Chapter 187: Clues

“Are you all right?”

Phoenix snapped out a glow stick and held it as she walked over.

Chen Xiaolian narrowed his eyes as he observed the unique looking revolver in Phoenix’s hand.

“Hmph, too amateurish. Not even equipping properly when entering an instance dungeon, the Meteor Rock Guild has fallen to such a low state. To think that you would actually use ordinary firearms against spirit entities.”

The ridiculing words came over from the side. The one who had spoken out was one of Phoenix’s team members, Dagger. His eyes revealed a look of disdain.

“Can I have a look at your weapon?” Chen Xiaolian furrowed his eyebrows but they quickly loosened and he asked.

Phoenix’s expression remained unchanging. She smiled and freely passed her gun over to him. “It’s simply an ordinary modified handgun. It’s been modified to have a bigger muzzle in order to be able to use special bullets.”

Chen Xiaolian accepted the gun. The fellow known as Dagger had seemingly wanted to say something. However, Phoenix threw him a look and he shut his mouth instead.

Both Lun Tai and Bei Tai returned while holding onto the terrified Dr Mu.

There was indeed nothing special with the revolver. It was clearly the result of modifying an ordinary firearm. The barrel and muzzle were specially made. Clearly, they were modified to accommodate the use of high-calibre bullets.

Chen Xiaolian popped out one of the bullets and inspected it. The middle part of the bullet revealed a faint silver colour.

“Specially made silver bullets,” Phoenix said coolly. “It has the ability to keep evil darkness type creatures at bay. It can also damage spirit entities. In the production process, silver and holy water is added to the bullet.”

“Holy water?” Chen Xiaolian smiled.

“That’s right. The type that you can get from ordinary churches,” Phoenix shrugged her shoulder. “Although this type of weapon is available in the Exchange System, creating this type of weapon would help save up on points.”

“True,” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head.

“This modified weapon, the damage it deals toward darkness-type creatures will be slightly lower than that available in the Exchange System. However, it is good enough,” Phoenix threw a glance at Chen Xiaolian. “You… probably haven’t encountered darkness-type creatures before, right?”

“You can say that,” Chen Xiaolian did not hide it. Rather than slapping his face to look imposing, he might as well speak the truth [1]. Besides, his performance earlier had already exposed him.

“Against creatures of darkness… as long as they are part of the darkness-type creatures spoken of in Western legends, the weapons that work against them are generally these items mentioned in Western legends. Holy water, the cross and silver objects.”

Chen Xiaolian looked at the young woman before him. Then, he suddenly smiled. “What about garlic? I recall that garlic is the best when dealing with vampires from Western legends.”

Phoenix laughed out uncontrollably and answered. “I do not know. I have never used garlic before. However… it might be useful. You can give it a try next time. But I do not like the smell of those things.”

They then left the subway station and were soon outside. They did not stay there long and chose to leave – after the commotion within the subway station, only Heaven knew if the police might come over.

Time was running out and Chen Xiaolian had no desire to waste time by dealing with the police.

Dr Mu appeared to have calmed down considerably – back then, it was possible that he may have had some doubts toward Chen Xiaolian’s words before and his cooperative actions before may have been due to the danger he felt from the number of people on Chen Xiaolian’s side.

However, after the emergence of the female ghost, Dr Mu became a complete believer! Despite the fact that he was a doctor and a firm atheist, personally witnessing the lights getting blown up in the subway station and the appearance of the female ghost who could pass through human bodies… when that kind of scene was served right before his face, he could not help but believe in it.

At night, the streets of the East area was very quiet. It was possible that this was a normal situation for this place, but it was also possible that this was the setting by the system. Chen Xiaolian was not interested in pursuing the answer to that question.

After they arrived at the street, they quickly left. While they were leaving, a conflict nearly occurred.

The members of the Coffeehouse Guild and especially the one known as Dagger requested to have Dr Mu follow them in their car. Naturally, Chen Xiaolian was unwilling – this was the system’s guide character after all!

Apparently, this Dagger fellow had a disagreeable temperament. He sneered without reservation. “Back then, our Guild Leader was the one who dealt with the vengeful spirit! What qualifications do you have to take the guide character?”

Chen Xiaolian did not say anything. He merely looked at the other party coldly. Bei Tai had a rubbed his fists and wiped his palms and he firmly shouted back [2]. “If you want to take him by force, you can give it a try.”

At that moment, Phoenix spoke up.

