novelraw Chapter 158: Truth and Lies
Chapter 158: Truth and Lies
That was not the end of the letter.
On the back of the page, beneath the entries from the little boy and Reina, Anna had added a few more lines.
It wasn't a hidden message for Lu Li; Anna had simply remembered something important and decided to add it.
It was very much her style.
[I'm worried. I know you'll come for me... I'm begging you, don't! Do you know what I saw in the few hours I was in the Shadow Swamp? Their feast, the true form of the Mother of the Swamp, the vengeful spirits swarming the forest, the millions of spider-trees... And... and the people of Tenebrae, making sacrifices to the Mother of the Swamp!]
[They worship her! I saw them kneeling in the mire, their skin cracking open to reveal a bluish-gray bark... They told the swamp about us!]
[Tenebrae has fallen. We never made it out of the swamp. If you receive this letter in Tenebrae, run!]
[Flee the Allen Peninsula, go somewhere the Mother of the Swamp and her minions can't find you.]
[Don't come for me.]
The letter ended there.The uneven handwriting spoke of the author's fear and desperation.
Lu Li reread the last few lines, then glanced toward the bedroom.
The room was empty. Anna, who had just been reading on the bed, was nowhere to be seen.
He turned his head to the right and saw Anna's translucent face leaning over his shoulder.
“When did you get here?”
Anna, trying to see what Lu Li was reading, didn't notice her face was only a few inches from his. “What were you reading?”
Curious by nature, Anna looked especially intrigued. But perhaps because of the letter he was reading, she seemed a little strange.
“A letter. From you.”
Lu Li shook the sheet of paper.
Lu Li knew how to think, how to doubt, and those doubts were always present in his mind. But he never allowed them to control him.
Just like in the Mind Level test, his answers were always unequivocal.
Until he could confirm the facts, any information was merely an assumption, not proof. That was why he rarely voiced his opinions—if you say nothing, you can't be wrong.
“What? Where?” Anna looked genuinely surprised and drifted over to the desk, trying to peer at the letter.
“You can't see it?” Lu Li frowned slightly and raised the hand holding the letter.
Anna stared in confusion at Lu Li's fingers, which seemed to be holding something, and then at his face. “There’s nothing in your hand...”
Could it be...
A possibility occurred to Lu Li. He picked up a box of matches from the desk, struck one, and held it to the paper.
The smell of sulfur filled the room. The match head flared with a faint light.
The flame didn't split; the paper neither blackened nor caught fire.
An invisible letter.
A new trick from the "Door"?
“Another letter that I can't see?” Anna guessed.
“Yes,” Lu Li nodded, meeting Anna’s curious gaze. “Remember Reina’s diary? This page was torn from it.”
“Hmm...”
Lu Li recounted the contents of the letter to Anna.
Anna tried to speak several times, her mood shifting. When Lu Li finished, she flushed and exclaimed, “I didn’t write that! I mean... I’m me!”
Lu Li folded the letter, sealed it in an envelope, and placed it in the far corner of his desk drawer, next to the previous one. “I know you’re you.”
Anna's gaze met his deep, dark eyes. Lu Li's unwavering calm was contagious. Though he acted as he always did, Anna could see that he believed her.
Her agitation subsided, and, flustered by a rush of emotion, she muttered, “That ‘Door’ is so devious! Using such dirty tricks!”
“But effective.”
Lu Li closed the desk drawer.
Anyone else, whether they believed the letter or not, would have subconsciously tried to hide its contents from Anna and might not have noticed that it was invisible to her.
The "Door" was growing more and more sophisticated.
Calmed by Lu Li's trust, Anna returned to her usual self and, turning away, whispered just loud enough for him to hear, “I’ve been exposed... It seems I’ll have to act sooner...”
“Something is bothering me,” Lu Li said suddenly.
Anna was instantly intrigued and turned back to him.
“Remember the previous letter?” Lu Li asked.
“The one with the photographs?”
“Yes. Though I wasn't the killer, everything else in that letter was true,” Lu Li narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingers absently on the desk. “What in this letter is true, besides the fact that you are you...?”
Anna froze, recalling the contents of the letter, and a chilling horror washed over her.
Just then, the telephone on the desk rang, making Anna jump.
“Be careful...” she warned, almost mechanically.
The thought that the residents of Tenebrae were followers of the Mother of the Swamp was too terrifying.
Lu Li said nothing, simply picked up the receiver and held it to his ear.
He remained silent as desperate cries for help poured from the earpiece.
“Help me! Save me! It wants out! It wants to take my place!”
...
Hoarse, metallic gasps echoed through the flooded forest of the Shadow Swamp.
A strange, dark figure was making its way between the withered trees. It moved quickly, yet awkwardly.
The figure had a bird's beak, like a crow's. In contrast to its massive upper body, its legs were thin, like those of an enormous crow, or perhaps... like a person carrying another on their back.
Both were coated in a thick layer of silt that even the incessant rain couldn't wash away.
The trees around them began to thin out; they were approaching the edge of the Shadow Swamp.
The water was still ankle-deep, but the dangerous bogs were gone. Ahead, through the trees, the outlines of man-made structures were visible.
The person on its back turned and exclaimed joyfully, “They’re not following us! I can't feel the Mother of the Swamp's influence here! Tenebrae is close! We're saved!”
“Do you consider it safe to trespass in the Mother of the Swamp’s home?” a low, raspy female voice sounded from nearby.
“Can it really be true...” The person on its back froze, then clenched their teeth. “But we have to send this letter as soon as possible. I owe Lu Li.”
A brief pause followed, then the hoarse voice spoke again.
“We’ll go around Tenebrae and send the letter from another town.”
After those words, the forest fell silent once more, the quiet broken only by the splashing of water and heavy breathing.