The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 218: Assimilation

“Grrr...”

The toothy shadow, a creature that defied easy description, let out an unintelligible mumble and shuffled back to its desk. From a drawer that looked more like a rubbish bin, it pulled out a small metal plate and held it out to Lu Li.

Lu Li took it. He had seen one just like it in the morgue.

But this wasn’t enough.

A metal plate the shadow considered trash in exchange for a prosthetic that could change its life—the deal was clearly not in Lu Li’s favor.

Although, to Lu Li, the prosthetic was also trash—and not even his own.

So, after tucking the seal-like token into his pocket, Lu Li extended his hand again.

“Grrr!”

The shadow grew agitated, emitting a series of wet, sticky gurgles. Its muttering then became mournful as it reluctantly dragged itself back to the desk. From the drawer, it retrieved a metal box it seemed to have cherished for a long time. After opening the lid and gazing inside with a sorrowful air, the shadow returned to the doorway and presented the box to Lu Li.

Lu Li’s eyes fell upon its contents.It was a box... of droppings.

The black pellets lying in the metal box gave off a foul odor, strong enough to cut through the pervasive stench of fish.

Lu Li took the box, closed the lid, and put it away.

If a prosthetic limb could be useful, then so could a box of droppings.

It could be given to the scavenger shadow, for example.

...

Lu Li returned to the morgue.

Placing the box in a locker by the door, he walked over to the one where he remembered seeing the token and retrieved a seal identical to the one the deformed shadow had given him.

Wiping the black substance from the seal, Lu Li could make out an engraving. The grime inside the lines was impossible to remove completely, but he could distinguish the image of a shark’s head.

The only difference between the two seals was their color: the one from the morgue was red, while the one from the shadow was green.

If they followed the primary colors, or perhaps the colors of the rainbow, did that mean there was one—or five—more of them to find?

The seals were easy enough to carry, so Lu Li slipped them both into his pocket.

He now had six “items” in his possession: two seals, the shoe and hair from the morgue, the pocket watch from the whale-shadow, the box of droppings from the deformed shadow, and the brass key from the drawer.

It seemed the seals would only be useful as a complete set. The watch could be given to a shadow that needed it. The same went for the shoe. The purpose of the hair and the droppings was unclear, and the brass key could probably open a locked door somewhere.

The next logical step, then, was to find “buyers” for the watch and the shoe.

Lu Li fastened the watch to his wrist and, retrieving the large leather boot from its locker, left the morgue.

One of the locked compartments remained untouched.

As for how to use the two items, Lu Li had a simple but effective plan: check every single room.

This would help him determine the purpose of each cabin.

Besides, in any escape room, collecting all available items and information was paramount.

His status as a repairman allowed Lu Li to move about freely—at least in the designated areas, like the lower deck.

The first open door Lu Li came across led to the cabin of the octopus-shadow. It mumbled indistinctly, asking what he wanted.

Lu Li showed it the watch and the boot, and the octopus-shadow seemed to understand. It waved its tentacles and muttered something.

It had seven or eight tentacles, so a single pair of shoes was hardly enough—unless Lu Li could find three more pairs.

The door closed, and Lu Li moved on.

He continued down the corridor, knocking on every door. Some were locked and yielded no response. Others were locked, but he could hear irritated muttering from within.

His targets were the shadows that didn’t lock their doors or that opened them at his knock, as well as any rooms the brass key might unlock.

The second door that opened for Lu Li led to the shark-shadow’s cabin.

“Grrr!” it snarled angrily.

Lu Li raised his crowbar, identifying himself, and the snarl softened into a confused rumble.

Standing in the doorway, Lu Li scanned the cabin under the pretense of an inspection, and his gaze landed on something in the corner.

A metal cabinet stood there, coated in the same black substance as everything else, with the engraving of a shark on its door.

This shark had three heads, but they were currently missing, leaving only their outlines.

Lu Li took the two seals from his pocket.

“Grrr!” The shadow lunged toward him. Lu Li felt a sharp sting on his cheek, like a paper cut, and his pupils contracted. The shark-shadow snatched the seals and rushed to the metal cabinet, inserting them into the empty slots.

The seals fit perfectly, forming a two-headed shark, but one head was still missing.

“Grrr...” the shark-shadow mumbled in disappointment. It turned back to Lu Li and said something that sounded like, “If you find the last seal, be sure to bring it to me.”

Seeing that it had no intention of offering him anything in return, Lu Li turned and walked away.

The shark-shadow was not something he could handle.

He would return when he found the final seal.

Next was the galley door. Lu Li bypassed it—the “galley” likely served no further purpose. But if he still had unused items after exploring the entire lower deck, he would check it just in case.

He knocked on the next door, and chewing sounds came from within. A moment later, the door swung open.

A short shadow, barely reaching Lu Li’s waist, stood in the doorway, a wrench in its hand.

Behind it, four more identical small shadows were in the room.

He had found the repairmen’s cabin.

To them, he must have looked like a giant.

“Grrr!” the small shadow chittered happily.

Lu Li held up the shoe and the watch.

“Grrr?” the shadow mumbled in confusion.

Lu Li glanced around the cabin. The empty room was bare, with the child-sized shadows crawling on the floor, clutching their tools.

It seemed they had nothing to offer in trade.

Lu Li silently took the doorknob and, pulling the door shut from the outside, moved on to the next room.

Shortly after he left, the door creaked open again, and several small heads peeked out, their gazes curiously following Lu Li’s retreating figure.

Lu Li turned into another corridor and knocked on the first door.

There was no answer. Lu Li tried the handle and found the door locked.

Just as he had done before, he took out the brass key and inserted it into the lock.

Click.

The lock turned with a sharp snap, a sound distinct from the grating protest of the previous doors.

The door was open.