There was some comfort in having more people around.
Bi Wanhui recounted what had happened to her as calmly as she could.
Tang Luo said nothing and looked at Zhou Zhenguo.
"I planned to keep an eye on that guy, so I didn't go out with them," Zhou Zhenguo said.
The guy he was referring to looked utterly hopeless.
"As for Xiao Bi screaming, I didn't hear it either. I only realized something was wrong when I saw them dragging her back in and everyone started panicking."
Before Tang Luo and Xiao Chu returned,
Zhou Zhenguo had helped Bi Wanhui go over what had happened several times.
They had covered every detail.
"What about the body?"
Tang Luo asked.
"The body disappeared."
Zhou Zhenguo's brows furrowed into a deep crease.
He had come over from the next room and hadn't paid much attention to the end of the corridor.
The inn had electric lights, but they were nowhere near as bright as modern ones.
Each one gave off only a dim, yellowish glow.
In the middle of the night, the inn couldn't possibly keep every light in the corridor on.
From outside the rooms, the toilet at the end of the corridor was nothing but a pitch-black patch.
By the time Zhou Zhenguo went to investigate,
there wasn't a trace of the body—or even any blood.
It was much like what had happened when he discovered Li Liang's murder and called everyone over to look.
The only difference was that Li Liang had been sleeping inside the toilet.
As for Chengcheng, she was nowhere to be found—not at the crime scene outside the toilet, nor inside it.
It was as if she'd vanished into thin air.
In a situation like this, splitting up to search would be a suicidal decision.
As things stood, Chengcheng was missing, her fate unknown. Before she disappeared, Bi Wanhui had seen her body.
Just as Zhou Zhenguo had seen Li Liang's body.
"Was she disemboweled?"
Xiao Chu asked.
"I don't know. I didn't get a good look," Bi Wanhui said. "I only know she was lying face down and there was a lot—a whole lot—of blood. I was covered in it too."
"You saw it?" Xiao Chu turned to the high school student, Xiao Zhou.
Xiao Zhou scratched his head. "It was too dark. I don't know if I saw it right, but I think there was blood."
After Bi Wanhui passed out, Li Liang, whose insides had been scooped out, finally came over to help.
He and Xiao Zhou had carried her to the bed.
During all that, they hadn't seen—or hadn't noticed—the blood on her.
It was also possible that by then, there was no blood on Bi Wanhui anymore.
Otherwise, they would have remembered it.
"I'm not lying!"
Bi Wanhui shouted under her breath. She suddenly understood how Zhou Zhenguo must have felt earlier.
"Amitabha Buddha. Please don't be angry, miss. We believe you."
As a master, Tang Luo naturally had to step up and calm everyone down at such a crucial moment.
But dressed in that gentleman's coat, he looked even less like a monk than he had in his tracksuit.
The room fell quiet.
Everyone sat in silence.
"Let me tell you what we found."
After a while, Xiao Chu was the one who broke the silence.
Compared to the bad news from inside the inn, what he and Tang Luo had discovered could count as good news.
"So, Sister Bi, that cleaner you heard talking at the start might also be part of the Ripper Organization! He's the one who killed them!"
After describing what had happened that night and sharing his theory, Xiao Chu spoke with absolute confidence.
"How did the body and the blood disappear?" Zhou Zhenguo asked.
"That's the worst possibility I came up with."
Xiao Chu pushed up his glasses and gave a wry smile. "Jack the Ripper isn't just a group of people. There's at least one—no, we can be sure there are several people with special abilities among them."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go! Isn't this a den of thieves?"
Li Liang, whose insides had been scooped out, finally got worked up for once.
Unfortunately, it was because he wanted to run away.
According to Xiao Chu's theory, the cleaner was part of the Jack the Ripper organization and probably had a special ability too.
Didn't that mean these God and Demon Walkers, who were on their first mission and had practically no combat ability, had walked straight into a den of thieves and delivered themselves into their hands?
This place was a den of thieves!
"We should be fine with Master here," Xiao Chu said, signaling for Li Liang to calm down.
He had seen Master Xuanzang turn a living person into a headless corpse in the blink of an eye.
That was even more fearsome than Captain America in the movies.
And Xiao Chu had awakened an ability of his own—or so he believed.
He certainly wasn't lacking in courage or confidence.
"If this place truly is a den of thieves, I can hold them off and cover your escape if danger comes," Tang Luo said, one hand raised before his chest as he nodded slightly.
"Master, that gesture looks really strange with those clothes on," Xiao Chu said with a laugh.
"Heh." Tang Luo made no comment.
Clearly, he had decided to maintain his image as a venerable monk throughout the God and Demon Game.
After all, he had once been bestowed with the title of Buddha.
As for why—
Of course, it was to earn other people's trust more easily, help them, punish evil and promote good, and gain more merit to heal his injuries.
Nowadays, plenty of people scoffed at monks or even looked down on them.
But that was just like how some people would curse out the police or soldiers.
They might talk tough, but deep down, they were more than willing to trust them—
when faced with real danger, people still trusted soldiers and police officers.
Having them nearby made people feel much safer.
Monks could inspire a little of that same feeling, too.
