Players, Please Board the Train-Chapter 30: Missing

"Why?!" Yuan Yao blurted out. "If the Headhunter Demon is among the players, as long as we stay together these five days, the killer won't have any opportunity to strike! That way we can all clear the trial safely!"
"You're too naive," Huang Junjie shook his head. "Striking first is always better - take the initiative yourself. Besides, since the Headhunter Demon is a player like us, it can be killed. Killing it would definitely grant extra rewards from the game."
"Just for that?"
"Just for that?"
Yuan Yao and the College Student asked simultaneously, the former sounding dejected while the latter seemed utterly lost.
Noticing the College Student's unstable mental state, Huang Junjie exchanged a look with Xu Huo. With such poor psychological resilience, it was a miracle he'd survived the Preliminary Trial Train. If he blabbed what he'd heard, the players might start killing each other prematurely.
Though distracted, the College Student was sharp-eyed. Spotting Huang Junjie's meaningful glance, he scrambled up and began backing away hurriedly. "Don't worry! I won't tell anyone what I heard!"
"You..." Yuan Yao moved to stop him, but Xu Huo called him back. "Let him go. Whether other players know or not doesn't matter."
"Killing all other players to clear the trial... as if it'd be that easy."
Xu Huo's ambiguous laugh sent chills down both Yuan Yao and Huang Junjie's spines.
"Then let's get out of here," Huang Junjie said. "Staying in this room won't help."
The three had just returned to the lobby when the resort's lights suddenly turned on. The College Student had curled up in a corner of the sofa, while the other players deliberately avoided him, sitting on other couches instead.
The axe and confiscated dagger lay on the coffee table. Players sat around it in silence.
Xu Huo glanced at the darkening sky outside before sitting down to rest with closed eyes.
Dawn brought palpable relief to all players.
"Let's find some food first," said Huang Junjie, who seemed in better condition than yesterday. "After eating, we'll search for Du Lanlan and Xia Guo's heads."
Liu Yuanyuan approached arm-in-arm with the Rich Kid. "You should be careful. Both of you touched the Headhunter Demon statue. With Xia Guo already dead, you're next on the list." She then winked at Yuan Yao, flashing white teeth. "Scared, handsome? You can stick with us - my hubby can protect you!"
Yuan Yao stood firmly by Xu Huo's side without responding, only muttering after they left, "Yesterday it was 'bro', today it's 'hubby'..."
Xu Huo watched the pair before turning to Huang Junjie. "Be careful later."
Players gradually gathered in the dining hall.
The freezers and fridges had been ransacked yesterday with no edible finds, so today they returned to the supermarket area for instant food.
"Bro Xu, Bro Huang! Instant noodles! Let's have instant noodles!" Yuan Yao carried several cups of noodles and bottled water, plus an electric kettle.
Other players trickled back. Abel brought a box of instant vermicelli to borrow hot water. As they waited, the College Student suddenly came stumbling out of the supermarket entrance, dropping bread and drinks everywhere. Without looking back at who'd kicked him, he scrambled to gather the fallen items into a plastic bag.
Zhang Xiong stood behind him, face dark. "There's plenty in the supermarket. Why grab so much at once? Planning something shady?"
Clutching his bag, the College Student scanned the dining hall warily before mumbling, "Can't I be hungry?" and hurrying out.
"What's his problem?" Wan Zhikang slipped on a drink bottle by the door, irritated.
"Who knows," Wang Wei answered absently, watching where the College Student had disappeared.
After their makeshift breakfast, players prepared to split up. Xu Huo's group would search for the heads while Wang Wei's team headed for the wooden cabins.
"What about the axe and dagger?" Abel asked worriedly.
No one trusted anyone else with the weapons, yet couldn't bear to destroy them.
"I don't care who takes them - not my problem," the Rich Kid said airily, arms crossed as he watched the others.
"Since we're splitting into groups, having weapons makes sense for self-defense," Huang Junjie reached for the dagger.
With Xu Huo and Yuan Yao not objecting, Zhang Xiong took the axe.
The three groups separated. Returning to their rooms from the dining hall, Zhang Xiong, Wan Zhikang and Wang Wei left the resort for the cabins while the Rich Kid and Liu Yuanyuan went straight to their room, leaving Abel standing alone.
"Not going with Zhang Xiong?" Xu Huo asked.
"I want to pray for those two girls," Abel hesitated. "Since you're looking for their heads... may I join you?"
He seemed sincere.
"Do you actually believe in Buddhism?" Xu Huo asked curiously. "No conflicts between faiths?"
"Of course there are," Abel pulled out a necklace from his collar. "But I'm an omnist - I respect all beliefs."
Yuan Yao finally burst out, "If you believe in every god, aren't you afraid they'll pass the buck when you need help?"
Abel smiled tolerantly. "If gods exist, they must be supreme beings. How could supreme beings resent their believers?"
Xu Huo chuckled at this atheist logic and stopped engaging, heading straight for the room with the bodies.
They'd actually searched all resort rooms yesterday without finding secret passages or compartments, but today they looked more thoroughly, even moving beds and cabinets. Finding nothing, they expanded their search to the surrounding woods.
Returning empty-handed to the resort, Xu Huo washed the plums they'd picked yesterday, arranged them on a plate, and began eating in the lobby.
"Bro, you're still eating those?" Yuan Yao gulped. "Aren't you afraid those trees are fertilized with corpses?"
Xu Huo lifted his eyelids. "Did you see any freshly turned earth earlier?"
"No," Yuan Yao answered quickly. "If we'd found fresh soil, we'd have found the heads. Who knows where the Headhunter Demon hid them."
Xu Huo's gaze grew distant as he stared at the round solid wood decoration behind the front desk. "If not outside... then inside..."
Just then Huang Junjie emerged from the hallway. "Have you seen that College Student Jia Xuyang?"
"He's missing?" Xu Huo sat up straight. "Was the food he took still in his room?"
"Gone. All gone." Huang Junjie had specifically gone looking for Jia Xuyang after noticing his absence during their room search earlier, assuming he'd gone out.
"People don't just vanish into thin air," Yuan Yao said.
Running through his memories since arriving at the resort and recalling the College Student's strange behavior this morning, Xu Huo suddenly declared, "There must be a hidden room here - search the lobby!"