The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 114: An Illusion of Calm

In the clothing store, the items were neatly organized: outerwear, trousers, suits, hats, and ties. Dark colors predominated, with only a few light-colored items and ties scattered about; there were no bright outfits to be found.

Like any clothing shop for ordinary people, it mostly sold practical garments made from durable, hard-wearing fabrics and cloth. Of course, as with most such establishments, they also accepted custom orders.

"Sir, do you need something custom-tailored?" the middle-aged shopkeeper inquired, addressing Lu Li.

"No, I just need something that fits."

Lu Li’s gaze briefly swept over the shirts and trousers before he walked to a corner of the shop where a row of heavy, broad, dark cloaks hung on old gray hangers.

After a quick scan, Lu Li immediately selected a black wool coat.

"Pardon my frankness, sir, but that style won't suit you. It doesn't quite accentuate your best features..." the shopkeeper politely remarked.

"I like it," Lu Li cut him off.

Old-fashioned, stuffy, conservative—the wool coat looked like something worn by the grandfathers of today's youth, or by those detectives who appear at crime scenes at dusk with a pipe in their teeth, a hat on their head, and an assistant at their side. To wear such a thing on the street was a sure way to become the butt of your friends' jokes.

But for Lu Li, there was no more suitable attire.His cloak, left behind on the temporary floor, was almost identical, only thinner, and it was quite cold now.

The coat had no tag. After confirming it was the right fit, Lu Li put it on. The sleeves were just the right length, revealing the white cuff of his shirt when he straightened his arm. The hem of the coat reached his mid-thigh, perfectly concealing the holster on his belt.

"I'll take it. How much?"

"Fifty-three shillings, sir."

It was more expensive than most items for a simple reason—it used a lot of fabric. The upper class or aristocracy might think differently, but for common folk, the price of clothing was directly related to its thickness. A warm coat for a few dozen shillings? An excellent deal. A thin summer shirt for the same price? You've been swindled by the saleswomen again!

Lu Li paid. Less than a minute had passed from the moment he entered the store to when he completed the purchase. He didn't take the coat off, walking out in it under the shopkeeper's gaze.

Just as he reached the door, Lu Li suddenly stopped and, turning back, asked, "Do you have any more coats like this?"

...

"And that's why you bought... one, two, three, four, five... seven coats and seven shirts?"

"If I frequently find myself in dangerous situations, my clothes will wear out quickly," Lu Li's answer had its own logic.

"But why so many?.." Anna stared at the pile of clothes on the bed, feeling an indescribable sense of shock. "And they're all the same... Don't you get tired of wearing the same thing?"

"You do, too," Lu Li replied tonelessly.

Anna couldn't argue, but she felt Lu Li was being unfair. Pouting, she said, "I thought we were short on money. Why spend it on so many clothes?"

"Have you forgotten? We just came into a small fortune," Lu Li poked his head out of the wardrobe, holding several hangers. "Did you count how much was there?"

Slightly embarrassed, Anna answered quietly, "One thousand seven hundred shillings. One of the bills was so new it tore when I was folding it, but I taped it back together. I think they'll still accept it."

"Along with what I have on me, we now have two thousand one hundred shillings," Lu Li said, placing the clothes on the hangers.

"That should last us for a while."

The last time Lu Li thought shillings were easy to come by was when he had just arrived and sold his disassembled phone to collectors who mistook it for a work of art.

"Are you going to rest for a bit?" Anna asked, floating over to the window and perching on the sill, dangling her legs.

"Rest? No, I still have unfinished business," Lu Li hung the clothes in the wardrobe and grabbed more hangers to repeat the process.

Previously, Lu Li had been searching for Richard to learn about the origin of the "Door," but he didn't necessarily have to find him specifically. The Night's Watch or the Spirit Hunters might have information about the "Door." But now, afflicted by the Bloody Tentacles, Lu Li needed to find Richard as soon as possible.

Before the "Door" found him, and before the Bloody Tentacles in his head decided to act up.

Anna knew nothing of this. Lu Li's impeccable control over his emotions revealed nothing unusual, except for those moments when he would silently gaze at the clouds outside the window.

"What did you see out there? Is there something in the clouds?"

"Nothing. Just thinking about my next move," Lu Li averted his gaze, placing the last shirt in the wardrobe. The second part of his sentence was a response to Anna's suspicious look.

"Really?"

"Yes. I never lie."

"So what are we doing next?"

"I already know where to find the next clue," Lu Li answered, his eyes drifting back to the window.

Dark clouds, from whose depths ghostly tentacles stretched, connecting sky and earth. The spot they pointed to was exactly where Lu Li needed to go.

The carriage swayed, slowly ascending the hill. Upon reaching the summit, it began its descent, moving further and further away from Belfast. With each passing minute, the surroundings grew more desolate and lifeless.

The ground was not yet covered with grass, and the green buds on the bare trees did little to liven up the gray world. Under the gloomy rain, it seemed utterly devoid of life.

Only the occasional passing carriage did anything to dispel the oppressive mood.

Lu Li sat by the curtain, lifting the hem of his coat to gaze at the sky. He counted six tentacles in the clouds, one of which pointed toward the other side of the mountain, where the Sentry Post was presumably located.

They hid behind the clouds, connecting the sky to the earth, swaying gently.

What did these tentacles signify? People infected by O'Connor or the tentacles themselves? Or was it just a coincidence?

"You seem very pensive today..." Anna looked up from her book, tilting her head as her gaze shifted from Lu Li's face to the sky.

She had asked many times already, but Lu Li seemed unwilling to tell her the truth, and this time was no exception.

"Just checking to see if it's going to rain."

"Alright," Anna lowered her head with a hint of worry and continued to flip through the comics Lu Li had bought, her interest clearly feigned.

In a way, Anna was right. While the fact that Lu Li had a problem wasn't far from her guess, the reason he didn't tell her the truth was simple: it was too complicated to explain.

Silence fell over the carriage once more, broken only by the occasional sniffle from Anna and the rhythmic clatter of the wheels.

Lu Li's gaze returned to the clouds.

Whatever the case, once he got closer to one of those tentacles, he would find out just what the hell was stretching down from the clouds.