The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 482: Strength and Weakness

The streetlights at the port flickered, their glow intermittent.

City Hall was still supplying power to the port, hoping it would help save more people and aid the exorcists in their struggle against the Gnashers.

Even so, the exorcists had been unable to advance far into the port.

Their line of defense had stalled at the end of the bridge.

The open space meant the Gnashers could attack from any direction. And while their bulky, distorted bodies made for easy targets, their numbers vastly outstripped the exorcists' supply of ammunition, and they seldom attacked alone.

Moreover, they gave the exorcists no time to reload.

"Haven't had a gig this easy in a long time," a man named Viden muttered to his colleague, standing by a blazing torch. "Just stand behind the barricades and shoot any Gnasher that pops up. A civilian could do this."

A crowd of exorcists had gathered there. Some were keeping watch over the port, while others were looking for partners to venture in.

"But what's the point?" someone shot back. "Don't forget, we're here to clear the port. Hunkering down here won't get the job done. How many have we killed? Three hundred? Four hundred? There are thousands of them in there!"

His voice, thick with emotion, carried through the fog."Shh! Dammit, keep your voice down," Viden hissed, cutting off the other exorcist—a fellow contractor for the United Exorcist Organization. "I'm just a small-time detective who helps neighbors with little hauntings. This is a job for the heavy hitters. We're doing what we can."

The moment he finished speaking, a chorus of rasping shrieks erupted from the fog-shrouded port, followed by the squelching sound of wet, sticky footsteps.

Had they stirred them up?

Viden's head snapped up in alarm. The other exorcists guarding the bridge froze as well, their anxious gazes fixed on the fog.

The wails echoed from the fog, but they seemed to be fading.

"Are they leaving?"

Baffled whispers rippled through the ranks of exorcists. Just then, a tremor ran through the bridge, and a messenger came running with news: a Senior Investigator had entered the port to deal with the Gnashers. All exorcists were ordered to hold the bridge and prevent any from breaking through.

...

Lu Li landed on the deck.

Oil lamp in hand, he approached the mast and said, "We're in position."

This was a cargo ship, loaded with several tons of kerosene.

Lu Li handed the lamp to Anna and took out the item Rachel had given him—a strange stone finger, as if broken off from some statue.

Following Rachel's instructions, Lu Li closed his hand around it and squeezed.

The stone finger didn't change, but suddenly, a ray of light erupted from between Lu Li's knuckles, radiating outward.

At first, the light was no brighter than that of the oil lamp, but it steadily intensified until it seemed as if Lu Li were holding a second beacon in his hand.

The brilliant light, nearly consuming Lu Li's silhouette, burned away the shadows and fog like snow under a noon sun. The deck, the cargo ship, the dark sea, the port—more details emerged within the expanding circle of illumination.

Rachel had told Lu Li about the origin and properties of this artifact, called a Shard of an Ancient Statue. It had been found in ancient ruins enveloped by a strange fog. By the time investigators arrived, all that remained were the stumps of stone columns and innumerable fragments of shattered statues.

One of the workers clearing the rubble picked up a shard and instinctively closed his hand around it. A blinding light instantly erupted from his palm, and he flung the piece away in fright. The light slowly faded.

They soon discovered that when squeezed, the statue fragments emitted a brilliant light capable of dispelling darkness, fog, and other minor anomalies.

Unfortunately, the statues were too heavily damaged for the exorcists to piece them back together or determine their origin.

The Exorcist Association had confirmed that the shards were not a source of contamination and posed no danger.

Unlike the Truth Candle, which could be crafted, the shards of the ancient statues were unique. They were rarely used and thus kept in storage as valuable artifacts.

Rachel decided this was the right moment to use the shard, but Lu Li would have to return it to the United Exorcist Organization. Its value as an artifact remained even if its special properties were exhausted.

After a few seconds, the light stopped spreading.

The wails of the Gnashers echoed across the port. In the light, which now reached the docks, Lu Li could just make out their silhouettes moving within the roiling fog.

"Make a bridge," Lu Li said.

It seemed there was no need to circle the port; the Gnashers were already aware of his arrival.

Anna handled the task with ease. She tore up a section of the deck, fashioning an improvised bridge several meters wide and about fifteen meters long that connected the ship to the dock. Now the Gnashers could cross over without falling into the water and contaminating it.

Better yet, the now-open cargo hold could contain even more of the Gnashers.

Wooden barrels in a corner of the hold contained the kerosene needed to destroy the monsters. Uttering guttural cries, the Gnashers were already swarming up the bridge. The brilliant light seemed to have no effect on them as they crawled forward like shambling clumps of wet clay.

Anna lifted Lu Li into the air. They watched as the Gnashers flooded the deck like a tide. Some tumbled into the water, vanishing into the dark depths.

The Gnashers tumbled into the cargo hold. Tipping their heads back, they stared up at Lu Li, gradually piling up beneath him to form a gruesome mound of bodies.

More Gnashers poured in from the port, and the mound grew until it rose above the level of the deck. Just then, an invisible force slammed down, and the pile of bodies collapsed in on itself.

"They're so weak..." Anna whispered. To her, the Gnashers were no more threatening than ants.

And yet, these weak, grotesque creatures could easily destroy the most prosperous city on the Allen Peninsula.

Lu Li looked at Anna but said nothing.

In less than a minute, four or five hundred Gnashers had crowded into the hold. They got in each other's way, thrashing about in a clumsy pile.

This wasn't nearly enough to justify setting fire to the ship.

Anna wanted to intervene, but she faced a problem.

"The Atonement isn't suited for this."

"Right."

"I have an idea," Anna said. "Use another spirit gun. You shoot, and I'll handle the reloading."

Lu Li didn't object. While the other spirit guns were practically redundant with Anna by his side, he was curious to see what abilities would manifest once its rose bloomed.