The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 462: The Infected Ship

A small passenger ship, its anchor dropped, drifted serenely a few miles from Moon Bay.

The bustling, lively Port Roadster was visible on the horizon, yet the vessel, filled with passengers, had for some inexplicable reason anchored outside the harbor, coming to a stop in the middle of the vast sea.

Even stranger were the actions of the crew and passengers on its deck.

A lookout was climbing the mast, gazing toward Port Roadster, then descending to the deck. He would pause for a moment before climbing the mast once more to look toward the port.

On the deck, a couple in love, huddled close, pointed toward the rain-shrouded silhouette of Belfast. A few seconds later, they would lower their arms, only to raise them and point at the city again.

A sailor swabbing the deck would bend to wipe the floor, take a few steps back while continuing his work, then a step forward to wipe again, and then another step back.

The wind snatched the hat from a young passenger standing by the railing. With a look of alarm, he scrambled after the rolling hat, dusted it off, placed it back on his head, and returned to the railing. A gust of wind—and the hat flew from his head once more. The young passenger, wearing the same startled expression, rushed after it again.

An elderly couple, leaning on canes, slowly circled the upper deck. A child ran tirelessly back and forth. A sailor, huddled beneath the mast and wrapped in a thin shirt, sneezed every few seconds.

The passengers and crew on deck mechanically repeated the same actions, creating a disturbing sense of artificiality that lay hidden beneath the surface of the commotion.

Anna, who at first hadn't understood Lu Li's actions, gradually became aware of the dead silence pervading the deck. When Lu Li stopped counting, she spoke. "There's something wrong with this ship."Unwilling to let Lu Li set foot on board, Anna added, "Stay in the boat. I'll go take a look."

"Be careful."

As the wooden boat rocked on the waves, Lu Li rested his hand on the butt of his pistol.

"Mm-hmm."

Anna’s quiet reply seemed to come from the empty air, and Lu Li felt a sudden void around him.

The Mind Level counter, which had been ticking slowly every few dozen seconds, fell silent.

Lu Li watched the repeating movements of the figures on the deck. After a few minutes, the Mind Level counter twitched.

Anna's voice sounded beside him. "This ship is infected by an anomaly."

"From the outside, it looks normal, like any other ship, but inside, the walls and ceiling are covered in disgusting, pulsating flesh, as if it's a living creature," Anna said, her voice laced with revulsion at what she had seen.

"What about the people?" Lu Li gestured toward the figures on the deck.

After a short silence, Anna answered quietly, "...Their heads are pierced through. They're empty inside. Some of the bodies are badly decomposed."

They had been dead for a long time. There probably wasn't a single living person left on the ship—only husks, manipulated by the anomaly in the hold to conceal what was happening from prying eyes.

"I didn't see anyone alive. The host of the tentacle is probably dead. We can go search for the last tentacle."

Lu Li shook his head. "But what if the host himself is behind all this, or if the Bloody Tentacles are already parasitizing the anomaly?"

"We could ask the Exorcist United Organization for help."

"That would take too long."

A note of impatience and worry crept into Anna's voice. "But I don't want you to risk it."

"To reach a safe shore, you must pass through turbulent waves," Lu Li replied.

The Bloody Tentacles and the Door were swords of Damocles hanging over his head. Until he dealt with them, he would never be safe.

Lu Li managed to persuade Anna. Though she knew that the "other shore" wasn't safe either, the "future" he painted in such rosy colors was deeply alluring.

Before setting foot on the silent ship, Anna told Lu Li everything she had discovered: the figures, the flesh.

Anna had a clear advantage in this fight—an enemy with a physical form was far easier to handle than something intangible.

Protecting Lu Li, Anna lifted him into the air with her power and guided him toward the deck of the silent ship.

Lu Li landed in an empty space on the deck. The dead husks around him continued their silent, eerie repetition of the same movements, until the stiffened body chasing its hat drew near.

The husk of the young passenger bent to pick up the hat that had stopped rolling. His movements suddenly slowed. He raised his head, revealing a gaping hole in his forehead, and his eyes, veiled in a hazy film, fixed on Lu Li.

The mechanical footsteps all around ceased.

Lu Li glanced around. All the husks, which had been busy with their tasks just moments before, had frozen simultaneously and were now staring at him with empty, lifeless gazes.

At that moment, a long groan of warping timbers echoed from below deck, and the ship gave a sudden, violent lurch.

Lu Li lost his balance but was caught by Anna, who was constantly watching over him. Numerous thuds sounded across the deck as bodies fell.

The husk of the sailor on the mast plummeted down and broke its neck.

But it quickly and clumsily rose to its feet and started toward Lu Li.

The clank of chains echoed from the deck. Anna whispered, understanding what was happening. "The anomaly on this ship... wants to leave."

The anchor was rising rapidly.

Watching the sailor's husk crawl toward Lu Li, its neck twisted at an unnatural angle, Anna formed an invisible spear in her hand and threw it with ease.

A whistle cut through the air. The spear pierced the sailor's husk through the back, pinning it to the deck.

But the sailor's husk didn't die. It continued to move its arms and legs, struggling to reach Lu Li.

"Aim for the heart and brain," Lu Li said, his eyes fixed on the husk.

Two invisible spears sliced through the air, pinning the sailor's head to the deck.

But its husk continued to twitch in place.

Anna flung aside the other approaching husks. They were much weaker than she had expected, moving slowly and clumsily, like marionettes.

Perhaps that was why the anomaly in the hold was trying to escape?

Lu Li, frowning, observed the pinned husk. Suddenly, he noticed a detail.

"Lift it off the deck," he said. In the gaps between the deck planks beneath the sailor's body, strange, blood-red veins were pulsing.

"Alright."

Anna nodded, dispelled the spears piercing the sailor's husk, and lifted it into the air.

Something strange happened. Thin red threads, like blood vessels, stretched from the cracks in the deck to the sailor's husk. When the body was abruptly raised, the threads snapped and, writhing like living things, retracted back into the cracks. The husk, deprived of its connection to the bloody veins, went limp.

"The anomaly is controlling them," Anna whispered, her gaze shifting to the surrounding husks as she slowly raised her hand.

A dozen husks around Lu Li rose into the air, then, as the web of bloody threads snapped, they hung lifelessly.

At the same time, Anna turned her head toward the first sailor's husk.

A faint, distorted spirit emerged from the husk. Driven by instinct, it reached for Lu Li, but Anna's protective barrier prevented it from getting close, and the spirit began to circle him.

"Wait."

Just as Anna was about to destroy the distorted spirit, Lu Li stopped her.