Skull Crusher · Xuanzang

Chapter 12: Skull Crusher · Xuanzang

After leaving the slums,

Tang Luo and the others didn't hurry back to the hotel. Instead, they found a quiet café.

Xiao Chu asked the waiter for paper and a pen, then wrote and sketched as he pieced the situation together.

Based on the clues they had so far,

he arrived at a rough picture of what was going on:

Jack the Ripper was a secret organization, not just one person.

Hodge, whom they had dealt with last night, was an outside member the organization was about to recruit.

One or more people at the hotel were members of the organization as well.

The organization possessed special abilities similar to Zhou Zhenguo's skill.

Most importantly, their group might have been targeted from the very beginning.

Drawing Hodge out had been a coincidence.

But what had happened to Li Liang on the first night and Chengcheng's disappearance last night were definitely no coincidence.

After explaining his analysis, Xiao Chu looked at Tang Luo and Zhou Zhenguo and asked, "Master Xuanzang, Uncle Zhou, what do you think?"

"That makes sense." Zhou Zhenguo nodded in agreement.

Tang Luo said, "This humble monk isn't good at this sort of thing. We may as well follow Benefactor Chu's lead and finish the task."

Xiao Chu let out a breath.

He felt as if he'd finally had his moment to shine.

One was a veteran, and the other a formidable martial monk. He wasn't half bad himself.

He had intelligence to back him up.

Besides, Xiao Chu much preferred this kind of "victory through wit."

The Five Tiger Generals were certainly impressive.

But Zhuge Kongming was clearly the more formidable one.

"We have two leads to follow. First, the hotel. Second, the clues Hodge left behind." Xiao Chu showed Zhou Zhenguo the letter he'd brought with him. "We don't know what's going on at the hotel, so let's not alert them for now. We'll look into Hodge first."

If nothing had happened at the hotel,

their original plan for today would have been to investigate Hodge anyway.

Neither Tang Luo nor Zhou Zhenguo objected.

After getting ready, the three headed straight for Scotland Yard.

How were they going to investigate Hodge?

By relying on the local authorities, of course.

Normally, one person bringing the documents would have been enough.

Xiao Chu was pleased with himself, but not so carried away that he'd lost his head. He knew that even though he'd started taking the lead with his intelligence,

he was still "a man who couldn't even truss a chicken."

At best, he'd acquired a light-screen skill he didn't know how to use and hadn't managed to activate again since.

Compared to "Martial Monk Xuanzang," who could really fight, and Zhou Zhenguo, who had a skill, he was a weakling.

Splitting up would be practically asking to die. He wouldn't do it.

He would stick close to either Zhou Zhenguo or Tang Luo.

"Bastards! Scoundrels! Useless fools!"

When they arrived at Scotland Yard, Tang Luo heard someone shouting from the Chief Inspector's Office.

Scotland Yard's hierarchy worked like this:

At the top were the inspectors, followed by the deputy inspectors. Below them were the squad commanders, then the rank-and-file detectives.

Patrolmen came last.

That was the position Tang Luo had been given.

Normally, patrolmen were hired on a long-term basis. Tang Luo, on the other hand, was a temporary hire brought in to solve the Jack the Ripper case.

His boss had a scowling face, and the detectives were no friendlier. There was no chance of having a lively conversation; only Kong...

Oh, there was no Kong Yiji.

Tang Luo asked around and learned from the detective who'd given him the documents the day before why the inspector was so angry.

As it turned out, it had something to do with him.

Hodge's headless body had been found.

They still hadn't solved the Jack the Ripper case, and now they had a "headless murder" on their hands. It was no wonder the inspector was shouting.

What's more, the "Guillotine" responsible for the latest case was countless times more brutal than Jack the Ripper.

Jack the Ripper had only gutted his victims. At worst, a few organs had been removed.

The crime scene had been discovered that morning.

It hardly looked like a human being could have done it.

The victim's head had been "splattered" across a crater.

It looked as if a boulder had dropped from the sky, crushing the victim's head and leaving a crater in the ground.

The detectives' theory was that the killer must have been a hulking brute wielding a giant hammer.

Only someone like that could have left such a scene.

The Guillotine was also known as the "Skull Crusher" and "Hammer Bro."

As Zhou Zhenguo listened to the detective's description, the corner of his eye twitched nonstop.

He knew what Tang Luo and the others had done last night.

But he hadn't expected things to get this outrageous.

Xiao Chu watched Tang Luo expectantly, as if hoping to catch a strange or embarrassed look on his face.

But Tang Luo remained perfectly calm, as if the Guillotine, the Skull Crusher the detective spoke of, had nothing to do with him.

That really was a "masterful" level of composure.

"Conveniently, I'm here about this very case," Tang Luo said. "We've already identified the victim as Hodge."

"What?"

The detective froze, then broke into delighted surprise.

The victim's head was gone, and gray clothes were common.

Scotland Yard hadn't been able to identify him yet.

Who would have thought this visiting detective had figured it out? The documents they'd given him hadn't gone to waste!

The detective hurried off to report it.

Tang Luo and the others stayed behind.

It was nearly two in the afternoon when they finally left Scotland Yard.

They'd obtained all the information on Hodge that the authorities could provide.

