Chapter 4: When People Are Tied Up, They Cannot Resist
Editor: Atlas Studios
"What? Little Li is dead!?"
The cry of exclamation made Tang Luo open his eyes. It also stopped the utterly inadequate injury treatment, though that was still better than not doing anything.
"The whole person was ripped apart," said Zhou Zhenguo.
Needless to say, everyone thought of Jack the Ripper.
"Let's take a look?" asked Little Chu as he pushed up his glasses that had slipped down slightly.
Zhou Zhenguo nodded and took everyone to the toilet. When they were near, he suddenly stopped and took a step back.
The sudden move startled Little Chu and the rest. They also took a few steps back. Only Tang Luo kept walking, as he went around Zhou Zhenguo. He arrived in front of the closed door and was about to reach out and push it open without any hesitation.
"Be careful!" shouted Zhou Zhenguo.
He had not closed the toilet door when he left, but now the door was closed. Even the bloody footprints left behind were gone. Such abnormalities contained danger.
Tang Luo put his palm on the door, paused, and exerted a little force.
The locked door slammed open, hitting the wall with a loud bang.
"Ah!"
Li Liang, who was sitting on the toilet bowl behind the door, shouted and fell to the ground, as he glanced around frantically. He looked like he had just woken up.
"He is still alive."
Tang Luo stepped back to make space, allowing Zhou Zhenguo and the rest to see Li Liang, who had just woke up.
Zhou Zhenguo's eyes widened.
Little Chu and the rest cast doubtful gazes, constantly switching between Zhou Zhenguo and Li Liang.
'Okay, what about the body that was ripped apart?' they all thought.
"I saw it clearly…" said Zhou Zhenguo.
"What did you see?" Li Liang stood up with a strange expression and walked out without caring about what was happening.
Zhou Zhenguo reacted strongly. He pointed at Li Liang and shouted, "Stop right there!"
Li Liang could only stop.
"Uncle Zhou, calm down, we can sit down and slowly figure out what happened," said Little Chu.
The rest nodded like little chicks.
A few minutes later…
Li Liang had an incredulous look on his face. "What the hell!? I just sat in the toilet for a while and fell asleep! How could I die? Uncle Zhou, don't scare me."
Zhou Zhenguo hugged his chest with both arms, as he looked at Li Liang quietly. He believed his own eyes and his own judgment.
Therefore, the Li Liang before him was no longer Li Liang!
Jack the Ripper, who was in the mission within The Game of Gods And Demons, could not possibly be that "ordinary" serial killer from history. He must have some special abilities.
Zhou Zhenguo was prepared for this.
Little Chu asked hesitantly, "Uncle Zhou, could it be that you have made a mistake?"
Zhou Zhenguo frowned as he closed in on Li Liang, as though he was trying to examine him. "Maybe it was my mistake?" He then violently reached out his hand, waving a fist at Li Liang.
On the ground, a black chain appeared out of thin air. It coiled around Li Liang and burrowed into the ground on the other side. The black chain tightened, restraining Li Liang and holding him in place.
That was a skill Zhou Zhenguo had obtained—Imprisoning Chain.
It could restrain its target, holding it in place in order to restrict its movement.
With Zhou Zhenguo's current proficiency, if he wanted to use this ability, he needed to be within ten meters of his target, and spend some time to mark it. Once the target was successfully locked on, he would immediately activate his skill.
There were also requirements on how to mark the target. Zhou Zhenguo must see the target with his own eyes, and at the same time, he must focus all his attention on it.
The target's movement, too much obstruction blocking the line of sight, and Zhou Zhenguo's own lack of concentration could prevent him from using this skill.
In other words, in an intense battle, that chain was actually very difficult to use.
As Zhou Zhenguo became more proficient, the success rate of his Imprisoning Chain got higher.
"Uncle Zhou, what are you doing?"
Everyone was frightened by Zhou Zhenguo's sudden outburst.
Li Liang naturally struggled. The chains kept clanking, forming echoes in the empty church.
Zhou Zhenguo lowered his hand. He stopped closing in and took a step back. It was not that once the chain tied up its target, it could restrain it for good.
Apart from the current limit of two minutes, it was also related to the strength of the target. A strong and powerful target could break free easily.
Zhou Zhenguo was sure that with his current Imprisoning Chain, even the real world's strongest man would not be able to break out of it. Ordinary people like Li Liang were even more unlikely.
However, the question was, was Li Liang an ordinary person? Could he, who was Jack the Ripper in disguise, break free from the chain? That was unknown.
It would be a joke if Zhou Zhenguo approached him and got killed by him instead.
Zhou Zhenguo took two steps to the side and grabbed the candlestick on the table.
The candle had burned out, and there was a spike as long as a finger that was pointing out from the area where the candle was supposed to be fixed on. This was sufficient to be used as a weapon.
When one entered into The Game of Gods And Demons, they were unable to bring all sorts of things along. There was no such thing as dry rations or weapons.
Want a weapon? Need to improvise and make use of whatever materials were present.
Upon seeing Zhou Zhenguo's movements, Li Liang began to struggle violently. "The one with the surname Zhou! What are you doing!"
That man, who had always been kind, suddenly turned against him?
Was he crazy? Or was that his disguise ever since he had entered the mission world, and now he was revealing his true colors?
"Uncle Zhou!"
Little Chu and the rest shouted from the side, trying to stop them. However, they did not make any move.
When facing a veteran that had turned against them, they, who had just entered into The Game of Gods And Demons, were extremely weak and powerless.
No one was willing to confront that veteran player for a stranger they had just met.
The two girls retreated a few meters away and were ready to escape, thinking, 'This uncle is not trustworthy!'
