Chapter 19: Re‑analysis, fierce as a tiger

Hey, you're back!

Did you hear me talking?

I'm talking to you!

Xiao Chu waved his hand frantically in front of Xiao Zhou's eyes.

The high school student bound in chains showed no reaction at all, his face still blank and dazed.

He seems like an idiot.

Xiao Chu looked at Tang Luo.

Tang Luo walked over, placed his hand on Xiao Zhou's head, and a faint golden light appeared on his hand.

Huh?

This left Xiao Chu stunned for a moment.

This light is exactly the same as the light that burst from his body last night!

Master, was it you last night? That wasn't an ability I was born with, was it?

Xiao Chu said loudly.

I don't believe it, this isn't real!

"It was me, the poor monk." Tang Luo withdrew his hand, admitting, "Just a little trick, not worth mentioning to outsiders."

……

Xiao Chu wished he could dig a hole and hide.

He was lucky to tell Zhou Zhen Guo about the skill he'd gained, even thinking he was a unique demonic wanderer.

At that time, who knows if Master Xuanzang was secretly laughing in his heart.

Master, you're actually black inside, aren't you!

"Just now, I suddenly could move again—" Xiao Chu asked.

"Also me, the poor monk." Tang Luo smiled and nodded.

He didn't intend to show off that he was your lifesaver, to make people feel grateful; anyway, the power of merit is indispensable.

The Fighting Victory Buddha saves people without seeking reward!

That's how high his realm is.

But since Xiao Chu asked sincerely.

"That's right, the poor monk has saved you many times, make a withdrawal—no, Chu patron." Tang Luo surely expressed his great compassion.

Thank you, Master.

Xiao Chu scratched his head, not knowing what to say, then pointed at Xiao Zhou and asked, "Master, what's wrong with him?"

All we can do is slightly shift the topic.

The identity of lifesaver is too big.

Surely we can't really just kneel down and lick?

I, Chu Chongtian, still have dignity!

"Evil qi has entered his body, a thousand wounds and holes, shattered beyond repair." Tang Luo said, "Even immortals find it hard to save."

The power of merit has many wonderful uses, but it's not omnipotent.

Consuming the power of merit to save people naturally also yields merit power.

But there's no connection between consumption and acquisition.

It's not that the more you consume, the more you gain.

Xiao Zhou's condition is truly beyond even immortals' ability to save.

A thousand wounds and holes, shattered beyond repair, are not adjectives but a plain description.

The reason it appears 'whole' is because a strand of external qi acts as support, preserving the surface 'prosperity'.

And this strand of qi is also the culprit behind Xiao Zhou's current condition.

That is what Tang Luo meant by 'evil qi entering the body'.

Even if the power of merit is turned into a healing method, it remains a near-deadly 'high-risk surgery'.

The required consumption is likewise not small.

If Xiao Zhou himself had decent ability and Tang Luo had a vast amount of merit power, it could be worth a try.

For now, let's just forget it.

Tang Luo is neither the merciful Observing the Sounds nor the vow‑taking Earth Store who swears not to become a Buddha until hell is empty.

Back then, Kindly's evaluation of him was——

Reincarnated as a golden cicada, his nature is like a demon's.

"Put in plain terms: you damn well look like a demonic monk!"

He's not in danger, is he?

From the stairs came Zhou Zhen Guo's voice.

Can't be treated, no hope, no danger.

A sure thing.

Right now Xiao Zhou is just an empty shell; Li Liang could definitely beat him now.

Because Xiao Zhou wouldn't resist at all.

Zhou Zhen Guo walked back while undoing the chains.

His skill was used twice, but unfortunately it never showed any real effect.

Xiao Zhou remained seated in the chair, neither happy nor sad.

"It's Lao Yuehan, his leg is indeed lame." Zhou Zhen'guo said, "We've all been deceived. What happened to him?"

Xiao Chu relayed Tang Luo's earlier words to Zhou Zhen'guo.

By the way, he briefly mentioned how Tang Luo had saved them.

"Thank you." Zhou Zhen'guo said to Tang Luo.

"Definitely, the senior didn't run away."

He also didn't dwell on this issue: "What about the other two?"

"I'll go check." Xiao Chu said, running toward the stairs.

After a while, Li Liang's wailing cries came through.

With a face still quite swollen, he followed behind Xiao Chu and came down.

Xiao Chu remained calm.

"It's just a corpse almost split in half, right?"

"There's not even any blood—what's there to fear?"

"The scenes Chu Chongtian has witnessed are far bigger than this."

"What happened to your face? What's going on?" Zhou Zhen'guo asked Li Liang, whom Xiao Chu had brought.

Li Liang opened his mouth, grimacing in pain, his face still hurting.

"……"

A few minutes later, Zhou Zhen'guo and Chu Chongtian's gazes toward Li Liang grew somewhat strange.

"Internal strife—fighting?"

"Or did they lose and get beaten into a pig's head?"

"Afterward, did they fall asleep in an almost unconscious state?"

"They didn't know what had happened?"

"Finally, Chu Chongtian woke them up."

"Originally, the two companions—one went missing, the other was invaded by evil qi, utterly demented, beyond even immortals' power to save."

"Yet he himself was unharmed, surprisingly."

"Such treatment could promote one from a salted fish to a koi carp."

"It wasn't me; I really don't know what happened." Li Liang repeatedly insisted.

