The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 457: Unexpected Help

The dark projection on the ground writhed, struggling to escape the space beneath Anna's feet.

"Wait."

Lu Li halted Anna’s futile attack and turned to the middle-aged man who had emerged from Hell. "Did you kill Marylin and that other resident in the Coastal Town?"

The man placed a hand over his heart and gave a slight, gentlemanly bow. "And Officer Richard, who was following you so diligently."

The thunder of hooves and the tramp of running feet echoed nearby. The Night's Watch and their knights were approaching.

"Senior Investigator Lu Li."

Lu Li pulled out his badge and tossed it to them. "This is a demon. If you have no way to deal with it, keep the caravan in order and don't let anyone get near."

A Night's Watch investigator in a black uniform caught the badge, confirmed Lu Li's identity, and shot a wary glance at the strange, sinister man before nodding. "Be careful."

The knights and the Night's Watch began to push back the crowd of onlookers, dispersing them.

Unsure of what constituted a safe distance, they fell back until the reek of sulfur no longer reached them.The man stared intently at Lu Li, inhaling the cool night air with relish. "Such exquisite qualities... composure, kindness... I sense a fragrance from you... far more pleasant than that old soul..."

Had this creature from Hell taken the form of a beautiful woman and uttered those words, Anna would likely have lost all restraint and killed it on the spot.

Lu Li ignored the veiled threat in his words. With his characteristic curiosity about the unknown, he asked, "Are demons stronger than anomalies?"

The demon bared a set of rotten teeth in a grotesque grin. "If that weren't the case, why would they be invading your world instead of ours?"

It seemed the denizens of Hell were aware of the anomalies' invasion, but that was hardly a secret anymore.

"I thought it was because Hell is a place full of molten lava," Lu Li remarked.

"That's one of the reasons, yes," the demon conceded with a shrug, studying Lu Li with keen interest. "So you're not afraid of me?"

"There are powerful beings who live by instinct, and powerful beings who possess reason. I prefer to deal with the latter."

The demon began to clap, a theatrical display of admiration. "Magnificent, magnificent! It has been a long time since I've met such a remarkable human. It's a pity my time is short, or I would take great pleasure in tempting you into damnation."

"Why not try?"

Demons were fundamentally different from anomalies—they were mythical beings, known throughout human history.

This meant they had influenced this world for far longer than the anomalies had.

Moreover, Hell was not part of the four major systems of anomalies, which indirectly suggested two things: they were more secretive, and exorcists were not particularly skilled at dealing with them.

Evidently, the "demon" in the work of an exorcist was simply a general term, not one that referred specifically to creatures from Hell.

Lu Li decided to stall for time, to find a way to deal with it.

He had yet to use Anna's mental projection or The Atonement, but after one attack, the demon was unlikely to give him a second chance to talk.

The demon, a creature known for its cunning and deceit, sighed. "I have other matters to attend to, and you are clearly not so easily tempted. Unlike those willing to sell their souls for a mere rumor of succubi in Hell."

Anna's voice was cold. "That's obvious. Lu Li would never fall for some filthy creature from Hell... Lu Li?"

She realized Lu Li had gone quiet.

The man took no offense at being called a "filthy creature from Hell"; he might have even agreed with her. He simply brushed at the lapel of his pinstriped suit.

Finally, Lu Li spoke. "A demon openly wears the guise of God's servant. Doesn't that suggest one thing?"

"And what is that?" the demon asked, extending a hand in an inviting gesture.

"That God is dead."

Lu Li wanted to know if God had ever truly existed. If not, why build churches? And if so, why did He not intervene as the world crumbled?

"I like the way you think. In return, I can share a secret that very few mortals know." The man leaned in conspiratorially and hissed, "Your God was torn to pieces long ago... Humans without divine protection are nothing but pigs for the slaughter."

The words concealed a terrifying truth.

Anna froze, stunned, but Lu Li, whose ties to this world were not as deep, took the revelation as calmly as if a neighbor's child had announced a craving for rye bread.

This, of course, only intrigued the demon further. A look of undisguised greed spread across its face as it took a step toward Lu Li.

"Question time is over. And now..."

"Anna."

Lu Li whispered, his grip tightening on The Atonement.

The space around the demon froze. Anna's distorted shadow shot forward and, with a deafening, dragon-like roar, plunged into the demon's shadow.

But a moment later, Anna cried out, "He has no shadow!"

"Ah, human weakness. Even such an exquisite soul is no exception." The demon seemed unharmed. It continued toward Lu Li, its voice laced with a perverse sympathy. "In your desperation to survive, you lose your reason and commit such pointless acts... Why can't you just die in peace?"

An invisible wave rippled outward. The demon now stood before a paralyzed Lu Li.

It raised a single finger. Its body grew increasingly transparent, but that one digit, as if absorbing all the demon's power, darkened until it seemed to swallow the light. Before Anna's helpless gaze, it touched Lu Li's forehead.

In that instant, the world plunged into darkness. Lu Li, Anna, and the demon all seemed to witness the same vision: Lu Li's forehead cracked open, and from the fissure emerged a blood-red tentacle, like that of an octopus swaying in a deep-sea current. It reached out and touched the demon's finger.

The darkness vanished as quickly as it had come. Lu Li's forehead was smooth and unmarked, as if the entire event had been nothing more than an illusion.

But the demon's finger—the one into which it had poured all its power—was gone.

"What... is... that..." the demon rasped, its eyes wide with shock.

Its body had begun to dissolve into the air.

"I'm curious myself. If you figure it out, let me know." Lu Li, too, wanted to know the origin of the Bloody Tentacles. "Are you dying?"

"Dying?"

The demon seemed to recover its composure. It bared its teeth at Lu Li. "Demons never appear to mortals in their true form."

"I'm taking more and more of a liking to you... When you die, I will appear in my true form and claim your soul. Look forward to it... look forward to your death..."

The demon's body dissolved completely into the air, leaving behind only the echo of its whisper and the searing mark of an inverted pentagram on the back of Lu Li's hand.