Chapter 3 (1/2)

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

The wind rose rapidly and fiercely. After the dark clouds strangely concealed the moon, they were dispersed by the wind again.

Visibility had improved a lot, so someone pointed to a building not far away and said, “Look, there’s a church there.”

In the darkness of the night, they could barely make out its outline. It had a sharp Gothic rooftop.

The mission was to find Jack the Ripper.

He was a very famous serial killer who had killed at least five women consecutively with brutal methods. He had been active in the White Church District of the 1888 London.

Jack the Ripper was his codename, and there were many rumors about his true identity. Even Churchill’s father had been suspected. By the common people, of course.

There was also the saying that the real murderer was Aaron Kosminski, one of the major suspects confirmed by the police.

Of course, nobody could be 100% certain of the final truth.

The true identity of the Ripper had become an eternally unsolvable case in history.

Since the murders had taken place in London of 1888, everyone thought that the place they were at was naturally also London.

They came out into the coffin chamber. Not far away was a steeple top building, most likely a church. It was not uncommon to find a cemetery near the church. Some churches even had large numbers of tombs right underneath.

“Let’s go and take a look,” said Zhou Zhenguo.

In the middle of the night, they had to find a place to stay first. Even if they had to look for Jack the Ripper, they didn’t have to hurry for results on such a gloomy and strange night.

Moreover, they didn’t even know the first thing in the situation they were in, how were they to find someone?

The church door was tightly closed, but it was not locked.

They pushed the door and entered.

There was no one in the church, and some candles were burning. Rows of prayer benches were placed neatly.

Zhou Zhenguo examined the surroundings and found no priest or nun.

“Shall we take a break here and start the mission tomorrow morning?” asked Zhou Zhenguo.

Although he was asking a question, the decision had actually already been made.

“Okay.”

Nobody had any objection, so they sat down straight on the wooden benches. The so-called rest was not sleep at first, but just relaxing their tight nerves, and then chatting about some personal backgrounds and things related to this game.

The time that Tang Luo had been pulled into was in the afternoon. It was the same for the rest.

Their circadian clock was still working, although it was night there, and nobody felt any sleepiness.

Just now, they had exchanged their codenames, and now everyone started to introduce themselves properly.

The youngest was a student in the sophomore year of high school. He had been dozing off in class at school, and when he regained consciousness, he had already appeared in the train carriage.

Chu, the one with the glasses, was in a similar situation. He was a university student, and he had been lying on his bed in his dorm room. He had been actually pretty conscious when the environment around him suddenly changed.

The rest had more or less similar experiences.

The fellow, who called himself Little Li, was an unemployed young man that had lost his job right after graduation. He had been looking for a job when he was pulled inside.

The two women were friends, and they were sophomore students in university. They had been outside shopping when they lifted their feet and suddenly stepped onto emptiness before falling onto the carriage seats.

Zhou Zhenguo was different. He had gotten the information one day in advance as a player who had already gone through several missions. Thus, he rested properly, sat still, and waited.

As for Tang Luo, he moved from one carriage to the other.

There was no drama, no option box with [Yes] and [No], no death, and rebirth.

The Game of Gods And Demons pulled its participants in with the most brutal way, not giving any choice at all.

Without any preparation, they were forced into the team.

After completing the task, they would not move on to some special space, but back to wherever they came from.

If one found the mission too dangerous and was unwilling to complete it, they could also choose to slack and wait for the mission to fail.

Anywhere between two months to more than one year, they’d return as well. What’s more, the flow and speed of time in the mission world was different from that in the real world. The time spent in the mission world was mere instants in the real world.

Zhou Zhenguo had also heard of some exceptions, but he was not privy to the exact details.

In Little Chu and the others’ eyes, Zhou Zhenguo was an experienced senior. However, he was a poor middle-aged man who had gone through five missions and only twice succeeded. He was someone who had barely made it through his time as a newbie.

After chatting for a while, Little Chu couldn’t help asking, “Uncle Zhou, what are the “skills”, after all?”

The others also listened on intently, looking very curious.

“Means abilities, similar to those in games,” Zhou Zhenguo answered simply. “It consumes physical strength and energy, and it has a cooling-off period. The level of familiarity can be constantly improved with usage.”

“Oh.”

Everyone nodded in understanding. Nobody suggested Zhou Zhenguo giving a demonstration. They weren’t that close and couldn’t keep advancing their request just because he was friendly.

“The title of ‘player’ just seems too playful to me…” murmured Little Chu.

“It can also be called Employee of Gods and Demons,” said Zhou Zhenguo. “The term player is actually a form of self-depreciation, most people prefer to call themselves Employees of Gods and Demons.”

“That’s a good one!” The innocent high-school boy seemed a bit excited.

The expression on his face kept changing, sometimes angry, and sometimes happy, apparently fallen into his own fantasy world.

‘Become an Employee of Gods and Demons, fight school tyrants, date the most beautiful girls in the school.’ He couldn’t help but feel great pleasure from merely thinking about it.

“Come back.” Zhou Zhenguo clapped his hands in front of the young boy and reminded him somewhat solemnly, “As a player, an Employee of Gods and Demons, one cannot do whatever they want in the real world.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not completely impossible to procure gains for oneself or to do certain things, with the benefits from the Game of Gods and Demons. But there’s a limit to that. Once the limit is surpassed, the consequence…” Zhou Zhenguo didn’t continue, but his solemn expression made everyone suddenly understand.