Chapter 34: Deduction
"Players can't get the traits of killed players at all." Liu Yuanyuan spoke first. "You're bluffing."
"You're a cannibal player. Cannibal players don't have traits to begin with, so of course you can't get other players' traits. Everyone just got off the preliminary train, so I doubt any of you have many items either."
Ignoring Liu Yuanyuan's furious glare, Wang Wei's gaze fixed on Xu Huo's face. "One person surviving alone can't complete the instance mission. There are five of you now. Instead of increasing casualties, why don't we leave each other alone and quietly wait until the fifth day? Isn't that better?"
Huang Junjie, who was weighing the pros and cons, wavered slightly. He subconsciously looked at Xu Huo.
"You don't need to test me," Xu Huo said. "Even if you kill a player, you can't get their traits. The only inheritable legacies are things like money and items."
"One person alone indeed can't clear the instance. The simplest method is indeed to ensure multiple players survive until the instance ends. But as you said, we just got off the train. Maybe the few players you killed didn't even have items."
He smiled. "The hardest part is already over. With a grand prize package right in front of us, taking a little risk is worth it."
Wang Wei knew Xu Huo wouldn't be so easily fooled, so he looked at Yuan Yao and the other two. "Do you think so too?"
The three didn't speak. Wang Wei sneered and said to Liu Yuanyuan, "Killing me won't get you any benefits. The next one they'll target is you."
Liu Yuanyuan shrugged. "I don't care. The instance reward is much more tempting to me."
"You're saying all this—could it be that you're scared?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she lunged at Wang Wei like a beast unleashed!
Wang Wei sidestepped to avoid her, but three bloody scratches appeared on his face. The pain of torn flesh made his muscles twitch. After retreating a few steps to dodge her attack, he grabbed at the air, and a black cape swirled around him, covering his body!
But before he could fully hide inside the cape, Xu Huo suddenly charged in from the side, sweeping his leg to knock him to the ground. "Grab him!"
Abel and Yuan Yao, who had been waiting, each seized one of his legs, forcibly dragging Wang Wei out from under the cape!
Though he was out, one hand still clutched the cape tightly, creating a three-way tug-of-war!
Huang Junjie, who had been lying in wait, gripped his bamboo blade knife and thrust it toward Wang Wei's chest and abdomen. But just as he raised his hand, a thin, silver-black metal wire looped around his neck and yanked him up!
The bamboo blade knife fell to the ground. Huang Junjie struggled to pull at the metal wire, but both ends of the thin wire had no attachments—it seemed to grow out of the air itself. As Wang Wei crossed his index and middle fingers, the wire suddenly tightened on its own, leaving a bleeding line across Huang Junjie's neck!
Xu Huo glanced at the man whose eyes were rolling back from the strangulation, stepped firmly on the cape, and pulled out the "Arsonist's Tool." He opened it and shouted, "Burn, burn, burn!"
Without the black cape for protection, three flames ignited on Wang Wei's clothes out of nowhere, and the fire quickly grew!
The spontaneous fire threw Wang Wei into a panic. He stopped controlling the wire, kicked Abel and Yuan Yao away, and turned to strike at Xu Huo!
Though there was still some distance between them, Wang Wei suddenly produced a black electric baton. The current surging from it enveloped his entire arm, the crackling light so blinding it made it impossible to look directly at him or get close.
Xu Huo squinted, hesitating whether to let go, when Liu Yuanyuan suddenly pounced from the side. Wearing insulated gloves, she grabbed Wang Wei's left arm and twisted it. With a "crack," the electric baton fell to the ground!
She snatched the baton and ran. Xu Huo and the newly recovered Huang Junjie simultaneously struck, stabbing at Wang Wei's wrist and calf respectively!
By now, Wang Wei was fully engulfed in flames. The fire had exceeded his tolerance, forcing him to abandon the black cape. He swung the Headchopper's axe to drive the two back, then rolled on the ground to put some distance between them!
As he scrambled up, Abel charged in with the large cross. Wang Wei barely blocked it with his axe, but the force sent him flying into the wall. After hitting the ground, he coughed up blood while frantically tearing at his clothes!
Thanks to his evolved physique, the burns on his skin weren't life-threatening yet, but the melted fabric from the scorched cloth had stuck to his flesh. He couldn't tear it off forcibly and could only let it cool.
The warehouse filled with the smell of cooked meat.
"Gulp!" Liu Yuanyuan swallowed hard.
"The risk was well worth it," Xu Huo said, lifting the black cape in his hand.
In just a few dozen seconds of combat, the Headchopper Wang Wei had not only gained nothing but had lost his greatest asset—the black cape—along with another item. Even the axe in his hand had a chipped edge from clashing with Abel's large cross. Meanwhile, their side's losses were negligible.
Wang Wei panted heavily, glaring at Xu Huo with a venomous look that could almost materialize. He couldn't understand. "Why were you so sure the Headchopper had to be a player? The Hot Spring Villa has always had rumors of a Headchopper. Any normal person would think there was already a Headchopper here, especially with the evidence I fabricated. Why didn't you believe it?"
"Because your cleverness backfired!" Yuan Yao couldn't wait to say. "Would the real Headchopper bother with such petty tricks?"
"Just because of that?" Wang Wei raised his voice.
Not just him, but Huang Junjie and the others didn't understand either. Especially Huang Junjie—he had only guessed that a player was impersonating the Headchopper to kill people, never imagining the Headchopper was the player themselves.
"Pay attention to the details. The instance background says this villa has had frequent deaths over the past three years, but from the materials we found in the warehouse, the Headchopper rumors here actually date back decades." Xu Huo flicked the lighter.
Wang Wei's eyelids twitched along with the flame. "So what does that prove?"
"The key is in those materials. Not counting the earlier deaths, just in the last three years, the victims follow a certain pattern—either consecutive missing heads or consecutive missing limbs."
Xu Huo glanced at Huang Junjie. "Setting aside the theory of copycat crimes, this is more consistent with player behavior. Most are ordinary players, a few are cannibal players."
"So that's why the bodies were missing limbs," Yuan Yao murmured. "If the bodies had been eaten, the Headchopper's identity would have been too easy to expose."
"Some past records and cases can be found in the newspapers. This suggests that in the past, the villa wasn't shut down because of the Headchopper—at least newspapers were still being delivered. Combined with the game's statement that this place was once popular among players and non-players alike, it's very likely it was an instance before. The people coming were all players. Since this is an instance, and considering the pattern of the bodies, it makes more sense that the Headchopper is a player."
"So this instance started decades ago?" Abel was shocked. "But we're all first-timers! How is that possible?"
"It's possible," Huang Junjie said, his face turning pale as realization dawned. "Isn't the Woodcutter a stranded player?"