Tang Luo and the others didn't tell Scotland Yard about their suspicions regarding the Ripper Organization.

They would only enlist Scotland Yard's armed forces on a large scale if they had no other choice.

There was an uncertain theory in the God and Demon Game.

It claimed that how much someone contributed to completing a task affected the quality of their reward.

It had never been proven, of course.

But by common sense, those who did more to complete a task should receive a greater "reward" than those who did less.

That didn't mean they couldn't rely on outside forces in the task world.

But if they relied on them too much, it might affect their "task rating."

Among God and Demon Walkers, that theory had quite a following.

As they walked, Zhou Zhenguo glanced at Tang Luo several times before finally asking, "Master Xuanzang, you're not pulling my leg and pretending to be a rookie, are you?"

Stopping him from killing someone wasn't that impressive.

But there was no way a rookie could have crushed someone's head like that with his bare hands.

A giant hammer would have been believable.

The God and Demon Game had no fixed teams. The people one encountered changed randomly with every task.

Tang Luo and the others had all acted like "newcomers," so Zhou Zhenguo had assumed they were rookies.

Zhou Zhenguo had never met anyone who pretended to be a rookie to catch their opponents off guard, but he'd heard of it.

Could this monk be one of them?

"Monks do not tell lies." Tang Luo smiled. "This humble monk really is experiencing the God and Demon Game for the first time."

"Then why are you so good at fighting?" Zhou Zhenguo asked. "That's not normal."

"Training."

Tang Luo replied.

"What kind of training?"

"One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and a ten-kilometer run every day," Tang Luo said solemnly. "And if you defeat all kinds of demons and monsters while training, you can fight as well as this humble monk."

"Huh?"

Zhou Zhenguo looked completely baffled. What was he talking about?

"Pfft!"

Xiao Chu burst out laughing.

Zhou Zhenguo looked at him questioningly.

Xiao Chu glanced at Tang Luo. Seeing that he didn't mind, he explained with a laugh, "The master is talking about a training routine from a manga."

"..."

Zhou Zhenguo was speechless. He also realized he'd been too forward just now, and didn't press the matter.

Whether Master Xuanzang—a martial monk—was a newcomer or not,

the goodwill and strength he'd shown so far were enough to prove he was a reliable ally.

Could they really not form a team?

Zhou Zhenguo sighed inwardly.

As a man who'd spent decades making his way in society, he knew all too well how powerful organizations could be.

Even in a "world" like the God and Demon Game, where all power was in the hands of the individual, it was no different.

With comparable strength, two extraordinary God and Demon Walkers would certainly be stronger than one.

Unity is strength!

"Uncle Zhou, I think I awakened an ability last night." Xiao Chu's words interrupted Zhou Zhenguo's thoughts.

"What?"

Zhou Zhenguo frowned.

Xiao Chu told Tang Luo and Zhou Zhenguo what had happened to him when Hodge attacked him the previous night.

He had no other choice.

Since last night, no matter how hard he tried, he hadn't been able to make that thin light screen appear again.

He'd strained himself to the point of exhaustion, but it was no use. He could only ask Zhou Zhenguo for help.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Zhou Zhenguo said.

"Uncle, didn't you say people could gain benefits and rewards during a task? Couldn't that be what happened to me?" Xiao Chu asked.

"The situation I was talking about is different from yours," Zhou Zhenguo said. "The benefits people gain to become stronger don't just appear out of nowhere like yours did."

After thinking for a moment and arranging his thoughts, Zhou Zhenguo took out a dagger. "Here's an example. I got this dagger in a task world, and I was able to bring it back. That's a benefit I gained outside the reward for completing the task—a different way to become stronger."

"You could say that task worlds are treasure troves. Those with the ability can uncover benefits beyond the task itself and make themselves stronger."

In short, rewards weren't handed out directly by the "Gods and Demons." People had to acquire them for themselves.

"Then what about me?" Xiao Chu asked.

"I've never heard of anything like your situation," Zhou Zhenguo said.

Could I be one of a kind? Xiao Chu wondered. Since Zhou Zhenguo didn't know, he would have to figure it out himself.

"I don't like this place. It feels so gloomy."

At dusk, as the sun sank and night fell,

Xiao Chu looked at the building in the distance and spoke.

It wasn't that he was a coward.

He'd dared to dress as a woman and act as bait; Xiao Chu was certainly brave.

It was just that no normal person liked a mental hospital, especially one that was half-abandoned.

Hodge, a former doctor, used to work here.

And the reason he was no longer a doctor was also connected to this hospital.

Several years ago, Hodge accidentally caused a fire while drunk.

The fire destroyed a large part of the hospital.

Hodge had once had a promising future. But he lost his job, had to pay a huge sum in damages, and fell into poverty, wasting his days away.

His parents had died long ago, and his friends and relatives had stopped contacting him after the incident.

Only one of his former colleagues still checked on him from time to time.

In particular, several people had seen them drinking together at a pub in the past few days.

That colleague was a doctor, part of the upper-middle class, and rather frail. He didn't fit Scotland Yard's theory that the killer was a hulking brute.

The detectives had only sent someone to ask him a few questions. They hadn't even considered him a suspect.

But in Xiao Chu's eyes, there was over a ninety percent chance that this man was a member of Jack the Ripper's organization!