He Is Already Dead

"Don't overthink it. Just because it isn't dangerous for Master Xuanzang doesn't mean it isn't dangerous for you."

On the way back, Zhou Zhenguo offered Xiao Chu a word of comfort, "Young man, you must keep your feet on the ground and look to the future. You must never dwell on past gains and losses, understand?"

"Yes, yes."

Xiao Chu replied helplessly.

He understood the logic, but his heart ached all the same.

It was just like a year ago, when he was playing a game at midnight, in the middle of a promotion series from Bronze to Silver, and suddenly received a call from his girlfriend during a crucial team fight.

He had resolutely chosen to abandon his teammates.

Only for her to pant and say in a flustered voice, "Wrong number, I pressed it by accident, I'm out for a night run."

It was the same kind of pain as failing that promotion series and being gifted a green hat in the process.

Ever since then, Xiao Chu had become a man who only ever picked Zhao Xin.

"Right, here is the information on the organization's members, as well as the higher-ups. I'll brief you both in a moment."

Tang Luo, who was walking in the lead, stopped and turned around, taking out documents to distribute to the two of them. "Let's find an opportunity to completely eradicate this organization."

Guiding others toward goodness and mobilizing them to punish evil and promote virtue would also reap the power of merit.

"Master!"

Xiao Chu's body gave a sudden jolt!

To hell with being a wise man.

His life from now on—or at least the basic principle for the remainder of this mission—was to cling to Master Xuanzang's thigh and never let go.

"Master, where are we going next?" Xiao Chu asked, tucking the documents away and sidling up to Tang Luo.

"What do you think?"

Tang Luo asked.

Although he had been the master during the journey to the West, in reality, Tang Luo had no sense of being a leader.

His daily routine was basically: "Head west, cultivate, encounter demons and monsters, kill them!"

It was simple and brutal; Tang Luo didn't even have to worry about the direction of travel.

With Little White Dragon acting as a precise GPS, there was no need to worry about getting lost.

"Whatever you say, Master."

Xiao Chu said, deciding that from this night on, he would follow Master Xuanzang's lead in all things.

Tang Luo looked at Xiao Chu twice.

What was going on?

Where was the "subjective initiative Sun Wukong" from earlier today?

Such a perfectly fine kid, how did he end up so useless so quickly?

Since he wasn't his disciple, Tang Luo couldn't be bothered to re-motivate Xiao Chu's subjective initiative, so he turned to Zhou Zhenguo and asked, "What does Benefactor Zhou think?"

"Let's go to the hotel to regroup with the others first," Zhou Zhenguo said. "Both incidents happened at night, and so far, we haven't even caught a glimpse of Jack the Ripper. We are completely on the defensive. I think the night is Jack the Ripper's home turf; it would be best for us to investigate during the day."

"If the situation turns dire, we could even make use of the organization to force them to help us track down Jack the Ripper."

Not relying on external forces was based on the premise that God and Demon Walkers could complete missions "independently."

If they couldn't complete it, or if they were in grave danger themselves, only a fool would stick to the rules.

Besides, this wasn't even a rule to begin with.

It was nothing more than a choice made in the hope of maximizing benefits.

Outside the street-side hotel, Xiao Chu pounded on the door: "Boss, Boss, open up!"

Unlike the previous hotel, this one didn't have a small courtyard; it was just a building facing the street.

Opening the door led straight into the "lobby."

Next to it were a few shops.

Although it hadn't been long since nightfall, the surrounding shops had already closed.

Along the way, they had only encountered a few people, all of whom were hurrying along in groups.

Seeing Tang Luo and the others, they appeared somewhat guarded.

The streetlights cast a dim, murky glow.

Scotland Yard hadn't issued a curfew, yet the small town felt desolate, even deathly silent.

"Open up, we booked three rooms!"

After pounding on the door for quite a while, the interior of the inn remained deathly silent; no one came to open it.

It was unlikely that this inn would have someone on duty twenty-four hours a day.

But it was not even nine o'clock in the evening yet.

Generally speaking, the innkeeper or the attendants would not retire until at least midnight.

They wouldn't just go to sleep in the early part of the night.

After all, guests had booked three rooms today.

Closing the outer door was normal, but Xiao Chu had been pounding so loudly that people in the houses next door and across the street had even opened their windows to take a look.

Yet there was still no reaction from inside the inn, which meant something was wrong.

"Step back."

Tang Luo said, reaching out to push the inn's door wide open.

The lights in the front lobby were on.

However, there seemed to be a problem, as they were flickering erratically.

This made both Zhou Zhenguo and Xiao Chu squint, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

There was no one behind the front desk.

On a table placed in the corner, the figure of a person was slumped over.

He was sitting in a chair, face down, with his features completely buried in the crook of his arms.

In the flickering light, it was impossible to tell who the person was, though the figure felt vaguely familiar.

"It looks like Xiao Zhou. Why is he sleeping here?"

Xiao Chu squinted, trying to make him out as he spoke.

The person slumped on the table was not dead.

He was just sleeping, and the three people who had entered the inn could hear clear snoring.

It "complemented" the flickering lights overhead perfectly.

"Maybe he just fell asleep while resting here?" Zhou Zhenguo guessed, taking a few steps closer before suddenly reaching out his hand.

A sound of metal clashing rang out.

Chains erupted from the floor out of thin air, instantly binding Xiao Zhou and pinning him, along with his chair, high against the table.

"..."

Xiao Chu was stunned for a moment before realizing it was Zhou Zhenguo who had acted.

This middle-aged man really loved launching surprise attacks.

It was understandable, though; Zhou Zhenguo's Binding Chain was not suited for head-on combat.

