The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 816: The Scarecrow

The dazed old man recovered his senses and, overcome with fear, turned and fled.

The Shadow Maiden followed at a leisurely pace.

Bang!

Dust swirled as the stumbling old man burst into the hut.

A few old men, murmuring quietly in the room, simultaneously looked up at him, then at each other.

— An evil spirit... it’s come in.

A choked cry rang out, followed by a wheezing breath like wind from a cavern, and the old men in the room saw the gruesome wound that had nearly split his head in two.

They retreated toward the back door in unison.

— All that blood is gone, how can you still be alive... What are you?

— I...The voice was smothered by a gurgle, and in a flash, the old man shrank and melted like a candle held to a flame, collapsing into a shapeless heap wrapped in his clothes.

— I've inherited the ritual; I cannot be exposed...

With a soft whisper, the elegant and graceful Shadow Maiden departed from the village.

...

— Going in doesn't seem like the best idea...

Katerina lowered her voice.

The scarecrows stood in clusters across the fields as if guarding the village. The low straw, rustling in the wind, would occasionally reveal the wooden stakes they were mounted on.

It was not straw that had grown there. It had been harvested from somewhere else and arranged on the fields.

And these were not real scarecrows.

Their lifelike heads could have been the work of a master sculptor.

The scarecrows in the distance stared straight ahead, but the ones nearby turned their heads, their gazes creepily following Lu Li and the others as they passed.

— But it’s getting dark, — Prusius pointed out.

— Plenty of people in Haughtown know about Scarecrow Village, and some have been here before, — The Fallen explained, his tone laced with sarcasm directed at Katerina's cowardice.

— It might be unsettling, but it's not dangerous.

They should have pressed the hunter for more details, but Lu Li was usually the only one who paid attention to such things.

But, as mentioned before, the news about Anna had made Lu Li withdrawn, and he had stopped noticing many things.

The somber sky grew darker still, and they spotted an elderly figure emerging from the village, seemingly to meet them.

And for the first time since they had left Haughtown, Lu Li spoke.

— Tell me, have there been any dead here recently?

The old man’s expression froze.

Before he could provoke any hostility, Prusius hastily amended:

— He means, has anything strange been happening here lately, like the dead being resurrected!

— Who are you?

But a seed of suspicion had nevertheless been sown.

— We're from the city. We're looking for... someone, — Prusius replied.

— ...It's been a long time since we've had outsiders here.

— Then, please, could we stay the night here? It's getting dark.

After hesitating for a moment, the old man slowly nodded:

— Please, wait here.

Leaving them there, the old man went back into the village. A young woman with a long braid emerged shortly after.

— Katerina, quick, your cloak! — Prusius suddenly cried out.

Before the braided girl could get closer, Prusius had thrown on his special cloak, concealing his form.

— What's wrong with you? — Katerina asked, bewildered.

— Just feeling my age.

A sharp, biting laugh from The Fallen echoed nearby.

...

Click.

The candlelight gradually steadied.

From the edge of the light, voices drifted.

— They asked about that business.

— Accomplices?

— Humans.

— Ignore them. We're short on scarecrows. Who's next?

— The outsiders just arrived.

— They're guests.

— The villagers are very reluctant to be next.

— Not the guests. That would cause a dispute.

— Then Ariani.

— That's my daughter.

— She's marrying Abad. She'll be leaving the village soon and never coming back.

— ...I'll need twenty pounds of food tomorrow.

— I'll give you ten pounds.

— Fine.

Creeeak!

The candle flame trembled again.

...

— Outsiders, please follow me.

The braided girl approached and spoke softly. She was the old man's daughter.

— What's with these scarecrows? — Katerina asked; their existence unnerved her.

— After they die, the people of the village become scarecrows to watch over us, — the girl explained as she led the way, her tone grateful.

— Please, don't be afraid of them. They protect us.

— Has anything strange happened here recently? — Lu Li asked.

— Strange? No.

— About the dead rising.

The confused girl shook her head:

— I don't know... We're here.

The girl pushed open a wooden door that was already ajar.

A layer of dust coated the old hut. In the corner stood two bedframes with nothing but wooden planks, but it was still better than sleeping outdoors.

— But please, don't wander around. There are many old people in the village, and they don't like noise.

With that parting advice, the girl left the hut and headed home.

— Dad, the guests...

The girl was turning to close the door as she spoke, when a hand shot out from the shadows behind her. It clamped over her mouth, and she was dragged into the cellar, a place her father had forbidden her to go near and had always kept locked.

In the cellar, several waiting figures in black cloaks seized her by her arms and legs and strapped her to a stone table.

In her struggle, the girl broke free for an instant and managed to rip the mask from one of the cloaked figures.

— Uncle Jones!

As she watched the figure silently replace the mask with a numb expression, concealing his face, a sudden realization struck the girl, and she sank into despair.

But her body stopped struggling.

...

— It seems there's some secret hidden here.

From the scarecrows to the villagers themselves, everyone seemed unwilling to engage with them.

— These people must know something, Mr. Lu Li, — Prusius continued, raising his head to look at him.

— They're just not telling us...

— That's enough, — Lu Li said.

The presence of anomalies among the villagers confirmed that Anna had indeed been here; they were on the right path.

They turned in early, as they would be continuing their journey south the next day.

The next morning.

Lu Li and the others gradually woke up.

After waiting for the fog to lift, they left the hut and headed out of the village.

Seeing the scarecrows that encircled the village again, and knowing these venerable figures guarded it day and night, the group found that the eerie feeling had lessened considerably.

At the edge of the foggy field, a figure was crumpled at the base of a scarecrow, weeping.

It was the girl with the braid, her eyes staring sadly into the distance.

— It's that girl! — Prusius exclaimed.

— What happened? — Katerina asked, frowning at the weeping young man.

The young man slowly recounted what had happened.

It was his fiancée. He had returned to the village last night, but they told him she had died of an illness. According to the village custom, she was to be turned into a scarecrow today, three days after her death, to guard the village.

— Three days ago...

Prusius looked at Lu Li in amazement.

— We got here last night.

Lu Li's calm voice drifted out from in front of the scarecrow girl.

— She was the one who led us into the village.

The sobbing young man stopped crying and raised his bloodshot eyes.

Lu Li met his gaze, his own expression still calm.

The young man said nothing. He silently got to his feet and headed toward the village.

— Let's go.

Taking one last look at the scarecrows, barely visible in the fog, Lu Li looked away.

After leaving the village boundaries and traveling south for a while, they noticed the surrounding fog suddenly take on a light red hue, like the sky at sunset.

Sensing something, they turned back to see the village in the distance had become a sea of fire.

In the churning sea of fire, the scarecrows' clothes billowed. Through the shimmering, distorted heat, they looked as if they were dancing.

It was unclear whether they were celebrating their release or dancing to mark the destruction of something they loathed.