The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 603: The Survivors

Rustle...

Drawn curtains concealed the windows on the second floor of the house.

"How is it?" York and the elderly couple watched Gemini Reid intently.

Gemini Reid shook his head grimly. "It's getting worse... Some of the anomalies no longer see a need to hide their true nature and appearance."

Although these changes didn't affect them directly yet, they were part of a general deterioration—the rules were losing their power. If this continued, more anomalies would stop masking themselves, and their efforts to search buildings would intensify. And when the rules finally collapsed, they would begin to indiscriminately attack anything that retained a human form.

"Is our disguise as a clothing store still working?" asked Webb, which was their greatest concern.

"Its effectiveness is waning, but we have no better choice," Gemini Reid replied. "The polite bandits are shedding their masks, but there's no hiding from these hyenas."

"Maybe we should ask for help from the withered claws in the cracks of the walls?" York suggested.

Gemini Reid had just begun to consider this when he noticed their terrified gazes fix on something behind him.

"Watch out!" Webb shouted.The window behind Gemini Reid suddenly shattered. Shreds of the curtain and sharp shards of glass burst into the room, accompanied by the whistle of something slicing through the air.

A dull thud—and a sharp, jointed appendage covered in black patterns pierced through Gemini Reid's body, exiting his chest. Gemini froze, his gaze dropping. Shock numbed the pain.

Scarlet fluid quickly soaked his new shirt, which still smelled of fresh fabric. Then the pain hit him in a wave. The appendage twisted, digging into his flesh, and began to drag Gemini toward the window.

Instinctively grabbing the frame, Gemini Reid, as if waking from a long dream, realized the end was near.

"York, lead them to the..." he cried out, but his voice broke into a long groan.

Gemini Reid was yanked through the window. A spider-like creature with eight legs, the thing that held him, clambered onto the roof.

"To my... place..." York suddenly understood what Gemini meant. Gritting his teeth, he dashed for the exit. "Everyone, with me!"

The unbearable pain in his chest and the jarring movements brought Gemini Reid both agony and a strange clarity. He could see his blood dripping onto the passersby below, making them raise their heads greedily.

Gemini slipped off the appendage, falling onto the edge of the roof. His fading body felt like a piece of meat on a cutting board.

Suddenly, words he had once heard on the radio surfaced from the depths of his mind, like a cultist's prayer—something that should have been long forgotten.

His fading mind involuntarily repeated the whisper from his memory.

Space shuddered. Intangible, invisible tentacles descended from the sky. In his delirium, Gemini Reid thought he saw the royal city reflected in the sky...

So this is what Lu Li had seen... an inverted city...

The tentacles touched his dying body. Gemini Reid felt a sudden connection to the inverted city. An incomprehensible whisper seeped into his consciousness, revealing the truth in his final moments.

"So that's... what this is..." a broken whisper escaped his bloodied lips. Gemini Reid turned his head toward the street below.

Will they remember me...

Down below, drawn by the blood, more and more anomalies were gathering. Four or five silhouettes were already scrambling up the wall toward the roof.

Gemini desperately wanted to drag the creature down with him, to give his flesh to the other beasts, but his strength had failed him. He could only let his arm hang over the ledge, allowing his blood to drip onto the anomalies with their upturned faces.

Before his consciousness faded completely, he saw York and the others. They were avoiding the entrance to the clothing store, looking up.

Their eyes were filled with despair, pain, and sorrow.

They will remember.

...

"I know the story of Hyena King I," said Lu Li.

Across from Ample's Bank of the Nobility was a tailor shop that served middle-class clients connected to the bank, making custom clothing.

Lu Li and Anna stood by a second-floor window, watching figures stream into the bank as if order had been restored and they were simply clients on business.

Lu Li had fulfilled Albert's request. Now, the scientist's voice echoed throughout the district from the bank's speakers: [Good doggies, you must be hungry, right? Come on in, your grandpa has prepared some tasty treats for you.]

"What's it about?" Lu Li asked.

"A long time ago, the clan of Hyena King I was destroyed by his enemies, and he was left as the last descendant. When his enemies found him, he betrayed his family's honor, falling to his knees and revealing all their hidden treasures just to survive."

"He survived—as a slave. His enemies dragged him everywhere with a dog collar around his neck, boasting, 'Look how merciful we are, allowing him to live and carry his family name.' Of course, everyone understood it was just a way to humiliate a former foe. What could feed one's vanity more than trampling a vanquished enemy?"

"For seven years, Hyena King I was a slave, known throughout the kingdom as vile and dishonorable scum. Then, through cunning, he secured his freedom."

"That was when his title manifested. He changed his name, dug up a portion of the jewels hidden during his clan's downfall, bought several merchant ships, hired thugs, and began plundering his enemies' ships at sea. Having amassed enough power, he destroyed the rival clan and founded a pirate kingdom on the islands southwest of the Lennon Archipelago."

Albert wanted to convey the first part of the story: Hyena King I, unable to resist his enemies, hid a portion of his treasures and then knelt, surrendering everything, including his own life.

This mirrored the choice made by the three great organizations.

There was a strange obsession in 'Project Fire,' as if they knew that one day, the anomalies would leave this world.

Of course, perhaps that was their only hope.

Like a white flower pushing its way through the black mud of a dead swamp.

The three organizations sacrificed the majority—including themselves. And their traps for the anomalies could hardly be called honorable.

But preserving the spark of civilization offered more hope than the complete extinction of humanity.

On the street below, anomalies with bloodied mouths began to emerge from the bank. Lu Li stepped back from the window. It was time for them to leave as well.