MMB Chapter 165 Li Jiuhe's Headless Body
Chapter 165 Li Jiuhe's Headless Body
Chapter 165 Li Jiuhe's Headless Body
After hearing Li Jiuhe and Chen Song's conversation, Ma Li, who had been completely bewildered, finally came to her senses.
She pointed at Chen Song in surprise: "Ah, I always thought it was the owner of this girl's head talking to us, but who knew it was the owner of this headless body?!"
"Use the soul; the description of the soul is more appropriate."
Chen Song didn't seem to mind her surprise and quickly explained.
"After being decapitated, the head detaches from the body and becomes uncontrollable. I suspect that the terrifying creature took it. For the next 48 hours, the body can barely move. If you can find your head within this timeframe, you can be resurrected. If you can't find it, you can use someone else's head as a temporary substitute until you find your own. Once the time is up, the head will be permanently attached to your body and cannot be changed."
"So how long after your beheading did you get?" Li Jiuhe asked.
Chen Song raised his hand to look at the watch on his wrist, then his body stiffened and he stopped moving.
Li Jiuhe and Ma Li exchanged a glance, neither of them understanding what he was looking at.
Chen Song suddenly lowered his wrist, and the woman's face showed regret and resentment: "Just now, my 48..."
The hour is over.
He then let out a long sigh and looked up at Li Jiuhe: "I don't know whether to thank you or—sigh, if this head had been delivered any later, I would be completely dead. So now—I will live like this for the rest of my life."
Li Jiuhe and the other person remained silent, unsure of what to say.
A woman's head and a man's body—whoever encounters this absurd and bizarre scene would probably not know how to face it in the future.
Fortunately, this is a haunted house scene, and Chen Song in front of him should be an NPC in the scene. Li Jiuhe deduced that this person was likely not the accomplice of Moth Girl who had entered the haunted house in advance.
In retrospect, the person who hid the young woman's head in the safe might actually have been an accomplice of the Moth Woman.
That guy was probably worried about being beheaded, so he hid a human head in a safe beforehand, just in case he couldn't find his own head and could use that head as a substitute.
As long as people don't die, that's fine. This should be the worst-case scenario that guy is planning for; at least this last resort can save his life.
According to Chen Song, the decapitator seems to have a habit of collecting all the heads of his targets, which makes heads scarce. As a result, those who have been decapitated will frantically try to steal other people's heads within 48 hours.
"How did you get that old man's head?" Li Jiuhe asked.
If Chen Song's 48 hours have passed, then they no longer need to worry about the other party cutting off their heads and attaching them to their bodies.
After all, if he had a choice, Chen Song would definitely choose a boy's head instead of this girl's.
At that time, Li Jiuhe's head would definitely be his best option.
Chen Song seemed resigned to his fate, plopping down on the ground with his back against the wall, his face ashen.
He slowly said, "After my head was cut off, my headless body didn't wake up for half an hour. I was very anxious because my head was missing, but although I couldn't see it, I had a vague sense of vision. I can't describe that feeling in detail, so I got up to look for my head ——————"
"And then you ran into that old man from earlier?" Ma Li asked.
Chen Song nodded, then explained, "I had no other choice. Do you know what it feels like to be about to die? The old man's surname seemed to be Yan. He came on vacation with me. His wife was beheaded on the first day, and it's been over 48 hours. He hid, and I suddenly found him when I was feeling helpless. Then, while he was sleeping because he couldn't hold on any longer—"
Ma Li chimed in, "So you just used your kitchen knife to cut his head off?"
Li Jiuhe was puzzled: "Even if it wasn't the murderer who cut off the head, the target you killed still has a 48-hour resurrection period?"
"Yes." Chen Song's tone was resolute. "After our heads are cut off, it's as if we're tainted with some kind of curse. If someone else's head is cut off, that person will also immediately be tainted with this curse and have 48 hours to resurrect."
"It feels like a mechanism," Li Jiuhe speculated. "The culprit is using this method to get you to help him cut off more people's heads."
