3 The Ripper

The wind rose rapidly and fiercely. After the dark clouds strangely concealed the moon, they were dispersed by the wind again.

Visibility had improved a lot, so someone pointed to a building not far away and said, "Look, there's a church there."

In the darkness of the night, they could barely make out its outline. It had a sharp Gothic rooftop.

The mission was to find Jack the Ripper.

He was a very famous serial killer who had killed at least five women consecutively with brutal methods. He had been active in the White Church District of the 1888 London.

Jack the Ripper was his codename, and there were many rumors about his true identity. Even Churchill's father had been suspected. By the common people, of course.

There was also the saying that the real murderer was Aaron Kosminski, one of the major suspects confirmed by the police.

Of course, nobody could be 100% certain of the final truth.

The true identity of the Ripper had become an eternally unsolvable case in history.

Since the murders had taken place in London of 1888, everyone thought that the place they were at was naturally also London.

They came out into the coffin chamber. Not far away was a steeple top building, most likely a church. It was not uncommon to find a cemetery near the church. Some churches even had large numbers of tombs right underneath.

"Let's go and take a look," said Zhou Zhenguo.

In the middle of the night, they had to find a place to stay first. Even if they had to look for Jack the Ripper, they didn't have to hurry for results on such a gloomy and strange night.

Moreover, they didn't even know the first thing in the situation they were in, how were they to find someone?

The church door was tightly closed, but it was not locked.

They pushed the door and entered.

There was no one in the church, and some candles were burning. Rows of prayer benches were placed neatly.

Zhou Zhenguo examined the surroundings and found no priest or nun.

"Shall we take a break here and start the mission tomorrow morning?" asked Zhou Zhenguo.

Although he was asking a question, the decision had actually already been made.

"Okay."

Nobody had any objection, so they sat down straight on the wooden benches. The so-called rest was not sleep at first, but just relaxing their tight nerves, and then chatting about some personal backgrounds and things related to this game.

The time that Tang Luo had been pulled into was in the afternoon. It was the same for the rest.

Their circadian clock was still working, although it was night there, and nobody felt any sleepiness.

Just now, they had exchanged their codenames, and now everyone started to introduce themselves properly.

The youngest was a student in the sophomore year of high school. He had been dozing off in class at school, and when he regained consciousness, he had already appeared in the train carriage.

Chu, the one with the glasses, was in a similar situation. He was a university student, and he had been lying on his bed in his dorm room. He had been actually pretty conscious when the environment around him suddenly changed.

The rest had more or less similar experiences.

The fellow, who called himself Little Li, was an unemployed young man that had lost his job right after graduation. He had been looking for a job when he was pulled inside.

The two women were friends, and they were sophomore students in university. They had been outside shopping when they lifted their feet and suddenly stepped onto emptiness before falling onto the carriage seats.

Zhou Zhenguo was different. He had gotten the information one day in advance as a player who had already gone through several missions. Thus, he rested properly, sat still, and waited.

As for Tang Luo, he moved from one carriage to the other.

There was no drama, no option box with [Yes] and [No], no death, and rebirth.

The Game of Gods And Demons pulled its participants in with the most brutal way, not giving any choice at all.

Without any preparation, they were forced into the team.

After completing the task, they would not move on to some special space, but back to wherever they came from.

If one found the mission too dangerous and was unwilling to complete it, they could also choose to slack and wait for the mission to fail.

Anywhere between two months to more than one year, they'd return as well. What's more, the flow and speed of time in the mission world was different from that in the real world. The time spent in the mission world was mere instants in the real world.

Zhou Zhenguo had also heard of some exceptions, but he was not privy to the exact details.

In Little Chu and the others' eyes, Zhou Zhenguo was an experienced senior. However, he was a poor middle-aged man who had gone through five missions and only twice succeeded. He was someone who had barely made it through his time as a newbie.

After chatting for a while, Little Chu couldn't help asking, "Uncle Zhou, what are the "skills", after all?"

The others also listened on intently, looking very curious.

"Means abilities, similar to those in games," Zhou Zhenguo answered simply. "It consumes physical strength and energy, and it has a cooling-off period. The level of familiarity can be constantly improved with usage."

"Oh."

Everyone nodded in understanding. Nobody suggested Zhou Zhenguo giving a demonstration. They weren't that close and couldn't keep advancing their request just because he was friendly.

"The title of 'player' just seems too playful to me…" murmured Little Chu.

"It can also be called Employee of Gods and Demons," said Zhou Zhenguo. "The term player is actually a form of self-depreciation, most people prefer to call themselves Employees of Gods and Demons."

"That's a good one!" The innocent high-school boy seemed a bit excited.

The expression on his face kept changing, sometimes angry, and sometimes happy, apparently fallen into his own fantasy world.

'Become an Employee of Gods and Demons, fight school tyrants, date the most beautiful girls in the school.' He couldn't help but feel great pleasure from merely thinking about it.

"Come back." Zhou Zhenguo clapped his hands in front of the young boy and reminded him somewhat solemnly, "As a player, an Employee of Gods and Demons, one cannot do whatever they want in the real world."

"Huh?"

"It's not completely impossible to procure gains for oneself or to do certain things, with the benefits from the Game of Gods and Demons. But there's a limit to that. Once the limit is surpassed, the consequence…" Zhou Zhenguo didn't continue, but his solemn expression made everyone suddenly understand.

