The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 824: Belfast

Belfast.

Founded by the very hands of Macdonald I and once the backbone of the Allen Peninsula, it, like most cities in the human world, had been destroyed by anomalies.

This brought no safety. In the face of anomalies, hundreds of thousands, even millions of people, were no more than children digging up an anthill.

And the prosperity of the ant kingdom only made the children dig with greater enthusiasm.

On the eve of their departure, Mayor Matteus had delicately hinted that Lu Li shouldn't hold out any hope for the ruined city of Belfast; it was nothing like it had been twenty years ago.

He feared the city's current state would dishearten Lu Li.

Unfolding the report on Belfast, he saw that the situation was indeed dire. Anomalies, Inhumans, heretical churches, cultists, and perhaps a few survivors had claimed the city's districts. There was no order, no civilization—only chaos and death.

Like the Old Sewer, but even worse.

There was no single, powerful anomaly controlling its disparate territories.

The investigators who gathered this intelligence hadn't dared to venture deep into Belfast, and the report likely described less than a tenth of its true horror—Rustle!

Folding the report, Lu Li handed it to Katerina, who had her hand outstretched. She, in turn, passed it to Prusius:

"Read it to me."

"No human settlements detected in Belfast. The harbor is occupied by an unknown organization. Buildings caught in whirlpools at the edge of the ruins. Strange streets buried under snow. Islands covered in dense, giant eggs. Twisted streets where the buildings themselves have come alive."

Beyond the new glass of the captain's cabin, an endless, lead-gray sea stretched to the horizon.

The smokeless stove radiated warmth, and the taxidermied tuna on the wall had been replaced with a larger, more lifelike specimen.

The captain's cabin was the only part of the ship that had been repaired. The rust had been scraped away, parts replaced, and everything looked brand new.

Only the captain's cabin.

A glance at the deck, however, would reveal only rotten, corroded planks and rust blanketing every inch of the ship's steel hull.

Lu Li looked over the information about Anna again, Katerina listened to Prusius read, and The Fallen draped himself over the ship's wheel, now just a decoration, gazing into the distance.

Elder Sister poked her head out of his hood; she loved to watch.

"First time at sea?" Katerina asked. The Fallen had held that same pose ever since they came aboard.

A week ago, on her own first voyage, Katerina had been much the same.

"No. I sailed the strait several times a few years ago, when I was invited to Vinnelag."

After a brief pause, The Fallen's low voice rumbled slowly.

"I'm just wondering what we'll run into first: the Shard Abyss, the World Fissure, or the Sinking Sea."

"No trace of survivors, maybe they're hiding deep, or maybe there are none at all... The Shard Abyss, the World Fissure, the Sinking Sea?"

"What are those, sir?" Prusius tilted his head, looking at The Fallen.

"Keep reading," Katerina ordered, rattling the papers in her hand.

"Oh... 'Belfast is more dangerous than the Wastelands, bordering on forbidden wilderness zones and strongholds of heretical churches...'" Prusius read, his ears pricked up, his attention still fixed on The Fallen.

"A boundless expanse of whirlpools, like canyons carved by waterfalls into the surface of the sea. Raging waters that rise like mountain ranges."

The Fallen's body showed signs of melting.

"That's too abstract," Prusius muttered.

"If I describe it too clearly, it will cause even greater contamination, and I'd like to live for a few more minutes," The Fallen said languidly.

"We can talk about it when we see it... not that there's anything you can do."

Katerina subconsciously rested a hand on her stomach.

"The investigation team was detected as they approached the bay and successfully retreated. That's the end!" Prusius announced.

Katerina automatically shoved the report back at Lu Li, rose from the sofa, and opened the cabin door.

A cold sea wind rushed into the warm cabin. Squinting against the spray, Katerina glanced around before closing the door again:

"Our escort ship is gone. I thought they were supposed to see us all the way to Belfast."

"Vinnelag's warships aren't built for long voyages," The Fallen remarked, not hiding his contempt for the city's overconfidence.

Curses, plagues, unseen anomalies—gunpowder and cannons were useless against such things.

The real reason, however, was likely that the warships simply couldn't keep up. After patching its leaks, their vessel was approaching twenty knots, and it could have gone even faster if not for the need for stability.

The Fallen's words reminded Katerina of something, and she turned to Lu Li:

"Why didn't you accept that rich man Nu Rui's offer?"

The nobles and magnates of Vinnelag never got their chance to meet Lu Li, and some had even grown to resent Mayor Matteus for keeping them away.

As they were leaving, a few shrewd individuals had caught Lu Li on his way to the port, asking one after another if he would be willing to cooperate. Some had even offered to fund him to establish a new settlement in Belfast.

Nu Rui was one of them.

"I'm not planning to build a settlement," Lu Li said.

Katerina said regretfully:

"A settlement founded by the last exorcist... that sounds incredible. Don't you think plenty of desperate people would want to join? And we still have this huge ship... What was its name again?"

"First you'd have to be able to protect it," The Fallen scoffed at Katerina's naivety.

"You could partner with the churches from the Wastelands," Katerina suggested with a shrug, changing the subject.

"Then why did you refuse the mayor's offer to send an Inquisition escort to protect you?"

"I just want to find her."

"Feelings make people lose their reason," Prusius sighed, then added:

"I read that in a book."

"From a book again?" Katerina's tone was a little odd as she forced a smile.

Since she began traveling with Lu Li, the emotions of the exceptional huntress from the wastes, known as The Sting, had grown increasingly complex.

"It seems our great exorcist has been caught in a whirlpool of love and can't find his way out."

"It's devotion, not love," Prusius corrected, displeased that Katerina was misrepresenting Lu Li's words.

"Anna is a woman's name."

Katerina glanced at Lu Li questioningly, but he offered no response.

The woman that Lu Li, the man returned from a buried past, was always searching for, yet never spoke of.

As night fell, they remained in the safety of the captain's cabin. A short while later, Elder Sister informed Lu Li that the ship had caught something and brought it onto the deck.

Carrying a kerosene lamp through the thick fog, they found several fish lying at the edge of the deck.

"Whole fish!"

Prusius was ecstatic. He had never seen such pure fish before—no limbs, no tentacles, no parasites. Aside from a few missing scales, they were exactly like the fish he'd seen in books!

And so, their dinner of canned food was replaced with fried fish.

While they ate, Prusius asked Lu Li the ship's name. Just then, Elder Sister patted Lu Li:

"She says her old name was lost long ago. She wants you to give her a new one."

"Andrea," Lu Li said.

Whoooo!

A long, low horn blast echoed from the depths of the sea, as if welcoming its new name.

The voyage lasted three days, yet they encountered none of the three dangers The Fallen had mentioned.

On the fourth morning, the tide of anomalous fog receded back into the deep sea like an exhaled breath. Standing on the deck, Lu Li gazed into the distance.

At the edge of the thinning fog, the faint outlines of mountains became visible.

There was only one mountain on the Allen Peninsula: Sugard Mountain.

"Belfast..."

The barely audible whisper was carried away on the wind.