The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 840: Escape from the Place of the Whirlpool

Lu Li emerged from the fog and stood beside Katerina.

The haze enveloping the Place of the Whirlpool was like a cage, preventing creatures afflicted by its distorting power from leaving. Katerina pressed her hands against the edge of the fog as if it were a frosted pane of glass.

Lu Li grabbed her wrist with his right hand and pulled it toward the thin mist.

The damp, slick wrist in his palm met resistance; an invisible force prevented Katerina from leaving.

Lu Li let go of Katerina. She pressed herself against the haze and pounded on it frantically, but there was no sound.

As desperation and pain welled in Katerina's eyes, Lu Li took off his pendant and held it out to her.

"I..."

Katerina hesitated, shaking her head as she backed away from the pendant.

"You go first. Tell Helena's sister about my situation, she'll know what to do..."

"It's too late."The journey to and from the Place of the Whirlpool would take two to three hours. By then, Katerina's distortion would be even more severe.

Instead of leaving to get help, he had a faster way.

"I'll stay in the haze."

Katerina finally agreed to take the pendant, then cautiously touched the thin mist.

The haze still held her within the Place of the Whirlpool, like a cage.

A faint whisper arose in Katerina's mind.

"Take it away, wear it long enough, and you can recover."

"No... no."

Katerina shook her head, returning the pendant to Lu Li.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Katerina asked. Lu Li's perpetual calm and rationality allowed her to suppress her own agony, if only barely.

Lu Li turned his head, looking at the Merchant.

"No," Katerina understood what he was thinking.

"If the Merchant leaves, Barry will appear."

"He might not be able to enter the Place of the Whirlpool."

"But there's no guarantee he can't," Katerina stubbornly refuted the idea, unwilling to let the Merchant go.

"Don't forget, we've already interrupted him several times. His patience is running out... and it would be easier for him to perform his ritual here."

"Then let's go back and find Helena," Lu Li said.

Helena's pendant possessed a more enduring power; she had once allowed a whirlpool creature to carry it away. Perhaps it could help people tainted by the distorting power to leave.

Katerina no longer refused.

The mountain path was winding and difficult to traverse at night; even at their fastest, they could barely manage a brisk walk.

Katerina still had to keep her dagger drawn, wary that Puff might leap out and attack them. Though after being nearly destroyed by Lu Li earlier, it was unlikely he would dare to show himself again.

Along the way, they passed several clearings where they had presumably fought Puff. Katerina scanned the ground, trying to find her pendant. But aside from the disorienting spiral patterns, there was nothing to be seen.

Thanks to the lights from the expanded outer ring of the Whirlpool town, they didn't get lost in the forest and returned safely to its outskirts.

"Do you remember the way?"

"Yes."

Having walked it several times, Lu Li was able to find Helena's house by navigating with the local landmarks.

Numerous whirlpool creatures still roamed the corridor. They did not fear the dark and could ignore it entirely.

Knock, knock, knock—

When the wooden door was knocked upon, Helena and her family opened it; their astonishment was almost palpable.

"We need your pendant."

Lu Li stated directly.

"Katerina's was lost."

Katerina raised her left hand; her palm, which she tried to flatten, was still curled like the roots of a malnourished plant.

It was worse than it had been at the edge of the fog.

"...Willing... to give..."

The small whirlpool creature responded, then began to argue with Helena, who was whispering in a distorted voice.

Its thin, elongated neck, like that of a giraffe, twisted and turned. The pendant moved from the second coil along the twisting neck to the outer coil, finally landing in Lu Li's outstretched palm.

"Thank you."

Lu Li handed the damp, cool pendant to Katerina.

Helena said something, and the small whirlpool creature relayed it to them.

"...Wear... for a... time... then... barrier... you... leave... in morning."

Katerina wiped the pendant clean, eagerly put it on, and looked at Lu Li.

"She has no reason to harm us," Lu Li said, stepping into Helena's hut.

Helena asked them what had happened outside and settled them in an empty room next to the longhouse.

"Don't let... objects... lose... contact, they will be... distorted."

She reminded Lu Li.

After they left, Katerina lay down on the wooden bed, checked once more that the pendant was secure, and drifted into an exhausted sleep.

Lu Li sat in a wooden chair to rest, waiting for morning to arrive.

The oil lamp cast a faint glow over the old room; the only sounds were the indistinct movements of the whirlpool creatures in the corridor outside.

Time passed quietly.

Creak—

The outer clouds of the Whirlpool's dark haze allowed a faint light to pass through. An hour before dawn, the door quietly opened.

"...Run..."

The small whirlpool creature spoke awkwardly and urgently to Lu Li and the now-awakened Katerina.

"...Quickly... run."

"What about Helena?"

Katerina grabbed her dagger.

"She snuck over to warn us," Lu Li said, glancing out the window.

"We leave now."

Grabbing the curved handle of the oil lamp, which fit snugly in his palm, Lu Li and Katerina left the house as the small whirlpool creature bade them farewell.

Something was wrong; the whirlpool creatures in the corridor, which had previously ignored them, had strangely stopped and were staring impassively at the uninvited guests.

"I think they're looking at you," Katerina reminded him quietly; even a sidelong glance sent a chill down her spine.

Some unknown change had occurred, and it only concerned Lu Li.

"...He... is not... us!"

Suddenly, a shrill cry erupted from behind them.

The small whirlpool creature, standing at the door of the longhouse, was screaming after them.

The reason was found.

Katerina was tainted by the whirlpool's power, but Lu Li was not.

"Run."

Lu Li broke into a sprint. At the same time, a shadow lunged at his back.

Katerina threw her dagger, knocking the shadow away, but Lu Li, up ahead, was also attacked.

This was no longer a simple, crude assault like that of the half-distorted Puff. The whirlpool creature's body unfurled, stretching out like a noodle, and whipped toward Lu Li like a long lash.

He was unlucky. Lu Li didn't dodge the blow, but the creature's body wrapped around his left arm. Lu Li simply grabbed it in return, and the whirlpool creature tore apart with a heart-rending shriek.

Having lost a part of its body, the whirlpool creature remained in place, spinning inexplicably.

"Hurry!"

Katerina, who was helping Lu Li fend off several whirlpool creatures, turned and shouted.

They weren't attacking Katerina because she was "one of them." Katerina took advantage of this, severing the bodies of several whirlpool creatures and forcing them to spin in place.

As they fled, more and more whirlpool creatures joined the assault.

Crash—

The closing wooden door of the longhouse and the whirlpool creature behind it were sent flying backward and tumbling over.

Lu Li glanced back impassively, leaped out of the house, and, with Katerina, escaped the encirclement of the whirlpool creatures.

Taking advantage of the fact that the creatures outside were not yet aware of the situation, they successfully left the Whirlpool town.

They ran through the forest, and the wall of fog appeared ahead.

Lu Li and the breathless Katerina slowed their pace. She hesitantly raised her hand and cautiously touched the thin mist.

Katerina's hand sank into the haze; the "wall" had accepted her.

"Phew..."

Before finally stepping into the fog, Lu Li looked back at the foot of the mountain.

The Whirlpool town was shrouded in the pre-dawn darkness. The faint echoes of a disturbance carried from the distance.

This distorted land held many unknown, eerie secrets: the rumors of a paradise-like Place of the Whirlpool that spread from there, the spiral tower in the center of the town, the repetitive actions of Helena and the small whirlpool creature.

But that was no longer their concern.