The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 126: A Bizarre Night

Rustle...

Lu Li started to fold the newspaper, but an unseen force stopped him.

"I'm not finished yet," Anna said, hovering behind Lu Li and peering at the paper over his shoulder.

Lu Li paused. The chair creaked as he shifted slightly to give her a better view.

Anna leaned in and continued reading.

Silence settled over the simple room, lit only by a single oil lamp. When Anna finished, she let out a long sigh. "Oh, Tenebrae..."

Realizing she'd spoken too loudly, Anna covered her mouth with her hand. Her clear eyes, wide and reflecting the lamplight, fixed on him as she whispered, "You don't think all the strange things in Tenebrae are... a lie, do you?"

"That's what it says," Lu Li replied, neither confirming nor denying it.

A note of concern entered Anna's voice. "But what about the fruit you ate...?"

Lu Li's brow furrowed slightly. "I haven't noticed anything unusual yet... but just in case, I might need you to keep watch tonight. Would you mind?""Leave it to me!"

Anna might not have been powerful, but she was more than capable of handling the townsfolk.

"But aren't we going to do anything?"

"Like what?" Lu Li looked up, his gaze calm.

Anna scratched the back of her head. "Well... deal with the old woman."

"That would be pointless. If the article is true, the entire town is in on it. It's not just one person," Lu Li shook his head slightly. "And don't forget why we came here."

Truthfully, Lu Li had no intention of interfering with the town's affairs, even if he had been a victim. In the end, it was just a hoax, one that caused no real harm.

"Right..." Perhaps because of Lu Li's wool coat, Anna still saw them as a detective duo. Realizing her mistake, she nodded, folded the newspaper, and returned it to its place before picking up her unfinished book. "What about the man next door?"

The mysterious man hadn't been seen since entering his room. After the initial sounds, there had been nothing but silence, as if the room were empty.

"Ignore him," Lu Li replied curtly.

"Alright... You should get some rest, then. I'll keep watch."

The hands of the clock on the table showed it was only eight, still early, but in a place with so few diversions, most people were already turning in for the night by the dim glow of their oil lamps.

Lu Li rose from the chair and sat on the edge of the single bed beside the table. "Good night, then."

"Good night."

Anna watched as Lu Li took off his coat, unfastened his cuffs and the top button of his collar, then removed his black tie and placed it beside the husk-filled pillow.

He lay down on his side, pulling the coat over himself and covering his mouth and nose.

His Spirit Gun was tucked into the right side of his belt, forcing him to lie on his left side, facing the table and Anna.

It was the first time Anna had seen Lu Li sleep in a bed, and it felt... strange.

While she had often seen him resting, he usually slept with his head on a desk. This was the first time she'd seen him in a proper bed.

She hid her face behind her open book, leaving only her clear eyes visible. Without blinking, she watched the side of Lu Li's face as his eyes closed.

Anna's unabashed observation didn't last long. Ten seconds later, Lu Li's eyes suddenly snapped open. Their gazes met, and Anna froze for a moment in confusion.

...

Lu Li blinked, then silently pulled the coat higher, covering his dark eyes and forehead.

"Mm..."

Anna looked away, settling into the still-warm chair and absently turning her attention back to her book.

Time passed as quietly as the steady flame of the oil lamp's wick. The shadows of the chair and the book floating in mid-air stretched across the time-worn wooden floor.

Perhaps a few minutes passed, or maybe several hours. In a state of half-sleep, Lu Li heard a faint, ghostly voice from an unknown source.

"Is he asleep?"

"He's asleep."

The voices were male and female. Vaguely familiar, yet foreign. Suddenly, the speakers' identities became clear: the tavern keeper and the mysterious man.

As Lu Li's consciousness sharpened, the voices gained a direction. They seemed to be whispers seeping through the thin wooden wall.

The conversation continued, and Lu Li seemed to be its subject.

"When do we start?"

"Soon."

His mind, growing clearer by the second, fought for control of his body, struggling to open his eyes. But he soon discovered that his body was dead to the world, completely unresponsive.

He could hear the conversation from beyond the wall and the occasional rustle of a turning page, but his body wouldn't obey. He couldn't even open his eyes.

If the coat hadn't been covering his face, Anna might have noticed his eyeballs darting rapidly beneath his tightly shut lids.

Fully aware of his condition, Lu Li gradually calmed himself and tried again and again to force his eyes open.

The whispers continued.

"Shh... He's waking up."

"He ate the fruit. Don't worry."

"Let's go. We need to prepare."

One push, then another. Lu Li's consciousness crashed against his eyelids like a wave. Suddenly, his eyes flew open, and the world snapped into focus. Fresh air flooded his lungs as a clear, tangible reality presented itself before him.

His eyes darted around. The oil lamp sat on the table, its dim light barely illuminating the room. Anna was sitting in the chair, calmly reading her book.

"What time is it?"

Anna looked toward the single bed. Lu Li was already sitting up, his coat having slipped from his right shoulder.

"Not yet one," Anna answered, glancing at the clock on the table.

"Did you hear anything?"

"Hear what?"

"Nothing."

Lu Li focused, struggling to recall the strange conversation he had overheard.

This was exactly why Lu Li had avoided sleeping in a bed since he'd arrived.

Deep sleep restored one's energy, true, but it also dulled one's perception of the outside world. And waking up before being fully rested left the mind foggy and slow to think.

The details of the conversation slowly returned to him. Lu Li looked up at the curtain. It hung in place, covering the window.

"Did anything happen?" he asked.

Anna set aside her book, which she was only a few dozen pages from finishing. "No. Maybe it's the curtain, or the fact that we're on the second floor..."

"The floor has nothing to do with it," Lu Li said.

Anna hadn't heard the voices, which meant they were either real, or they were hallucinations brought on by the Lightfruit...

Just then, Lu Li saw a strange, flat, black shadow emerge from beneath the curtain.

It resembled a hand, but the fingers were long and sharp, like a clawed paw. It reached for the base of the oil lamp on the table.

The black, clawed hand was just about to touch the lamp's flame. Lu Li shot to his feet, but it was too late.

A soft puff echoed in Lu Li and Anna's ears, and the flame in the lamp abruptly went out.

Thick darkness swallowed them from all sides.