The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 404: The Ficus Forest

“Mother of the Swamp, are the ficus trees your servants?” Lu Li asked, recalling those strange, hollowed-out trees and the help they had offered during his last escape from the swamp.

There was no reply. The statuette of the Mother of the Swamp remained silent, indistinguishable from an ordinary clay figurine, as if the Evil God's consciousness had abandoned it.

Lu Li held the statuette to his counter. The quiet ticking, which usually accelerated in Anna's presence, remained unchanged.

The Mother of the Swamp was gone.

Putting the statuette away, Lu Li turned to Anna and JoJo, who were watching him, and explained what had just happened.

“Was it a trap?” JoJo exclaimed upon learning that the Mother of the Swamp had vanished. She couldn't imagine any other reason.

“Not necessarily,” Lu Li replied, glancing ahead. The shadow guide was hiding behind a withered tree, waiting for them.

If it were a trap, the Mother of the Swamp would have led them to their destination, not abandoned them halfway there.

Perhaps something had happened that they were unaware of.

“We need to leave,” Anna said after a long silence, contradicting Lu Li for the first time. “I won't let you risk yourself any further.”Sorrow and relief flickered in JoJo's eyes. She could feel Anna's hostility toward her.

“Anna's right,” she whispered, biting her lip. “You shouldn't risk yourself anymore.”

Lu Li looked up at Anna. “The Mother of the Swamp won't let us leave.”

“Then we'll fight our way out,” Anna replied, her scarlet eyes glowing in the darkness and radiating an icy chill.

“We both know that's impossible,” Lu Li said, shaking his head. “Having come this deep into the swamp, we're bound to the Mother of the Swamp in a way. Until one side—either her or the unknown Evil God—is defeated, there's no way back for me.”

“Stay away from the ficus trees and follow the guide. The ship should be somewhere nearby,” Lu Li said, and then moved forward.

Anna gave JoJo a cold look, then dissolved into the air.

After a moment of hesitation, JoJo followed Lu Li.

The dead trees of the marshy woods gradually gave way to ominous ficus trees. They, too, were dead, but their roots dangled from the branches like gray sheets of cloth. There was no wind in the ficus forest; the air was stagnant, and everything around them seemed motionless, lifeless, and shrouded in twilight.

The shadow guide, which had previously ducked behind trees, now steered clear of the ficuses. Perhaps it didn't want to touch the dangling roots, or maybe there was another reason entirely.

Whatever the case, Lu Li, having seen how these strange trees could attack, had no intention of getting near them.

The ficus trees grew close together, their roots intertwining in the mud, while their massive canopies almost completely blocked out the sky. A faint whisper drifted through the darkness.

The deepening twilight and the tangled roots underfoot forced Lu Li and JoJo to light their oil lamps.

A dim yellow light illuminated the area around them. In the still air, motes of dust and strange, fluff-like particles floated about. They drifted slowly, like spirits, flinching and vanishing whenever Lu Li and JoJo drew near.

Lu Li and JoJo tried not to disturb the silence of the forest.

Although the lit lamps made them more conspicuous, there was an upside: no monsters dared to venture into this gloomy forest.

Except for the ficus trees themselves.

Lu Li and JoJo carefully skirted the dangling roots and the ones tangled on the ground, but trouble found them nonetheless.

At one point, Lu Li noticed the motionless roots begin to stir, as if alive, reaching out toward them.

Of course, it wasn't the wind—no breeze could make them all reach for the travelers in unison.

But it seemed the roots weren't sensing Lu Li and JoJo, but Anna.

Lu Li stopped and looked in the direction the roots were reaching. He could feel that Anna was nearby.

He held out his hands, slowly bringing his palms together until they touched.

Anna understood. The vengeful spirit's aura emanating from her weakened, and the roots lowered slightly, though they did not become completely still.

Even before, Anna had found it difficult to completely conceal her aura, and after her recent outburst, her contamination from the In-Between had only intensified.

Controlling her aura, Anna kept her distance from Lu Li, ready to help but careful not to interfere.

Whether it was because they avoided the hanging and subterranean roots, or simply because the ficus forest had no interest in them, Lu Li and JoJo covered a considerable distance without incident.

As the trees began to thin out, Lu Li stopped and gazed ahead.

The shadow guide was up ahead, and he could hear the sound of water.

The sound of flowing water cut through the silence of the swamp, bringing with it an inexplicable sense of calm. Lu Li approached the guide, which stood like a charred figure, and looked past it.

A few meters ahead, a stream about ten meters wide gurgled as it cut through the ficus forest, rushing downstream.

Not daring to look directly at the guide, JoJo averted her gaze the moment she stopped behind Lu Li.

Unnoticed, the guide suddenly vanished. It wasn't on the opposite bank, nor was it anywhere downstream.

Upstream, the shadow guide reappeared, standing knee-deep in the water. Lu Li gazed past it. A hundred meters away, the faint outline of something man-made was visible in the stream.

Lu Li and JoJo started along the bank, but the encroaching ficus trees soon forced them to enter the stream. The disturbed water swirled downstream as they headed against the current.

The surrounding ficus forest remained unchanged, but the outline ahead grew steadily clearer.

About fifteen meters ahead, a strange rock protruded from the water. Lu Li moved closer and raised his lamp.

A massive, rusty anchor was half-buried in the streambed. A chain as thick as an arm lay on the bottom, obscured by silt, its contour stretching toward the dark silhouette up ahead.

Following the chain, Lu Li and JoJo reached the enormous shadow a minute later.

In the middle of the stream lay a rusted sailing ship, fifty meters long or more. Its bow and stern were embedded in the ficus forest, surrounded by fallen trees. The stream, split by the massive hull, flowed around both sides before merging again behind it.

They drew up alongside the hull. The ship was sunk deep in the silt, but its deck still loomed four or five meters above them. Patches of rust on its side gleamed in the lamplight.

The gurgling of the stream muffled their footsteps, so Lu Li wasn't worried about disturbing the ficuses. “Anna, find a way for us to get aboard.”

Anna materialized and floated up to the deck, scanning for a suitable spot to climb up.

JoJo nervously lowered her head. On the surface of the water, their reflections trembled and blurred.

Perhaps her brother was somewhere inside.