The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 625: The New Newspaper

Whatever the heretics’ goals for the ghost prison were, Lu Li had no intention of interfering. Even if every spirit inmate were released, it would be but a single drop in an ocean of problems.

Belfast was already in a bad enough state—how much worse could it possibly get?

Lu Li returned to the shelter in the afternoon to rest. An entire day of being jostled about in a carriage left him feeling as if the ground beneath his feet were still swaying like the deck of a ship.

Anna sat at the table, lost in thought—a frequent state for her lately as she immersed herself in Sara’s memories. To her, they were more captivating and far more real than any story from a book.

Lu Li didn’t feel sleepy and woke up a short while later. His gaze drifted past the pensive Anna and settled on the table.

Perhaps it was just a trick of the flickering firelight, but the sprout that had been withering in his absence now seemed to have found a new lease on life.

“Lu Li, you’re awake?” Anna surfaced from her memories, very nearly calling him by another name.

“You were watching Sara’s memories?”

The blanket slipped off Lu Li as he sat up. The fireplace had warmed the shelter to a pleasant dryness, chasing away any hint of a chill.

“They traveled a great deal and saw all sorts of things,” Anna replied.Even if Sara and Adam hadn't been wanderers, two centuries of life was in itself a rich tapestry of memories.

“Hold on to yourself. Don’t let Sara’s memories influence you,” Lu Li cautioned, still worried that such a vast expanse of someone else’s experiences could overwhelm and change Anna’s own consciousness.

Though avoiding any influence at all was nearly impossible.

“I’ll be careful,” Anna promised softly.

As evening fell, something resembling a volcanic slab of flesh rose from the depths of the sea, spewing a strange fog that crept toward the shore.

Amper and the children took refuge in the cave, joined by Adamfuya and the siblings, Jimmy and Remi. All the inhabitants of the Elm Forest who could move had gathered there, as if in a living room where they habitually spent time before retiring for the night.

After making herself comfortable, Adamfuya once again thanked Lu Li for the shelter and assured him that Tesla would certainly return for her—a conviction she seemed to cling to with particular fervor.

Anna lit two oil lamps: one she placed on the table to illuminate the shelter along with the fireplace, and the other she hung inside the cave.

Until it was time to sleep, the depths of the cave were filled with the soft patter of children’s feet and the rustle of turning pages. The books Anna had brought with her had enriched the shelter’s library and broadened its residents’ interests. Remi and Adamfuya sat by the lamp, absorbed in their reading. Even Jimmy was flipping through a book, though he was sitting too far from the light, in the half-darkness, making it doubtful whether he was actually reading at all.

It was a wonder he wasn't holding it upside down.

“I like the stories in this book. I’ll read more tomorrow,” Jimmy muttered, placing the book back on the shelf spine-down.

Anna glanced up. The book with the colorful cover that Jimmy had chosen was titled “National Geographic Magazine.”

Remi, who had been genuinely reading, set her book aside. Her tastes were similar to Anna’s, and she asked Lu Li about what was happening in the outside world.

More specifically, what had happened to him and Anna over the past few days.

And so, Lu Li recounted his incredible adventures to Jimmy, his sister, and Adamfuya: from Ellen Royal City to Flarand, from Paradise to the blood dandelions.

Not every resident of the Main Continent or the Kingdom of Ellen knew of Flarand, but everyone had heard of the royal city, which shone like a star on the Main Continent.

Its fall, therefore, struck the listeners with horror, as did the news of the blood dandelions that had blanketed the Plain of Tranquility, and the destruction of Sara and Adam.

“Is the world really in such a terrible state...?” Remi whispered.

Though they were no longer human, the human part of their nature struggled to process what they had heard.

“Those man-eating dandelions... they won’t reach us, will they?” Jimmy asked fearfully. The blood dandelions sounded like a nightmare made real.

“Something from the interior of the continent is unlikely to be carried this far by the wind,” Lu Li replied.

Even if they somehow managed it, a simple bonfire would be enough to keep them out of this natural sanctuary.

But just as Khimfast, once as brilliant as the winter stars, was extinguished in an instant, so too was the Allen Peninsula now plunged into impenetrable darkness, a fate shared by Flarand.

The siblings Jimmy and Remi left for their cabin, followed by Adamfuya. Amper stayed—the warm, dry grotto suited him, and the children hadn't left either, having fallen asleep on and around his back.

Anna added more wood to the fire and turned the volume of the radio on the table down to a minimum. The static was incessant, but it had to be left on in case the exorcist station broadcasted anything.

The quiet night passed. In the morning, once the thick fog had lifted, the Trader arrived, followed curiously by Jimmy.

Remi was helping Adamfuya craft furniture in her room.

The Trader had brought a new issue of the Investigator Weekly. Before reading it, Lu Li intended to trade information with him.

This experience was sure to bring a substantial reward.

Over time, investigator points were becoming increasingly valuable, while shillings were gradually losing the worth people had assigned them, reverting to their true nature: a piece of copper or a slip of paper.

Lu Li’s story earned him thirteen thousand investigator points. This wasn’t due to inflation—the information’s primary value lay in the details about the master of Paradise, an Ancient God named Prada.

For now, Lu Li didn't need to purchase anything. The transaction was complete, and the Trader departed from the clifftop.

Lu Li sat under Enni’s tree. Anna placed two flowerpots beside him and went back into the shelter to prepare a meal.

The pot brought from Ellen Royal City remained unchanged, but in the other, the sprout had thrown off the pall of death and was now brimming with life.

Beneath leaden clouds, with the rhythmic roar of the surf at the base of the cliff as a backdrop, Lu Li opened the newspaper.

The front page, as expected, was dedicated to the events in Ellen Royal City, and it didn't hold back on the details that followed: the awakening of the Ancient God, the coalescence of a majestic consciousness from the depths of the cosmos into a radiant, watching eye, and the subsequent demise of the Ancient God and everyone in or near Ellen who had witnessed the spectacle.

There were no illustrations. The terrifying image of that night, when humanity was laid bare before the cosmos, could only live on in retellings.

And its repercussions rippled across the world.

For instance, nearly all members of the three major organizations in the royal city had perished. For instance, people in the shelters were trembling with fear, dreading that the next catastrophe would fall upon them.

The second page also concerned Lu Li: the resettlement of Flarand’s residents and the invasion of blood dandelions on the Plain of Tranquility.

They were far more dangerous than many Evil Spirits. Worse, their effect on cities was as devastating as a plague, rendering any territory they passed through uninhabitable for humans.

Though their weakness was obvious—fire purified them.

Until an effective method of eradication was found, the Investigators were warning people not to approach any infested zones.

The third page covered events in the Wastelands. Several teams, composed of the finest exorcists, were on the move to confront a new menace.

In a way, this was good news.

At the very least, humanity’s defenders had not been completely annihilated in Ellen Royal City.