Come Out and Take Your Beating!

This was quite an ironic turn of events.

The Ripper Gang had originally been called the Crow Gang. They changed their name to "Ripper Gang" to ride on Jack the Ripper's fame.

What they didn't know was that they had "created" Jack the Ripper themselves.

In the end, Jack the Ripper wiped them all out.

After leaving the hospital, the three didn't waste any time and headed for Scotland Yard.

At this point, the only way to determine the Ripper's true identity was through Scotland Yard's missing persons records.

That would let them complete the "Find Jack the Ripper" mission.

"It's snowing again."

As they made their way to Scotland Yard, gray snow began falling from the sky once more.

By the time Tang Luo and the others arrived, the doors were already tightly shut.

After all, it was nearly midnight.

But there was no question that this was abnormal!

At Scotland Yard, the doors were never shut, even in the middle of the night, unless the building had actually collapsed.

Even though order in Small City had broken down,

Scotland Yard's staff were still on duty every night.

What's more, over the past few days, some people had been so worried that they'd chosen to spend the night at Scotland Yard.

They couldn't be driven away.

The few detectives on duty were probably feeling uneasy themselves, so they'd simply stopped trying to chase anyone off.

Everyone gathered together, making quite a lively scene.

At least it gave them a sense of security, even if only in their minds.

Even when it snowed, they would at most leave the doors half open, to keep the snow from blowing indoors.

How could they possibly be shut tight?

"Something's happened."

Zhou Zhenguo's expression was grave as he stopped and stared at Scotland Yard's closed doors.

He looked around.

The street was silent and empty, with only the dim streetlights along the roadside giving off a faint glow.

The buildings on either side were shuttered as well.

Only a few windows hadn't been fully covered, and a sliver of light showed through the gaps.

A reminder that someone was inside.

For a moment, Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian seemed able to hear the snowflakes landing.

There was nothing else.

It was as if only the three of them remained in the entire world.

As if everyone else had ceased to exist.

"Heh."

Tang Luo suddenly chuckled, stepped past Zhou Zhenguo, and smacked open the closed door to Scotland Yard with one hand.

The door slammed against the wall with a crisp bang.

Though they were indoors, a strange, icy wind suddenly rose and blew outside.

Zhou Zhenguo's hat was blown away.

Chu Chongtian's hood fell back.

Tang Luo had changed into a black knit cap, so he was unaffected.

The Scotland Yard lobby beyond the door was empty.

Yet cups and other items had been left on the chairs.

Clearly, people had been there.

Tang Luo didn't stop. He walked into the building.

Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and followed. Both drew revolvers and held them ready.

Besides the revolver in his right hand, each also had a melee weapon in his left.

Chu Chongtian carried a sword cane, the kind with a handle that could be pulled off to reveal a sword inside.

Zhou Zhenguo wore brass knuckles.

Tang Luo, at the front, had nothing in his hands. Ominous was still in its holster, and he hadn't even undone the clasp.

Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian didn't find anything strange about that.

Master Xuanzang's fists were clearly much more powerful than bullets.

Besides, Tang Luo could always take out Ominous and use Ending Storm when the need arose.

The lights inside were on, and nothing obstructed their vision.

Nor were the lights flickering and straining their eyes.

They entered the nearest room. It was empty as well.

But a cup of coffee on the desk was still giving off a faint wisp of steam.

Tang Luo reached out and touched it. It was still hot.

It couldn't have been long since the people at Scotland Yard disappeared.

Jack the Ripper might still be here...

Or perhaps his Possessed was still here?

Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian grew even more wary.

They moved almost back to back,

making sure they couldn't be ambushed from behind.

Even though Master Xuanzang had said he'd already "blessed" them.

If they were suddenly attacked, their "protective barrier" would block the first blow or two.

But it could only hold them off for a short while.

Neither of them had quick reactions, at least not compared to someone possessed by Jack the Ripper.

And that icy aura that left people unable to move made things even worse.

If they were ambushed, death could come in an instant.

They couldn't be too careful.

They gave the first floor a cursory look without checking it thoroughly.

Tang Luo headed up to the second floor. Scotland Yard's archive room was there as well.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Just as Tang Luo reached the landing where the staircase turned,

gunshots rang out behind him.

At the same time, Zhou Zhenguo shouted, "It's here!"

Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian stood on the steps two below Tang Luo, their backs to him as they fired wildly at the first floor.

Tang Luo glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of a black figure darting past the corridor beneath the stairs.

It was so fast that every bullet from their revolvers missed.

"J-Jack..."

From the direction where the fleeting figure had disappeared came a voice full of venom.

It wasn't saying its own name.

It sounded as though it wanted to find the owner of that name, stuff him into its mouth, and chew him to pieces.

Its hatred was almost tangible.

"We weren't wrong!" Chu Chongtian shouted. He tucked the cane beneath his arm, preparing to reload.

Zhou Zhenguo kept his gun raised. He had deliberately held back earlier, and there were still three bullets in his revolver.

