Chapter 18: He Is Already Dead
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
"Don't think about it anymore. It may not be dangerous for Master Xuanzuang, but that doesn't mean it is not dangerous for you."
On the way back, Zhou Zhenguo reassured Little Chu. "Young man, be down-to-earth and look towards the future. You must not indulge in the gains and losses of the past. Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes," Little Chu answered helplessly.
He understood the logic, but still, his heart hurt just like a year ago. He had been playing games in the middle of the night, and it had been the promotion match from Bronze to Silver. At that key moment, he had suddenly received a call from his girlfriend and resolutely chosen to abandon his comrades.
In the end, there was panting and a panicked voice saying, "My mistake, I accidentally pressed my phone when I was going for my night jog."
The group had not gotten promoted, and it was painful for him as he had been blamed for it.
After that, Little Chu had become a man that had "chosen Zhao
"By the way, this is the information on the organization's members, as well as the senior staff. I will brief you later." Tang Luo, who was at the front, stopped and turned around. He took out the documents and handed them to the others. "Let's look for an opportunity to completely destroy this organization."
One would also receive the power of virtuous merits by guiding people towards good, and mobilizing others to punish the wicked and uphold the good.
"Master!"
Little Chu's spirit rose!
'To hell with being a wise man.'
From now on, Little Chu's basic principle for the rest of this mission would be to cozy up to Master Xuanzang.
"Master, where are we going next?" Little Chu asked as he pulled up beside Tang Luo after receiving the documents.
"What do you think?" asked Tang Luo.
Although he was a master during the journey to the west, Tang Luo did not know how to be a leader. Every day was basically going west, cultivating, encountering demons and monsters, killing them!
Simple and crude, and he didn't even need to worry about whether he was moving in the right direction.
With Little White Dragon's GPS providing accurate positioning, they didn't have to worry about getting lost and other issues.
"Master, we'll just follow you," said Little Chu.
Starting from tonight, Master Xuanzang was the leader who gave commands.
Tang Luo glanced at Little Chu.
'What was going on? What about today's self-motivated Sun Wukong? Such a good child, how can he become so useless so quickly?'
After all, he was not his disciple, and Tang Luo was too lazy to readjust Little Chu's motivations. He looked at Zhou Zhenguo and asked, "What does Benefactor Zhou think?"
"Let's head to the hotel and link up with the rest." Zhou Zhenguo said, "The two incidents were in the evening. Until now, we haven't even gotten to touch the shadow of the Ripper. We are completely passive. I think tonight Jack the Ripper has the home advantage. Hence, we better investigate during the day."
"If things go bad, we can even make use of the organization a little and force them to track down Jack the Ripper together."
Not using external forces' help was based on the fact that Employees of Gods and Demons could complete the mission by themselves.
Unable to complete, or in great danger, only fools would continue to stick to the rules.
Moreover, this was not a rule at all. It was nothing more than a way that hoped to maximize gains.
Outside the door of the hotel facing the street, Little Chu pounded on the door. "Proprietor, open the door!"
This was different from the last hotel. There was no courtyard in this hotel, just a house facing the street.
If one were to enter the hotel, they would find themselves directly in the lobby.
Next to it were some shops. Although it was still early in the night, the surrounding shops were closed.
They only saw a few people along the way, and they walked as though they were in a hurry. When they saw Tang Luo and the other two, they seemed a little wary.
The lights on the street gave off a dim light.
Cotland Yard did not issue a curfew, but the town gave off a feeling of gloominess or even deathly silence.
"Open up, we have reserved three rooms!"
After pounding on the door for a while, the hotel interior was still quiet, and no one came out to open the door.
It was impossible for this hotel to have staff operating 24 hours a day.
However, it was only nine in the evening.
Generally speaking, the hotel proprietor or staff would only rest after midnight, not rest before that. After all, some guests had reserved three rooms today.
It was normal to close the door to the outside. However, Little Chu had pounded on the door rather loudly. Even the house next to it and opposite it, had people looking out of their windows.
Still, there was no response from the hotel. Something was wrong.
"Step back," said Tang Luo as he reached out and pushed open the door.
The lights in the lobby were on, but there seemed to be some problem with them, as they were flashing wildly.
Zhou Zhenguo and Little Chu narrowed their eyes as they felt extremely uncomfortable.
There was no one behind the counter.
On the table in the corner, there was a humanoid figure. He was sitting on the chair, with his face down, completely buried in his arms.
It was impossible to tell who this person was under the flickering lights, but the figure looked slightly familiar.
"It seems like Little Zhou, why is he sleeping here?" said Little Chu with narrowed eyes.
The person lying on the table was not dead. He was just sleeping. The three who entered the hotel could clearly hear his snores.
The flickering lights on top of their heads and the snores were interspersed with each other, perfectly matched.
"Probably resting here and fell asleep?" Zhou Zhenguo speculated. He took a few steps closer and stretched out his hand.
The sound of metal colliding resounded as a chain emerged from the ground and wrapped around Little Zhou in an instant, tying him to the chair and placing him high up on the table.
"…"
Little Chu was stunned for a moment before realizing that Zhou Zhenguo had made a move.
'This uncle really likes performing sudden attacks.'
