The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 732: The Eyeless Ones

Katerina's dark humor didn't last long.

In the distance, a fire blazed to life in the church, and the wind sweeping across the plains carried its warmth to them.

The light from the massive torch spread out, illuminating even the farthest edges of the town.

"Damn it, why now?" Katerina cursed under her breath when she saw it.

"What is that?" Lu Li asked, his gaze fixed on the torch, almost feeling its heat from afar.

"A Calamity..." Katerina's eyes turned south. "The Light Stealer."

A colossal black silhouette, like a mountain peak given form, was rising from the depths of the wastes.

"It will snuff out the sky in the last moments of twilight, and then we'll have several days of Eternal Night," Katerina explained, a note of pessimism creeping into her voice.

The wastes become extremely dangerous during the Eternal Night. The safe zones shrink over time, and not even the most seasoned hunter would dare leave the city's protection.

Waiting out the Eternal Night was the only option, but that presented Katerina with a serious problem: she couldn't afford to support Lu Li.Pureblood humans had very specific dietary needs; only low-contamination food could preserve their purity. Even the cheapest low-contamination black bread cost nearly thirty shillings a pound, and clean water wasn't much cheaper.

Katerina's entire savings, combined with the money she got from selling Lu Li's Anomaly Currency, would only be enough to survive for three days. If the Eternal Night lasted any longer, Lu Li would be heading to Midnight on an empty stomach.

Maybe she should have swallowed her greed and "sold" Lu Li in Mantistown. The church had no interest in purebloods, so she could try her luck with the mayor or the wealthy merchants.

"If you sell me to someone who'll get me to Midnight, I'm fine with it," Lu Li replied, seemingly unfazed by the idea of being treated as a commodity.

After all, their partnership had been a matter of convenience from the start.

Embarrassed that Lu Li had read her thoughts so easily, Katerina shook her head. "I wouldn't do that..."

Lu Li offered no response, simply waiting for her to decide.

On the southern horizon, the black silhouette writhed and climbed, like a dark mountain surging up from the earth.

Katerina was still wracking her brain, trying to figure out what to do.

If she didn't reveal Lu Li's pureblood status, she'd never get an audience with the mayor. But if she did, greedy guards or some official's steward might take a cut of the profits—or just take Lu Li himself.

Waiting out the Eternal Night was the worst possible idea. Who knew how long it would last? Contamination was everywhere; a single meal, a single sip of water, even a single breath could be enough to strip Lu Li of his purity.

And then, Lu Li would be worthless.

Hire a hunter who knew the route? She couldn't think of a single one she could trust. Lies and betrayal were the law of the land among hunters.

"Let's go!" The words escaped through gritted teeth. A gambler's fire lit up in Katerina's eyes. "We still have five hours before the Eternal Night. If we push it, we can make it to Livitown!"

Livitown was the second-to-last stop on her route map. Beyond it lay the City of Phantoms, which had a direct route to Midnight through the Old Sewer.

Once they reached Livitown, she would have options—she could negotiate Lu Li's sale with the local church or the mayor.

And so, as the people of the wastes gradually trickled back into town, Lu Li and Katerina walked against the tide. A few hunters recognized Katerina, watching from a distance as the pair left the settlement.

"The Light Stealer's coming," a guard reminded them casually.

"I know," Katerina replied, already heading out into the wastes.

The guard said nothing more. Perhaps he thought she would be back before the Eternal Night fell, or perhaps the life and death of one more hunter was simply none of his concern.

At first, Lu Li could see other people gradually making their way back to town, but as he and Katerina walked on, the figures grew more sparse. When he glanced back, the town's lights shone like a beacon, marking the way home.

They covered nearly five kilometers in relative peace, reaching the border between the safe zone and the true wastes. It was then that Katerina began to slow her pace.

Ahead of them, a group of crawling silhouettes blocked the path.

Lu Li expected Katerina to stop, but she walked straight toward them as if she hadn't seen the strange, crawling figures. She had seen them, of course, but for some reason, she was choosing to ignore them.

"The Eyeless Ones... a group of wretched souls," Katerina remarked calmly.

The strange, crawling figures were now very close, near enough for Lu Li to make out the details. Their bodies were built like humans. A few were clad in torn, ragged scraps of cloth, but most were completely naked, covered only in a thick layer of dust and grime.

Their emaciated bodies were like stick insects. Their eye sockets were empty, but the rest of their skin, from head to toe, was covered in painted eyes.

The painted eyes were so vivid they looked real. Only the creasing of their skin as the strange figures moved revealed that the eyes were just illusions.

"Are they human?" Lu Li asked, recalling that Katerina had called them people.

"Yes. People with low Mind Levels see projections from the In-Between. Some cowards gouged out their own eyes to stop the visions, but the influence of the In-Between remained. They were exiled from Mantistown for self-mutilation and forced to survive in the harsh outskirts. Over time, they became... this."

Katerina's voice was a mixture of pity and contempt. "They're heavily contaminated and could turn into mutants at any moment, but they're still human, just like us."

"They won't attack us?" Lu Li asked.

Katerina nodded. "Since they can't see, they crave companionship. It's ironic, really... they're more united and trust each other more than we do."

"But they're moving toward us," Lu Li pointed out.

Katerina faltered for a moment, then glanced around. She saw that Lu Li was right—the Eyeless Ones were slowly closing in, forming a circle around them.

"Don't attack... not yet," Katerina warned.

From her first day as a hunter, Katerina had known the Eyeless Ones were harmless. She'd never once heard a story of them attacking anyone.

The Eyeless Ones showed no signs of aggression. They simply gathered around Lu Li and Katerina—or more accurately, around Lu Li.

They completely ignored Katerina, who stood right beside him.

"Why...?" Katerina murmured, confused.

"Let's keep moving," Lu Li said. He knew why the Eyeless Ones were drawn to him.

Walking past the assembled Eyeless Ones, Lu Li and Katerina officially crossed into the wastes, where the air itself seemed to carry whispers.

Behind them, the Eyeless Ones lingered at the boundary line, not daring to follow.

"How did you do that?" Katerina couldn't help but ask.

"Maybe they sensed my presence," Lu Li replied.

Katerina started to say that the Eyeless Ones' sense of smell was poor, but then she caught herself. She realized that by "sensed," Lu Li didn't mean smell.

The Eyeless Ones were a group of heavily contaminated people who had lost themselves, but they still yearned for hope and light.

And Lu Li was the purest of humans.

An indescribable feeling lodged itself in Katerina's chest. For someone who had fought to survive since the day she was born, it was an unfamiliar sensation, but it moved her all the same.

She glanced at Lu Li and saw that he was gazing south again.

The silhouette of the Light Stealer was even more distinct than it had been half an hour ago. Its black, desiccated claws, vast as mountains, were slowly stretching toward the sky.