The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 683: A Spiderweb Falls from a Gloomy Sky

Broken plant roots lay scattered around the bed. The parasitic ficus lost its green, withering and shriveling before their very eyes, until it finally collapsed onto the patient's faintly rising chest and crumbled into a pile of fine ash.

The collapsed ficus was the last plant on the patient's body.

The Beacon gradually dimmed. Freed from its shroud of roots, an emaciated human figure was revealed on the hospital cot.

"What was that...?" The exorcist and Emin gathered around.

"The parasitic plants are made of humanity."

Lu Li placed the Beacon on the patient's hand, but it no longer lit up, perhaps because too much humanity had been lost, or because the patient remained unconscious.

As for why the plants had made the Beacon light up, one word came to Lu Li's mind: "Offering."

The plant sickness in the most severely infected patient seemed to have been dispelled. The visiting exorcists and orderlies conducted an examination, confirming that all the plants on her body had vanished.

Scars like a spiderweb crawled across her skin—the traces left by the roots, now inert.

Due to the mental degradation caused by the plant sickness and prolonged malnutrition, the patient was still comatose and could not yet be woken to answer any questions.Regardless, the news that the plant sickness could be cured lifted everyone's spirits.

The second most severe patient also had saplings growing from their torso, but they resembled oak trees. It wasn't as gruesome a sight as the ficus patient, whose entire body had been covered in roots.

Rustle...

The green-leafed branches swayed gently, seeming to rejoice at Lu Li's arrival.

The Beacon touched the sapling, and once again it blossomed with a warmth and softness like the midday sun.

The patients gathered nearby felt the glow, their faces filled with yearning.

The flickering light burned for half a minute before gradually fading.

Most of the plants on the patient's body had already withered and fallen off; the rest were found and removed one by one by the orderlies.

The third person to be treated was not the third-most severe patient, but rather one who had branches growing from his arm and was always slow to respond.

The light of humanity flared for a few seconds and then vanished. After the branches broke off, only a shallow, stump-like mark remained on the man's arm. His thoughts were no longer sluggish. "I've never felt so clear-headed," he said. "It feels incredible."

The Beacon could indeed treat the plant sickness. As for whether the patients were truly cured, that would require a period of observation.

One by one, the patients received treatment. Except for the most severe cases who had lost the ability to think, the majority regained consciousness. They would, however, have to remain on the second floor of the Exorcist Association for a while longer.

The last to be treated was little Lina. Her eyes, unobscured by gauze, watched intently as the oil lamp touched the miniature sapling on her forehead.

The sapling withered and fell away, and the lamp's wick glowed for just a moment, a faint flicker like a firefly.

"My little tree only glowed for a second..." little Lina said, a bit disappointed.

"Are there any more saplings?"

Little Lina quietly shook her head, closing her eyes. They ached terribly from where the bad man had hurt them.

"You're cured."

Ever so slightly, Lu Li's tone seemed to soften. He then glanced at the exorcists behind him. "There may be other infected people hiding in Revoltown. Find them."

The soldiers of Revoltown moved out at once, searching house by house for the infected. Any they found were sent to the gallows for treatment.

"Treat the patients in public," Emin suggested. "The infected are hiding out of fear. But if they see the sickness can be cured, and if they believe it, they will come out on their own."

This indeed compelled some of the infected in hiding to come to the gallows voluntarily. It also spread Lu Li's renown, and rumors of a spirit exterminator with black hair and black eyes, traveling through the Wastelands, began to emanate from Revoltown.

As the last patient was treated upon the gallows—a platform that symbolized death—hundreds of townspeople gathered in the square.

Lu Li's calm gaze swept over the crowd below before he left the gallows, disappearing from public view.

"Many nobles have approached me asking to invite you to be their guest," said the town leader. Clad in a bearskin, he resembled a beast.

"If they are infected."

"Just a bunch of cowardly fools." The town leader showed his contempt for the nobles, then looked down at Lu Li with approval. "I've seen what you've done for Revoltown. Stay. Name your terms."

Lu Li refused the leader's offer once again. The man was disappointed but didn't try to force the issue. The Wastelands were a poor place—too far from paradise, and too close to Silence.

"Then stay in the fortress for a few days. My people need your help," he said, revealing his true goal.

"My assistant is still in Tavitown. I have to find her," Lu Li replied.

"That can be easily arranged. I'll send a squad of guards and an exorcist with you tomorrow."

"That might be too late. I'm leaving now."

At his words, the harmonious atmosphere suddenly grew tense and silent.

"Are you joking, exorcist?" The leader's smile vanished. His face, flickering in the torchlight, grew grim as he stared down at Lu Li. "It will be dark soon."

"The road doesn't disappear in the dark," Lu Li answered calmly.

The town leader continued to stare at Lu Li. The local exorcist watched anxiously, wanting to defuse the tension but unable to intervene. Finally, the leader waved his hand impatiently, as if shooing a fly. "Have it your way. If you need help, find my captain of the guard, but don't even think about taking the exorcist with you. Now get out of my sight."

Lu Li left without a word. Emin, clutching her heavy books, gave the leader an indifferent glance before turning to follow.

The exorcist sighed deeply and offered a strained smile. "Mister Lu Li isn't that kind of person. Perhaps it's not what you think... Lord Mayor, we'll take our leave now."

After they were gone, the leader let out a slow, cold snort.

"Spoiled brat... He'll find out how dangerous the real world is."

"My apologies, Mister Lu Li... Borcia is used to being forceful. A weak leader wouldn't survive in this land."

On the way back to the Exorcist Association, the exorcist caught up to Lu Li and explained, "The Lord Mayor is actually a good man. His harshness is just a mask."

"Is it very dangerous in the wilderness at night?" Lu Li asked.

"What?" The exorcist was taken aback. After a moment, he realized what Lu Li was asking. "What do you mean?"

"I mean it literally," Lu Li said. He thought for a moment, then added, "Explain it to me as you would to an ordinary person."

"Uh... is there an anomalous fog?"

"Yes."

"Of course... Nights shrouded in the anomalous fog are full of danger. Even the best exorcist can't survive for long out there alone. They're everywhere... unless you build many, many bonfires to keep them at bay."

"But when we rescued the people in the village of Peschanaya Obval, it was night and there was fog, yet nothing happened," Emin's voice cut in.

"Then I don't know..."

The exorcist looked at Lu Li. His black eyes, as calm as pond water, seemed to be lost in thought.