"What about the heads?" Malice asked in surprise. "We searched the building for a long time, and we only found one head in the safe."
"It must have been hidden away by that guy," Chen Song guessed.
"How were you beheaded?" Li Jiuhe asked.
Chen Song tried to recall for a moment: "I'm not too sure either. I remember I didn't break those rules. I was in the kitchen looking for something to eat when I saw several headless corpses. These corpses had obviously been dead for longer than the time they had been searched for to reattach their heads. I took some food, took several steps back to make sure no one was behind me, and then turned to leave. But just as I stepped out of the kitchen and into the dining hall, I felt a sharp pain in my neck, and then I knew nothing more."
"So, at that very moment you were beheaded?" Li Jiuhe frowned. "Was it one of the other corpses or that guy who beheaded you?"
Chen Song replied, "I don't know."
"You said you didn't see anyone around you before you were beheaded, so was that guy invisible?" Li Jiuhe rubbed his chin.
"Don't talk about him!" Chen Song immediately exclaimed in alarm, turning his head to look around, fearing that the terrifying guy was quietly approaching.
This was a rare opportunity to fully understand the beheading butcher, and Li Jiuhe didn't want to miss it, so he wasn't worried even if it attracted the butcher.
At worst, you can use reset points to reset the current storyline. The important thing is that you have the opportunity to learn more information and can use reset points to obtain information that can save your life.
"You can speak freely and quickly; he definitely won't come looking for us right away."
To dispel Chen Song's doubts, Li Jiuhe made up a story: "Because I just saw him follow that old man surnamed Yan to the restaurant."
Ma Li was startled. She couldn't tell whether Li Jiuhe was lying or telling the truth, but she forced herself to remain silent.
Chen Song hesitated, "Are you serious?"
Li Jiuhe nodded: "That's why I just said he might be invisible. If he can't be invisible, then the person I saw leaving with the old man surnamed Yan must be him. Don't worry, he wants to kill this old man, and the old man is very cautious. He's definitely looking for an opportunity now and won't be coming back here anytime soon."
Chen Song turned his head to look in the direction of the restaurant, but of course he couldn't see anything from his position.
After a moment, he spoke: "I've heard that this guy can disguise himself as anyone, even any object, and if he doesn't move, no one will see him. The rules we discovered were all derived from the deaths of our companions."
"So writing these rules down doesn't violate the taboo of 'don't discuss him'?" Li Jiuhe asked.
"Yes." Chen Song stood up and said, "I need to find a good place to hide now, and wait for the rescue team to land on the island in the next couple of days. You should all hide too—"
"What would happen if your head were chopped off again right now?" Li Jiuhe asked curiously.
Chen Song was taken aback, then replied, "Complete death, with only one chance to be reborn within 48 hours —"
Immediately, Li Jiuhe saw the other person's eyes widen, as if they had seen something incredible happening in their direction.
He was startled and immediately tried to turn around, but a sharp pain shot through his neck, and he quickly lost consciousness.
After an unknown amount of time, when Li Jiuhe regained consciousness, he found that he had not returned to the most recent reset point.
In other words, the task was not automatically reset.
He instantly realized that he had most likely been killed by the butcher because he was discussing the beheading.
In this scenario, the decapitator is the possessor of absolute power; even if a Sequencer has Sequence abilities, they will only be suppressed and unable to kill him.
However, all of this was within Li Jiuhe's plan; he was prepared to discuss the possibility of this guy being killed.
Lying on the ground, he quickly sensed that he could initiate a mission reset at any time, an ability that was not limited by the haunted house setting.
The reason for this outcome may be that what happened to him did not exceed the necessary limits deemed necessary by the mission, meaning that his life was not threatened.
But at this moment, Li Jiuhe had a very strange feeling. He wanted to open his eyes, but found that he couldn't do it.
He lay on the ground and slowly reached out to touch his head; it was gone.
His head was gone; all that could be felt was a clean, sharp cut at the neck, with no blood flowing out—it was extremely eerie.
