The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 823: Arrival and a New Departure

Help arrived in the morning, following the railway, and found the stranded "Delight".

It consisted of a three-person Inquisition team and one advisor from the Privy Council.

By the time they arrived, the ground was already covered in a layer of snow, and the weather showed no signs of improving. After meeting with Lu Li, they decided to take him from "The Delight" and retreat to the nearby town of Surgtoun.

The other passengers hesitated, wanting to follow, but the train conductor ordered the crew to return them to their carriages.

Allowing passengers to leave on their own could have triggered a panic, a snowball effect that would only create problems for the exorcist.

To the conductor's reassuring shouts that "the first-class carriage is perfectly safe, meticulously carved by Master Prosius," Lu Li and his companions, along with the rescue team, set off along the tracks into the blizzard.

The Fallen retracted his facial features. Under the watch of the Inquisition, he could afford to be a little lazy and live for a few more hours.

The three Inquisition knights reminded Lu Li of the Night Watchmen: silent, calm, and obedient to orders.

The emblems on their thick mantles were different. The knight in glasses, who scanned their surroundings, wore the emblem of an eye; the most talkative knight, who occasionally gave orders, had the emblem of a head's silhouette; and the knight's squire, carrying a large backpack like a Merchant, had a blank emblem.

The Steam Knight, with his emblem of a fist symbolizing combat, was not among them.A Steam Knight's equipment, designed for immense power, was ill-suited for a swift rescue mission.

The advisor from the Privy Council constantly tried to engage Lu Li in conversation, mostly about himself and his superiors—how Mayor Matteus was worried for Lu Li's safety, or how quickly they had arrived, narrowly avoiding an encounter with an anomaly.

However, he took Lu Li's silence as a disinclination to talk and soon fell quiet.

"Were the images in the fog real, or were they a disguise for the anomaly?"

Prusius, plagued by doubt, couldn't help but ask, his paws leaving a trail of shallow prints in the snow.

Before Lu Li could answer, Katerina told him:

"Don't try to understand the anomalies you encounter. It will drive you mad. You're already an Inhuman, don't turn yourself into an anomaly as well."

An anomaly is like a whirlpool: the longer you struggle against it, the deeper you sink.

Prusius understood, but he still couldn't stop thinking about the sunlight that had flooded the carriage.

Brighter than fire, warmer than fire, more real than words, carrying with it strength and life...

Prusius lifted his humanoid face and gazed at Lu Li's back, seemingly lost in thought.

An hour later, as they continued along the railway, they spotted tracks in the snow ahead. They resembled Prusius's, but were much larger.

They might have belonged to timber wolves, or perhaps to anomalies whose tracks simply looked wolf-like.

The tracks crossed the railway and disappeared into the dense, dry woods to the south, which obscured their view.

Just in case, they quickened their pace through that stretch. The advisor gritted his teeth to keep up. He had spent years behind a desk at the Privy Council; a few days ago, he had been sent to the settlement of Majiao to investigate because of Lu Li, and now he was being forced to trek dozens of kilometers to rescue him.

With every step, he felt as if a sharp stone was digging into his foot from inside his deerskin boots.

The ordeal lasted for two hours, but they made it back to Surgtoun safely before evening fell.

Upon leaving the platform, the advisor requisitioned the most luxurious building in Surgtoun.

Faced with an important figure from Vinnelag, the local magnate didn't hesitate to vacate his finest rooms. The advisor, for his part, regained the arrogance befitting his station and ordered the master of the house to prepare clean clothes and a meal.

A few chickens from Surgtoun's only flock were slaughtered, stuffed with spices, and roasted in the oven. A bottle of red wine, at least twenty years old, was procured from the mayor's cellar. This was the only first-class meal, by the standards of Terminus, that the advisor could arrange, given the lack of options.

Even without considering Lu Li and the Inquisition Guard, for the Privy Council advisor, this dinner was extremely modest.

"We practically grew up on your stories."

The middle-aged advisor from the Privy Council raised his glass to Lu Li.

The mayor carefully lifted his glass, feeling honored to be included in the dinner.

The three Inquisition knights and their squire didn't pick up their glasses. Like detached observers, they took no part in the dinner beyond eating.

Just as Lu Li had thought, they were like the Night Watchmen, strictly adhering to their duty.

Only the young squire glanced surreptitiously at Lu Li a few times, listening with particular attention to the dinner conversation.

Outside the window, lights glowed in the houses, and stray snowflakes could be seen drifting past.

The snow was falling more heavily now, and a layer nearly a centimeter thick had formed on the ground.

The snowfall had almost completely cut Surgtoun off from the outside world. Or rather, every town connected by the railway had returned to its original state of isolation.

After dinner, they retired to their adjacent rooms for the night.

The Inquisition knights did not leave.

Their mission was to protect Lu Li and escort him back to Vinnelag.

The next day, the snow stopped at dawn, leaving a layer half a hand's breadth deep, which was soon cleared away through the efforts of the mayor and the town's wealthy residents. The snow on distant streets and rooftops remained as evidence of its passing.

The dark clouds did not relent, and occasional flurries of snow still drifted down.

The temperature did not rise.

The unfortunate Katerina had a stroke of luck. After a night's rest, the cold she had caught from trekking dozens of kilometers through the snow had almost completely vanished, leaving only a slight stuffiness in her nose that made her voice sound muffled.

Only occasionally did Katerina press a hand to her stomach in discomfort.

They were forced to remain in Surgtoun for two days.

On the third day, with The Fallen having perhaps less than seventy-two hours left to live, the snow on the rooftops melted away unnoticed.

The temperature rose above freezing, and the railway thawed.

The nearest steam engine arrived in town at full speed to pick up Lu Li and his companions.

Along the way, the train made a brief stop at the settlement of Majiao so the Steam Knight could board.

Through the carriage window, they saw a suit of powerful, beast-like steel armor.

Before it, other armor seemed as thin as newspaper.

The unactivated steam armor had its head bowed as if asleep; four workers strained together to push it on a trolley into a freight car.

Leaving Majiao, the steam engine bypassed all other stations and headed straight for Vinnelag.

Traveling at maximum speed, they returned to Vinnelag the following morning.

The majestic landscape, stretching to the bay beneath the overcast sky, made them feel as if they had returned to civilization.

The number of pedestrians on the Vinnelag platform alone seemed greater than all the people they had seen in the villages along the way.

Making no attempt to conceal their presence, the Mayor's Guard was waiting outside the platform. Many townspeople were happy to see the exorcist, though they found it strange that he was emerging from the platform.

Lu Li asked about "The Delight" and received news that it had already returned. Everyone was alive, except for those who had gotten lost in the fog.

At least, that's what the mayor's staff said.

Upon arriving at the Mayor's office, Mayor Matteus came out to greet him. Lu Li immediately asked for information about Anna and Belfast, as well as the status of the large ship's repairs.

"You're leaving again, aren't you?" Mayor Matteus had anticipated this and sighed.

"All the leaks have been patched, but the repairs aren't finished."

"It's enough."

After receiving the records on Anna and the situation in Belfast.

Lu Li and his companions headed back to the shipyard and boarded the large vessel.

Under the watchful eyes of Mayor Matteus and numerous townspeople, the great ship carrying the last exorcist churned up countless whirlpools and, seeming to carry the dark clouds with it, gradually pulled away.