Chapter 31 - 31 31 Sneak Attack

31: Chapter 31 Sneak Attack 31: Chapter 31 Sneak Attack The group rifled through the great hall, searching every possible hiding spot, yet they still came up clueless. “Where on earth could it be?” Yuan Yao pounded the wall in frustration. “This damned place is only so big. I’ve even checked the ornaments, but there’s no sign of any secret mechanisms or passageways.” Indeed, the building was shaped like the character “回,” with a sizeable “口” in the center. Compared to other areas, it would be easiest to make alterations here. However, the walls, except for the decorative piece behind the counter, were bare without even a painting, and they felt solid to the knock, leaving no room for hidden rooms or secret passageways. “This decoration isn’t right,” Huang Junjie noted as he moved behind the counter. With a forceful press on the protruding round wooden block, there was a “click,” and the round block sprang open to reveal a small space with a removable wooden board on the floor that led to an underground staircase. “Turns out it’s a push door. I wasted so much time fiddling with the ornaments above,” Yuan Yao’s face grew hot with embarrassment. Huang Junjie turned to Xu Huo, “Shall we go down and have a look?” Searᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The three of them descended into the passage one by one, and just as they pulled the wooden door shut behind them, the rich kid and Liu Yuanyuan emerged from one side. “I knew Huang Junjie and that Xu guy were muttering to each other; they must have found some clues,” the rich kid whispered and after a short while, he opened the wooden door. Shortly after the two left, Abel emerged from the side and followed them into the underground passage. Minutes later, Zhang Xiong and his two companions returned from the wooden house. Discovering that none of the people who were supposed to be there could be found, they furiously began smashing things. “There seems to be a sound coming from behind here!” Wang Wei pressed his ear against the round wooden decoration to listen closely. Zhang Xiong rushed over and kicked it, causing the round door to pop open. He leapt in first, excitedly saying, “No wonder we couldn’t find the Beheading Demon anywhere. He must be hiding in here. If we kill the Beheading Demon, we might even get a reward. Let’s go!” Then the three of them squeezed in. * The passageway was more spacious than expected, wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and split into three separate paths after descending the stone staircase. Xu Huo and his group chose one of the paths. They didn’t find any traces of the college students but did uncover even more branching paths. One narrow branch led to an exit beneath a stone beside the hot spring in the left room. “It looks like the Beheading Demon has been using these passages to move around,” Huang Junjie said. “Jia Xuyang brought so much food with him; he likely stashed it away down here. Could he really be behind yesterday’s incident?” “Let’s find the person first,” Xu Huo promptly doubled back into the tunnel, but as soon as he landed, he heard the sound of a blade chopping into the stone wall. Following the noise, they rounded a corner and bumped into Abel. “What are you doing here?” Huang Junjie drew his knife. “Don’t get the wrong idea!” Abel hastily waved his hands. “I followed down Ms. Liu and the others, but got lost because I didn’t realize how the passages were connected. I just came over when I heard noises.” Xu Huo paid no attention to him and entered the next fork. As the light from his flashlight hit the opposite side, he first glimpsed a tall shadow flash by, followed by a glimpse of the college student’s corpse propped against the wall, the head severed. “There’s blood over here,” Abel said, glancing at the ground with the help of the ambient light. There were two distinct trails of blood leading into another tunnel. “Hurry, let’s chase!” Huang Junjie led the way following the bloodstains. As they followed the blood and turned a couple of corners, they unexpectedly kicked something on the ground, and amid the darkness, a spherical object tumbled forward. Huang Junjie felt chills run up his spine. He wasn’t the only one; Yuan Yao also stumbled upon it. “No, no way…” The flashlight beam revealed three human heads scattered on the ground, covered in both dry and fresh bloodstains. Due to their previous kicking, the heads had rolled and hit the wall, leaving a patch of blood. Looking at the head, Xu Huo frowned and asked, “When you just came down, had Wang Wei and his three people returned…” Before he could finish speaking, he felt someone approaching from behind. Before he could react, his throat was strangled by a thin thread, and he was lifted off the ground! Abel, who was being asked, was about to speak when he turned around. He hadn’t even opened his mouth when he saw the flashlight falling, and Xu Huo’s feet were hanging in the air, carried away by a tall shadow retreating into the rear! He tore off the Cross from his necklace and shot it over, but it was deflected by an axe. Huang Junjie picked up the flashlight and illuminated the entire tunnel. “He has no feet!” Yuan Yao, holding a head, intended to roll it on the ground, hoping the Beheading Demon would slip on it, but saw nothing under the black cloak when he looked down! Just as the person was about to be taken out of the tunnel, Xu Huo, lifted in the air, suddenly raised his feet and kicked against the wall, his head striking backward directly onto the Beheading Demon’s mask! The plastic mask clattered to the ground, and Xu Huo broke free from the Beheading Demon’s grasp. He touched the blood on his neck, then turned around to face the Beheading Demon, now left with only a body floating in mid-air. Huang Junjie and his two companions caught up, staring at the immobile black cloak clutching the lethal axe, their scalps tingling! “No head, no feet, the Beheading Demon is truly not human!” “God, the heavens, there really are ghosts!” “What do we do now?” The four people faced off with the Beheading Demon when suddenly, the mask that had fallen to the ground flew back into the Beheading Demon’s hands, and he put it back on his head. At the same moment he raised his hand, Xu Huo pulled out a dagger and threw it! Sparks flew as metal clashed and bounced off each other, then another lighter, burning, flew through the tunnel. Xu Huo quickly lit a second one: “Ignite!” The lighter hit the black cloak, slid to the ground, and failed to light even a spark! “Watch me!” Abel said as he pushed Xu Huo aside. An enormous Cross appeared out of nowhere in his hand. His arms bulking with muscle, he hurled the Cross at the Beheading Demon! The Cross smashed onto the axe, forcing the cloaked figure back a distance, and the hands holding the axe were pressed back to the ground! It worked! The others’ eyes lit up, ready to advance, but the heavy Cross suddenly turned into a pile of foam, losing its weight. The Beheading Demon easily flew off toward another passageway! The four hesitated for a moment, then raced after, but at the junction of the tunnel, the black cloak had already vanished. At the same time, a light from a fire was approaching from another direction. “It’s you!” Zhang Xiong backed away hurriedly, “I saw Jia Xuyang’s body, was it you who did it?” “No!” said Abel, “We were also attacked by the Beheading Demon, and we’re chasing him!” The chase expanded from four to five. As they wove through the junctions, the group grew from seven to nine, but still, there was no sign of the Beheading Demon again. “I think we should stop looking,” gasped Huang Junjie, “That thing appears and disappears unpredictably, the tunnels are so dark, and we don’t even know how many there are. Continuing like this is no solution.” “Let’s take the bodies up first.” Xu Huo gave up on continuing the search as well; it was simply a waste of time. The group took Jia Xuyang’s body and the other two heads back to the surface. The three were put together, piecing together a complete corpse. “Jia died too miserably,” Wang Wei said, looking at Jia Xuyang’s body, unable to bear it, and then added, “You were too careless. Knowing the Beheading Demon was not easy to deal with, even if you found his trace, you should have waited for everyone to arrive before making a move.”