Chapter 20

Husserl limped and hid in the shadows where no one came. He looked out and saw no one, but he could hear the inescapable human voices all over the mountains and plains, either screaming or wailing, either pain or fear. The sounds made him want to dig out his own heart, but he held back.

The impulse gradually subsided after he found earplugs to plug his ears.

He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he was doomed. He knew that people who had their hearts dug out could hardly survive, and he was not prepared to embrace this huge change in his life.

He began to think about how to leave here. The huge countdown that came out of Zhang Caixia appeared in the sky, and he also saw it. He believed that everyone who was still in the mountain could see that thing when they looked up. It was a bit scary, like a pair of huge blood-red eyes, staring at everyone below.

He was terrified for a while, holding his chest and looking outside, but still saw no one. He decided that he could not wait any longer, and then the woman appeared in front of him. He was stunned for a moment, fell to the ground, and said with a bitter face: "I have nothing left to give you."

The woman shook her head. “You have a lot of stuff.”

Husserl sighed, took out a worn handkerchief, stuffed it into the woman's hand and asked, "Did you achieve your goal?"

The woman smiled grimly: "You'd better stop talking nonsense, otherwise I will pull out your tongue. Do you like being mute?"

Husserl covered his mouth and asked, "That one doesn't count. Can I ask another question? I can exchange it with my arm!"

The woman stood in front of him and said coldly, "You ask."

Husserl poked his head out excitedly: "If the countdown reaches zero, everyone in the mountain will die. Giving things will extend the countdown. So how can we get out?"

The woman paused and asked, "What are you going to give me in exchange for an answer?"

Husserl's eyes lit up: "Is the value of what I give equal to the value of the answer to me? That's great! I am willing to give away my body and head, as long as you tell me how to get out."

The woman was silent for a while, as if she was considering it, and then she said, "Only one of the head and the torso can be traded. If you hand over both at the same time, it doesn't count. You can't move with only your limbs."

Husserl chuckled and said, "Found out? I thought I could take advantage of the situation. Fine. In that case, I'll give up my body and keep my head. As long as I can get out, it doesn't matter. You'll give it back to me anyway. I saw everything."

The headless man stood nearby and watched him.

A bold idea suddenly occurred to Husserl, and he was about to ask, "Is that man your follower?"

Visibly to the naked eye, the woman quickly turned red and exploded.

Husserl knew clearly that the headless man was the main one, but he asked this question just to test the situation.

He got the answer.

He thought that everything would be fine after the woman exploded, and he wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but he seemed to have completely forgotten that the headless man was still standing here. He had not done anything before, it was just that he was not needed. Now Husserl had blown the woman up, leaving only an arm that would not turn into a living person for the time being, and the headless man had to move on.

Husserl watched his body moving away from him and shouted in panic: "What's going on? What's going on? Who is messing with my head? Send me back quickly! I'm going to die! I'm going to die like this!"

The headless man stabbed Hussle's head with a sharp arm. Hussle felt a severe pain and screamed. The headless man used Hussle's head as a buffer and pressed it under the bottom of the arm stick to the ground. Hussle screamed for a long time and finally realized his situation. He began to beg for mercy and talk nonsense. Seeing that the headless man did not respond, he cursed.

As soon as the headless man let go, Husserl's head rolled down the slope, making him dizzy and almost vomiting. But he was disgusted and wanted to escape. He remembered that he had no stomach and intestines, so he didn't need to vomit at all. He was ready to jump up and roll away from the headless man. As he rolled, he bumped into the headless man's shoes. He cursed, "What a hard stone. It hurts me so much. Hate it."

The headless man used his pointed arms to pierce Husser's head. Husser realized that he had bumped into a guy he couldn't afford to offend. He wilted and whispered, "I'm sorry, I know I was wrong. Can you send me back? I don't want to ask those questions anymore. I don't want to go out. It's okay to die here. Don't torture me, I want to vomit, I feel so uncomfortable, I want to cry, I'm so unlucky, wuwuwu——"

He really cried.

The headless man waited for him to finish crying, then sent him back and put his head on his body. Husserl was very happy and reached out to grab the headless man to thank him, but he found that his body was out of control and he followed the headless man out. Husserl smacked his lips and asked, "Where are we going?"

No answer.

Husserl slapped his head and said, "Yes, you can't speak without a head, sorry."

