The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 547: Adamfiya

Collapsed stone slabs had buried one side of the church. Splinters of stained glass were scattered near the faded red pews, and a shattered statue retained a sorrowful expression on its face. Beams of light pierced through the breaches in the walls, illuminating slowly swirling dust motes.

Lu Li and Anna entered the church through the ruined portal. Carefully navigating the rubble and piles of stone, they approached the only intact stone door, which led down into a crypt.

"There's a ghost inside," Anna said.

Lu Li raised his hand and knocked on the door.

A moment later, a soft, calm voice echoed from behind the stone. "Who is it?"

"Tesla sent me to the church," Lu Li replied.

Soon, the ethereal figure of a beautiful woman passed through the door, materializing before them.

"So you are Lu Li and... Anna," the woman said quietly, her gaze softening as she looked at Anna. "Mike often told me about you. Are you injured?"

"Just a small scratch," Lu Li responded. He showed her Tesla's letter and relayed the information within. "Why did he hide the details about you?"

"For the shelter's sake," Adamfiya murmured, her gaze falling, her expression turning somber."Do you know what's happening in the shelter?"

Adamfiya nodded. "Only in part. Mike himself didn't have time to learn more—the connection was lost. The servant told me the shelter had been sealed, and following Mike's instructions, he brought me here."

Even before the shelter officially opened, Tesla suspected it had a hidden purpose. If it were merely a refuge, it wouldn't have required such secrecy, nor would it have been dug hundreds of meters deep into the earth, with massive walls of Deep Sea Stone several meters thick and constant construction of new rooms.

The Spirit Hunters Association, which had proposed the shelter project, was clearly preparing something in secret.

For instance, the very name "Project Fire" hinted at a different meaning.

Tesla had entered the shelter about two weeks ago—precisely when he lost contact.

A letter had arrived from the shelter, inviting Tesla to choose a room for himself, but it stipulated that he must go alone and keep it a secret.

As Tesla's wife, Adamfiya was also entitled to a place in the shelter, even as a ghost. The administration's actions had therefore aroused his suspicions.

Ultimately, Tesla had instructed his wife and their old servant: if anything happened to him in the shelter, they were to go to Lu Li—he would protect them.

But at dawn, just as they were preparing to leave, Tesla, as if sensing something, decided to change the plan. He would send Adamfiya not to Lu Li, but to the crypt beneath the church in Tenebrae.

He said that if he did not return, he would try to contact Lu Li and let him know to come for her himself.

Tesla departed—and, just as he had feared, the shelter was soon completely sealed off.

Realizing that something had gone wrong, the servant prepared a carriage that night and brought his mistress to the church. Only two weeks later, after receiving the letter, did Lu Li arrive.

Everything now made sense. Tesla had planned to shelter his wife with Lu Li from the start, which was why he told her to wait on the edge of the Shadow Swamp, hidden in the church crypt.

Tesla knew about the connection between the Mother of the Swamp and Lu Li, and he also knew that Lu Li had been in these crypts before.

"And the servant who brought you here?" Anna asked suddenly.

Adamfiya lowered her head, her voice trembling.

"That night, we ran into wandering ghouls... He died there... The ghouls devoured him..."

Adamfiya was not lying. After consuming human flesh, a soul becomes tainted, yet her soul remained faint and pure.

This suggested she could be trusted.

"Has Mike returned?" Adamfiya patiently answered all of Lu Li's questions before finally asking one of her own, unable to hold back any longer.

"No," Lu Li said, shaking his head. He then told her what had been happening in the outside world.

Adamfiya had been hiding here for two weeks and knew nothing of her surroundings.

"Belfast..."

Upon hearing that the city had been destroyed, Adamfiya froze.

While she was silent, Lu Li mulled over Project Fire.

It was just as Tesla had said: the Spirit Hunters Association, the oldest organization in history with such a long record of fighting anomalies, would hardly build such a shelter merely to protect a handful of people. Such effort, secrecy, and underground complexes of Deep Sea Stone were not for that alone.

Therefore, the shelter's primary purpose was to serve as a kind of "Noah's Ark."

When the "flood" inundated the world, only the few who made it into the ark would survive. And when the waters receded, they would begin a new life in a ruined world.

What Lu Li couldn't understand was whether the Spirit Hunters truly knew if the "flood" would subside, or if they too were gambling on the fate of humanity.

If the monsters did not leave, the shelter would eventually have to be opened—in which case, Project Fire would only provide its inhabitants a temporary reprieve and peace.

But if the "flood" did recede, it meant the Spirit Hunters possessed some secret information...

Lu Li knew there were several shelters, and one of them was located right on the Allen Peninsula.

But like all exorcists not involved in the plan, he did not know its precise location.

"Can I go with you?" Adamfiya asked, not so much out of worry for her husband as from the fear of never seeing him again. "There's nothing here at all, except for the nocturnal monsters that try to crawl through the tunnel."

"I'm afraid not. We are heading to the Main Continent, to the capital of Ellen, and we can't take you. But we will certainly come back for you upon our return," Lu Li replied.

In case something happened to Adamfiya during their absence, Lu Li added, "The Mother of the Swamp knows us. If her servants appear, tell them you came at my request—she will understand."

Adamfiya gave a faint nod. This spectral woman was as soft and calm as still water. Perhaps that was why she had remained a ghost by Tesla's side for so long without becoming a vengeful or evil spirit.

After saying their goodbyes, Lu Li and Anna left the city's ruins.

Before they left, Anna handed Adamfiya a book—to help pass the time, and perhaps as a gesture of acceptance, also at Lu Li's request.

The more monsters gathered on the cliff's edge, the better Lu Li could hide there, and the safer the place became.

As they ascended into the sky above the swamp road, they saw a few caravans and individuals moving cautiously along the straight path.

Everyone kept close to the left side. The Northern Shadow Swamp inspired a particularly deep fear, though its southern counterpart was also notorious for its terrifying legends of monsters.

The forest along the edges had long since withered, but now, as if by someone's will, it had begun to grow again—stretching right up to the road and the Southern Shadow Swamp.

The eerie thickets looked like countless long, withered arms reaching up to cover the gloomy sky. A sinister shadow blanketed almost half of the swamp road.

If the danger emanating from the Allen Peninsula were not so palpable, people would never risk coming here at all.

Deep within the swamp, Anna sensed the same dense, frightening aura she had felt at Agate Lake. Something was awakening in the darkness, attempting to invade the domain of the Mother of the Swamp.

At a time like this, it was not only humans who were in danger.