The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 296: Troubles

The carriage first returned to the waterfront district, then after a brief stop, it carried Lu Li to the Andreis brothers' "Friendship and Love" repair shop in the Snow Quarter.

Perhaps due to the approaching rainy season, the shop was bustling with customers wanting to buy tools and seek advice.

The Alliance employee posing as the shopkeeper was so busy with the customers crowded around the counter that he didn't even have a moment to greet Lu Li.

Lu Li took the elevator hidden behind a wall painting down to the underground base. In the corner stood several wooden buckets collecting leaking water—more than there were yesterday. The hall was empty, as usual. The only person there was another Alliance employee behind the bar in the lounge, polishing glasses.

"A glass of milk," Lu Li requested, taking a seat at the end of the counter.

A sudden chill ran down his spine as Lu Li remembered that Rachel, not Tesla, was in charge of the base this week.

Even so, Lu Li waited a few minutes, finished his milk, and rose to leave.

He decided against the passage through the pipes, instead entering the room Tristan had once shown him. After walking down a long, dark corridor, he saw an old, carved wooden door ahead, illuminated by the dim glow of a lamp.

Opening the door, Lu Li found himself in the True Library. The air was thick with the scent of musty books, and a few people stood by the shelves, quietly turning pages.

Reys recognized Lu Li and gave him a wave.Lu Li asked what had happened since their last meeting, but Reys didn't know the details. He only mentioned that the spirit of defilement hadn't reappeared.

With a slight nod, Lu Li asked him about books dedicated to the forest's emotions.

"That's a rather rare subject... You could try the third bookcase," Reys suggested, pointing to the third unit against the wall. He then pulled an oil lamp from under his desk and offered it to Lu Li.

The library was quite dim, and reading required an additional source of light.

Lu Li went to the third bookcase. This time, the "book ghost" offered no hints, so he had to scan the titles one by one. Twenty minutes later, on page eighty-five of a book titled "Full Encyclopedia of Abnormal Geography," he found a description of the forest's emotions.

Unlike the lame Barton's description, the book referred to the "forest's emotions" as the "forest's consciousness," but the essence remained the same: the forest had developed emotions.

The Spirit Exterminators believed it was connected to the anomalous rain. Shortly before the forest's emotions appeared, it had rained in all those locations.

It was probably the anomalous rain.

Additionally, Lu Li found information about the forest's emotions in another book: the "Survival Guide for Anomaly Zones."

[Do not approach strange forests. You do not know what hides within, or if the forest itself breathes. To enter one carelessly is as foolish as punching a stone.]

[Of course, if you're being pursued by something extremely dangerous, that's another matter.]

Finding these two books with their indirect references took Lu Li nearly an hour.

To learn more, Lu Li's best option was to consult someone who understood the matter.

And for free.

Tesla had given Lu Li his address, so after asking Reys to show him to another exit from the library, Lu Li hired a carriage and headed for the mountains where Tesla's mansion was located.

...

The shores of Agate Lake.

The lake was said to have earned its name from its clear water and the agates that lined its bottom. Others claimed the name came from the way the light played across the lakebed, resembling multicolored agates.

Lu Li saw neither. In the pouring rain, all he could see was the gloomy surface of the water, textured by the constant patter of raindrops.

The carriage drove along the lakeshore, turned onto a road that led to a row of detached mansions, and stopped at number 16.

Getting out of the carriage, Lu Li pressed the doorbell. After a moment, the door opened, and an elderly maid with an umbrella appeared in the warmly lit doorway. She descended the steps, and approaching the gate, asked Lu Li:

"I'm Lu Li, a colleague of Tesla's."

"Please wait," the old maid said before returning to the house. She soon reemerged, followed by Tesla, who was holding an umbrella.

The maid opened the gate, letting Lu Li into the yard. Tesla offered a friendly smile. "Let me guess... You have a new question?"

"Yes."

"I thought as much. Come in."

Tesla chuckled and led Lu Li into the house.

The bright, warm light and the logs burning in the fireplace quickly warmed the chilled Lu Li. To his surprise, the inside of Tesla's mansion was not as luxurious as its exterior suggested. On the contrary, the decor was quite cozy.

"And where is your assistant?"

"I came from the investigators' base. It's no place for her," Lu Li replied, taking off his cloak and handing it to the elderly maid who was waiting nearby. After thanking her, he continued, "Is Adamfuya resting?"

Tesla nodded slightly and sat down with Lu Li on the sofa near the fireplace. "Adamfuya is still resting."

Adamfuya was Tesla's wife. If Lu Li wasn't mistaken, she, like Anna, was a ghost.

Lu Li got straight to the point:

"Do you know about the forest's emotions?"

"The emotions that linger in the forest? Of course. We conducted a lot of research when they first appeared."

The elderly maid brought two cups of hot coffee and then retreated to the kitchen. The two men were left alone in the spacious hall, warming themselves by the fireplace.

"And what was the result?" Lu Li asked.

"You just need to be careful. They gained their emotions from the anomalous rain, but they aren't capable of thought. The main thing is not to attack the Overlord Trees... Since you're asking about the forest's emotions, you probably already know what the Overlord Trees are."

"Yes."

Tesla didn't ask why Lu Li needed to know, and simply told him everything he knew about the forest's emotions.

Once he had a clear understanding of the situation, Lu Li asked another question:

"Is there any news about the letter with the source of the contagion that was sent to headquarters?"

"Headquarters hasn't responded yet," Tesla said, looking a bit puzzled. "By all rights, they should have finished their analysis by now."

"Maybe something happened?"

"We would have received a message if that were the case," Tesla said, shaking his head. "Something has probably delayed them. You know how our situation is getting more and more complicated..."

A few minutes later, Lu Li left Tesla's mansion. After buying some groceries at the market, he returned to the detective agency.

Anna took the groceries and went into the kitchen. Her cheerful voice drifted out from the other room. "As soon as the rainy season is over, we can bring Enni here. She's an elm, you know, and that forest is full of..."

Knock-knock-knock.

A knock at the door interrupted her.

A neighbor came in and told Lu Li that the telephone had been ringing for a long time after he left that morning.

Lu Li thanked him and, after getting the caller's number from the telephone exchange, made a return call.

"Who are you calling for?"

A moment later, the call connected, and Aunt Mary's voice came from the receiver.

"This is Lu Li. My neighbor said you called several times."

"Lu Li, it's you!" Mary's voice suddenly grew anxious.

"You have to come to Khimfast, quickly! The tree... Enni is dying!"