Chapter 35 - Clearing the Level

“All of us were first-time participants in the game copy and naturally overlooked the background story, simply treating the Beheading Demon as a fixed boss without considering that there might be other hidden information.”

They thought they were among the earliest players in the game, where the mentioned three years were just part of the background story, just as they had taken The Woodcutter for an NPC, never imagining that this place had long been a game copy and, furthermore, a non-closed one.

“Who could guess that this has been a copy site for decades and that there are strangely players who’ve remained here?” Liu Yuanyuan’s arrogant demeanor had lessened significantly.

“It’s also thanks to that woodcutter,” Yuan Yao said, “otherwise, we wouldn’t have known that the last person left wouldn’t be able to clear the copy.”

As he spoke, his eyes gleaming, he pounced towards Xu Huo, “Brother Xu!

We’re good friends, good brothers, right?

Let’s switch numbers, or at least add each other on social media!”

Xu Huo held his face and pushed him away before turning to Wang Wei, “Your recent little movements confirmed without a doubt that the Beheading Demon is a player.”

“Why don’t you suspect her!” Wang Wei angrily pointed at Liu Yuanyuan.

“Of course I suspected her,” Xu Huo said indifferently.

“Didn’t we just use the process of elimination?”

Wang Wei had nothing to say, trembling all over for a while before suddenly laughing sinisterly, “It’s my bad luck to encounter you, but don’t think you can finish the copy that easily!”

At the raise of his finger, a faintly visible string appeared out of thin air beside Xu Huo, this string slightly different in color from the previous ones, seemingly able to hide using the environment, yet the glint of metal it carried could be caught.

“Here it comes!” He reached out to grab the thread but, unexpectedly, it slipped through his fingers and, burrowing out, it moved toward Yuan Yao!

It wasn’t coming for him!

Xu Huo kicked Yuan Yao aside, but the thin string didn’t attack Huang Junjie, who was coming straight at it; instead, it passed by his ear, flying towards Abel behind him!

In a panic, Abel retreated, a huge Cross reappearing in his hand.

He swung it wildly in the air, but instead of achieving any effect, the bubbles the Cross produced distracted him, and the next second, he was lifted by the slender thread!

Huang Junjie and Yuan Yao ran over to help, originally trying to lift him high to get him off the thread, but that damn thing was like it had grown on Abel’s neck — lifting the man only made it lift too!

“This is my special item ‘Omnipresent Strings.’ It can grow anywhere; there’s nothing you can do, you can only watch him hang!” Wang Wei laughed wildly, showing extreme madness as he said, “But don’t worry, I’ll kill you all one by one!”

The faces of the several players present all darkened, Wang Wei had too many odd special items on him!

“His items can’t be used on the same person twice — Huang Junjie, you go!” Xu Huo shouted loudly and then, with a couple of stamps of his heel, he vanished from his spot in an instant!

His speed was so fast that he almost left an afterimage in the air.

Just a second before, a complacent Wang Wei’s face changed dramatically, and before his smile could fade, he saw Xu Huo standing right in front of him!

“Ah!!!” Wang Wei screamed, looking down at his left hand, four fingers and half of his palm had been sheared off!

With the control on his side gone, Abel fell down.

Huang Junjie tried to coil up the fine thread with a bamboo blade but wasn’t successful, and could only watch as the thread flew back towards Wang Wei!

“Xu Huo, be careful, the thread is going back!”

Hearing Huang Junjie’s warning, Xu Huo didn’t turn back; instead, he blocked an incoming axe, kicked Wang Wei back against the wall, turned around, and bit down on the hanging string with a brass lighter.

Grabbing both ends, he tied several dead knots and threw it together with the lighter to Huang Junjie!

Seeing his own item taken away just like that, Wang Wei roared and wildly swung his axe in desperation to fight Xu Huo, but he was too slow and wounded.

Without the enhancement of the black cloak and just wildly hacking without any technique, he couldn’t harm a soul.

Xu Huo gave Yuan Yao a look, and the latter slipped away, understanding the signal.

“Die die die!” The warehouse echoed with Wang Wei’s roar, but Xu Huo remained calm.

He didn’t confront him head-on, simply stepping back with the flow when dodging the blows, waiting until Yuan Yao silently reached behind him before suddenly speaking up, “Don’t you want to know how I figured out the weakness of the item?”

Wang Wei’s movements subconsciously stalled; in that moment, Yuan Yao abruptly grabbed his arm, shouting excitedly, “Brother Xu, strike now!”

Wang Wei’s complexion changed, but by the time he realized he had been duped, it was too late.

A small knife swiftly plunged into his heart!

Xu Huo calmly watched the man who was staring him down with bulging eyes; he only stepped back after removing the axe, letting him fall to his knees on the ground.

The moment Wang Wei took his last breath, a prompt sounded in the ears of all the players present:

[Congratulations to all players for successfully passing through the “Beheading Demon” instance.

As the instance finished early, and the Beheading Demon was slain collectively, all players will receive the villa owner’s bounty of one hundred thousand and one special item, in addition to the rewards for task completion.]

[Additionally, the Beheading Demon’s item is a fixed item of this instance.

Players cannot acquire it, but shortly players will have the option to exchange for an attribute development right or an item once.

Note: The player who will receive this exchange reward will be selected by player vote.]

[Player Passerby A: Rank-B

Player Lantern-Lit Sword Gazing: Level D

Player Code Monkey You Don’t Understand: Level D

Player Gods’ Faith: Level E

Player Miss Fair and Lovely: Level E]

“Level D!” Yuan Yao was the first to jump up in excitement, “I’m Level D, I didn’t even get a ranking on the initial train, but I got a D in my first instance!

Haha!”

“Congratulations.” Huang Junjie also seemed much more relaxed, as he was also a D, thus his personal reward and tickets should be secure.

If Yuan Yao and he were both Level D, then the Level B of Passerby A was undoubtedly Xu Huo.

“Why am I the lowest?” Liu Yuanyuan said discontentedly, “I also helped catch the Beheading Demon.”

“Same here,” Abel scratched his head and said, “I guess it’s because from start to finish we were as good as blind, wandering aimlessly, plus you nearly caused us to fight each other.”

Liu Yuanyuan snorted, her gaze then shifting to Huang Junjie’s hand.

The metal wire that had initially struggled like a wriggling insect now hung motionless on his lighter.

She looked on enviously, “Can I take a look at that item?”

Huang Junjie stepped back warily, “One against four, you have no chance of winning.”

Liu Yuanyuan sneered, her eyes turning to Xu Huo who was shuffling around the wall, “What are you doing?

It’s time to vote.

You’re not planning to hoard the exchange item all to yourself, are you?”

After searching for a while longer, Xu Huo finally found a reflective shard in the corner.

He pocketed it casually before turning back.

After the game announcement ended, the black cloak and axe that Xu Huo had in his inventory turned grey.

When he clicked on it, only the voting column was accessible.

“Before we vote, let’s decide who gets the exchange reward,” he said.