The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 244: Investigator Weekly

[We have mitigated the distortions in the text and images related to the subject matter as much as possible. Most of the information is safe, but some residual effects may persist. Reading may lead to a temporary decrease in your Mind Level or brief hallucinations. These adverse effects will fade within a few hours or a day. If you experience significant discomfort while reading, stop immediately and contact us.]

[The decrease in Mind Level caused by the information in this newspaper is genuine and irreversible. However, there is no need for alarm; the decline is extremely slow and generally becomes barely noticeable only after reading more than a hundred issues.]

The first things to catch the eye were two warnings, written in plain, dispassionate language.

The newspaper was printed on ordinary paper—the Investigators could not yet afford the luxury of using enchanted paper for consumables. In the current climate, where knowledge was tantamount to madness, the ability to read a relatively safe newspaper was no small comfort.

As with the regular newspapers, the main topic of the Investigator Weekly was the Kodasserlsen, but this one contained far more information that was never meant for the public eye.

For instance, the true reason for the Kodasserlsen's disappearance and the loss of contact with the Fallow Lands.

The headline sent an inexplicable shiver through him, filling his heart with an indescribable sense of dread and anxiety.

[The Time for the Stars to Return Has Come].

After a moment's hesitation, Lu Li skipped the article and turned to the weather forecast at the back of the paper first.

It listed the Allen Peninsula and the main cities of the continent with a week's forecast, but what followed the city names were not ordinary weather phenomena.Or, more accurately, not what an ordinary person would understand as weather.

Belfast: Night Without Light; Rain of Change.

This was the forecast for Belfast. It was worth noting that "Night Without Light" was present in the forecast for every single city, without exception.

"Rain of Change" was listed for more than half of the cities, while "Strange Fog" was the rarest, appearing for only two neighboring coastal cities.

If "Night Without Light" signified the Night Calamity, then "Rain of Change" and "Strange Fog" must have referred to two other such disasters.

Lu Li recalled the incident at the art gallery: a bell had tolled over Belfast as a strange fog rolled in from the sea, blanketing the city. The light had grown dim, nearly extinguished, and it was as if creatures had begun to emerge in the fog-shrouded, darkened streets.

Perhaps that was the "Strange Fog"?

This was less a weather forecast and more a prophecy of the apocalypse.

Following that was an inconspicuous report stating that the number of anomalies on the Allen Peninsula had increased by 14.3% compared to the previous month. After glancing over it, Lu Li turned back to the story on the Kodasserlsen.

[The Time for the Stars to Return Has Come]

Things are far more serious than we thought.

Charles, the others, and I have been here for three weeks. The strange fog still shrouds the Fallow Lands and the surrounding waters, preventing any approach. We can constantly hear strange sounds emanating from the fog, and they never cease.

Two days ago, I saw warships from the Lennon Archipelago passing by. They paid no heed to our warnings. It seems those people from their sheltered lands have absolutely no grasp of the situation's gravity. They sailed into the fog and vanished, just as the Kodasserlsen did before them.

I hope none of our colleagues were on board.

When Valentine went back for supplies, I had him look up information on the Fallow Lands and its history. And you know what I discovered? Evil gods have never appeared in the Fallow Lands.

We all know that evil gods are ubiquitous. Belief conjures them from the void, poisoning the minds of mortals.

But in the Fallow Lands, there hasn't been a single report of an evil god's domain ever being discovered.

We used to believe it was because the natives of the Fallow Lands lacked the necessary culture. But now, allow me to propose a bold hypothesis: perhaps there is a deeper reason. Could it be that something far more terrifying than evil gods exists in this land, something that forces them to keep their distance?

I learned something interesting from the materials Valentine brought back. For example, a long time ago, the inhabitants of the Fallow Lands worshipped certain beings, but for some reason, those beings suddenly vanished. Occasionally, people would claim to hear their whispers, but they would invariably go mad or disappear soon after.

A powerful sense of déjà vu, isn't it?

The last group of locals who still remembered them left a record, declaring that when the stars returned to their rightful places, these beings would return as well.

I'm not saying that "the time for the stars to return" is now, but there certainly seems to be a connection here. If anyone is interested, I suggest reading up on the history of the Fallow Lands.

Agent Finsen, Senior Investigator Charles, and Valentine, reporting.

And with that, the article ended.

As Lu Li read, the Mind Level counter on his wrist remained silent—knowledge was not within its range of sensitivity.

The article left many questions unanswered. Considering that Finsen had arrived in the Fallow Lands three weeks ago, and Lu Li was reading the most recent issue, this was to be expected.

Just as Lu Li had suspected, the loss of contact with the Fallow Lands and the disappearance of the Kodasserlsen were connected to anomalies.

Lu Li pulled a clean sheet of paper from a drawer and jotted down a few keywords: Night Without Light, Rain of Change, Strange Fog, beliefs of the Isle of Gaze natives.

When the Trader next appeared, he would try to get information about these keywords.

Picking up the paper again, Lu Li moved on to the second story.

[The Eijin Tragedy Revealed]

The evil god's cultists who had been terrorizing Eijin were eliminated on Saturday night. The Investigators handling the case have since left the town, leaving the rest of the work to the Alliance and the Night's Watch.

Currently, aside from thirty-seven townspeople who avoided being sacrificed in a basement and a pair of siblings who hid in an attic, no other survivors have been found in Eijin.

The trail of the evil god's cultists leads to the mainland. The first worshipper came from the interior, settling in Eijin to recruit followers. Once their numbers had grown, they sacrificed the entire town. The Investigators' organization has launched an inquiry into the incident.

While reading the article, Lu Li consulted a map and his geography guides. Eijin was a small town in the central part of the Allen Peninsula, roughly one hundred and fifty kilometers from Belfast, with a population of around one thousand.

Only thirty-nine residents survived.

The deaths of over a thousand people had taken place a mere one hundred and fifty kilometers from Belfast.

After a moment of silence, Lu Li continued to read.

[Innsmouth: Strange figures seen moving along the shore at night. Tracks resembling flipper prints discovered at dawn.]

[Belfast: A man-eating house has appeared on Elm Street. After someone enters, chewing sounds are heard, and a short time later, their clothes, shoes, and other items are ejected from the house.]

[Zenster: A whirlpool dozens of meters in diameter appeared in the port, vanishing seconds later. As it happened during the day, no vessels were caught in the vortex.]

The various anomalies that had occurred across the Allen Peninsula in the past week were presented as news briefs, allowing readers to get a clear picture of the events unfolding around them.

All in all, the Investigator Weekly was well worth the price.

If only it were a little cheaper, it would be perfect.