The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 600: Help

Gemini Reid inclined his head, his face disappearing into the shadows. "If you want to buy clothes, of course."

Ting-a-ling!

The bell's chime did nothing to dispel the oppressive atmosphere. An unwelcome guest, radiating malicious intent, had entered the clothing store. Gemini Reid, lingering behind the visitor, shut the door and looked toward York at the counter, mouthing silently, "Upstairs. Get them out."

"Have a look at these," Gemini Reid offered, distracting the anomaly by guiding it toward a display case with his back turned to York.

York understood. He quietly slipped upstairs.

"Shhh..." He stopped Ivo, who was standing at the foot of the stairs, just as he was about to speak. In a hushed whisper, York explained that a malevolent guest had arrived and they all needed to leave immediately.

Reid had prepared a plan for just such an occasion—an anomaly's visit in Lu Li's absence. The people on the second floor could exit through the back courtyard, bypassing the shop entirely. The neighboring houses were all empty and would provide temporary shelter.

Ivo moved silently into the living room, rousing the others who were sleeping there and guiding them toward the back exit. York, meanwhile, searched the second floor, found a burlap sack, and headed back downstairs with it.

The first floor was filled with a chill, like that of an early autumn day. Goosebumps rose on York's skin beneath his clothes. The tension in the shop was mounting; the malevolent guest had apparently finished toying with Reid and was done concealing its foul intentions.

Just then, York suddenly appeared behind the guest with his improvised weapon—the sack he'd found—and yanked it down over the anomaly's head."What are you—" Reid gasped, stunned. He hadn't even realized York had come back down.

"I'm no coward!" York yelled, as if unleashing a flood of pent-up emotion. He lunged at the anomaly, shoving it hard. Its true essence should have been impervious to such an attack, but its frail human guise was not. It stumbled backward, toppling a grandfather clock with a loud crash and revealing a dark gap in the wall where a plank was missing.

Rip!

The sack only disoriented the malevolent guest for an instant. A sharp tearing sound echoed as the fabric ripped apart, falling away to reveal a grim, avaricious face.

"It seems the two of us hiding here are doomed to die," Reid remarked with a bitter laugh, making sure to mislead the anomaly into believing they were the only ones present.

York froze for a second, but not because of what Reid had said. His eyes were fixed on the gap behind the guest. As if compelled by some unseen force, he suddenly yelled into the opening, "Are you in there? Help us!"

The malevolent guest tilted its head to one side, as if confused by York's words. An instant later, its expression froze. Strange shapes shifted beneath its skin as something tried to break free from within.

They thought the guest was about to cast off its human shell and reveal its true form. York, still on the floor, was so terrified by the sight he nearly wet himself, mentally cursing his own foolish bravado.

Sssshk!

There was a tearing sound, deeper and wetter than the sound of the sack ripping. A desiccated claw tore through the guest's frozen face.

Reid, who had been bracing for a fight, froze. The shape of the claw seemed... familiar.

The desiccated claw stretched out from the hole it had made, its talons digging into the guest's face and distorting its features as it began to drag the creature toward the gap.

From the blackness of the gap came the chilling sounds of crunching bone and wet chewing. The guest's limbs convulsed as if shocked by electricity, but its struggles were met by more claws that emerged from the opening. They forcibly dragged the malevolent guest into the breach. A final series of sickening noises echoed from the gap, and then there was silence.

"They really ate it..." York panted, muttering in disbelief.

But those Dry Claws, the ones that hid in the darkness like rats... weren't they supposed to eat only dead flesh? How could this...

His thoughts were suddenly cut short as one of the claws slowly emerged from the gap again. It reached toward him.

Reid lunged forward to pull York away, but froze. The claw merely brushed against the sole of York's boot, plucked off a small piece of gristle that was stuck there, and retreated back into the dark opening.

The grandfather clock lay on its side. The shop was utterly silent.

A stark contrast to the turmoil churning within the two men.

"Why did they help us?" York raised his head, looking bewildered.

Gemini Reid couldn't understand or explain it either. Instead of an answer, he simply offered York his hand. "Where are the others?"

"They're already hiding in the house next door," York said, taking Reid's hand to pull himself up. His legs were still shaking.

"I'll stay here," Gemini Reid said, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. "Go and call them back."

"Should I board up the gap?" York asked, pointing to the breach behind the toppled clock. He didn't argue with Reid's suggestion—he needed to change his pants.

After a moment of silence, Gemini Reid suggested they leave the gap open. If the creatures had helped them once, he reasoned, they might help them again.

York agreed. Compared to the vicious anomalies bent on killing them, the creatures in the wall seemed almost endearing.

...

At the entrance to Ample's Bank of the Nobility, Lu Li waited, mentally counting the time Anna had been inside.

When his count reached three minutes, his hand went to his holster, and he started up the steps.

At that same moment, Anna's silhouette appeared in the darkness by the doors.

"A difficult one?" Lu Li frowned, noticing a red mark, the trace of strangulation, on her pale neck.

"It was big, nothing more."

The rules had been on her side. A massive anomaly lurking in the main hall had attacked her, but it had received a warning from Paradise, whereas Anna was free to dismember it with impunity. If the anomaly hadn't shed its human shell and been so enormous, she would have dealt with it much faster.

"Your guess was right. This probably isn't a trap."

Anna took his cool hand and led him inside. The main hall was shrouded in darkness. Beyond the faint outlines of desks and chairs, chunks of flesh—hacked off by Anna—littered the floor.

Anna led Lu Li past a row of teller counters to the very back of the banking hall. There, covered in a slime that oozed like filth, a hideous head awaited its demise, hungry for The Atonement.

Lu Li drew The Atonement. As the ticking of his counter quickened, he tossed the pistol onto the head.

Sizzle!

The Atonement began to absorb the remains of the anomaly's head. An unseen smoke rose from it, briefly twisting into a malevolent face before dissipating into nothing.

The more powerful anomaly slowed The Atonement's absorption process, but it would clearly yield a greater amount of Humanity.

Once the head was completely consumed, leaving only the other remains scattered across the floor, the power absorbed by The Atonement flooded into Lu Li's body, a distinctly tangible sensation.

It was comparable to the Humanity obtained from a dozen anomalies.

Meanwhile, Anna had found the Dry Claws' lair. After luring them out with a few pieces of flesh, she left them to their own devices—they would see to it that not a single scrap remained in the hall.

Soon, Lu Li and Anna approached the door leading to the basement, or more precisely, the massive metal door of a vault.