Chapter 22: Curse

The hunched silhouette looked much smaller than the hanging corpse from yesterday, but the face was indeed the same one with the tongue shoved back into the mouth; the pale, bluish complexion now looked no different from that of a normal person.

Heartbeat, breath—he was a living person.

The hanging rope was still tossed to one side, and the lock on the wooden door was broken.

Even for Xu Huo, it was hard to believe. He had inspected the body yesterday, and the man was definitely dead. After a single night, he had somehow resurrected himself.

The woodcutter ignored them, turning his head back to continue chopping wood.

"Is he a human or a ghost?" Abel held his crucifix high.

"He must be human; he has a shadow," Wan Zhikang said hesitantly.

"I think he's that Beheader from last night. Damn it, he actually dares to play tricks!" Zhang Xiong clenched his fists, ready to charge, but Huang Junjie frowned and held him back, his eyes scanning the woodcutter.

The rich heir let out a cold sneer, picked up a piece of firewood to weigh it in his hand, and gave Liu Yuanyuan a look. The two of them walked toward the woodcutter, whose back was turned to them.

"Hey, old man, how long have you lived here?" Suddenly, Xu Huo cut in from the side, interrupting the two as he struck up a conversation with the woodcutter.

The woodcutter turned around. Seeing that Xu Huo was offering a cigarette, he hesitated before taking it, using Xu Huo's lighter to light it. He sat on a tree stump, took a couple of puffs, and then said, "Many years. I've been here since the villa was built."

"The villa looks quite old, and since no one lives here now, it must be lonely living here alone. Don't you plan to go out and travel a bit?" Xu Huo sat down beside him.

"Go out for what? I never went out even when I lived with my family. Now that I'm dying of illness, I don't have the strength."

Xu Huo glanced at his neck. "Medical technology is advanced now; even terminal illnesses can be cured."

The woodcutter pointed to a new grave not far away. "My daughter went, but she still died. The whole family is buried here. Sooner or later, I'll be buried here too."

"It's most important for a family to be together," Xu Huo nodded. "I'll be staying here for a few days. If you die, I'll bury you."

The woodcutter stared at him expressionlessly. After two seconds, he continued, "You're here for adventure too, aren't you? I advise you to leave quickly."

"Old man, do you know the legends of this villa?" Xia Guo leaned in. "I heard there's a Beheader here. Aren't you afraid?"

"What does a dying man have to fear?" The woodcutter shook his head. "It's you young people who are brave, doing anything just for a thrill. Let me tell you, this villa is cursed. Anyone who comes looking for the Beheader dies."

"I remember a few young people came not long ago. In the end, their bodies were taken away by the crematorium workers."

Two sounds of swallowing echoed through the scene. Xia Guo pressed further, "Didn't anyone intervene? Why were they taken straight to the crematorium?"

The woodcutter's eyelids drooped. "Their heads couldn't be found. If they don't go to the crematorium, where else would they go?"

"Since you've lived here long enough, you must know many rumors about the Beheader. Tell us some," Xu Huo beckoned Yuan Yao over and stuffed the half-pack of cigarettes hidden on him into the woodcutter's hands.

The woodcutter reluctantly accepted them, seemingly ignoring the wary gazes of the players, and slowly began to recount the legends of the Beheader.

Fifty years ago, before this place was developed, there were some residents. At that time, the previous owner of the villa had bought this mountain to open a leisure resort. Those few households refused to leave, leading to conflicts with the logging workers. For some reason, one of them collided with an axe, and his head was severed along with his neck.

After the compensation was settled, the construction was put on hold for a while before resuming. However, strange occurrences began to happen frequently after that. It was said that among the workers, designers, even the cook and the driver delivering vegetables, more than ten people had seen a headless figure roaming nearby carrying an axe.

The former owner invited a master to perform a ritual and spent a large sum of money to erect a stone carving to suppress the mountain. Unexpectedly, a worker died the very day the ritual was completed—coincidentally, one of the workers who had been in conflict with the deceased. The body was found slumped on a tree stump, with the head missing.

Then came the second and third victims, all killed in the same manner: bodies left behind, heads mysteriously vanished. When official personnel searched the mountains for the heads, they once saw a dark shadow carrying an axe, placing a rotting head onto its shoulder. However, due to the heavy mountain mist, the shadow vanished in a flash, and eventually, only a few heads were recovered. The rumor that the villa was cursed by the Beheader spread rapidly.

The investigation went nowhere. The master hired by the former owner claimed that the deceased kept searching for their heads, which is why they killed. Seeing that the spirit was unsatisfied with other heads, the former owner had a stroke of genius and had a mask carved. Once this head-but-no-face statue was placed, the matter actually subsided.

Later, the former owner's business failed, and he sold the villa to the current owner.

When the new owner was renovating the villa, he accidentally broke the head off the Beheader statue. Not long after, a tourist died in the hot spring; the pool was filled with blood, but the head was gone.

The new owner learned of the history and tried to find the head of the statue, but it was nowhere to be found. Since then, people have died in the villa from time to time—first guests, then exorcists, detectives, and police officers investigating the truth.

Thus, rumors spread that anyone who enters the villa will be cursed by the Beheader. The matter became a sensation, and no one dared to come here anymore. Even the staff resigned, so the owner simply closed the villa. Unexpectedly, this instead attracted some death-defying thrill-seekers.

"Have you seen those corpses?" Xu Huo touched his neck. "Were they truly headless?"

The woodcutter stared at him gloomily. "Not only headless, some don't even have complete bodies."

"How terrifying!" Du Lanlan hugged her arms and said to Huang Junjie, "You're so lucky."

The players deeply agreed.

With this story, the missing background for the Beheader dungeon in the game description was finally complete. Since the events began fifty years ago, it proved that the possibility of this being man-made was extremely low; there must be a supernatural force intervening.

Furthermore, regarding this woodcutter: he looked old, but how old would he have been fifty years ago? Even if he had lived in the villa all this time, he couldn't be the Beheader.

On the contrary, his inexplicable resurrection proved the existence of supernatural forces.

If it had nothing to do with the Beheader, there would be no reason to insist on killing him.

The players exchanged glances, intending to head back.

"I saw you hanging yourself yesterday," Xu Huo suddenly added.

The players, including the woodcutter, all turned their heads simultaneously to stare at him.

Xu Huo grinned and extinguished his cigarette. "Aren't you surprised as to why you were locked in the wooden house?"

"How did a person who was clearly dead come back to life? How did you do it?"

The players present were both in awe of his boldness and looking at the woodcutter with intense curiosity. Perhaps an NPC's resurrection was the key to dealing with the Beheader!

The woodcutter suddenly flew into a rage. "Nonsense! What resurrection of the dead! I was wondering why I was locked in a room while sleeping soundly—it was you bastards! Get out, now!"

"Don't get so worked up, old man," Xu Huo stood up and said lazily, "It wouldn't be worth it to die of anger."

The woodcutter raised his axe. "Get out!"