This was pretty ironic.
Initially, the Ripper Gang was known as the Crow Gang. In an attempt to leech off Jack the Ripper's fame, they had changed their name to the Ripper Gang.
But what they hadn't known was that they had been responsible for Jack the Ripper's creation.
In the end, they had been wiped out by Jack the Ripper.
After they left the hospital, the trio headed to Cotland Yard without any delay.
At this point, their only option was to determine the true identity of the Ripper through the Cotland Yard's missing persons records, thereby completing the mission of Search for Jack the Ripper.
"It's snowing again."
On the way to Cotland Yard, heavy gray snow started to fall again.
By the time Tang Luo and the others reached, Cotland Yard's main doors were already closed. After all, it was already nearing midnight.
But this was undoubtedly abnormal!
This situation where their doors were closed would never happen unless Cotland Yard had truly fallen to ruins, much less just because it was late in the night.
Even if the city's law and order were to break down, the Cotland Yard officers on duty would still be around every night.
Not to mention that people were even coming over to stay overnight in Cotland Yard these few days because they were too worried.
They couldn't even be driven out when the officers tried to chase them away.
The few detectives on duty probably felt rather fearful and uneasy too, so they didn't bother chasing them away anymore.
The group of people huddled together, making the place rather lively.
At the very least, it brought them a sense of security, even if it was just on a psychological basis.
Even if it was snowing, the furthest they would go was to just leave the doors half-opened to prevent snow from going indoors.
Why would they shut the doors fully?
"Something's gone wrong."
With a somber look on his face, Zhou Zhenguo stopped in his tracks, staring at Cottland Yard's closed doors.
He looked around their surroundings. The streets were silent and empty. The dim street lights glowed in the night. The doors and windows of the buildings along both sides of the streets were tightly shut too.
Only a few windows weren't fully closed. A hint of light shone through the gaps, reminding others that there were people inside.
For a moment, Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian felt as if they could hear the snowflakes landing.
Apart from that, there was nothing else. It was as though the three of them were the only ones left in the entire world.
Everyone else was gone.
Tang Luo suddenly let out a laugh. He went past Zhou Zhenguo and smacked Cotland Yard's closed doors open with his palm.
The doors hit against the walls, giving off a crisp thud.
This was clearly indoors, yet strangely enough, a cold and sinister breeze suddenly blew outwards.
Zhou Zhenguo's hat was blown off, while Chu Chongtian's hood fell behind him.
On the contrary, Tang Luo, who had changed to a black-knitted cap, was unaffected.
Behind the doors, Cotland Yard's main hall was empty. Yet there were objects like glasses and cups sitting on the chairs.
Clearly, there had been people here.
Tang Luo didn't stay where he was. He walked into the building.
Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian exchanged a look. They gritted their teeth and followed after him. Both of them brought out a revolver each, holding it in their hands.
Apart from the revolvers in their right hands, they were also holding other close-range combat weapons in their left hands.
Chu Chongtian held a swordstick, the kind where the head of the cane could be pulled out to reveal a blade inside.
As for Zhou Zhenguo, he wore brass knuckles on his fingers.
Tang Luo, who was walking at the front, was empty-handed. Ill Omens remained stuffed in its holster. Even the button of the holster was still fastened.
Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian didn't find anything wrong with this, either.
Obviously, Master Xuanzang's fists were much more powerful than bullets.
Yes, even if he were to brandish Ill Omens and launch Final Storm only when the need arose, he would totally still be in time.
The lights were on in the building, so their vision wasn't hindered. Neither did the lights flash and irritate their eyes.
They walked into the nearest room, which was similarly empty. But one could see that there was a cup of coffee that was still mildly steaming on the table.
Tang Luo reached out and touched it—it was still warm.
It hadn't been long since the disappearance of the people in Cotland Yard from its looks.
Jack the Ripper might very well still be here. Or rather, the person whom he was possessing was still here?
Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian became even more vigilant.
They practically moved in a back-to-back stance. This was to ensure that they wouldn't be ambushed from the back.
Even though Master Xuanzang had already, in his words, blessed them, such that even if they were to be assaulted, the protective barrier would provide some resistance, but it was only momentary.
Their reactions weren't quick. Or at least, it wasn't going to be faster than the person whom Jack the Ripper was possessing.
Not to mention that there was also that cold and sinister aura that restricted one's movements too.
Under an ambush, death could come in an instant. Thus, no amount of caution was excessive.
They took a quick look around the ground floor and didn't bother with a detailed check.
Tang Luo walked towards the second floor. Cotland Yard's reference library was also on the second floor.
Bang, bang, bang!
When Tang Luo reached the intermediate landing of the stairs, gunshots rang out from behind him.
At the same time, a shout from Zhou Zhenguo rang out. "He's here!"
With their backs to Tang Luo, Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian stood a couple of steps below him and fired madly at the ground floor.
Tang Luo turned his head slightly and glimpsed at a human shadow swooping through the walkway beneath the stairs.
It was so fast that all the bullets fired by the revolver missed their mark.
"J… ack…"
The shadow flashed past them.
From the direction it disappeared in, an incredibly hateful and vicious voice drifted over to them.
He wasn't calling out his own name. Rather, the voice gave off the feeling that he wanted to find the owner of the name, stuff him into his mouth, and chew him into pieces.
The resentment was practically forming a physical manifestation.
"We're not wrong!" shouted Chu Chongtian. He clamped the swordstick under his arm and prepared to reload.
