The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 690: He Resolved to Help the Suffering

"He's awake."

A hushed whisper broke the silence, and Abiloki sensed vague figures looking down at him.

His vision slowly sharpened, and he saw the exorcist with black hair and black eyes, his older sister, the village elder, and the very same townspeople whose bodies should have been lying in the cellar...

"How are you all still here..."

The words caught in his throat. Abiloki's voice was raspy, hardly recognizable as his own. But even more terrifying were the words he'd heard just as he regained consciousness...

"What happened to you?" Elena leaned in close, her eyes a mixture of anger and sorrow.

Abiloki shuddered and lowered his head. "I... when I went back for the money, I was choked until I passed out. I woke up in bed, and everything had changed. A monster came in and walked toward me, and then I..."

"And then you killed Madam Gas, crushing her with a wardrobe!" Elena's fists clenched.

"No, I didn't kill her... It was a monster!" Abiloki shrieked, his head snapping up.

"The King of the First Dead possessed you and twisted your vision, making the people around you look like monsters," Lu Li explained calmly.Manipulating human hearts—it was what the First Dead did best.

"No... impossible... You're just hallucinations, aren't you?!" Abiloki couldn't dare to face the truth, because the truth was far more agonizing than any illusion he had endured.

Abiloki's entire body trembled. The mere thought of how he had killed his mother, Barton, and Missy, how he had severed his own brother's head, sent countless whispers echoing through his mind, flooding him with despair and pain.

"It was the king. He can survive out of the water," the old elder sighed, instructing the others to take Abiloki upstairs to rest.

The bodies had already been collected and arranged. The people grieved, their hatred for the monsters that had seized Lake Legkogo Zerkala deepening, as did their sympathy for Abiloki.

Everyone was a victim, Abiloki included. The old elder had no idea how to punish him.

He hoped the town's hatred would shift to the First Dead. "Now that the King of the First Dead has been destroyed, will they disappear?"

"After a king dies, a new one is born within the swarm," Lu Li replied.

"A new king..." Despair washed over the elder's old face. If every king could come ashore, what would become of the people of Helentown?

"What can we do?" Aunt Susan asked.

Lu Li said, "Exterminate them, drain the lake, or abandon Helentown."

"The water flows down from the World's Spine Mountains. The First Dead have been breeding in the lake for too long, there are hundreds of them, maybe more..." The old elder trailed off.

"Then your best option is to relocate to the nearest town," Lu Li advised.

"Mr. Exorcist, do you know the history of Helentown?" the old elder began. "A long, long time ago..."

"Reyntown is the closest. You can bypass Lake Legkogo Zerkala to get there," Lu Li interjected.

The old elder was about to respond when he was cut off again by two discordant chimes of a bell.

One came from Lu Li's pocket, the other from outside Aunt Susan's house.

"It's Silence!" a towns person cried out.

Inside the house, some people dropped to the floor, some sat down, others simply froze where they stood. As the tolling gradually faded, a profound quiet settled over the living room.

The only sounds were the crackling of the fire in the hearth, the stifled breathing all around, and the thoughts of the people, which grew louder in the silence.

The quiet only made the recent tragedy feel all the more sorrowful.

After a long twenty-odd minutes, the anomaly detector in Lu Li's pocket chimed again, followed a few seconds later by the toll of the bell outside.

The closer one got to Silence, the longer its ritual lasted.

The sound of breathing was once again audible in the living room, drowning out the faint crackle of the fire. But at that moment, a loud crash came from upstairs. The villager who had taken Abiloki up stumbled back down the stairs.

"Abiloki... Abiloki killed himself!"

They rushed upstairs. Abiloki's feet dangled, his shoulders slumped, his neck caught in a simple rope noose. His body swayed gently.

He had soiled himself, and moisture trickled down his pant legs.

...

"After the Third Calamity arrived, Abiloki suddenly stood up and hanged himself with a rope he found..." the terrified villager recalled. "He was like a corpse, just hung there and went still..."

Sorrow filled Elena's eyes. In the span of half an hour, two of her childhood friends were dead.

"Take him down and lay him beside his mother and brother..." the old elder sighed.

They left the room and returned downstairs.

"Must we really leave this place...?" The old elder resumed their interrupted conversation, asking Lu Li, "Is there any way for us to destroy them?"

"Perhaps, but if they hide at the bottom of the lake, we are powerless," Lu Li said, glancing at the Beacon standing nearby.

The Beacon could likely destroy these creatures, which were simultaneously weak and strong. But the First Dead were not just a mindless swarm of monsters. They had a king and possessed a degree of intelligence.

"I know the way to Revoltown."

Elena spoke up, looking at Lu Li with determination. "I can take you there, but I hope you will help this town get rid of the First Dead for good."

"I can't promise that," Lu Li replied evenly, "and I can only help you after I return from Revoltown."

To help Helentown, he needed to find Anna. Her power should be enough to wipe out the swarm of the First Dead.

Although he couldn't solve the problem immediately, Lu Li's promise still gave the townspeople a sliver of hope.

But first, they had to prepare.

They needed to educate all the residents to avoid another tragedy like Abiloki's.

They also had to pack their belongings, just in case Lu Li and his companions didn't return in a few days. If that happened, they would have to relocate to Reyntown as quickly as possible.

Night gradually deepened. After dinner, the old elder and the villagers left Aunt Susan's house.

Even though Aunt Susan was an excellent cook and the pork was fresh, everyone ate in silence.

Elena followed Lu Li into his room; she would be staying in the same room as him tonight.

Lu Li asked her a few questions about the road from Helentown to Revoltown.

Helentown was a little over one hundred and fifty miles from Revoltown. Elena said the journey was not safe.

There were no horses, no roads. They would have to travel through the wilderness, where hyenas and wolf packs roamed, just as dangerous as any monster. There was a village about eighty miles away where they could stop for a while.

After his questions, Lu Li reminded Elena to keep an eye on him.

"If you see me acting strangely—staring at nothing, hearing things, talking to the air—you need to tell me."

With Anna gone, Lu Li had to be wary of the Door taking advantage of her absence.

"I understand... Good night."

Elena answered curtly, pulled the blanket over herself on the other single bed, and turned away to sleep.

The night passed peacefully, but sorrowfully.