The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 841: The Ancient Evil God

The early morning mist drifted through the streets of the ruins.

Members of the Church of Distortion, waiting beneath the ruins by the road, fixed their gazes on them.

Prusius's fur was damp with dew, and his tail wagged like a spinning wheel.

"I was so... worried about you."

Ophelia, who had drawn near, poured out her feelings in a hoarse voice.

"It's time to go. We've been delayed for too long," the tentacled cultist whispered in a muffled voice.

Lu Li glanced back at the Place of the Whirlpool, which from the outside looked like a place one could cross in fifteen minutes. Averting his gaze, he followed the cultists back the way they came.

The high walls of the Church of Distortion, cobbled together from wooden planks, appeared at the end of the street.

Members of the settlement opened the gates, letting their comrades, who had spent the entire day outside, back in.

The cultists dispersed, while Lu Li and Katerina headed straight for the church in the center of the open space."Saintess Helena" sat high upon the divine throne, and the footsteps around her sounded like long-winded prayers.

"You have returned..."

She whispered softly, then suddenly dissipated like a soap bubble, and the Distorted Figure emerged from the folded, fragmented space.

A writhing cultist passed by Lu Li and the others, reached the foot of the divine throne, and conveyed the will of the Distorted Figure.

"I can feel the aura of the pendant. Where is my sister?"

"When we found her, she was already infected by the power of the whirlpool."

Lu Li took out Helena's notebook, and Katerina produced her pendant.

The notebook contained writings that Helena had managed to restore. They were still extremely spiral-like, but with enough time and study, it might be possible to translate the script, which spiraled just like the whirlpool creatures.

"This is the notebook she asked me to bring."

The writhing cultist approached, took the notebook and the pendant, and presented them at the foot of the steps.

A virtual ribbon of shattered space extended before the cultist, supporting the pendant and the notebook.

Afterward, similar cracks appeared on the cultist's body; it was impossible to tell whether it was a reward or a contamination.

The pendant and notebook, now before the Distorted Figure, shattered and merged with her halo.

Crack—

Countless dense patterns appeared on the pendant. Then it shattered, refracting the thick light like a crystal before folding and spreading out to merge with the broken space.

"Lu Li, could you do one more thing?"

the Distorted Figure asked. It was not a betrayal, as one might have thought:

"Take the notebook to the Prophet. He knows what is written there."

"Tell me where Anna is," Lu Li replied.

After a short wait, the cultist relayed the Distorted Figure's words and returned the notebook.

"The evil spirit didn't tell me where she was going, but I saw her head toward the other side of the mountain, and the heretics who believe in her followed."

"Do you know anything else about her followers?"

"They follow in her footsteps, imitate her actions..."

"Are they anomalies?"

"They were once human."

"Are there still followers in Himmfast?"

"If you need, I will search for them for you."

"Thank you."

Lu Li accepted the notebook.

They left the church, passed through the True Library, and headed toward the Church of the Vine at the other end.

"These books... there aren't as many as in the library."

Ophelia's empty eye sockets turned toward the rows of shelves in the True Library.

"But this... is still very impressive."

Ophelia liked it here. If the Church of Distortion had been clever enough to mention they had a library, she might have left the basement long ago.

"You can stay here."

Lu Li's words echoed through the empty hall.

"No..."

Ophelia turned her head, her gaze seeming to linger on Lu Li's profile:

"I've found... something more important... than books."

The Church of the Vine was not a place of open faith; everyone who operated here was a follower of the Eternal Dreamer.

One cultist was still waiting at the gate to escort Lu Li to the Eternal Dreamer's dwelling.

"We meet again..."

A brazier illuminated the Eternal Dreamer's wrinkled, bark-like face.

The Eternal Dreamer didn't know the purpose of their visit and didn't even glance at the notebook, yet he seemed to see everything from the lower reaches of the river of time:

"The Distorted Figure, is that what you call her? Inside is her sister's diary."

The diary didn't exist from the very beginning.

Beyond childish habits, the so-called diary was merely a record intended for others, with a specific purpose.

The diary was written after Helena was transformed by the whirlpool. Already a whirlpool creature, Helena recalled the past and recorded everything that happened here.

The pendant her sister gave her possessed great power, helping her resist the invasion. But just as with Lu Li, after a day, the still-untransformed Helena was attacked by the initially "friendly" whirlpool creatures.

They bound her and brought her to the inner circle beneath the spiral tower.

Helena realized they wanted to "deal" with her, and this was her first mistake; she removed the pendant and accepted the contamination of the Place of the Whirlpool.

The closer she got to the spiral tower, the faster the transformation occurred.

When Helena's body began to distort, the whirlpool creatures, considering her a special case, released her.

Even then, Helena still had a chance to leave that distorted land. But she made a second mistake.

Helena didn't record what that regrettable second mistake was; only that when she came to her senses, the misty walls containing the Place of the Whirlpool also blocked her path.

After a period of madness and despair, Helena returned to the Whirlpool City and, over a long time, befriended the newly arrived Niyav—that is, the little whirlpool creature.

After she began to change, Helena gave Niyav the pendant to slow her distortion, hoping she would leave.

In the end, as Lu Li and Katerina had seen, she didn't leave.

Helena recorded the secrets of the Place of the Whirlpool. For instance, every Sunday, all the whirlpool creatures would go to pray beneath the spiral tower, and the Whirlpool City would expand, circle by circle.

And also the power of the whirlpool, which was distorting her consciousness.

This power could only be avoided by wearing the pendant; it contaminated the body and the mind simultaneously.

"Little Helena added another sentence yesterday."

The Eternal Dreamer, peering at the page, read aloud.

"It is a creature of an ancient evil god."

It never dies, only sleeps.

The Place of the Whirlpool awakens It once more.

After noting the Eternal Dreamer's words, Lu Li's thoughts turned to something else.

"Ruins, abyss, cultists. A tree, a brown carriage."

The Eternal Dreamer answered before Lu Li could even ask.

"I have recorded it."

Lu Li nodded and left the Eternal Dreamer's tree-like house.

"What did the Prophet's last words mean?" Katerina asked.

"I wanted to ask him how to find Anna."

Lu Li returned to the Church of Distortion and relayed the Eternal Dreamer's interpretation to the Distorted Figure.

Whether the church would resist the encroachment of the Place of the Whirlpool or attack it to save the Saintess, Lu Li didn't know. But the Eternal Dreamer's existence would prevent them from ending up in a worse situation.

Lu Li asked the Distorted Figure for a few followers to escort him to the Sentry Post, located on the other side of Sugard Mountain.

At the same time, the Church of Twisted Vines became a client of the Merchant, but the Merchant couldn't leave Lu Li. Until a second Merchant was found or the problem with Barry was resolved, the deal could not be completed.

Surrounded by the cultists, the observers hidden in the gloom of the ruins retreated.

They avoided anomaly nests along the way. As they neared the mountain's peak, the tentacled cultist said to Lu Li:

"The Sigh-Worm and its vampire-anomaly minions have settled around Agate Lake."

Lu Li looked into the distance; in the scarred and ruined Joseph Estate, he could vaguely make out its former silhouette.