Players, Please Board the Train

Xu Huo looked ahead to see an old Chinese-style mountain villa standing at the end of the path. There were no streetlights outside, with the only illumination coming from white lanterns stuffed into the mouths of the stone lions at the entrance. The dim light barely illuminated a few square meters in front of the gate, just enough to clearly see the several people standing there.

A tall foreign youth with blond hair and blue eyes stood pressed against the gate, talking to a young man beside him who was carrying a denim jacket. To the left of the young man squatted a muscular guy smoking a cigarette.

A few steps away near the stone lion stood a middle-aged man in a well-tailored suit, the picture of a successful businessman. He had two female players flanking him - one with long hair, the other short. Though standing close to him, both women’s gazes were fixed on a balding, greasy middle-aged man opposite them, their expressions full of disgust.

Behind the balding man stood a man and woman. The man wore designer clothes with an arrogant expression, while the woman had heavy smoky eye makeup and clung to him intimately. A young man who looked like a college student stood alone nearby.

Ten people in total.

The impatient group turned unfriendly expressions toward Xu Huo and Yuan Yao as they arrived late. The muscular man sprang up, ”Why don’t you wait until dawn to show up? If you’re this scared, go home and suck your mama’s milk instead of playing dungeons!”

Xu Huo’s cigarette trembled as Yuan Yao bumped into him while shrinking back. Smiling, he offered a cigarette, ”Easy there, brother. The car only arrived now, nothing I could do.”

The muscular man snorted coldly and knocked his hand away.

The denim-jacketed young man said mildly, ”We’re all in the same boat here, no need for hostility.”

”Whether we’re in the same boat remains to be seen,” the balding man leered at the two female players. ”We’d need to see under their clothes to know.”The long-haired player had thick black hair reaching her waist and looked pure and innocent. Though clearly disgusted by the man’s malice, she only frowned without speaking.

The short-haired player appeared more lively and capable, also more fiery. She retorted bluntly, ”See a woman and immediately want her to strip? Why don’t you ask your mom to strip for you? Oh wait, for an ugly, balding creep like you, if I were your mom I’d wish I’d never given birth to you!”

The balding man’s face flushed purple with rage as he charged to hit her, but the suited man intercepted, blocking his slap. ”What kind of man picks on women?”

The foreign youth also came to restrain him, saying in broken Mandarin, ”Wan, be gentleman!”

Though physically stronger, the balding man called ”Wan” by the foreigner found himself immobilized between the two. Seeing everyone watching his humiliation, he turned his anger on Xu Huo and Yuan Yao. ”What the hell are you looking at?”

Xu Huo smiled without responding. These people seemed to have already met each other, though not pleasantly.

”What’s all this pointless bickering?” The rich kid with the smoky-eyed girl complained. ”The fog’s getting thicker out here - how much longer are we going to stand around in this wind?”

He’d arrived early thinking to gain an advantage, only to find they couldn’t enter the villa until everyone was present.

The suited man checked his watch. ”The fog-covered area probably isn’t part of the dungeon. We all know the scenario - a Headhunter Demon roams this villa. If we stay out here, we might encounter danger.”

”Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go in!” The muscular man charged ahead to bang on the gate. ”Anyone alive in there? Open up!”

The wooden door shook under his pounding but elicited no response.

”Maybe it won’t open until midnight,” Xu Huo remarked from behind.

The muscular man scowled. ”I don’t believe that crap!”

He kicked at the door, but before his foot connected, the gate creaked open on its own. Losing his balance, he tumbled inside with a heavy thud.

Chuckles rose from the group outside. The rich kid followed in gleefully, ”Should’ve checked your watch - it’s exactly twelve.”

The remaining eleven entered the villa.

The interior was no better than outside. They faced an overgrown garden where only a pebble path offered passage through the dense vegetation that crowded everywhere else.

Further down the path stood a few lampposts with signs pointing toward registration.

”Why’s everything so overgrown here?” the smoky-eyed girl complained. ”No one trims anything?”

”Not surprising if no one lives here anymore,” the rich kid said.

”Someone must live here,” countered the suited man. ”The stone path is clean - no fallen leaves or dust. Definitely maintained regularly. This remote mountain location would be hard to commute from - living here makes more sense.”

”Damn it! Then where’s that NPC bastard hiding?” The muscular man rolled up his sleeves. ”Hey! Where the hell are you?”

”Gulp.” The long-haired player pointed trembling at the bushes, her voice quivering. ”Is... is that a person over there...?”

Everyone turned to see an exceptionally tall tree in the dark woods, its branches holding two dark shapes with a heavy object dangling beneath - swaying.

Murdered?!

”Quick, check it out!” The group searched through the woods before discovering a narrow path along the wall leading toward the tree.

But they were too late. The body hung silently from the tree, tongue protruding grotesquely, drool dripping down.

”Ugh!” The long-haired girl collapsed to her knees.

Other players also looked ill. This was likely a villa resident who might have known important information. The timing - dying right as they arrived - felt deliberate, as if someone had timed the murder for them to discover.

Though unsure if this was the Headhunter Demon from the scenario, having a murderer watching them was chilling enough!

”I think... he might have killed himself,” Xu Huo said after circling the area.

The situation was obvious - beneath the hanging corpse stood a small wooden shed containing only a bed and lumber tools.

Behind the shed were several graves, one freshly dug with paper money not yet decomposed.

He patted the tall stack of firewood by the corpse’s feet. ”This height would be just right for someone to climb up and hang themselves.”

”Or someone could have hung him alive,” the balding man said. ”He wasn’t alone here.”

”But according to the dungeon, doesn’t the Headhunter Demon decapitate people?” the foreign youth asked confused.

The suited man briefly examined the corpse with a complicated expression. ”He might really have hanged himself.”

”He must have been sick for a long time - covered in pustules.”

Xu Huo lifted the corpse’s shoulder to reveal a back completely covered in green pustules, no normal skin visible.

Yuan Yao approached. ”Brother Xu, find anything?”