The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 716: The Lost Underworld

A warm, gentle breeze washed over Lu Li's drenched body.

The faint scent of sulfur hung in the air.

Climbing out of the opening, Lu Li stood and surveyed the illuminated space. To call this place an underground cavern would be wrong.

This vast underworld was more staggering to the imagination than the surface world. Countless natural columns, hundreds of meters tall, supported the vaulted ceiling. Branching rivers of lava snaked around colossal, city-like structures, eventually merging into a distant molten sea.

Lu Li stared in silence, taking in the spectacle.

Where was he?

Water from the cave poured from the opening, cascading down a series of terraced rocks. A hundred meters away, it met a river of lava with a loud hiss, sending up plumes of white steam as it evaporated on contact.

Faced with such a sight, it didn't matter whether he was a few kilometers underground or in the depths of hell itself.

Either scenario meant that returning to the surface would be a monumental task.

But Lu Li didn't let despair take hold.He reasoned that if the mysterious Friday was real, her actions must have a purpose.

Lu Li's gaze settled on the subterranean city, encircled by a moat of lava. If this underworld held any answers, they would be found within that lost city.

Following the stream of water, Lu Li made his way toward the river of lava.

The temperature climbed as he approached the bank. The air began to shimmer with heat, distorting his vision. The heat was unbearable.

Lu Li pulled on his wet overcoat. Its biting coldness shielded him from the searing heat. The same icy water that had been stealing his body heat just moments ago was now his protection.

The river of lava was only about five meters wide, but it felt like an impassable barrier. Looking downstream, Lu Li saw that the channel narrowed to just three meters a few dozen meters away.

He could leap across the lava river there, but the cost of a mistake was far too high.

He considered waiting for the spillwater to cool the lava, but that could take far too long...

Lu Li moved to the narrowest point of the river. He tested the firmness of the stone bank, took a few more steps back, then broke into a sprint. With a powerful running start, he leaped from the edge.

It wasn't a graceful leap, but it was powerful and fast. Lu Li landed on the opposite bank.

Three more arms of the lava river lay ahead. Lu Li crossed them one by one, like clearing stages in a game, until he finally reached the outskirts of the subterranean city, now much further downstream.

The lava sea was closer now, and its searing heat scorched the side of Lu Li's face.

The final obstacle rose before him: a moat encircling the city walls.

Instead of water, it churned with bubbling lava, radiating waves of intense heat.

A bridge spanned the moat, leading into the empty, lost city.

Lu Li squeezed some water from the hem of his overcoat, flicking it onto the bridge. The droplets skittered across the stone surface like glass beads, shrinking as they instantly sizzled into vapor.

The soles of Lu Li's shoes left scorched black prints on the edge of the bridge.

The bridge looked precarious. A stone of about ten kilograms had left a web of cracks on its surface.

But Lu Li had no choice.

He took off his overcoat, used it to dampen his drying trousers, then put it back on. Swiftly but carefully, he stepped onto the fifteen-meter-long stone bridge.

A wave of heat washed over him. An alarming crack sounded from beneath his feet, spreading out in all directions. The bridge was as brittle as thin ice.

Plunk... plunk...

Fragments of the bridge fell into the lava with dull thuds.

Lu Li moved forward quickly, soon reaching the midpoint. The heat was most intense here, and the bridge felt exceptionally fragile—like stretched glass about to shatter.

A few more steps, and Lu Li felt the bridge shudder and sag beneath him. A gaping hole opened up just a few meters ahead.

The sound of splintering rock echoed from behind him as more of the bridge gave way. Without a second's hesitation, Lu Li launched himself off the crumbling stone, leaping for the city gate. He hit the edge hard, rolling with the impact to end up safely at the base of the wall.

Lu Li's leap was the final straw. Covered in fractures, the entire structure began to collapse into the moat below. The viscous lava shot up in splashes, flaring brightly like ignited cigars before swallowing the remains of the bridge.

Had Lu Li hesitated for even a moment, he would have shared its fate.

There was no turning back now.

The wet prints on the ground vanished in an instant. Steam rose from his overcoat as the heat dried it. His shoes were ruined, and his feet pressed against the scorching stone.

Tearing his eyes from the lava, Lu Li turned his attention to the city.

Beyond the gate, a straight, empty street stretched into the distance. At its far end stood a massive column supporting the cavern's ceiling, its surface bearing the clear marks of tools.

Taking the Lamp in hand, Lu Li removed his ruined shoes. He stepped onto the warm stone slabs and entered the city.

The city's origin was a mystery. Who could have built something so magnificent, so deep beneath the earth?

The city walls, nearly ten meters high, rivaled those of fortresses built hundreds of years ago. The streets were wide enough for eight carriages to ride abreast. Arranged in a neat grid, the stone buildings had withstood the test of time.

But as he entered the city, a strange sensation washed over Lu Li: he felt as if he had shrunk.

The paving stones were over a meter square, the buildings on either side of the street were immense, and the stone doorways stood nearly three meters tall...

It seemed the city had been built for beings far larger than humans.

Subterranean dwellers?

Lamp in hand, Lu Li entered one of the houses to look inside. But it was empty. All of them were. There was no furniture, not even a staircase leading to the upper floors. Nothing but bare walls.

There were no signs of life anywhere, not on the buildings, not on the streets. It was as if the city had been abandoned the moment it was completed. All that remained was a fine layer of dust and the marks of time etched into the stone.

Closer to the center of the city, he found a stone stele standing on one of the streets.

An image had once adorned its surface, but centuries of oxidation and exposure to the harsh environment had worn it away, leaving only white patches and the faintest traces of paint.

Lu Li was now nearing the city's center.

The column connecting the underworld to the level above now loomed before him in its entirety.

The tool marks on its surface were not mere carvings, but a spiral staircase winding its way up.

The clue left by this subterranean city was obvious: the way out was up.

Lu Li stepped into a circular plaza at the heart of the city. In its center, the massive column rose up, wrapped in its spiral staircase.

From the plaza, he could see down the four main streets leading to the city's gates.

This empty city felt like a stage, constructed for the sole purpose of pointing him upward.

Looking up at the spiraling column, Lu Li saw that the staircase was incomplete.

The corrosive, sulfuric winds of the underworld had badly eroded the part of the column that rose above the protection of the city walls. A few dozen meters up, the steps grew sparse, and near the top, there was a sheer ten-meter stretch with no steps at all.

Higher still, the staircase vanished into the darkness of the rock above.

With one last look at the empty city of giants, Lu Li placed his foot on the first step.