Zhou Zhenguo weighed the candlestick in his hand as he approached Li Liang and said, "I don't know if you really can't break free or just pretending—"
Without completing his sentence, Zhou Zhenguo raised the candlestick high with his right hand and swung it downwards.
There was no time for idle talk. The half-sentence earlier was just to confuse his opponent and bring down their guard.
The candlestick whooshed and fell towards Li Liang, who was unable to move. The candlestick was not light and had spikes. Also, Zhou Zhenguo's strength was not insignificant. If this 'smash' was real, Li Liang would either be dead or seriously injured.
Everyone's mission was to find Jack the Ripper.
That was actually open to relatively broad interpretation. To be more lenient, it may not be necessary to see the Ripper. Just like the game of deduction, confirming the true identity of the Ripper was like finding him. Hence, completing the mission.
If one wanted to be strict, they might have to capture Jack the Ripper personally. It would then be impossible to complete the mission without seeing or identifying him.
Regardless of how one chose to interpret it, killing Jack the Ripper would definitely be considered as completing the mission.
Zhou Zhenguo had a savage look on his face as he carried out his ruthless act.
"Ah!" Li Liang let out a wail.
The candlestick's sharp thorn was less than two centimeters away from his eyes, to the extent that he could touch it with a slight movement of his head.
The head, which could barely move, was already tilted back to its limit. The pain in the neck was relentless, and Li Liang even suspected that he had broken his neck.
Zhou Zhenguo's hand stopped in mid-air.
Clearly, he was only one step away from Li Liang, but he appeared immobilized and unable to continue.
While grasping his forearm, the power from above made Zhou Zhenguo feel like the chain locked him.
"Amitabha!"
Tang Luo, who had stopped Zhou Zhenguo, invoked the phrase "merciful Buddha" and nodded slightly.
A force of merit was born out of the void and was absorbed by the Jade Lotus of Virtuous Merit.
With a glimmer, the power of merit, which just got absorbed, was immediately used by Tang Luo. The warmth of the power emerged from the cool jade lotus and entered Tang Luo's body, like a clear spring.
It was as though someone who had been thirsty for many years, had drunk a glass of water.
The sudden relief made Tang Luo exhale a gentle breath.
"Ah!"
It was Zhou Zhenguo who wailed this time.
The severe pain caused him to release the candlestick in his hand, which landed on Li Liang's head that was swaying desperately.
After making a cut in the corner of his eye, the candlestick fell to the ground.
Li Liang felt a stinging pain around his eyes and knew that he had kept his life. At that instant, his body became soft for a while.
If not for the chains restraining him, he would have collapsed onto the ground.
"Apologies."
Tang Luo released his grip and took a step back.
What happened just now was like a welcomed rain after a long drought, even if it was just a pot worth of "rainfall".
Hence, Tang Luo used a little more force and ended up accidentally hurting Zhou Zhenguo.
"Benefactor Zhou, you are too rash." Tang Luo told Zhou Zhenguo.
Zhou Zhenguo's entire right arm was trembling. He felt that anything below his elbow did not belong to him anymore. The severe pain kept him speechless for a while.
The others were relieved. They then looked at Tang Luo in a different light.
This monk, who had self-proclaimed himself as Xuanzang, did not appear to be telling lies? He could really fight!
Zhou Zhenguo covered his arm and said to Tang Luo, "You don't believe me? I believe my eyes, everything I saw."
Tang Luo laughed heartily. "Benefactor, there's no need to get angry. I did not say I don't believe you."
"In that case, why did you stop me?" asked Zhou Zhenguo.
As to Tang Luo stopping him, he did not reveal any shock on the surface. He was well aware of his own affairs.
As a player that had just survived the novice period, Zhou Zhenguo had traveled with the experienced players and Employees of Gods and Demons.
Apart from the acquired skills, Zhou Zhenguo was not extraordinary. If one threw him in professional boxing or fighting and paired him up with those professionals in the ring, Zhou Zhenguo would definitely not be able to beat them without his skills.
In Zhou Zhenguo's eyes, Tang Luo should have practiced martial arts since a young age, similar to people like monks. His strength was enormous, and he should be able to fight well.
Moreover, he had some of that youth conceitedness, or else he wouldn't be self-proclaiming that he had the means to subdue monsters and demons. To be able to stop him was something normal.
Tang Luo said, "Heaven has the virtue of sparing lives. It is wrong to kill someone over a mere suspicion."
Zhou Zhenguo snorted, without saying anything.
"However, since Benefactor Zhou is positive that Benefactor Li is not what he seems to be, and could be the Ripper in disguise, I feel that I need to perform some verification." Tang Luo smiled as he picked up the candlestick on the ground.
Li Liang trembled and had an ominous feeling. "Hey! Monk, what are you doing!?"
"Benefactor Li, don't worry. At most, there will be some pain. There won't be any danger to your life."
Tang Luo was only short of giving a thumbs up to signal 'no problem'.
"Hey! Hey!"
Li Liang, who had no energy earlier, was now shaking the chains till they clanked.
A human's potential was limitless, indeed.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"
The miserable cry echoed throughout the church. But to be honest, it was extremely loud and powerful. In fact, it was more of venting out emotions, rather than pain.
After some time, Tang Luo threw the blood-stained candlestick on the ground and nodded with great certainty. "My verification is done. I feel that Benefactor Li is not the Ripper."
Li Liang's arms had several blood holes on them—Tang Luo had pierced him with the candlestick!
Tang Luo said confidently, "If he was the Ripper, he would not have let me do whatever I pleased, and would definitely have resisted. Hence, Benefactor Li is not the Ripper."
"…"
"Master, he… is still tied up!" Little Chu reminded softly.
People would be unable to resist if they were tied up. This is a basic law of nature.
-- Gift
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