A faint glow flashed across Tang Luo's body as he expended his power of virtuous merits and cleaned off all the blood on himself.
As for the hat, since there was a hole in it, he decided that he didn't need it anymore. Buying a new one was a lot more convenient.
If not for the fact that a bald head was still rather conspicuous, Tang Luo wouldn't be wearing a hat all the time.
He didn't anxiously press the switch to activate the elevator to go back up. Tang Luo loosened his fist and discarded the two bullets he had caught. There was one more that Thorndike had fired off-course due to the gun's recoil and struck against the wall.
He walked over to the other side of the table.
Tang Luo looked at the black revolver that Thorndike was using earlier.
That gun had successfully caught his attention.
He bent over, picked up the black revolver, and held it in his hand. A few pieces of information naturally surfaced in Tang Luo's mind.
Just like how the information about the mission that appeared back then did.
'Ill Omens.'
The gold patterns engraved on this revolver of unknown origin symbolized ill omens. All of its previous owners seemed to have died from unnatural causes.
Supplementary skills:
1. Vital Energy Blood Bullets: Expends the user's vital energy and blood to form blood bullets. Reloading is not necessary.
2. Final Storm: Shoots 6,000 bullets in a minute. The power of this skill can rip apart everything in front of it.
Cooldown time of 10 hours. No energy consumption and no recoil.
Holding it was equivalent to holding death in one's grip.
"Interesting."
With a smile, Tang Luo searched Thorndike's corpse and removed the custom-made holster for the revolver known as Ill Omens.
Putting Ill Omens away, he walked around the room before going back into the elevator.
The elevator slowly began to rise. A few bullets and bullet shells rolled onto the floor, giving out clings and clangs.
After a while, the underground chamber returned to peace and quiet.
Tang Luo didn't choose to fight his way out. Instead, he used the Jade Lotus of Virtuous Merit to conceal himself again and leave the manor.
The amount of power of virtuous merits he had harvested this time wasn't a lot. But it was still a lot more compared to what he had expended.
Tang Luo wasn't a miser. The process of treating his injuries through the power of virtuous merits wasn't something that could be accomplished in one move.
During this period, Tang Luo wouldn't leave the power of virtuous merits untouched and use it only to treat his injuries.
When it ought to be used, he mustn't be stingy with it.
Smack!
Li Liang smacked his cheek with his palm, making a crisp sound and causing Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian to turn to him.
"There are mosquitoes here. Didn't you guys get bitten?" asked Li Liang.
Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian shook their heads at the same time.
Unlike the real world, it was already considered winter in this mission world. Even though there wasn't heavy snow, the weather was considerably cold and chilly.
Why would there be mosquitoes?
"Maybe my blood tastes better. I've attracted mosquitoes easily since I was young," said Li Liang rather miserably.
"It's done."
At that moment, a voice reached them. Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian raised their guns at once. Then, they put them away again.
Tang Luo was back.
While staring at the clean and neat Tang Luo, whose only difference between now and when he had left was a missing hat, Chu Chongtian couldn't help but ask, "Master, you've killed Earl Thorndike?"
"Hmm." Tang Luo nodded. "He just so happened to have invited the other members of the organization, so I took them all out in one fell swoop."
Zhou Zhenguo looked towards the manor.
There, everything still looked peaceful and lively. It didn't look at all like it had gone through a massacre.
"I also found something." Tang Luo lifted his coat and brought out Ill Omens. He placed it lightly in Zhou Zhenguo's hands.
Zhou Zhenguo instinctively received it. Then, his muscular body shook and shook again. He almost had a stroke.
"This gun looks so cool."
Chu Chongtian sighed in admiration after switching on the flashlight and getting a good look at Ill Omens.
"It's not just about whether it looks cool or not. This is equipment."
"Equipment?" Chu Chongtian was rather puzzled. Then, he recalled something. "This is what you were talking about? The benefits that we can get other than the mission completion rewards are equipment?"
Zhou Zhenguo replied, "No, there are various kinds of benefits one can get in mission worlds. Equipment is just one of them. The rewards one receives after mission completion aren't just limited to skills. There's a certain degree of possibility that one can receive equipment too."
"Is there any difference between regular guns and this?" asked Chu Chongtian.
Zhou Zhenguo looked at Tang Luo. Seeing that he didn't have any objections, he handed Ill Omens over to Chu Chongtian.
He was very puzzled. He had guessed that Master Xuanzang was probably a veteran who was acting weak to deceive powerful enemies. Considering his capabilities, that was definitely the case.
However, he really didn't seem to understand how The Game of Gods And Demons worked.
Even if he was just acting weak, how could he hand a piece of equipment he had gotten over to someone else so casually?
And having a look of 'please enlighten my doubts' written all over him?
That didn't make sense!
Even if he was acting, it wasn't done this way. And even if he was being a poser, such behavior would make him so much of a poser that he was no different from a fool.
Could people with supernatural powers who weren't part of The Game of Gods And Demons exist in the real world too?
While Zhou Zhenguo was musing, over at the other side, Chu Chongtian, who was holding Ill Omens, exclaimed, "This is so impressive!"
As he flipped and examined the revolver in his hand, that look of excitement on his face made him look like a young boy who had just caught sight of a toy he fancied.
Among which, there was also an unconcealable sense of regret because this toy wasn't his.
"This is what we call equipment," explained Zhou Zhenguo.