Yeah, if a group of players, or Employees of Gods and Demons, could do whatever they wanted in the real world, wouldn't the real world have long been turned upside down?

Naturally, there were limits.

"But I've also heard that the restrictions seem to have loosened. Have you heard of any extraordinary events recently? I feel that much more strange things are happening," said Zhou Zhenguo.

That remark aroused everyone's interest.

Besides Tang Luo, all of them started talking about the unusual events that happened to 'their friends'.

They had only joked about it before, but now that they thought about it carefully, it seemed to really be the case?

They chatted for more than one hour, and the sky outside didn't brighten at all. They were unaware of what time it was, and being in a dim environment, they couldn't help but feel a little sleepy.

Soon, they fell asleep one after another.

Zhou Zhenguo said nothing but quietly assumed the duty of keeping watch. It was unknown whether he was a good guide, but he was a good man.

Tang Luo opened his eyes and glanced at Zhou Zhenguo, then closed them again and adjusted his breath. The vital energy was thicker there than on Earth, so it was more helpful to the recovery of his injuries. Only when his injuries recovered, would he be able to hammer up the heads of those demons—uh, no, to save people and do good deeds.

After an unknown period of time, some of the candles in the church were burned up.

It was still night outside.

Zhou Zhenguo also seemed tired. He closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly, looking to have already fallen asleep.

Little Li moved a bit, then got up from the bench and hurried out of the church.

Little Li's real name was Li Li Liang. The name didn't sound very good. It also caused some difficulties for him in finding a job after graduation. He got rejected everywhere. At least, that's what Li Liang himself thought so. Everything was the fault of his name.

Otherwise, how could a college student fail to find a job? Not to mention that he had once been a student counselor in college.

Li Liang had been thinking of changing his name before being pulled into this Game of Gods And Demons. But now, he dismissed the idea.

Finding a job? No way! He would reach the peak of his life after this!

Li Liang walked out of the church and towards the small house beside the church, which was the toilet. He needed to use the toilet.

While walking into the toilet, Li Liang felt puzzled. 'There were electric lights and flush toilets in the 19th Century?' After his College Entrance Examination, Li Liang had long forgotten any historical-related knowledge. Thus he wasn't quite sure whether those two things existed in London in 1888.

Li Liang was ready to endure whatever that was there and get the matter done quickly. To his surprise, he felt the switch for an electric light on the wall. After he turned it on, Li Liang saw a pretty clean, modern washroom and a flush toilet.

Li Liang unzipped his pants with a bit of confusion, and his body shook once with a comfortable chill. He closed his eyes and began to release himself.

The sound of water came into his ears.

Li Liang's hands and feet started feeling somewhat weak, while his body felt somehow a bit cold. Why was this chill so long?

"Can peeing feel like this?"

Li Liang was going to finish, yet the sound of water got louder. He felt as though his body was hollowed out and a bit unstable.

He opened his eyes and looked down. The facial expression that was originally mildly doubtful turned into endless horror—the liquid that flowed into the toilet was red!

Li Liang didn't know when a terrible wound was torn in his chest. Large amounts of red blood spewed out, yet Li Liang didn't feel the slightest bit of pain, as though the wound was not on his body.

He only felt a coldness and weakness in his body.

Then an irritating rubbing sound was heard. It was the sound of rubbing something metallic against bones.

At the same time, an icy breath came from behind, blowing on Li Liang's neck.

'Someone's behind me?'

A knife covered with blood protruded from his chest, was pulled out, then protruded again. It expanded the wound bit by bit.

He was being ripped! He was being ripped in whole from the back!

Panic, hopelessness, and powerlessness overtook Li Liang, while his eyes started losing focus. Not to mention struggling, he couldn't even make a sound.

Darkness came over him like a tide, swallowing his consciousness in whole.

…

Zhou Zhenguo opened his eyes and looked around. Everyone was fast asleep in ungraceful positions, besides the man with the Dharma name Xuanzang. That person sat cross-legged, seeming to be meditating. He still gave him a sense of tranquility and peace.

The sky outside had become brighter.

"Has Little Li come back?" Zhou Zhenguo stood up and started walking out.

When Li Liang had gone out, Zhou Zhenguo knew it and guessed that he might have gone to the toilet. Hence, he had not stopped him.

Even if it were The Game of Gods and Demons, the struggles of life and death would not come the moment one arrived. They should not die from a moment of carelessness.

Otherwise, there would have never been cases where people had given up on their tasks and still survived.

Zhou Zhenguo didn't think that going out to the toilet like that would put him in danger. After all, this was a mission for a group of newbies, with only him, Zhou Zhenguo, as a pseudo-veteran. The difficulty level should not be too high.

However, at least an hour had passed according to his estimates.

The sky had lit up, and Li Liang had not returned.

Zhou Zhenguo's heart sank little by little.

After a moment, he pushed open the door of the toilet, and it was like opening the door of an enclosed slaughterhouse.

The pungent smell of blood permeated the air, while a pool of blood was underneath his feet.

Li Liang's corpse lay in a skewed direction. A terrible wound had been opened up in his chest, and his insides were ruined into a mess.

Zhou Zhenguo was even reminded of scenes of strange items breaking through a body.

"Jack the Ripper!"

Instantly, Zhou Zhenguo's facial expression turned extremely terrible. He turned around and walked rapidly towards the church, leaving behind a trail of red footprints.

The task, this time, seemed far more difficult than he had imagined!