The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 298: Taking Enni

Three figures left Mery's house and got into the carriage.

Inside the carriage, Mery told Anna and Lu Li what had happened after they left.

It had happened early that morning, or perhaps sometime during the night. When Mery arrived at the estate an hour after dawn, as usual, the old gatekeeper rushed to tell her that something was wrong with the elm. Mery hurried to the tree and discovered the ground beneath it littered with fallen branches.

Enni was losing her branches.

Mery had tried to contact Lu Li and Anna, but at the time, they were in the Elm Forest with old man Barton. So she had turned to old Henry for help.

The old man, who had just received the shocking news of his son's death the day before, was ill, yet he had still agreed to help. After examining the tree, old Henry's diagnosis was grim: "The elm is withering away."

Old Henry explained that this had been happening quite often lately and was almost inevitable. He couldn't stop the tree from dying.

By the time Mery finished her account, the carriage had reached the estate, pulling to a stop before its dark, unlit gates.

A gatekeeper emerged from his lodge, holding an oil lamp, and swung the gates open for them.

They approached Enni. Her damp trunk gleamed in the lamp's dim light. Just as Mery had described, the ground was strewn with sodden branches, while the trunk itself was nearly bare, looking like a tree in the dead of winter.Standing before the tree, Lu Li turned his gaze to Anna.

She floated up from the ground and, in the faint glow of the oil lamp, pressed her forehead against the cold trunk.

A moment of silence passed, and then, cutting through the sound of the rain, came her soft whisper. "I can feel her... It’s very faint... like a candle flame flickering in the wind... She’s answering me..."

Anna's voice faded. As Lu Li and Mery watched, she gently stroked the rough trunk and murmured, "I’m sorry. I can’t help you."

"Take her," Lu Li said abruptly.

Two startled gazes snapped toward him. Lu Li continued, "Take her back to the Elm Forest."

Anna immediately understood what Lu Li had in mind.

"You want to..."

Lu Li gave a slight nod and turned to Mery. "Mery, please send for old Henry."

"He doesn't have a telephone," Mery replied. She didn't understand their conversation, but it was obvious they had a plan. "I'll go get him."

Anna opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated before whispering, "Please, be careful..."

Mery offered her a gentle smile, the kind an older sister gives a younger one, and headed toward the gate.

After watching the small point of light disappear, Anna turned back to Lu Li, her voice laced with anxiety. "Will it work?... They’re all just waiting for death in despair."

"It's better than staying here."

"Yes..."

Nearly half an hour later, a noise came from the gate, and the small bobbing light drew near again.

Mery was back, accompanied by old Henry and a few young gardeners.

"They'll help us dig Enni up," Mery explained to Lu Li. Anna had already vanished at the sight of the strangers.

Lu Li nodded and met old Henry's gaze. The old gardener was watching him with a complicated expression, clearly burdened with questions. Lu Li knew what he wanted to ask. "I'll tell you later," he said. "First, we have to move the elm. We need to make sure it survives the journey to Belfast."

"I can't guarantee that," old Henry replied, setting his own questions aside for the moment. "She’s already withering and could pass at any time."

"Then just make sure the journey isn't what kills her."

"Alright."

Old Henry called the young gardeners over and instructed them where to dig so as not to damage the roots. He then sent two of them to the long carriage waiting outside the gate to fetch a large wooden box.

The light from a few oil lamps barely pushed back the darkness as the gardeners began their work with their spades. Standing next to Lu Li, old Henry watched them for a moment before speaking. "Can you tell me now... what killed my son?"

"He was most likely killed by a vengeful spirit."

Old Henry fell silent. He looked frail and solitary under the falling rain. "The police said he died helping people..."

In a sense, the police weren't wrong.

This seemed to be the moment to offer comfort to the grieving old man, but Lu Li offered none. He remained silent.

Fortunately, Mery was nearby to comfort the old man in his grief.

A wide trench was dug around the elm. The gardeners brought over the large wooden box from the carriage—it was big enough to hold several people with ease. They carefully lifted the elm's root ball and surrounding earth, placing it inside the box before covering it with a perforated lid.

Just as they were about to load the boxed elm onto the carriage, old Henry stopped them. He had them pack the remaining space in the box with soil to protect the roots from the jolts of the journey.

Once that was done, the gardeners lifted the box again and were surprised to find it was somehow lighter. They couldn't figure out why, but they quickly loaded it onto the long carriage and braced it securely.

Only a small portion of its canopy peeked out from the carriage bed. Thanks to her modest size, Enni was easy to transport. Had she been larger and more sprawling, they would have needed to prune her branches.

With the work done, old Henry and the gardeners departed. When Lu Li asked about payment, Mery smiled. "I'll take care of it. Consider it a small contribution to help Anna."

They were in a hurry, so Mery didn't keep them. She held on to the carriage Lu Li had arrived in, explaining that Khimfast had a branch of the same rental company where she could return it the next day.

As they were preparing to leave, Lu Li turned to Mery. After a moment's thought, he asked her, "Do you have any friends who are exorcists?"

Mery nodded. "Yes. In fact, she’s the one who told me about the Investigators and the Night's Watch."

"Is she trustworthy?"

"She's a good friend of mine," Mery replied, puzzled by Lu Li's line of questioning.

Lu Li nodded. "Spend the next few days with her. If you can, you should stay at her home. If anything happens, she can get you out of the city quickly."

A flicker of understanding crossed Mery's face. "Is something about to happen?"

"Not yet."

"Yet? What do you mean by 'yet'?"

"Exactly what it means."

"The anomalies are spreading," Anna explained for Lu Li. "More than a hundred thousand people have already died in Zenster. Something terrible is happening."

Mery froze, her lips parted slightly. She found it hard to believe, but she knew in her gut that Anna and Lu Li wouldn't lie to her.

"And you two..."

"We've already found a safe place. Don't worry about us," Anna said, forcing a smile to mask the sadness in her eyes.

A sorrow for the state of the world.

Mery asked hesitantly, "Can I tell my family and friends?"

"Yes," Lu Li answered.

News like this couldn't be kept secret for long. Soon, everyone would know. It was better for Mery and her loved ones to find out early and begin to prepare.

"I understand," Mery nodded, her eyes fixed on Anna and Lu Li in the carriage.

"Travel safely. I'll see you again."