The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 432: Approaching Belfast

"Mayor Funster has gone completely mad! How could he let those fat blockheads on the council pass such an absurd ban?!"

Beneath a streetlamp, a long line of carriages had formed. Beside the last and most luxurious one stood a plump lady in a dress as vibrant as a peacock's tail, loudly complaining.

Her speech was marked by a strange, nasal accent. "Because of this, I'm forced to stand here, among this filthy rabble! And travel in the same caravan with them!"

The clatter of hooves echoed nearby. The lady glanced over her shoulder, and her expression brightened upon spotting a slender figure under a raincoat in a passing carriage. She deliberately ordered her butler in a loud voice, ensuring she would be overheard, "Have the servants keep an eye on that carriage. It contains a precious farewell gift for Baroness Joseph. My dear friend, the Baroness, is so looking forward to it."

"As you wish, miss."

The butler summoned a maid with an umbrella and gave instructions to the other servants.

A farewell gift for Aileen? Is she also heading to the Lennon Archipelago?

Hearing the familiar name, Lu Li raised his head. He glanced at the carriage and pulled his own to a stop behind it.

A guard approached to record his information and told Lu Li he could depart after four more carriages.

"Is the number strictly limited?""There's safety in numbers. Who knows what foul things are lurking outside the city," the guard replied before leaving Lu Li and walking toward the next approaching carriage.

Lu Li opened the door of his carriage and informed Anna and Aunt Mary that they would soon be leaving Khimfast. Then he leaned against the door, waiting to depart.

Ten minutes later, the last carriage arrived.

The guard, lantern in hand, shouted that the caravan was departing. He stepped aside and watched as the line of carriages, stretching for hundreds of meters like a fiery dragon, began its slow journey toward the city's outskirts.

In the quiet, rainy night, the long procession of carriages slowly pulled away from Khimfast. Torches and lanterns cast a dim, yellowish glow.

Lu Li held the reins. The lights ahead and the surrounding darkness reflected in his eyes.

"Are we taking Enni with us?" Anna asked softly, her invisible form seated beside Lu Li.

"She can only survive in the Elm Forest."

A tree can't cross an ocean and survive in the Lennon Archipelago, not even one that has become a true Anomaly.

"I understand."

Silence fell over the carriage.

The wheels rolled through deep ruts. Once Khimfast was a safe distance behind them, Lu Li returned to the carriage.

Aunt Mary was already asleep. Lu Li changed the bandages on his wounds, had a bite to eat, and leaned against the carriage wall, closing his eyes.

Anna, ever wakeful in the night, silently watched the sleeping Lu Li. When his breathing grew steady, she floated out of the carriage. As if announcing her presence, she released the aura of a vengeful spirit, a warning to anything that might be lurking in the darkness.

The unconcealed aura quickly drew the attention of the exorcists from the Exorcist United Organization traveling at the head of the caravan. They hurried back, but stopped short when they saw the ghostly figure of a young woman driving the carriage.

After a moment's hesitation, the exorcists, as if understanding something, bowed respectfully to Anna and silently returned to their posts.

In the quiet night, broken only by the creak of wheels and the whisper of rain, the fiery dragon of the caravan continued on its way. It occasionally stopped for unknown reasons, joined by carriages from nearby towns, but for the most part, the journey was peaceful.

Anna, long accustomed to darkness and silence, sat on the driver's seat, and no one disturbed her.

Silence and peace enveloped Anna for a long time. Suddenly, she heard Lu Li stir inside the carriage.

"How long was I asleep?" Lu Li asked as Anna returned to the carriage.

"Less than half an hour until dawn."

Lu Li pushed aside the curtain and opened the window. A rush of cold air swept into the carriage.

In the east, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

Closing the window to keep out the dampness, Lu Li rubbed his temples and asked, "Where are we?"

"About fifteen minutes ago, the guards shouted that we're ten kilometers from Sugard Mountain."

Lu Li stepped out of the carriage. The cold air helped to clear his groggy mind.

In the lantern light, his breath plumed in the air.

Lu Li raised his head to look at the brightening sky and his gaze suddenly fell upon a colossal shadow.

It was a gigantic figure, incomprehensible to the human mind. It was shrouded in an impenetrable darkness, blacker than the night sky, and hidden beneath a dark cloak that billowed in the wind.

No matter how hard Lu Li tried, he couldn't make out the figure's outline through the thin fabric. It stood directly on the road, and the caravan was passing beneath it, already halfway through. It was as if this unseen giant had always been standing there.

No one else noticed anything unusual overhead. Even those who looked up at the sky saw only the dark, pre-dawn clouds.

"Do you see it?" Lu Li asked quietly, standing only a few dozen meters from the giant, practically at its feet.

"Nothing... Is it the 'Door'?"

Lu Li shook his head. "It might be a projection from a low Mind Level."

For a moment, he thought it was the "Door" or the "Awful Giant," the culprit behind the Zenster tragedy.

This put Lu Li on high alert.

Both his Mind Level and the "Door" had already entered the second stage. The boundary between them was blurring, making them difficult to distinguish.

When hallucinations appeared before him, were they projections from his Mind Level or visitations from the "Door"?

His reaction depended on the answer.

Moreover, if he didn't eliminate the root of both problems, the shadow of the "Door" would follow him even to the safety of the Lennon Archipelago, and the danger would never truly vanish.

He could ask Remi and Jimmy about restoring his Mind Level. They must have reached Belfast by now. As for Richard, he was still at large. He had lured Lu Li into a trap, which meant he knew something.

Lost in thought, Lu Li watched as the carriages passed one by one beneath the giant figure. Then he turned and looked back at the motionless silhouette against the backdrop of Sugard Mountain.

The cloak concealed the giant's face. Beneath it swirled a kind of darkness that Lu Li couldn't look at directly.

Unlike the projections from the In-Between that Lu Li had seen after entering the second stage, this giant didn't cast malicious glances at him or try to influence him.

It stood majestically before Sugard Mountain, as if gazing into the distance, paying no mind to the line of ants at its feet—or to the one ant who dared to look up at it.

Its appearance so close to Belfast could be a coincidence.

Or a sign.

The caravan moved on, and the figure dissolved into the pre-dawn darkness, vanishing from sight.

At the same time, shouts from the guards echoed from the front of the line.

"Sugard Mountain ahead! We're almost to Belfast!"