to you—you were still in the bathroom then!"
"Not necessarily—the victims might not have died after the power outage!" Huang Junjie looked at him warily. "You kill them first, then cut the power line to lure everyone out, and pretend to come out together with Wang Wei."
"It wasn't me!" The college student suddenly shouted, but before he could continue explaining, Zhang Xiong punched him in the stomach. He curled up and knelt on the ground, tears and hatred in his eyes. "I told you it wasn't me! If Du Lanlan and the others died before the power outage, then everyone was in their own rooms at that time—no one can prove their own innocence!"
Zhang Xiong grabbed him and lifted him up. "Are you saying we conspired to commit murder?"
"If it wasn't the Headchopper, who has the ability to kill silently? Unless it was a group effort!" The college student struggled, and suddenly a fruit knife fell out from behind his back.
Wan Zhikang snatched it up and demanded furiously, "What's this?"
Before the college student could say anything, he took two more punches. Zhang Xiong looked like he was trying to beat the man to death. Xu Huo stopped him. "The murder weapon isn't a fruit knife."
Both Du and Xia had violent chopping marks on their necks—there was no way a fruit knife could have done that.
"So what?" Wan Zhikang said. "As long as he can't explain what he was doing before the power outage, he's the prime suspect!"
The college student was now battered and bruised, his swollen eyes glaring through the slits at Zhang and Wan. "You two are the only ones in the mountain villa with an axe."
"I hid the fruit knife for self-defense! I found it in the dining room during the day, and I didn't take it because I was afraid others would see it. I only went out at night to get the knife!"
"How could a fruit knife chop off someone's head!"
Almost all the players had arrived empty-handed. To kill someone, you'd need a tool, and among everyone present, only Wan Zhikang had a stolen axe.
"You dare frame me!" Wan Zhikang charged forward to hit him but was held back by the rich second-generation and Wang Wei. The former said, "You've had it out for those two women for a long time, haven't you?"
The blood drained from Wan Zhikang's fat face. "You suspect me?"
Everyone looked at him in silence, clearly believing what the college student had said. He, along with his roommates Zhang Xiong and Abel, were all suspects.
"Bullshit!" Zhang Xiong erupted in fury. "I've never laid a hand on a woman!"
"Absolutely not!" Abel also said frantically. "I'm a Buddhist too—I don't take life!"
The rich second-generation sneered. "You foreign devil—what do you know about Buddhism? You're the only ones with an axe, and the victims were killed by an axe. If not you, then who?"
Wan Zhikang was sweating profusely, his eyes darting around wildly. In his panic, he suddenly pointed at Xu Huo. "What about him? And him! He was the only one who wasn't in the villa earlier—he came back from outside! He's the most suspicious one!"
"I only met Zhang Xiong and Abel after entering the game. Even if I had a grudge against those two women, how could I convince them to kill with me? What good would it do me if the players all died? I can't even beat the Headchopper!"
"That's right—after the first power outage, you never showed up again. You were the only one outside!" Zhang Xiong immediately redirected the blame.
The others turned their gazes to Xu Huo. Huang Junjie looked at him with doubt. "Why did you insist on staying alone in the cabin?"
Under normal circumstances, no one would want to be alone in such a dangerous place. But Xu Huo had chosen to stay behind even when he had the chance to return to the villa with the others. That in itself was highly unusual.
"I already explained my reason before. I was curious whether that person would come back to life again." Xu Huo showed no sign of panic and spoke slowly and deliberately. "After all, I went through a life-and-death struggle and had to dig a grave and bury the body. In that short amount of time, no matter how fast I moved, I couldn't have traveled back and forth between two locations and killed three people."
"Oh, and those wild plums—I broke them off from the trees in the woods. By the way, there are quite a lot of fruit trees out there."
The players were confused.
The college student was almost too weak—he couldn't even take a single punch from Zhang Xiong. It was a stretch to say he had killed two people silently and taken their heads by himself.
And convincing others to join him wasn't easy either. Having just an axe didn't prove anything, because by that logic, players in other rooms were equally suspect. No one could determine whether players in other rooms had already formed alliances.
As for Xu Huo, his time was clearly insufficient. After the first power outage, he hadn't returned with Huang Junjie and Yuan Yao, and he had also been busy killing and burying a body near the cabin. The interval between the two power outages wasn't that long.
For a moment, it seemed like all the players were suspects, and yet all of them seemed innocent.
"You're all overthinking it." Liu Yuanyuan, who had been sitting off to the side, spoke up. "There's a Headchopper in the villa, and instead of suspecting him, you're trying to find the murderer among your own people?"