The Vile Foreigner

Since they weren't in London, everyone missed out on the famous Stargazy Pie.

Even after filling his stomach, Tang Luo still wasn't in a hurry to look for Jack the Ripper.

Instead, he found a decent inn and rented three rooms.

There was no well-established system of household registration here.

The innkeeper merely asked where Tang Luo and the others were from, then promptly slipped into the mindset of "a fool who doesn't make money when he can."

Of course, Tang Luo was certain the price was much higher than usual.

He didn't mind.

He'd gotten quite a bit of money through "alms-seeking."

At the usual rate for food and lodging, it was enough to keep everyone going for nearly half a month.

No wonder those pickpockets, who'd switched from stealing to robbing when they couldn't make a score and claimed to be gang members, had a backer. It made all the difference.

They carried far more money on them than ordinary thieves.

Hopefully he'd run into them again and get some more "alms" from them.

Good-hearted people like that were a rare breed.

"Master, what should we—"

"Get some rest," Tang Luo said. "You probably didn't sleep well last night, either. Take today to rest."

"..."

For a while, everyone wondered if they'd come here on vacation.

Was it really okay to take things this easy?

They paired off two to a room. Li Liang shared with Tang Luo, and everyone went back to rest.

Li Liang soon fell into a deep sleep.

But Tang Luo didn't actually rest, as he'd claimed he would. Instead, he left the room.

He went and knocked on the door of the room next to theirs.

The room seemed to be empty. Tang Luo knocked several times, but there was no response.

He didn't give up. He kept knocking at an unhurried pace, like someone tapping a wooden fish, for a full five minutes.

"Get lost!"

At last, an impatient voice came from inside.

Tang Luo didn't get angry. "Benefactor Zhou, won't you invite this humble monk in for a chat?"

Two minutes later, the door opened, revealing Zhou Zhenguo's face. "How did you find me?"

"Benefactor Zhou, were you really that confident in your tracking skills?" Tang Luo countered.

Zhou Zhenguo's old face flushed red.

What did he know about tracking?

He'd just been sneaking around. He wasn't even qualified to be an amateur.

It was true that God and Demon Walkers wielded supernatural powers, but that didn't mean they were omnipotent secret agents who could fly into the heavens or burrow into the earth.

"I'm going out for a while. Please keep an eye on these children, Benefactor Zhou," Tang Luo said.

"..."

Zhou Zhenguo wanted to ask, "Am I a babysitter?"

But even if Tang Luo hadn't asked, he would have kept an eye on Li Liang.

As far as Zhou Zhenguo was concerned, Li Liang was the most important lead at the moment.

He could keep an eye on the others while he was at it.

"Then I'll leave them in your hands."

Before Zhou Zhenguo could object and save a little face, Tang Luo turned and left on his own.

"Hey—"

His futile shout made Zhou Zhenguo feel like he was anything but a seasoned veteran.

Once outside the inn, Tang Luo strolled through the city and entered a clothing shop.

A little while later, he walked out wearing a black trench coat and a black top hat, with a walking stick in hand.

The hat hid his conspicuous bald head. With a change of clothes, Tang Luo had transformed.

He'd gone from a master to a dashing gentleman with an air of sharpness about him.

After changing his look, Tang Luo didn't return to the inn. Instead, he headed toward an alley.

It was the place where he'd "sought alms" an hour earlier.

If he was lucky, he might find some more kind souls and ask them for alms again.

As for why he needed to seek alms again, it was because he'd spent all his money on clothes.

What did he do when he ran out of money? Obviously, he went to seek alms again.

When he reached the entrance to the alley,

Tang Luo smiled. He was in luck.

Six people were standing there.

They all looked vicious, which meant they were clearly good people—the sort who'd shower him with money.

"That's him!"

The two unlucky fellows from earlier were talking with the others when they suddenly spotted someone standing at the alley entrance.

Looking closer, wasn't he the fierce bald man from before?

He'd changed his clothes and put on a hat, but they'd never forget that face as long as they lived.

"Amita—"

Tang Luo stopped halfway through his Buddhist invocation. He'd decided to go with the local customs and stop being a monk for the time being.

At least, in front of outsiders.

"Good day, gentlemen," Tang Luo greeted them with a smile.

The six men facing him smiled too.

They wore vicious grins, and two of them looked pained as well.

Several of their bones were broken. How could it not hurt?

The fact that they could still stand and identify him made them as tough as nails.

"Not bad, friend. You've got some nerve, messing with members of the Ripper Gang."

The man in the deerstalker cap leading them spoke.

"The Ripper Gang?"

Tang Luo raised an eyebrow. "Is your boss Jack the Ripper?"

"That's right! He is! Scared now?"

Before the man in the deerstalker cap could speak, someone else shouted out.

The others beside him looked as if they couldn't bear to watch.

The so-called Ripper Gang had absolutely nothing to do with Jack the Ripper.

To put it plainly, it was a criminal gang trading on Jack the Ripper's notoriety.

They were borrowing someone else's reputation to frighten the timid.

They couldn't shout it too loudly, though, or Scotland Yard would come after them.

As for admitting that the Ripper Gang's boss was Jack the Ripper...

