novelraw Chapter 491: Confrontation
Chapter 491: Confrontation
The agent from the United Exorcist Organization watching the hideout informed Lu Li that Richard hadn't shown up.
The man's height and build didn't match Richard's, so they had ruled out a disguise and were now keeping him under surveillance.
Lu Li instructed them to maintain surveillance, then hung up and stepped out of the phone booth.
“Do we keep going or turn back?” Anna asked.
“We keep going.”
Lu Li climbed into the wagon and took the reins.
...
Sentry Post. Lu Li had been here shortly after first arriving in this world.
It hadn't been his first encounter with the supernatural, but it was his first brush with the darker, more mysterious side of this world.
Half an hour later, the wagon rolled into Sentry Post.Thanks to its proximity to Sugard Mountain, the town remained one of the few prosperous places left.
Gades, one of the first exorcists Lu Li had met, had since moved here, but Lu Li's destination was neither his acquaintance nor the town itself.
After passing through Sentry Post, Lu Li contacted the United Exorcist Organization again from a phone booth. Once he confirmed that Richard had still not appeared, he guided the wagon toward the abandoned psychiatric hospital beyond the town.
Soon, the derelict building came into view.
Anna gazed at it as well, lost in memory.
The last time they were here, she had been just a weak spirit, one who needed Lu Li's protection and was always holding him back.
The hospital still looked deserted: the muddy path was blanketed in rotting leaves, the windows were shattered, and the peeling walls bore the faint traces of where creeping vines had once flourished.
Richard knew Anna existed, but he was unaware of her current strength. So, Anna concealed herself in the In-Between, preparing to strike.
Leaving the wagon at the entrance to the hospital grounds, Lu Li crossed the overgrown garden with an oil lamp in hand and ascended the stone steps.
Shards of glass and loose stones crunched underfoot, breaking the silence of the derelict building.
The hospital entrance was cordoned off. After Lu Li had escaped this place and contacted the police, the building had been officially sealed.
Ducking under the tape, Lu Li entered the main hall and turned into the corridor on the right. The walls were covered in strange drawings.
The crudely drawn eye, which Lu Li had once mistaken for a threat, was still on the wall. He glanced at the other drawings—bloody tentacles resembling seaweed, chunks of gory flesh. Though the images were abstract, as if sketched by a child, Lu Li could now piece together the answer they held.
The puzzle was solved.
Making his way down the debris-strewn corridor, Lu Li reached the staircase.
The police had cleared the debris from the stairs leading to the basement. Pausing for a moment by the ruined section of the second-floor staircase, Lu Li descended into the encroaching darkness of the basement.
Snap!
As he stepped onto the last stair, Lu Li's foot snagged a rope stretched taut in the darkness. The line went taut, and a whistling sound cut through the gloom.
A bucket-shaped silhouette shot out of the darkness. It stopped half a meter from Lu Li, slamming into an invisible wall before flipping over and splashing its liquid contents.
Splash!
The water cascaded down the invisible barrier, momentarily distorting his view. Lu Li narrowed his eyes, peering into the gloom.
Nothing else emerged from the shadows.
The empty bucket swung from its rope overhead. Anna noticed a piece of cloth inside and retrieved it.
“There's a note.”
Anna handed it to Lu Li.
Raising his lamp, Lu Li read the message written on the damp cloth:
[This is just a little punishment. Go any further, and your life will no longer be your own.]
“A childish prank,” Anna scoffed.
It was just like Richard. Only a few hours ago, he had exposed himself to Lu Li for a handful of shillings.
But Anna had no intention of underestimating the enemy who had once framed Lu Li. “Or,” she added, “it’s a trap meant to make you lower your guard.”
Lu Li understood that perfectly. The note was a warning of the dangers ahead.
Tossing the note aside, Lu Li returned to the dimly lit corridor on the first floor.
“Aren't we going to check the basement?” Anna asked.
“We’ll try another way,” Lu Li replied.
He had no intention of personally testing Richard's traps, regardless of whether they were childish pranks or lethal threats.
Lu Li had Anna gather flammable twigs and wood scraps at the foot of the basement stairs, douse them in kerosene, and set them alight.
The flames blazed up, sending plumes of acrid smoke billowing into the space.
If Richard was in the basement, he wouldn't be able to withstand the suffocating smoke. And even if he could, his personality wouldn't allow him to remain hidden.
A man capable of patience wouldn't have taken the risk of sending such a provocative letter.
The fire blazed hotter, the heat and smoke forcing Lu Li to retreat. The flames seemed to catch on other flammable materials in the abandoned hospital; soon, even the walls began to leak smoke, shrouding the corridor in a thick haze.
Realizing the fire might soon engulf the entire building, Lu Li stepped back out into the garden.
The fire spread quickly, undeterred by the recent rains. Thick black smoke from the damp wood billowed above the hospital, forming a column that would be visible for miles.
Lu Li figured the Sentry Post police would soon spot the fire and send help.
Lu Li waited patiently, letting the smoke fill the hospital and flush Richard out.
If he was even here.
The fire was no longer confined to the basement; tongues of flame now licked through the smoke on the first floor.
Smoke flooded the entire building as Lu Li stood in the garden and watched.
A shadow flickered in one of the few remaining intact windows.
It wasn't a trick of the smoke. As Lu Li stared, the shadow grew clearer. A window creaked open, and a rope tumbled down.
It was Richard.
He hadn't been in the basement. He'd been hiding on the third floor.
Richard's information had been genuine—he really had given himself away.
Anna's eyes glinted coldly. The fox they had been hunting for so long had finally emerged.
Anna focused her power, sending an icy aura surging toward Richard, who was struggling to climb out of the window, coughing on the smoke. But just as quickly, she frowned.
“My power can’t get close to him...”
An inexplicable, strange aura surrounded Richard.
“It might be related to the part of the Ancient God,” Lu Li said, watching Richard rappel down the rope.
As Richard descended, his furious shout echoed across the garden. “You’re cheating!”
“This isn’t fair! You set the building on fire!”
“It was worth it to draw you out,” Lu Li replied.
Before the fire reached the third floor, Richard made it to the end of the rope and dropped onto the steps below.
But he failed to notice a loose stone, twisted his ankle, and went tumbling down the steps with a shout.
Right before Lu Li’s eyes, Richard tumbled all the way to the bottom, his face a bloody mess by the time he stopped.
“I surrender!” Richard cried, throwing his hands in the air.