Grave Robbery

Chapter 25: Digging Graves

"Reason?" Xu Huo didn't rush to dismiss his words.

"I've read all the reports and investigations on the Head Chopper Demon. His methods are very seasoned—most victims die in one blow, with no wounds anywhere except the neck. The person who attacked me yesterday was flustered, couldn't even pick the right moment to strike."

Huang Junjie sounded confident. "In most murder cases, the victims die silently, only discovered later."

"But there's a minority where the victims are dismembered, with fierce fighting before death. That doesn't match what you're saying." Xu Huo asked after listening.

"Copycat crime." Huang Junjie asserted firmly. "Cases like this are too rare."

"If what you're saying is true, why did he pick you as the first?" Xu Huo pressed on. "I think Du Lanlan would've been an easier target."

Huang Junjie's face showed regret. "I shouldn't have confronted Wan Zhikang yesterday."

If a player wanted to use the Head Chopper Demon's identity to kill other players, female players or White Players would indeed be the easiest marks—but there was one exception: when someone absolutely had to die first.

It was precisely because he'd shown his hand that he'd been targeted.

"If the person who attacked me fell for the diary's trick, tonight's target is among you, me, and Xia Guo." Huang Junjie extended an invitation. "How about we join forces and catch them in the act?"

Xu Huo bit down on his cigarette. "According to you, there's still a Head Chopper Demon in the Mountain Villa. Maybe he'll kill someone tonight too."

"Depends on whose luck runs out." Huang Junjie shook his head.

The three kept talking as they continued toward the Wooden Cabin.

"I went to the Wooden Cabin, first to lure out the person who attacked me, and second to put distance between myself and the other players. If I don't catch them, I can deduce their identity through the others later."

After saying this, Huang Junjie asked again: "What are you two going to the Wooden Cabin for?"

Yuan Yao shook his head and looked at Xu Huo.

Xu Huo stopped walking, chin pointing at the man who'd already looped the rope and stood on the woodpile. "I came to watch him hang himself."

Huang Junjie and Yuan Yao's faces changed color, and they immediately moved to stop him, but Xu Huo blocked them. "He's going to hang himself at night—maybe he's possessed. If you go over there, what if he picks you as his replacement? You're not NPCs from the Mountain Villa; you won't come back from death."

That was true.

The three didn't approach the Woodcutter but circled around to stand in front of him. Xu Huo stepped onto a tree stump and raised a hand in greeting. "Yo, hanging yourself, huh?"

The Woodcutter's eyeballs trembled, his neck thrust forward, and he hung from the tree.

Xu Huo just watched until his limbs went still, then said: "Take him down. It's getting dark—I'll check the Wooden Cabin for some light sources."

After a while, candles were lit in the cabin, and the Woodcutter's corpse was laid back on the bed.

Huang Junjie gazed at the blazing lights from the Mountain Villa and muttered to himself: "It's not time yet..."

Behind him, Xu Huo flipped the Woodcutter's corpse over for a thorough inspection, then grabbed a hemp rope from the cabinet to tie the body up tight, and picked up a shovel.

"Xu, Brother Xu, what are you doing?" Yuan Yao stared at the Woodcutter's pants, which Xu Huo had pulled down but not all the way back up, his voice trembling slightly.

"I'm going out to dig a hole." Xu Huo spun the shovel, his eyes still on the Woodcutter. "Let's see if he comes back to life when buried in the ground."

Yuan Yao's smile was especially forced, and Huang Junjie's expression was complicated too. He didn't understand why Xu Huo had to fixate on an NPC.

Xu Huo really did go outside to dig a hole, and while digging, he also excavated the New Grave.

The aged female corpse, claimed by the Woodcutter to be his daughter, was tossed into the dirt without even a cloth wrapped around her. A ring of rope marks circled her neck—she'd been strangled.

When Xu Huo flipped the female corpse over, a string of white numbers was visible on her back, which hadn't yet rotted.

After covering the grave again, he dug up the two neighboring ones. One corpse was headless, the other also strangled—one a Cannibal Player, the other a Black Player.

"Killed quite a few." Xu Huo didn't rebury them. He dropped the shovel, sat down on the spot, lit a cigarette, and stared toward the Mountain Villa.

The drizzling fog kept falling, and the Mountain Villa's lights grew hazy and dim, but they were still fairly conspicuous in the night. So when the lights suddenly went out, all three at the Wooden Cabin noticed.

Xu Huo had just stepped out of the graveyard when he heard a piercing scream.

"Something's happened over there!" Huang Junjie sprinted out. "I'll go check it out."

"Yuan Yao, go with him." Xu Huo didn't move. "I'm staying here."

Huang Junjie shot him a suspicious glance but didn't ask further before hurrying off.

"Brother Xu, how about I stay here with you?" Yuan Yao quickly said. Judging by the commotion, someone had definitely died at the Mountain Villa—whether it was the Head Chopper Demon or a player impersonating him, he didn't want to face either.

Xu Huo gave him a cold look.

Yuan Yao swallowed hard and, without another word, turned and chased after Huang Junjie.

Once he was sure Yuan Yao was gone, Xu Huo entered the Wooden Cabin, stepped onto the bed frame to retrieve the phone he'd placed on the beam, stopped the video recording, and flipped through the earlier footage. After watching for a moment, he suddenly laughed and said to the "corpse" on the bed: "Stop pretending. I know you've come back to life."

The "corpse" didn't move.

Xu Huo shoved the phone into his pocket, grabbed the Woodcutter by the back of his collar, and dragged him out. "I told you—if you die, I'll bury you. I've already dug your grave. Since you don't want to wake up, I'll do a good deed early and let you Rest in Peace."

Without mercy, he tossed the "corpse" into the dirt pit—the same one that had held the other bodies. Xu Huo picked up the shovel and started filling it in.

As the stinking mud covered his face, the "corpse" finally stirred. He opened his eyes in confusion, first taking in his surroundings, then realizing his situation, and immediately started shouting: "Help! Murder! Someone's killing me!"

"Shut up." Xu Huo tore up a clump of grass, roots and all, and stuffed it into his mouth. "Everyone's at the Mountain Villa, you know that. No one's coming to save you."

"We've got time. Let's talk about something else."

"Are you the Head Chopper Demon?"

The Woodcutter looked as if he had heard a joke, a sneer spreading across his face—but Xu Huo's next words made his expression shift dramatically.

"It's not the Head Chopper Demon. That's just a player stranded from the last game."

"Putting on a hanging act in front of a player—you wanted them to think you were part of the Mountain Villa's natural setup."

"The people you killed are in different stages of decay. You've run into at least three groups of players here, but the number of New Graves is clearly too few. I'm guessing the game didn't clean up the players you killed, so you had no choice but to bury them here."

"The Mountain Villa is only so big. Rather than burying them in secret and risking discovery with no good way to clean up, it's better to put them on display in plain sight."

"But the Mountain Villa had a big fire a few years ago. It was closed for half a year for renovations, and even the Wooden Cabin was built later. Saying you've lived here all along doesn't hold up."

"And your daughter—add a few years and she could be your Auntie. When you buried people, didn't it occur to you that someone might dig them up and take a look?"

Pulling out the grass, Xu Huo gestured for him to speak.