Chapter 33: Confrontation
"Bloody lies!" Wang Wei roared in fury. "If that's the case, I could say you killed Zhang Xiong. There are four of you—killing one person would be easy, wouldn't it?"
"Are you out of your mind? If we were working with the Headchopper, Brother Xu would still be injured?" Yuan Yao retorted.
"Who knows if you're putting on an act?" Wang Wei moved closer to Liu Yuanyuan. "Now that the two of us are being pushed out, who do you believe—them or me?"
Liu Yuanyuan looked back and forth between them, then stepped back a few seconds later to put distance between herself and everyone else. "I don't know who's telling the truth and who's lying. I just want to survive until the mission ends."
A vicious glint flashed in Wang Wei's eyes, but when he turned his head, his face was full of indignation. "I'm not staying with you murderers!"
Just as he was about to leave, Xu Huo, who had been crouching beside Zhang Xiong's body, stood up and said hoarsely, "If you think you can coast through by reaping the benefits, you're sorely mistaken."
"Those 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 welled up with pitiful tears. "What do you mean? I don't understand..."
"While the others were distracted by the Headchopper, you and that rich second-generation guy Li Zheng joined forces to kill Wan Zhikang. Coincidentally, Wang Wei wasn't around. After Wan Zhikang died, you ambushed Li Zheng, then came to us, claiming the Headchopper did it." Xu Huo walked up to her, looking down at her with scrutiny. "You disguised yourself well, Cannibal Player."
The shimmering tears in Liu Yuanyuan's eyes vanished. She flicked her hair and smiled charmingly. "Li Zheng was right. You're much sharper than that half-baked Huang Junjie."
"When Du Lanlan and Xia Guo died yesterday, Li Zheng said you suspected it was someone among us, and that you didn't think it was just players killing each other—you believed the Headchopper was among the players. I didn't buy it at first, but I didn't expect you to actually have some skills."
"You're the Headchopper?!" Seeing her approach him, Wang Wei quickly backed away.
Liu Yuanyuan let out a scornful laugh, shedding her earlier coquettish demeanor. She twisted her waist, spun around coquettishly, blew a kiss to the group, and slowly pulled the warehouse door shut.
"To be honest, when Li Zheng told me yesterday that the Headchopper was a player, we were planning to kill all the other players. After all, since the Headchopper is among us, why bother guessing one by one?"
"But unfortunately, I figured it's better to keep the instance rewards to myself than to share them with others."
"Are you saying you're not the Headchopper or an accomplice?" Huang Junjie's proud judgment was wrong again. "How do you prove that?"
"What proof do I need?" Liu Yuanyuan laughed as if she'd heard a joke, glancing at Xu Huo. "If you don't believe me, ask him."
"Wait, wait!" Yuan Yao made a stop gesture. "What are you talking about? Didn't we all see the Headchopper with our own eyes? Why are we going in circles, and now the Headchopper is a player again?"
"There's only one Headchopper. The most direct proof is that he has never been present at the same time as all of us players." Xu Huo had just lit a cigarette, but it irritated his throat, so he casually dropped it and crushed it out.
"That's not right. When he appeared just now, all of us were here." Yuan Yao's eyes bulged. "Is someone pretending to be dead?"
Huang Junjie slapped his forehead. "When the Headchopper appeared just now, he was missing something."
Yuan Yao was confused, but Abel suddenly realized, "It's the axe!"
"Exactly." Xu Huo nodded. "There should have been someone under the Headchopper's cloak, but after being hit by Zhang Xiong and the way he moved, it was more like an empty cloak. That cloak used a prop to come in, turn off the lights, and leave. The goal was to scatter the players."
"As for the prop," he pointed to the bloodstain on his neck, "it was probably something like a thin steel wire or a string. Not very flexible, couldn't move like a real person."
"Huang Junjie used the same prop to retrieve the axe after being attacked."
"This proves the Headchopper is a player, but it doesn't rule out that other players are accomplices." Huang Junjie frowned deeply.
"There's no need to identify the other players," Xu Huo said with a faint smile. "In the game's background, the mountain villa owner has a bounty on the Headchopper. Catching him ends the mission early."
"So who is the Headchopper?" Yuan Yao swallowed nervously.
Xu Huo's gaze shifted. Just as he was about to speak, Liu Yuanyuan suddenly cut him off. "Wait. First, tell me what you meant by what you just said."
"I don't know how you figured out I killed Wan Zhikang and Li Zheng, but why can't killing all the players clear the instance? If all players are dead, that means the Headchopper is dead too. I should clear it."
"The woodcutter by the cabin is a player," Xu Huo said flatly.
Huang Junjie looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. "He's a player?!"
"He's a player who got stuck from a previous instance and never cleared it." Xu Huo summarized the information he'd gathered. "He survived until the game ended but didn't clear it. In his later games, there were even players who survived alone until the end and still failed to clear."
"I see." Liu Yuanyuan's eyes flickered. "So you're certain that even killing all the other players won't clear the instance."
She suddenly burst into laughter. "I thought you were some kind of good guy. If killing could clear it, you'd have done it long ago."
Xu Huo looked at her coldly. "You kill because your brain isn't enough, so killing is all you can do."
The laughter stopped abruptly. Liu Yuanyuan's face turned cold. "You're clever. Then tell me, who is the Headchopper? Once I kill him, I'll deal with you!"
Xu Huo turned to Huang Junjie and the other two. "See? She can prove herself."
Huang Junjie looked at the trembling, furious Liu Yuanyuan with a complicated expression. She had confessed without being pressed, but there was no need for you to so bluntly provoke her.
"Ha!" Wang Wei, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly laughed, his eyes cold and sharp as he stared at them. "After all this talk, you're suspecting me."
"That's right." Xu Huo looked at him, paused, and asked, "Before the other players arrived, you had already entered the villa, hadn't you?"
Huang Junjie and the others were baffled. Wang Wei narrowed his eyes. "I was indeed the first to arrive at the villa. The first player to reach the Hot Spring Villa gets a mission change, and the Headchopper's prop is placed at the main entrance."
"Even that you could guess. It seems my first kill shouldn't have been Huang Junjie, but you."
Huang Junjie, now named, turned pale. All his old and new grudges surged up. A bamboo blade appeared in his hand. "Why waste words with him? Just kill this murderous maniac and be done with it!"
Wang Wei's expression was mocking. "Du Lanlan, Xia Guo, Jia Xuyang, Zhang Xiong—I've already taken the traits and props of four players. Do you really think you can beat me?"