The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 435: A Fragile Boat Saves No One in a Storm

"It's a really nice place," Remi's voice echoed through the cave. "The trees outside might be a bit dreary, but at least my brother doesn't have to hide in a cramped, rattling carriage anymore."

It was damp and cold, but still an improvement over the long tenement buildings of the city. At the very least, the bed was dry.

Lu Li cleaned the ashes from the fireplace, placed some dried firewood inside, and lit it.

A faint flame flickered to life, gradually filling the cave with light and warmth.

Lu Li set the box of matches down on the wooden table, next to the oil lamp, and took a seat.

"I should probably bring a sofa here," he thought, but immediately dismissed the idea. He was leaving soon, so there was no point in furnishing the shelter.

"This is Anna," Lu Li introduced.

"Hello, Miss Anna," Remi greeted politely, receiving a slightly tense nod in return.

Poor Jimmy couldn't enter the shelter—his monstrous body was far too large. Standing at his full height, his head nearly brushed against the cave's four-meter ceiling. He had to stay outside, blocking the entrance and the daylight, extending only his tail into the cave. At its tip was his true body.

In most situations, this would be the time for pleasantries before getting to the heart of the matter. But that was never Lu Li's style. He cut straight to the point. "Are there others like you?"His directness, so unlike normal conversation, flustered Remi, who still saw herself as human. She paused to think before replying, "There were... but after my brother and I escaped, there haven't been any others."

Every candidate who passed the investigator's entrance trial, the one based on the "Collection of Evil Spirit Tales," had a chance of receiving letters from the protagonists of those stories.

Naturally, certain conditions had to be met: at least one of the protagonists had to survive, and they needed to have a good relationship with the character the candidate had portrayed.

This was the case with Remi and Jimmy in the story Lu Li had experienced.

Typically, the candidates only received the letters. Nothing more would come of it, whether they replied or not.

But some power permeating this world seemed to have altered the rules. Inexplicably, things began to change.

For example, Jimmy and Remi from the "Collection of Evil Spirit Tales" were trying to escape the book.

They were fortunate enough to encounter Lu Li, a strange man who seemed to treat anyone possessing "Humanity" with the same impartial regard.

And so, they were no longer mere characters confined to the pages of a book.

Once they manifested in reality, other candidates stopped receiving letters from any other "Remi" or "Jimmy."

Only one Remi and one Jimmy could exist in reality.

Anna had a simple hypothesis: The Evil Spirit embodied in the story collection could set characters free, but only if the story reached a "perfect ending"—for instance, if both main characters survived.

Lu Li had met that condition. Though Remi had died in the ruins and Jimmy had become a monster, those events occurred before the story's start; they were backstory, not part of the narrative itself.

The steady correspondence that followed helped Remi and Jimmy solidify their existence in reality.

Most exorcists, upon receiving the letters, didn't reply—they didn't even read them.

Lu Li didn't blame them.

Until the truth was revealed, any assumption was just that—an assumption. And any one of them could turn out to be true.

"What are you now?" Lu Li asked. "Independent entities, or servants of an Evil Spirit?"

Remi didn't intend to hide anything from Lu Li. "According to the exorcists' classification system," she explained, "my brother is a servant of an Evil God, and I am a Spirit of Defilement."

The four categories were Evil Spirit, Spirit of Defilement, Anomaly, and Evil God.

"But..." Remi hesitated. "My brother's Evil God existed only within the story. Ever since we left it for the real world, he's no longer subject to its influence."

Perhaps that was the reason for Jimmy's weakness.

The incident in Tenebrae had greatly expanded Lu Li's understanding of Evil Gods. They might not all be identical, but they generally shared similar characteristics.

"Jimmy's condition really has gotten worse since we left the story..." Remi confirmed.

"It's most likely connected to that Evil God," Lu Li said. "Jimmy broke free from its influence, but in doing so, he also lost its power."

"Then what should we do?" Remi asked.

"If the problem is a depletion of power, you need to find a way to replenish it."

A thought suddenly struck Lu Li. "Does he eat?"

Remi glanced at her brother, propped up on his thick tail, and shook her head. "Ever since he gained this monstrous body, he hasn't felt hunger. He doesn't eat at all..."

"Try giving him something to eat," Lu Li suggested. "Food is also a kind of power."

Lu Li considered that if Jimmy's gauntness and weakness were simply caused by prolonged starvation...

That would be the best-case scenario, one that required little effort to solve.

Lu Li was not an easy person to get along with.

It wasn't that he was reclusive—Lu Li never spurned the kindness of others. But his rationality and composure created an impression of a man as cold as steel.

Yet no one could fault him for it. Lu Li generally avoided superfluous conversation, a habit that not only staved off gossip but also cloaked him in an aura of mystery.

Only a day had passed since the incident in Tenebrae. Despite the looming threat from the Fallow Lands, the clash between two Evil Gods had been a momentous event.

Especially for Lu Li, who had participated in it and resolved the situation single-handedly.

Remi and Jimmy knew nothing about this enigmatic investigator with the strange name.

Whatever the case, once Remi understood that Lu Li's detached manner wasn't personal, she relaxed completely. She began to tell him about many things: about the ruins they had seen, and how, after manifesting in reality, they had returned to that same place only to find mountains—nothing like the plains they remembered.

And, of course, the village where they once lived was gone.

Time passed. At a certain point, Lu Li glanced at the clock on the table. "We're preparing to leave Belfast," he announced. "We're headed for the Lennon Archipelago."

Before the stunned Remi and Jimmy could respond, he went on, "I'm leaving this shelter to you. Here, you can keep a safe distance from people while also having a place to weather the coming disaster."

Lu Li remembered Remi saying she dreamed of building a small house by the sea with her brother.

A shelter wasn't a house, of course, but it wasn't a bad substitute.

Remi was stunned—their parting felt far too sudden. She soothed Jimmy, who looked anxious and let out a short cough, then hastily asked, "Is it because of some danger? My brother and I wanted to stay. We can protect you."

"In a world where hope is but a dying ember," Lu Li replied calmly, "even the most terrifying and powerful beings must tremble, forced to choose between submission and death."

"And I am merely human."