Chapter 6: The Despicable Outsider

Because it wasn't London, everyone also didn't get to see the famous Stargazing Sect.

After filling his stomach, Tang Luo still wasn't in a hurry to look for Jack the Ripper.

Instead, he found a fairly decent inn and booked three rooms.

Here, a proper household registration system had not been established.

The innkeeper merely asked Tang Luo and his group about their origins before falling into the state of 'not making money when you have the chance is foolish'.

Of course, Tang Luo could be certain the price was absolutely higher than normal.

Tang Luo didn't mind either.

The money he got from begging was actually quite a lot.

Normal food and lodging expenses would be enough for everyone to last about half a month.

No wonder, after failing at theft and turning to robbery, a pickpocket who calls himself a gang member is different if he has backing.

The money they carried on them was far more than that of an ordinary thief.

I hope we can see them again someday and beg for alms once more.

Such kind-hearted people are already few and far between.

"Master, what should we do next…"

"Rest." Tang Luo said, "You surely didn't sleep well last night, so rest today first."

……

Everyone once suspected they had come just to travel.

Is such leisure really okay?

Two people per room, Li Liang and Tang Luo shared one, and each went back to rest.

Li Liang quickly fell into deep sleep.

Tang Luo, however, did not rest as he had said; instead, he left the room.

He began knocking on the door of the adjacent room.

That room seemed empty; Tang Luo knocked several times, but there was no response.

He didn't give up, continuing to knock slowly and steadily, like tapping a wooden fish, for a full five minutes.

"Get out!"

Finally, an impatient voice came from inside the room.

Tang Luo also wasn't angry, and said, "Master Zhou, won't you invite this poor monk in for a chat?"

Two minutes later, the door opened, revealing Zhou Zhen-guo's face: "How did you find me?"

"Master Zhou, are you really that confident in your tracking skills?" Tang Luo countered.

Zhou Zhen-guo's old face turned red.

What tracking skills could he possibly have?

At most it's just dodging around; it doesn't even count as learning to walk like the people of Handan.

God-Demon Walking does indeed grant extraordinary power, but that doesn't mean they are omnipotent agents capable of anything.

"I, the poor monk, need to go out for a while; please, Master Zhou, look after these children." Tang Luo said.

……

Zhou Zhen-guo really wanted to ask, "Am I a nanny?"

But even if Tang Luo didn't say so, he would still keep an eye on Li Liang.

In Zhou Zhen-guo's view, Li Liang is currently the most important clue.

As for the others, he could also keep an eye on them, just in case.

"Then I'll leave it to you, patron."

Without waiting for Zhou Zhen-guo to struggle, Tang Luo turned and left on his own to save face.

"Hey——"

A futile shout made Zhou Zhen-guo feel like he wasn't a veteran at all.

Leaving the inn, Tang Luo strolled through the city and entered a clothing store.

After a while, Tang Luo emerged from the store wearing a black overcoat, a black hat, and holding a cane.

He covered his conspicuous bald head, changed his outfit, and Tang Luo transformed.

From a master, he became a gentleman who walked with a breeze and a hint of sharpness.

Having changed his appearance, Tang Luo did not return to the inn but headed toward the alley.

That was the place where he had begged for alms an hour earlier.

If luck was good, he could encounter kind people and beg again.

As for why he needed to beg again, it was because he had spent all his money on clothes.

No money? Of course, go beg again.

He reached the entrance of that alley.

Tang Luo laughed; his luck was not bad.

Six people stood here.

Each looked fierce and evil, yet at a glance they were clearly good people—scatterers of wealth.

"That's him!"

At that time, the two unlucky ones were talking with the others when they suddenly saw a person standing at the alley entrance.

Upon closer look, wasn't that the fierce baldhead from just earlier?

Although he had changed clothes and was wearing a hat, his appearance is something you can't forget in a lifetime.

Amitā——

Tang Luo's half-chanted Buddhist chant stopped; he has now gone with the flow, temporarily not being a monk.

In front of outsiders, he temporarily refrains from acting as a monk.

"Hello, everyone." Tang Luo greeted with a smile.

The six people opposite also burst into laughter.

They were vicious, grinning laughs, with two of them also showing pained expressions.

Several bones in his body were broken—how could it not hurt?

Being able to stand up and point him out already makes him a tough‑as‑nails type.

"This friend, daring to move against even members of our Abdomen‑Ripping Gang—you've got guts."

The man leading them, wearing a deerstalker hat, said:

"Abdomen‑Ripping Gang?"

Tang Luo raised an eyebrow slightly, "Is your boss supposedly Jack the Ripper?"

"Exactly! It's him! Are you scared?"

Before the deerstalker‑hatted man could speak, someone shouted.

This caused the bystanders to show expressions they couldn't bear to watch.

The so‑called Abdomen‑Ripping Gang actually has nothing to do with Jack the Ripper.

In other words, it's just a gang trying to ride on Jack the Ripper's fame.

It's a case of borrowing the tiger's might to scare the timid.

Besides, they can't shout it loudly, or else Gelan Chang will cause trouble for them.

