The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 797: Everything is Familiar

Lacking the protection of a divine entity, Vinnelag had to face the world as it truly was.

For instance, the anomalous fog that had enveloped the city.

The streets were veiled in a haze, streetlamps cast a dim, blurry glow, and soon the streets were deserted, save for the guards standing watch over the city hall.

“I don’t like the evenings here,” Katerina remarked, letting the curtain fall as she moved back toward the hearth.

For the people of the Wastelands, fog spelled extreme danger, yet here it was everywhere. It even seemed as though a light mist hung in the air inside the rooms.

Moreover, in places like Midnight and Mantistown, nights spent under the protection of a divine entity were always vibrant.

“And before? Back when there were no anomalies, the city wasn’t like this, was it?”

Katerina found the city cold. The pervasive gray tones, the haze, the drizzling rain, the steel, steam, and pipes.

Soon after, Mayor Matteus Knox paid them a visit. He had changed into everyday clothes and was unaccompanied by his assistant, suggesting it was a private call.

“Some of the council members have complained to me that you’ve ignored their invitations to their parties,” Matteus Knox told Lu Li.His aides had informed him there were dozens of parties being held that evening, but their guest of honor had not made an appearance at any of them.

“I have no intention of getting involved in politics.” Lu Li, sitting on the sofa before the fire, looked up and closed his copy of the Anomaly Bestiary.

“...I see. But they won’t give up.”

Mayor Matteus Knox sat down opposite Lu Li.

His late-night visit wasn’t merely a courtesy call; he had wanted to probe Lu Li’s political inclinations, but he hadn’t expected such a direct answer.

“How does Vinnelag keep the anomalies at bay?” Lu Li asked.

Before Lu Li, Mayor Matteus Knox had no intention of hiding anything. “Enchanted weapons,” he admitted. “And most importantly, the powerful anomalies aren’t interested in this place.”

Vinnelag had never enjoyed the “favor” of the anomalies. At the dawn of the Age of Anomalies, when every human settlement was under assault and the Lennon Archipelago had been shattered into countless fragments, this city alone remained relatively peaceful.

“What is the reason?”

“It’s unknown. Perhaps some entity we are unaware of is protecting this place. Or perhaps, they intend to repeat the tragedy of the Lennon Archipelago.”

The investigation into the first possibility is still underway, and any information is kept quiet, circulating only among the highest echelons of society. After all, in the eyes of the common people, Vinnelag is a symbol of ‘bygone glory,’ and the aristocracy wants to keep the city independent, not to be assimilated by Midnight.

Even though every aristocratic house employed power-users from the Wastelands.

Mayor Matteus Knox did not stay long; the city hall was like a drafty beehive, full of holes and whispers.

Before he left, the wavering mayor offered one final remark.

“There’s just as much filth here as anywhere else.”

After saying this, Mayor Matteus Knox opened the door, his usual mayoral composure restored, and walked out of the room.

Thud.

The flames in the hearth steadied once more.

“What did the mayor mean by that?” Prusius asked in confusion, lifting his head from where he lay at Lu Li’s feet.

“It means don’t be fooled by its shiny exterior,” Katerina said, pouring herself a glass of red wine.

“Tur Lange told me something similar.”

They didn’t dwell on the mayor’s words for long. After a while, Katerina, now slightly tipsy, asked Lu Li without any preamble, “What happened?”

Lu Li lifted his dark eyes and met her gaze calmly.

“You’ve changed a lot since you came back... hic.” Katerina hiccupped, pausing for about ten seconds.

“Your aura...”

“I feel it too,” Prusius quickly agreed.

“It feels more comforting to be near Lu Li.”

Lu Li briefly recounted his experience in the Nursery. In the meantime, the Trader, having concluded his business, returned to the room. After listening in silence, he added a thousand points to Lu Li's account.

“So, humanity is like the essence of a soul...” Prusius was more concerned about something else:

“That means Lu Li will attract even more attention from anomalies!”

“Yes.”

It was unavoidable.

Katerina, who got drunk quickly, was soon completely intoxicated and grew curious about what the Trader looked like beneath his scarf.

Before she could lunge forward and tear off the scarf, the Trader had already departed the physical world and returned to his home in the In-Between.

Meanwhile, Lu Li, reminded of the seed while telling his story, opened the wooden box of rotting meat. He fed an eyeball to the black crow that flew in—the same one from earlier in the day. Then he poured a little soil into the box and buried the seed inside.

Eleven units of humanity were enough to accelerate the growth of the plants around him.

Just as Mayor Matteus Knox had said, Vinnelag was unpopular with anomalies. Even the creatures from the anomalous fog were reluctant to enter the city, let alone approach the areas bathed in light.

Katerina retired to the next room to sleep. Lu Li picked up the wine bottles scattered across the rug. The labels were illegible, but he could tell it was wine produced before the Age of Anomalies.

The Plant Calamity had taken so much that was familiar from humanity—including humanity itself.

Prusius slept on the sofa, while Lu Li, in his bed, drifted off to the sound of the light rain and the crackling fire.

“Lu Li... Lu Li...”

A faint, quiet whisper brushed against his ear. Fatigue seized Lu Li’s consciousness, pulling him down into the abyss of sleep, as if he were plunging into depths from which he would never awaken...

In the depths of the void, a spark suddenly ignited. It grew, engulfing the entire emptiness—

Lu Li awoke in a blinding flash of light.

First came the sounds, sharp and clear: Prusius was barking and yelping frantically, while outside, guards were pounding urgently on the door. Then came the sensation: his breath hitched against something solid, and a chill bounced back at him.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a gruesome face hovering just above his own.

Lu Li rolled off the bed, and Elder Sister, who had been standing on his chest to confront the entity, was thrown aside.

It was a human silhouette, emerging from a wooden panel as if through a veil. It was pulling the ceiling downward, lowering it to within half a meter of the bed, where it now hung motionless.

Crash!

The guards burst through the door, and the horrific sight above the bed made them recoil.

“Get Lu Li out of here, now!”

Lu Li snatched up Elder Sister as she scrambled toward him, and surrounded by the guards, he and Prusius were escorted from the room.

Katerina had also woken up in the adjacent room. A moment later, a disheveled Mayor Matteus Knox came rushing down the corridor.

When he saw that Lu Li was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at the corridor, now cordoned off by guards, and told Lu Li that those with anomalous powers were already on their way.

“I’m an exorcist,” Lu Li stated.

“But you’re only one man.”

Mayor Matteus Knox couldn’t afford to let anything happen to Lu Li.

The wielders of anomalous power arrived shortly after. It was an old woman leaning on the spine of some non-human creature. Skulls hung from her body like a necklace, rattling with every step she took.

She fit the popular image of a witch perfectly.

There was still a little time left before dawn.

The creature in the ceiling had been only moments away from reaching Lu Li.

“Exorcist... are you unharmed?” the old woman paused as she passed Lu Li, her murky eyes fixing on him.

The white light that had woken Lu Li had likely come from the Beacon.

And this experience was indeed a stark reminder of the old days.

“I’m fine,” he said.