Of course, a middle-aged monk with a greasy face and a fat head wouldn't do the trick.
But a kindly old monk—or someone like Tang Luo, who could change his clothes and tidy himself up a little to play Wuhua—
would undoubtedly find it easier than most people to inspire goodwill, trust, and a sense of security.
In the end, it still came down to looks. Yes, looks.
"Let's wait until daylight," Zhou Zhenguo said. "We'll search then, whether we're looking for Chengcheng or that cleaner."
"By the way, does anyone know what the cleaner looks like?"
Xiao Chu suddenly asked.
Thinking about it, they had only been staying at the inn for a day and one night.
How could they know what the cleaner looked like?
"We'll ask the owner tomorrow," Zhou Zhenguo said. "Even at night, they only dare to act in secret. There are more people around during the day, so it should be safer."
If it wasn't safe,
then Zhou Zhenguo wasn't exactly a pushover.
Don't underestimate a God and Demon Walker just because he only had two skills!
The night passed without incident. Everyone rested in their clothes inside the room.
Early the next morning,
everyone but Tang Luo looked terrible, their exhaustion practically written all over their faces.
The two nights since they'd entered the God and Demon Game had been anything but peaceful.
The newcomers had finally been pulled into the rhythm of the game.
They no longer had that detached, unreal feeling they'd had at the beginning, as though none of it had anything to do with them.
Everyone reacted differently.
Li Liang had given up on everything and only wanted to scrape through safely.
Bi Wanhui was also terrified and unsettled. She hoped she wouldn't be the next to die and had no interest in completing the mission.
Xiao Chu, on the other hand, was extremely eager.
The high school student, Xiao Zhou, was torn. One moment, he thought he should work hard to complete the mission and rise to the top.
The next, he felt surrounded by danger and wished he could return to normal life that very second.
He was so conflicted it made his balls ache.
After washing up, the group left the room.
They went down the stairs to the inn's first-floor lobby, which also served as the front desk and part of the dining area.
The owner behind the counter immediately came over with a smile. "Gentlemen, would you like breakfast?"
Because of Jack the Ripper, the number of travelers in the small city had plummeted.
The inn barely had any business at all.
Tang Luo, an out-of-town detective, had booked a room for a whole week. During this unusual period, he was already a major customer.
"Sure."
Tang Luo nodded and headed toward the dining area.
The owner hurried off to tell the cook in the kitchen, not even noticing that one guest was missing.
At a small square table,
Xiao Zhou, Li Liang, and Bi Wanhui sat together, staring at their breakfast without the slightest appetite.
At the table beside them,
Tang Luo ate without a care, while Zhou Zhenguo and Xiao Chu hesitated.
They were hungry, but they worried that the inn might be a trap and didn't dare touch the food.
Rationally speaking, the dinner delivered to their rooms the night before hadn't been tampered with.
It was even less likely that anyone would mess with breakfast served in the open to guests and people who didn't stay at the inn.
They could say they were being cautious, but really, they just couldn't get past their own misgivings.
As for Tang Luo, well, he could drink pesticide like water.
Not following his example was the sensible thing to do.
"We haven't seen that cleaner. Should we just look for him ourselves?" Hungry, Xiao Chu tried to distract himself by changing the subject.
"Let's ask the owner. Boss, where's the cleaner at your inn?"
As he called out, Tang Luo picked up the bell on the table and shook it. The other two didn't even have time to stop him.
Even though Zhou Zhenguo had suggested asking the owner, he hadn't meant they should be so direct.
He had meant to casually fish for information.
The owner appeared in no time. "What can I do for you, sir?"
"Where's the cleaner at your inn? I need to talk to him," Tang Luo said. He was far more direct—and far bolder—than the others had expected.
"Old John?"
The owner paused. "He hasn't come in today. He's probably at home."
"Is there something you need him for, sir?"
He couldn't understand why these outsiders had suddenly asked about Old John.
"I'm a detective." Tang Luo calmly took out his authorization papers from Scotland Yard. "Scotland Yard asked me to investigate the Jack the Ripper case."
"What could Old John possibly have to do with Jack the Ripper?" the owner asked anxiously in a low voice.
If Old John was linked to Jack the Ripper and the news got out,
the inn was already struggling to stay afloat by selling food. It would be done for.
"Nothing much. I might need to ask Old John for some information. It's no big deal."
Tang Luo's calm tone
made Zhou Zhenguo and Xiao Chu give him a secret thumbs-up.
"Old John's worked here for ten years. He's the kindest, most honest man I've ever met. He'd never have anything to do with the Ripper," the owner said emphatically, then explained Old John's situation.
Old John
was in his early sixties, lived alone, and had no children.
He had a bad leg and was slow on his feet. He was a quiet, hardworking, honest man.
Mm—his wages were low, too.
That was why the inn owner liked him so much. He often praised him and held him up as an example for everyone to follow.
As for a raise, that was out of the question.
What would an old bachelor need so much money for?
Thanks to Peak for the 10,000-reward gift! Thanks to frrejhhb, Emperor Ying, Yuan Xinguang, and Brother Ting the World Destroyer for the gifts!
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