Permanent death…
Those words appeared contradictory. Death, could it be death was not a permanent thing?
Although, considering the characteristic of the system… death was indeed not a permanent thing for it. The system could resurrect a person, refresh, reset and manufacture…
If so, by looking deep into the meaning of the words ‘permanent death’, it appeared that… this could somewhat prove the deduction made by Chen Xiaolian.
Jack the Ripper… he could be re-spawned repeatedly?
If this was part of a storyline, then…
Then Jack the Ripper’s serial murder case may have been repeated by the system many times before!
Also, this instance dungeon had been re-used many times before!
Before today, it was likely that other game participants have gone through this instance dungeon and completed this quest.
Each time they completed the quest, Jack the Ripper would likely be summoned back into the system. Then, he would be refreshed to await the next time the instance dungeon was opened.
And now, Jack the Ripper had died.
He had suffered a complete, permanent death in the hands of Bai Qi…
He… was absorbed by Bai Qi.
This matter… was that how it went?
…
“You know, the fish finger sold by this shop is the worst in all of London.”
Tian Lie was seated on a sofa with worn surface and a thick mildew scent. Both his hands were placed upon the surface of the dirty table; one was supporting his head while the other picked up a fish finger and stuffed it into his mouth. At the same time, he turned his head to look out the window.
It was a very dirty looking little shop. The menu listed the food sold there, the infamous local specialty of Great Britain: Fish and chips.
Seated opposite of Tian Lie was the Frenchman with bulbous nose.
A metallic lustre could be seen flashing within Jean’s eyes. His head was lowered and no one in the dark shop paid any attention to the spot that they were occupying. As he sat down on the sofa, the body posture made by Jean’s body was clearly stiff in appearance.
“Since it’s so bad, why did you bring me here?” Jean did his best to make it so that his voice sounded normal. Something was flowing within the blood vessels beneath his skin.
Jean understood very well that if this fellow before him had wanted him dead, he would not need to move even a finger. All he needed to do was think about it.
He had no desire to die now!
Although he had joined Culkin’s guild, Jean had yet to become loyal to the point where he would sacrifice his own life for Culkin.
Tian Lie placed down the fish finger and turned to Jean. “Hmm?”
“I said, since it tastes so bad, why did you bring me here?” answered Jean as he twitched his nose.
“Because… I have a special memory toward this place,” answered Tian Lie. He curled the corners of his lips into a grin and stuffed the last piece of fish fingers into his mouth.
He turned to look out the window once more and said, “You know, back when I was still a rookie, all I could do in the beginning was to follow behind others to survive. I had to do everything I can just to ensure my survival.
“However, the time finally came when I managed to complete an instance dungeon quest by myself.
“En, that was the first time it happened.”
After saying that, Tian Lie turned to Jean and blinked his eyes. “You see, we humans will never forget our first time, isn’t that right?”
“… …” Jean looked at Tian Lie and asked, “The first instance dungeon quest that you completed by yourself… could it be, you did it in London?”
“Oh, yes.”
Jean thought about it and further questioned, “What quest was it?”
“The Ripper… Jack,” Tian Lie answered with a smile on his face.
…
“That’s about the gist of what happened.”
They had returned to the collapsed warehouse. Although a major portion of the roof had collapsed, a small part remained. It was sufficient to serve as a shelter from the rain.
There, Chen Xiaolian gave Phoenix a summary of what had happened.
Phoenix listened without saying anything. Neither did she interrupt Chen Xiaolian in the middle. After he had finished speaking, there was a complicated expression on Phoenix’s face.
“… … that’s it?” Phoenix narrowed her eyes and looked at Chen Xiaolian. She said, “You… actually, you could have secretly informed me about it. Secretly inform me.”
Chen Xiaolian looked at Phoenix and he suddenly raised his hand to point at the rooftop. He said, “I recall that not too long ago, you were the one who told me not to be too trustful.”
Phoenix did not reply.
After a moment of silence, she slowly said, “The system gave us 200 marks. 100 marks for successfully protecting the system’s guide character and another 100 marks for solving Jack the Ripper’s case.”
“En,” Chen Xiaolian answered while nodding his head.
“My female intuition tells me… there is definitely something that you are hiding from me,” Phoenix suddenly said.
“Why do I feel that… you may have acquired more from this instance dungeon compared to us?”
Chen Xiaolian laughed and looked at Phoenix. Then, he spoke in a very serious manner, “Regardless of whether that is true or false… why should I tell you about it?”
Phoenix’s eyebrows were raised in response. Before she could say anything, Chen Xiaolian smiled and continued, “All right, there is something I can tell you.”
“What is it?”
“We… may have gotten real lucky here.”
“Lucky?”
“En.” Chen Xiaolian’s face turned serious. “At the final moment, Colombo became very powerful. He acquired four vengeful spirits… simply through the power of four; he nearly turned us into dough. Additionally, Colombo had utilized some form of black magic, allowing him to absorb the four vengeful spirits to transform himself into a monster that resembled a Grim Reaper.”
“… … I saw it,” Phoenix replied coldly. “I could feel the powerful aura released by him. However… no matter how strong he was, didn’t he end up getting killed by you? The one in white who finished off Colombo…”
“My pet,” Chen Xiaolian replied coolly. “That was not what I meant. Rather, Colombo should have been much stronger than that.”
