novelraw Chapter 162: Again
Chapter 162: Again
— He recovered rather quickly; he looks as if nothing ever happened.
Anna floated over to Lu Li, counting the crisp, new shillings.
The fee for their services was 350 shillings, which covered the cost of the broth and compensation for the broken mirror. Since Senger mentioned he was a writer, Lu Li had charged him a little more than his usual rate.
Now it seemed that wasn't nearly enough.
Lu Li didn't reply, only offering her a silent glance.
Knowing Lu Li well, Anna realized she must have said something wrong. Though she maintained a calm exterior, her mind raced, trying to pinpoint her mistake.
Then, it dawned on her.
— The Senger we saw wasn't real!
Anna cried out, the elation from her increased power evaporating instantly, replaced by a chill that crept down her spine.
— The ghost from the mirror possessed Senger's body before he even came to the agency, trapping his real soul in the mirror world. The real Senger was the one who reached out to us, so the impostor just followed his lead, found us, and tricked us into exorcising... the real Senger's soul.The thought consumed Anna, filling her with a mix of fear, pain, and confusion. If Lu Li had realized what was happening, why would he let her destroy the entity in the mirror...?
— Keep thinking.
Lu Li's terse, calm voice cut through her terrifying thoughts.
— Uh...
Anna trailed off, her expression growing puzzled. — So, I was wrong?
— Wrong.
— Hmm... — Anna pressed a finger to her chin, tilting her head in thought. — Is it related to the Door? No, that doesn't fit... Only you can see its traps... Can you give me a little hint? Just a tiny one.
She pinched her fingers together, indicating something minuscule.
— It's related to the Investigators.
— I asked for a little hint, not the entire solution! — Anna giggled, suddenly understanding Senger's background. — Is this some kind of test from the Investigators...?
— Something like that.
Lu Li moved away from the window and sat down on the sofa.
— How long have you known? — Anna drifted after him, hovering at his side.
— I suspected, but I wasn't certain.
Senger's sudden appearance had put Lu Li on guard.
Lu Li hadn't taken a single case in all the time Oliver had been gone. Without Oliver putting up advertisements and scouting for clients, Lu Li's fame was unlikely to have traveled beyond Sailor Street.
In that context, Senger's appearance seemed extremely strange and coincidental.
Marcus was another possibility, but if he were involved, he would have called before Senger even showed up, his voice no doubt laced with that sleazy chuckle of his.
The purpose was all but clear; now he just needed to grasp the motive.
That morning, he'd failed the Mind Level test. After he'd shown them the flashlight, the old man had said cryptically, "Someone has already made the choice for you." Then, that very afternoon, people from the Investigators' organization appeared and set up a trial...
Perhaps this was some sort of prerequisite for becoming an Investigator?
Lu Li wasn't opposed to the idea of becoming an Investigator. To most people, Investigators were akin to the explorers of a bygone era. Those explorers had sought treasure across continents, islands, and the deep sea; the Investigators, it was said, sought only their own demise in those same places.
But the Investigators held one crucial advantage: they did not restrict access to knowledge. They wouldn't withhold information simply for fear of it lowering someone's Mind Level.
The Night's Watch was their polar opposite. Its members were given no extraneous information beyond their mission objectives, all to maintain the stability of their Mind Levels.
For one group, curiosity was a virtue; for the other, it was a death sentence.
As long as becoming an Investigator didn't cost him his freedom, Lu Li had no objection to joining their ranks.
Anna desperately wanted to tell Lu Li he was overthinking things, but she quickly realized that if he didn't do the thinking, then no one else would...
"Fine, I'll just focus on protecting Lu Li," she decided. "He can be the brains, and I'll be the brawn."
So the newly empowered girl thought to herself with newfound confidence.
Lu Li asked her just how much stronger she'd become. After a moment of consideration, Anna answered that her power had roughly doubled.
Although Anna had grown stronger, it wasn't enough.
She hadn't yet manifested the unique traits of a true vengeful spirit, like Michelle's black halo or the dark tentacles that writhed behind the ghost from the art gallery.
Perhaps that was for the best. Lu Li wasn't sure what effect those traits—which seemed to be a kind of mental projection—might have on Anna's personality.
— By the way, there have been far fewer ghosts on the streets lately...
Anna's muttering pulled Lu Li from his reverie. It was a casual observation, but it caught his full attention. — When did that start?
Anna glanced toward the window, pulled the curtains shut, then turned back. — I think it was after we returned...
After their return... Could it be related to the hurricane?
— How many fewer?
— Maybe more than half.
So the mysterious hurricane that had appeared from nowhere had also swept away a vast number of ghosts...
Lu Li's gaze fell upon the newspaper on the table. A report from the Allen Peninsula fleet stated that the hurricane had appeared suddenly, about 150 nautical miles off the coast of Belfast.
The city's Night's Watch had surely noticed the drop in the ghost population. For Lu Li, it was enough to be aware of the fact; he didn't need to do anything about it.
Lu Li tucked 300 shillings of the fee between the pages of a book in a desk drawer. Alongside those three Macdonald II banknotes lay sixteen others just like them.
Most of them had come from Baroness Joseph.
That evening, Lu Li didn't bother with a fire. He ate the bread left over from the morning and settled onto the sofa to rest.
Anna, invigorated after absorbing the ghost's power, felt no need for rest. She drifted into the bedroom with the last of her unread romance novels.
— Good night.
She called out from the bedroom.
Again, there was no reply.
...
A pale blue light began to filter through the curtains.
A new day had begun.
Lu Li awoke to the sight of the dim, cold curtains. A vague, drowsy thought drifted through his mind: what if, one day, night fell and the sun simply never rose again?
He sat up, the blanket that had been covering him sliding to the floor. Lu Li picked up the blanket Anna had quietly draped over him in the night, set it aside, and headed for the kitchen.
Hearing movement in the living room, Anna drifted out of the bedroom, rubbing her eyes. — Good morning.
— Morning.
After finishing his morning routine, Lu Li emerged from the kitchen. A cool light filtered through the parted curtains, doing little to dispel the lingering gloom from the extinguished oil lamp.
The scent of cooking food wafted through the air, drifting in from either the street outside or the building's hallway.
The aroma prompted Anna to offer to make breakfast again. Recalling the bag of sugar he'd thrown out, Lu Li didn't object.
Lu Li put on his coat and left the apartment. For once, the morning was not greeted with rain, though the sky remained a uniform, overcast gray.
He put on his hat and stepped onto the street, his feet treading on stone slabs slick with morning dew.
Fifteen minutes later, Lu Li returned with the same provisions as the day before. As he entered, the sound of boiling water drifted from the kitchen.
He went back to the living room to wait. The rich aroma of meat wafted from the kitchen for a full half hour before Anna finally emerged, carrying a steaming pot.
— All done! I promise it’s much better than yesterday. Quick, try some!
Lu Li sat down at the table, ladled some of the stew into his wooden bowl, and scooped up a spoonful. He blew on the hot liquid before bringing it to his lips for a taste.
Just as he did, Anna asked, — By the way, why did you throw away the bag of salt?