Staring Into The Abyss

Finally, Li Liang managed to stop the horses under a big tree by the road—a barely adequate place to avoid the snowstorm.

Li Liang knocked on the carriage door and shouted, "Master, things are not looking good. The snow is too heavy, let's hide here first! Let me go in."

The carriage was not big and could barely seat four people.

"Master?"

After knocking on the door a few times, there was no response from the carriage.

Li Liang looked into the dirty glass window suspiciously.

There were indeed three people sitting inside. Were they asleep?

Was that right?

The feeling of fear was like the snowflakes falling on the ground, beginning to pile up bit by bit, and starting to occupy Li Liang's heart.

After swallowing his saliva, Li Liang pulled out his pistol. He placed his other hand on the door handle and pulled it outwards.

The resistance that he expected was not there.

The door opened easily, and Li Liang saw three people sitting in the compartment.

But these three people were not Tang Luo and the rest.

They were strangers!

No, not complete strangers. They were the three patrol police officers that they had seen when they had passed the manor just now.

When did this swap happen?

Li Liang got a fright and pulled the trigger instinctively.

The bullets fired into the narrow carriage.

Li Liang saw the blood bursting out from the three people, but they remained motionless in their original sitting posture.

Six rounds of bullets were quickly used up, and clacking sounds echoed. This reminded Li Liang, who was instinctively pulling the trigger that he was out of bullets.

He threw the revolver into the carriage, turned, and ran.

Before he could take a few steps, a hand reached out from behind Li Liang, pressing on his shoulder.

He felt a huge force as his body was pulled back and smashed onto the ground. He saw gray snowflakes flying around him and felt a burning pain in his back.

Li Liang, lying on his back on the ground, saw three faces appearing above his head. Three faces that should have died after being struck by the bullets.

They stood and bent over slightly, staring at Li Liang from above.

They had dull, expressionless eyes, like dead people or puppets, and a rusty dagger in their hands.

Upon further look, Li Liang saw that the mottle on the daggers was not only rust but also bloodstains. He could even smell the blood on them.

'The daggers shouldn't be fake and be some kind of illusion, right?

'Jack the Ripper can simultaneously possess three people? And he can still control their bodies?

'If he can control the possessed body, why did he run away after getting beaten to death by Uncle Zhou that night?

'When did Master and the rest disappear?'

In an instant, Li Liang's mind was filled with doubts. His thoughts flashed quickly like a revolving lantern, but he was unable to answer those doubts.

Suddenly, the first dagger came down.

Li Liang's body glowed, forming a screen of light to block that dagger.

There was no time to release or control his emotions.

The second dagger fell, as the screen of light shook and dimmed.

At the same time, the third dagger penetrated the light curtain.

Li Liang's body trembled, like a fish that just landed on the ground, flapping around.

After that, he stopped struggling.

The blood stained the gray snow red and turned black.

"What a heavy snowfall."

Chu Chongtian looked at the carriage window beside him. Due to the heavy grey snow, he couldn't even see the scenery on the road's sides.

Dong, dong!

Zhou Zhenguo knocked twice on the carriage wall and shouted, "Little Li, stop the carriage and come in to hide. The snow is too heavy!"

What answered him were the cries of the horses.

The carriage swayed as the horses suddenly started to increase their speed.

Before Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian could stabilize themselves, they wobbled and bumped their heads together, and saw stars dancing in front of their eyes.

The carriage was shaking violently. It felt like sitting on a mad bull.

"Jump off the carriage."

Tang Luo opened his eyes and smacked the carriage door.

After shaking his head, Zhou Zhenguo was the first to jump. He fell on the ground, covered with gray snowflakes, not knowing if he was injured.

Chu Chongtian gritted his teeth and jumped after him. That expression was obviously much uglier than Zhou Zhenguo's.

With a grunt, he almost hit the carriage wheel.

Tang Luo was not in a hurry to jump. He peeked out, halfway out of the carriage, and looked in front.

Li Liang, who had been driving, had unknowingly disappeared.

After a short pause, Tang Luo took a step forward and landed directly on the ground. As if he was getting off from a stationary carriage, visibly unaffected.

When he turned to see the carriage, the two wildly galloping horses had disappeared into the snowstorm with the carriage.

After taking a glance, Tang Luo turned back and walked in the same direction as before.

After walking for about ten minutes, Tang Luo saw Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian, who had already linked up with each other.

Both looked a little dejected.

Fortunately, apart from some bruises on their bodies, they were generally fine. Their pain would subside within the next hour or so. They would be fine after taking a rest.

"Little Li, he—" Zhou Zhenguo stopped talking when he saw Tang Luo showing up alone.

"He is gone," said Tang Luo. "If you are able to walk, let's go and find him together."

"Alright." The two nodded.

Things were happening too fast and too weird.

