The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 117: The Second Tentacle

The receptionist froze for a moment, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. She definitely knew something.

“Lu Li, an exorcist with The Bizarre Detective Agency,” Lu Li said, handing her a business card. “I can sense a malevolent aura emanating from everyone here, including you. Do you have any idea what’s happening?”

Anna flinched and shot Lu Li a look of disgust. How could he say such shameless things with such a straight face?

But it worked. People always grew anxious when evil threatened them directly. The receptionist’s face tensed, and she forced a smile. “I’m not sure what you mean...”

“Let me put it more simply,” Lu Li said, his tone unchanging. “Where is that stench coming from?”

The receptionist instinctively glanced toward the work area on the right.

“Thank you,” Lu Li nodded and headed toward the desks.

Biting her lip, the receptionist hurried into an office to get her boss.

The stench in the air grew stronger. A handful of employees were scattered around the brightly lit office. They were frowning, wincing at the foul odor, and casting occasional glances toward one corner of the room.

Lu Li paused at the entrance to the work area, his eyes scanning the room. His gaze settled on that very corner. Ethereal red Bloody Tentacles descended from the ceiling, burrowing into the head of a woman whose long hair cascaded over her shoulders.There she was.

The office was quiet, perhaps because the pervasive stench had stifled any desire for conversation.

Several windows had been propped open, but they did little to dissipate the foul odor that permeated the air.

The waves of stench were relentless, and Anna, unable to bear it any longer, pinched her nose shut.

Lu Li walked up behind the woman and touched her shoulder.

“O’Connor.”

A wet squelch answered his touch as fluid shifted beneath the skin, which felt like a water balloon.

Ghastly patches of lividity crept up from her neck, reaching her chin. Her eyeballs had dissolved into a murky film.

Her lips were slightly parted, her gaze vacant. A foul-smelling fluid trickled from the corner of her mouth, leaving a damp stain on her blouse.

“Please, just wait... I’m almost... finished...” came the slurred reply.

The name Lu Li had uttered drew no reaction from her, as if he had been addressing someone else.

This confirmed Lu Li’s suspicion: after Hall had been dealt with, O’Connor wasn’t the only remaining test subject.

The logic was simple. The resurrection of O’Connor and Hall was merely a part of Richard’s scheme, not its ultimate goal. Their return had no bearing on his grander design.

The Bloody Tentacles themselves were proof: not counting the one inside Lu Li’s own head, there had originally been seven in total.

“Are you a friend of Whitley’s? Are you here for her?” a voice inquired from behind. An employee sitting at a desk in the back had stood up. “She doesn’t seem to be well. There’s a... strange smell coming from her. You can smell it, can’t you?”

He was sitting close to the source of the contamination and looked unwell himself.

Lu Li’s arrival had drawn the attention of the other employees.

“I’m not her friend, but I am here for her,” Lu Li replied, gently patting Whitley’s shoulder again. “You don’t need to write anymore.”

The employee was taken aback, unsure how to respond.

Suddenly, the wooden door of an office swung open, and the receptionist emerged with a middle-aged man. They approached Lu Li. “I’m the proprietor here,” the man said. “You can call me Soren. Forgive me, but who are you?”

“You can ask this young lady for the details,” Lu Li answered calmly.

“He said... he’s an exorcist,” the receptionist mumbled, flustered, as her boss shot her a questioning look. “And that there’s a malevolent aura here.”

A wave of whispers rippled through the office.

The talk was hushed, but in the otherwise silent office, every word was audible.

Soren’s expression darkened, and his tone turned hostile. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave...”

“Anna, come out,” Lu Li cut in, turning his head slightly.

Before everyone’s eyes, a translucent specter slowly materialized out of thin air beside Lu Li.

“Aahh!” Stifled screams rippled through the office, followed by the sound of scraping chairs as people scrambled in terror to get as far away as possible.

The receptionist spun around and fled, abandoning Soren, who, despite holding his ground, was visibly terrified.

“Let’s dispense with the pointless chatter. I’ll be blunt: your employee is dead, but her consciousness lingers. I need to deal with this before she decomposes completely,” Lu Li said, looking at Soren. “Please, give us an empty room. If that’s too much trouble, I can take her with me now.”

Soren took a deep breath, which only seemed to make him paler. “I understand. The conference room... follow me.”

Suppressing his fear, Soren led the way.

“Can I hide?” Anna whispered, her voice close to Lu Li’s ear. She was uncomfortable under all the stares.

“Yes,” Lu Li nodded. “Help bring Whitley.”

“Okay!” Anna vanished. A moment later, Whitley abruptly rose from her chair as if lifted by an unseen force. She floated through the air, still in a seated position.

The terrified buzzing in the office grew louder.

“Quiet!” Soren snapped, wrestling with his own terror. He hurried to the conference room door, pushed it open, and stepped aside.

He waited for Lu Li and the levitating Whitley to enter, then, after a moment’s hesitation, bit his lip and followed them inside.

Click. The conference room door swung shut.

The whispering in the office stopped abruptly.

...

“Ugh... so heavy.” Whitley was lowered onto a chair, the weight of a living person leaving Anna exhausted. If she hadn’t grown stronger recently, she wouldn’t have been able to lift the woman at all.

With great effort, Whitley slowly lifted her head. Her clouded, murky eyes struggled to focus on Lu Li, but to no avail.

“I... don’t think I know you,” she rasped, her voice thick with a wet, gurgling sound.

It was as if something dawned on Whitley. Her sluggish thoughts seemed to quicken for a moment, and she whispered imploringly, “Help me... please, help...”

“There’s nothing I can do for you,” Lu Li said, shaking his head slightly. He felt a swollen, icy, and unnaturally soft hand slide into his own.

The touch inspired no warmth, quite the opposite. Her hand felt like a water-filled mattress.

“Take me... to a hospital,” she pleaded, her words slow and deliberate.

Lu Li didn’t pull his hand away. His voice remained calm. “You know that’s pointless. Doctors can’t bring back the dead.”

Whitley’s state was deteriorating rapidly. The last vestiges of life force drained from her body as the stench of decay intensified. She was decomposing before their very eyes.

Wasting no time, a fly buzzed in through an open window and landed on her shoulder.

Soren, who had been standing silently by the door, turned deathly pale. The cadaverous stench was unbearable.

Whitley didn’t have much time left.

Her hand slipped from Lu Li’s grasp. Just as it was about to fall limply against the chair, he caught it and gently lowered it.