The arms on the ground jumped up and slapped him one by one.

Husserl covered his face with a bit of grievance: "I didn't mean it."

The legs on the ground jumped up one by one and kicked him.

Husserl shouted quickly: "Sorry, stop fighting, I'm going to die!"

Arms and legs jumped up, and Husserl followed the headless man closely: "Stop hitting him, stop hitting him!"

In the end, he was beaten up and his face was bruised and swollen.

Husserl rubbed his eyes and asked out of habit: "Will I never have to find anything to submit in the future?"

The headless man stopped.

Husserl quickly shouted, "I know, stop fighting!"

It was as if he had developed a conditioned reflex after being beaten, but it was obvious that this would not happen after being beaten once or twice. He did it on purpose.

The headless man was getting fed up with his frequent temptations.

Husserl was beaten severely and forgot most of what happened because the headless man took away his memory.

He only remembered a few key things, such as that he would die when the countdown ended, and that handing in something would extend the time.

"Wait," Husserl muttered to himself, "If submitting something can pause the countdown, can I just stop the countdown and end it if I submit something very valuable?"

He clapped his hands and said, "Great, I am indeed a smart guy. I will go find the others and tell them about this, and then leave here as soon as possible. There is no safe place here."

The girl standing not far away asked: "Is what you just said true?"

Husserl was startled. He didn't expect her to be here. The distance was too close. He suspected that she was a puppet of the Headless Man. He nodded hesitantly, but then he thought that the Headless Man didn't care whether they went out or not. Otherwise, he could just not tell them the answers to the questions. There was no sign that the Headless Man had to answer their questions, which meant that it didn't matter if the Headless Man knew.

Husserl calmed down and heard the girl ask: "Do you know what is valuable?"

Husserl was stunned for a moment, and the girl replied: "I know that what is valuable to the headless man is the things the woman mentioned before, the head, the limbs, the golf balls and the clubs. The other things don't count, I just don't care."

Husserl nodded doubtfully: "Oh."

The girl turned to go.

Husserl stopped her and asked, "Where are you going?"

The girl said, "I know where the others are. I will go find them. There is no limit to the number of valuable things. In order to maximize the value, we need enough things to increase the value and ensure that this thing goes well. If the value is not enough, we will be stuck halfway and can't do anything. There is no other way except waiting to die."

She asked, "Do you want that?"

Husserl shook his head quickly: "No!"

The girl walked out: "Then we must go find them."

Husserl shouted, "I'm with you."

The two found the Zhang brothers and sisters.

Zhang Caixia sat on the sidelines, listening to their story expressionlessly, nodded, and asked, "Why should I believe you?"

The girl said, "It's up to you."

As she spoke, she stood up to leave, but Husserl quickly held her back and whispered, "It's good to be suspicious. It's better than being a blind fool."

The girl sneered and said nothing.

Zhang Zhaoxia said to Zhang Caixia: "It doesn't hurt to try it once."

Zhang Caixia looked at Zhang Zhaoxia for a long time, then nodded and agreed.

Then they found some unconscious bodyguards on the road, gathered together, waited for the headless man to come, and prepared to hand over the most valuable things together.

Their guess was correct.

Their stuff was valuable enough that they managed to interrupt the countdown and end it.

The headless man disappeared from their sight, and the thick fog also disappeared. Everyone supported each other and was extremely excited. They looked back at the path they came from and cried with joy. That was the way out.

[It looks like a success]

[Is it possible that this won’t work?]

[Although it is possible, it is best not to say it out loud. They won’t be able to bear it.]

[I admire their ability to withstand pressure]

[I can only say that it’s a good thing I wasn’t in there, otherwise I would have died long ago. I would rather commit suicide than live in such a place.]

[It looks painful, and it must be even more painful inside. All I can say is that everyone has their own destiny and cannot force it, nor can you blame anyone.]

[That being said, it is better to live, but who knows what will happen after death? ]

[Didn’t you see someone die? Now they are alive again. Did they not die, or did they come back from the dead?]

[This is a problem, but since their limbs have returned, they must not have died before. Otherwise, how could they recover so easily? The wounds on their bodies are still there, which can be considered a lesson.]

[It sounds even scarier now. Stop talking about it or you’ll have nightmares tonight! ]

After crying, their limbs all returned and the live broadcast ended.