The Blood Gates of the Haunted Mansion-Chapter 19: [Rain Praying Village] The Headless Corpse

“Help… help… ugh ugh…”
The man cried out toward the guesthouse, pleading for help—but the only response he received was silence.
Ning Qiushui carefully got out of bed, walked to the wooden door, locked it from the inside, and then step by step approached the window. He peered down, using the pale moonlight to see outside.
He saw a dark figure stumbling out of the forest, scratching furiously at his own neck!
It was the man who had been crying for help!
The man was screaming desperately towards the guesthouse, while frantically clawing at his neck as if… something was there.
He kept trying to reach towards the guesthouse, but his arms seemed to be acting on their own, pulling back and continuing to scratch his neck wildly!
He spun around helplessly in the courtyard, seemingly unable to get any closer to the guesthouse.
His cries became more and more anguished, chilling to the bone.
But still, no one inside the guesthouse came out to help him.
Maybe no one heard him.
But even if they had, no one would dare go out.
Everyone knew just how terrifying the world behind the Blood Door truly was!
Rushing out recklessly to help someone wouldn’t just fail to save them—it could cost you your own life!
Finally, after about ten minutes, the man outside stopped screaming.
Ning Qiushui thought that was the end of it—but what happened next made his eyes widen in horror, nearly causing him to cry out loud!
Under the ghastly pale moonlight, he saw the man in the courtyard drop to his knees. With both hands, he gripped his neck tightly and—
ripped off his own head!
Blood sprayed like a fountain, shooting all the way up to the second floor!
Even more terrifying was that, even after tearing his own head off, the man was still alive—his mouth continued to emit bone-chilling pleas for help:
“It hurts… help me… please… save me…”
“It hurts so much… it hurts so much…”
“Why… why is no one coming to save me… why…”
As he spoke, he suddenly picked up his bloody, severed head, and slowly turned toward the guesthouse—his gaze seeming to scan the rooms one by one!
Ning Qiushui instantly turned his eyes away and carefully backed up step by step until he returned to bed.
His heart was pounding wildly in his chest!
It was a long time before everything outside finally quieted down.
Eventually, Ning Qiushui drifted off into a hazy, restless sleep.
—
The next morning, Ning Qiushui was woken by a knock at the door.
He got up and opened it to find Bai Xiaoxiao already dressed.
She looked just like she always did—almost no makeup, save for a bold, striking red on her lips.
“Get dressed. After breakfast, we’ll go check out the nearest scenic spot. Maybe we’ll find some useful clues for a survival route.”
Ning Qiushui nodded without saying much.
He quickly got dressed, and when he went downstairs, he saw that Liu and Bai were already waiting at the entrance.
A crowd had gathered.
Ning Qiushui did a quick headcount and suddenly frowned.
Three people were missing.
Did they leave early? Or just not wake up yet?
Or perhaps…
“What’s wrong?”
As he walked up to Liu and Bai, Ning Qiushui asked.
Neither of them replied. Bai Xiaoxiao subtly gestured with her delicate chin, signaling for him to look toward the open space in the courtyard.
There lay a body.
A mangled corpse.
Headless.
It was the same man Ning Qiushui had seen the night before.
He pushed through the murmuring crowd and walked towards the body.
The man’s head was gone, leaving only the torso behind. His neck was covered in deep red scratch marks, and his fingernails still had bits of flesh stuck underneath.
“Does anyone here recognize him?”
Ning Qiushui suddenly turned around and asked the crowd.
A young girl stepped forward, pale-faced, her voice trembling softly:
“H-he might be my friend… but I’m not sure… because his head is gone…”
Ning Qiushui waved at her.
“Then come take a closer look.”
The girl panicked as soon as she heard that. She frantically waved her hands and spoke through tears:
“No… I-I don’t want to…”
Ning Qiushui was speechless.
But after a moment, he understood.
This was only his second Blood Door, which meant the others matched with him were mostly newbies too.
Seeing such a gruesome corpse for the first time, it was only natural to react this way.
At that moment, someone in the crowd seemed to push the girl from behind. She let out a scream and stumbled forward, falling to her knees right in front of the headless corpse!
The girl quickly covered her eyes, not daring to look at the corpse in front of her.
Fortunately, after a night of wind, the stench of blood wasn’t as strong anymore—otherwise, Ning Qiushui was worried she might have vomited on the spot!
He stood up, positioning himself to block the gruesome parts from her view, and said gently to the girl covering her eyes:
“Alright, I’ve covered the bloody parts. Try to look at his clothes and other details—can you confirm his identity?”
Hearing that, the girl cautiously peeked through her fingers. After a few seconds, she trembled and nodded:
“Y-yes… it’s him!”
Ning Qiushui frowned.
Just as he suspected.
The one who died was one of their own.
“Do you know what he was doing last night?” he asked.
The girl took a deep breath. It took her a while to calm her nerves before she replied:
“Last night… he-he wanted me to go with him to check out the shrine behind the village. He said that NPC, Hou Kong, didn’t want us to go there because the escape route might be hidden there. But I was too scared, so I didn’t go…”
“He went alone… and then… he never came back!”
The shrine?
Upon hearing that, Liu Chengfeng’s face in the crowd turned pale.
Clearly, he’d had the same thought before.
But thanks to Bai Xiaoxiao’s warning, he hadn’t acted on it.
Otherwise…
There might’ve been two headless corpses in the courtyard this morning!
“You see now? That’s what happens when you act recklessly at night…”
Bai Xiaoxiao’s voice was soft, but it sent a chill down Liu Chengfeng’s spine.
“Alright, let’s go eat,” she said, letting out a small yawn before taking the lead and walking out of the guesthouse, giving the corpse a wide berth as she headed toward the village cafeteria.
Someone in the crowd behind them protested:
“Wait a sec—aren’t we just going to leave the body here…?”
Bai Xiaoxiao didn’t even look back:
“If you’re feeling generous, go ahead and bury him. But it’s pointless.”
“In the Blood Door world, the corpses of the dead disappear pretty quickly.”
After thoroughly examining the corpse, Ning Qiushui seemed to notice something. He reached into the man’s clothes and quietly pulled out an item, hiding it in his palm. Then he stood up and followed behind Bai Xiaoxiao and Liu Chengfeng toward the cafeteria…