The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 266: The Vengeful Spirit's Retreat

"Because you're not human," replied Lu Li.

A voice full of malice called out from the alley, "I am human."

"No."

At the edge of the alley, under the dim glow of a streetlamp, a pale, blood-soaked face appeared. The woman with disheveled hair stared at Lu Li and rasped, "I am human!"

"No," Lu Li repeated calmly.

After a short silence, the woman's head began to turn unnaturally. It first straightened, then continued its rotation. Soon, her chin was pointing to the sky, the back of her head to the ground. The head kept spinning, and a question drifted from the alley: "...How do you know I'm not human?..."

"Humans can't live in darkness," Lu Li answered.

The rotation stopped for a moment, then resumed. The woman's neck, hidden in the darkness, twisted like a rope. "...If I'm not human, will you not save me?..."

"I will."

The head froze again, then resumed spinning like a wind-up toy. "...Why didn't you save me?...""If you weren't human," Lu Li replied, "a few men couldn't have restrained you."

The woman's eyes, fixed and steady on her rotating head, locked onto Anna. "...Another one like me... Why are you with a human?..."

Anna flinched. Fearing her secret would be exposed, she unconsciously began to radiate her aura, all while stealing a glance at Lu Li.

Lu Li looked at the head at the mouth of the alley. "That's none of your business."

"You damned clever man..." the head hissed, its malicious gaze locked on Lu Li, and then it disappeared into the alley's darkness.

No further sound came from the alley. After a moment, the oppressive malice that had been pouring from it began to fade. The vengeful spirit was leaving.

"It's leaving," Anna whispered, still on guard.

"Can you attack it?" Lu Li asked, turning to her.

This vengeful spirit was a valuable find. Information about it could be useful, and destroying it would yield an additional reward and empower his spirit pistol.

Anna shook her head. "I don't think I'm a match for it..."

"Alright, then."

Lu Li watched in silence as the malice faded, until it had vanished completely. Then he tugged the reins, and the clatter of hooves once more broke the silence of the empty street.

The carriage moved away, leaving the dark alley behind.

Beneath the streetlamp, a chill lingered on an abandoned tarpaulin.

...

"Where have you two been?" Mery asked when Lu Li and Anna returned. The sound of their arrival had woken her.

Or perhaps she hadn't slept since they left.

"The estate," Lu Li answered curtly.

A smile flashed in Mery's eyes. She looked at Anna. "Did you sneak off to visit home?"

Anna was terrible at hiding her feelings, and Mery quickly understood that wasn't the case.

"Or did you find something?" she asked, recalling Lu Li's profession.

Before Mery could develop her theory further, Lu Li explained, "Something like that. We want to bring Anna's sister here."

"Her sister?... You mean the tree?"

"Yes."

"Of course. I know just the gardener. Anna, do you remember Old Henry? He used to work at the estate, but retired after the plants stopped growing."

"Yes... Please, then, Aunt Mary."

This time, Mery didn't hold Anna back, but she still made her feel awkward, following them with her eyes until she and Lu Li had disappeared into their room.

Back in their room, Lu Li set the oil lamp on the table. Anna carefully wiped the fogged glass chimney. Lu Li pulled two small wooden boxes from his pocket, opening them one by one to inspect their contents. He put away the one containing the eye.

He left the box containing a piece of decaying flesh on the table and opened the window.

There was no smell, but the sight of mold on the flesh was unsettling.

"Won't the crow get sick from eating that?" Anna asked curiously.

"Crows are scavengers."

"But they can still get sick if they eat something spoiled."

"Are you suggesting that what the Traders sell could harm the crows?"

"Hmm... Right," Anna decided not to puzzle over it any further.

The minute hand of the alarm clock ticked by. Three minutes later, the familiar sound of beating wings came from outside the window.

A crow flew into the room through the open window and perched on the sill.

The bird had arrived very quickly.

Lu Li silently looked at Anna, not moving.

Fifteen minutes later, the wind carried the sound of wings, and another crow landed on the table.

Anna gasped softly. Lu Li removed the capsule from the crow's leg—it was empty.

The second crow, drawn by the scent of rotting flesh, hopped toward the box and began to peck at it with its sharp beak.

"Send this information to the local Investigators' branch," Lu Li said, getting up to close the window. He tore a page from his notebook and started writing down everything that had happened in the alley.

At any other time, Anna might have wanted to feed the crow, but right now, something else was bothering her.

She was desperate to know the answer.

"That vengeful spirit's ritual seemed rather simple," Anna remarked casually.

"Not necessarily," Lu Li replied, without looking up from his writing.

"But you made it retreat so easily, with just a few words..." Anna said, confused.

"It left because of you."

"Because of me?..." Anna froze, startled.

"You sensed we were caught in its ritual, and that gave me the idea," Lu Li paused, finished a line of writing, and continued, "Otherwise, I might have made the wrong move, like trying to drive away or attempting to help."

It seemed that either of those actions would have sprung the vengeful spirit's trap, with disastrous consequences.

Anna suddenly understood. That's why Lu Li hadn't acted as he normally would—he always either left or fled.

"So because we didn't run and didn't try to help, we passed its ritual in the end?"

"Possibly."

Anna didn't understand why Lu Li was uncertain.

"The thing is," he explained, "I don't know if we actually passed the ritual, or if your presence prevented it from attacking."

Vengeful spirits, while weaker than evil spirits, retain vestiges of their humanity, which makes them unpredictable. To put it another way: a machine follows its programming, but a human being does not.

"That sounds hopeless..." Anna murmured, imagining what would happen to an ordinary person in that situation. You couldn't run, you couldn't help, and you couldn't stand by and do nothing...

However...

She stole a glance at Lu Li. It seemed he still hadn't realized that she was a vengeful spirit.

Anna breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing that spirit hadn't exposed her.

Meanwhile, Lu Li finished writing his account of what had happened. After a moment of thought, he added one more line at the bottom:

[Requesting reimbursement for the purchase of rotten meat used as crow bait]