The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 686: A Companion Buried in Ice and Silence

Emin, who had been watching Lu Li intently, suddenly seized his arm.

"None of it is real," Emin said, pulling Lu Li's hand back from the surface of the water. Her tone was grave. "Whatever you see, whatever you hear... just remember this: you're on a boat, surrounded by monsters that create illusions. What you're seeing can't possibly be here."

Lu Li said nothing, his gaze returning to the lake. The beautiful face beneath the surface had vanished, and now only a swarm of the First Dead could be seen drifting through the clear water.

After reigning in his emotions, Lu Li took up an oar and started rowing.

"It wasn't me. Your death has nothing to do with me..."

Aboard the boat, the woman who had earlier glimpsed one of the First Dead at the bottom of the lake was now scrambling backward in terror. She tripped over the gunwale and plunged into the water. In an instant, she was swarmed by the First Dead and dragged down into the dark depths.

Aside from Lu Li and Emin, only three passengers remained on the boat.

But they were already lost to the illusions, shouting in confusion, poised to leap into the water at any second.

Or attack one another.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man snatched a dagger from his bag. As if seeing something horrific, he lunged forward—straight at his wife. The woman, dressed in a colorful calico dress, took the blade in her throat. She clutched at the wound as blood sprayed from between her fingers, and with a gurgling, choking sound, she fell into the water in agony."Get back! You monsters, stay away from my wife!"

The middle-aged man kept swinging the bloodstained dagger, his body poised as if to shield someone, shouting threats at enemies that weren't there.

"Stay there! I beg you... don't jump... no!!!"

Another elderly, pleading voice cried out. A second old man dropped his cane and hurled himself over the side—

A splash echoed across the water as ripples spread. The drowning man's face suddenly grew serene, almost peaceful, as if he had seen something wonderful. He offered no resistance as the First Dead pulled him under.

Now the only one left on the boat was the middle-aged man, the one who had murdered his wife while believing he was defending her.

"No! Catherine!!!"

The boat lurched violently, sending ripples spreading from its sides. The man let out a soul-shattering scream, his eyes turning bloodshot. With a roar, he charged toward the bow, dagger first.

Shunk.

A soft, almost inaudible thud, followed by a brief struggle, and then—a splash.

Lu Li started to turn, but a soft, blood-covered hand stopped him.

"It's over. There are only the two of us left on the boat now." Emin's voice, slightly breathless, came from behind him. "Focus on rowing. Don't worry, don't think about anything else. You're holding the oars. You haven't lost your way."

Everything he saw could be a lie. Everything he heard could be a lie. Every sensation could be a lie.

Perhaps Lu Li was just rowing in circles. Perhaps he was the only one left on the boat. Perhaps he had already touched "Anna's" hand beneath the surface and was sinking to the bottom of the lake.

Anything was possible, which meant that too much suspicion, too much caution, could get him killed.

Lu Li nodded silently and kept rowing toward the distant shore.

"The First Dead haven't affected you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see swarms of shapes circling the boat.

"It's an inherited ability. We're born mediums," Emin explained, catching her breath. She came from a long line of exorcists on the Main Continent. "The power in my blood sharpens my senses. It lets me tell the difference between illusion and reality."

"They turn your own thoughts into illusions. The more you dwell on something, the more real it becomes. It's like being caught in a spider's web—the more you struggle, the more entangled you get. So clear your mind. Try not to imagine anything."

"Understood."

Lu Li was already doing just that.

Perhaps it was because of his high level of Humanity, but the illusions that assailed Lu Li remained weak. The clear vision of Anna's face and her whisper had been the only exception. Since then, he had been plagued only by faint, otherworldly sounds.

Lu Li could easily distinguish them from reality, and so he remained immune to the influence of the First Dead.

The screams echoing across the lake grew fewer and farther between.

The First Dead hadn't dispersed. It was the passengers and boatmen on the other vessels who had vanished.

In the distance, a crowd of frightened people had gathered on the shore, but their voices couldn't be heard from this far out.

Silence once again settled over the mirror-still lake. Aboard the boat, the only sounds were the oars dipping into the water and the sound of breathing.

Lu Li's own breathing.

Emin was not breathing.

Lu Li's hands, gripping the oars, faltered for a moment. Then, after one more stroke, he turned.

Emin was sitting behind him, her head tilted as she gazed at the distant World's Spine Mountains with what seemed to be a look of fondness. The only thing amiss was the hilt of a dagger protruding from the breast of her black cloak. The blade was buried to the hilt, and blood had soaked the fabric, obscuring its color.

"Emin?"

Lu Li's hand went to his holster.

"What is it, Mr. Lu Li?" Emin tore her gaze from the mountains and looked at him quizzically.

"You're wounded."

"Are you seeing something?"

Following Lu Li's gaze, Emin looked down at her chest. She touched the spot, and when she drew her hand away, her fingertips were stained with blood. But she looked back up at him as if she couldn't see the wound or feel any pain. "I'm fine," she said with a helpless air. "Mr. Lu Li, are you thinking that something has happened to me?"

"Yes."

That very thought had just crossed Lu Li's mind. "But I know it's an illusion," he said. "Even though it persists."

Emin looked taken aback. She glanced down at her chest again, touching the wound, and murmured, "Then which of us is the one having the illusion... me, or you?"

Lu Li couldn't tell.

Nor could he tell if Emin's wound was an illusion or real.

Or perhaps Emin herself was an illusion, one he had conjured. Maybe she had drowned in Agate Lake long ago.

Thanks to the First Dead, reality and illusion had become so intertwined they were impossible to unravel.

Lu Li unfastened the flap of his holster, hoping the Spirit Gun could cut through the tangle of truth and lies.

He had avoided using the Spirit Gun until now. Because if he could sense them, they could also sense him.

"Watch out!"

Just then, Emin's gaze shot past Lu Li, and she cried out in panic.

A splash erupted behind him, but before Lu Li could turn, a sharp blow struck the back of his head, and the world went dark.

Lu Li collapsed in the boat, his face pressed against the wet wood of the gunwale. As consciousness faded, his half-open eyes caught a blurry glimpse of what was happening.

"No... Get back... You monsters..."

It was Emin. As if seeing something terrifying, she stumbled backward, her face a mask of panic, until she tripped over the edge of the boat.

The panic was still etched on her graceful features as she fell into the water. Then, with a splash, it was all gone.

Lu Li's consciousness plunged into the depths as well.

The violently rocking boat eventually stilled. The shapes beneath the surface gradually sank out of sight. All that remained on the clear lake were a few empty boats, drifting silently.

One of them carried a crumpled body, rocked like a cradle as it drifted with the current toward the far shore.