Naturally, he had developed the habit of "launching a sneak attack mid-sentence."

Why bother fighting when a situation could be resolved with a surprise attack?

Bound inexplicably by the chains, Xiao Zhou woke up. He lifted his head in a daze, scanning his surroundings until his gaze landed on Tang Luo and the others, still looking completely groggy.

The blood covering his face made the expressions of Zhou Zhenguo and Xiao Chu turn grim.

"What happened? Why are you sleeping here? Where are the others? Didn't you hear us knocking just now?"

Zhou Zhenguo fired off questions like a machine gun.

Xiao Zhou did not seem fully awake yet, staring at the three of them with wide eyes.

He remained deaf to Zhou Zhenguo's questions.

A few seconds later, he finally opened his mouth, looking as if he intended to say something.

Just then.

A gust of chilling wind, coming from nowhere, swept through the entire room.

An icy, bone-piercing cold spread instantly.

It was as if a massive freezer had been opened, dumping Zhou Zhenguo and the others inside.

"So cold..."

Xiao Chu instinctively wanted to wrap his arms around himself.

This movement was met with a sensation of absolute numbness.

He discovered with horror that he had lost control of his arms!

Except for the expressions on his face, which remained in a "free state," the rest of his body felt as if it had been frozen solid.

Like an insect trapped in amber.

"Ah!"

Xiao Chu let out a silent roar in his heart.

It was terror, but also fury!

Immediately after, a warm current suddenly surged from his chest, flowing into his limbs and bones.

It dispelled the cold, numbing sensation.

It allowed Xiao Chu to regain control of his body.

The protection Tang Luo had bestowed upon him by consuming merit had played its part.

Zhou Zhenguo, standing nearby, was the same.

The protection that hadn't been used at the psychiatric hospital was consumed here.

"Ripper?!"

An alarmed and furious Zhou Zhenguo roared, looking toward the corridor on the other side.

On the landing of the stairs, at the turning point, a person stood there, though no one knew when he had arrived.

Most of his body was hidden in darkness and shadows.

It was impossible to make out his features, but judging by his build and posture, he appeared to be a man.

The cold wind that had filled the room, which had surged like a tide just moments ago to pin Zhou Zhenguo and the others down, making it impossible for them to move.

Now, after this person appeared, it receded just like a tide.

It retreated toward the man, as if being reabsorbed into his body.

No sooner had Zhou Zhenguo finished roaring than he felt a flash of silver pass by the corner of his eye.

The man standing on the stair landing seemed weightless, "drifting" to the side.

The silver light grazed past him.

It pierced into the wall behind him, its tail vibrating incessantly, emitting a metallic humming sound.

It was a dinner knife.

Before the vibrating tail could stop, several more flashes of silver streaked by.

The dinner knives on the nearby table were thrown by Tang Luo one after another.

The man moved like a ghost; he looked as light as a feather, yet his speed was incredibly fast.

It gave one a bizarre, jarring sensation that made them want to vomit blood.

He retreated up the stairs.

This was a staircase with a ninety-degree turn.

Tang Luo and the others could still see the landing at the turn.

But further up, it was out of their line of sight.

The man vanished from view, the final flash of silver whistled past, and everything returned to calm.

Only the light overhead continued to flicker.

Xiao Chu and Zhou Zhenguo stood where they were, unmoving.

The mere presence or some kind of ability had suppressed the two of them until they were as motionless as quails.

Even if the opponent had retreated, how could Xiao Chu and Zhou Zhenguo dare to pursue?

Not to mention, Zhou Zhenguo had already used up the Binding Chain prematurely.

His strength was greatly diminished.

Of those present, only Master Xuanzang likely had the ability to give chase.

As long as Tang Luo didn't move, Zhou Zhenguo and Xiao Chu certainly wouldn't.

"Master, was that Jack the Ripper just now?" Xiao Chu asked, his right hand almost covering his eyes.

The flickering light made him feel like he was going blind.

Zhou Zhenguo walked over to the switch on the side and pressed it twice, unexpectedly causing the light to return to normal.

"It was not."

Tang Luo shook his head slightly.

"Are you that certain, Master?" Zhou Zhenguo asked.

"If it were Jack the Ripper, we should have completed the mission by now," Tang Luo said.

"Huh?" Xiao Chu and Zhou Zhenguo were confused.

Tang Luo pointed to a hole in the opposite wall: "This Monk struck him; he is already dead."

Only then did Zhou Zhenguo notice a hole at the junction of the wall and the ceiling.

That was the mark left by the final dinner knife.

"I will go take a look."

Zhou Zhenguo still possessed at least that much courage.

He strode quickly toward the stairs, and immediately after, his voice rang out: "It's Old John!"

At the junction between the staircase and the second floor lay a corpse, its body nearly cleaved in two.

A Xuanzang Style strike.

It was hard to imagine that such a wound could be inflicted by a small dinner knife.

The dinner knife was pinned into the ceiling.

What was eerie was that not a single drop of blood had flowed from the corpse.

Zhou Zhenguo recognized him; this was Old John, the man they had met just that morning, the one they had deemed beyond suspicion due to his mobility issues.

Crouching down, Zhou Zhenguo removed Old John's shoe.

One foot was born deformed, though it was impossible to tell if it was congenital or the result of a later injury.

Yet, it was certain that this was indeed a foot that hindered movement.

With such a foot dragging him down, how fast could he possibly have been?

And yet, just moments ago, Old John had displayed ghost-like agility.

This deformed foot looked like a smiling face, mocking the stupidity and self-righteousness of Zhou Zhenguo and his team.