novelraw Chapter 455: Departure
Chapter 455: Departure
The black cat rested peacefully in a corner of the carriage, curled up on a soft blanket.
Lu Li handled the reins while Anna, her eyes fixed on the grooming cat, hesitantly reached out and, as if touching a delicate flower, lightly grazed its paw.
The cat lifted its head, sniffed Anna's fingers, and then resumed its grooming.
“Purrr...”
The cold glint in her scarlet eyes softened. Growing bolder, Anna reached out with both hands and gently lifted the cat.
The cat's hindquarters seemed to cling to the blanket, and as Anna lifted it higher, its body elongated until it was completely in the air.
Her wary red eyes narrowed slightly. For the first time since becoming a ghost, Anna felt the weight of a living creature.
At that moment, the carriage came to a halt. An unfamiliar voice called from outside, “Excuse me, are you Lu Li?”
A few seconds later, the voice continued, “Richard from the police station asked me to stop you. He said there's new information from his colleague, the one who went mad. He's hoping you can go to the hospital... uh... to room 913.”
“Alright, I’ll stop by.”Anna gently placed the docile cat back on the blanket and, dissolving into thin air, floated out of the carriage. After glancing at the departing figure, she turned back to Lu Li. “Do you think it’s a new lead?”
“We’ll find out when we get there.”
Lu Li, who had nearly left the Coastal Town, pulled on the reins and turned the horse around.
After asking a passerby for the hospital’s location, he steered the carriage in that direction. The clatter of hooves on the cobblestones grew louder as they neared their destination.
Ten minutes later, the carriage stopped in front of a three-story, white-brick building.
Stepping out of the carriage, Lu Li ducked under sheets and bandages strung on clotheslines and entered the hospital corridor.
The familiar smell of disinfectant drifted from down the hall. Lu Li asked a passing nurse for the location of room 913.
“Third floor, to the left,” the nurse replied. Lu Li’s unusual black hair and eyes caught her attention, and she couldn't help but add, “Are you here to see Richard from the police station?”
That sounded odd. Lu Li corrected her, “Richard said that Andrew has woken up.”
The nurse looked bewildered. “But the patient is Richard...”
A rustle of paper.
She glanced at the patient register and, still sounding doubtful, said, “Richard Feldman. You must be mistaken, surely?”
“So the one who went mad and is here now... is Richard?” Lu Li confirmed after a brief pause.
“Yes, Richard Feldman. He’s been here for two days.”
“I see. Thank you for telling me.”
Lu Li thanked the nurse. She waved a hand as if to say it was nothing and walked away, but after a few steps, she glanced back at him, her expression still full of confusion.
The Richard who had accompanied Lu Li was supposed to be the policeman who’d gone mad from reading the diary—the whole situation was absurd and bizarre.
How could a madman wander freely around the police station, escorting Lu Li and Anna through town, with none of the officers or residents noticing anything unusual?
Unless he had deceived everyone in town.
And a being capable of that, with malicious intent toward Lu Li...
An invisible presence stirred the air beside Lu Li. Anna’s voice was cold and emotionless. “It’s a demon...”
Ever since Lu Li had entered the House of Spiritual Divination and witnessed the seance, the demon had likely had its eye on him.
“It’s probably hunting you. We need to find it and see what it knows.”
“There’s no need.” Lu Li shook his head slightly, glanced at the staircase, and turned toward the exit.
“If it wants to make a move, it can find me on the Allen Peninsula.”
Lu Li had no intention of playing the demon's game.
He needed to deal with the Bloody Tentacles as quickly as possible and sail from Belfast to the Lennon Archipelago before the situation could worsen.
There was no point in tangling with an emissary from Hell.
If the demon that killed Mistress Marylin refused to leave him alone, then, just as he'd said, it could come looking for him on the Allen Peninsula.
Wrapping Lu Li in her protective aura, Anna returned to the carriage.
Lu Li pulled back the canvas flap, checked that the cat was still there, then took the reins and drove away from the hospital.
He soon reached the spot where he had turned around. Nothing happened. It seemed the demon wasn't pursuing him, as if it were still waiting for him back in its hospital trap.
“What if this cat is the demon?” Anna asked, her voice laced with suspicion. She now trusted no one but Lu Li.
“If a demon can be this realistic,” Lu Li replied, “then any resistance would be futile.”
Lu Li was certain the cat was real. But if it was a demon... it could toy with him and Anna as if they were marionettes.
The carriage stopped again. As Anna watched, Lu Li hailed a postman riding by on a bicycle. “Could you deliver a message for me?”
Lu Li held out 10 shillings to the postman.
“Of course, sir! What’s the message?” The young postman hopped off his bicycle, delighted at the chance to earn a little extra.
“Go to the police station, find the investigator, and give her this message from Lu Li: ‘A demon is hunting me. It’s most likely at the hospital right now. Stay away from it. If the United Exorcist Organization has a way to deal with it, please contact them immediately.’”
If the United Exorcist Organization could handle the problem, it would save Lu Li a great deal of trouble.
“Uh... of course, sir... I’ll deliver it...” the postman stammered, hesitantly offering the shillings back.
“That’s your payment,” Lu Li said calmly.
“Thank you, sir... I’ll head to the station right away!” the postman replied quickly, taking the money. He secured his hat, pushed down on the pedals, and sped off down the road toward the station.
“Let’s go,” Lu Li said, his eyes following the postman.
He took up the reins and continued on their way.
The black cat still lay on the blanket, grooming its fur. Paying it no mind, Anna kept a vigilant watch on the people they passed.
Lu Li remained as calm as ever. Anna couldn’t understand how he stayed so composed.
The Door, the Bloody Tentacles, Hell—each word weighed on Anna, stirring a helpless anger that felt like a gaze staring up from the abyss.
Aside from fighting, the only thing she could do was try to distract Lu Li, just in case he needed some comfort. “What should we name the cat?”
A pause followed before Lu Li’s voice broke the silence. “You decide.”
“Hmm... what about Hollow?”
It was the name of a pet flying squirrel from some romance novel.
“I suppose...”
“No, on second thought... Let’s come up with a better name later,” Anna interjected.
She remembered Enni. If they named the cat something like that, Enni might get upset.
“Alright.”
Lu Li decided bringing the cat along had been the right choice—Anna had definitely become more talkative.
In the afternoon, shortly before sunset, the carriage left the Coastal Town behind. It traveled along the road beside the Fallen Leaves Mountains, heading toward the swamps that connected the peninsula to the mainland.
Two ghostly, blood-red tentacles appeared from behind the mountains. Lu Li looked up at the sky and muttered, “It seems they’ve reached Belfast.”