"Is that so? Perfect. I'm a detective from a distant land, and I'm looking for Jack the Ripper."

Tang Luo said.

"A detective?"

"That's right. News of Jack the Ripper has spread, including the wanted posters from Scotland Yard," Tang Luo said. "I thought I'd try my luck."

Jack the Ripper had left Scotland Yard in a state of utter chaos.

They'd not only issued a hefty reward for his capture, but had also "recruited" detectives to help find the real culprit.

"Foreigner. Detective. Heh," the man in the deerstalker cap sneered. He gestured, and the others stepped forward to surround Tang Luo.

At the same time, they glared at the people outside the alley.

A few passersby who'd stopped to watch immediately left when they saw what was happening.

A spectacle was all well and good, but their lives mattered more.

"If I'm going to investigate Jack the Ripper's case, I'll need some operating funds."

Tang Luo rested his left hand on the back of his right, both hands on top of his walking stick, and planted it on the ground. "Why don't you gentlemen make a donation, so I can catch the killer sooner?"

"Ha ha."

The group burst into laughter as if they'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

Even if it wasn't funny, they had to laugh through gritted teeth to overpower Tang Luo with their bravado.

When it came to fighting, it was all about having the upper hand, wasn't it?

Some stifled coughing mixed in with their laughter. One of them had unfortunately aggravated his injuries while trying to look tough.

But the next second,

five of them stopped laughing at once. Only one man continued to grin, his eyes narrowed and his head tilted back.

One of his companions nudged him before he finally stopped. When he looked closely, his expression turned uncertain.

The walking stick, after Tang Luo had lightly tapped it a moment earlier,

had plunged straight into the ground.

That might have been understandable if it were dirt, but they were standing on paving stones!

The man in the deerstalker cap reached up and touched his face.

There was blood on his fingers.

A tiny shard of stone had just grazed his cheek, leaving a shallow cut.

"So, gentlemen, would you rather donate some money, or have me beat you senseless and toss you into Scotland Yard? I could tell them I've found Jack the Ripper's men. Then, with a little torture, they might tell us where to find Jack the Ripper."

Tang Luo pulled the perfectly intact walking stick out of the ground and tapped it lightly twice as he asked.

"What are you panicking for? It's just a magic trick!"

The man in the deerstalker cap shouted, trying to sound fierce.

The way he was all bark and no bite wasn't very convincing.

Sure enough, he continued, "Get him! I'm going to get help!"

With that, he turned and ran.

The other end of the alley was a dead end.

But there were a few trash cans at the far end, with piles of garbage around them.

They were gang members, after all. They got into fights on a regular basis, so they were nimble enough.

He could jump onto a trash can and climb over the wall without much trouble.

The man in the deerstalker cap dashed toward the trash cans, but didn't jump. Instead, he turned around and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Tang Luo.

"Surprised, huh? You really thought I'd run?"

His grin was triumphant.

Guns weren't exactly common here, but they were far from strictly prohibited.

As a minor gang leader, getting his hands on a pistol wasn't difficult.

Holding a Palm Thunder revolver, the man's confidence soared.

So, he could fight?

Could he beat a gun?

Well, as it turned out, he could.

Before the man could make any more threats, his vision blurred.

The foreigner, who'd been more than ten meters away, was suddenly right in front of him!

Then came a sharp crack and searing pain from his raised arm.

The revolver fell from his hand, landing in the foreigner's grasp.

"This gentleman has donated a revolver."

Tang Luo slapped the man into the trash with one casual swat, then turned to the others. "And you?"

He pointed the revolver at them and gave it a little waggle.

"Vile foreigner!"

The men cursed inwardly. He was threatening them with their own gun?!

Then they obediently handed over every penny they had.

The two who'd already been made to "donate" could only pull out their knives.

Not to fight back, but to donate those too.

That was right, he wanted the knives as well.

Tang Luo didn't need them, but they could keep Xiao Chu and the others safe.

After stripping the group of everything they had, Tang Luo pulled his walking stick out of the ground where he'd planted it a second time and happily finished his alms-seeking.

This time, he'd done it as a foreign detective.

"Oh, right."

After walking a few steps, Tang Luo turned back to the group. "This revolver only has six bullets. Leave me your gang's address. When I run out, I'll come to you for more."

"Sure!"

A man's eyes shifted, and he gave Tang Luo an address.

Tang Luo nodded politely and left.

"You're asking for trouble! Why'd you send that foreigner there?" As soon as Tang Luo was gone, the gang members started arguing among themselves.

"Hmph! You don't know what you're talking about," the man replied. "There are plenty of us in the gang. Why should we be afraid of one man?"

"He could bring people with him, too."

"Who could an outsider call in?"

"Scotland Yard, you idiot!"

"Why?"

"Didn't the boss say yesterday that the Ripper's made too much trouble for us? We're going back to using the name Crow Gang. We'd better stop using the name Ripper Gang, or even our people in Scotland Yard won't be able to protect us! The people at Scotland Yard are nearly out of their minds! They might even use us as scapegoats!"

"..."

Chasing clout came at a price.

Especially when you had an idiot for a teammate.

Well, I'll leave it at that.

Let's see if we're thinking along the same lines.