# Chapter 29: Killing Desire
"Du Lanlan and Xia Guo died so horribly. Who among us here could have done that?"
"I think the Headchopper appears and disappears mysteriously. Maybe he deliberately used smoke bombs to confuse us, making us kill each other first!"
"Have you forgotten? Anyone who touched the Headchopper statue would be cursed. And tonight, it happened to be Xia Guo who died. Doesn't that explain everything?"
Huang Junjie and Yuan Yao subconsciously glanced at Xu Huo, only to hear him say: "Du Lanlan didn't seem to have touched it."
"So what? The Headchopper just killed two in one go." Liu Yuanyuan touched her nails, saying nonchalantly: "Trying to reason with a murderer, you big men really have too much free time."
"Has anyone else noticed Du Lanlan's movements?" The rich second-generation looked around the group, finally fixing his gaze on Wan Zhikang.
Wan Zhikang wiped his sweat. Seeing others staring at him again, he pulled a long face: "What are you looking at me for? I'm not a peeping tom. How would I know what she did!"
The others all shook their heads. The courtyard suddenly fell silent.
"Since that's the case, let's split up. A few people stay to take care of Du Lanlan and Xia Guo's bodies, and the others go fix the wires." Huang Junjie ended this mutual suspicion session and proactively suggested handling the corpses.
The other players looked at each other. On the surface, nothing showed, but each had their own calculations in mind.
In the end, Zhang Xiong and his two companions plus Wang Wei went to fix the wires. Xu Huo and Yuan Yao stayed behind to help. The rich second-generation and Liu Yuanyuan also left. The college student sat alone in a corner without moving.
Du and Xia's bodies couldn't be buried directly without heads, nor could they be left by the hot spring pool. So Xu Huo and Yuan Yao lifted the mattress, placed the bodies on wooden boards, and covered them with sheets.
Turning back to see the college student wiping tears on the doorstep, Xu Huo frowned: "What are you crying about?"
"Why is everyone targeting me? Am I that easy to bully?" The college student said indignantly: "I just hid a knife to survive. I haven't killed anyone or harmed anyone. Why does everyone bully me?"
Yuan Yao sympathetically patted his shoulder: "It's because we're weak. The game is so cruel. One wrong move and you lose your life. It's normal for others to be cautious."
The college student fearfully glanced at the bed where blood had again soaked through the sheets and fell silent.
Huang Junjie called Xu Huo to the courtyard and asked directly: "How can you be sure it wasn't the Headchopper?"
Xu Huo stared at him without speaking.
His silence lasted so long that Yuan Yao and the college student also looked over, then followed his gaze to Huang Junjie.
Huang Junjie suddenly realized: "You suspect me and Yuan Yao!"
"Brother Xu!" Yuan Yao exclaimed in surprise.
"Don't be nervous." Xu Huo pulled out a lighter but didn't take out a cigarette. "I trust Yuan Yao."
Yuan Yao breathed a sigh of relief and immediately stood behind him, glaring at Huang Junjie as if 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 his shoulder, but happened to hit his wound. Huang Junjie flinched in pain and instinctively knocked his hand away, his suddenly pale face showing wariness.
"I was just joking." Xu Huo confirmed that his injury was real and hadn't been healed with special potions, then said: "What do you think of the Headchopper's strength?"
"Of course he's very powerful," Huang Junjie said. "More familiar with this mountain villa than anyone else. Appears and disappears mysteriously. Kills silently..."
His words gradually trailed off. He looked at Xu Huo with sudden understanding and complexity: "So that's it."
Yuan Yao scratched his head in confusion: "Brother Xu, what does it mean? The Headchopper is strong, so what?"
"If it were the Headchopper, there would be no need to touch the circuit breaker," Huang Junjie explained. "The first power outage wasn't an accident either. Everyone reacted strongly at the time, immediately leaving their rooms to gather in the lobby."
"The second time the power went out, we first thought it was another outage. We waited a while before someone came out, then gathered near the storage room, until we were led to this room by the noise."
"That's right," Xu Huo nodded. "The biggest danger in this instance is the Headchopper. It's not strange for people to die at his hands. There's no need to prove the Headchopper's existence. Cutting the power and knocking over the shelf were only to prove that a certain player was together with other players."
"Isn't that adding unnecessary complexity!" Yuan Yao slapped his forehead.
"Who do you suspect?" Huang Junjie quickly asked.
Xu Huo turned to the college student, who had been listening intently. Suddenly meeting his eyes, the college student was startled: "It's really not me! I took the knife and came back before the power went out. If you don't believe me, ask Wang Wei. I went out while he was showering. He must have heard me come back to the room. I even waited for him to leave the room together!"
"Did anyone see you hide the knife during the day?" Xu Huo asked.
The college student's expression was hesitant: "I'm not sure. Everyone was looking for food at the time. If someone had seen me, would they have let me take the knife?"
"You suspect Wang Wei?" Huang Junjie felt the timing was off, since the college student had already returned to his room when the power went out, and Wang Wei was also in the room at that time.
"Not sure." Xu Huo then said: "But someone killed under the Headchopper's name and deliberately gathered all the players together, just to divert attention and make other players think the danger came from outside, not from among the players."
This method could actually work. In the context of the instance, when seeing the bodies, players would default to assuming the Headchopper did it. Even if players later suspected others, the shared experience of seeing the bodies together would temporarily patch this loophole. Players wouldn't easily attack each other. By the time someone figured it out, at least several players would have been lost. With mutual suspicion continuing, it was uncertain whether any players would survive in the end.
But if the premise was that the Headchopper was among the players, then every player was suspect. Players who could vouch for each other formed groups, and under mutual suspicion, attacking a lone player became very difficult.
So the next time, the Headchopper would either have to appear in groups or take on several at once. Either way, the situation would become clearer. At least hiding in the shadows to kill wouldn't be so easy.
"There's also a problem with this," Xu Huo said. "Someone might guess that the Headchopper is among us."
"What problem is that?" Huang Junjie was stunned for a moment, then said: "Wait, are you saying there is no Headchopper at all?"
"That's impossible," Yuan Yao said. "The instance introduction said the Headchopper has been here for decades."
The college student held his head, his eyes confused: "What are you talking about?"
"The Headchopper is most likely a player," Xu Huo said, spinning the lighter. "If you knew this, what would you do to complete the instance mission?"
Huang Junjie opened his mouth and fell silent.
"That's right." The lighter clicked open with a "ding," illuminating Xu Huo's face, the light drawing a clear boundary between light and shadow on his features. "I would kill all the other players."