Detective Agency of the Bizarre

Chapter 1553 - 11: Phantasmagoria Syndrome

"They say you’re a merchant."

The tall figure wrapped in a dirty trench coat and scarf looked more like a scavenger than a vendor.

When Lu Li first encountered him, he repeated Lu Li’s question.

Lu Li asked again, only then linking him to being a merchant.

[205: Aidanvoya; Merchant; Andrea]

"What do you need?" the merchant asked.

Lu Li followed up, "What do you sell?"

"What do you need?" the merchant repeated.

The woman, whose name was uncertain as either Aidanvoya or Andrea, was also in the ward. Lu Li asked casually, "Do you have knitting needles here?"

The merchant took off his bulky backpack, resembling a mountaineering bag, unzipped it, and took out a set of knitting needles.

"A flashlight?"

The merchant rummaged through his bag, took out a flashlight, and turned it on.

"A prosthetic limb?"

The merchant pulled out a prosthetic limb for a man’s body size from the bag.

"The one needing the prosthetic is a young girl."

The merchant then took out a prosthetic limb fitting the shape of a girl in a wheelchair.

"Eyes suitable for a doll?"

The merchant produced two sparkling quartz pieces.

"Do you also have the key to the activity area?"

The merchant’s subsequent rummaging through the bag indicated he indeed did.

"How much do these sell for?"

Lu Li didn’t have money, so it was best to trade these items for something else or complete the merchant’s task.

But the merchant planned to offer one for free: "You can choose one."

"Free?"

"Free."

"Only one?"

"Only one."

Some stringent restriction prevented Lu Li from obtaining all the items.

"Can you help me leave the asylum?" Lu Li asked again.

"Leaving isn’t merchandise," replied the merchant.

Lu Li continued to look for loopholes in the deal: "I’d like a gift box with knitting needles, a flashlight, a prosthetic limb, and the key to the activity area inside."

"I’m a merchant, not a wish-granting machine."

With only one item to choose from, Lu Li leaned towards the key to the activity area—after all, both the siren and the crow mask’s requests needed access to the area, and the crow mask’s flashlight was crucial for exploring the hospital at night.

"If I think of something I need, I’ll come to you."

Lu Li temporarily put off selecting a product.

The merchant had everything—precisely for this reason, Lu Li couldn’t waste the valuable opportunity here.

Unless the key couldn’t be found in the coming days.

Or... stealing the merchant’s item.

Lu Li turned to the woman: "How should I address you, ma’am?"

"You can call me Aidanvoya, and you?"

"Lu Li. I’ll find the knitting needles for you."

"It’s okay, I can wait." Aidanvoya’s words were slow and gentle, "You seem in a hurry, young man... can you tell me why?"

"Just watching time slip away while I waste my years."

Lu Li looked at the lifelike ship model named "Andrea." It resembled a ship reduced by hundreds of times.

And any conversation with it was answered by the sound of a steam whistle. Lu Li guessed it might, possibly, perhaps, want to sail in water.

Until finding a pool or understanding its language, Lu Li could only temporarily set Andrea aside.

Lu Li spent a considerable amount of time in these two wards. Though the fog outside hadn’t turned yellow, dusk was not far off.

Returning to the girl in the wheelchair, "Shall I take you back?" After her nod, Lu Li pushed the wheelchair back.

Click—

The door handle of Room 211, which they passed by, was twisted, drawn out in a long note, and slowly opened.

Two not entirely straight nor smooth columns leaned against the bed and the room’s door. As Lu Li pushed the girl in the wheelchair past the door, he saw another "column" lift, revealing a grim head dangling at the end.

The horrific figure resembling a high-legged spider could make anyone unprepared scream in shock. Except for Lu Li.

Because he saw a baby lying on the bed, protected under it like a nest.

A hint of pale yellow stained the fog outside as Lu Li pushed the wheelchair girl past the nurse’s station, where the curtains were lifted as if the hollow eye sockets of the head nurse’s skeletal frame radiated affection.

Returning the wheelchair girl to Room 201, the yellow-hued fog outside hadn’t yet turned into dusk’s color.

"Do you need help?"

Lu Li looked at the motionless sculpture.

The silent sculpture seemed to mock the madman talking to a statue.

Lu Li quietly observed this perfectly proportioned female sculpture; perhaps it needed a garment to cover it.

The hospital corridor was tinted orange-yellow, and stepping out of Room 201, Lu Li slipped into 202.

[202: Flowing Cat; Nameless Lady; Whitely]

"Whitely—"

Lu Li didn’t know if "Nameless Lady" was her name or just the absence of one, so he called another name.

The woman sitting cross-legged on the bed, with Tarot cards spread out in front of her, glanced over frantically.

"Hello, Whitely," Lu Li greeted.

But she only drew a Tarot card depicting a human-faced moon, whispering, "A misled young man blinded by illusion..."

Lu Li shook his head: "I don’t understand."

"She is Whitely." The frenzied woman pointed at another patient in the ward.

Lu Li looked at the swollen, putrid figure, with filth seeping beneath the skin, hardly worthy of being called human.

It responded sluggishly, oblivious to the outside world.

"What happened to her?"

"A curse neither living nor dead lingers over one in pain..." The frenzied woman, or rather the Nameless Lady, drew another Tarot card depicting an inverted man.

Then, the Nameless Lady lifted her eyes, the bloodshot eyes among her hair staring fixedly at him: "You... are about to... be attacked!"

Lu Li instantly thought of the impending night and the attack... She divined the forthcoming event with Tarot Cards—

Snap!

Lu Li was startled by the Nameless Lady’s sudden slap on her leg, but then she sat back on her bed, continuing to murmur, "Your inner questions... shall find answers..."

The Nameless Lady then talked to herself: "Yes, I slapped you."

So far, this hospital finally had the semblance of an asylum.

The orange-yellow outside was fading because the Nameless Lady kept chattering.

"Your path ahead is fraught with peril..." she continued with the "divination," "shrouded in darkness."

Because nightfall was imminent.

The corner of his eye noticed the vermilion haze of the approaching night, Lu Li retreated to the door, addressing the Nameless Lady: "Is there anything you need my help with?"

"10... 9... The deep darkness will descend upon you! 5... 4..."

The Nameless Lady began an ear-piercing countdown, and Lu Li already left the doorway, rushing towards his ward.

He paused briefly at Room 203 and then quickly departed.

Darkness spread from behind.

Almost as Lu Li stepped into Room 204, palpable darkness clung to his rear foot, engulfing the corridor.

Serenity and gloom engulfed the whole hospital.

Lu Li planned not to sleep tonight.

Light was necessary to move in darkness; perhaps it could be obtained from the "drowning residue" attacking him at night.