“Much… stronger?”
“Don’t forget, according to the storyline, he should have killed off five victims. Then, he should have merged with those five vengeful spirits. However, the Colombo we encountered only completed four murders and was able to gather only four vengeful spirits.”
…
“I have always considered myself as a lucky person.”
Tian Lie picked up a piece of tissue and wiped his mouth. He continued, “The first instance dungeon quest that I completed by myself was actually Jack the Ripper quest.”
“Why?”
“Because this instance dungeon… one could say it is extremely difficult, but one could also say it is extremely easy,” answered Tian Lie with a faint smile. “The key lies in… how you deal with it.”
Jean became curious and asked, “You… how did you deal with it?”
“Very simple.” Tian Lie kneaded his eyebrows and exhaled. There was an indifferent expression on his face. “Back when I received this quest, I believed that the purpose of this quest is to stop Jack the Ripper from killing the five victims before killing Jack himself. Isn’t that right?”
“… … that sounds true.”
“Hmm, and there you have it,” Tian Lie said coolly. “To stop him from killing, how should you do that?”
Jean considered the question and answered, “Maybe I can go find the victims and set up an ambush. When the killer appears, ambush him! Or… find the victims and protect them. Wait for the killer to come to me.”
Tian Lie laughed. It was a very gleeful laughter.
At present, he had the appearance of an ordinary Caucasian. However, a strange light flashed within his pair of pupils.
“You… did not do it that way?” Jean frowned.
“Of course not. If I did, I fear that I would have lost my life in that instance dungeon.”
Tian Lie suddenly began acting like a little child, exhibiting a childish show-off attitude. “You know, the difficulty of this instance dungeon depends on… Jack the Ripper’s strength. For every victim he kills, the stronger he gets. Let’s assume that this is a game then, the strength of this ultimate boss, Jack the Ripper, would depend on many victims he gets to kill.”
“En… so, you would have to find a way to protect those victims so that they would not be killed by him, right? Did you manage to keep them all alive?” Jean asked.
“Your first sentence is correct. Your second is wrong,” Tian Lie answered coolly. “What I needed to do was ensure that Jack the Ripper did not get to kill them. However, there was no need for me to keep them alive.”
“… … …”
“Back then… after the quest begun, the first thing I did was… to find the victims and personally kill them!” Tian Lie’s face broke into a scary grin, exposing the whites of his teeth!
“… ki… kill?”
“Yes, I killed them all,” Tian Lie replied slowly. “All that matters was that they did not die in the hands of Jack the Ripper.”
Jean was left speechless!
This way of thought… was wondrous!
Additionally, it was something that normal people would not have considered!
In order to prevent the storyline’s victim from being killed off by the killer… kill off the victims first?!
“You… how could you bring yourself to do something like that? Weren’t you fearful that your actions would mess up the storyline and trigger a bad ending?”
“I’ve got big balls.” Tian Lie took a gulp of cola.
…
“In other words, Colombo failed to get five vengeful spirits in the end! Thus, he did not manage to achieve his most powerful form?” Phoenix’s eyes flickered as she asked.
“From what he said in the end, that was probably it.”
After saying that, Chen Xiaolian turned to look at Phoenix and the both of them exchanged glances.
The two of them recalled the incident where they encountered the sniper attack!
“Someone… is helping us out from the dark?” Phoenix blurted out.
Chen Xiaolian sighed and his expression turned extremely serious. He said, “I think so too… there is also the possibility that someone had tried to stop us from completing the quest and inadvertently helped us. However… I believe that line of thought does not make sense. Because, if they had wanted to stop us, just attacking once is simply too little. Thus…”
“I feel that there might really be someone helping us out from the dark!”
…
“Back in the instance dungeon, there were also five victims. I killed off three of them,” Tian Lie said coolly. “In the end, when Jack the Ripper revealed himself, his strength was not that powerful… for the me back then who had yet to become strong, I was only barely able to defeat him.
“That is why I think that I am really lucky.
“Back then, if I had not thought in such a ridiculously absurd manner and came up with the method to disrupt the situation, the one to die in the end would likely be me – because I was alone. Since there was only me, I feared that I was unable to gather up the victims. Additionally, to protect them from harm with my strength alone – I simply did not possess the strength to do that.
“Thus, I could only do things in reverse. Before the killer could act, kill those victims!”
Hearing that, Jean muttered out in a low voice: “Maniac, freak.” Then, the Frenchman appeared to have thought of something. He said, “Eh… I recall you saying something during these past two days… you normally wouldn’t kill women.”
“There is a bottom-line for any principle,” Tian Lie answered coolly. “A principle that does not have a bottom-line is idiocy. If the first enemy sent to face me is a woman, should I just lie down and let them kill me? As for those victims… although they were not my enemies within the game… due to some reason, my heart weren’t that troubled when I killed them.”
“Oh?”
“Because… their profession is… that kind of woman,” Tian Lie said softly. “I hate those kind of women. They deserve to die.”
As he was saying those words, a trace of prejudice flashed across his eyes.
…