The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 839: The Real Helena

The journey back was uneventful for Lu Li and his companions.

The Place of the Whirlpool, warped by the anomaly, now seemed like a quiet and peaceful town, devoid of obstacles or hostility.

To be safe, they took their time, passing through the corridors to reach the outermost ring of longhouses. From there, they followed the outer circle back, retracing the same path they had taken that morning to enter the town.

As they passed through the forest filled with swirling patterns, they saw no sign of the young man, Paf. He had likely already fled the Place of the Whirlpool.

Katerina was more distressed on the way back than she had been on arrival. The omnipresent spirals nearly warped her perception, and the transformation of the Helena-creature filled her with unease. After all, even the real Helena, who possessed the more powerful pendant, hadn't been able to resist the influence of the Place of the Whirlpool.

In that, she was just like Paf. She would rather die than become one of those monsters, a grotesque swirl of flesh resembling pasta twisted around a fork.

But just as they neared the edge of the Place of the Whirlpool, the creature they thought was Helena suddenly began to resist, refusing to go any further.

"I... Helena..."

"What?"

Katerina frowned, trying to make sense of the words, while Lu Li simply listened in silence."I... am..."

"Are you worried your sister won't recognize you?" Katerina guessed.

"...No... am..."

Katerina felt a faint headache return; the sound seemed to literally twist her brain. She took a step back from the creature and turned to Lu Li.

"What is it trying to say?"

Lu Li watched it calmly, his dark eyes unreadable.

"You're not Helena?"

"How is that possible? She..." Katerina exclaimed, stunned.

"Answer with a gesture," Lu Li said. "If you are Helena, step forward. If you're not, step back."

The whirlpool creature that had been pretending to be Helena stepped back, answering Lu Li's question.

"Oh, no..."

Katerina clutched her forehead in anguish.

"Then why do you have the pendant?" Lu Li pressed.

The creature spoke in distorted fragments, but by having it repeat them over and over, Lu Li managed to piece together part of the truth.

The other whirlpool creature—the one that had opened the door, argued with this one, and watched them leave—was the real Saintess Helena.

Suddenly, certain details fell into place. It explained why the real Helena had hesitated when opening the door, and why she had merely argued with this creature instead of attacking it.

"We have to go back," Lu Li said to Katerina. She was standing a few meters away, watching the gloomy clouds settle. "You should go on and tell the others what's happened."

"There's no need... I'm fine."

Katerina tore her gaze from the sky and rejoined Lu Li.

"I'll go back with you."

The light was fading, and night would soon fall.

They quickened their pace, returning to the gloom-shrouded town just before nightfall.

The whirlpool creatures had no need for light; the darkness was no hindrance to them.

The only fire burned atop the outermost ring of spiral longhouses, where the creatures were still building, expanding their town ever outward.

The oil lamp in Lu Li's hand cast a grim light on Katerina's face.

"Are we lost?"

The town had almost no landmarks, making it nearly impossible to navigate at night when nothing was visible.

"Do you remember the way?" Lu Li asked their whirlpool guide.

"...Follow... me..."

The creature led them through the corridors of the longhouses, back to the same darkened dwelling.

Lu Li set the oil lamp on the dining table, its glow barely illuminating the contours of the hut.

Surprised by their return, Helena and the other creature conversed quietly for a moment. Then, the creature turned to them and managed to form a coherent, understandable sentence:

"You... sister... sent you."

Katerina's expression suddenly turned grim.

"I can understand what it's saying..."

"So can I."

Katerina, who had been patting herself down, froze.

"The language... is distorted... by the whirlpool... If you find... the pattern... you can understand."

Helena would speak, and the other creature would translate and explain.

It was a pattern Helena had discovered. The creatures' language was linked to the degree of their transformation. The more spirals they had, the more distorted their speech became.

It was like reading a language in reverse, only far more complex.

Helena could just barely decipher the pattern of speech from a creature with three spirals of distortion.

Though the communication was slow, it was at least coherent.

Helena explained that she remembered Lu Li and was glad to see a familiar face again. However, she couldn't leave to see her sister. The power of the whirlpool had taken too deep a hold on her, and she could no longer leave the Place of the Whirlpool.

Not unless her sister had found a way to resolve the anomaly of the Place of the Whirlpool itself, and in turn, the warping power that now bound her.

From beneath a bed that resembled a tree stump with growth rings, Helena produced a notebook. Its pages were filled with large blocks of indecipherable, distorted script. She asked Lu Li to give it to her sister, which would serve as proof that they had found her.

"Is the pendant still useful to you?" Lu Li asked. It would serve as far better proof than the notebook.

"...She... said... yes..."

The creature replied. But Helena rebuked it with a few sharp words, and it was forced to translate again, more accurately this time:

"That's... not... what I said... The pendant... resists the transformation... The others... need it... to slow the change. I can't... give it to you."

"Do we need to wait until dawn to leave?" Lu Li asked.

Helena replied that they could leave whenever they wished; there was nothing in the Place of the Whirlpool besides the whirlpool itself, save for a more powerful Calamity.

With that confirmed, Lu Li and Katerina wasted no more time.

Lu Li picked up the oil lamp, his gaze lingering for a moment on its curved handle.

It was difficult to navigate the town at night, so Helena and the other creature agreed to escort them to the edge.

After bidding Helena farewell, Lu Li and his companions entered the darkened forest.

"Will the church people be waiting for us out there?"

Katerina worried, likely about encountering another anomaly.

"They should be. If not, we'll come back."

Aside from the contamination itself, the Place of the Whirlpool was a surprisingly peaceful sanctuary.

Just then, the bushes rustled in the distance, and a shadowy figure leaped out, lunging for the Merchant.

The Merchant's form flickered, and the lunging shadow passed right through him. It hesitated for a split second before turning on Katerina.

Caught by surprise, Katerina was knocked to the ground. She raised a hand to draw an item from her belt, but the anomaly pinning her down suddenly let out a soul-shattering scream. It tore itself from Lu Li's grasp and fled deep into the forest.

As the sound of rustling bushes faded into the distance, Lu Li offered Katerina a hand and helped her to her feet.

"What was that?!"

Katerina gasped, still in shock.

"Paf."

Lu Li had seen Paf's head twisted completely around. His body was bent in half from the chest, already beginning to transform into a swirl of flesh.

After a moment's hesitation, Katerina pushed herself to her feet without taking his hand. "We never should have given him that food... Good thing the little bastard went for the Merchant first."

Lu Li withdrew his hand and waited while Katerina checked herself for any injuries. Once she was ready, they continued on their way.

A short while later, they reached the edge of the Place of the Whirlpool and stepped into a thin mist.

After they had walked for some distance, Lu Li suddenly felt that something was wrong. He paused, a thoughtful expression on his face, and turned around.

Behind him stood only the silent Merchant. Katerina was gone.

"When?"

Lu Li looked to the Merchant.

"After we entered the mist."

Lu Li retraced their steps and found Katerina at the edge of the mist, standing motionless as if lost in thought.

She was holding a piece of fluorite. When she noticed Lu Li's return, she looked up with a stunned expression. With a pained cry, she tore open the leather armor over her chest, then raised a hand and pressed it against the dense wall of mist.

Her hand twisted at an unnatural angle.

Her chest was bare.

Where the pendant should have been.