Digging Up Graves

Digging Up Graves

"Reason?" Xu Huo didn't rush to dismiss what he'd said.

"I've read every report and investigation about the Head Chopper Demon. His methods are extremely sophisticated. Most of his victims die in a single blow, with no wounds anywhere but the neck. The person who attacked me yesterday was panicking. He didn't even pick the right moment to strike."

Huang Junjie sounded confident. "In most murder cases, the victims died without making a sound and weren't found until later."

"But in a few cases, the victims were missing limbs and had fought fiercely before they died. That doesn't match what you described." Xu Huo asked after listening.

"Copycat murders." Huang Junjie was certain. "There are too few cases like that."

"If what you say is true, why did he choose you first?" Xu Huo asked. "I think Du Lanlan would've been an easier target."

Huang Junjie looked regretful. "I shouldn't have picked a fight with Wan Zhikang yesterday."

If a Player wanted to use the Head Chopper Demon's identity to kill another Player, the easiest targets would indeed be female Players or White Players. But there was one exception: someone who absolutely had to die first.

He'd drawn attention to himself by showing off.

"If the person who attacked me was fooled by the diary, tonight's target will be one of you, me, or Xia Guo." Huang Junjie invited them, "Why don't we team up and catch him in the act?"

Xu Huo bit down on his cigarette. "By your reasoning, there's also a Head Chopper Demon in the Mountain Villa. Maybe he'll kill someone tonight too."

"Let's see who's unlucky enough," Huang Junjie said with a shake of his head.

The three talked as they continued toward the Wooden Cabin.

"I'm going to the Wooden Cabin for two reasons. First, to draw out the person who attacked me. Second, to keep my distance from the other Players. Even if we don't catch anyone, we can use the others to figure out who it is."

After explaining, Huang Junjie asked, "What are you going to the Wooden Cabin for?"

Yuan Yao shook his head and looked at Xu Huo.

Xu Huo stopped and nodded toward the man standing on a pile of firewood with a noose around his neck. "I came to see if he'd hang himself."

Huang Junjie and Yuan Yao's expressions changed, and they immediately moved to stop him. Xu Huo held them back. "He's going to hang himself tonight. Maybe he's possessed. What if he picks one of you as his replacement? You're not NPCs from the Mountain Villa. You won't come back to life if you die."

That was true.

The three didn't approach the Woodcutter, but circled around to stand in front of him. Xu Huo stood on a tree stump and waved. "Hey, hanging yourself?"

The Woodcutter's eyes trembled. He leaned his neck forward, and his body dangled from the tree.

Xu Huo watched until the man's arms and legs hung limp and still. Then he said, "Take him down. It'll be dark soon. I'm going to look for some lighting tools in the Wooden Cabin."

A while later, a candle was lit in the Wooden Cabin, and the Woodcutter's body was laid back on the bed.

Huang Junjie gazed at the bright lights of the Mountain Villa and muttered, "It's not time yet..."

Behind him, Xu Huo turned the Woodcutter's body over and examined it. Then he took a length of hemp rope from the Cabinet and bound the man tightly, before picking 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 up. His voice was trembling.

"I'm going to dig a hole outside." Xu Huo spun the shovel in his hand, his gaze still fixed on the Woodcutter. "I want to see if he can come back to life when he's buried."

Yuan Yao's smile was painfully strained. Huang Junjie wore a conflicted expression too. He couldn't understand why Xu Huo insisted on messing with an NPC.

Xu Huo really did go outside to dig a hole. While he was at it, he dug up the new grave.

The elderly female corpse the Woodcutter claimed was his daughter lay in the dirt, not even wrapped in a piece of cloth. A ring of rope marks encircled her neck. She'd been strangled.

Xu Huo turned the corpse over. A string of white numbers was visible on her back, which hadn't yet decomposed.

After covering the grave again, he dug up the two graves beside it. One corpse was headless, and the other had also been strangled. One was a Cannibal Player, the other a Black Player.

"You've killed quite a few people." Xu Huo didn't bury them again. He tossed aside the shovel and sat down where he was, smoking as he kept his eyes on the Mountain Villa.

A fine mist continued to fall. The Mountain Villa's lights grew hazy and dim, but they still stood out in the night. So when they suddenly went out, all three people in the Wooden Cabin noticed.

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

"Something happened over there!" Huang Junjie rushed out. "I'll go take a look."

"Take Yuan Yao with you." Xu Huo stayed where he was. "I'll stay here."

Huang Junjie glanced at him suspiciously, but didn't ask anything. He hurried away.

"Brother Xu, maybe I should stay here with you?" Yuan Yao said quickly. From the sound of things, someone had definitely died in the Mountain Villa. Whether it was the Head Chopper Demon or a Player posing as him, Yuan Yao didn't want to face it.

Xu Huo gave him a cold look.

Yuan Yao swallowed and immediately turned to chase after Huang Junjie.

Only after making sure he was gone did Xu Huo enter the Wooden Cabin. He stepped onto the edge of the bed and took down the phone resting on a beam, then stopped the video recording. He opened the footage he'd recorded earlier and watched for a while. Suddenly, he laughed and said to the "corpse" on the bed, "Quit pretending. I know you came back to life."

The "corpse" didn't move.

Xu Huo slipped the phone into his pocket and dragged the Woodcutter out by the collar. "I told you I'd bury you if you died. I've already dug the hole. Since you don't want to wake up, I'll do a good deed and let you Rest in Peace early."

Without a hint of mercy, he threw the "corpse" into the pit—the very one where another body had been buried earlier—and began shoveling dirt over him.

When the foul-smelling soil covered his face, the "corpse" finally moved. He opened his eyes in a daze, looked around, then realized his predicament and started shouting, "Help! Somebody help! Murder!"

"Stop shouting." Xu Huo pulled up a clump of grass, roots and dirt included, and stuffed it into his mouth. "You know everyone's at the Mountain Villa. No one's coming to save you."

"Since we have time, let's talk about something else."

"Are you the Head Chopper Demon?"

The Woodcutter looked as if he'd heard a joke. A mocking expression appeared on his face, but Xu Huo's next words made his expression change dramatically.

"If you're not the Head Chopper Demon, then you're just a Player left over from the previous game."

"You put on a hanging act in front of the Players because you wanted them to think you were part of the Mountain Villa."

"The people you killed were at different stages of decay. You've encountered at least three groups of Players here, but there clearly aren't enough new graves. I'm guessing the game didn't clear away the Players you killed, so you had no choice but to bury them here."

"The Mountain Villa's not that big. Rather than burying them in secret and risking someone noticing, it's better to let everyone see you do it openly."

"But the Mountain Villa had a major fire a few years ago and was closed for renovations for half a year. Even the Wooden Cabin was built later. It'd be pretty ridiculous for you to claim you've lived here the whole time."

"And your daughter—add a few years and she could pass for your aunt. Didn't it occur to you that someone might dig her up and take a look?"

Xu Huo pulled out the grass and gestured for him to speak.