The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 309: A Place an Evil Spirit Won't Tread

Anna blinked.

It wasn't because of what Lu Li said; she had a general idea of his plan. Her attention was drawn to something else.

She was curious about the diary's contents and what lay inside the Deep Sea Stone box.

But Lu Li had no intention of opening either of them.

— Aren't we going to look? — Anna blinked again.

— "Never read records of unknown origin, and never open boxes found in strange places," Lu Li explained. "It's from the "Exorcist's Survival Guide"."

— The "Exorcist's Survival Guide"? What's that?

— A rather interesting book. I saw it in the True Library.

If Lu Li called a book interesting, it meant he found its contents useful.

Anna’s attention shifted from the diary and the box to the "Exorcist's Survival Guide," and she began asking Lu Li about its contents.— We'll talk about it later.

Lu Li glanced around, making sure he hadn't missed anything, then left the basement and headed upstairs.

After shutting the doors to the basement and the house, Lu Li stepped out of the building, opened his umbrella under the eaves, and walked into the rain.

His calm voice gradually faded away.

...

— "Chapter on Items, Rule Eight: A good weapon is essential. It will give you the courage to take your own life before you fall into a monster’s clutches. As for its destructive power... that’s merely a bonus."

The waterfront district was already visible in the distance. They were back.

— But I remember that an Investigator should be curious and inquisitive, — Anna asked, puzzled.

— Curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge must be proportional to your capabilities. It's one thing to dip your toes in the water out of curiosity, but quite another to dive headfirst into the Abyss, — Lu Li replied from beneath his umbrella. — Don't let curiosity overpower your reason.

— Oh.

Anna nodded as if in understanding, though no one could see her in the In-Between.

As Lu Li neared his building, a coachman stopped him. It was the same man who had helped him sell the furniture delivered by the Everlasting Dreamer, and he had been waiting on the street for Lu Li's return ever since.

The coachman timidly held out a wad of crumpled shillings. The largest note was worth ten shillings.

It came to a hundred and eighty-three shillings. The coachman explained that he hadn't been able to sell the old furniture directly, and had only managed to unload it on the owner of a second-hand shop.

As promised, Lu Li gave the coachman a tenth of the earnings, then bought three loaves of white bread from the bakery next door. The bad weather had driven the usual playing children from the street, and Lu Li returned to his building with the bread.

The building was mostly shielded from the rain, and sandbags had been placed at the entrance to keep water from flooding the corridor.

Most of the doors along the corridor were open, letting the aroma of cooking food and the sound of conversations drift out.

It was nearly four in the afternoon, and most of the tenants were preparing dinner.

Lu Li and Anna walked past several rooms filled with the buzz of life before returning to their detective agency.

Anna went to heat up their meal, while Lu Li took the rubbish bags out from the kitchen and living room. When he came back, he could hear a carefree humming coming from the kitchen.

Not words, just a simple, light melody.

It was, perhaps, only in moments like these that Anna could truly relax.

The Trader was due to arrive tomorrow. Then, Lu Li could take him to Old Warm Street, to the apartment of the woman in the bird-beak mask.

This was the fate Lu Li had decided for the two items from the cellar.

Truthfully, strange artifacts were indeed valuable.

Lu Li had no intention of touching the items himself. He would simply sell them to the Trader, who would then take them away.

A plume of smoke from the burning firewood drifted out of the kitchen, tickling the back of the throat. The rain had forced most tenants to close their chimney flues, which was why Lu Li had seen so many doors propped open.

The door to the detective agency remained open as well.

While the food was heating up, Lu Li grabbed a basket from the kitchen and went to the back courtyard for firewood and coal. One basketful was enough to last a week, as long as it was only used for cooking.

There was no point in stockpiling such things—they were cheap but bulky and heavy.

A few minutes later, Anna returned to the living room carrying a steaming pot.

After a quick meal, they noticed the sky outside had grown darker. At 4:15, dusk was already beginning to fall.

At 4:30, they lit two oil lamps in the agency. By 5:00, the world outside the window was pitch-black.

The sounds of life from the other rooms—noise, the patter of children's feet, conversations, coughing—faintly reached the detective agency, mingling with the drumming of the rain. Gradually, these sounds faded, until only the relentless downpour remained.

At eight o'clock, they lit a third lamp, and Lu Li lay down on the sofa.

— Good night, — said Anna.

The night was quiet.

...

The night passed peacefully.

Peaceful, perhaps.

When Lu Li opened his eyes, a crowd had gathered under the eaves outside. People were pointing at something and murmuring, their indistinct voices drifting into the detective agency.

— Did they wake you? — asked Anna, her gaze fixed on Lu Li, her voice cold.

— No.

Lu Li, who was used to waking at dawn, sat up and looked out the window. — What's going on out there?

Anna shook her head. Her attention had been focused solely on Lu Li.

Lu Li threw back the blanket, sat up, and glanced at the clock on the table. It was 7:15, quite late for him.

Outside, it was as dark as it usually was at six. The rain hadn't grown heavier, but the sky was even more somber than it had been the past few days.

Lu Li hoped it was just clouds, and not something else.

Anna went to prepare breakfast—her signature stew, made with expensive carrots and potatoes.

Just as the meal was nearly ready, a Trader appeared at the door, holding a piece of processed Deep Sea Stone. It was another Trader Lu Li didn't recognize.

Lu Li told him about Old Warm Street, and the Trader agreed to accompany him.

— Could you wait a moment? — Lu Li asked, gesturing toward Anna, who was bringing their food from the kitchen.

— Please, hurry.

Ten minutes later, their breakfast was finished. Anna quickly cleared the table while Lu Li washed his face and dressed. Then, he, Anna, and the Trader left the building.

The crowd under the eaves still hadn't dispersed. No one seemed to notice the strange, tall Trader standing beside Lu Li. They merely glanced his way from time to time, offering friendly smiles.

From snippets of conversation, Lu Li gathered that a husband and wife had died in the adjacent building. The police had concluded the cause of death was the Night Calamity. When officers arrived that morning, the couple's oil lamp was unlit, and their bodies showed no signs of violence.

What the tenants were discussing most was the lamp. After the bodies were discovered, someone had noticed it still contained plenty of kerosene.

That was why the owner of the local kerosene shop was there, explaining something to the police.

— Something isn't right... — Anna murmured.

— The lamp probably isn't the issue.

Lu Li replied as he gradually moved away from the building. He turned to the Trader and asked, — Is this the work of the Shadow that Steals Fire?

— Five contribution points.

It was quite cheap, but Lu Li had no intention of paying. In his own way, the Trader had already given him an answer.

Even if the killer wasn't the Shadow that Steals Fire, it was some other Evil Spirit.

The more desolate a place, the more dangerous it becomes. But Belfast was so densely populated...

Were Evil Spirits now bold enough to appear here?