Zhou Zhen'guo didn't know what expression to make.

"Master, Lao Yuehan is clearly dead, so why hasn't our task changed at all? Isn't he the Ripper?"

Chu Chongtian looked at Tang Luo and asked.

"Perhaps your guess is correct." Zhou Zhen'guo said.

"Huh?"

"Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke is an organization." Zhou Zhen'guo said, "But it's not the organization we found."

"Possible." Chu Chongtian, no longer as confident as before.

"Possession."

Tang Luo spoke.

"Possession?" The three of them froze for a moment.

Including the newly promoted koi—Li Liang.

"Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke has the special ability to possess others." Tang Luo said.

"Exactly!"

Chu Chongtian slapped his palm, "The reason Lao Yuehan showed no flaw is because he truly isn't the killer; he's merely been possessed by Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke."

"Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke has committed multiple crimes, appearing and disappearing without trace, leaving no real clues, because he 'simply isn't a person at all'."

"Troublesome."

Zhou Zhen'guo nodded; this speculation is more reliable than the idea that Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke is an organization.

But it also means that finding him is even harder.

After all, an organization is a group; with many people, it's bound to show some flaw.

But Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke is just a person; he wants to hide and has the ability to possess—how can we find him?

Even seeking help from Gelan Chang is difficult.

Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke possesses the ability to possess, and has always been controlling others to commit crimes.

If this were said aloud.

One estimates that the Detective Chief of Gelan Chang would directly arrest Tang Luo and the others as frauds.

At least on the surface, this mission world, this small town, has no supernatural power.

If we categorize it by genre.

It would be that kind of ghost horror film.

Ghosts are strong, humans weak, with hardly any means to resist.

Here, Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke is the "ghostly entity"; if gods and demons walk about, they'd be counted as Daoists, exorcists, monks, etc. —characters with the ability to counter such ghostly entities.

Hoping for assistance from local forces is impossible.

Oh, maybe it's not entirely impossible.

The revivers produced by the organization also count as "supernatural beings"; under certain conditions, they might become aids against Opening the Coffin Guard Jieke.

Bring in a wise person, and they might devise a strategy of swallowing wolves to drive off tigers.

In the end, they'd reap the benefits like a fisherman.

However, this thing had already been blown up by Tang Luo with one punch.

"If Jack the Ripper possesses someone, would they not be dead?"

Chu Zhongtian suddenly thought of a question.

Bi Wan Hui and Cheng Cheng's ultimate fate was "missing".

"Could it have been taken away by the Ripper as a vessel for possession?"

"Is this the reason for the disappearance of the corpses?"

But what about what Zhou Zhen Guo saw on the first night?

Could it be that Jack the Ripper has more than one special ability?

The more he thought, the more confused his thoughts became; Chu Zhongtian realized he really wasn't any sage.

Or else, in the future, learn from Master Xuanzang to overcome skill with force.

No need to think about anything; flipping the table can solve the problem.

If not, it's because the flipped table isn't big enough or heavy enough.

"Whether they're dead or not isn't important; what matters is that we've now lost all our leads." Zhou Zhen Guo said.

"It's not completely cut off, is it?"

Li Liang had been listening for a long time nearby and already understood what had happened; he suddenly said, "On the first night, you saw me being killed—at that time, the Ripper probably wasn't possessing that whatever John, right? Could it be possessing a priest or a nun…"

"What are you staring at me for?"

Li Liang hadn't finished speaking, because Chu Zhongtian and Zhou Zhen Guo were both staring at him.

"I thought, maybe on the first night you were actually possessed, creating the illusion of death."

Chu Zhongtian analyzed, "This way, all the problems can be explained clearly."

"Jack the Ripper possesses you, pretending to be a corpse, intending to kill others, but the person encountered was Uncle Zhou. Uncle Zhou is a senior, definitely having some trump cards or means to survive; seeing that things couldn't be done, Jack the Ripper chose to leave."

"Because of what happened on the first night, we are wary of 'companions'."

"Jack the Ripper wouldn't possess another one of us again."

"So on the second night, the Ripper chose to possess Old Yuehan, kill Cheng Cheng, take away the corpse, causing panic."

"Tonight, they again used Old Yuehan to kill Bi Wan Hui, take away the corpse, and fool Little Zhou."

"If it weren't for Uncle Zhou's vigilance, using a chain to 'greet' upon meeting, it probably wouldn't have been Old Yuehan ambushing us, but Little Zhou."

"Little Zhou was tied up, so the Ripper switched back to Old Yuehan, and was finally killed by Grand Master Xuanzang."

"But only Old Yuehan died; the Ripper's true self escaped. Possession is certainly not simple; the possessed target's combat power far exceeds that of an ordinary person."

After analyzing all at once, Chu Zhongtian silently muttered, "Delicious."

Or else, should we still go the sage route in the future?

"Well said!"

Zhou Zhen Guo clapped twice, showing his agreement with Chu Zhongtian's analysis.

Or maybe it's just that the youngster's mind works fast.

"Oh, is that so…" Liang felt he might as well continue being a salted fish.

"But what good is that? We still have no leads."

Chu Zhongtian gave a bitter laugh.

That round of analysis was indeed as fierce as a tiger.

But what help does it offer for the current situation?

We remain in a state with no leads, not even given the chance to follow the vine to the melon.