The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 322: A Story on the Radio

"When are we moving into the shelter?"

Anna was lounging on the windowsill, gazing at the sprouts of an unknown plant in a pot.

Lu Li hung his coat on the rack and, newspaper in hand, walked over to his desk.

"When the time is right."

It was a typical Lu Li answer.

Anna pouted, propping her chin on her hand as she continued to stare at the bright green shoots.

It was still early, with a long while to go before lunch.

Gazing out the window, Anna remembered the book she was nearly finished with, and she settled onto the sofa to continue reading.

The newspapers were still filled with reports about the incident in the port of Zenster. The articles were vague, as if they only wanted to announce the fact of the event without delving into the details.

This approach shielded people from confronting the horror directly, but it still bred panic. On his way home, Lu Li had seen many local residents leaving their homes with luggage and families in tow. Perhaps they believed Belfast was no longer safe and wanted to escape to the countryside or some other place to avoid the disaster.It was hard to say if they were making the right choice, but one thing was clear: the city was not as safe as it used to be.

The weather forecast for the day after tomorrow was again calling for light rain. It seemed people had only a few more days for unrestricted movement. Once the rainy season began, all outdoor activities would cease. Even the most heartless factory owners wouldn't risk forcing their workers to toil through a storm.

After finishing the newspaper, Lu Li began to study his non-fiction books.

Soon, the telephone rang.

JoJo had managed to dig up some useful information.

"I think Baroness Joseph is in some kind of trouble," JoJo suggested.

Lu Li held the receiver to his ear, turning a page in his book without taking his eyes off the text.

"What makes you think so?" he asked calmly.

"Based on my experience with aristocrats, they use banquets to network, enhance their status, and avoid ridicule from their peers. They strive to make everything perfect, and preparing for a banquet can take anywhere from ten to twenty days—that's completely normal."

"But Baroness Joseph decided to hire exorcists yesterday, and she's holding the banquet tomorrow evening. I've never met such an efficient aristocrat. She's a complete exception to the rule."

"Anything else?"

JoJo's cheerful laugh came through the line.

"Ha ha ha, I knew that argument wouldn't convince you. Remember that recent story about the slanderer? The Baroness was going to sue him, but I found out she dropped the lawsuit. I can't explain her actions with anything other than trouble."

"Is there any more specific information?"

JoJo's intelligence only allowed Lu Li to grasp the sequence of events, not what had actually happened.

"No, probably only the people at the estate know what's going on, but I can't get in there. Still, since she's looking for so many exorcists, she must have run into a ghost, right?"

"Understood. You can come collect your payment now."

"Thanks, boss!"

After hanging up, Lu Li called an employee from the Alliance to have the radio receiver set up.

A short while later, JoJo and the Alliance employee arrived almost simultaneously.

JoJo received a generous payment from Lu Li, cast a curious glance at the Alliance man tinkering with the radio, and left.

She was likely intrigued by who he was, and given her adventurous nature, she might even start a covert investigation.

Soon, the Alliance employee had the radio configured. He gave Lu Li the frequency and warned him to avoid telling ordinary people about the broadcast.

The information in the radio programs would be made as safe as possible, so the issue wasn't the content itself, but its dissemination. Common people were unreliable when it came to keeping secrets. In other words, for an exorcist, secrecy meant telling no one. For an ordinary person, it meant not telling... outsiders.

After telling their "own people," these individuals believed they had kept the secret, but those they confided in would, in turn, tell their "own people."

Everyone was "keeping the secret," yet somehow, the information spread.

After the Alliance employee left, Anna materialized and began to circle the radio, tapping it from time to time.

"There's no sound... Maybe it's broken?"

"The broadcast starts after six in the evening."

"Oh."

Anna sat down on the sofa and picked up her book again.

Time passed, and the world outside began to darken. Anna lit a lamp and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

When the sky turned completely dark, the drawn curtains shielded the detective agency from prying eyes.

Anna lit a second lamp and placed it on the dining table, wound an alarm clock, switched on the radio, and sat down next to Lu Li on the sofa.

The hands of the clock were nearing six.

But it wasn't until 6:03 that a slightly hoarse voice emerged from the radio receiver.

[Hello again, friends! This is Will Ken, and I'll be your host for today's broadcast... *sigh*]

"The time's off again," Anna muttered and was about to adjust the clock, but Lu Li stopped her.

The broadcast was transmitted across the entire continent, so a delay was normal.

The old man's voice lacked any elderly frailty. On the contrary, he spoke in a rather high tone, like a barfly boasting of his romantic exploits.

Then, this Will Ken began to tell a true story on the air.

An investigator had received an assignment to travel to an abandoned city to investigate strange sounds that had been troubling the local residents.

Upon arriving, the investigator encountered unusually powerful spirits and, to his surprise, found that there were still survivors in the city.

The survivors told the investigator they were trapped. Any attempt to leave the city resulted in them being instantly transported back to its center.

After gathering information, the investigator began to search for a way out with them and, with great difficulty, found a solution that allowed them to leave the city.

But the investigator still had to face the enemy.

[These terrible spirits could play with people as they pleased. Their abilities were like those of an evil god, and humans were like lambs to the slaughter before them. However, our investigator found a way to deal with them: they, like humans, were vulnerable and could be destroyed. He realized this when he saw one of the spirits tormenting a helpless girl and charged in to attack.]

[The investigator was discovered by the other spirits. To give the survivors a chance to escape, he stayed behind to fight them. It was an uneven battle. Apart from the first spirit he killed, the investigator couldn't destroy any others. His body and soul were devoured, but he fulfilled his duty: he saved the survivors.]

[Though this young investigator perished, the people he saved remembered his heroic deed and told us his story. Thanks to him, we were able to deal with the anomaly in that city with ease.]

[And that's the end of the story. I'd like to say... *pause*]