Although they were reluctant to admit it, they all knew that the heavy snow over this period was not a normal, natural phenomenon.

How long did it take for the clear sky to be replaced by the current snowstorm from the small city to where they were?

Obviously, there was some unknown power that was preventing them from leaving this small city.

Jack the Ripper?

To be honest, they had no idea and were not keen to think about it or to dwell deeper as to what this unknown power was.

Sometimes, ignorance could be a form of blessing.

Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian wore gloomy expressions as they slowly walked in the direction where the carriage disappeared.

There was only one road here.

After walking for an hour, the two felt that their legs were soon becoming stiff. They tried to keep their hats down and collars high, leaving only their eyes exposed. Even so, they were unable to stop the bone-piercing cold.

"I've found it!"

Within the snowstorm, the outline of the carriage appeared in the middle of the road, motionless.

"There is no one here."

As they closed in on the carriage, they realized that the carriage and the driver's seat were empty.

Not just that, the entire carriage was covered with a thick layer of ice, completely frozen. The two horses seemed to be standing in the snow as if they had been dead for countless years.

Chu Zhongtian cursed dejectedly, "What the hell!"

It seemed that after that night at the manor, things had completely broken away from their imagination, like a wild horse that had escaped, charging into the unpredictable future.

While standing beside the horses that looked like ice sculptures, Chu Chongtian couldn't help but take a few steps forward.

Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way.

The rustling sound of stepping on the snow did not materialize as the snow under his feet began to collapse.

In the direction where the horse's head was, the ground had unknowingly disappeared. A black bottomless abyss had taken its place.

Before Chu Chongtian, gray snowflakes were falling into the black abyss.

Chu Chongtian lost balance and fell as well. Then, he felt that his collar tightened, before getting thrown by a huge force and landing behind the carriage. He fell on his buttocks and was in so much pain that he forgot about his surprise.

"What is happening?" Zhou Zhenguo asked as he came up to Tang Luo.

He was not asking Tang Luo. He just wanted to say something.

Tang Luo, who had grabbed Chu Zhongtian and thrown him back, said, "Obviously, we can no longer leave the city."

He could not see the bottom or the boundaries of this chasm that had suddenly appeared.

Tang Luo did not think that even if he walked a few hundred meters to either side, the black abyss would disappear.

One could imagine that this small city had already become an island. This place was the hunting grounds of Jack the Ripper!

No one could escape.

"Let's go!" said Zhou Zhenguo. Since there was no way to escape, they could only face it.

He and Chu Chongtian turned around and walked back, but noticed that Tang Luo had not made a move and was still standing beside the black abyss.

He was watching it, seemingly in a daze.

Was this was the legendary, "When you stare at the abyss, the abyss is also staring at you."?

"Master?" said Chu Chongtian.

"I am thinking about what is below, and feel like going down to take a look," replied Tang Luo.

"Huh?"

The two were shocked. Master Xuanzang was thinking of jumping down?

"Master, calm down." Chu Zhongtian hurriedly shouted, "Don't jump down!"

"Ah." Tang Luo smiled. "Don't worry, I am not a foolish man. Just thinking about it."

"…"

"Good." Zhou Zhenguo gave a dry laugh.

However, they did not know that if not for potential injuries, Tang Luo might really jump.

'I, Tang Xuanzang am fearless—wait, it won't work now. Let's find my disciples before I could gallop boldly and happily.'

Without the carriage, they could only walk wobbly in the snow.

They did not come across Li Liang on their way back. Logically, there should be footprints. But they did not see any.

As they approached the small city, the snowstorm gradually weakened.

By the time they arrived at the manor, the sky was already clear. Only their hats, shoulders, and traces of melting snowflakes reminded the three what had happened.

Chu Chongtian was unconvinced and walked back. The snow began to drift again in the sky, and the temperature dropped suddenly, clearly telling them the boundaries in which they could operate.

"Did the previous missions limit the boundaries where we could operate?" asked Tang Luo.

Zhou Zhenguo thought about it and shook his head. "It's not clear. Generally speaking, the scope of our operations is centered around the mission. Even if we don't plan to complete the mission, we won't be able to get far away. However, I have not encountered such a clear and extreme mandatory limit like this."

"…Could Jack the Ripper be behind this?" asked Chu Chongtian.

"I don't think so. Since he is so strong, why cover it up… Maybe, it's the game's limitation." Zhou Zhenguo sighed.

'Able to turn the small city into a sinister place and create a chasm of black abyss. Was this Jack the Ripper's doing?'

Zhou Zhenguo was unwilling to think along those lines.

"Three missing."

Tang Luo's voice made Zhou Zhenguo and Chu Chongtian look over.

"Three guards from the manor are missing, and the one remaining…"

Tang Luo walked to the door of the manor and knocked on it.

The Cotland Yard patrol police officer, leaning on the door, staggered and fell on the ground.