The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 814: Approaching

It was as if Wigtown and Haughtown existed in different eras.

Wigtown was like the crack of dawn: long shadows cast by the mountains, a misty hollow in the forest, the occasional passerby on the streets, and smoke curling up from the chimneys.

Haughtown, by contrast, was like morning proper: rolling hills stretching into the distance, wide-open vistas, and bustling streets.

More passengers disembarked and boarded at its station than in Wigtown, and there were even vendors tucked against the platform columns, peddling cigarettes and local delicacies.

Whooo!

The steam engine, wreathed in thick smoke, pulled away from the platform.

Prusius lifted his head to watch the train pull away, his eyes following it until it vanished from sight before turning his gaze back to the stuttering, middle-aged man.

"Ye-Yel ca-ca-came b-back to his m-master."

Katerina was visibly irritated, and even Prusius flattened his ears, trying to block out the sound.

The stuttering, middle-aged man had been telling the short story for over ten minutes, and at last, the ordeal was over. Lu Li paid him and went on to question a few other townspeople.In a small town like this, it was hard to keep a secret. Plenty of people knew the story, and the truth quickly pieced itself together, complete with a few unverified details.

The hero of the story wasn't a person, but a dog.

Yel was famous in Haughtown—or rather, infamous. The town wasn't large, and a dog that had lived for over ten years was a genuine marvel.

After all, many children didn't even make it to ten.

His owner, a man named Kiru, had recently buried Yel. The dog had died of old age; at over ten years, he was the equivalent of a seventy or eighty-year-old man.

Yel had been with Kiru since the man was just a boy of ten, and even through poverty and starvation, Kiru had never considered eating him. After burying his friend, Kiru returned home grieving, only to hear Yel's bark and familiar scratching at the door the very next morning.

Kiru was overjoyed, but his neighbors were alarmed. The resurrection of the dead reeked of an anomaly.

But Yel ran off before the town guards could do anything—at least, that's what Kiru claimed. A few days later, Kiru himself vanished from town.

As for the unverified details: some townspeople said Kiru had prayed to some deity to resurrect Yel. Others claimed the dog had only been pretending to be dead. Still others insisted Yel had never returned at all, and that a grief-stricken Kiru had simply imagined it.

In any case, with Kiru gone, Lu Li and his companions couldn't pay him a visit.

They went only to the cemetery on the outskirts of town where Yel had been buried. The dug-up grave had already been filled back in.

Lu Li hired a local to excavate the grave, but it was empty. There was no sign of Yel, or Kiru.

The central figures in the Wigtown and Haughtown incidents were different, but both involved the "resurrection of the dead"—unquestionably one of Anna's abilities. The timing of the events linked them together.

The next step was to travel to the next station, Surgtoun, to investigate. But the day's train had already departed, so they were forced to remain in Haughtown for another day.

Gathering information would have been most efficient in Vinnelag, but the Merchant couldn't leave again—"Barry" would undoubtedly appear.

Barry's existence was a mystery, as were his motives. However, his last two appearances didn't seem like coincidences and pointed to a single purpose: he stayed behind to fend off some danger while the others departed.

Lu Li jotted this down, writing "Barry—evil spirit" in his notes, but it was useless...

When his ritual manifested, the consciousness and memories of everyone present became distorted, causing them to instantly forget all their wariness and suspicion of him.

Lu Li had devised a plan: leave everyone in the cabin and cover the walls with writings about the truth of "Barry," but Katerina, Prusius, and the Fallen had all refused.

He was an evil spirit, or a powerful spirit of defilement. He wouldn't give them a second chance, and the longer they were in contact with him, the greater the danger.

That was why the Merchant had traveled to Port Lennon by transforming into a letter to be delivered to the port, while Lu Li wrote another letter to send to the mayor. It was slower, but it avoided any hidden dangers.

The steam engine arrived at the station the following afternoon. As Lu Li boarded, he handed the letter to the train conductor, asking him to deliver it to the City Hall in Port Lennon upon their arrival, addressed to Mayor Matteus or his assistant.

The conductor, a resident of Vinnelag, recognized Lu Li. He excitedly promised to keep Lu Li's absence from Vinnelag a secret and assured him the letter would be delivered without fail.

That evening, the steam engine stopped in Surgtoun.

Lu Li and his companions disembarked to investigate, but they found no information about any "resurrection of the dead."

There had been some recent anomalies, but that was a daily occurrence.

The person they suspected was Anna hadn't been here, or at least, she hadn't left any traces.

Lu Li and his companions had no choice but to return to the safety of the train. It wouldn't depart during the night and was scheduled to leave at dawn.

The delay had now stretched from one day to three.

After some discussion, they decided to travel to the next station. If they found no leads there, they could still catch a train back to Haughtown.

The next morning, the train departed, arriving at the station in Habibtoun by noon. As the train continued its journey toward Port Lennon with the letter, Lu Li and his companions disembarked to investigate.

They found nothing here.

Ruling out the possibility that the person they suspected was Anna had simply left no traces, it meant they had lost her trail.

A new train arrived that afternoon, and Lu Li and his companions boarded it to return to Haughtown.

They arrived back in Surgtoun that evening to spend the night, returning to Haughtown by noon the following day.

Four days had passed since they had first left, and no new rumors had surfaced in the town. After making some inquiries, the locals told Lu Li about a village dozens of kilometers away that they called "Scarecrow Village."

Lu Li unfolded his map, but Scarecrow Village wasn't on it. The spot the townspeople pointed to was just a blank space. It was likely a new settlement, established sometime during the Age of Anomalies.

It was worth noting that Scarecrow Village lay south of Haughtown, and traveling farther south from there would lead to the Serene Plains.

King's City Allen was in the same direction.

And so was Belfast.

If the person he suspected was Anna had indeed been to Scarecrow Village, it meant Lu Li's theory was closer to the truth.

She was Anna.

She was approaching the Allen Peninsula.

They stopped briefly in Haughtown to purchase supplies. The Severe Winter was approaching, a fact made obvious by the steadily dropping temperatures and the firewood piled high in every town.

The air was as crisp as late autumn, and Katerina, dressed in her leather armor, was already starting to feel the chill.

Still, until the Dreadful Cold truly arrived, the temperature would continue to fall gradually rather than plummeting all at once.

They restocked their food and water from the train's supplies and bought four woolen blankets in town. The blankets were densely embroidered with ancient markings, meant to provide either protection or simple peace of mind.

"We need a guide," the Fallen suggested.

But no one was willing to go to Scarecrow Village. In the end, a hunter simply marked its location on their map and pointed out some landmarks along the route so they wouldn't lose their way.

The hunter's reason for refusing to guide them was simple: Scarecrow Village was extremely hostile to outsiders, and it was dangerous.

"Prepare yourselves."

On the eve of their departure, the Fallen's mouth split open.

Lu Li met his gaze calmly with his dark eyes, and slowly, the Fallen's loathsome whisper began.

"Journey to the tentacles that have formed far from civilization, to the dark lands unlit by the star called Vinnelag."

"The true world."