“That is enough, Dagger. Stop your dispute,” Phoenix walked forward until she was before Chen Xiaolian. She glanced at him. “This gentleman here can get into your car. However, our car will be following behind you. We’ll look for a place where we can discuss things over and figure out how to cooperate to complete this quest. How about it?”

Seeing the sincerity in her eyes, Chen Xiaolian exhaled. “All right… thank you for just now.”

Phoenix smiled. “Naturally, I have a condition. My principle is that since we are cooperating, we must do something to build trust between us.”

“Hmm?”

Phoenix spoke coolly. “Pick one of your guild members and have him get into our car.”

Chen Xiaolian immediately narrowed his eyes as he regarded Phoenix. “Hostage?”

Phoenix smiled. “An exchange. I will get into your car, alone.”

This proposal seemed very fair. Additionally, it also appeared very sincere. Thus, Chen Xiaolian could find no reason to reject it.

Lun Tai looked at his brother before turning to look at Chen Xiaolian. “Guild Leader, I will go.”

Chen Xiaolian became silent before nodding his head. “All right.”

Bei Tai was too reckless. With Lun Tai’s calm and cautious nature, Chen Xiaolian would feel more at ease in letting him go.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s hop in the car,” Phoenix then turned toward her team members. “I am going to ride in their car… Dagger, Monster! And you Titan brothers… be polite toward our guest, be courteous.”

Dagger sneered and turned around to get into the driver’s seat of their car. The monkey who was seated by Monster’s neck smiled stiffly. Monster then took the initiative to open the door to the car’s back seat and made a rather friendly gesture for Lun Tai to enter.

Despite never having driven a right-hand-drive car, Chen Xiaolian forced himself forward and he took to the driver’s seat. Phoenix took the initiative to seat herself on the first passenger seat. As for Bei Tai and Dr Mu, they sat behind.

“There is a small public square nearby. At a time like this, the place should be very quiet and devoid of any disturbance. We can go over there and discuss what to do next,” Phoenix turned on her mobile phone’s gps and pointed out the location.

Chen Xiaolian did not object.

Their two cars moved out. One in the front and the other at the back, they moved out of the Whitechapel area.

Chen Xiaolian’s driving speed was not fast. Phoenix, who was seated beside him, appeared interested in him. She kept regarding Chen Xiaolian with peculiar looking eyes.

“Do you like to look at others this way?” Chen Xiaolian became rather uncomfortable at being stared at by her.

“You seem very young. If I have to guess, you should not be older than eighteen years old, right? Hmm… could you be sixteen years old?” Phoenix smiled.

Chen Xiaolian did not reply.

“It’s rare to see a Guild Leader as young as you. Moreover, you are also the Guild Leader of Meteor Rock Guild. That is a rather well known guild.”

“You are quite young yourself,” Chen Xiaolian replied coolly.

Phoenix did not say anything. Instead, she rolled down the windows and allowed the cool night wind to blow inside.

After some time had passed, Phoenix replied. “My circumstance is different from yours.”

Chen Xiaolian was dumbfounded – isn’t this woman taking too long to think?

“How is it different?”

“Your team members appear to have a good relationship with you,” Phoenix turned her head around to glance at Bei Tai who was seated behind. She smiled and said. “Mr, can you relax? I will not eat you.”

Bei Tai muttered something and shut his mouth after that.

“Could it be that the relationship between you and your team members are not that good?” Chen Xiaolian frowned.

“It’s all right,” Phoenix gave a faint smile and pointed toward the street before them. She suddenly said. “Turn left in front!”

Chen Xiaolian furrowed his eyebrows. “The address that you mentioned is not this…”

“Turn left!”

Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment. Then, he followed her instructions and turned. Next, he acquiesced Phoenix’s request to stop the car by the street beside a small supermarket. The supermarket was one that opened for 24 hours. Phoenix hastily said. “Wait for me for a few minutes.” Then, she jumped out of the car and rushed into the supermarket.

A while later, Chen Xiaolian watched as the young woman pranced out of the supermarket. She pranced across the street, one hand holding onto a can of pomegranate juice as she slowly sipped it using a straw.

“You… because of this, you made me turn the car and stop here?” Chen Xiaolian stared with bulging eyes.

There was a smile in Phoenix’s eyes as she too smiled like a girl. “Why not?”

Seeing the dissatisfaction in Chen Xiaolian’s eyes, Phoenix laughed. “Don’t be so nervous. Even if we are participating in an instance dungeon, we must still enjoy ourselves. If we do not, then what is the point?”

After saying that, she handed over a can of pomegranate juice. “Here you go.”

