Chapter 19: Hanging Corpse

Looking ahead, Xu Huo saw an old Chinese-style villa standing at the end of the path. There were no streetlights outside; the only source of light was a white lantern held in the mouth of a stone lion at the entrance. The dim light only illuminated a few square meters in front of the gate, just enough to clearly see the people standing there.

A tall foreign young man with blond hair and blue eyes stood by the door, talking to a young man beside him who was carrying a denim jacket. To the left of the young man, a muscular man was crouching and smoking.

A few steps away, next to the stone lion, stood a middle-aged man in a sharp suit. He was dressed exquisitely, looking every bit the successful professional. He had a female player on either side of him; one had long hair and the other short. Although they stood close to him, their gazes fell simultaneously upon a greasy middle-aged man with a half-bald head across from them, their expressions filled with disgust.

Behind the bald middle-aged man stood a man and a woman. The man was decked out in designer brands with an arrogant expression, while the woman wore heavy smoky eye makeup and maintained an intimate demeanor.

Additionally, a young man who looked like a college student stood alone to the side.

Ten people in total.

The ten people had grown impatient. Upon seeing the late-arriving Yuan Yao and Xu Huo, their expressions were quite unfriendly. The muscular man stood up abruptly. "Why didn't you wait until dawn to come? If you're that cowardly, go home and suck on a teat! What's the point of playing a dungeon!"

Xu Huo was bumped by Yuan Yao, who was shrinking back, causing his cigarette to shake. He smiled and offered the cigarette. "Brother, calm down. The car arrives at this time; I have no choice."

The muscular man gave a cold snort and brushed his hand away.

The man in denim nearby said indifferently, "We're all in the same boat now, so why ruin the harmony?"

"Whether we're in the same boat remains to be seen," the bald middle-aged man said sarcastically, staring at the two female players. "We'll have to strip to find out."

The long-haired female player had thick, waist-length black hair and looked pure and lovely. She was repulsed by the middle-aged man's malice, but she merely frowned and said nothing.

The short-haired female player appeared lively and capable, but also more sharp-tongued. She said unceremoniously, "Every time you see a woman, you want people to strip. Why don't you ask your mother to strip for you? Oh, for a cheap, ugly, bald man like you, if I were your mother, I'd wish I'd never given birth to you!"

The bald man's face turned a deep shade of purple. He lunged forward to strike, but the man in the suit intervened, blocking his palm. "What's a grown man doing arguing with a woman!"

The foreign young man also came over to pull him back, using broken Mandarin: "Wan, be a gentleman!"

Although the bald man, addressed as "Wan" by the foreigner, had the physical advantage, he was held fast by the two men. Seeing everyone watching his embarrassment, he couldn't save face and turned to roar at Xu Huo and Yuan Yao, "What are you looking at!"

Xu Huo smiled but remained silent. These people seemed to know each other, though the acquaintance was likely unpleasant.

"I say, what are you all bickering about?" the wealthy heir said unhappily, putting his arm around the woman with smoky makeup. "The fog is getting thicker out here. How much longer are we going to stand here catching the wind?"

The wealthy heir had arrived relatively early, thinking he could gain an advantage by being first, but to his surprise, they couldn't enter the villa until everyone had arrived.

The man in the suit checked the time. "Areas covered by heavy fog shouldn't belong to the dungeon. We all know the game content; there's a Headless Demon roaming the villa. If we stay out here, we might run into danger."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get in!" The muscular man took the lead to knock on the door. "Is anyone alive in there? Open up!"

The wooden door was pounded loudly, but no one responded.

"Maybe the door won't open until twelve o'clock," Xu Huo said from behind.

The muscular man's face darkened. "I don't believe in that crap!"

With that, he kicked the door. Unexpectedly, before his foot even landed, the wooden door creaked open on its own. Unable to brace himself, he tumbled inside with a heavy thud.

The people outside laughed in small groups. The wealthy heir followed him in with schadenfreude. "That's what you get for not checking your watch. It's exactly twelve o'clock."

The remaining eleven people entered the villa.

The interior of the villa was no better than the outside. What lay before them was a garden dense with greenery. Aside from a single pebble path running through it that barely allowed passage, the rest was so overgrown it was difficult to move through.

However, following the path, they could see several streetlights and a sign that read "Registration Ahead."

"Why is the vegetation so overgrown here?" the woman with smoky makeup complained. "No one even trims it."

"It's not surprising. This place might have been uninhabited for a long time," the wealthy heir said.

"Someone should be living here," the man in the suit countered. "The pebble path is clean, without fallen leaves or dust. Someone must be cleaning it regularly. It doesn't look like there's a settlement nearby, and it's inconvenient to go up and down the mountain, so living here makes more sense."

"Fuck! Then it's an NPC! That bastard won't come out to open the door!" The muscular man rolled up his sleeves and started cursing. "Where is everyone? Where did they all die to!"

"Gulp!" The long-haired female player walking at the back swallowed hard. Pointing toward a patch of bushes, she said with a sob, "Look... is that a person..."

Everyone turned around. They saw only the dark forest, where an exceptionally tall tree stood. Two black shadows hung from its branches, and a heavy object was dangling below, swaying!

Was he killed?!

"Quick, let's go check!" The group searched through the woods for a while before discovering a narrow path near the perimeter wall that led directly toward the tall tree.

But by the time they reached it, it was too late. The person was hanging silently from the tree, tongue protruding long, with saliva dripping down.

"Ugh!" The long-haired female player's knees buckled, and she fell to the ground.

The other players also looked unwell. This person should have been a resident of the villa and might have known some inside information, but it was too coincidental that he died just as they arrived—as if someone had been timing the murder to ensure they discovered it.

Although they didn't know if the killer was the Headless Demon mentioned in the dungeon, having a murderer lurking nearby watching them was bone-chilling!

"I think... he might have committed suicide," Xu Huo said, returning after circling the area.

In fact, the situation nearby was quite clear. Beneath the tree where the man had hanged himself was a small wooden shack, a few square meters in size, containing only a bed and some logging tools.

Behind the shack were several mounds of graves; one was new, and the paper money on the ground had not yet decayed.

He patted the high pile of wood stacked at the base of the corpse. "At this height, a person could climb up and just hang themselves."

"Maybe he was hung there while still alive," the bald man said. "He wasn't the only one here."

"But according to the dungeon description, isn't the Headless Demon supposed to... decapitate people?" the foreign young man asked, puzzled.

The man in the suit performed a brief examination of the hanging man's body and said with a complex expression, "He might really have hanged himself."

"He must have been sick for a long time. His body is covered in pustules."

Xu Huo stepped forward to lift the corpse's shoulder and saw that large green pustules covered his entire back, leaving no original skin visible.

Yuan Yao walked over. "Brother Xu, did you find anything?"