Step Back! Master is Here! - Chapter 26
Chapter 26: Leaving the City
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Closed, come back tomorrow morning!” shouted Chu Chongtian.
“Not doing business? You’re nuts!” shouted the people outside. “If you don’t want to serve me, let others do it.”
“They are not here, and I’m going to sleep,” Chu Chongtian said impatiently.
The sound outside disappeared, as if they had given up.
In the next second, a loud noise echoed.
Someone kicked open the tightly shut door, and a dozen men, who looked like rascals, rushed in.
“Good that there’s no one—” The leader was a man with a hunter’s hat. He had one arm hung on his chest, fixed with planks.
Halfway through, he stopped in his tracks and stopped mid-sentence.
The man with the hunter’s hat shouted as he pointed at Tang Luo, “Ha, that’s him!” He would never forget this face for the rest of his life.
Today, when passing by during the day, he had seen an unexpected sight, and immediately recalled that shameful day when someone had broken his arm and snatched his revolver.
Ever since he had started following this path, it was him robbing people! Not the other way around!
Hence, he had brought along some men for revenge tonight.
At night, thanks to Jack the Ripper, no one dared to walk on the streets.
During the day, their probes had also proved that Cotland Yard was powerless and perhaps even unwilling to provide for the small city’s security.
Now this small city belonged to them, the Ripper Gang!
“Oh, they are here for me,” said Tang Luo.
‘The good karma from the alms earlier, it seems that it will be expended tonight, unfortunately.’
The man with the hunter’s hat sneered. “Brat, bet you didn’t expect it!”
“Well, I did not expect that someone would come up to me to help me increase my power of virtuous merits,” replied Tang Luo.
The Ripper Gang had done things for the organization, but as relatively difficult gangsters that were hard to deal with, Tang Luo and the rest had not gone to cause trouble for them.
Today, they had come to them, out of their own accord.
“To deal with this kind of wicked person, the only way is to save them. Do it.”
As Tang Luo was talking, he whipped out Ill Omen and pulled the trigger.
‘To deal with such evildoers, there are no morals to talk about, just open fire.’
The sound of gunshots resonated through this silent snowy night.
The head of the man with the hunter’s hat burst open like a watermelon.
Soon, a sea of bodies littered the ground. One person was still alive, but Tang Luo shot him before he could pull out a gun.
The last thought before dying was, ‘These people were too unruly, and shot before going through the motions of cursing each other!’
“I feel like we are the bad guys,” Chu Chongtian said, sounding a little confused.
Six or seven days ago, he had just been an ordinary college student.
Now, he could shoot someone with a straight face.
Li Liang did not feel so perplexed as he was just holding his gun, and had not fired a single shot.
Their victory was forged by Tang Luo, Chu Chongtian, and Zhou Zhenguo, who had spent more than half an hour recovering.
“Survive first before we talk about things.” Zhou Zhenguo patted Chu Chongtian’s arm.
He didn’t want a growing combatant to suddenly become confused and lose his combat effectiveness.
“We killed to eliminate further evil deeds and to protect innocent lives,” said Tang Luo. “Benefactor Chu don’t take it to heart. I caused this matter, and naturally, I will bear the sins.”
‘…as well as the power of virtuous merits.’
“I’m fine.” Chu Chongtian shook his head. “It was just me sighing. This is not the first time.”
The reason for his complicated emotions was related to the current environment. It was easy for thoughts to run wild on a quiet snowy night.
Not to mention the dead hotel proprietor.
It was hard for Chu Chongtian not to wonder if he would be as merciless as Master Xuanzang and Uncle Zhou when faced with a man possessed by Jack the Ripper.
But upon further thinking, there was no need to worry.
To be honest, when faced with such an enemy, it was not a question of being merciless. He was already very lucky to have survived.
“What shall we do with these people?” asked Zhou Zhenguo.
There was a pile of bodies with gunshot wounds, and this matter was not as easy to handle as the hotel proprietor.
“Just nice, we’ll treat it that they had killed the hotel proprietor,” said Tang Luo. “And we are the special detectives of Cotland Yard, who came to help. We should be rewarded for our bravery.”
Tang Luo decided to let these men take the rap.
Chu Chongtian quietly thought to himself, ‘Master is indeed ruthless.’
The gap between them had suddenly materialized. Which temple exactly could produce such ruthless monks?
They passed the night with no more speaking.
The Ripper Gang and Jack the Ripper did not appear again.
It was like that for the next two days.
It was not just Jack the Ripper, who did not trouble Tang Luo and the rest anymore, even the Ripper Gang had quietly disappeared.
Tang Luo and the rest did not bother to care. They were fully focused on looking for clues about that dagger. Although it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, it was better than nothing.
Three days later, Tang Luo and the rest got a message.
Nearly 100 people had died under the hand of Jack the Ripper. Some of them were clustered together, and some were killed by Jack the Ripper elsewhere.
The bodies were discovered one after another.
The deceased were none other than the Ripper Gang’s members, who had been using the name of Jack the Ripper to stir up trouble.
No wonder neither of them had continued to cause trouble for Tang Luo and the rest.
So they were fighting and killing each other?
Naturally, the Ripper Gang’s annihilation brought along significant changes. It was because things may develop in the opposite direction when they became extreme.
Somehow some people began to worship Jack the Ripper, thinking he was the cleanser of evil. Even relevant religious organizations had been formed, and some had begun to preach, attracting the poor to join.