In any case, going along with Master Xuanzang definitely wasn't a wrong move.
"Unlike the guns we got, this gun is truly special. It can be taken out of the mission world and also brought into the next mission world."
Zhou Zhenguo had used a dagger as an example previously.
However, it was actually impossible to take the dagger he had used as an example out of the mission world.
Just like how weapons in the real world couldn't be brought into the mission world. Being decked out in full gear before entering a mission world was basically useless. Because all the gear would be 'thoroughly' removed, leaving behind only a few fundamental items.
Basically, one would only have a complete set of clothes and shoes on themselves.
The other time, Zhou Zhenguo had stuffed a nail clipper into his pocket, but he hadn't managed to bring even that in.
Similarly, when one was leaving the mission world, even if there was a ton of gold on their head, they would still be empty-handed after they returned to the real world.
Only a few choice objects, such as equipment, could be carried around freely.
Profiteering through scalping was something that didn't exist.
Identifying whether or not an object was equipment was very simple. After coming into contact with it for a period of time or holding it (in the case of accessories), if it was equipment, related information would surface.
Should there not be any related information, no matter how cool or how useful it might be, even if it could render the entire continent into two with one strike, it didn't belong to the category of equipment.
Zhou Zhenguo knew of equipment and had also personally seen one before. But this was his first time really coming into contact with one.
Chu Chongtian took another look at the revolver before reluctantly returning it to Tang Luo.
"Do all equipment come with supplementary skills?" Tang Luo kept Ill Omens away once more.
"Probably," replied Zhou Zhenguo. "To be honest, I only know of and have also seen equipment, but this is my first time really coming into contact with one."
Because holding a piece of equipment would lead to information related to it surfacing in one's mind, no one would be willing to easily hand their equipment over to someone else.
"Yes." Tang Luo nodded.
"Rest assured, Master Xuanzang. We definitely won't leak the information to others." Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian promised sincerely.
Who knew if this was a test?
If they could prove themselves to be people that could keep a secret, they would definitely be able to cling on to this lifesaver in the future.
"It's fine." Tang Luo didn't mind letting the two of them know about Ill Omens' detailed information at all.
To Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian, Ill Omens was undoubtedly a piece of equipment they strongly desired. But to Tang Luo, it wasn't that important. It was purely a bonus.
To think of it in a more sinister way, in the future, should Tang Luo meet an enemy who got hold of information about Ill Omens' skills from the two of them and as a result, was extremely on guard against Ill Omens but ended up being killed by Tang Luo with a punch, this would be something very 'interesting' too.
On the other side, Li Liang didn't come over. He listened quietly, taking it as a lesson.
The four of them walked slowly in the direction of the city since the matter had already been resolved.
There was only one path. On both sides of the path were dense bushes and trees.
However, they didn't extend to the path. After all, this was considered an important route that connected the small city to the outside world. And it was also the route that connected Earl Thorndike's manor with the city.
Naturally, it had to be maintained properly.
After walking for close to an hour, the night breeze brought over the faint sound of commotion. It seemed to come from the direction of the manor.
"Is it only now that they discovered it?" Zhou Zhenguo wondered.
Since Tang Luo said that he had already taken them out in one fell swoop, that meant that there were at least five to six people who had died tonight.
It was only when those key members died together with Thorndike, leaving behind only two to three small fries, that they could be considered as having been taken out in one fell swoop.
By the time they got back to the hotel, it was already late and nearing midnight.
This was the same hotel as the one that they had taken up lodging in on the first night. In other words, the one where Bi Wanhui had gone missing in.
Jack the Ripper had the ability to possess someone, so the hotel they chose to stay in honestly didn't matter.
Old John's disappearance made the hotel proprietor fearful, making him somewhat ingratiating towards Tang Luo and the others.
To a certain degree, this was advantageous to Tang Luo and the others.
As for the few rooms that they had been staying in?
Tang Luo had changed it to the biggest and most luxurious room in the hotel.
It could fit the four of them and thereby prevent Jack the Ripper from defeating them one by one.
The next day…
Zhou Zhenguo's brows were locked in a deep frown as he smoked.
He practically looked like someone who had been scolded by a superior ten years younger than himself and, upon returning home, still had to face his wife grumbling about how Old Wang next door had taken his whole family to the Maldives for a vacation.
And whose daughter in high school then returned home late in the night after going missing for a good half of the night, and expressed that she had a boyfriend who had just been released from prison and whom everyone addressed as Big Brother Long and was very impressive.
In other words, a middle-aged balding uncle who was miserable to the extreme.
Next to him, Chu Chongtian asked for a cigarette and subsequently almost choked himself to death.
"Don't smoke if you don't know how to. It isn't anything great. I'd already quit it," said Zhou Zhenguo.
"First-hand smoke is better than secondhand smoke."
Chu Chongtian asked, "Uncle Zhou, how did this happen?"
The two of them were in the main hall of the hotel.
The doors were wide open. One could see the crowd outside.
Speaking of which, this was the first time so many people had gathered on the streets.
The feeling that the small city gave them had always been of cheerlessness and desolation from the time they exited the crypt.
Apart from the banquet the previous night, this was the liveliest Tang Luo, and the others had ever seen the city during this period of time.
Now and then, the crowd's speculation and chatter would reach their ears.
"They are all dead…"
"It's as if it was an abattoir. Nine out of ten Cotland Yard detectives who went over are throwing up over there."
"We're finished, everything is finished!"