novelraw Chapter 116: The Smell of Rot
Chapter 116: The Smell of Rot
Daisy let out a joyful cry, but quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, remembering there were others just outside the door.
Anna grinned back, waving with childlike delight.
"What are you doing here?"
"The academy sent us. We're staging a musical here in Sentry Post. We're in rehearsals right now. I was going to surprise you and invite you to the premiere, but I never imagined you'd be here..."
The two friends whispered excitedly, overjoyed at their reunion. Lu Li didn't interrupt them. Instead, he knelt beside the unconscious student and carefully felt her skin.
Her skin was warm and supple, with no signs of decay. Her chest rose and fell faintly—she was breathing. It was clear that neither O'Connor nor the bloody tentacle had taken control of her.
But why had he seen the bloody tendrils? And why had she fled?
Lu Li scanned the racks of clothing, then suddenly froze, his eyes locking onto one in particular.
He saw them—thin, phantom-like bloody tendrils. They snaked down from the ceiling, disappearing into a heap of garments.
Suddenly, with a flash of red, something shot out from the clothes!Something similar had happened just this morning, so Lu Li was prepared. In a flash, he drew his Spirit Gun and blocked the strike.
There was a faint hiss as the bloody tentacle struck the rose emblem on the gun. The impact was so weak it didn't even make his hand flinch.
Upon contact with the Spirit Gun, the bloody tentacle instantly disintegrated, turning to ash like a feather in a flame.
Lu Li stood motionless. He had braced himself for a fight, but the bloody tentacle he had taken so seriously turned out to be incredibly fragile. The phantom tendrils began to dissolve into the air, and only then did Lu Li realize it was over.
Such unexpected weakness... Lu Li glanced down. Not even a speck of ash remained of the bloody tentacle, as if it had never existed at all.
"Did you find something?" Anna asked, her eyes fixed on Lu Li.
"Yes," Lu Li replied, nodding.
Daisy, standing beside Anna, remarked quietly, "You two seem to get along well."
Anna stammered, "W-what? What makes you say that?"
Daisy smiled, but a flicker of sadness crossed her eyes.
"Are you leaving already?" she asked, a note of regret in her voice.
Anna didn't want to part so soon either. She gave Lu Li a pleading look. "Um... maybe we could stay and watch Daisy's rehearsal?"
Under Daisy's knowing gaze, Lu Li simply nodded his consent.
...
"Is Daisy any good?" someone asked, tapping Lu Li on the shoulder.
"Not bad," Lu Li replied.
In truth, he hadn't heard a single word of the opera rehearsal. His mind was on the bloody tendrils, and on the fact that the music of this world didn't suit his tastes at all, even if the singing did sound ethereal and haunting in the empty theater.
The matter of the student had been handled. Her teacher had contacted the academy, and the academy had contacted the Sentry Post police. After confirming Lu Li's identity, the police instructed the teacher to cooperate fully with the detective's investigation.
When the student regained consciousness, Lu Li asked her a few questions, including why she had fled at the sight of him. She explained that after putting on the black lace dress, her thoughts had become jumbled. Seeing Lu Li had filled her with a sudden, baseless terror, and she'd run back to the dressing room. She couldn't remember anything after that.
The problem was the dress. The bloody tentacle had likely been hiding within it before it attacked him. Consequently, Lu Li confiscated the dress under the pretext of taking it in for investigation.
Anna noticed Lu Li was lost in thought—not that a pensive Lu Li looked much different from a regular Lu Li.
She didn't press him to stay any longer. After saying her goodbyes to Daisy, she dutifully followed Lu Li out of the theater and to their carriage.
"Are we going back to the agency?" Anna asked.
"Not yet," Lu Li's reply was clipped, his pensive mood making him even more taciturn than usual. "There's something I need to do."
Two bloody tendrils hung suspended in the air above Sentry Post.
...
The Ruth's Bank building. It was hard to find a more imposing structure in all of Sentry Post.
While the five-story stone structure wouldn't have stood out in Belfast, here in Sentry Post—a town of one- and two-story wooden houses—it looked truly formidable.
Most of the town's residents considered it a point of pride to work there.
The last tendril had descended into the bank. Just as at the theater, Lu Li's appearance and attire drew no suspicion, and he walked inside unchallenged.
Ruth's Bank occupied the first and second floors, while the third through fifth were leased to other shops and businesses in Sentry Post.
Because of the building's height, Lu Li couldn't pinpoint which floor the tendril had entered. He would have to take the direct approach: check every floor.
After a quick scan of the first-floor offices, Lu Li walked over to a conference room along the wall and pushed the door open.
"This month's plan requires you to—"
The voice cut off abruptly as a dozen figures seated around the table turned in unison to face the door.
"My apologies, wrong room." Lu Li shut the door and moved to the next one—the general manager's office—and tried again. "My apologies, wrong room."
He repeated the process with the next office.
"My apologies, wrong room."
The trick only worked a few times. When Lu Li noticed the bank employees were starting to stare, he decided to change his approach.
"Anna, float upstairs and see if you can find the source of a rotten smell."
"Huh? Oh, okay." Anna nodded obediently and drifted up through the ceiling.
Anna returned swiftly. A few moments later, her voice whispered beside Lu Li. "Found it! It's on the fourth floor!"
"How did you know O'Connor was here?" Anna asked, pleased with her discovery.
"I'll explain everything once this is over," Lu Li replied, deciding it was time to stop keeping her in the dark.
He needed time to process everything that had happened, and besides, Anna's curiosity deserved an answer.
A faint, cloying scent of decay hung in the air on the fourth floor. It grew stronger as Lu Li emerged from the stairwell and reached its peak when he opened the door to a law firm.
A suffocating, unbearable stench of rot assaulted his nostrils. The cloying perfume in the air failed to mask the foul odor; instead, it only seemed to sharpen it. All around the office, employees in suits and ties grimaced.
"Good day, sir. This is... how may I help you?" a secretary asked with a slight bow, her smile strained. The oppressive smell was likely to blame for her pained expression.
"The stench is powerful. The body must be well into decomposition," Lu Li murmured.
"I'm sorry, sir, what was that?" The secretary tilted her head, her ponytail swishing slightly.
"I'm looking for a rotting person," Lu Li said, stopping before her desk. "If you can still call her a person."