The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 680: The Black-Haired Exorcist

It didn't take long for Lu Li to see the patients at the Exorcist Association, the ones afflicted by the "strange" plague the aide had mentioned.

They were confined to hospital beds, undergoing treatment. Unnatural branches sprouted from their bodies, their flesh serving as fertile soil that allowed the limbs to bud and grow green leaves.

A local exorcist explained to Lu Li that the infected had fused with the branches, feeling pain whenever the growths were damaged. They had attempted to remove them, but the wounds on the branches would bleed, and any severed limbs quickly withered and died, regardless of any attempts to transplant them—even if they were placed right back on the incision.

The infected noticed Lu Li's arrival. They turned their heads in unison, slid lifelessly from their beds, and shuffled toward him like zombies.

They sensed a comforting aura emanating from Lu Li.

"A voice in my head is telling me to stay near him..." said one of the infected, a man who had only recently fallen ill. Only thin, finger-length branches grew on his body as he pointed at Lu Li.

"Perhaps there's something about you that attracts them," the exorcist observed with curiosity. He didn't elaborate, instead continuing his explanation. "We've taken to calling it the plant sickness. It's not just their bodies; their minds become as sluggish as plants. The longer they're infected, the worse it gets."

The exorcist led Lu Li and Emin further. Along the way, he took an oil lamp from an instrument cabinet and, in its flickering yellow light, approached the last hospital bed.

"This might be a bit startling. Brace yourselves," he warned Lu Li and Emin, and sharply pulled back the curtain.

"Ahhh!" Emin cried out, grabbing Lu Li's arm. She pressed against him, her body trembling slightly.In the lamplight, the human form on the bed was almost unrecognizable. A ficus tree, half a meter tall, grew from the patient's chest. Its curved, gnarled roots hung down like tentacles, intertwining with other roots bursting from beneath the clothes, and spread ominously across the entire bed.

"This is our longest-infected patient—or at least, we haven't found anyone in a more advanced state. As you can see, she's almost entirely transformed into a plant. She doesn't think, nor does she react to anything we do."

Only the faintest movement of her chest indicated she was still alive.

Lu Li's Humanity affected her as well—or rather, the plant that had taken root inside her. A woody tendril hanging over the side of the bed trembled and lifted, like an old man's hand, reaching out for him.

Before the extending root could touch Lu Li, the exorcist drew the curtain and led them to a window, where the light was brighter and the atmosphere less oppressive.

Lu Li gently pulled his arm from Emin's grasp and answered the exorcist's unspoken question. "I've never encountered this sickness before."

"But it's drawn to you," the exorcist pointed out.

"For certain reasons, my Humanity is stronger than that of most people."

"Humanity..." the exorcist murmured, mulling over the word. He'd heard the term mentioned recently.

He showed a flicker of disappointment, much like the town leader had, but it quickly passed. "That aide who ran off, he said you came about another matter? By the way, he didn't need to run. This plague is only transmitted to locals, and only by touch."

Lu Li then told the exorcist about the events in the village of Peschanaya Obval.

"Anomaly cultists and missing people...? That's a serious problem, but none of the recent disappearances match the ones you're describing," the exorcist frowned deeply. Silence and the plant sickness were already driving them mad, and now anomaly cultists...

"Perhaps Revoltown is not their target?"

"My assistant followed them."

"Where is this assistant now?"

"I don't know."

"I see," the exorcist sighed with slight relief, hoping the situation wasn't as dire as Lu Li described. "Perhaps she only tracked them somewhere nearby. They aren't necessarily in the city."

That was also a possibility.

But it meant Lu Li had temporarily lost the trail.

And there were less than two hours until nightfall.

"Do you have paper and a pen?" Lu Li asked.

"Of course."

The exorcist brought paper and a pen. Lu Li drew Aunt Mary's symbol on the sheet. When the exorcist asked what it was for, Lu Li was told he could just give it to the town leader's aide, and they would help him with the search.

After leaving the Exorcist Association, they met the town leader's aide at the exit. He was waiting for them and readily agreed to help Lu Li with the search.

"Should we check the tavern?" Emin suggested after they parted ways with the aide.

"It's possible there have been disappearances that the local Exorcist Association hasn't noticed."

After the arrival of the Night Calamity and the plant sickness, the taverns in Revoltown had begun to close down one by one. This was due to both dwindling alcohol supplies and customers being unable to afford the steep prices.

But as long as the locals still had a thirst, the taverns would never disappear completely.

The "Storm" was one of the three remaining taverns in Revoltown. The afternoon was its busiest time.

In a corner of the tavern, two drunk patrons were talking, holding mugs of cheap malt beer.

"This morning? You were drinking all of last night, weren't you?" the other man waved a hand, disbelieving. "All I remember is the lamp almost going out."

"That was the day before yesterday! *Hic*... This morning I was in Tavitown... saw a group of cultists..."

"What were you doing there?" his friend still sounded skeptical.

"Heard they were hiring laborers. Good pay, easy work."

"That kind of job isn't for the likes of us, friend," his companion said, shaking his head.

"I thought so too. But you know, I wasn't fully awake yet... *hic*, just like now... Shut up! Listen to me!" he raised his voice, attracting the gazes of the other patrons and the two new arrivals who had just entered.

"Alright, alright, I'm listening," his friend said helplessly.

"I went out to take a piss, but I couldn't find the privy, so I went up against a wall. And you know what I heard? I heard two figures in black robes whispering about a grand conspiracy!"

"Right, right, just keep your voice down," his friend replied placatingly, shooting apologetic glances at the people staring at them.

If he kept shouting, they might get blacklisted from the tavern.

"They're recruiting cultists to draw a summoning circle on our... *hic*... on our land. Revoltown is part of the summoning circle, and the plague is just one stage of the ritual..."

"And then what happened?"

"Then... Then I finished my business and left... Cheers."

He was well and truly drunk.

His friend dismissed his last shred of doubt and clinked bottles with him.

"Gulp, gulp... Ahh... But on my way back, I went to the wrong house and found one that was all locked up. Standing outside, I heard a lot of crying. I think those heretics had living sacrifices in there."

"And you rescued them and destroyed the church?" his friend asked lightly.

"Of course not... What do you think this is, a stage play?" he laughed with contempt. "I found the right house, but they said I was a brainless drunk and unfit for the job, so they threw me out."

An unexpectedly logical ending, his friend thought.

At that moment, a tall man with black hair and black eyes, the very picture of rationality, stood before them, accompanied by a girl in a cloak.

"I'm a Spirit Exterminator," the man said, an air of mystery about him.

His friend answered nervously, "Uh... my friend here is just spouting drunken nonsense..."

"That doesn't matter," Lu Li said.

The man took out several hundred shillings and placed them on the round table.

"Tell me the story again, from the beginning, and this money is yours."