The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 461: Bloody Tentacles Over the Sea

"He can't have gotten far," declared the policeman shadowing Lu Li. He rushed out the door to order his men to start searching the area for Richard.

Lu Li took an oil lamp from the wall and approached the window, shining its light into the dark alley below.

The damp walls of the narrow passage gleamed faintly in the lamplight. While the downpour had washed away most tracks, it had also created fresh ones.

A single, sharp footprint, pressed deep into the mud, led away from the alley.

Too obvious...

The cunning Richard would never have left such a blatant trail.

Lu Li stepped back from the window and scanned the cramped room. There was nowhere to hide.

"There are no hidden places here," Anna's voice sounded beside him.

Lu Li nodded and turned to the policeman who had just returned. "Check the recent calls from this telephone."

"Find out who he was talking to. Understood." The officer nodded and followed Lu Li out of the house.The door creaked shut. Inside, the oil lamp remained lit on the table, illuminating the empty room.

Suddenly, the door opened again, and a calm face appeared in the doorway.

"Mr. Lu Li?" a questioning voice asked from nearby.

"It's nothing. Let's go," Lu Li replied, closing the door once more.

"I'll leave some men here to keep watch."

The policeman offered this as they walked toward the mouth of the alley.

"Thank you," Lu Li nodded, watching the three officers who were reluctantly following the trail.

Clearly, Lu Li's reputation preceded him, making the officers deeply apprehensive of the criminal they were pursuing and causing them to hesitate.

"Tell them to come back," Lu Li said.

The policeman, slightly embarrassed, explained, "I'm sorry... The city has become very dangerous lately. Three of my colleagues have already been killed..."

"I know."

That was precisely why Lu Li had decided to call them back.

The police could offer some assistance, but they were no match for a direct confrontation with Richard.

Waiting until the policemen had returned to their wagon and departed, Lu Li, accompanied by Anna, led his horse along the trail, venturing deeper into the Ruins.

The sound of his footsteps echoed among the charred ruins. Even in the daylight, an oppressive atmosphere hung in the air, heavier than during his last visit.

Lu Li suspected it had something to do with the recent rumors and the conspicuous absence of the homeless.

He hoped the homeless had simply found a safer place, and not...

The trail broke off after two hundred meters, vanishing among the ruins.

Richard could have scrambled over the debris to another area or found some way to cover his tracks.

"Perhaps we should ask for a hound at the police station?" Anna suggested.

"Useless," Lu Li shook his head. "The smell of burnt cinders would throw any dog off the scent."

Anna, being immune to smells, asked, "What smell?"

Lu Li tilted his head back slightly, watching raindrops slide down an invisible barrier around him, and answered quietly, "The reek of ash and soot."

And the faint screams, which grew louder the deeper they ventured into the district.

"Let's turn back. It's dangerous to go any further," Lu Li said.

"But Richard..."

"He has bigger things to worry about than us right now. It's time to destroy the remaining Bloody Tentacles," Lu Li stated, and together with Anna, he retraced their steps.

The oppressive feeling gradually receded as soon as they left the confines of the burnt-out zone.

Back at the carriage, Lu Li set a course toward one of the Bloody Tentacles.

Passing through a relatively busy street leading to the port, Lu Li halted his carriage. He flagged down a passing postman and paid him ten shillings to deliver a message about the situation in the Ruins to the Friendship and Love Repair Shop on Waterfront Street.

It was far simpler and cheaper than using rotten meat to attract the black crows.

However, Lu Li decided to do one more thing. While tracking the Bloody Tentacle, he drove to Waterfront Street himself.

The port and Waterfront Street were bustling with noise and people. On the horizon, against a leaden-gray sea, a Bloody Tentacle descended from the low clouds, its tip brushing the surface of the water.

"Has one of them not reached Belfast yet?" Anna asked, looking at Lu Li, who stood by the railing, gazing into the distance.

Lu Li didn't answer, his brow furrowed as he stared out at the dark, ominous sea. After a moment, he moved along the street and stopped at a viewing scope.

The influx of migrants had made this business profitable again. After paying a shilling, Lu Li earned the right to use the scope for five minutes. He pressed his eye to the eyepiece and aimed it toward the Bloody Tentacle.

Through the blurry image, a few miles from shore, he saw a small passenger ship. The Bloody Tentacle was hovering just behind it.

Discounting the possibility that the tentacle was just coincidentally behind the ship, its host was most likely on board.

"He's not far," Lu Li murmured, as if to himself, stepping away from the scope.

"Should we wait for him to dock?"

Lu Li's gaze fell on an overturned boat on the shore. "It would be better to approach him before he reaches the port."

"We could find another host first," Anna suggested.

Lu Li shook his head. "The host on the ship might still be alive, and I can't be sure if he'll sense my approach. Just in case, it's better to go out to sea and cut off his escape route."

"Then we'll do as you say..." Anna's voice trailed off.

Lu Li descended the steps to the strip of dark sand where the boat lay.

Sand sprayed into the air as Lu Li flipped the boat over. Ignoring the shocked and frightened stares of passersby, Anna pushed the boat across the sand as if it were gliding on water, carving a deep furrow behind it. The boat slid into the sea and, without losing momentum, shot across the waves in the direction Lu Li indicated.

The sea wind and spray lashed at Lu Li's face, whipping his black hair and clothes about him. The speed at which the boat cut through the waves gave him the illusion that he was once again back on the peaceful, calm Earth.

Anna steered the boat confidently toward their target. An enormous ocean liner, having just left the port, loomed in their path. Anna merely adjusted their course slightly, zipping past the behemoth that nearly blotted out the sky. On its decks, passengers and crew pointed in astonishment at the small boat leaving a white, frothy wake.

Suddenly, Anna felt a pang of regret.

After all, she could have simply picked Lu Li up and carried him through the air.

Meanwhile, Lu Li, held fast in the boat by Anna's invisible force to keep from being thrown overboard, squinted at the passenger ship, which had already shrunk to a small dot on the horizon.

As they drew closer, more details came into view: peeling paint on the hull, a lowered anchor, people on the deck, and... the Bloody Tentacle descending from the sky.

A few minutes later, when only a few hundred meters separated them from the ship, Lu Li raised a hand, signaling for Anna to stop.

Anna released her telekinetic grip, and the boat continued to drift forward on its own momentum.

Lu Li stared intently at the moving figures on the deck, then began to mutter as if talking to himself, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... One, two, three, four, five..."