Chapter 21: The Flying Axe

"Clang... Clang... Clang..."

Intermittent impacts came from within the fog, which in the deep, old-growth forest were magnified infinitely, drilling clearly into their ears.

"The door of the hut is latched," Xu Huo said.

The hut used an old-fashioned hook lock; the players had carried the body inside and casually latched the door behind them—out of respect for the deceased, to prevent wild animals from tampering with the body. But now, someone was banging on the door.

"Is there, is there a ghost?" Yuan Yao could hardly speak clear.

"Would a ghost need to bang on the door?" Xu Huo went around to the entrance, and just as he opened the door, he heard a "crash" from inside, along with Zhang Xiong's roar.

By then, several players had come out upon hearing the noise. They rushed to the outside of Zhang Xiong's room, with the rich second generation not saying a word and kicking the door open.

The room light was on, and at a glance, they could see the glass shards scattered all over the floor. Huang Junjie, drenched in sweat, was leaning against the wall with his left hand pressing hard on his right shoulder. Blood was oozing continuously through his fingers, and a small puddle had already accumulated on the ground.

Zhang Xiong was supporting him, pouring a Self-Healing Potion into his mouth!

"What happened here!" Wang Wei pushed aside Xu Huo and hurriedly went to help. Huang Junjie freed up his hand, white as a sheet, and said, "The Beheading Demon!"

Everyone's face changed color.

"The Beheading Demon attacked you?" Xu Huo asked, "Did you see anyone?"

Huang Junjie shook his head, "I had just finished checking the outer walls and was about to return to my room when I was attacked by an axe thrown from outside the courtyard. Luckily I dodged quickly, otherwise my head would have been sliced off. By the time I turned around, I only saw a dark shadow running past the other side of the courtyard wall."

Xu Huo looked out into the courtyard— the villa was all open-air hot springs, with only floor-to-ceiling windows separating the courtyard and the rooms. The walls were made of green plants and towered at least a head taller than a person. Even if Huang Junjie had only seen a shadow, it meant that the Beheading Demon's height was at least two meters and above.

"What kind of joke is that!" the rich second generation said, "The courtyard wall outside is two meters tall. How could you possibly see anyone over it?"

"At least two meters three or four," Huang Junjie added, "I saw it crystal clear; he was wearing a black mask."

"Could it be you were seeing things?" Du Lanlan said, "After all, it's so dark."

"There's no mistake," Huang Junjie was very lucid.

"What about the axe?" Xu Huo glanced at the marks on the stone floor made by the sharp blade, "If he attacked you with an axe, it should have fallen in the courtyard."

"That's what puzzles me, the axe flew away by itself," Huang Junjie said, as if it had been sucked away.

Flew away by itself?

"Really, I saw it with my own eyes," Zhang Xiong quickly added.

"How is that possible!" Yuan Yao exclaimed in disbelief, "Are you saying there's a nearly two and a half meter tall maniac wandering around the villa with a flying axe?"

Xu Huo's gaze shifted from the courtyard wall back to the mess on the ground; this method was a bit too crude and violent, slightly different from the game's description.

"It doesn't have to be a person," Wang Wei looked up and said, "After all, this is a gaming world, having ghosts and monsters wouldn't be strange!"

"Didn't we enter a ghost monster's copy?" Xia Guo rubbed her arms, "Plus the banging noise just now was definitely coming from the cabin, but we've already checked; there was obviously no one around there before. If it's not a ghost, could it be a corpse coming back to life?"

The foreign youngster Abel held the Cross hanging on his neck, "This is my first time in a copy, are game copies like this?"

"Who the hell knows!" the middle-aged bald Wan Zhikang said irritably, "It's all our first time here!"

The game prompt didn't mention any haunting, and they had all concluded that the "Beheading Demon" was a murderer lurking in the villa, that their opponent was human.

"If it's a person, we can deal with it, but how do you deal with a ghost?"

"What banging noise?" Zhang Xiong asked.

Du Lanlan quickly related the events, explaining that their swift arrival was also due to the noise, which they had planned to investigate anyway.

"It seems to have stopped now." She looked hopefully at Huang Junjie.

"It might have been a wild boar or some other beast," Huang Junjie said wearily.

"You're just scaring yourselves," Liu Yuanyuan retorted as she touched up her lipstick in a small mirror. "Ghosts and monsters, my foot. It could very well be the Beheading Demon trying to frighten us. With the right shoes, I can reach nearly two meters tall. It's pitch-dark outside, and you can't see the wires attached to the axe."

This explanation seemed to make sense.

"Shall we go out and have a look?" Yuan Yao turned to Xu Huo.

"It's too dark, and the villa lacks lighting. Let's wait until daylight tomorrow," Xu Huo replied.

"That's right," the rich second-generation gave him an approving look. "What's the use of all this clamor? Tomorrow we'll turn the villa upside down, and I don't believe we won't find the Beheading Demon."

With that, he walked off arm in arm with Liu Yuanyuan, the other players looking at one another, not daring to venture out, and returned to their rooms.

"You all should come to our room tonight." Xu Huo said, "What if the Beheading Demon comes back?"

"Good point!" Zhang Xiong quickly helped Huang Junjie up, and Yuan Yao also came over to assist.

The four of them moved into the same room, with Xu Huo yielding the bed to Huang Junjie and making do with the small sofa himself.

"Thank you, guys," Huang Junjie said sincerely.

Xu Huo smiled, nodded, and settled down to sleep on the couch.

The night passed without incident until the crack of dawn, when he was awakened by a "ka-ka" sound. Sitting up, he walked to the courtyard and looked in the direction of the noise.

What a coincidence, it was that wooden hut again.

"What's that noise?" Huang Junjie also awoke. "Is that what you heard yesterday?"

"No," Xu Huo rubbed his face and headed toward the hall.

Wan Zhikang and Abel were already in the hall, with Abel clutching a Cross and mumbling, "Amitabha, Hallelujah, Amen..."

"Your foreign gods don't have sway over our ghosts," the rich second-generation came out, listening carefully, "This doesn't sound like the noise of someone banging on doors."

"It's the sound of chopping wood," Xu Huo said. "There are axes among the tools in the wooden house."

"Could it be that the Beheading Demon is out chopping wood in broad daylight instead of hiding?" Liu Yuanyuan commented.

"Isn't that something we'd find out if we went and checked?" Wang Wei said.

Once Du Lanlan and Xia Guo had come out, the group left their residence and headed toward the small wooden hut.

It wasn't fully light yet, or perhaps under such dense fog, it couldn't get any lighter. They took a small path from the woods around the main gate and could see a figure standing in front of a wooden stake, axe raised high, splitting a round log in two.

"That person's clothes look familiar..." Du Lanlan shivered as she spoke.

It seemed the figure heard them, turned its head, and it was the person who had hung themselves in front of them the day before!