Soon a blurry sense of vision appeared, and he found that he could see his surroundings, or more accurately, perceive his surroundings.
What appears to be a blurry black and white scene is actually not apparent to affect movement if you look closely after your eyes adjust.
But at this moment he could feel that his body was sore and weak, and he was extremely powerless.
He forced himself to sit up and looked back. Ma Li was gone, but he couldn't see her headless body.
Looking ahead again, Chen Song, who had just been talking with him about the beheading butcher, had also become a headless corpse once more. This time, the other man was truly dead.
Li Jiuhe slowly stood up and looked around, but he didn't see his own head or Chen Song's young woman's head.
These two heads had clearly been taken by the decapitator; that guy must be a head collector.
This is why there is a scarcity of skulls here.
Of course, if you can find the place where the beheading butcher collects heads, you can definitely find your own head and reattach it.
But there was no need for that now; he sat on the ground with his back against the wall.
His firsthand experience at this moment made him realize that after being beheaded, the entire headless body would be in a state of soreness and weakness. Although he could move, it would be extremely difficult.
So, the fact that the headless body of the old man surnamed Yan secretly followed Chen Song, accurately chopped off his head, and then snatched it back shows just how terrifying the old man's perseverance and methods were.
It is no coincidence that this elderly man surnamed Yan has survived to this day.
Before deciding to talk to the beheading butcher, Li Jiuhe had already set a time reset anchor point at that point in time, so he was not in a hurry to reset it now.
Because at this point, after being beheaded, this state is actually the safest.
People with brains would avoid him, and this headless body meant nothing to the beheading butcher, so he would no longer pay attention to it.
However, for a headless body to find the butcher's hiding place, then successfully find its own head and retrieve it to be reborn, the difficulty is probably comparable to climbing to the heavens.
In contrast, just like Chen Song did before, killing others and taking their heads would have a higher success rate.
After sitting on the ground for a while to calm down, Li Jiuhe gradually cleared his thoughts.
He sensed that he could still reset, but his ability to attach labels was still unusable. There was no reaction when he sensed the labels, and he was also unable to carry duplicate items.
Even the boundary stone seemed to have turned into an ordinary stone.
However, the points can still be viewed and used.
Therefore, he can use points to activate "Scene Replay" independently.
After all, this ability is not offensive, but simply information gathering, which can be accomplished using only points.
Thinking of this, Li Jiuhe spent 1 point to activate "Scene Replay".
The blurry black and white image before my eyes was instantly replaced, and a clear overhead view appeared.
This scene was exactly when he and Chen Song were discussing the beheading butcher.
The scene appears normal at this moment. He is talking to Chen Song, while Ma Li stands behind him, looking around cautiously.
Before long, a man suddenly walked out from the counter behind him. It was as if he appeared out of thin air. One second he was integrated with the color and shape of the counter, and the next second he separated and formed a man's figure.
The man was of medium build, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, black rubber boots, and carrying a rusty knife.
This knife seems to be used for gutting and chopping fish. The blade is sharp and the back of the blade is quite thick, so it should be a multi-functional knife.
After he appeared, he walked straight behind Li Jiuhe. His movements were extremely fast. Chen Song, who was facing Li Jiuhe, only had time to open his eyes wide before the fish knife swept past and Li Jiuhe's head was already flying.
To Li Jiuhe's surprise, the target of this strike was not only him, but also Chen Song.
The blade continued its momentum, slicing through the neck of the astonished woman with a single stroke.
The two heads were tossed into the air one after the other, and before they could even land, the beheading butcher reached out and grabbed them, holding them in his hand.
Ma Li watched this scene in horror.
Because the process was so fast, she didn't have time to react. It wasn't until this moment that she screamed and turned to run away.
The butcher didn't give chase immediately. Instead, he held the two heads in one hand and the fish knife in the other, looking at the fleeing young woman.
He caught up shortly afterward, calling out softly, "Ma Li, Ma Li—"
Ma Li had already run into the corridor behind the building, not daring to answer or look back. Soon, the two disappeared from sight, one after the other.
