novelraw Chapter 280: Entry
Chapter 280: Entry
No one would have done that.
No one would try to communicate with an anomaly.
That was why the Night's Watch couldn't comprehend what had just happened. All they saw was Lu Li, a gray figure in the rain, touch the wall, stand motionless for a moment, and then return to the street.
“I don’t know what you were doing, but it seems to have been unsuccessful,” Plis said, approaching Lu Li.
Lu Li nodded, not elaborating. “How long will it take to get the tools?”
“They’ll be ready soon,” Plis replied. “It won’t take much longer.”
“But first, could you tell us what we’re going to do?”
“Find a ladder,” Lu Li said.
Petra's bedroom and study were on the second floor, which was the most likely location for the cursed antique book.
He planned to locate the book and use the tools to retrieve it.Assuming, of course, that the anomaly’s consciousness didn't interfere.
The Night's Watch quickly borrowed a wooden ladder from a neighbor and propped it against the bedroom window. As Lu Li began to climb, none of them tried to stop him—this was an investigator's job.
Plis and the others held the ladder steady. No one looked up except for Metty, who squinted through the downpour, watching as Lu Li’s blurred figure reached the top and approached the second-floor window.
Lu Li tried to open the window, but it wouldn't budge—it was locked from the inside.
The roar of the rain drowned out any faint sounds coming from behind the glass.
“Let me,” Anna’s voice offered.
“No, don’t get any closer,” Lu Li stopped her. It was impossible to know if the anomaly would attack a ghost.
“I won’t take that risk, and neither should you.”
“Alright...”
Wiping his hand across the glass, Lu Li managed to glimpse the bedroom’s interior through the curtain of rain, but a second later, the streaming water made the pane opaque again.
He could only make out the general shapes of the room: a bed, a table, a bookshelf. Finer details were impossible to discern.
After several more futile attempts, Lu Li gave up and climbed back down the ladder.
As his rubber boots touched the ground, Lu Li noticed a member of the Night's Watch hurrying away, though the total number of people in the group remained unchanged.
Lu Li watched the figure disappear into the rain. “What happened?”
“An investigator has entered Elm Street and is heading this way,” Plis answered.
Metty had already warned Lu Li about this, but he hadn't expected the investigator to arrive so quickly.
“I see,” Lu Li replied, then turned to Anna. “Conceal your aura so he doesn’t notice you.”
“Understood.”
Just as Lu Li finished speaking, Plis asked, “What did you see?”
“Nothing is visible. Let’s hope this senior investigator has an idea.”
After a short wait under the eaves, they spotted a figure with an umbrella approaching through the distant sheet of rain.
The stranger wore an old-fashioned woolen coat that reached nearly to his ankles and a dark gray felt hat. Above his high-bridged nose, the tips of a waxed mustache curled upward, and he held a cane in his right hand.
He looked like a classic detective.
As the middle-aged man drew closer, he introduced himself. “Thomas. Rudolf Thomas, Senior Investigator.”
He spoke with a peculiar, theatrical intonation.
It was a manner of speaking usually heard among the upper class.
“Plis, captain of the seventy-eighth squad of the Night's Watch,” Plis introduced himself.
“Lu Li,” Lu Li said simply.
“I know of you. I’ve read the reports on your cases,” Thomas said with a smile, looking Lu Li up and down. He clapped him on the shoulder. “Excellent work, young man. I doubt even I could have handled them so well and so neatly.”
Thomas's familiarity and patronizing tone slightly irritated Plis, but Lu Li remained silent.
“What else have you learned about these ‘man-eating houses’? Anything not in the file?” Thomas asked in his strange voice.
Lu Li nodded. “After the house ‘eats’ something, it spits out the clothes. The contamination primarily affects interior objects: cups, floors, doors. Books and clothing seem immune. For now, we can assume only furniture is affected.”
“Valuable information. And so...” Thomas trailed off, his gaze shifting to the other side of the street.
Several members of the Night's Watch were hurrying toward them with an assortment of tools, including a long fishing rod.
“What is all this?” he asked, surprised.
“Tools to retrieve the antique book without going inside,” Plis explained.
“We won’t be needing those. I brought an anomaly that can handle this house... Help me, if you please.” He handed his umbrella to a member of the Night's Watch and pulled an old musical box and a pair of earplugs from his pocket.
Thomas took the umbrella back and, handing over his cane, shook the box. “Here it is. I’m about to start it. Cover your ears unless you want to fall asleep.”
Lu Li was the first to press his hands to his ears.
Plis followed his lead, and the rest of the Night's Watch did the same.
Thomas walked to the door, peered inside, put the earplugs in his own ears, and wound up the musical box.
In the ensuing silence, Lu Li watched the small figure on the box begin to rotate. He thought he could hear a strange melody, but when he tried to focus on it, there was nothing.
A few seconds later, Thomas turned and mouthed the words, “It’s done.”
Lu Li lowered his hands and heard one of the Night's Watch members murmur, “I think the anomaly’s aura has weakened.”
Plis glanced at Lu Li, who nodded. “Its consciousness is very faint. It seems to be asleep.”
“Any creature that hears this music box falls asleep for half an hour. That should be enough for us,” Thomas said, pocketing the box. He turned to Lu Li. “Let’s go inside.”
“After you,” Lu Li replied.
Thomas smiled, nodded, and then called out to the Night's Watch, “Are you coming with us?”
“If necessary,” Plis answered.
“Then don’t bother,” Thomas said with a wave of his hand and strolled into the house as if he were taking a walk in a garden.
Despite his odd manner of speaking and overbearing familiarity, he projected an air of confidence.
Plis and the others watched with apprehension. Once inside, Thomas turned back and spread his arms, showing that he was perfectly fine.
Lu Li waited at the entrance for another ten seconds or so. Nothing happened. The door didn’t slam shut, and no sudden tentacles snatched Thomas away. After a moment’s thought, he turned to Anna. “Stay outside. Don’t come in until the anomaly wakes up.”
With that, Lu Li stepped into the man-eating house.