The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 734: The Coming of the Eternal Night

They cautiously approached the territory the ghouls had traversed. A putrid, plague-like stench still hung heavy in the air.

The foul odor emanated from the ghouls themselves, and from the chunks of rotting flesh they had torn from their prey.

Katerina covered her mouth and nose with a rag and handed one to Lu Li. "We need to be quick," she urged. "Those ghouls have an unnervingly sharp sense of smell."

The pestilence wafting from the ghouls could infect humans with all sorts of diseases, and for most hunters living hand-to-mouth, getting sick was a death sentence.

They moved quickly through the foul-smelling territory. Lu Li kept his head down, studying the ghouls' tracks. The prints were unmistakable: three thick toes joined to a long, flat foot.

Once they were a safe distance away, Katerina pulled the cloth from her face and took a deep, cleansing breath.

From then on, they moved faster. Katerina worried that other hunters might have spotted the ghoul migration and would get to Livitown first.

The first hunter to report the news would get a handsome reward. The second would get nothing.

Katerina's experience as a survivalist helped them steer clear of numerous dangers.

There was the wooden cabin, for instance, that seemed to materialize on a hilltop. It stood stark and exposed in the wasteland, a dim yellow light glowing in its windows, its roof sharply peaked, a gnarled tree looming by the door—the very image of a witch's hut.It could only be an anomaly.

Then there was a patch of land enveloped in a fog so thick it looked like a pool of mist. A novice hunter, or anyone fleeing in terror, might dive into it, desperate for cover.

"Real fog banks dissipate quickly," Katerina whispered. "They only last an hour or two after sunrise, and only in lowlands. See? That bank of fog isn't in a hollow."

And this particular fog bank was unnatural. It didn't shift or swirl like real mist. It was more like a solid object, a dense mass whose surface remained utterly still.

If you charged into it, you might just slam against it, but it was far more likely you'd be devoured.

Perhaps the ghoul migration had thinned out the other anomalies in the Gloom Wastes. At least, that's what Katerina claimed. They still spotted quite a few, but the flat terrain offered excellent visibility, allowing them to steer clear of trouble long before it could find them.

Katerina used the ascent of the Light Stealer to mark the time. It had already climbed nearly as high as the morning sun, poised to snatch the light away at any second.

The ghouls had delayed them, and now they were losing time.

When a wooden signpost on a hill announced they were just four miles from the town, Katerina and Lu Li picked up their pace, making for Livitown.

There was a distinct difference between the safe zone and the wastes. Though both were dark, barren landscapes, the safe zone was free of the omnipresent whispers and the chilling sensation of being watched.

Suddenly, Katerina lifted her head and stared south.

"Faster," she breathed. "We're too late."

With that whisper, Katerina broke into a dead sprint.

Making that much noise in the wastes was tantamount to suicide, but they were close to the safe zone, and the far greater threat of the Light Stealer was looming. Walking cautiously now would mean not reaching safety before the Eternal Night descended.

Cloaked, Lu Li followed close behind Katerina. He glanced up, his hood sliding back, and gazed at the southern sky. A faint glow pulsed around the Light Stealer. It had climbed high into the heavens, its desiccated, shadowy claws slowly unfurling.

On the barren earth of the Gloom Wastes, just outside Livitown's safe zone, two tiny, insignificant figures ran for their lives.

Ahead, the burning torches of the town beckoned them forward.

Overhead, the unfurling shadow claws underscored the terrifying urgency of their flight.

The nightmarish, sharp shadow claws clenched into a fist, ripping the sky apart.

The dim light of the sky, the distant cliffs, the ring of lava on the horizon—it was all like a painting on a canvas, wrinkling and crumpling in the grip of those shadowy claws, peeling back to reveal nothing but pure void behind it.

Katerina's ragged gasps carried across the wastes, but Lu Li's breathing remained steady. He calmly watched the apocalyptic spectacle unfold—the entire sky, torn asunder by the Light Stealer, was collapsing toward the edge of the world.

Emptiness consumed the heavens. Behind them, a black line rushed across the earth, closing in.

The black tide advanced several miles every second, swallowing the distance to the two runners in a heartbeat.

The safe zone was just ahead. Katerina could almost make out the writing on the wooden boundary marker.

And in that same instant, a thick, smothering darkness swallowed them whole.

The Eternal Night had fallen.

Rustle...

A whisper brushed against his ear. Something climbed onto his back, its weight dragging at him, slowing his pace.

A brief silence fell at the edge of the safe zone. Then, two figures burst from the darkness, their heavy footfalls thudding on the ground.

Katerina pulled out a piece of fluorite, its faint glow barely piercing the gloom around them.

Just beyond them, the darkness churned like a physical entity, held at bay by the invisible line of the safe zone.

"We were almost caught in the Eternal Night..."

Katerina panted, a mixture of relief from their narrow escape and a hint of regret.

She had hoped to reach the City of Phantoms today, and from there, make her way through the Old Sewer to Midnight.

Once she caught her breath, she and Lu Li headed quickly toward Livitown.

Flickering fluorescent lamps and other steady lights dotted the area around the safe zone, marking the camps of others who had just arrived. Those people had cut it close, returning at the last possible moment, but their risk was nothing compared to that of Lu Li and Katerina, who had scraped by just as the Eternal Night fell.

Katerina glanced around suspiciously. When Lu Li asked what was wrong, she casually deflected. "Livitown's rule: don't drink the water."

"Why?"

"Who knows," she shrugged. "You can drink coffee, soup, tea... even blood. Just not the water. That's why I hate this place."

As they neared the torch-lit town, Katerina reminded Lu Li, "Keep your face covered."

Lu Li pulled up the hood that had fallen back while he was watching the Light Stealer, concealing his face in shadow.

When he was done, however, he realized Katerina was staring at him. She suddenly reached up, her hand moving toward the anomalous eye set in her own socket.

"You're not well," Lu Li observed calmly.

"We were caught in the Eternal Night for two or three seconds. We probably lost a little Mind Level," Katerina said, lowering her hand in embarrassment. "Hopefully, some of it will recover."

"How badly is your Mind Level affected?" Lu Li asked.

"Mostly hallucinations, a few illusions," Katerina said with a shrug. "Just now, I thought I saw a tentacle slither out of your cloak. Startled me."

Of course, she knew how serious a drop in Mind Level could be. But out in the wastes, there were countless things far more terrifying and deadly. A few hallucinations? As long as they didn't start becoming real, it was a minor problem.

Before entering Livitown, Katerina uncorked her flask and drank her fill. Lu Li opened his own waterskin and drank some of the purified water—a less contaminated grade than distilled, costing eighteen shillings, enough to buy nearly two pounds of cheap meat.

Once inside Livitown, the differences from Mantistown were stark. Mantistown hadn't felt all that different from the cities of the old world.

This place made it painfully clear: they were living in the Age of Anomalies, where death was always just a breath away.