The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 464: The Staircase in the Cabin

The hellish, blood-red landscape of the cabin melted away like a painting, and Lu Li plunged into the host's Memories of Death.

Impenetrable darkness swirled around him as he sank into the gloom, hearing only a thick, indistinct muttering and the distant tramp of countless feet.

Time flowed forward, and after a few seconds, a dim yellow light flickered ahead in the darkness.

In the approaching light of an oil lamp, Lu Li saw himself and Anna floating beside him.

To his astonishment, he was the one who had killed the tentacle host.

In other words, the host had been alive until that very moment.

This shattered Lu Li's hope of finding clues in the host's original death.

The final frame of the Memories of Death was the "Lu Li" in the vision firing his pistol, after which Lu Li returned to reality.

"Nothing of note," Lu Li explained to the waiting Anna, recounting what he had seen.

With the host's demise, the bloody tendrils that had entwined the walls and ceiling began to fall away, slapping disgustingly onto the floor and the protective barrier."Let's get out of here," said Anna, gazing in revulsion at the falling chunks of flesh.

Lu Li nodded, casting one last glance at the formless pile of flesh, and was about to turn and leave.

Suddenly, a faint whisper of wind reached him.

Wind...?

Lu Li froze, raised the oil lamp, and aimed its light at the pile of flesh.

There seemed to be something on the floor underneath it.

"There's something there, under the floor," said Lu Li.

Anna gestured, and the pile of flesh flew aside like a heap of trash, revealing a metal ring on the floor.

Through the crack beneath a trapdoor, a draft was seeping through.

In that same instant, Lu Li felt an emptiness and silence settle around him.

This had never happened before. Since his Mind Level had dropped, he had been constantly surrounded by malice and the whispers of ghosts, but now, with the appearance of the wind, they had vanished without a trace.

No... Lu Li had experienced something like this before.

Back then, he had gone through a strange, inexplicable experience and had been "rewarded" with the bloody tentacles in his mind.

"Open it."

This trapdoor gave Lu Li a powerful sense of déjà vu.

Anna was already complying. Her power tugged at the ring, pulling the trapdoor open.

A dark staircase appeared before them, leading down.

"A staircase...?"

Anna didn't understand.

A secret passage here made no sense at all... They were in the lowest part of the ship; below them should have been nothing but the endless sea, not a stone staircase descending for dozens of feet before turning a corner.

Lu Li, who had already connected this scene with his memories, looked at the walls. But this time, there were no numbers or nonsensical inscriptions on them.

"I'm going down there," Lu Li stated.

There were three things in Richard's jar of contagion: the tentacles, a piece of flesh, and an eye. The tentacle that had entered Lu Li's mind obviously corresponded to the "tentacles," and the host he had just destroyed was the "piece of flesh."

Now, Lu Li had to face the second trial.

Yes, a trial. Recalling his past experience, aside from the dangers and strangeness, it had all felt like a test for him. Like the lesson he had learned at the end...

Danger awaited him below, but this was his only chance to get closer to unraveling Richard's plan.

"I'll go with you."

Anna knew that Lu Li usually made his decisions carefully and it was difficult to change his mind. So she held out her hand.

"Alright."

Lu Li took Anna's ghostly hand, raised the oil lamp, and stepped into the secret passage.

But as soon as he took a step, Anna's hand was left behind—she couldn't enter.

It seemed Anna couldn't set foot on the staircase; something was blocking her way.

This trial was meant for Lu Li alone.

"Wait for me here."

Lu Li said to a worried Anna, then looked away and continued down the cold steps until he disappeared around the corner.

...

The rough walls gave Lu Li a strange sensation.

They were like frosted brown glass, filtering daylight from an overcast sky.

This sensation arose because the walls themselves emitted a faint glow. Even without the oil lamp, the staircase wasn't plunged into complete darkness.

But when Lu Li touched the wall, he realized it was just rough stone.

Reaching the first turn, Lu Li looked to the end of the corridor.

The walls remained bare of any numbers or letters; only an artfully carved wooden door stood out against the rough stone.

This was clearly the first test.

After descending the last few steps, Lu Li approached the door. Its exquisite carvings resembled the religious ornamentation found in wealthy homes. Through the slits in the carving, Lu Li could make out the space beyond the door.

He took the handle and pulled the door toward him.

Beyond the door was a small room, from which the sounds of an organ drifted.

A carved wooden chair stood in the center of the room. The place resembled a confessional in a church, and the organ music drifting through the carved walls, along with the dim light filtering in from outside, confirmed this suspicion.

Lu Li entered the confessional and placed the oil lamp on a small wooden shelf where a stack of rough paper and a quill stuck in an inkwell already lay.

In the confessional, filled with the faint scent of wood, Lu Li sat down on the chair.

Shortly after, a blurry female figure appeared behind the carved wall and sat down opposite him.

Through an opening in the wooden partition, Lu Li could see her hands, clasped together anxiously.

Everything felt so real, as if it were actually happening.

The woman behind the wall began to pray quietly: "Almighty Lord, tell me what to do..."

"Who are you?" Lu Li asked after a brief silence.

But the woman didn't seem to hear him. She sat motionlessly.

Lu Li, beginning to understand the rules of this trial, took the quill and wrote on the paper: "State your name." He then passed the note through the opening.

The woman behind the wall took the note and replied reverently, "My Lord, I am your faithful servant, Olivia Kiken."

Lu Li wrote his next question: "What time is it?" and passed the note through again.

But this time, the woman didn't take the paper and remained motionless.

Lu Li wrote several more questions: "Where are we?", "Which God do you believe in?", but received no reply.

Setting the useless notes aside, Lu Li wrote on a new sheet: "What is troubling you?"

The woman behind the wall finally reacted and took the note.