novelraw Chapter 512: This Man Wants to Die
Chapter 512: This Man Wants to Die
Lu Li was one of the people who had shaped Anna into the person she was today.
His own emotional detachment made it difficult for him to grasp the hidden meanings behind feelings that welled up from the depths of the human soul.
It was hard to say whether Anna’s transformation was for the better or for the worse. If Lu Li hadn’t intervened in her afterlife, she might have fallen into the abyss and become a new evil spirit, or she could have been destroyed by an exorcist. Instead, she had lost a part of herself, but she had also preserved a part.
The first option would have been far worse.
"The first thing you need to do is stop being a shadow," Lu Li told Anna. "You don't have to hide from anyone, unless you simply don't like them."
Although Lu Li struggled to understand emotions, especially when compared to the twisted depths of forbidden knowledge, he could manage them with logic and careful manipulation. The root of Anna's problem was her desire to be his shadow, so he decided to let her step out of the darkness and interact with the world around her.
"What if they're ordinary people?"
"You decide whether to appear or not," Lu Li replied, then turned toward the door as if he'd heard something.
Knock... Knock-knock...
A quiet rapping came from the door.Lu Li glanced at his watch. 9:20 PM. For the locals, this was already the dead of night.
Who would come to an abandoned house at this hour?
Three knocks. The Uninvited Guest, an evil spirit that wandered the city...
"Do you feel anything?" Anna asked suddenly.
Her question made Lu Li frown. "The knocking. You don't hear it?"
Knock... Knock-knock...
Five seconds after the first round of knocks, a second one followed. Anna shook her head. "There's nothing behind the door..."
Her gaze met Lu Li's and immediately turned cold. "It's the Door."
Lu Li said nothing. Judging by the timing, the Door was due to appear any day now.
But who could say whether this was the real Uninvited Guest or the Door masquerading as it?
One would kill you if you didn't open the door, the other if you did.
"Don't let it hear you. When it hears, it can see. Don't let it see you. When it sees, it can touch. Don't let it touch..."
Anna whispered the only piece of information she knew about the Door, then looked up at Lu Li. "I'll go check."
"Alright."
Lu Li nodded, watching as Anna passed through the wall.
Knock... Knock-knock...
The third knock sounded.
Lu Li remained seated, with no intention of opening the door. He kept his eyes fixed on it, then his gaze drifted to the drawn curtains.
He felt a wave of relief when he saw no bloodshot eyes peering through the gaps.
Suddenly, a silhouette appeared on the wall. Lu Li looked at it. It was a black, vine-like shape that slithered across the wall and vanished.
Anna returned a moment later and told Lu Li, "There's nothing out there. I don't feel anything."
"It's over. The Door, disguised as the Uninvited Guest, left when it got no answer."
Lu Li sensed that the presence behind the door was gone.
The Door's first intrusion during its second stage hadn't caused Lu Li any physical harm, but it had exerted immense psychological pressure—a feeling of inescapable danger.
Although the threat of the Bloody Tentacles had been eliminated, the Damocles' sword named 'the Door' still hung over his head.
The Door's visit spurred Lu Li to accelerate his plans.
His gaze fell on Richard's hat, which lay on the table.
"We need to leave," Lu Li said.
He went upstairs. The children were asleep, huddled together in their beds. Only Jimmy and Mela, who were on watch for the night, were still awake.
They didn't want Lu Li to go, but he promised to return during the day with blankets, kerosene, and other supplies.
After saying goodbye to the children, Lu Li went downstairs and left the house.
"Are we going to the shelter?" Anna asked.
For Lu Li, there was no safer place.
"Not yet."
First, Lu Li wanted to return to the detective agency and take care of one final problem, one unpleasant matter.
...
Belfast, Waterfront District.
Most of the residents in the long apartment building were already asleep, lost in troubled dreams. In the heavy silence, a sharp scraping sound echoed, as if someone were dragging a heavy object across the floor.
Creak...
Lu Li moved a chair to the center of the living room, stood on it, took the rope hanging from the back of the chair, and tied one end to a hook on the ceiling.
"I'm against this," Anna declared. Her icy aura revealed she was on the verge of breaking down.
"It's the best way to learn about the Door. The Investigators' headquarters has gone silent, which means something might have happened."
The other end of the rope dangled freely. Lu Li stepped down from the chair, removed his coat, tossed it onto the sofa, and loosened his tie, unfastening the top button of his shirt.
The black cat leaped onto the sofa and curled up in the warm coat.
Lu Li turned to see Anna standing behind him, her eyes filled with sorrow. "How am I supposed to accept your... death?"
Her gaze, brimming with pain and despair, could have broken anyone's heart.
After a brief silence, Lu Li replied, "It's only a near-death state."
"But you might not wake up, right?"
For some reason, Lu Li found it difficult to meet her eyes. He looked away, walked around her, and sat down on the chair, which still bore the faint marks of his shoes. "That's why your help is so important. You have to make sure I can get free from the rope before I suffocate."
Anna turned to face Lu Li. "You told me I should stop being a shadow and use my power to protect you."
"This isn't the same thing," Lu Li responded.
"We still have time. Why don't we wait until the Door becomes truly dangerous?"
Lu Li looked up and said calmly to Anna, "This world is like a sandcastle on the shore. A tsunami is forming in the sea. The longer we wait, the more dangerous it becomes, and the more the world will change."
"What could be more dangerous than hell?"
Yes, that was exactly what Lu Li was planning—to go to hell.
Richard was the only known lead connected to the Door. He was dead, and his soul was likely in hell. Lu Li intended to go there, find him, and learn everything.
This insane plan would shock anyone who heard of it and provoke resistance from anyone who cared about Lu Li.
"If 'going to hell in a near-death state' doesn't sit well with you, let's call it something else," Lu Li said, realizing just how much she feared his death. "I'm going to conduct a séance to contact Richard's spirit and ask him a few questions."