“… thanks. But, I do not like to drink these things,” Chen Xiaolian shook his head.

“I like drinking pomegranate juice the most,” Phoenix held onto her drink, an expression of utter satisfaction on her face.

“Are you done messing around? If you are, can we move?” Chen Xiaolian frowned.

Their car roared to life again and moved away.

Phoenix, who kept drinking the pomegranate juice suddenly asked. “How much do you know about Jack the Ripper’s case?”

Chen Xiaolian did not say anything.

In the back seat, Dr Mu had been silent, not uttering a single noise. It was as though he had yet to recover from the shock that he had just experienced. Hearing their conversation, Dr Mu suddenly spoke up. “What did you say? Jack the Ripper?”

“Yes, do you have any questions?” Phoenix smiled.

“You are talking… about the serial murderer in the history of UK?” Dr Mu asked.

“Unless you know of a second Jack the Ripper,” Phoenix shrugged her shoulders.

“You... ...” Dr Mu suddenly shouted. “You people can’t possibly be thinking that this case is committed by Jack the Ripper, are you? Please! That happened a hundred years ago! How could the murderer live that long?”

“Many things should be impossible,” Phoenix maintained the girlish smile on her face as she replied. “I’m willing to bet that you have never met a ghost before, right?”

Dr Mu was left speechless.

“Right, can I ask something? I have been curious about something since earlier… do you know each other before this?” Phoenix turned to Chen Xiaolian.

“Something along those lines,” Chen Xiaolian was aware that he could not hide it. Thus, he slowly explained his relationship with Dr Mu to her. “To think that he would be the guide character. That surprised me too. He… is a doctor, and an ordinary person.”

Here, Chen Xiaolian cast a glance at Dr Mu. “If I may, Dr Mu, why are you here in London?”

“I…” Dr Mu’s face turned nervous. “I came here to participate in an activity.”

“Activity? Can you give us the details?” Phoenix’s expression suddenly turned serious. She turned around to face Dr Mu.

Dr Mu hesitated for a moment. Then, he answered.

“I am a doctor. At the same time, I am also a PhD postgraduate for XX Hospital. Last year, I published a medical thesis. More accurately, it was one I jointly published with my instructor. Originally, nothing much happened with the thesis. However, one of my friends in one of UK’s hospital saw it and inadvertently shared it with some of his other colleagues. After reviewing it, they felt that some of the points forwarded in the thesis were quite interesting. Thus, we were invited to come together to discuss the matter.

“However, this discussion is neither a formal activity nor a formal academic discussion. Thus, my instructor had no interest in it… so…”

“So, he sent you over?” Phoenix looked at Dr Mu with pity in her eyes.

Chen Xiaolian could not help himself but cast a glance at him as well.

From the words he had spoken, it was not hard to deduce some matters.

There was no need to ask about it. The thesis was mostly written by Dr Mu. However… he had jointly published it with his instructor… this was also one of the hidden rules common to their country’s academic community.

If this were either a formal or an official discussion held in some high-class seminar hall, Dr Mu would have no chance to come. The instructor would have personally come over.

However, this was a nameless private invitation for a private discussion that would contribute to zero promotion of reputation and influence. Thus, Dr Mu’s instructor showed no interest and sent him instead as filler.

As he was considering that, Chen Xiaolian suddenly thought of something. “Back then, when we were talking about Jack the Ripper, your reaction seemed very big. Why? Merely because it was a case that happened over a hundred years ago?”

“Err... no, I just think it's too much of a coincidence.”

“Coincidence?” Chen Xiaolian could not help himself and he exchanged glances with Phoenix who was seated beside him. They were able to see traces of excitement within each other’s eyes.

“Err… the friend who invited me over graduated from the Royal College of Medicine and now works in the forensics field… he is also a member of the Forensics Association. En, before this, we would often communicate through the internet to discuss about Jack the Ripper’s case. En, additionally… the thesis paper I published contained some speculations made based on a medical perspective. He felt that it was interesting; thus, he invited me over to discuss it through. Several of his colleagues were also interested in discussing this with me. This time, my travel cost to UK was paid for by him.”

Gazhi!

Chen Xiaolian’s foot stamped down on the brake!

Their car immediately came to a halt in the middle of the street!

The first thing that came to his mind was: Clue! This must be a clue given by the system!

…

1 ‘Slapping oneself to look more imposing’ means to try to do or be something you are not. ↩

2 ‘Rubbing one’s fists and wiping one’s palms’ means the putting on an eager and excited expression, usually before a fight breaks out. ↩