Initially, Jack the Ripper’s killings were indiscriminate.
But for the last two massacres, one was a group of high-ranking government officials and influential figures, and the other was a group of gangsters.
To the poor, both were people who oppressed them. Some people were ignorant, while others had ulterior motives. Others were afraid, and some people even developed Stockholm syndrome.
In other words, Jack the Ripper fanaticism!
It was hard not to suspect that Jack the Ripper was promoting this in the dark. After all, he had a possession-type ability.
Jack the Ripper had turned from a shadow to a “visible dark cloud”, covering the whole town.
“If things go on like this, he doesn’t even need to possess people. He can send those fanatic believers of his to kill us.” Zhou Zhenguo said, “We might have to leave this small city and take refuge elsewhere?”
If things didn’t work out, that was the only way.
Zhou Zhenguo had gone through five missions altogether. This was the sixth time. Among them, two failed, and two were successful. The remaining one was a solo BOSS-killing mission. It was neither a failure nor a success.
That was to say, if he failed again this time, he would have failed three times. If he was unlucky, he would disappear, and this was definitely not what Zhou Zhenguo wanted.
But there was really nothing he could do. Instead of handing his life over to Jack the Ripper, it was better to take a gamble. After all, it was only three times. The probability of disappearance should not be very high.
At present, Zhou Zhenguo did not think Master Xuanzhuang could handle the situation.
Even if Master Xuanzhuang could, Zhou Zhenguo was afraid the former could only protect himself. It would be very difficult to protect them as well.
“I guess this is the only way.” Chu Chongtian’s view was similar to Zhou Zhenguo’s.
This was his first mission. It did not matter to him if it failed.
In PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds[1.An online multiplayer battle-royale-style game.], his will for survival was not very strong.
“In that case, let’s go now.” As always, Li Liang sounded like a salted fish.
“Wait,” said Zhou Zhenguo.
After all, they had been working hard for so long, and there was something that everyone generally felt did exist—mission participation, contribution value!
It would influence the quality of the final reward. Unless there was no choice, no one would want to give up halfway.
Zhou Zhenguo had heard several times about the situation where someone had quitted halfway and found themselves with nothing when others completed the mission.
One should continue to fight as long as they were able to.
Li Liang asked cautiously, “Shall I leave now?”
“Yes.” Tang Luo nodded.
Since Master Xuanzang gave his approval, Li Liang was relieved.
Jack the Ripper may be powerful, but Li Liang believed he wouldn’t pursue and kill him when he was far away from the city.
Following the principle of seeing a task to completion, everyone rented a carriage and decided to send Li Liang out of the city. It could also be regarded as taking a small step in advance. If they wanted to run, they would already have a direction.
It was also strange. Despite the ravages of Jack the Ripper and Cotland Yard’s difficulties in maintaining law and order, no one had left the city with their families.
On the road leaving the town, there were only Tang Luo, the rest, and their carriage.
It was probably a difficult choice for people in this world to leave their homes.
For Tang Luo and these foreigners, it was very simple. They didn’t even need to pack.
Four people were sitting in the closed compartment of the carriage. Tang Luo and the rest were sitting in the compartment while Li Liang was responsible for navigating.
These horses were professionally trained. Even a novice like Li Liang could direct them whether to move forward or stop.
There was only one road, and there were no other carriages in either direction.
It was quite simple to “drive”.
Soon, they passed through Earl Thorndike’s manor. The gate was closed, and four Cotland Yard patrol police officers were sitting behind the iron gate.
They glanced at the carriage passing by.
Jack the Rippers had massacred everyone in the manor. As a crime scene, it must be “protected”.
There were still daring people who would choose to steal from the manor, so Cotland Yard had no choice but to send their men to guard the place.
No one was interested in guarding such a crime scene, and hence, they had sent long-term temporary workers to do the job.
When looking at them, one could say they seemed… rather happy?
Probably they had received some benefits. To have one’s cake and eat it too. There wasn’t such a good deal in this world.
The carriage passed by in front of the manor. Only a few patrol police officers watched the carriage go out of their sight before retracting their gazes.
“It’s snowing again.”
Li Liang put on his hat and buttoned up his clothes.
Unknowingly, the sky began to darken, and snow as big as grey goose feathers fell.
This was the fourth snowfall over these few days.
In just a few days, the small city seemed to have entered into a cold winter, and gray snowing sessions would arise from time to time.
“Strange, why is the snowfall so heavy!?”
After another half an hour, Li Liang could not stand it anymore.
The original grey goose feather-like snow gradually turned into a heavy snowstorm. There was a gray fog in front of him, and visibility had decreased to less than ten meters.
The temperature fell quickly. Even with gloves, Li Liang’s hands that were holding the reins were already stiff.
It was clearly the middle of the year, where it should be sunniest. Because of the heavy snow, it was darker than the evening.
The two horses grunted uncomfortably. They were initially trotting but increased their speed rapidly. Being a novice, Li Liang could no longer control the carriage.
“Huff!”
“Huff!”
Li Liang shouted as he pulled the reins. Unfortunately, he ate a few snowflakes and vomited right away.
The grey snowflakes of the industrial age were simply poison.
He could not feel anything when it fell to the ground or landed on his body. But when it entered his mouth, Li Liang felt that someone had stuffed a piece of blood-drenched meat into him.
