The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 493: The Return

A sound, more drone than speech, repeated a single phrase over and over, like the rhythmic crash of the tide.

With it, a light breeze from deep within the passage seemed to carry the scent of a sea coast.

The end of the passage was close.

Could there be a shore there?

Lu Li clamped the handle of the oil lamp between his teeth, gripped the edge of a step, and followed the bloodstains down to the next one. Getting around without Anna's help was much more difficult.

If Anna were here, he wouldn't have to struggle like this.

The trail of blood Richard had left was no longer a neat line but had devolved into scattered stains across the steps.

The wounded Richard was obviously finding it harder and harder to move.

Squish.

As he stepped onto the next stair, Lu Li felt something sticky underfoot, even through the sole of his shoe.It was a layer of silt mixed with seaweed and scales. A sharp, fishy stench assaulted his nostrils.

Taking half a step back, Lu Li crouched and, holding the lamp, examined the silt.

The silt wasn't fresh, but it wasn't completely dry either. It had been here long before he and Richard descended.

The pitch-black silt and scales seemed to have come from the deepest trenches of the ocean; otherwise, where else would this pungent, fishy odor—reminiscent of a fishing trawler's hold—have come from?

Without touching the strange scales and silt, Lu Li wiped his shoe on a step and continued his descent.

The roar of the waves, carried on the wind, grew louder. Lu Li was now very close to the end of the passage.

Thud.

His feet touched the ground. Bending his knees, Lu Li softened the impact, leaving two impressions in the sand.

He had reached the end of the passage and stepped onto soft sand. The sound of the waves was no longer muffled by the tunnel walls, and Lu Li found himself on the shore of a subterranean ocean.

Holding the lamp, Lu Li turned to face the sea.

He was standing on a dark, sandy beach. The sky was black, starless, devoid of any sign of light. It was as if a novice painter had coated the canvas with black paint, then used the same color to sketch in the beach and the ocean.

In such darkness, Lu Li should have seen nothing, yet he could clearly make out the entire beach, even as it was plunged in shadow.

The place resembled an underground ocean.

The passage behind him leading down, the rocky walls vanishing into the gloom, the starless black sky—everything contributed to this illusion.

Near Lu Li, the sand was uneven, marked with indentations. A few grains were stained with dried blood, and from there, a trail of footprints led away.

Lu Li could almost see Richard falling onto the sand, staining his clothes, then limping away...

A few hundred meters from the shore, a dark shape was visible.

It was a small house.

Lu Li was certain he had never been here before, yet everything felt familiar, especially the house.

It was as if he had seen it just recently.

Following Richard's tracks, Lu Li drew closer to the house. As he approached, the details sharpened.

It was a house on stilts, just a few dozen meters from the water's edge. At high tide, the sea must reach almost to its foundation.

When he was about a hundred meters away, Lu Li finally understood the source of his déjà vu.

This was the coastline of the Coastal Town.

Lu Li spun around, but instead of the familiar streets and houses, he saw only a sheer rock wall rising into the sky.

After staring into the darkness for a long moment, Lu Li turned back to the house.

Then this house was...

...

His quiet footsteps fell silent at the wooden steps of the house.

His shoes sank slightly into the sand. Lu Li looked up. The familiar sight made him pause.

There were bloodstains on the wooden steps. Richard had been here, or at least passed by.

After a brief halt, Lu Li stepped onto the stairs. His right hand hung near his unfastened holster, ready to draw his pistol at a moment's notice.

Creak.

The groan of the old, damp steps was muffled by the roar of the waves.

Ascending the creaking stairs, Lu Li pushed the wooden door.

Scrape.

A loud, unpleasant scraping sound erupted, then abruptly stopped. The door, swollen with moisture, opened with great difficulty.

The wardrobe, the bed, the table, the window—everything was exactly as it had been before.

Only the dark patch on the floor in front of the bed, which Lu Li had first mistaken for a scorch mark or a paint stain, was now a real hole, descending into the unknown.

The light from the lamp, falling upon the hole, seemed to vanish into it without a trace.

A rope was tied to the leg of the bed, its other end disappearing into the hole. Fresh bloodstains dotted the floor around it.

Richard had been here, too, and by all appearances, had just recently descended into the hole using the rope.

Lu Li entered the house and closed the door behind him.

The sound of the waves outside grew quieter. The lamp's flame flickered, casting trembling shadows on the walls, and Lu Li couldn't help but remember the strange diary.

But there was nowhere to hide in the house, except for the hole under the bed.

A wind from the abyss seemed to be blowing out of the hole.

Lu Li circled the hole and approached the bed where the rope was tied. He pulled on it.

The rope came up easily; there was no weight on the other end. Soon, Lu Li had pulled up the entire length, only about a meter long.

Richard wasn't here.

He was trying to mislead Lu Li.

But if Richard had time to set a trap, then this place wasn't as dangerous as Lu Li had thought.

At least, not so dangerous that he couldn't handle it.

Knock, knock, knock.

Suddenly, a soft knock came from behind the door.

Lu Li froze and stared at the door.

Fortunately, he had closed the door. The trouble was, the door was only closed...

The knocking stopped, and silence fell over the house.

Staring intently into the darkness, Lu Li suddenly raised his head and sniffed the air.

A faint, fishy smell had appeared by the door.

Lu Li remembered the silt and scales in the passage. Could the thing behind the door be related to them?

Knock, knock, knock.

After a few dozen seconds, the knocking came again.

The creature outside the door hadn't left. The intensifying fishy smell confirmed it.

Lu Li could almost picture a scaly figure through the crack in the door.

It knew someone was inside.

Ignoring the hole, Lu Li quietly approached the window behind the table and carefully opened it.

The roar of the waves grew louder again. Lu Li turned back and waited for the next knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

When the third knock sounded, Lu Li took advantage of the noise before it faded, climbed out the window, and dropped to the sand below.

The lamp's flame trembled, distorting the shadows around him. Lu Li looked toward the front of the house but couldn't make anything out.

He wanted to get a look at the creature knocking at the door, but first, he needed to put some distance between himself and the house.

Backing away slowly, Lu Li suddenly bumped into something solid.

A sharp, fishy stench and a chilling cold enveloped him.