The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 583: The Anomalistics Exam

Lu Li appeared in the classroom doorway, a flowerpot in his hands. Every eye in the room turned to him, including those of the two newcomers who had recently earned the status of "Paradise" residents.

Of course, the portly student Lu Li had fed to the creatures was not among them.

Lu Li set the pot on the edge of his desk, clearing a space for the upcoming exam.

The anomaly-girl sitting beside him kept shooting him curious glances, as if she wanted to ask about the plant but was still mindful of their recent conflict.

Ignoring the attention he was drawing, Lu Li took out the pen he had received from Professor Gavril York and placed it beside the provided quill and inkwell.

The time for the exam drew near, and a hush fell over the classroom. The students seemed to sense something was coming.

Soon, a figure entered the classroom, clutching a stack of parchment sheets.

Her narrowed eyes held an unkind gleam. The young instructor didn't need to say a word—the students already knew the rules of the exam from the whispers that had echoed in their minds.

She descended from the lectern and began to hand out the sheets, soon arriving at Lu Li's desk.

As usual, she stared at him intently, but her attention quickly shifted to the flowerpot."What's the pot for?" she asked, eyeing the damp earth from which water had not yet fully drained.

"To plant a flower," Lu Li answered curtly.

Suddenly, the young instructor's gaze was no longer just intense—it was searing. Even Lu Li had to look away from the flame that burned in her eyes.

"Are you going to stare all day, Professor?" the anomaly-girl tapped her desk impatiently.

The instructor finally averted her gaze and continued handing out the exam papers. However, Lu Li could still feel her heated stare on him.

Frowning, Lu Li didn't pick up his pen. He set aside his thoughts about the young instructor's odd behavior for the moment and scanned the questions.

The first question:

[The town of Andrew has a population of 3,540. Every evening at six o'clock, the residents light oil lamps that burn until six the next morning. The Shadow Stealing Fire and the Uninvited Guest arrive in the town one hour before sunset. The Uninvited Guest is known to kill an average of seven people per minute, while the Shadow Stealing Fire kills eleven. Question: If the residents cannot escape, how long will it take the Shadow Stealing Fire and the Uninvited Guest to kill all the residents, and how many people will each of them kill?]

Just as Lu Li had expected, the questions were about anomalies. Moreover, the very first question, beneath its bloody veil, contained a trick.

The Shadow Stealing Fire only appeared after dark. It couldn't steal the light of celestial bodies, only the light from ordinary sources like fire or lamps.

Therefore, its actions only needed to be factored in from six in the evening until six in the morning.

The second question:

[As night falls, a strange fog envelops the land. A traveler lost in the fog has an oil lamp that can only burn for three hours. Every five minutes, the probability of encountering an anomaly increases by one percent. From the second hour, the lamp begins to dim due to a lack of fuel. It is known that, starting from the second hour, the probability of encountering an anomaly increases from one to three percent. Question: What is the probability of the traveler encountering an anomaly before the lamp goes out completely?]

A fairly standard question. Lu Li moved on to the third.

[The Eye-Worm hovers daily over the World's Spine in the Wastelands. When it passes over the Gauss Basin, its shadow completely covers the basin. If it is at an altitude of thirty kilometers, its shadow also completely fills the Gauss Basin. It is known that the size of the Eye-Worm is thirty kilometers. Question: What is the maximum diameter of the Gauss Basin?]

An anomaly sixty kilometers long, hovering in the sky...

Lu Li could only imagine the impression its immense size would make.

And this question went far beyond the scope of a standard school curriculum. Even the most brilliant scientists in this world would struggle to find the correct answer without building a model and running calculations.

Of course, one could take a different approach and simply estimate the area of the Gauss Basin.

Lu Li wondered what answers the other students would give, or if everyone had different questions. But as he turned his head, a cautionary whisper echoed in his mind: any attempt to cheat would be punished.

His only consolation was that these three questions took up nearly half the page, which meant there wouldn't be many more.

However, contrary to his expectations, the next question was nothing like the previous ones:

[The town of Andrew has a population of 3,540. The Shadow Stealing Fire and the Uninvited Guest will arrive in the town one hour before sunset. Knowing this, you:

1. Unable to confront the anomalies, you will try to protect at least part of the population.

2. You will attempt to kill or banish them.

3. You will join them.]

The question was presented in a multiple-choice format.

Lu Li glanced over the next two questions. As expected, they were variations of the previous problems, reframed as multiple-choice questions.

[As night falls, a strange fog envelops the land. A traveler lost in the fog has an oil lamp that can only burn for three hours. You meet him on the road. You:

1. Offer him fuel, but do not accompany him.

2. Escort him to a safe place.

3. Eat him.]

[The Eye-Worm hovers daily over the World's Spine in the Wastelands. It pays no mind to the small creatures on the ground. But you, living on this land, are troubled by its presence. You:

1. Attempt to banish it.

2. Attempt to coexist peacefully with it.

3. Attempt to destroy it at any cost.]

Undoubtedly, most of the students would choose answers opposite to the ones Lu Li would pick.

Unless Lu Li were to answer from the perspective of an anomaly—the questions looked like primitive, unbaited hooks, designed to catch any humans hiding among the anomalies.

But they were too simple, strangely so: a clever fish wouldn't bite even a hook with tasty bait, let alone one like this.

Furthermore, the questions had a certain experimental quality: they offered radical, moderate, and peaceful courses of action, and the answers were similarly divided into radical, moderate, and peaceful choices. It was reminiscent of a nine-square grid.

It was hard to say if this was a coincidence.

Unable to reach any conclusion, Lu Li looked at the final item. It was more of a postscript than a question.

[Her name is Prada. She exists in the space between reality and illusion. She appears in your imagination only when you read these lines].

[Have you already imagined her as sweet and friendly? But if you stop thinking about her, Prada will disappear].

[Your attention is the thread that binds Prada to the real world].

["Please, don't forget me..." Prada pleads].