The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 502: Retribution

In the gray fog, only the stone slabs underfoot and the running form of Richard were clearly visible.

Thud.

Richard slammed into Lu Li’s chest. Lu Li staggered back several steps, his brow suddenly furrowing.

His foot met empty air.

Recalling the spirit gun Richard had thrown earlier—and the fact that there had been no sound of it landing—Lu Li grabbed Richard, spun around, and retreated from the edge of the abyss.

Richard hadn't noticed the danger. He took a few steps after Lu Li, then lunged forward, trying to tackle him to the ground.

His plan half-succeeded. Lu Li’s swift retreat had thrown him off balance, and he began to fall.

Lu Li was no fighter, but he knew what to do. As he fell, he bent his legs and kicked Richard squarely in the stomach, sending him flying sideways.

“Oof...”

A dull thud marked his fall.Lu Li started to get up, but Richard lunged at him again, straddling him and swinging his fists wildly.

“You have to understand me! Only great power can protect everyone!” Richard screamed, a crazed gleam in his eyes, his fists raining down on Lu Li like hail.

Lu Li shielded his head with his arms, his calm, dark eyes watching Richard through the gaps between his fingers. “You’re right. But you chose the wrong path.”

Richard's strength was fading, and his blows caused Lu Li only mild pain. Seizing a pause between punches, Lu Li abruptly rolled over, pinning Richard to the ground and staring down at his crazed face. “Power is something you can control.”

Richard threw his head back and smashed his forehead into Lu Li's.

A ringing filled Lu Li's ears, as if the very walls of the ancient ruins had shuddered. He reeled back involuntarily, and Richard seized the moment, shoving him away and scrambling to his feet.

Thwack!

Richard kicked Lu Li in the stomach. His face flushed with exertion as he rasped, “Why do you think I can't handle it?!”

“A rabbit cannot understand why a lion doesn't eat grass as it does.”

Lu Li's head was spinning. His heart pounded wildly, and a rush of blood clouded his vision.

The unpleasant throbbing in his temples was a new sensation for Lu Li, but the dizziness was already fading.

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!”

Having lost all control, Richard swung his leg again. Lu Li lunged, grabbing his ankle and yanking him forward.

One was exhausted, the other disoriented. They rolled across the ground, locked in a primal brawl.

Neither of them noticed how close they had come to the edge of the abyss.

Lu Li realized that complex reasoning was lost on the maddened Richard. Simple phrases might be more effective, but also more dangerous. “Do you think you're stronger than me?”

“Because you're a coward!” Richard sank his teeth into Lu Li’s arm, but the thick woolen coat protected him.

Grappling with Richard, Lu Li replied, “Self-sacrifice is not bravery, and killing the innocent is not justice.”

“I've never been a hypocrite like you,” Richard growled, still gnawing on Lu Li's arm like an animal.

“I'm just a pathetic, worthless man who wants to save the world and earn the praise and trust of those I protect!”

Lu Li's resistance weakened.

“Is it because of your childhood?”

The moment Richard finished his sentence, Lu Li saw a flash of his past—a ragged, grimy boy standing on a street corner with an indifferent, lost expression.

Madmen often had traumatic childhoods.

Richard, who had grown up on the streets without parents, seemed to be no exception.

Lu Li's words finally pushed Richard over the edge, tearing the last mask from his soul.

“You have no right to talk about that.”

He swung his head again for a headbutt, but Lu Li managed to shove him away with a foot.

A cloth-wrapped bundle fell from Richard's pocket. He instinctively reached for it, and that reflex saved his life. He tumbled to the very edge of the abyss, only his hands, clinging to the precipice, kept him from falling.

He had no strength to pull himself up, but he wasn't falling either.

Wiping the blood from his battered forehead, Richard looked at Lu Li, who had picked up the fallen bundle. As if resigned to his fate, he stopped struggling. “Want to know what this is?”

“A part of the Ancient God,” Lu Li replied.

To be precise—a tentacle, an eye, and a piece of flesh.

“Correct.” Richard managed a weak smile, the blood on his forehead making his face even more hideous. “Take it. If you win, you'll get the shell of the Ancient God.”

“Or, as you said, you'll refuse this power... Go on, show me what you'll do, you hypocrite.”

Lu Li silently regarded the bundle as Richard's head drooped, then raised it again.

“I have received such power before,” Lu Li said quietly, walking slowly toward Richard. “It came from a weak Evil God.”

“The feeling is hard to describe. It didn't let me fly or move objects; it simply filled my soul, making me feel omnipotent.”

Richard listened intently. Lu Li continued, “Yes, just as you thought, I refused it.”

“Because it's not a blessing. That power is not meant for humans. Even if it bore me no ill will and wanted to protect me, that doesn't change the fact that it was destroying my mind.”

“Fire doesn't mean to cause harm. It simply exists.”

Lu Li stood before Richard, looking down at him, at the dark abyss behind his back, from which a wind seemed to blow.

“I stopped you because of what you've done. Because of the people you experimented on in the psychiatric hospital, because of those you possessed, because of the thousands of innocent victims at the port... You say you want to save the world, but let me tell you...”

“You are not worthy of trust.”

Lu Li flicked his wrist, and the bundle Richard considered his only chance tumbled into the abyss.

Richard lowered his head, his face turning ashen. Suddenly, he threw his head back and laughed maniacally. “You've won... But do you think I'm some villain from a fairy tale, who'll put up a pointless struggle just to give you an epic finale? Never!”

Richard suddenly loosened his fingers.

His body began to fall, but in the next instant, it froze in mid-air.

Lu Li had caught his hand.

Richard raised his head and looked at Lu Li's calm face. As if casting off all emotion, he said quietly, “The Bloody Tentacles are the key to this place. When we arrived, they disappeared. You're safe.”

Richard began to pry Lu Li's fingers open.

“Now... I owe you nothing!”

With a final cry, Richard fell into the abyss.

A strange wind swept over the chasm, as if bidding farewell to the nameless.