The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 591: The Fickle Nature of Man

"It's in the house!" the woman shrieked, jabbing a finger over her shoulder.

Lu Li glanced at the silent house behind her, crossed into the yard, and stopped at the front door.

"Too quiet... Is it already over?" Anna murmured, perplexed, as she leaned close to the door. After exchanging a look with Lu Li, she pushed the door open and stepped into the cabin. Lu Li followed right behind her.

Creeeak...

The door swung slowly shut behind them. The piercing creak, like a groan, announced the intruders' arrival to the inhabitants of the house.

The moment the door clicked shut, an icy malevolence enveloped Lu Li and Anna.

Anna tilted her head in confusion. An aura from the In-Between, far deeper than this malice, erupted from her, effortlessly dispelling the hostility.

"Peo... ple... not... enough..." A face, disfigured by fire, materialized from the gloom, letting out a hoarse whisper tinged with regret.

Suddenly, the creature felt a mysterious power bind its body. It stared at Lu Li and Anna, who had struck. "Wh... y?"

"Where are the people from the house?" Lu Li drew a quiet breath. The faint stench of blood drifted down from the second floor."A... trap... with... hu... mans... co... operat... ing..." the Anomaly replied slowly.

Lu Li nodded and unfastened the holster of The Atonement.

Half a minute later, Anna disposed of the body while Lu Li headed for the exit, searching for the woman who had lured them in.

"They've come for me!"

A broom clattered to the floor. Emma beamed with joy when she saw her companions waving at her through the display window.

"Are you sure your friends are like us?" York asked from behind the counter. He gripped a chef's knife hidden beneath an overturned cookbook and swallowed hard. "They feel like anomalies..."

The two figures outside the door were cloaked in gray robes, their faces lost in the depths of their hoods, creating an aura of mystery and dread.

"I'm absolutely sure," Emma replied, her face suddenly alight with an excited, almost fanatical trust the others had never seen from her. "We've killed several anomalies together. It's just... not as easy as it is for Mr. Lu Li."

"Perhaps it's a form of disguise," Gemini Reid said, his gaze shifting studiously between Emma and the robed figures. "But I'm curious... how did they know you were here?"

"By the markers," Emma explained, moving toward the door and pulling a handful of brown powder from her apron. "We leave a trail as we go. If someone goes missing, the others come to the rescue."

Gemini Reid hesitated but didn't stop her. Honestly, the thin glass and fragile walls were unlikely to stop anything anyway.

Emma slid the bolt and let her companions in. The jingle of a small bell over the door mixed with the sounds from the street, fading only after the door swung shut again.

To the lingering chime of the bell, Gemini Reid and the others studied the two monk-like figures. The faint sound of breathing from under the robes and the slight bulge of the fabric eased their tension a little.

Emma introduced her companions to Lu Li and the others, then invited everyone to the cathedral. Gemini Reid refused. He was part of Lu Li's group and had no intention of leaving before he returned, despite being outnumbered.

"But I have to go back..." Emma said with a note of regret.

"Of course. We're not keeping anyone here. I doubt Lu Li would either," Gemini Reid said, his eyes drifting over the silent, robed figures.

Although the silence of Emma's companions created a palpable tension, the atmosphere remained calm. Emma left the address of the cathedral, saying Lu Li could visit them there, and then departed with her companions.

Back in the yard, the woman who had led them into the trap was gone.

"She disappeared?" Anna asked, following Lu Li. The body had already been fed to the desiccated claws that roamed the city.

Apparently, her cooperation with the anomaly was just a pretense. All she needed was to lure in someone trusting—be it an anomaly or just a fool.

"Let's go."

She had surely hidden herself by now. Lu Li didn't waste time searching for the deceiver and headed for Shutes University.

The result was grim: the four survivors who had remained at the university were gone. Perhaps they had hidden or fled, but it was more likely they had fallen victim to anomalies.

Returning to the clothing store and delivering the bad news, Lu Li heard a strange story from Gemini Reid.

"Here's the address for those survivors," Gemini Reid said, handing Lu Li a note after recounting the encounter with Emma and her companions.

[Echo Cathedral, Number 8, Shupskin District]

"It's about a fifteen-minute walk from here. Faster by carriage," Gemini Reid added.

"What do you think of them?" Lu Li asked. He hadn't seen them and couldn't judge for himself.

"Hmm... They're mysterious, like cultists. But they act openly and confidently," Gemini Reid mused. He would never have so casually revealed the location of a shelter to other survivors.

"Cultists..." The word reminded Lu Li of the survivors at the investigators' base.

"I'll check it out," Lu Li said, tucking the note into his pocket. "After I deal with the neighbors."

"Why? If you want to bring survivors here, the store can hold plenty of people," York said, believing it was safer for everyone to stick together.

"That's not the issue."

Lu Li told them about the woman who had collaborated with the anomaly on the way to the university. Willingly or not, the role of a "traitor" existed.

If someone like that were let in, all of Lu Li's efforts would be for nothing.

"I agree," Gemini Reid said. Lu Li could distinguish a human from an anomaly, but he couldn't detect the wickedness in a person's soul. "What's your plan?"

"I'll clear a few of the neighboring houses and leave marks on the doors. I'll tell any survivors to look for the marks near the hotel's crow symbol. Once they find one, they should erase the mark and hide inside."

"Don't make contact with them. Your job is to observe. If you notice any suspicious behavior, write it down."

This would prevent a "traitor" from infiltrating the store and would isolate any newly found survivors.

"Agreed."

They couldn't help clear the houses, so they could only watch from behind the display window as Lu Li and Anna, like reapers, knocked on doors, waited, entered, and emerged shortly after to place a mark on a tree before moving on.

Lu Li cleared six houses, all on the same street as the hotel and perfectly visible from the store.

On their way back, Anna was dragging a sack. It wasn't filled with bodies, but with the food and water they had found in the houses. If Paradise didn't end as soon as they hoped, these supplies would last them a long time.