The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 430: The Shadows of Innsmouth

A steam engine, belching plumes of black smoke, ground to a halt at the Innsmouth station.

The deserted platform looked derelict, with neither passengers nor staff in sight. Had it not been for the plant calamity, a crisp autumn wind would surely have been sweeping across it.

On the bank of a river that fed into the sea, the smokestacks of an alchemical plant loomed. In the distance, indistinct figures flickered within the coastal houses. Locals stood at the crossroads, their gazes fixed motionlessly on the stopped train. A strange, unsettling atmosphere permeated the air.

Just as Remi had written in her letter to Lu Li, the locals were... less than welcoming.

The murmur of voices from the adjacent carriages gradually faded, as if stifled by the oppressive atmosphere.

The stokers, their faces black with soot and only their teeth gleaming white, scrambled from the engine and hurried toward the coal depot, clearly eager not to linger.

"Something’s not right," Anna whispered from the In-Between, her gaze fixed on the motionless figures between the houses. "They’ve been standing there too long, as if time itself has stopped in this town."

But the very next moment proved to Anna that time in the town was, in fact, still moving.

People began to emerge from the houses, flooding the streets. As if disturbed by the train’s arrival, they turned and looked toward it.

Anna felt a sharp, prickling sensation of being watched. They were looking at her—or rather, at Lu Li, who stood just behind her.More and more people appeared on the streets, until at some point they began to move toward the train, shuffling forward like lifeless corpses.

...

"Hey, Adams, I think something’s wrong..." Bell nudged his companion, who was still hard at work.

Adams, still shoveling coal into sacks, answered without looking up. "Don’t try to slack off, mate. We need to hurry. They might shut down the lines again, and plenty of blokes would kill for this job. We need to show them we’re..." He let out a breath. "...competent."

"If you don’t look up right now, we won’t get another chance!"

His companion’s frantic cry finally made Adams look up in the direction he was pointing.

The other two stokers lifted their heads as well and froze.

"What are these locals up to..." Adams muttered, watching anxiously as the townspeople silently converged on the train, surrounding it.

Bell took an involuntary step back, gripped by the urge to flee. "Maybe it’s like what happened in Tenebrae..."

"N-no... It can’t be... They don’t look like monsters..."

He didn’t even finish his sentence before the other two workers dropped their shovels and bolted for the train.

The sound of retreating footsteps amplified Bell and Adams’s panic. They spun around to see that the train crew, who had stepped out for some fresh air, had already scrambled back inside. Someone was leaning out of a doorway, frantically waving them over and shouting.

"Run!"

Bell yelled and took off toward the engine with Adams right behind him. Adams, still dragging a half-empty sack, struggled to keep up.

"Drop the coal! The train has enough fuel to get us to Belfast!" Bell shouted back.

Gritting his teeth, Adams dropped the sack and sprinted with Bell the rest of the way to the engine.

Once everyone was back on board, the conductor, clutching a smoldering pipe in his fist, yelled at the engineer to get the train moving immediately.

The townspeople, as still as corpses, had already reached the platform. A few of them, moving with an unnatural stiffness, began to haul themselves onto the train.

A deathly silence fell over the carriages, broken only by a few scattered sobs.

Fortunately, before any of the strange figures could get far, a piercing whistle from the engine shattered the silence. Plumes of black smoke erupted from the smokestack, and the train began to slowly pull away from the platform.

Hundreds of figures stood silently on the platform, their heads turning in unison to follow the departing train until it vanished from sight.

Only then did the sound of whispering return to the carriages.

"It seems those 'people' came for you," Anna remarked, glancing at Lu Li.

The locals were indeed human, but she could sense a dark, malevolent energy radiating from them—an aura similar to that of the In-Between, but far stronger than the trace she felt on Lu Li. It carried with it the sharp, nauseating stench of deep-sea silt.

There were other exorcists on the train, and they would undoubtedly report the strange occurrences in Innsmouth to the United Exorcist Organization.

A long time passed before the shadow of Innsmouth finally lifted, and the sound of lively conversation returned to the adjacent carriage.

Time passed, and the sky slowly darkened. As evening approached, the train pulled into another station.

This town, called Zornster, appeared to be a major railway hub.

The platform seemed to hold even more people than the train itself.

Passengers in both simple and expensive attire waited on the platform, some clutching suitcases, others holding sacks and children.

The moment the train stopped, people began to swarm the doors.

The crew, opening the doors, could barely keep their footing as they were pressed against the carriages. They muttered constantly, "Too many people," "We’ll never fit them all," "I wonder how many more will be at the next station."

It seemed that everyone had heard there were no anomalies on the Lennon Archipelago and was now flocking to the port cities that offered passage to the islands.

To Belfast, for instance—the final destination of this very train.

There were so many people that even the dining car was packed. A steward approached Lu Li and asked awkwardly if he would mind other passengers entering the first-class carriage. The train staff knew an important person was riding in this car.

"What’s the next stop?" Lu Li asked.

"Maple Town."

"How long is the stop?"

"Twenty minutes, sir."

"Let them in. I may be getting off at Maple Town."

"Thank you for your kindness."

Shortly after the steward departed, passengers began to file into the carriage.

They had all been warned by the steward that Lu Li was an important figure, so they did their best to be quiet, even seeming to breathe softly so as not to disturb him.

JoJo and Frank returned to their seats across from Lu Li. Once the train began to move again, JoJo asked quietly, "You’re not going on to Belfast?"

"Anna’s aunt lives in Himmfast. We’re going to get her."

"Then we’ll see you in Belfast."

"Yes."

An hour after nightfall, the train arrived in Maple Town.

Warm light spilled from the windows of most of the houses. After bidding farewell to JoJo and Frank, Lu Li took an oil lamp from the steward and stepped off the train.

A crowd surged past him and into the carriages. Lu Li inhaled the cool, damp air, turned his back on the window where JoJo and Frank were watching, and made his way to a telephone booth at the end of the platform.

Before looking for a carriage to Himmfast, Lu Li wanted to make sure Aunt Mary was still home.

After waiting half a minute for the call to connect, he heard Aunt Mary's soft voice on the line. He told her that he and Anna would arrive in Himmfast in a few hours, then left the booth, hired a carriage, and departed from Maple Town.