The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 383: The Faceless Shadow

Click.

A small figure slipped over the police station fence and froze.

After listening for a few seconds, he carefully lifted his foot from the wooden plank and quietly made his way up the stairs.

In the dead quiet of the police station, the creak of the wooden staircase under his feet sounded deafening. Oliver instinctively held his breath, trying to tread as lightly as possible.

The stealthy movements reminded him of his days as a thief, but now, if he were caught, the consequences would be horrifying...

Oliver shuddered and moved even more slowly.

The second floor of the station was cloaked in twilight. A blood-red glow from the street filtered through the intact and broken windows, illuminating the gray office.

Everything was rendered in silhouettes, barely discernible in the gloom.

A head rose slowly and silently over the top of the last step, scanned the area, and then the rest of the body crept into view.

Oliver straightened into a crouch, scurried to the desk nearest the stairs, and peered over the top, carefully surveying the second floor.He didn't see anything suspicious.

Sighing in relief, Oliver gently tapped his fingers on the desk.

Tap-tap... Tap-tap... Tap-tap...

He waited a few seconds, holding his breath. For a long while, there was no response.

Perhaps there was no one left alive in the police station.

Slipping out from behind the desk, Oliver began to search for anything useful. On one of the tables, he was delighted to find a half-eaten baguette, which he immediately devoured, followed by a cup of tea that tasted faintly of tobacco.

Rubbing his cold but full stomach, Oliver headed for the police chief's private office at the far end of the hallway.

The door was ajar. Oliver first peeked inside cautiously, and only when he was certain it was safe did he slip into the office, nimble as a monkey.

Tick-tock... Tick-tock... Tick-tock...

The office was not completely silent. A clock was ticking in the corner.

Oliver glanced at it. It was less than five minutes to midnight.

"I hope things get better at sunrise, and those exorcists kill all the monsters!" Oliver thought as he walked over to the desk and opened a drawer.

Inside lay a silver revolver in a leather holster.

"Excellent," Oliver whispered, sliding the revolver from its holster. He inspected it carefully and checked the ammunition before tucking the weapon into his pocket.

He searched the office a little more and found half a box of cartridges, a half-full teapot, and a few candies.

He took a few gulps of water, pocketed the cartridges and candies, then unwrapped one and popped it into his mouth.

"I suppose I'll wait here until morning, until help arrives," Oliver thought, pulling out a chair to sit down. But then a sudden thought struck him, and a look of horror washed over his face.

Panicked, Oliver forgot all caution and lunged toward the clock.

The minute hand was about to align with the hour hand.

The clock could chime at any moment!

His body moved faster than his mind. Before he could even think of a solution, he had instinctively opened the clock face and pulled out a gear.

Without the gear, the pendulum swung to a halt.

Oliver let out a breath of relief, only now noticing that he was drenched in cold sweat and his heart was pounding wildly.

Just in case, Oliver removed several more gears, making absolutely sure the clock couldn't ring, and closed it.

Suddenly, Oliver looked toward the door in confusion.

He crept cautiously to the doorway and peered out into the corridor.

Tap-tap... Tap-tap... Tap-tap...

A faint tapping sound echoed through the dark office.

...

After observing in silence for a few dozen seconds, Lu Li returned to the alley and once again draped the fleshy wings he had previously thrown into a puddle over himself.

"What are you doing?" Joan asked, instinctively copying Lu Li's actions and covering herself with the wings.

"The servants of the evil god attack people," Lu Li replied quietly, his eyes as dark as the night as he looked at her. "With this disguise, only one servant will attack us at a time."

If you can't eliminate a problem, you can at least try to minimize it.

The disguise might not be perfect, but it was enough to prevent the servants from identifying them from a distance.

Once they were ready, Lu Li and Joan, under Anna's invisible protection, stepped out of the alley and moved silently along the buildings.

Perhaps it was due to their quietness, or perhaps the disguise was working, but the servants wandering the dark red street did not notice them.

Upon reaching the house next to the police station, Lu Li stopped and crouched down. Joan followed his lead, tilting her head to look ahead.

Several heads, resembling balloons, floated in the air near the entrance to the police station, constantly bumping into each other with dull thuds.

She glanced at Lu Li and saw that he was looking up at the roof of the house they were beside. Joan followed his gaze and saw that the second floor was almost completely destroyed. The collapsed roof had crushed half the building, creating a massive hole surrounded by debris.

"Upstairs," Lu Li whispered, approaching the door.

There was a faint click as the bolt was slid back, and the door creaked open.

Lu Li entered the dark house, with Joan right behind him.

Creak...

The door closed.

Only the first floor was relatively intact. Standing at the foot of the stairs, they could see the dark red clouds through the hole in the roof.

Stepping on the creaking stairs, Lu Li and Joan climbed to the second floor.

Here, the entire wall facing the police station was gone, offering a clear view of the station's wall and windows.

Lu Li and Joan stood at the edge of the gap, hiding from the night demons patrolling the sky, and looked at the building across from them.

They could get into the police station through a window.

Rustle...

Suddenly, a sound came from behind them.

They spun around simultaneously. Lu Li gripped his Spirit Gun, and Anna tensed.

From deep within the rubble, a figure struggled out of a narrow space and cried out to Lu Li, "Are you alive?! Help me, save me!"

It was a middle-aged man who had lost both his legs. He could only drag himself toward Lu Li.

Lu Li frowned. The man was being too loud.

Without lowering his pistol, Lu Li approached him.

And then the unthinkable happened.

A viscous liquid seeped up from the floorboards, gathering like sludge into the sinister silhouette of a woman in a white dress. She stood with her back to Lu Li and the others, next to the middle-aged man.

Crunch.

A chilling sound echoed, heard by all. In an instant, the middle-aged man's face vanished, leaving only a bloody mess where his features had been. He collapsed to the floor and fell silent.

After killing the man, the woman in white turned toward Lu Li and Joan.

Joan's hair stood on end; she couldn't bear to look at the woman, because where her face should have been was nothing but a gaping, empty hole.

Behind her, blood continued to pool from the man's motionless body.

The woman in white seemed to be "staring" at Lu Li and Joan. After a few seconds, her body dissolved, sinking into the wooden floor until she was gone.

She vanished as suddenly as she had appeared, leaving behind nothing but a faceless corpse.