The Return of the God Level Assassin

1201  YUNYUE VS FENGHUANG (XXXVI)

SU YUQI hurried down the narrow corridor of the train, her footsteps quick and purposeful. She was supposed to have been in the governess' car hours ago, but a string of mishaps—delayed duties, misplaced keys, and a particularly demanding passenger—had kept her tied up long after dinner service ended. The delays felt too deliberate, almost as if someone had been intentionally stalling her. She couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that someone was controlling things behind the scenes. And now, as she finally made her way to the governess' car, she could only hope that nothing bad had happened in her absence. As Su Yuqi stepped into the car, a sudden movement snapped her attention to the side. A shadowy figure burst out of Miss Hargrove's cabin, their shape barely visible in the dim light. They froze for a heartbeat, their head turning slightly toward her, before sprinting down the corridor. Su Yuqi's breath caught. She couldn't see their face, but the way they moved—fast, panicked—sent a sharp jolt of alarm through her. A bad feeling settled in her gut. Instead of checking on the governess, she broke into a sprint, chasing the figure as their footsteps echoed ahead of her. She wanted to send a message to their team channel, to alert them about what was happening, but she hesitated. If she so much as glanced away or slowed down to type, the figure might vanish somewhere before she could catch them.

Su Yuqi reached the next car, her eyes scanning the dimly lit corridor. The figure was nowhere to be seen. She thought that they must have gone to the car after this one. Her pulse quickened as she rushed forward. But just as she took another step, she heard the sharp creak of a cabin door opening behind her. She started to turn, her instincts screaming at her to react, but it was too late. Something hard struck the back of her head, the impact jolting her forward. Before she could react, a sharp, needle-like stab pierced her chest from behind. It wasn't painful, just a quick, familiar pressure—the same sensation she always felt in the game when her avatar took a fatal hit. Su Yuqi cursed under her breath. She knew her avatar would dissolve into light particles any second now. Bai Ze, that smug bastard, would never let her hear the end of this. Gritting her teeth, she spun around. She couldn't just vanish from the match without giving her team something—anything—useful. The moment she turned, her eyes widened in shock. Standing there, weapon in hand, was the last person she ever expected to see. She shook off her surprise and immediately sent a message to their team channel. Time was running out, so she kept it short—just a few urgent words. But even that wasn't enough. Before she could finish, her avatar dissolved into light particles, leaving the message incomplete. Shit.

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[Morganite has been eliminated!]

Luo Yan jolted upright as the system notification flashed before him. Su Yuqi was eliminated? His mind raced. How?

He had returned to the cabin he shared with the Thompsons. Just as they'd expected, the mother and daughter duo had agreed without hesitation to let him stay. They reasoned that it was only fitting for him to sleep with them at night, since they were all women, while he could spend his time during the day with the duke.

Mrs. Thompson seemed to have regained her usual energy, but when he and Shen Ji Yun visited Mrs. Winslow before dinner, that melancholic look had returned to her face. To Luo Yan, though, her expression seemed less like sadness and more like envy. And now, as he waited in the cabin, that system notification suddenly appeared. Before he could fully process what had happened, a message from Su Yuqi appeared on their team channel. Morganite: [The Ripper is Mr--] @@novelbin@@

It was clear Su Yuqi hadn't been able to finish her message. She must have turned into light particles before she could complete it. But the fragmented words she left behind were enough to suggest one thing: Su Yuqi had seen Jack the Ripper—and it was the Ripper who had eliminated her. Then, the team channel erupted with messages, one after another, flooding in rapid succession. AmazingYoungMasterJin: [What happened? Why is Yuqi suddenly eliminated?] White Marsh: [Did she get taken out? Damn. Su Yuqi's slipping.] AmazingYoungMasterJin: [Hey, don't talk about Yuqi like that, Brother Ze.] White Marsh: [Tsk. Xiao Jin, you're really getting mad at me over her?] AmazingYoungMasterJin: [Of course I am. She's the girl I like—you're just my cousin.] White Marsh: [Wow.] YUN: [Enough. Focus. Based on her message, we can assume the Ripper has struck again.] AmazingYoungMasterJin: [It's got to be the governess. Nothing happened in my train car. I've been watching the hallway since dinner—no one suspicious has passed through.] After reading the messages, Luo Yan recalled Su Yuqi mentioning earlier that she couldn't get to the train car where Miss Hargrove was staying—delayed by a series of mishaps. At the time, it had seemed like an inconvenience, but now it felt deliberate. And just as Luo Jin had suggested, something had clearly gone wrong in that car.

Noctis: [Sister Yuqi must have stumbled onto the Ripper and got killed because of it.] YUN: [That's what I thought as well. Her last message must have been a clue.] White Marsh: [But what does it mean? "The Ripper is Mr—" Did she see him clearly? Did she figure out his identity?] AmazingYoungMasterJin: [That has to be it.] White Marsh: [But it's useless if we don't know who she's referring to. We don't even know everyone on this train.] Luo Yan's eyes narrowed as he read the messages. Noctis: [No, this is Sister Yuqi we're talking about. She wouldn't leave a message like that unless it was someone we already knew. Think about it—she was in the middle of a high-stakes situation, and her time was running out. If she started naming someone, it had to be someone we've already met or discussed. Otherwise, why would she waste her last moments on a name we wouldn't recognize? She was too smart for that.] So, if it's someone they had already crossed paths with, who could it be?