The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 104: A Truth More Desperate Than Grief

Silence hung in the living room. Trans, his eyes red, fought back tears. Lu Li thought he could hear sobs in the empty air beside him. Perhaps it was just an illusion, but Anna was certainly capable of crying.

"And what happened after that?" Lu Li asked, breaking the heavy silence.

Trans lowered his head. "I cleaned the house, bought disinfectant to hide the smell. You came here to investigate, but I couldn't tell you the truth, so I said my wife had gone missing... And then you came back."

Everything was clear. Lu Li pressed on. "Have you seen a psychologist?"

Trans flinched, his face falling into shadow. His voice was devoid of emotion. "You... you think I have psychological problems...?"

"No, I'm just asking. After all, your current condition isn't very convincing," Lu Li answered calmly.

"So... you believe me?"

Lu Li didn't deny it. "You have no reason to lie to me. I know you're telling the truth."

If he hadn't known about the hospital, even as an exorcist, Lu Li would have found it hard to believe. But now that he knew of Richard's plan, everything looked different, especially after...

A complex mix of emotions crossed Trans's face. The psychological pressure had begun to ease as he told his story, but Lu Li's next words froze him in place."By the way, she's waiting for you to come back."

"What did you say?"

Trans received no answer. Lu Li stood up, turned, and walked toward the door. His tall back was a silhouette against the pouring rain outside. He opened his umbrella and stepped out into the storm as the door slowly swung shut behind him.

Trans couldn't comprehend what Lu Li's final words meant, or if Lu Li was even talking about his wife.

Not until an old, strange face and her unusual words surfaced in his mind... Then, all the answers fell into place.

In the cold, dark room, a lone figure sat on the sofa. He clutched his head in his hands, his face hidden in shadow. After a moment, quiet, stifled sobs could be heard.

"That old man he mentioned... was that his wife?" Anna asked in a low voice as the yellow carriage left the Sentry Post, heading toward the mountains, driven by a coachman in a raincoat.

The rain had intensified again, and it seemed the entire world was filled with nothing but its sound.

"Yes," Lu Li replied.

"But she wanted to attack Trans. Why did she look like she loved him at the end, like she just wanted to see him one last time?" Anna couldn't understand it, and so she didn't know how to feel about it.

"Am I O’Connor?" Lu Li retorted.

"N-no..."

"Then why would you think I'd know?"

Under Lu Li's dark gaze, Anna was at a loss for words.

His voice, however, spoke up again beside her, dispelling her doubts. "I suppose such contradictory behavior is to be expected. Remember what I said about the side effects of this body-snatching. The body decays, and the memories merge. O'Connor now has the memories of three people, assuming he hasn't already found his next victim."

"All of a person's memories are crammed into the brain, like being force-fed. If we consider the original O'Connor to be the primary personality, and the two victims, Aida and Shelly, as secondary ones, then he's likely no longer able to distinguish the primary one. He could be any of the three at any given moment, or a mixture of them. In that case, it's perfectly natural for Shelly's personality to surface after meeting her husband."

"Why couldn't you just say so? Why did you have to be snarky about it... But it sounds like if he keeps this up, he could turn into a monster, right?" Anna muttered, which made Lu Li frown and turn toward her. "What did you say?"

For some reason, Anna felt a little intimidated, but she decided not to back down. Planting her hands on her hips, she squeaked, "W-why did you have to be snarky..."

The sound of the rain drowned out Anna's voice, confining it to the cramped carriage, where it felt as if the inside and outside were two different worlds.

"The next sentence," Lu Li said.

"If he keeps taking over bodies, could he turn into a monster?" Anna asked cautiously.

Lu Li fell silent, lost in thought. He felt as if he had grasped some kind of thread, but it was too thin, too vague.

He mentally listed the three key items connected to that indescribable entity: flesh, an eyeball, a tentacle.

"A piece of flesh, an eyeball, a tentacle. What comes to mind when you think of those three things?" he asked Anna, hoping she might offer him a new clue.

"An octopus!" Anna answered without hesitation. Then, seeing Lu Li's silence, she asked cautiously, "Was that... the wrong answer...?"

"You're fine. The problem is with me," Lu Li said, shaking his head slightly.

The question had been pointless. A creature that could resurrect the dead and drive people mad with a single touch couldn't be an ordinary living being. An indescribable octopus? That made even less sense than an indescribable dog.

But regardless, some semblance of sense was beginning to emerge from Richard's plan.

It was nearly noon when Lu Li returned to the detective agency. The telephone on his desk was ringing furiously.

The scene felt familiar.

"Whoa! You finally decided to answer! If you'd been another thirteen minutes and twenty-four seconds, my number might have been blocked from all the complaints—do you have any idea what just happened?!"

Lu Li picked up the receiver and heard Marcus shouting without even needing to bring it to his ear.

"No," Lu Li replied.

"Turn on the radio! They're talking about it!"

Lu Li glanced at the radio and switched it on.

[Morell let out a loud cry. He was like a man possessed, filled with doubt, as if he had just glimpsed the gates of paradise. He felt a wave of dizziness and collapsed to his knees. The next morning, at dawn—]

A story was being broadcast from the radio.

"Uh... that's the wrong frequency... Hey, wait, what station is that? It sounds interesting."

"Then I'm hanging up."

"Wait! Wait! Fine, I'll tell you... you're so impatient. Anyway, there was just a murder in the Rom Quarter. Five men jumped out of the window of the Severed Finger boarding house and killed themselves. Only three stories up, but they all landed headfirst. Splat—just like that, like ripe melons hitting the pavement. Sound familiar?"

"What are you getting at?"

Lu Li, of course, knew exactly what he was getting at. He knew who had died, and he knew who the killer was—because it had all happened with his tacit approval. Lu Li had thought the ghost would fail again, and then he would step in to help her sort it out. Call the police, for instance, and have the men sent to prison. He hadn't expected the ghost to take revenge on her tormentors herself.