The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 353: Chaos

[— Progress, compared to the first ritual. Rola’s body still retains signs of life, aside from the stiffness in his limbs. He is cold, without a heartbeat, and does not breathe. Biologically, he is dead, possessing none of the thoughts or habits he had in life. My resurrection ritual revived only the body, but the soul has not returned. This means the ritual is incomplete. What have I missed?... — Miss, what are you writing? — a curious voice suddenly sounded from behind her.]

“My lady, what are you writing?” The Baroness glanced at the speaker with displeasure, following the script.

[Sara flinched and hastily shut her diary. The maid, Eileen, recoiled in fright, confused by the sudden reaction.

[“It’s nothing special, just jotting something down,” Sara said, tucking the diary into a desk drawer and smoothing a stray strand of hair. This diary must not fall into the wrong hands, she thought.]

[The maid, Eileen, eyed the drawer with curiosity, but before she could ask a question, a man covered in blood burst into the room.]

[Eileen was about to scream, but on closer inspection, she recognized him as the servant, Petra.]

[The door crashed open.]

Petra stumbled into the room, swaying on his feet. Vincent, who was stationed by the door, caught him, the warm, sticky dampness on his hands an all-too-familiar sensation.

Petra didn’t pull away. Right now, he needed the support.

A deep gash split his face, his body was covered in the marks of a brutal assault, and his right sleeve hung empty—his hand was gone.[“Petra?! What happened to you?!” Eileen shrieked in horror. Sara, too, stared anxiously at his wounds, which looked like the bites of a wild animal.]

Petra’s blood dripped onto the expensive velvet carpet. He gasped for breath, then coughed, spitting a few flecks of blood. More blood oozed from a wound on his neck.

“I... I saw Rola...” he rasped. “He’s back... but he attacked me... like he’s gone insane...”

He was trying to warn them.

The butler, snapping out of his stupor, ordered someone to summon a doctor at once.

[“Rola? But how...?” Eileen gasped. “Rola was always so timid...”]

[“Where is he now?!” Sara cut in.]

Petra coughed again, blood welling at his lips. Just as Sara’s patience began to fray, he managed to choke out the words, “The guards have him... I think they’ve subdued him... but I feared for your safety, my lady, so I ran to warn you...”

Having said his piece, he watched as Sara abruptly gathered her skirts and bolted from the room.

[“My lady!” Eileen cried, rushing after her, but the corridor was already empty.]

[“Get Petra to a doctor!” she commanded the other servants before hurrying after Sara.]

With the departure of Sara and the Baroness, the strange, ancient voice fell silent.

But it wasn’t long before the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor again.

Doctor Midri rushed into the room, followed by an assistant carrying a medical case.

“Good heavens!” she exclaimed upon seeing Petra’s state. “Quickly, help him sit up!”

The assistant gently wiped the blood away from one of the wounds.

“Are these... bite marks?” Midri frowned, noticing the distinctive pattern.

Petra gestured to a maid, signaling for her to explain the situation or invent a cover story, then glanced toward Lu Li and Vincent.

“Rola... is a failed experiment. He’s mindless, and his body is cold...”

“We know,” Vincent replied, wiping the blood from his hands on his clothes. “But how did you get away? You took a serious beating.”

Petra gave a bitter laugh.

“No... he let me go.”

The assistant paused to wipe more blood from his face.

“Because the script required me to return with a warning, not to die,” Petra continued.

He was powerless to resist. Once the ancient voice spoke, events were set in motion, unavoidable.

If not for the script, he would already be dead, just like Rola and David.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, your right hand is gone, and the wound on your throat may have damaged your trachea,” Midri assessed coolly. “We need to stop the bleeding and provide aid immediately.”

A maid briefly explained that they were exorcists, here to deal with a ghost.

Midri considered this. A ghost... so dangerous it had nearly killed an exorcist? And yet, it had apparently let him go.

“You two should come with us, to protect us in case the ghost attacks again,” she said to Lu Li and Vincent.

“Vincent will go with you,” Lu Li answered. He intended to find the Baroness.

The maid and the assistant helped Petra out of the room.

Soon, Lu Li was the only one left in the room.

“Time to find the Baroness,” he muttered, heading for the door.

“Yes,” a soft voice replied out of thin air.

After asking a maid for the Baroness’s whereabouts, Lu Li found her quickly.

[The maid, Eileen, kept glancing about nervously, as if afraid her lady might reappear at any moment.]

Lu Li kept his distance, careful not to get drawn into the scene.

This part of the script was about Eileen checking Sara’s diary. While the Baroness could only see the black cover, the entity playing “Eileen” was reading far more.

[“Eileen, there you are! Let’s go check on Petra,” Lu Li called out.]

Lu Li had been drawn into the script.

[Eileen hurriedly put the diary back in the drawer, shut it, and then left the room with Lu Li.]

The Baroness carefully returned the diary to the exact position she had found it in before leaving.

For a few minutes, the room was silent.

Then, the ancient voice spoke once more.

[Sara returned to her bedroom. Eileen and the others were likely with Petra. Sara glanced around the room before quickly crossing to the desk and opening the drawer.]

[The diary was right where she had left it.]

[But, still suspicious, Sara opened it and flipped through a few pages... then suddenly froze.]

[She cautiously reached toward the diary, then lifted her hand.]

[Pinched between her fingers was a single long hair.]

[Eileen’s hair.]