The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 149: The Sinister World

Tenebrae was nowhere near as bustling as Belfast. The only two bakeries on Trio Street, though open, were still dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane and hadn't yet prepared their dough. It would be at least half an hour before any bread made it to the ovens.

Returning to the tavern empty-handed, Lu Li saw that young Jack was already awake. Perhaps the sound of Lu Li leaving had woken him, or maybe it was the dampness that had seeped into the tavern.

After a polite greeting to Lu Li, the boy rubbed his eyes and drew back a few of the curtains, then hurried to extinguish the oil lamps that had been burning all night.

Lu Li went upstairs and opened the wooden door to his room.

"Back so soon?"

Anna, who had slipped back into the room the moment Lu Li returned to the tavern, turned and feigned surprise.

"A few seconds after you," Lu Li replied.

Exposed, Anna flushed slightly. Suddenly, she noticed that Lu Li was about to leave again.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To feed the horse."Paying no mind to whether Anna followed him, Lu Li went through the newly installed back door into the courtyard, gave the relatively unscathed bay horse some hay and oats, and then returned to the room.

"When are we going back?" Anna asked, resting her head in her hands, bored.

She had been so eager for the trip at first, but now she was starting to miss the detective agency. She even missed the sculpture, though it had never paid her any attention.

"As soon as we've bought newspapers and food."

Lu Li glanced at the alarm clock. It was only ten past ten. Only ten minutes had passed.

Anna saw Lu Li freeze, staring at the alarm clock as if in a daze.

Guessing what was happening, Anna asked cautiously, "Are you hallucinating again?"

Lu Li's gaze shifted upward, to a vine that had sprouted from the clock's hand and was now stretching higher, pushing through the ceiling.

When the hallucination faded, Lu Li nodded. "Yes."

"Why do I get the feeling you find these hallucinations... interesting?" Anna muttered.

In fact, Lu Li did feel that way, if only his Mind Level didn't drop.

Lu Li said nothing more. Anna, already accustomed to his silence, picked up a book of fairy tales and began to read.

Time passed. After a while, approaching footsteps could be heard in the hallway outside the door.

"Sir, the paperboy has brought the newspapers."

Two minutes later, Lu Li returned upstairs with three fresh newspapers. He turned to Anna, who had just materialized and hadn't yet had a chance to pick up her book as a disguise. "It's time to go back."

...

Outside the tavern, young Jack stood on his tiptoes to fit the bridle onto the bay horse, then checked that the carriage was securely hitched. Straightening up, he announced, "All ready, sir."

Lu Li nodded, placed his backpack in the carriage, and climbed onto the driver's seat. Under the regretful gaze of the tavern keeper, he took up the reins and slowly pulled away from the entrance.

"We're going back!"

Anna was thrilled that this strange and troublesome journey was finally coming to an end. The last vestiges of her aristocratic manners, which had been gradually fading, were now almost entirely gone.

Before leaving Tenebrae, the carriage stopped at a bakery. Lu Li got out and bought three loaves of bread, then returned to the carriage holding a paper bag and an umbrella.

Anna looked at Lu Li in disbelief, because... he had just haggled!

The moment Lu Li had asked, "Could you go a little lower?" the silent, cold image she held of him had half-shattered. When Lu Li climbed back into the carriage and took the reins again, Anna couldn't resist pinching his cheek.

"...?"

He looked at her questioningly with his calm, dark eyes.

"Ahem... I just wanted to check if you were the real Lu Li," Anna said, clearing her throat and feigning composure, realizing what she had just done.

"You mean because I haggled?"

Peeking out from behind the carriage curtain, Anna nodded, then, realizing Lu Li couldn't see her, she asked, "Was the bread too expensive?"

"I just wanted to save some money."

"Eh..." Anna trailed off, confused. "Are we out of money?"

"Not yet."

"Then why save it?"

Anna's thoughts were almost identical to Lu Li's a day earlier: money wasn't important.

Lu Li was silent for a moment before replying, without turning around, "For a few reasons."

He didn't intend to hide it from Anna, though explaining it would be rather difficult.

Lu Li told her about his suspicions after seeing the airship: the world was becoming increasingly dangerous.

There were grounds for this. A few months before Lu Li's arrival, the Night Calamity had occurred, followed by one sinister and terrible event after another. Areas far from human settlements grew more and more hazardous, plants stopped growing, and the sun appeared less and less frequently.

The people of this world were like frogs being slowly boiled in water. The only difference was that a frog, sensing the water growing hotter, could jump out, whereas people could not. And the few who understood what was happening were trapped.

The more frequently the anomalies appeared and the closer they drew to humanity, the more this world was consumed by darkness.

"It can't be that bad..."

Anna couldn't believe that a plot you wouldn't even find in novels could happen in reality, but she couldn't refute Lu Li's arguments. His reasoning was nearly flawless—this world was indeed growing darker by the day.

Struggling to accept this information, Anna lowered her head and fell silent.

Lu Li didn't try to comfort her. He was the type of person who could tell a dying man, "You're going to die soon, you'd better find yourself a suitable burial plot and headstone," without caring whether the person could handle it.

"But it might not be that bad, right?" Anna suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with hope.

"Yes," Lu Li answered calmly. "These are just my assumptions. But since I've voiced them, we need to prepare for anything."

Anna quietly clenched her fists. "So what do we do?"

"Find a way to deal with the Door and the Bloody Tentacles as soon as possible, then prepare a sufficiently safe shelter and stock up on everything necessary for survival."

Lu Li didn't intend to rely solely on Richard, who was in hiding. Upon returning to Belfast, he planned to contact the secret powers of this world: the Night's Watch and the Investigators.

He knew Joel from the Night's Watch, and the flashlight seemed to be a mark of the Investigators.

Lu Li hadn't had contact with any other exorcists, but perhaps Gades knew something about them.

The rain was still falling, but without the wind, it was much quieter. The umbrella was enough to keep him from getting wet.

As the carriage pulled away from Tenebrae, Lu Li let go of the reins and went back inside the cabin.

Lu Li had forgotten to fill his thermos with hot water, which could have warmed his icy hands for at least a few minutes. Early in the morning, the temperature in the fields was only a few degrees above freezing, perhaps even lower.

The rainwater, landing on his skin, quickly sapped the last remnants of his warmth.

If it had been this cold during last night's storm, Lu Li doubted he would have made it to Tenebrae in one piece.

Anna, who had just been celebrating their return home, was now lost in thought. Lu Li looked away from her and spread the three purchased newspapers out on the trembling wooden surface.

The Allen Peninsula Herald, The Valsen Gazette, The Daily News.

The three newspapers, each from a different perspective, indirectly confirmed Lu Li's pessimistic predictions.