The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 306: Old Warm Street

The commotion quickly drew the attention of neighbors and patrolling police officers.

However, the situation didn't have a chance to escalate. Once the homeowner, his neighbor, and the arriving officers realized Anna was a ghost, the uproar died down as if snuffed out.

Lu Li hadn't misread the address, and he was certain the figure in the bird-beak mask wouldn't have made a mistake, but this clearly wasn't her residence. The owner informed Lu Li that the building had no basement.

Without knowing the masked figure's name, Lu Li couldn't press the matter. He left the building under a collection of newly respectful gazes.

Standing on the front steps, Lu Li gazed up at the overcast sky, lost in thought.

He didn't believe the masked figure had deceived him or written the wrong address. So what was he missing?

The search for his "unexpected find" had come up empty. Back at the detective agency a short while later, Lu Li picked up the letter again. Ignoring the original diary entry, his eyes focused on the address in the final line.

Despite the careless handwriting and faint smudges from the rain, the numbers were crisp and clear. There was no mistaking them.

Tapping his fingers on the desk, Lu Li set the letter aside and called JoJo.

Someone answered but told him JoJo wasn't back yet. About half an hour later, the phone rang. It was JoJo, calling from her college.Lu Li immediately asked her about a place called Warm Street.

JoJo replied that there were no other streets with that name, but there were two districts with similar reputations: the Violet District and the Kets District. The residents in both areas were famously close-knit, so people jokingly called them "warm."

This clearly wasn't what Lu Li was looking for.

The masked figure would have simply written the real address instead of using a metaphor.

But there were other possibilities.

For instance, perhaps the masked figure feared someone else might read the letter. In that case, a metaphor would have been necessary.

Weighing the pros and cons, Lu Li decided to visit the districts anyway. He didn't have any other leads at the moment.

The Violet District was in the city center, while the Kets District was in the east, not far from Elm Street. On the way, Lu Li could also check on the house on Elm Street.

Lu Li and Anna, who kept her presence hidden, went to the Violet District first. After a brief visit, they immediately took a carriage to the Kets District.

There was no house number 16 in the Violet District.

In the Kets District, house number 16 existed, but it was an apartment building much like the agency. The unit number didn't match, and it, too, had no basement.

Having found nothing, Lu Li headed to Elm Street to inspect the two houses JoJo had mentioned.

Both were two-story houses. One, located in the middle of the street, belonged to an elderly couple who wanted to move in with their son, feeling they lived too far from the city center.

The second house, on the edge of the street, appeared to be used as a warehouse. Crates and logs of various sizes were stacked against its walls.

It was, in fact, one of the lumberjacks' storehouses.

Each house had its pros and cons. The first was ready to be lived in, with all the necessities already inside; the owners only planned to take their personal belongings. The second, however, was barren, containing only a bed and a table on the second floor, as if it had been abandoned. On the other hand, it had a spacious hall on the first floor, and the second-floor window offered a view of the entire bay and a portion of the cliff on a clear day.

Furthermore, the price was very low—it was the very last house on Elm Street. And though the influence of the Elm Forest didn't quite reach this far, no one wanted to live here.

This wasn't an issue for Lu Li, so it was easy to guess which house he chose.

A short while later, the owner arrived. He was a calculating, middle-aged man who conveniently omitted the secret of the Elm Forest and tried his best to persuade Lu Li to buy the house for a mere 2,900 shillings.

The owner wasn't overcharging; Lu Li simply didn't have that kind of money, nor did he intend to spend nearly 3,000 shillings on it. Instead, Lu Li rented the house for eighty shillings a month.

The owner left the keys and departed. Lu Li stood at the window of the "bedroom" on the second floor and looked out.

Anna materialized beside him, her gaze sweeping over the spartan room with its worn-out bed against the wall and a simple wooden table. With a hint of distaste, she asked, "Are we going to live here?"

"Not for now."

He needed the house as a warehouse—a place to have supplies delivered before transporting them to the cliff.

"For now?" Anna murmured.

"As time goes on, the danger will grow. Sooner or later, we'll have to move to the outskirts."

"Mm-hmm," Anna nodded.

She was prepared for that; she had simply grown attached to the detective agency and couldn't yet get used to the idea of a new place.

"Want to see the cliff?" Lu Li turned to Anna.

"Won't that take long?"

"There's nothing else to do in this weather anyway."

After a moment's thought, Anna nodded.

Without Barton and the caution of their first trip, Lu Li and Anna moved swiftly.

The sorrow and despair hanging in the Elm Forest had grown even stronger, yet they had less of an effect on Lu Li now. The forest had not yet accepted him as one of its own, but it no longer treated him as a complete stranger, either.

With Anna's assistance, they reached the cliff in just over an hour.

While Anna communed with Enni, Lu Li entered the cave. It was still dry inside, with no signs of leakage.

When she returned, Anna joyfully reported that Enni's aura was growing stronger.

They had managed to save Enni.

After speaking with Enni a while longer, Anna reluctantly left the cliff with Lu Li.

An hour and a half later, Lu Li and Anna were back at the detective agency.

In the three hours since they had left, something in the agency had changed.

The sculpture stood behind the door, but its intact arm was now raised, pointing at the telephone on the desk.

"You've come to life?!" Anna exclaimed, addressing the sculpture.

Lu Li walked over to the desk and called the telephone service to ask if there had been any calls.

After getting his answer, Lu Li hung up and dialed JoJo's number.

JoJo had called shortly after they left.

When she answered, JoJo said she had remembered something: there really had been a street called Warm Street, before it burned down.

Somehow, Lu Li felt this was the place.

Asking for more details, Lu Li listened as JoJo explained, "Because of the fire, most of the houses there either burned down or collapsed. Only a few more-or-less intact buildings are left, but they've likely been abandoned for a long time... though maybe some homeless people use them for shelter."

"Where is it?"

"West of the Black Cat District. Just head west from there, and you'll see it."