The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 555: The Lecture

From beneath the edge of the black robe, a soft, almost inaudible laugh reached Lu Li's ears alone.

Everything Kig Fule was talking about, Lu Li had already experienced firsthand, and more than once.

Walking ahead of them, Kig Fule continued, "—refusing distant relatives, friends who have suddenly changed, invitations from strangely dressed strangers..."

They reached the doors of the lecture hall, from which the low hum of student chatter drifted through a slightly ajar door.

"I'll tell them about the rituals of evil spirits," Lu Li stated.

But such knowledge came at a price—a toll paid with one's Mind Level.

"Of course. Before your lecture, I always check if there are any students who would prefer not to listen," Kig Fule confirmed, perfectly grasping the unspoken implication in Lu Li's words. He asked Lu Li to wait in the corridor for a moment, then entered the classroom himself.

Kig Fule's voice rang out in the now-silent classroom. "Today, we have a guest speaker—a Senior Investigator from afar. His name is Lu Li, and he is well-known among exorcists throughout the entire Ellen region. He is the man who personally visited a devastated town and single-handedly intervened in a conflict between two evil gods, ultimately destroying one of them."

A wave of astonished murmurs swept through the classroom.

While the students' reaction couldn't compare to the profound shock a seasoned exorcist might feel, those who understood the true meaning of an "evil god" were still deeply awestruck.Only the ignorant could be free from worry.

"What's the matter?" Lu Li asked, turning to his companion in the hallway.

"I'm just happy for you," Anna said softly, tilting her head. "How did you know?"

"The chair was trembling."

"Sorry."

Anna released her tight grip on the handles of the wheelchair.

...He will be speaking about the rituals of evil spirits. This knowledge is corrupting and dangerous, capable of poisoning the mind. If any of you are not prepared to hear it, you may leave the auditorium now.

Several seconds passed, but not a single student moved to leave.

Curiosity, it seemed, was stronger than the fear of losing one's mind.

"And now, I'll turn it over to Senior Investigator Lu Li."

With a satisfied expression, Kig Fule stepped down from the podium. He approached Lu Li and murmured, "If you would."

Lu Li nodded, and Anna wheeled him forward to the lectern.

The young students stared, surprised by Lu Li's youth and trying to guess why he was in a wheelchair, their gazes drawn equally to his dark eyes.

"I am Senior Investigator Lu Li."

Without any further preamble, Lu Li calmly met the thirty pairs of intense eyes fixed upon him.

"Sir, are you in a wheelchair because of a clash with an evil god?" one of the students asked.

"No."

"Then was the thing that injured you even more terrifying than an evil god?" another inquired.

"You shouldn't measure anomalies by conventional standards of power. And frankly, exorcists are no better than termites in a wooden house. We operate in silence, hoping the owner never notices us. The moment he does, it's instant death. But yes... the place I was injured was more dangerous than any evil god."

"Where was it? Were you hurt in some ancient dungeon?"

"Can you tell us where? If it's not a secret, of course."

The students seemed less interested in the knowledge of evil spirits than in the reason for Lu Li's condition.

"Hell."

Lu Li answered with the same calm demeanor he might use to name any ordinary city.

A hush of confusion fell over the classroom as many students were lost in thought. It was then that Lu Li began his account of the evil spirits he had known.

He spoke in a calm, measured tone, simply sharing what he knew as if delivering a standard lecture.

Had the topic been mundane, the students would have grown bored, but every detail he shared had a palpable effect, plunging his audience into a state of tense fascination.

Kig Fule listened from the doorway, captivated despite already knowing everything Lu Li was saying.

After a while, Lu Li concluded his talk, opening the floor for questions.

The students asked about all sorts of things, often circling back to the topic of Hell.

One question in particular gave Lu Li pause:

"Have exorcists ever tried to bargain with evil spirits? For example, with the Uninvited Guest, what if you let it leave and then officially invite it back in?"

"People have tried that," Lu Li nodded. "But no detailed results of such experiments survive. That means one of two things: either the change has no effect on the core of the spirit's ritual, or the person who tried was unable to record their findings."

Presumably due to a sudden death.

"And if we encounter something anomalous... what should we do?"

They had heard Kig Fule's answer to this question many times, but they were eager to hear what Lu Li thought.

"Stay away," Lu Li said, his gaze sweeping over them. "Avoid contact at all costs. That is the best course of action."

"But why don't we just destroy these monsters that are stealing our world from us?!" an indignant student exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Out in the hallway, Kig Fule frowned.

"Everything we call an 'anomaly'... The very word implies something incomprehensible, unusual, strange. And that's exactly how we should perceive them."

"Their danger lies not in their power, but in the fact that most people die without ever understanding what it was they encountered."

"I was once inside a house that devoured its occupants. Every object in it was alive. Teacups whispered to one another; chairs resented the weight of anyone who sat on them. It was a contagion, capable of 'animating' the buildings around it. People died in their sleep, leaving nothing behind but a pile of clothes on the floor."

"Fortunately, we found the source fairly quickly: an investigator discovered an ancient book. He was cautious and experienced, but as he approached the book, something tore his clothes to shreds, as if the fabric itself had come to life."

Lu Li's eyes met those of his terrified audience, including the student who had been so indignant just moments before.

"Until you've seen them for yourselves, you can't possibly imagine it."

There were still ten minutes left in the class period, but Lu Li had finished his story. He let Anna wheel him out of the room.

Kig Fule gently closed the door behind them and said with a weary smile, "After that, they'll be afraid of anomalies for a long time. They might even lose all hope for the future... though you didn't lie to them."

"I left a great deal out," Lu Li remarked.

"Such as?"

"For instance, the fact that everything we struggle so desperately against is likely just a fraction of the true threat to this world."

Kig Fule stood up straighter, his expression suddenly serious. "Why do you think that?"

"If you've ever felt the presence of a higher entity, you understand. They wouldn't need to exert any effort to destroy our world. They could do it in an instant."

Lu Li thought of the entity sleeping in the underwater ruins, and of the other one that had pushed him onward and left him a gift.

They were beings of a completely different, incomprehensible scale—far beyond humanity's ability to oppose.

And it seemed there were many such beings... It was as if they, too, were bound by some ancient pact, forbidden from interfering directly, allowed to act only through their servants and messengers.

"Perhaps our world is nothing more than their pasture."