The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 588: Layers of Mystery

Incredibly, they managed to hire a carriage right on the street, paying not with flesh, but with shillings.

However, Lu Li whispered to Anna that those weren't horses—while anomalies preferred human flesh, any other kind would also sate their hunger.

By now, there probably wasn't a single real mouse left in the entire royal city.

Instead of horses, the carriage was pulled by grotesque centipedes disguised as steeds. Their arm-thick tentacles rustled against the stone pavement as their limbs moved with unsettling speed.

The carriage rolled through the damp, gloomy streets as Lu Li watched the city and the inverted world above from the window. The situation had worsened since an hour ago; the streets were almost entirely filled with disguised anomalies, and humans were nearly impossible to spot.

They even passed a crowd gathered around a dispute—both opposing parties turned out to be anomalies.

He could only hope the people had simply realized the danger of the outside world, and not that something else had happened.

Twenty minutes later, the carriage stopped at the Curiosity Shop. A construction site now gaped where the Shutes Public Library had once stood, its outline looming menacingly in the twilight.

It seemed these construction projects would never be completed.

After stepping out of the carriage under the greedy stares of the "horses," Lu Li and Anna entered the shop.Crunch!

The shards of a shattered oil lamp chimney crunched underfoot. Lu Li scanned the devastated store.

The shop had clearly been ransacked recently. Shelves were overturned, and the counter had been pushed against the wall to block the way to the basement. Crushed debris and refuse littered the floor.

But there were no anomalies—it was as if someone had methodically gathered them all at the last moment.

This gave the scene an air of elaborate camouflage.

Exchanging a glance, Lu Li stepped inside while Anna began to move the barricade. She noticed a detail: some tools were propping up the counter from the other side.

After clearing the path, they approached the entrance to the basement.

"Stay here, I'll go down," Anna said.

"Together," Lu Li replied, unfastening his holster and handing Anna a kitchen knife.

Without another word, Anna took the knife, and they descended together into the dark, silent basement.

Their footsteps echoed, and the subterranean chill sent shivers down their spines.

Stepping onto the level floor, they found themselves in a spacious, gloomy hall shrouded in a light haze. It seemed to be empty...

Thud... thud... thud...

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps that weren't their own came from the depths of the hall. In Anna's narrowed, icy eyes, several blood-soaked figures materialized out of the darkness.

"More prey..." a sinister whisper slithered through the air.

Lu Li's response was a single motion: he threw open his coat, revealing the Atonement at his belt.

If they were human, they would recognize the spirit gun. If not, Anna and the Atonement would put them in the ground.

The bloodied figures froze. At that moment, a man holding an oil lamp that cast a dim glow stepped out from their ranks. It was impossible to make out his face.

"An exorcist?" a low voice asked.

"Senior Investigator Lu Li," he introduced himself.

The man shrouded in gray mist nodded. "Night's Watch of True Vision, Uri Leynhardt Viks."

A level-three exorcist—just one step away from legendary status.

But why was the Night's Watch at an investigator's base? And could his words be trusted?

"Like you, I've lost contact with the united organization," Leynhardt Viks said, as if reading Lu Li's thoughts. "The Night's Watch office, the spirit hunters' shelter, even here—they're nowhere to be found."

"Did the anomalies destroy them?" Lu Li frowned, a bad feeling creeping over him.

"It doesn't look like it. I found no bodies, no marks. It's more like they..." He trailed off, changing the subject. "I've heard of you. Will you join us?"

Leynhardt Viks's offer, in a moment of universal suspicion, seemed rash. Lu Li glanced at the blood-soaked figures. "How do you tell them apart?"

"It's simple: in Paradise, anomalies can't kill each other," Leynhardt Viks answered, lightly patting the hand holding the lamp.

Another figure emerged from the darkness. On a tray in its hands lay a spirit gun and a dozen silver-plated bullets.

"Confirm your identity, Mr. Lu Li."

Lu Li watched silently as the figure approached, then suddenly shook his head. "No need. I don't intend to join."

Perhaps his senses were deceiving him, but the atmosphere among these survivors felt oppressive and strange. Besides, they knew nothing.

"You can't leave," Leynhardt Viks's voice sounded from behind them as they turned toward the exit.

"Lock them up!" Choking cries suddenly filled the basement.

"Get the deserter!"

"Don't let them out!"

The survivors' distorted faces blazed with fury as they rushed forward, only to be stopped by Leynhardt Viks's command.

"Stop."

His low voice silenced all the shouts. Shrouded in darkness, lamp in hand, Leynhardt Viks resembled a protagonist in the spotlight—as imperturbable as a priest. He watched Lu Li and Anna calmly, his stone face betraying no emotion. "I won't lock you up. But I hope that after you leave, you won't tell anyone about us."

"Not even the united organization?" Lu Li asked.

"Not even them."

"Alright," Lu Li nodded. "But why?"

"Let them go," Leynhardt Viks said to the survivors, ignoring the question, "and close the gate. We don't need anyone else."

Lu Li and Anna backed away toward the stairs. Agitated by Viks's final words, the survivors shoved a heavy iron door, blocking the exit to the surface.

"Remember us, Lu Li..."

A soft sigh was heard as the door slammed shut with a deafening clang right in front of Lu Li's nose.

The disturbed dust quickly settled.

At the entrance, Anna frowned. "Something is wrong with them..."

Lu Li remembered Leynhardt Viks's last words—Tristan had said something very similar.

"Let's go," he said curtly, leading Anna out onto the street.

"Where to now?" Anna asked, waiting for Lu Li's decision.

Whether Leynhardt Viks was real or not, his information was likely true: the bases of the three organizations were indeed empty.

Whether the united exorcists had abandoned the city, sensing the danger, or were planning something in secret, Lu Li didn't know. One thing was clear: a superficial search wouldn't find them.

"We're going back," he said. For now, all he could do was search for survivors and clear the surrounding area of anomalies.

As for the mysteries—the meaning of the inverted Paradise, the disappearance of the three organizations, the plans of Tristan and Leynhardt Viks—

The time for answers had clearly not yet come.