This was also normal. Zhou Zhenguo's imprisoning chain was not suitable for head-on combat. Naturally, he had formed the habit of suddenly attacking when speaking halfway.
Why was it necessary to fight when something could be solved by a sneak attack?
After being inexplicably bound by chains, Little Zhou woke up and raised his head blankly. He then scanned his surroundings, only stopping after he saw Tang Luo and the rest. He did not look like he just woke up.
His blood-stained appearance astonished Zhou Zhenguo and Little Chu.
"What happened? Why are you asleep here? What about the others? Didn't you hear us knocking the door just now?"
Zhou Zhenguo fired off his questions like an exploding chain of firecrackers.
Little Zhou didn't seem to be fully awake yet, as he stared at the three. He did not respond to Zhou Zhenguo's questions.
A few seconds later, he opened his mouth, as though he was planning to say something.
Right at that moment, a cold wind came from nowhere, swept across the room, and instantly spread an icy bone-piercing chill. It felt like a huge ice storage room had opened, with Zhou Zhenguo and the others being thrown into it.
"So cold…"
Little Chu instinctively wanted to hug his arms. This move brought along a sense of numbness. He was shocked to discover that he had lost control of his arms!
Apart from the expression on the face that was still in a free-moving state, the rest of the body seemed to be frozen like an insect trapped in amber.
"Ah!"
Little Chu grunted silently in his heart, feeling terrified but also furious!
Suddenly, a warm current surged from his chest, flowing to his limbs and dispelling the cold and the numbness. That allowed Little Chu to regain control of his body.
Tang Luo expended the power of virtuous merits to enhance the protection on their bodies. It was the same for Zhou Zhenguo, who was beside them. The protection that had not been used in the mental hospital was being used here.
"The Ripper?!" roared Zhou Zhenguo, looking at the corridor on the other side.
On the steps leading up to the terrace around the corner, stood a man that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Most of his body was hidden in darkness and shadow.
They were unable to see him clearly. Just from what they could grasp, according to the body type and posture, it should be a man.
The cold wind filled up the room like gushing tidewater, suppressing them, and making it difficult for them to move.
After that man appeared, that cold wind similarly subsided like the tide, retreating towards the man as though it was being reabsorbed into his body.
Just as Zhou Zhenguo finished his roars, he saw a silver flash in the corner of his eyes.
The man standing on the terrace seemed as though he was weightless, and fluttered to the side.
A silver light streaked past him, stabbing into the wall behind with its tail trembling continuously and sounding like metal vibrating. That was a table knife.
Before the trembling tail stopped, there were a few more flashes of silver. The table knives on the table beside them were thrown by Tang Luo, one after another.
The man moved like a ghost, looking as light as a feather. However, his speed was peculiarly fast, giving people a weird sense of alienation that made them want to puke out blood.
He went up the stairs.
This was a corridor with a 90-degree turn, so Tang Luo and the rest could still see him when he was on the terrace.
However, after he moved up, he went out of sight.
After the man disappeared and the last flash of silver streaked past, everything was calm again. Only the lights above their heads were still flashing.
Little Chu and Zhou Zhenguo stood still.
Just the man's aura or his ability was sufficient to suppress and mobilize the two, like quails. Even if he retreated, how could Little Chu and Zhou Zhenguo dare to give chase?
Not to mention, Zhou Zhenguo had used the imprisoning chain earlier. His ability was greatly reduced.
Among those at the scene, only Master Xuanzang had the ability to pursue him. If Tang Luo did not make a move, Zhou Zhenguo and Little Chu would definitely not make a move.
"Master, was that Jack the Ripper just now?" asked Little Chu, his right hand shielding his eyes. The flickering lights made him feel like he was almost going blind.
Zhou Zhenguo walked over to the switch beside them and pressed twice, accidentally making the lights return to normal.
"No." Tang Luo shook his head gently.
"Master, are you sure?" asked Zhou Zhenguo.
"If he was Jack the Ripper, we should have completed the mission," said Tang Luo.
"Ah?" Little Chu and Zhou Zhenguo did not understand.
Tang Luo pointed to the hole in the opposite wall. "I have struck him, he is already dead."
Zhou Zhenguo discovered a hole in the corner between the wall and the ceiling—that was the mark left by the last knife.
"Let me take a look."
Zhou Zhenguo still had this bit of courage, and he walked quickly to the stairs.
Soon after, his voice traveled over. "It's Old John!"
At the junction of the staircase and the second floor, there was a corpse that was almost split in half by Master Xuanzang's strike.
It was hard to imagine that this was caused by a small table knife.
That table knife was nailed to the ceiling.
Strangely, there was no blood from the body.
Zhou Zhenguo recognized it. This was Old John, the person they had met in the morning. The same Old John, who was crippled and one whom they did not suspect.
Zhou Zhenguo crouched and took off Old John's shoes. He did not know if Old John's deformity on his one foot was inborn or injured subsequently. But he was certain that this was indeed a foot with limited mobility.
With such a burden, how quickly could he move?
But just now, Old John had displayed ghost-like movements.
Like a sneering face, this deformed foot mocked Zhou Zhenguo and the rest for their stupidity and overconfidence.
-- Gift
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