Zhou Zhenguo's gun remained raised. He had taken care to hold back earlier, so there were still three rounds left in his revolver. Even if the Ripper were to attack them at this point, he'd be able to hold him off for a while.
This was what an experienced Employee of Gods and Demons was. They always preserved a means of counterattack, no matter how slight, unlike youngsters like Chu Chongtian, who immediately sprayed all their bullets.
Just as everyone focused their attention on the floor below, they suddenly heard some sounds coming from above.
A shadow fell from the gap between the stairs, and its body twisted weirdly as though a snake.
It dived towards Tang Luo and the others.
There was actually one more?
Furthermore, its target this time was finally no longer Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian but Tang Luo himself!
By the time the sound rang out, the shadow was already right above Tang Luo.
The hand that was holding a dagger drew an arc in mid-air and stabbed right at Tang Luo's forehead.
It didn't bother being a stickler for the characteristic of ripping its victim's guts apart anymore.
Against this sudden attack that truly counted as an ambush, Tang Luo's right arm sprung into action, moving later but reaching first, as though there was no intermediary stage.
His hand appeared out of thin air in front of the assailant and grabbed his head, as though gripping a basketball in one hand.
Tang Luo swung around, holding the assailant in his grip, and smashed the assailant into the wall next to him.
The assailant's upper body sank deep into the wall. The massive force and impact caused his originally twisted body to look even weirder.
"So you've finally got the guts to act now. Fantastic, keep at it," said Tang Luo.
As someone extremely 'overly proficient in one aspect', he disliked opponents who liked hiding in the shadows and secretly making trouble very much.
Wanting to eat Tang Seng flesh when they didn't even have the guts to face him directly?
What an embarrassment!
Fortunately, the battle tactic of lying in wait was as effective as ever. Also, the same applied for the tricks and strategies he had used in his journey to the west, such as nurturing one's strength and biding one's time, sympathy ruses and fishing.
After all, these were suitable for use in the Game of Gods And Demons, too, weren't they?
After hiding in the shadows for so long, Jack the Ripper finally couldn't hold himself back from attacking Tang Luo anymore.
'Awesome.' This pleased Tang Luo very much. 'He has finally come out to be beaten up!'
Black aura rose from Tang Luo's palm, which was spread open.
The incredibly chilly aura lashed at his palm and arm, as though tidal waves crashing against the shore. But at the same time, it was also as though seafoam churning against reefs and falling apart.
Perhaps if they were to churn for another few or a dozen years, they might be rewarded.
But right now, they were of no use.
Jack the Ripper didn't flee. He seemed to stay on inside this person, struggling in vain.
Tang Luo's fingers closed together into a fist.
The struggling stopped. The dagger in the person's hand turned into wisps of black smoke, which dissipated into the air.
"He's gone again."
Tang Luo drew back his arm.
The ability to possess others was still rather troublesome. While the Ripper wasn't that great at fighting, he was first-class at fleeing.
Tang Luo had once encountered a fellow just as troublesome and skilled in fleeing in the past, too—the White Bone
She was a huge loser, yet she just wouldn't go away.
In terms of power, there was a world of difference between the current Jack the Ripper and the White Bone Spirit.
But in terms of their intrinsic nature, they were the same, even if they had different approaches.
Fortunately, since the Ripper had already struck once, he would definitely strike again.
Tang Luo believed that Jack the Ripper wouldn't be as forbearing as he was in the past anymore.
After taking the first step, it was a lot easier to take the second and third steps.
Tang Luo continued up the stairs. Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian glanced at the corpse embedded in the wall before following Tang Luo.
They kept the same alert and wary back-to-back stance.
Although it made it very inconvenient for them to go up the stairs, the two of them weren't Tang Luo after all.
They weren't capable of capturing and smashing someone who was possessed by Jack the Ripper into the wall.
Unsurprisingly, there wasn't any blood flowing out of that corpse, either.
Was this a characteristic of those possessed by Jack the Ripper now?
Upon reaching the reference library, they opened the door, switched on the lights, and closed the door behind them. Then, Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian began their search at once.
Their serious countenances made them look just like candidates taking their college entrance examinations.
In their opinion, if they could determine Jack the Ripper's true identity, then this mission would most likely be completed.
Tang Luo didn't join them. He leaned against the wall next to the door.
However, Tang Luo acting as a bodyguard made Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian completely at ease instead. It allowed them to put their heart and soul into the search without needing to worry about the Ripper ambushing them.
There was only a sealed window the size of a person's head in the reference library. Unless the Ripper possessed an infant, there was no way he could get into the room through the window.
The only way he could enter to launch an ambush was through the door next to Tang Luo. And judging from the situation earlier, the Ripper wasn't as powerful as what the two of them had imagined.
Against Master Xuanzang, he was still no different from a little chick with no means of resistance.
They were all set!
As long as they could find and verify the name list, they would be able to determine the Ripper's identity and complete the mission!
Hope was right before their eyes.
Five minutes later, Chu Chongtian shouted, "I've found it!"
It wasn't the Ripper's true identity that he had found, but the case files of all the missing persons reports over the last few years in the city.
They weren't a lot, only 30-odd cases, out of which, 16 cases had been resolved with the corpses found and verified dead.
The others were still labeled as Missing.
Other than one of them.
One year after he had been reported missing, the person had suddenly returned.
And the timing which this person had appeared was just so half a month before Jack the Ripper had started his murders.
"We've found Jack the Ripper! He's Grimm Bree!" Chu Chongtian shouted the name of the person in the case file.