Chapter 31: Ambush
The group rummaged through the hall, turning over every possible place, but still found no clues.
"Where the hell is it?" Yuan Yao punched the wall. "This crappy place is this small. I've even checked the decorations, and there's no hidden mechanism or secret passage."
Indeed, the building was shaped like a hollow square. The central "mouth" area took up a considerable amount of space, making it the easiest place to hide something compared to other spots. But aside from the decorations behind the counter, the other three walls didn't even have a painting hanging on them. Knocking on them revealed solid walls, making a secret room or passage impossible.
"This decoration is wrong." Huang Junjie circled behind the counter and pressed his palm hard against the protruding round wooden block. With a click, the round wood popped open, revealing a space of about one or two square meters behind it. On the floor was a movable wooden board. Pulling it up exposed a staircase leading underground.
"So it's a push-to-open door. I wasted all that time picking at the decorations above." Yuan Yao's face flushed with embarrassment.
Huang Junjie turned back to ask Xu Huo, "Should we go down and take a look?"
The three of them descended the passage one after another. Just as the wooden door above was pulled shut, the Rich Second Generation and Liu Yuanyuan emerged from one side.
"I knew Huang Junjie and that Xu guy were whispering to each other. They probably figured something out," the Rich Second Generation muttered. He waited a moment before pressing open the wooden door.
After they left, Abel also came out from the side and followed them down the passage.
A few minutes later, Zhang Xiong and his two companions returned from the wooden house. After searching around, they found that everyone who should have been there was gone. Frustrated, they started smashing things.
"It sounds like there's something back here!" Wang Wei pressed his ear against the round wooden decoration and listened carefully.
Zhang Xiong charged over and kicked it. The round door flew open. He jumped in first, excitedly saying, "No wonder we couldn't find the Headchopper anywhere. He's been hiding in here all along. Killing the Headchopper might even come with a reward. Let's go!"
Another three people crawled inside.
*
The passage was wider than expected. Two people could walk side by side without any problem, and after coming down the stone steps, it split into three branches.
Xu Huo and his group chose one of them. Walking along it, they didn't find any trace of the college student. Instead, they discovered that the branches had further branches. The exit of one small branch was right under a stone beside the hot spring in the room on the left.
"It looks like the Headchopper uses these passages to move around," Huang Junjie said. "Jia Xuyang was carrying so much food. He's most likely hiding in here. Was it really him who did what happened yesterday?"
"Let's find him first," Xu Huo said, quickly turning back into the passage. As soon as he landed, he heard the sound of a blade striking a stone wall.
Following the sound, he ran over. Just as he turned a corner, he collided with Abel.
"What are you doing here?" Huang Junjie drew his knife.
"Don't misunderstand!" Abel quickly waved his hands. "I followed Miss Liu and the others down here. I didn't know the branches were connected, got lost, and only came over when I heard the noise."
Xu Huo ignored him and entered another branch. When the beam of his flashlight hit the opposite side, he first saw a tall, dark figure flash past, and then he saw the college student's body leaning against the wall, his head already severed.
"There's blood over here." Abel used the peripheral light to look at the ground. Two obvious trails of blood led off in another direction.
"Hurry up and chase!" Huang Junjie took the lead and followed.
The group followed the bloodstains around two turns. Unexpectedly, they kicked something underfoot. In the darkness, a spherical object rolled clattering forward.
Huang Junjie's hair stood on end.
He wasn't the only one. Yuan Yao had also kicked something. "No... don't tell me..."
The flashlight beam shone on the ground. Three human heads were scattered carelessly on the floor, with patches of blood, some dried and some fresh. Because of the kicking, the heads had bumped against the wall, leaving bloody smears.
Looking at the heads, Xu Huo frowned and asked, "When you came down just now, had Wang Wei and the other two come back yet..."
Before he could finish speaking, he felt someone approaching from behind. Before he could react, a thin wire wrapped around his throat, and he was lifted off the ground!
Abel, who had been asked the question, was about to speak. He turned around, but before he could open his mouth, he saw the flashlight fall, and Xu Huo's feet dangling in the air, being carried backward by a tall, dark figure!
He tore the cross from his necklace and threw it, but it was knocked away by an axe. Huang Junjie picked up the flashlight and illuminated the entire passage.
"He doesn't have feet!" Yuan Yao was holding a human head, about to roll it on the ground, hoping to make the Headchopper slip. But when he looked down, he saw that the space under the black cloak was empty!
Just as it seemed the man was about to be carried out of this passage, Xu Huo, suspended in the air, suddenly kicked his feet against the wall and slammed his head backward, crashing it into the Headchopper's mask!
The mask, made of plastic material, clattered to the ground. Xu Huo also broke free from the Headchopper's grip. He touched the blood on his neck, turned around, and faced the Headchopper, who was now just a torso floating in the air.
Huang Junjie and the other two chased over. Staring at the motionless black cloak holding a sharp axe, their scalps tingled!
"No head and no feet. The Headchopper really isn't human!"
"God, heavens, there really are ghosts!"
"What do we do?"
The four of them faced off against the Headchopper. Suddenly, the mask that had fallen to the ground flew back into the Headchopper's hand, and he put it back on. Just as he raised his hand, Xu Huo pulled out a dagger and threw it!
As metal clashed and sparks flew, they bounced apart. A lit lighter flew across the passage, and then Xu Huo opened a second one in his hand:
"Ignite!"
The lighter hit the black cloak and slid to the ground without even sparking a single ember!
"Watch this!" Abel shoved Xu Huo aside. A massive cross, truly enormous, appeared in his hand from nowhere. His arm muscles bulged as he hurled the cross at the Headchopper!
The cross smashed into the axe. The cloak retreated a short distance, and the axe-wielding arms were pressed back to the ground!
It worked!
The other three's eyes lit up. They were about to move forward when they saw the heavy, massive cross suddenly turn into a pile of foam. Its weight was gone, and the Headchopper effortlessly flew into another branch!
The four of them paused for a moment before giving chase, but by the time they reached the branch entrance, the black cloak was already gone. At the same time, firelight approached from the other side.
"It's you!" Zhang Xiong hastily backed away. "I saw Jia Xuyang's body. Did you do this?"
"No!" Abel said. "We were attacked by the Headchopper too. We're chasing him!"
The pursuing team grew from four to five. They wandered around in the branches, and the team grew to seven, then nine, but still, there was no sign of the Headchopper.
"I think we should stop looking," Huang Junjie said, panting heavily. "That thing appears and disappears mysteriously, and the passage is so dark. We don't even know how many branches there are. Searching like this is a waste of time."
"Let's take the bodies up first." Xu Huo also didn't intend to continue searching. It was a pure waste of time.
The group carried Jia Xuyang's body and the other two heads back to the surface. They placed the three bodies together, at least piecing together a complete corpse.
"Xiao Jia died too tragically." Wang Wei looked at Jia Xuyang's body, unable to bear it. He then said, "You guys were too careless. You knew the Headchopper wasn't easy to deal with. Even if you found his trail, you should have waited for everyone to gather before making a move."