The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 308: The Basement

Whispers and the sound of rhythmic breathing drifted from behind the wooden door.

"Aren't we going down?" Anna whispered, as if afraid to disturb someone in the basement.

"Her instructions were to hand the items over to an investigator, not to retrieve them ourselves."

Lu Li walked back to the table, picked up the oil lamp, and left the Masked Figure's house.

Back on the street, Lu Li navigated the alleyways winding through the ruins until he reached the neighboring Theory Quarter. He stepped into a faded red telephone booth and dialed a number.

For a long time, there was no answer. At last, just as his breath began to fog the glass of the booth, a sleepy woman's voice drifted from the receiver. "Who is this?"

It was Rachel, the head of the Belfast Investigators.

She was on duty at the headquarters this week.

"It's Lu Li."

"...Ah, yes. I remember. The black diamond, right?"Ignoring the odd nickname, Lu Li told her about the Masked Figure's letter and the basement in her house.

"Alright... I understand what you mean. Can you bring it here?" The voice on the line was still drowsy. It was easy to imagine an elegant woman lounging on a velvet bed, carelessly holding the receiver.

"No," Lu Li replied.

"I see... Then I'll come myself. Now where did my shoes get to...?" Rachel sighed, followed by a faint grumble before she hung up.

Lu Li replaced the receiver and, suddenly sensing something, turned his head.

"Was that a woman?" Anna asked from the cramped booth, her tone casual.

"Yes."

"Is she beautiful?"

"Yes."

Anna fell silent, unsure what to say.

Stepping out of the booth, Lu Li felt a blast of cold air. He opened his umbrella and returned to the awning of number 16 Old Warm Street to wait for Rachel.

Perhaps the matter wasn't urgent. Perhaps Rachel had drifted back to sleep after the call, or perhaps she was simply taking her time. In any case, it was a full hour before the sound of an approaching carriage broke the silence.

A luxurious carriage, emblazoned with a family crest, pulled up to the house. A servant in a black tailcoat opened an umbrella, swung open the carriage door, and bowed slightly, waiting for a pale hand to emerge from within.

A hand extended, but instead of waiting for assistance, Rachel emerged from the carriage on her own.

She was dressed in a lavish, calf-length gown, as if heading to a ball rather than out into the dreary weather, to the desolate ruins of the street, to enter a grim, abandoned house and descend into its murky basement.

Her heels clicked twice as her feet touched the ground. She took the umbrella from the servant.

"Hmmph," came an indistinct noise from beside Lu Li.

"Wait here for us," Rachel told the servant, her eyes narrowing as she glanced at the empty space beside Lu Li.

"My assistant," Lu Li clarified, understanding her gaze.

"Hmph."

Rachel gave a slight toss of her head and followed Lu Li into the house.

When they reached the closet door, Lu Li stopped. "What you're looking for is inside."

Rachel grasped the handle and opened the door. Another blast of cold air washed out, carrying with it the sound of whispers. Unfazed, she wiped her hand with a handkerchief and then held it out to Lu Li.

Lu Li placed the handle of the oil lamp into her pale palm.

Rachel took the lamp and stepped toward the basement.

"Be careful," Lu Li said suddenly. When Rachel turned back to look at him, he added, "You're in heels."

Rachel just gave him a careless smirk and descended into the basement.

Lu Li waited at the entrance, watching the lamplight in her hand and listening to the sound of her footsteps recede down the stairs until both vanished from sight.

Only a faint light from the room behind him reached the top of the stairs.

The silence stretched for nearly half a minute, then was shattered by a piercing scream that echoed up from the basement before fading away.

A few seconds later, Rachel reappeared, now holding something in her other hand.

As she drew closer, Lu Li saw that she was carrying a strange wooden figurine of an animal, its mouth agape as if frozen in a silent scream of terror.

"The rest is yours."

Rachel ascended the last few steps, returned the lamp to Lu Li, tossed out the remark with a smirk, and strode out of the house.

The unsettling breathing and whispers from the basement had vanished.

Lu Li glanced out the window and saw Rachel step into her carriage, which then turned and drove off into the gloom.

"She seems very powerful..." Anna murmured, materializing beside him.

"Perhaps."

It was difficult to gauge an exorcist's true power. People were fragile, and exorcists were no exception. They had no special defenses, no extra lives. Their capabilities depended entirely on the Anomalies they possessed and the knowledge they wielded.

An Anomaly was typically only effective against a narrow range of entities it could directly harm.

An exorcist's true power lay in knowledge. After all, when faced with a creature that could kill with a single touch, knowing what it was mattered far more than anything else.

Take the Shadow that Steals Fire, for instance. It snuffs out all light, plunging its victims into hopeless darkness. But if you know what it is, you only need to step on its shadow to make it retreat.

Trying to break down the door is always the most foolish and time-consuming path. A clever person looks for the key—or simply picks the lock.

An unpleasant chill still lingered in the basement. Perhaps it was the residual aura of the Anomaly Rachel had removed, or perhaps something else remained. But since Rachel hadn't seemed concerned, whatever was left posed no danger to him.

Holding the lamp, Lu Li descended into the basement. The air grew colder with every step.

Stepping onto the stone floor, Lu Li surveyed the room and lit the candles in a few nearby holders.

The dim glow of the candles and the lamp pushed back some of the gloom, partially illuminating the basement.

The basement was small, with a low ceiling from which hung a defunct chandelier.

Lu Li walked over to a writing desk. Something in the corner of it caught his eye.

It was a black-covered diary, coated in a thick layer of dust. An inner voice urged him to pick it up.

Lu Li's gaze lingered on the diary for a moment before shifting to a black stone box on the desk.

Lu Li recognized the material—it was a box carved from Deep Sea Stone, which resembled black obsidian.

He could guess what was kept inside.

A few sheets of parchment also lay on the desk, covered in illegible scrawls that looked like random doodles.

A wooden chest in the corner was empty, save for a few tools scattered across the bottom.

There was nothing else in the basement.

"We don't need any of this," Anna sighed in disappointment. "And it's not worth anything, either."

"On the contrary," Lu Li disagreed.

"They're extremely valuable."