The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 599: Radio Broadcast

Gemini Reid was about to turn off the radio or change the frequency when a faint, cursing voice suddenly cut through the crackling static.

[Damn... Can anyone hear me...? I... need help...]

Gemini Reid froze and looked at Lu Li.

The intermittent noise from the speaker continued, fading in and out: [...Everywhere... they... shhh... be careful... Leym district, number 44... the basement, while I... *cough*... still can... Whoever you are!]

The person on the radio seemed to realize the importance of the address—it came through with particular clarity and volume, as if shouted directly into the microphone.

The message cut off, dissolving into a hiss of static.

"It could be a trap," Gemini Reid warned Lu Li, after waiting ten seconds for a repeat. "We're not the only ones who can use this channel and know the frequency. Besides, that address was too clear."

As clear as bait left out in the open.

Lu Li didn't reply, raising his gaze to Anna.

He was leaning toward going, because the voice on the air had sounded familiar, though he couldn't place it immediately. But he was certain that voice had once told him something important, something that had left its mark."If there's trouble, I'll handle it," Anna said, meeting his gaze before heading toward the back door of the shop to get the carriage.

"Trap or not, the person on the radio probably knows something," Lu Li said with a nod, turning to Gemini Reid. "Do you know where the Leym district is?"

"Of course..." Gemini Reid pointed in the direction. He understood this might be the only chance to learn the truth behind the interrupted warning.

"I'll protect these people. I swear on my life." Gemini Reid could only offer the most reliable promise possible.

"Just try."

Anna had already brought the carriage around to the storefront. Lu Li climbed in, and with a clatter of hooves, they set off, leaving Gemini Reid to watch them go.

"Maybe we should all go down to the cellar?" York asked from behind the counter. "The house next door has a big enough cellar."

Gemini Reid shot the bolt home and returned to his armchair by the fireplace. "Before, yes. Now, it's just screaming 'we're human'."

The rules of Paradise had shifted from finding the traitor to a game of hide-and-seek. Houses, basements, cellars—anywhere one could hide had become a target for anomalies. Pretending to be one of them was safer.

Knock, knock, knock!

A sudden knock on the door jolted the shop.

The dust shaken loose from the door said it all: this wasn't Lu Li.

Gemini Reid exchanged an anxious glance with York and approached the door. "You be the owner, I'll be the servant."

York, who was terrible at hiding his emotions, could ruin everything. Gemini Reid knew how to act like an anomaly.

He drew back the bolt and opened the door a crack. His eyelids drooped, his face turning to stone as he surveyed the figure outside and asked flatly, "...A customer?"

"I want to buy something," the visitor bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile. A cold aura spread from him toward Gemini Reid.

...

The Leym district was quite a distance away, closer to the center of the royal city. Lu Li had avoided it until now, knowing the danger there was palpable.

And he was right. The streets here were more densely packed, and the reflections in the "inverted city" looked more horrifying and indescribable.

The anomalies wandering the outskirts seemed like outcasts, pushed out from the center.

Anna had to radiate a faint aura to ward them off, but the Mind Level counter, which had been nearly silent before, started ticking again.

"They're moving outward..." Anna quietly informed Lu Li.

There were more "people" coming from the center than heading toward it.

As the carriage entered the Leym district and the house numbers approached 40, Lu Li noticed a human figure walking in the same direction.

Anna guided the carriage closer. Lu Li asked, "Here for the broadcast, too?"

The middle-aged man in a coat over a black suit looked at him in surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about."

A sudden chill emanated from him.

Lu Li noticed him steal a glance at Anna.

Signaling for Anna to suppress her aura, Lu Li said directly, "I'm Senior Investigator Lu Li."

Lu Li wasn't a master of persuasion. The exorcist, also drawn by the broadcast, didn't believe him. He feigned annoyance, warned Lu Li—this "anomaly"—not to bother him, pulled his hat down, and walked away.

"Was I wrong?" Anna asked quietly after he left.

Lu Li shook his head, watching as his fellow exorcist slowed down at number 44 Leym Street and went inside.

"Let's go in, too."

Leaving the carriage by the road, Lu Li and Anna headed for number 44. Anna, holding his arm, scanned the windows of the neighboring houses.

Were other surviving exorcists, drawn by the broadcast, hiding in the shadows?

Or anomalies.

Ample's Bank of the Nobility.

The three-story building of hewn stone had recently been a bank. Now, through its shattered door, only emptiness and chaos were visible.

Thump-thump-thump-thump!

From the gloom of the empty hall, hurried footsteps suddenly rang out. Someone stumbled out, rushing toward Lu Li and Anna at the entrance—

"Heeelp—"

The terrified scream was cut short. Something had grabbed him from the darkness—tentacle-like shadows wrapped around his body, stifling his cries and dragging the writhing figure back into the gloom, where he vanished.

"A trap," Anna said, staring intently into the darkness beyond the door.

Lu Li took his hand off the butt of his pistol. It had all happened too fast; he couldn't have saved him. He recognized the figure that had been dragged away—it was the exorcist who had gone in first.

"Not necessarily."

Maybe we were too late, and the anomalies got here first. Or maybe...

"You use bait to catch a bigger fish," Lu Li said.

"So the monster hiding in the bank deliberately let that exorcist come to the aid of the person who called for help?" Anna asked.

Lu Li looked up, searching for other entrances.

"Trust me with this," Anna offered.

Lu Li didn't object. "Be careful."

Nodding, Anna moved away from Lu Li and walked up the steps. With each step, her aura grew colder, darker, saturated with the breath of the In-Between. A distorted shadow lengthened at her feet, merging with her figure as she dissolved into the darkness of the hall.