As for admitting that the boss of the Abdomen‑Ripping Gang is Jack the Ripper…

"Really? That's perfect—I'm a detective from a faraway land, just looking for Jack the Ripper."

Tang Luo said.

"A detective?"

"That's right; news of Jack the Ripper has spread, including Gelan Chang's wanted notice." Tang Luo said, "I'm just here to try my luck."

Jack the Ripper has left Gelan Chang in a fluster.

Not only did they issue a high‑bounty wanted notice, they also directly "recruited" detectives to help find the real culprit.

"Outsider, detective, humph." The deerstalker‑hatted man snorted, made a gesture, and the others moved forward, surrounding Tang Luo.

At the same time they glared outward.

A few people who had been stopping outside the alley to watch passersby, seeing this scene, immediately left.

Liveliness is nice, but life is more important.

"Since we need to investigate the Jack the Ripper case, we must have some operating funds."

Tang Luo rested his left hand on the back of his right hand, pressed down on the top of his cane, planted it on the ground, and said, "Gentlemen, why not donate a bit so I can catch the culprit sooner?"

"Haha."

A group of people seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world and burst out laughing.

Even if it wasn't funny, they forced a laugh to overwhelm Tang Luo's aura.

For a fight, isn't it all about aura?

Among them, a suppressed cough mingled in, and when they tried to boost their aura, they unfortunately aggravated their injuries.

But only a second later.

The laughter of five people stopped abruptly, while only one person, eyes narrowed and head raised, kept laughing.

He stopped only when a companion nudged him; looking up, he showed a doubtful expression.

Originally, the cane, following Tang Luo's light tap a second earlier,

shot straight into the ground.

If it were muddy ground, that would be fine, but the floor beneath everyone's feet is stone slab!

The deerstalker‑hatted man reached up and touched his face.

His fingers bore some bloodstains.

Just now a small gravel scraped his cheek, leaving a shallow wound.

"Gentlemen, do you want to donate money, or would you rather be beaten badly by me, thrown into Gelan Chang, and claimed to have caught Jack the Ripper's accomplice, so that torture could extract the truth about Jack the Ripper?"

Tang Luo drew his intact cane, tapped it lightly twice on the ground, and asked.

"What's there to panic about? It's just a trick!"

The deerstalker‑hatted man shouted sharply.

His fierce‑outside‑weak‑inside look really lacked any persuasiveness.

As expected, he then said, "You go ahead! I'll go get help!"

Having said that, he turned and ran.

The other side of the alley is a dead end.

But at the end there are several trash cans, piled with plenty of garbage.

After all, they are gangsters, accustomed to brawls, and still quite agile.

Jumping up, stepping on the trash cans to climb over the wall should pose no problem.

The deerstalker‑hatted man dashed to the trash cans in a flash, but instead of jumping, he turned, drew a gun, and aimed it at Tang Luo.

"You idiot! Do you really think I'd run?"

He wore an extremely smug smile.

Here, guns are not rampant, but they are far from being strictly prohibited.

As a gang's minor leader, obtaining a handgun is no problem.

Gripping the Palm Thunder Revolver, the man's confidence greatly increased.

You can fight, right?

Can you fight and beat a gun?

As a matter of fact, naturally you can.

Before the man could utter more threatening words, he felt his vision blur.

The foreigner who had been over ten meters away suddenly appeared right in front of him!

Next, a sound of breaking bone and intense pain came from the raised arm.

The revolver in his hand fell, landing in the foreigner's hand.

"This gentleman donated a revolver."

Tang Luo casually slapped the man into the trash heap, turned around and looked at the remaining few people, "What about you?"

The revolver's muzzle in his hand pointed at them, swaying slightly twice.

"Despicable foreigner!"

Several people cursed in their hearts, "How dare they threaten us with their guns?!"

Then they obediently took out all the money they had on them.

The two who had originally been begging for alms could only bring out knives.

It was not resistance, but rather they donated them as well.

Yes, the knives are also required.

Tang Luo doesn't need it; it can be given to Xiao Chu and the others for self-defense.

After looting this group clean, Tang Luo drew the cane that he had just struck the ground with for the second time, happily completing this alms round.

This time he was in the identity of a foreigner detective.

"Oh, right."

After walking a few steps, Tang Luo turned again and said to those people, "This revolver only has six bullets; leave your gang's address, and when I run out of ammo I'll come to you for more."

"Sure!"

One person rolled his eyes and reported an address.

Tang Luo nodded slightly in acknowledgment and left.

"You're asking for death! What did you bring that foreigner over there to do?" As soon as Tang Luo left, internal conflict erupted immediately.

"Hmph! You know nothing." That person replied, "Our gang has so many people; we're not afraid of him alone."

"He can also call for help."

"A foreigner, who can he call?"

"Gelan Chang! You idiot!"

"On what grounds?"

"Didn't the boss say yesterday that the Ripper incident blew up too much? We've reverted to the name Crow Gang; the Ripper Gang had better not be used anymore, otherwise our people in Gelan Chang won't be able to protect ourselves! The folks in Gelan Chang are about to go crazy; they might even take us as scapegoats!"

"..."

Jumping on the bandwagon comes at a certain cost.

Especially when there are pig teammates around.