Confrontation

Chapter 33: Confrontation

"You're spouting blood!" Wang Wei roared in fury. "If we're going down that road, I could say you killed Zhang Xiong. There are four of you—killing one person would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it?"

"Is your brain alright? If we were working with the Head Chopper Demon, would Brother Xu still be injured?" Yuan Yao retorted.

"Who knows if you staged it yourselves?" Wang Wei moved closer to Liu Yuanyuan. "Now the two of us are being pushed out. Do you believe them or me?"

Liu Yuanyuan looked back and forth between them, then after a few seconds stepped back 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 cruel 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!"

He was about to leave when Xu Huo, who had been crouching beside Zhang Xiong's body, stood up straight and said in a hoarse voice, "If you think reaping the benefits while others fight will let you clear the mission smoothly, you're sorely mistaken."

"Those two who died in the Main Hall—you killed them, didn't you, Liu Yuanyuan."

Instantly, everyone present turned to look at Liu Yuanyuan.

Liu Yuanyuan's eyes welled with pitiful tears. "What do you mean... I don't understand..."

"While the others were distracted by the Head Chopper Demon, you and that rich second generation named Li Zheng teamed up to kill Wan Zhikang. Coincidentally, Wang Wei wasn't there. After Wan Zhikang died, you ambushed Li Zheng, then came to find us, pretending the Head Chopper Demon had done the killing." Xu Huo walked up to her, looking down at her with scrutiny. "You disguise yourself well, Cannibal Player."

The shimmering tears in Liu Yuanyuan's eyes vanished. She tossed her hair and said with a beaming smile, "Li Zheng was right. You're much better than that half-baked Huang Junjie."

"When Du Lanlan and Xia Guo died yesterday, Li Zheng said you suspected it was someone among us. He also said you weren't just suspecting players killing each other, but that you believed the Head Chopper Demon was among the players. I didn't believe it at first, but I didn't expect you to actually have some skill."

"You're the Head Chopper Demon?!" Seeing her walk toward him, Wang Wei quickly backed away.

Liu Yuanyuan let out a scornful laugh, her previous coquettish demeanor gone. She twisted her waist, spun around seductively, blew a kiss to the group, then slowly pulled the warehouse door shut.

"To be honest, when Li Zheng told me yesterday that the Head Chopper Demon was a player, we planned to kill all the other players. After all, since the Head Chopper Demon was among the players, we couldn't be bothered guessing one by one."

"But unfortunately, I thought sharing the dungeon rewards with others was worse than taking them all for myself."

"You're saying you're not the Head Chopper Demon, nor an accomplice?" Huang Junjie's proud judgment had failed him again. "How do you prove that?"

"What proof do I need?" Liu Yuanyuan laughed as if she'd heard a joke, then glanced at Xu Huo. "If you don't believe me, ask him."

"Wait, wait!" Yuan Yao made a stop gesture. "What are you all talking about? Didn't we see the Head Chopper Demon with our own eyes? Why are we going in circles, and now the Head Chopper Demon is a player again?"

"There's only one Head Chopper Demon. 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 after one inhale his throat felt uncomfortable, 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. "Could someone have been playing dead?"

Huang Junjie slapped his forehead. "When the Head Chopper Demon appeared just now, he was missing something."

Yuan Yao was confused, but Abel suddenly understood. "It's the Axe!"

"Exactly." Xu Huo nodded. "There should have been a person under the Head Chopper Demon's cloak, but after Zhang Xiong hit it and during its movements, it felt more like an empty cloak. That cloak used a prop to get in, turned off the lights, and left—all to make the players scatter."

"As for the tool," he pointed at the blood mark on his neck, "it should be something like a thin steel wire or a string. Not very flexible, and it can't move like a real person."

"After Huang Junjie was attacked, the same tool was used to retrieve the Axe."

"This proves the Head Chopper Demon is a player, but it doesn't mean the other players aren't accomplices." Huang Junjie frowned deeply.

"There's no need to identify the other players' identities," Xu Huo said with a faint smile. "In the game's background, the Villa's boss has put a bounty on catching the Head Chopper Demon. If we catch him, we can end the mission early."

"Then who is the Head Chopper Demon?" 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 that I killed Wan Zhikang and Li Zheng, but why can't killing all the players clear the mission? If all the players are dead, that means the Head Chopper Demon is dead too. I should clear it."

"The woodcutter at the Wooden 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 failed to clear previous instance games and got stuck here," Xu Huo summarized the information he'd gathered. "He successfully survived until the game ended but didn't clear it. In later games, there were even players who survived alone until the end and still failed to clear."

"So that's how it is." Liu Yuanyuan's eyes flickered. "So you're certain that even killing all the other players won't let you clear the mission."

She suddenly burst into loud laughter. "And here I thought you were some kind of good person. If killing people could clear the mission, you'd probably have made a move long ago."

Xu Huo looked at her coldly. "You kill because your brain isn't good enough, so killing is all you can do."

The laughter stopped abruptly. Liu Yuanyuan's face turned cold. "You're clever, alright. Then tell me, who is the Head Chopper Demon? After 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 indeed incriminated herself, but there was no need to so bluntly draw her hatred.

"Ha!" Wang Wei, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly laughed, his gaze icy as he stared at them. "After all this talk, you're suspecting me."

"That's right." Xu Huo looked at him, then paused before asking, "You entered the villa before the other players arrived, didn't you?"

Huang Junjie and the others were baffled. Wang Wei narrowed his eyes. "I was indeed the first person to arrive at the villa. The first player to reach Hot Spring Villa has their game mission changed. The Head Chopper Demon's item was placed at the main entrance."

"Even that you could guess. It seems the first person I should have killed wasn't Huang Junjie, but you."

Huang Junjie, who had been called out, turned pale with anger. All his old and new grudges surged up. A Bamboo Knife appeared in his hand. "Why waste words with him? For a murdering maniac like this, just kill him 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 items of four players. Do you really think you can beat me?"