The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 562: New Stories and Knowledge

Henry Muffin recounted the story of a mother and daughter who had managed to survive the Deadly Arena.

A family of three was traveling by carriage to the next county. When they stopped at a deserted house along the way, disaster struck—they were trapped inside the Deadly Arena of Sarah and Adam.

The house was a simple, single-story wooden building, so the rules of the "game" were equally straightforward: hide-and-seek. The time limit was one hour. Whoever was left as "it" when the time ran out would die.

The head of the family, the husband, made a difficult decision. He allowed his wife, who had become "it," to tag him, and then held her hand until the very last second of the countdown.

"— In the end, the mother and daughter emerged from the tightly sealed house. Their husband and father remained locked inside the wooden house forever."

Muffin looked thoughtful as he concluded his story.

It would have been a better story if all three had made it out together. But spirits of defilement are not known for their mercy.

"— Did exorcists try to find anything in that house afterward?" asked Kig Fule.

"— Of course they looked, but the house was already empty. All trace of the husband had vanished the moment the mother and daughter walked out," Muffin replied.

"— Usually, evil spirits or spirits of defilement can be traced back to their source," Lu Li said slowly. "Did exorcists investigate Sarah and Adam's past?"Muffin shook his head, looking uncertain. "— Perhaps they did, but I wouldn't know."

"— I do," Rod said suddenly.

The others around the fire turned to look at him.

Rod sat up, leaning away from the rock behind him. He tossed another branch into the fire and began his story:

— "Two hundred years ago, when Sarah was still human, she was a noblewoman from a small principality in the north of the continent. She fell in love with a commoner—Adam—but her father forced her to marry a count's son. Later, perhaps by her father's design, perhaps by chance, Adam died. And that very night, at a reception in the garden, Sarah was assaulted by that same count's son."

— "After that, signs of demonic possession began to appear. Sarah made contact with a demon and, to bring Adam back to life, she destroyed everyone who lived on the estate, including that count's son and her own father. In the end, her family was annihilated, and Sarah left the principality, taking Adam's body with her. That's how their Deadly Arena began."

The first part of the story mirrored what Lu Li had experienced, but the ending was different—and far less happy.

In the Shadow Puppeteer's version, all the participants had been servants of the estate. If the script was not altered, they all died.

Rod finished speaking and looked at Lu Li. "You're well acquainted with the story of Sarah and Adam?"

"— I've encountered the Shadow Puppeteer," Lu Li said, making no attempt to hide it. "The core of that story was Sarah's attempt to resurrect Adam."

The three exorcists were clearly interested, and soon Lu Li's tale became the third story shared around the fire.

"— Light breaks through the clouds, falling upon the intertwined branches where the hazy silhouettes of Sarah and Adam are just visible..."

A few minutes later, Lu Li concluded his tale.

"— An excellent story," one of them complimented.

Lu Li's story clarified the purpose of these gatherings: to share new knowledge and learn how other exorcists dealt with supernatural threats.

Exorcist scions placed great importance on tradition, which was why the most renowned practitioners came from within their own families.

Without this accumulated knowledge, an inexperienced exorcist was little different from an ordinary person.

"— So that was the real story of Sarah and Adam..." Muffin murmured, as if a long-held puzzle in his mind had finally been solved.

He turned to Rod. "The last story of the night is yours."

Just then, Anna gently touched Lu Li on the back.

He tensed, his gaze sweeping toward Star Lake, into the deepening darkness.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...

Muffin pulled a predictive alarm clock from his coat. It would not stop ticking. His face grim, he listened to the silence.

"— An evil spirit is approaching."

Kig Fule and Rod got to their feet simultaneously. Rod glanced at Lu Li in surprise—he had sensed the danger before anyone, even before the clock, and was already looking in the right direction.

At the edge of the firelight, about ten meters away where light and shadow met, a long, black arm appeared. It dragged along the ground like a shadow itself, reaching toward the campfire.

Shadow Stealing Fire.

The tension broke almost instantly. Rod relaxed, leaning back against the rock, and tossed a small stone toward the Shadow Stealing Fire.

His aim was not perfect—the stone landed about half a meter from the spirit, but it rolled and brushed against it.

The strange, elongated shadow vanished in an instant, pulling back into the darkness beyond the fire.

"— I think it's gone..."

Anna whispered in Lu Li's ear.

"— These evil spirits have been showing up more and more frequently," Muffin said, putting the predictive clock back in his pocket. He added wearily, "They say the Visible Song was recently spotted in Tannis Fortress. It passed through dozens of streets, claiming hundreds of lives. If it had happened during the day, there would have been even more casualties."

"— Visible Song? Is that an evil spirit?" Lu Li asked.

"— Yes. It first appeared on the Main Continent about two weeks ago, then started wandering from city to city," Muffin said, and went on to tell Lu Li the details about the Visible Song.

If you hear an ethereal, girlish voice, it means you are already within the Visible Song's area of influence. If you do nothing, you begin to fade, dissolving completely after a few dozen seconds.

Running is useless. The only way to survive is to close your eyes. The moment you do, the Visible Song vanishes.

Like the Shadow Stealing Fire, this evil spirit is fairly easy to defeat—as long as you know the right way to handle its ritual.

After that, Kig Fule shared news about other evil spirits that had recently appeared in the Kingdom of Ellen: the Swarm of Sufferings, the Beheaded Spirit, and the Uninvited Guest.

The Swarm of Sufferings is an enormous creature whose entire body is covered in hundreds of eyes. It is impossible to harm—no attack has any effect on it—but it will not attack first, either. Its terrifying appearance, however, drives most people to either flee or try to fight it.

If someone tries to flee, the Swarm of Sufferings will pursue and eventually catch them. But if someone attacks it, the creature begins to hum quietly, as if absorbing the pain like a self-flagellating monk, and only after some time...

Its body unfolds like a flower and consumes its attacker.

It is said that this is how it operates: it consumes its attackers, growing larger each time. The "eyes" covering its body are believed to be evidence of this. However, exorcists have no direct proof.

The Beheaded Spirit is the ghost of a woman in a white dress. Despite having no head, she weeps day and night. If you get close enough to listen, you can make out a whisper amid her sobs: "My head..."

The moment someone utters the word "head," "skull," or anything similar, the Beheaded Spirit instantly appears beside them and takes their head. Then, whispering quietly, "That's not the one..." it vanishes, only to reappear elsewhere.

As for the Uninvited Guest, Lu Li had encountered that one before and already knew how to deal with it.