If the Ripper attacked now, he could still hold him off.

That was the experience of a seasoned God and Demon Walker.

He always kept a little something in reserve.

Unlike young Chu Chongtian, who had emptied his gun in one go.

Just as everyone's attention was focused on the floor below,

a sound suddenly came from overhead.

A figure dropped through the gap between the stairs, its body twisted strangely, like a snake.

It lunged at Tang Luo and the others.

There was another one?

And this time, the target was no longer Zhou Zhenguo or Chu Chongtian.

It was Tang Luo himself!

By the time the sound rang out, the figure was already above Tang Luo's head.

The hand gripping the dagger blurred as it thrust straight at Tang Luo's forehead.

It wasn't fixated on eviscerating its victims this time, either.

Faced with this sudden attack—a genuine ambush—Tang Luo moved his right hand. He struck after the attacker, yet arrived first, as if the motion in between had simply vanished.

His hand appeared out of nowhere in front of the attacker. Like someone grabbing a basketball with one hand, he clamped it around the attacker's head.

Then Tang Luo turned.

He grabbed the attacker and slammed him into the wall beside them.

The attacker's upper body sank completely into the wall.

The immense force of the impact made his already twisted body look even more grotesque.

"You finally dared to make a move. Good. Keep it up."

Tang Luo spoke.

As someone who was extremely "one-sided," he hated opponents who hid in corners and schemed in the shadows.

They didn't even have the courage to face him head-on, yet claimed they wanted to eat Tang Seng's flesh?

Pathetic!

Fortunately, waiting for the rabbit beneath a tree had always worked.

So had wearing down the enemy, feigning weakness, and fishing—the tactics he'd used on his Journey to the West.

They worked in the God and Demon Game, too.

Jack the Ripper had lurked for so long, but had finally lost patience and attacked Tang Luo.

Good. That made Tang Luo very happy.

At last—he'd come out to take his beating!

Black aura poured from Tang Luo's outstretched palm.

The icy aura surged like waves crashing against the shore, battering Tang Luo's hand and arm.

But just like waves striking a reef, it broke apart.

Perhaps if it kept crashing for years or decades, it might accomplish something.

But for now, it was useless.

Jack the Ripper didn't flee. It seemed to remain inside the man, struggling desperately.

Tang Luo closed his hand into a fist.

The struggling stopped. The dagger in his hand turned into a wisp of black smoke and dispersed into the air.

"He ran again."

Tang Luo lowered his hand.

Possession was a troublesome ability.

It wasn't good for fighting, but it was first-rate for escaping.

He'd once encountered another troublesome opponent who was first-rate at running away.

White Bone Spirit.

She was as cowardly as a dog, yet somehow always came back.

Jack the Ripper was leagues apart from her in strength.

But at their core, they were very much alike.

Still, since there had been a first time, there would be a second.

Tang Luo believed Jack the Ripper wouldn't keep holding back like before.

Once he'd taken the first step, taking a second and third would be easy.

They continued upstairs. Zhou Zhenguo and the others glanced at the body embedded in the wall, then followed Tang Luo.

They stayed alert, still moving in their "back-to-back" formation.

Even though it made climbing the stairs very inconvenient.

But they weren't Tang Luo.

They couldn't grab someone possessed by the Ripper with one hand and slam him into a wall.

Come to think of it, this body hadn't shed any blood either.

Was that another trait of people possessed by the Ripper?

They reached the archive room. Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian opened the door, turned on the lights, and shut the door behind them before immediately searching through the files.

They looked as serious as students taking their college entrance exams.

They thought.

If they could determine Jack the Ripper's true identity,

then they could probably complete this mission.

Tang Luo didn't get involved. He leaned against the wall beside the door.

Having him stand guard put Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian completely at ease.

They could focus entirely on searching.

They didn't have to worry about Jack the Ripper ambushing them.

The archive room had only one sealed window, no bigger than a human head.

Unless Jack the Ripper possessed a baby, there was no way he could squeeze in through it.

The only place he could enter to launch a surprise attack was the door beside Tang Luo.

And judging from what had just happened,

Jack the Ripper wasn't nearly as powerful as the two of them had initially imagined.

Even against Master Xuanzang, he was like a helpless chick, unable to fight back at all.

They had this in the bag!

As long as they found the list and confirmed things further, they could identify Jack the Ripper and complete the mission!

Hope was within reach.

"Found it!"

Five minutes later, Chu Chongtian shouted.

He hadn't found Jack the Ripper's true identity. He'd found the case files on people who had gone missing in Small City over the past few years.

There weren't many—just over thirty cases.

In sixteen of them, the bodies had been found, and the people had ultimately been confirmed dead.

The rest were still listed as "missing."

Except for one case.

A year after someone reported the person missing, the missing person suddenly returned.

And that person had reappeared exactly half a month before Jack the Ripper began killing.

"We found Jack the Ripper!"

"It's Green Bray!"

Chu Chongtian called out the name of the person in question.