"This guy actually knows our names directly." Li Jiuhe guessed that this must be due to the mechanism of the haunted house scene.
Once they enter this scene, even if they come in later, the main villain can instantly lock onto their basic information.
Two headless bodies lay on the ground, and the scene returned to calm.
Less than ten minutes later, Li Jiuhe's headless body moved, and he woke up at that moment.
After the "scene replay" ended, Li Jiuhe finally understood the whole process of his beheading and what happened afterward.
Mali should have found a place to hide by now; I wonder if she has met with the butcher's cruelty.
However, it's not a big problem. He can take this opportunity to search around and see if he can find more information to crack the Decapitation Butcher.
Or perhaps they could find the moth woman's accomplices.
Based on Li Jiuhe's initial guess, this guy must be quite capable to be able to solve so many haunted house scenarios.
Cracking this last scenario should only be a matter of time.
Therefore, he dared not be careless. Perhaps that person had already found the key to breaking the beheading butcher's magic and was just waiting for an opportunity.
He tried to stand up slowly, overcoming the soreness and fatigue in his body. Holding onto the wall, he moved his feet little by little towards the restaurant.
At his normal walking pace, it would take him about five or six minutes to reach the restaurant, but it took him more than twenty minutes, stumbling and staggering, before he finally saw the restaurant's entrance.
However, during this time, he also got used to his blurry vision and gained a basic grasp of the body's balance.
Upon entering the restaurant, in the dimly lit space, several headless corpses could be seen piled on the floor, their arms outstretched, motionless.
It gives the impression that these corpses were desperately trying to grab something before they died completely.
Li Jiuhe knew that they were most likely fighting for heads, but in the end, the vast majority of them failed.
The old man surnamed Yan from earlier was nowhere to be seen.
Li Jiuhe slowly walked to the passageway connecting the restaurant to the kitchen.
Because there was no electricity, the kitchen was pitch black, and you couldn't see anything.
At this moment, Li Jiuhe had no reservations and walked straight in. His blurry vision remained unchanged, unaffected by the darkness.
As he entered the kitchen, his black and white vision revealed a large number of headless corpses piled on the floor.
Among these bodies, some were dressed as chefs, some were likely tourists at the resort, and others were dressed as other staff members.
There were about thirty bodies lying haphazardly, and each one looked like it had been there for a long time.
After all, five days have passed, and the remaining survivors have all been screened and are those who still have the ability to survive for the time being.
After inspecting the area, he continued to drag his heavy steps into the kitchen, arriving at the fresh food processing area at the back.
A headless body quickly came into view, standing in front of a heavy metal door at the very back of the control room.
The door was locked, and behind it appeared to be a cold storage room.
Even if the door is unlocked, given its weight, it might be impossible for a headless body to open it.
Just after Li Jiuhe appeared, the headless body seemed to notice his arrival and quickly turned around to face him.
As Li Jiuhe approached, he saw that the headless body belonged to a man, and he seemed to be quite young, with a rather trendy outfit.
Both of them were headless and had no conflict of interest with each other, so they had no need to be on guard.
As Li Jiuhe approached, the headless body seemed to recognize the worker's uniform Li Jiuhe was wearing. It then squatted down, dipped its index finger into a basin filled with chicken and duck blood, and began to write on the ground.
"Were you just beheaded? I remember all the staff died a few days ago."
Li Jiuhe did not deny it, but he would not easily reveal his identity, because no one could see his face at this moment.
With his current attire, no one would guess that he had just arrived at the resort.
Moreover, the young man in front of him was not simple; he had found this place just as he had thought, and less than 48 hours had passed since he was beheaded, so he was not completely dead.
Li Jiuhe also squatted down and imitated the other person by dipping his brush in blood to write words.
"I hid and just came out, but I still couldn't escape."
The young man pointed to the heavy metal door behind him, then to Li Jiuhe and himself.
He then wrote on the ground: "It seems our thoughts coincide. My name is Guo Fan, what's yours?"