Players, Please Board the Train

”Baseless accusations!” Wang Wei shouted furiously. ”If we’re going that route, I could just as easily say you killed Zhang Xiong! With four people, killing someone would be child’s play for you.”

”Are you out of your mind? If we were working with the Headhunter Demon, would Brother Xu have gotten injured?” Yuan Yao retorted.

”Who’s to say you’re not putting on an act?” Wang Wei moved closer to Liu Yuanyuan. ”Now that the two of us are being isolated, who do you believe - them or me?”

Liu Yuanyuan looked back and forth between them before stepping back to distance herself from everyone. ”I don’t know who’s telling the truth, 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 showed only indignation. ”I won’t stay with you murderers!”

As he turned to leave, Xu Huo, who had been crouching beside Zhang Xiong’s body, straightened up with difficulty and said hoarsely, ”If you think you can clear the mission by letting others do the dirty work, you’re sorely mistaken.”

”Those two who died in the lobby - you killed them, didn’t you, Liu Yuanyuan.”

Everyone immediately turned to look at Liu Yuanyuan.

With tears welling up pitifully in her eyes, Liu Yuanyuan said, ”What do you mean? I don’t understand...”

”While everyone was distracted by the Headhunter Demon, you and that rich kid Li Zheng worked together to kill Wan Zhikang. Conveniently, Wang Wei wasn’t present. After Wan Zhikang died, you ambushed Li Zheng, then came to find us, pretending the Headhunter Demon did it.” Xu Huo walked up to her, looking down at her with scrutiny. ”You played your part well... Player-Eater.”The tears in Liu Yuanyuan’s eyes vanished instantly. She flipped her hair and smiled sweetly. ”Li Zheng was right - you’re much sharper than that half-baked Huang Junjie.”

”Yesterday when Du Lanlan and Xia Guo died, Li Zheng said you suspected someone among us. That you weren’t just suspecting players killing each other, but that the Headhunter Demon was among the players. I didn’t believe it at first, but you really are something.”

”You’re the Headhunter Demon?!” Wang Wei hastily backed away as she approached him.

Liu Yuanyuan scoffed, shedding her previous spoiled demeanor. With a sway of her slender waist, she spun around coquettishly, blew everyone a kiss, then slowly began closing the warehouse door.

”Honestly, when Li Zheng told me yesterday the Headhunter Demon was a player, we planned to kill all the other players. Since the Headhunter Demon is among us anyway, why bother guessing who it is?”

”But I thought - why share the dungeon rewards when I can have them all to myself?”

”So you’re saying you’re neither the Headhunter Demon nor an accomplice?” Huang Junjie’s pride in his judgment took another hit. ”How can you prove it?”

”Why should I prove anything?” Liu Yuanyuan looked at Xu Huo as if this was a joke. ”If you don’t believe me, ask him.”

”Wait, wait!” Yuan Yao made a timeout gesture. ”What are you all talking about? Didn’t we see the Headhunter Demon with our own eyes? Why are we going in circles about the Headhunter Demon being a player?”

”There’s only one Headhunter Demon. The clearest proof is that he’s never appeared simultaneously with all players present.” Xu Huo lit a cigarette but stubbed it out immediately after one puff due to his sore throat.

”That’s not right - he appeared just now when we were all here.” Yuan Yao’s eyes widened. ”Was someone pretending to be dead?”

Huang Junjie slapped his forehead. ”The Headhunter Demon was missing something when he appeared just now.”

Yuan Yao looked confused, but Abel suddenly understood. ”The axe!”

”Exactly.” Xu Huo nodded. ”There should have been someone under the Headhunter Demon’s cloak, but after Zhang Xiong hit him and based on his movements, it was more like an empty cloak. That cloak used some prop to enter, turn off the lights, then leave - all to scatter the players.”

”As for the prop,” he pointed to the bloodstain on his neck, ”it was probably something like thin steel wire or piano wire. Not flexible enough to move like a real person.”

”Huang Junjie used the same prop to retrieve the axe after being attacked.”

”This might prove the Headhunter Demon is a player, but it doesn’t rule out other players being accomplices.” Huang Junjie frowned deeply.

”No need to identify other players’ roles,” Xu Huo said with a faint smile. ”According to the game background, the villa owner has offered a reward for catching the Headhunter Demon. Catching him would let us end the mission early.”

”So who is the Headhunter Demon?” Yuan Yao swallowed nervously.

Just as Xu Huo was about to speak, Liu Yuanyuan interrupted him. ”Wait, first tell me - what did you mean earlier?”

”I don’t know how you concluded I killed Wan Zhikang and Li Zheng, but why wouldn’t killing all players let me clear the mission? If all players die, that means the Headhunter Demon is dead too. I should be able to clear it.”

”The woodcutter in the cabin is a player,” Xu Huo said calmly.

Huang Junjie looked thunderstruck. ”He’s a player?!”

”He’s a player who failed to clear previous dungeon games and got stuck here.” Xu Huo summarized the information he’d gathered. ”He survived until the game ended but didn’t clear it. In later games he played, some players survived alone until the end but still failed.”

”I see.” Liu Yuanyuan’s eyes gleamed. ”So you’re certain that even killing all other players won’t let you clear the mission.”

She suddenly burst into laughter. ”And here I thought you were some kind of saint. If killing could clear the mission, you’d have done it long ago.”

Xu Huo looked at her coldly. ”You kill because you’re not smart enough to think of anything better.”

Liu Yuanyuan’s laughter stopped abruptly, her face turning icy. ”Oh, you’re so clever. Then tell us - who is the Headhunter Demon? After I kill him, you’re next!”

Xu Huo turned to Huang Junjie and the other two. ”See? She can prove herself.”

Huang Junjie gave Liu Yuanyuan, who was trembling with rage, a complicated look. Though she’d confessed without being pressed, you really didn’t need to provoke her so blatantly.

”Ha!” Wang Wei, silent until now, suddenly laughed, his gaze icy as he stared at them. ”After all this talk, you suspect me.”

”Correct.” Xu Huo looked at him, then asked after a pause, ”You’d already been in the villa before the other players arrived, hadn’t you?”

Huang Junjie and the others looked confused, but Wang Wei narrowed his eyes. ”I was indeed the first to arrive at Hot Springs Villa. The first player to arrive gets a changed mission - the Headhunter Demon’s props were placed at the main entrance.”

”If you could even guess that, I should have killed you first instead of Huang Junjie.”

Huang Junjie’s face darkened at being named, old and new grudges surfacing. A bamboo knife appeared in his hand. ”Why waste more words on this psychopath? Let’s just finish him!”

Wang Wei sneered. ”Du Lanlan, Xia Guo, Jia Xuyang, Zhang Xiong - I’ve already taken four players’ special abilities and props. Do you really think you can beat me?”