The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 366: The Gift of a Medium

Drip, drip, drip, drip.

The sound of dripping water echoed through the hall.

"Is that good for him, or bad?"

"A bit of both," Tesla said. He tipped his hat over his eyes, bent down, picked up a log from the floor by the fireplace, and tossed it into the flames. Straightening up, he wiped his hands on a handkerchief. "The good news is he survived. The bad news is he's no longer human."

The logs crackled in the fireplace.

"Because of the opposition?" asked Lu Li.

"Has anyone ever told you you're difficult to talk to? You always speak so concisely, I have to fill in the blanks," Tesla chuckled. "It's not about opposition from others. Most exorcists are sympathetic toward those who were forced to become monsters. Especially since Tristan was one of Belfast's leading figures. The real problem is that Tristan has become a servant of an Evil God. His mind will be assaulted day and night by the Evil God's aura, much like a drop in Mind Level, until he's completely transformed into an obedient servant."

It was also an irreversible process, just not as hopeless as a damaged Mind Level. This affected the mind itself.

In other words, the stronger a person's spirit, the slower the transformation.

Lu Li pondered. "You said 'people like him.' Are there many?""There are a few like Tristan, who were forced, or who chose it themselves..." Tesla didn't beat around the bush. "The Mind Level is our biggest handicap when fighting monsters, so some exorcists think that by becoming monsters themselves, they can escape its limitations. And so they do."

"But their end is usually a tragic one. As I said, while they no longer have a Mind Level to worry about, the aura of the In-Between corrodes their minds, turning them into true monsters. That's why only exorcists already on the brink of madness take this dangerous path."

To become a true monster was to lose all your humanity.

Like an Evil Spirit.

"So..." Lu Li looked at Tesla.

"Yes," Tesla nodded, understanding what Lu Li was getting at. "Some monsters were once human."

Lu Li had long suspected as much, so he was not surprised. The Alliance employee behind the counter, however, who had overheard their conversation, dropped his glass.

Tesla glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to Lu Li and asked with a smile, "What was it you wanted to ask me? I know you're like my nephew—always full of questions."

"Does hell really exist?"

Tesla raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You're an exorcist and you don't know about hell?"

"You know I've never been a proper exorcist."

Tesla did not dwell on it. "Yes, hell exists."

Tesla's confirmation introduced a new layer of uncertainty to the seemingly straightforward "Book of Sarah's Death." If hell was real, could the story described in the book also be true?

Tesla then told Lu Li about hell. His account matched what Lulu had said but was more detailed. For example, hell seemed boundless, and time flowed differently there: one second in our world could equal ten minutes in hell.

Although exorcists discovered hell several centuries ago, they knew almost nothing about it.

"Because the living can't remain in hell for long, and the dead can't return to the world of the living."

"How do you get to hell?" Lu Li asked the question that had intrigued many.

"You need the gift of a medium, like your gift of clairvoyance," Tesla replied. "Then you take a personal item of the deceased you're looking for and begin a séance—that is, enter a near-death state."

"At that moment, your soul will be transported to hell by some force, but your body will be fine; you'll still be alive. That's why some people claim to have seen hell after clinical death."

Perhaps assuming Lu Li might one day want to try it, Tesla explained in detail, "That's why a slow death is the safest way to enter hell. Most mediums choose suffocation. The process is extremely dangerous, not just because you can actually die from it, but also because of the dangers within hell itself."

You had the demons and devils from the legends, the confirmed existence of lesser demons, and the souls of the dead who suffered in hell, desperate to return to the world of the living. For all of them, a living soul that wandered in was an irresistible temptation.

"That's why you hear many stories about exorcists, but rarely about mediums."

Lu Li was not interested in a trip to hell, but he still asked, "How would you know if you have the gift of a medium?"

"You already have it," Tesla said with a meaningful smile. "After all, you can already see them, can't you?"

A low Mind Level.

Lu Li's previous "gift of clairvoyance" had been linked to it, and now it had given him a new ability.

"Oh, right. Sissy was looking for you," Tesla said, as if afraid Lu Li had forgotten who she was. "Sissy Thomas, Thomas's daughter."

"I know who she is." Lu Li looked at Tesla, waiting for him to continue.

Tesla, however, did not seem to get the hint and just watched Lu Li in silence.

"Why was she looking for me?" Lu Li finally asked.

"I don't know. Maybe she wanted to ask you something, or maybe... she just admires you," Tesla said mischievously.

It was hard to imagine Tesla gloating like that.

"...Does she know where my detective agency is?"

Lu Li did not believe Sissy Thomas was looking for him out of admiration, but Baroness Joseph's advances made him second-guess himself.

"Not yet. Most investigators are secretive, and you're even more so."

"Keep it that way until she says why she needs me," Lu Li said, taking a large gulp of milk, as if he wanted to down it all in one go.

"Alright." Tesla swirled the drink in his glass. "Are you leaving?"

Lu Li set his empty glass on the table, thought for a moment, and asked, "According to the investigators' headquarters, when is the calamity predicted to begin?"

A silence fell over the hall.

Tesla watched Lu Li in silence.

Lu Li met his gaze.

The Alliance employee behind the counter picked up the glass that had not broken and resumed wiping it.

Rumble...

A low rumble of thunder rolled in from the street and echoed through the investigators' hall.

"A storm is coming. You should head back before it starts."

After a long silence, Tesla sighed.

His words seemed to carry a hidden meaning, or perhaps Lu Li was just imagining it.

Lu Li did not reply. He stood up and headed for the exit.

He was just about to step into the elevator when he heard Tesla's voice: "When the newspapers stop hiding the truth, when the shelters open, and when the price of Deep Sea Stone skyrockets."