Chapter 25: Grave Robbing

"Reason?" Xu Huo did not rush to dismiss his claim.

"I have reviewed all the reports and investigations regarding the 'Head-Hunter.' His methods are extremely seasoned; most victims are killed with a single blow, with no wounds other than those on the neck. The person who attacked me yesterday was flustered—he didn't even choose his moment well." Huang Junjie appeared quite confident. "In most murder cases, the victims die silently, only to be discovered later."

"There are also cases where the victims' bodies are dismembered, or there were signs of a violent struggle before death. That doesn't match what you're describing," Xu Huo remarked after listening.

"Copycat crime," Huang Junjie stated firmly. "Such cases are rare."

"If what you say is true, why pick you as the first target?" Xu Huo continued. "I feel it would have been easier to strike at Du Lanlan."

Huang Junjie looked regretful. "I shouldn't have confronted Wan Zhikang yesterday."

If a player wanted to use the identity of the Head-Hunter to kill other players, the easiest targets would indeed be female players or white-level players. However, there is one exception: if the target is someone who *must* die. It was precisely because he had shown off his skills that he became a target.

"If the person who attacked me fell for the diary's trap, then tonight's target is either you, me, or Xia Guo," Huang Junjie proposed. "Why don't we join forces and catch them in the act?"

Xu Huo puffed on his cigarette. "According to your theory, there is still a Head-Hunter in the manor, and he might kill again tonight."

"It depends on who has the worse luck," Huang Junjie replied, shaking his head.

As the three of them talked, they continued toward the wooden cabin.

"I'm going to the cabin for two reasons: first, to draw out the person who attacked me; second, to distance myself from the other players. If I don't catch the culprit, I can at least deduce their identity through the others later." After saying this, Huang Junjie asked, "What are you two going to the cabin for?"

Yuan Yao shook his head and looked at Xu Huo.

Xu Huo stopped in his tracks and gestured with his chin toward the man who had already tied a rope and was standing on a pile of firewood. "I'm here to see if he's hanged himself yet."

Huang Junjie and Yuan Yao's expressions shifted, and they immediately moved to stop him, but Xu Huo held them back. "He hangs himself every night; perhaps he's possessed by a ghost. If you go over there and he decides to find a substitute in you, what then? You aren't NPCs of this manor—you won't resurrect if you die."

That was a fair point.

The three of them did not approach the woodcutter, instead circling around to stand directly in front of him. Xu Huo stood on a tree stump and waved. "Yo, hanging yourself, are we?"

The woodcutter’s eyes flickered, he leaned his neck forward, and his body suspended from the tree.

Xu Huo watched him until his limbs hung limp and motionless before saying, "Take him down. It's getting dark; I'm going to the cabin to see if there are any lighting tools."

A while later, candles were lit in the cabin, and the woodcutter's corpse was laid back on the bed.

Huang Junjie gazed at the bright lights of the manor and muttered to himself, "It's not time yet..."

Behind him, after thoroughly examining the woodcutter's corpse, Xu Huo retrieved a hemp rope from a cupboard to bind the man, then 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 fully back up, his voice trembling slightly.

"I'm going out to dig a hole." Xu Huo twirled the shovel, his eyes still on the woodcutter. "I want to see if he can still resurrect after being buried in the dirt."

Yuan Yao offered a very strained smile, and Huang Junjie looked equally conflicted; he didn't understand why Xu Huo was so obsessed with harassing an NPC.

Xu Huo actually went outside to dig. While he was at it, he dug up the new grave nearby.

The elderly female corpse, whom the woodcutter claimed was his daughter, lay in the dirt, not even wrapped in a shroud, with a rope mark around her neck—she had been strangled.

Turning the corpse over, Xu Huo found a string of white identification numbers on her un-decayed back.

After covering that grave, he dug up two more nearby. One corpse was headless, and the other had also been strangled—one was a cannibal player, the other a black-level player.

"Quite a body count." Xu Huo didn't bury them back. He dropped the shovel and sat down, watching the manor while smoking.

The drizzling mist never ceased, and the lights of the manor grew hazy and dim, yet they remained prominent in the night. When the lights suddenly went out, all three at the cabin noticed.

As Xu Huo stepped away from the graveyard, he heard a shrill, piercing scream.

"Something happened over there!" Huang Junjie bolted out. "I'm going to check it out."

"Yuan Yao, go with him," Xu Huo said without moving. "I'll stay here."

Huang Junjie gave him a suspicious look but didn't ask further, hurrying off.

"Brother Xu, why don't I stay here with you?" Yuan Yao asked quickly. Judging by the commotion, someone had definitely died in the manor, and he didn't want to face either the Head-Hunter or the player impersonating him.

Xu Huo stared at him coldly.

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

Once he was sure they were gone, Xu Huo entered the cabin. He stepped on the edge of the bed to reach the phone hidden on the rafters, stopped the video recording, and reviewed the footage he had already captured. He suddenly laughed and said to the "corpse" on the bed, "Stop pretending. I know you've come back to life."

The "corpse" remained motionless.

Xu Huo tucked the phone into his pocket and dragged the woodcutter by his collar toward the door. "I said it before: if you're dead, I'll bury you. I've already dug the hole. Since you don't want to wake up, I'll do a good deed and lay you to rest."

He threw the "corpse" into the dirt pit—the same one where the other bodies were buried—without mercy, and picked up the shovel to fill it in.

As the foul-smelling earth covered his face, the "corpse" finally moved. He opened his eyes in a daze, assessed the situation, realized his predicament, and immediately began to scream, "Help! Save me! Murder!"

"Stop yelling," Xu Huo stuffed a clump of grass and dirt into his mouth. "You know everyone is at the manor; no one is coming to save you."

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

"Are you the Head-Hunter?"

The woodcutter looked as if he had heard a joke, a sneer appearing on his face. But Xu Huo's next words made his expression shift violently.

"If you're not the Head-Hunter, then you're just a player who got left behind from the previous game."

"Playing the hanging act in front of other players is an attempt to make everyone believe you're a part of the manor's original lore."

"The victims you killed show varying levels of decay. You've encountered at least three batches of players here, but the number of new graves is clearly insufficient. I suspect the game doesn't 'clear' the players you kill, so you were forced to bury them here."

"The manor is only so big. Rather than burying them secretly and risking discovery, it's better to display them openly."

"However, the manor 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’s quite ridiculous to claim you've lived here the whole time."

"And your 'daughter'—add a few more years and she could be your aunt. Didn't you think someone might dig them up when you buried them?"

Xu Huo pulled the grass from his mouth and signaled for him to speak.