The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 592: Please Remember Us

The carriage was left in the back courtyard. Traveling by carriage would have made it easy to miss any survivors, and besides, the church wasn't too far from the shelter.

Anna linked her arm with Lu Li's as they walked along the dim, damp streets. They looked like a couple in love.

Anna's eyes curved into happy crescents. Lu Li had let her take his arm, though the real reason was that he needed to watch the inverted city and required her guidance to avoid bumping into passersby.

On their way to the church, genuine screams of despair tore through the night sky, not far from where they were. By the time Lu Li and Anna arrived, it was too late. The unfortunate soul was already being torn apart and devoured by several anomalies. One of them, drenched in blood, cursed aloud; it could have been enjoying the flesh all to itself if the man hadn't screamed.

When the anomaly looked their way, Anna put on a convincing display of fear and panic. It was all an act, of course. Lu Li could almost see a little devil's tail wagging behind her.

Lu Li silently approved of Anna's cunning. Compared to the ghost she once was, this new Anna—vibrant, full of emotion, and acting on her own initiative—seemed far more human.

The anomaly took the bait. Not wanting to alert other anomalies, it secretly followed Lu Li and Anna. Playing her part, Anna clung to Lu Li as they turned into a dark alley nearby.

The anomaly followed them into the alley. Less than a minute later, only Lu Li and Anna emerged.

"How much humanity now?" Anna asked quietly.

She calculated that they had killed more than thirty anomalies since entering the inverted city. They were only minor, ghost-like weaklings, but the numbers were adding up."One-point-two... or maybe one-point-three."

Humanity was difficult to quantify; Lu Li could only make a rough guess based on intuition. With the enhancement from the Book of the Apocalypse, his humanity should be about two and a half times that of a normal person.

That meant for every fifty anomalies they killed, they gained the equivalent of one person's worth of humanity. The good news, of course, was that there were tens of thousands of anomalies in the inverted city.

Unfortunately, Anna couldn't be the one to do the killing. If she could wield The Atonement, she could have cleared an entire city block in a matter of minutes.

The Echo Cathedral. It was a grand church, nearly three hundred years old. Despite several renovations, it had not lost its original character. Tall, pointed spires, like the tips of ancient knightly lances, reached for the sky. Along the edges, stone statues of demigods gazed down with compassion upon the anomalies masquerading as humans below.

Lu Li and Anna arrived at precisely three in the morning. The tower clock chimed, and three long, resonant tolls echoed from every corner of the cathedral.

Beyond a low wall, rows of tightly packed tombstones stretched into the darkness, a fitting backdrop for the scene. A figure in a long robe was swinging a shovel in an open patch of ground near the church, oblivious to the damp mud staining their hem.

Lu Li glanced upward, confirming that what he was seeing was real and not just an image from the inverted city. He and Anna approached the figure.

The figure noticed them, set the shovel aside, and watched from beneath a dark hood as Lu Li and Anna drew closer.

"We're with Emma," Lu Li said, getting straight to the point.

"We've been expecting you," the figure replied with a quiet nod, then glanced toward the church door. "They're all inside."

The figure picked up the shovel again and resumed digging into the damp earth.

Behind him, more than a dozen pits, each large enough to hold a human body, scarred the brown earth.

Without another word, Lu Li headed for the church.

A solemn whisper drifted out to meet them as they neared the church, something between a song and a prayer. Dim light illuminated the interior, where dozens of robed figures sat on long pews with their heads bowed. A chorus of whispers, like a funereal mass, emanated from them, the sound collecting and echoing throughout the vast space of the cathedral, creating a strange and eerie scene.

Frankly, no one would have believed these strange worshipers were human.

Lu Li and Anna waited by the door, not wanting to interrupt the prayer.

After a few minutes, their whispers subsided, and they fell into silent meditation.

It was hard to imagine a church filled with dozens of people could be so quiet. The silence, however, was soon broken by footsteps. A figure descended from the pulpit, walked to the pews, and softly beckoned one of the worshipers to follow them to the door where Lu Li and Anna were waiting.

The summoned worshiper removed her hood, revealing Emma's face. "Mr. Lu Li, Miss Anna," she said. "This is our priest."

She made the introductions.

An old voice rasped from beneath the priest's hood. "Emma told me about your... unusual ability. It is a gift from God, is it not?"

"Perhaps."

Lu Li genuinely couldn't explain why he could see the inverted city. Perhaps it was because of his humanity?

Anna shot Emma a look of disgust. She didn't appreciate the betrayal, the way Emma had informed on them. Lu Li, however, was unconcerned. He had no intention of hiding his ability, so long as these people bore him no ill will.

"Welcome, my children," the priest said softly, spreading his arms wide.

"But you won't even show your face," Anna retorted with sarcasm.

"It is merely an ugly face," the priest replied dismissively, slowly making his way to a confessional in the corner. "Please, follow me. Before you can join us, there are a few trials."

"We have no intention of joining you," Lu Li stated.

But the priest, already walking away, either didn't hear or chose to ignore him. Emma, ever the faithful follower, went with him. Peering at the blurry silhouette behind the carved wooden screen of the confessional, Lu Li felt a faint sense of familiarity.

"Just a few simple questions... Have you ever believed in God?"

"No."

"Would you help those in need?"

The question gave Lu Li pause. But before he could answer, Anna, standing beside him, replied for him. "We would not."

"They're selfish!" Emma exclaimed, her expression shifting from friendly to disgusted as she glared at Lu Li and Anna.

"Emma... do not let your emotions cloud your judgment."

The old voice from the confessional made Emma lower her head, hiding her feelings. The wooden door swung open and the priest emerged, announcing with regret, "You cannot be His child."

"If your ears aren't just for decoration, you should have heard what Lu Li said," Anna snapped. With Emma's attitude having soured, Anna no longer bothered to hide her own hostility.

The priest, ignoring the conflict, asked gently, "May I ask a favor of you?"

"What is it?"

"There is an anomaly hiding among us. It is an expert at concealment... Please, help us find it."

It was a simple enough request, so Lu Li agreed. "I can't do it inside the church. Let's go out to the cemetery."

A few minutes later, all the worshipers had gathered outside the church, and Lu Li easily spotted the anomaly hiding among them.

"How will you deal with it?" Lu Li asked the priest.

"God will deliver its punishment."

Anna disliked the oppressive atmosphere, and Lu Li had no intention of lingering. But before they left, a thought occurred to him. He turned to the priest. "Will you allow me to remember you?"

The priest paused for a moment.

"Yes," he said. "Please, remember us."