The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 870: Belfast, A City of Peril and Opportunity

Not even the piercing cold wind could disperse the tide of fog blanketing the land. A slanting line of snow cut through the dim light of an oil lamp, merging with the footprints in the snow before dissolving into darkness.

The area around the contaminated city of Himmfast was dotted with villages and farms; without more specific clues, they could only search them one by one. A detailed map of Himmfast, provided by the Trader, Antoni, showed that the nearest location was Mackenzie Farm, about a mile away. It wasn't a great distance, but in the tide of fog and during the Eternal Night, even standing still could lead to unpredictable dangers.

The worms proved useful once again, though it was a stretch for them. The creatures couldn't communicate, possessed no intellect, and only understood simple commands. Elder Sister communicated with them, and the worms began to move, forming a trembling passage through the earth toward Mackenzie Farm. At eight hundred meters long, the worm could get them there in two trips.

Elder Sister, looking disgusted, made Lu Li—who had just eaten a greengage plum—cover himself in slime and climb into her hood. Once the Trader's slime coated their packs, they stepped into the warm, soft passage, enveloped by the worm as it swiftly carried them beneath the earth.

...

Mackenzie Farm.

Long ago, its name should have been prefixed with "abandoned." After the Plant Calamity, useless structures like farms were deserted, leaving only the farmers who refused to abandon their homes.

Another document, brought by the Trader, Antoni, and compiled by a municipal think tank, described the farm's layout. In addition to the main farmhouse and a cellar, there was a barn and a woodshed.

Slick with slime and moisture, the group emerged outside Mackenzie Farm. As she wiped herself down, Ophelia sensed a faint aura emanating from the farmhouse.

“I’ll go first... you... stay here.” Ophelia prepared to scout ahead.“Together.”

Lu Li pulled on a new cloak. They stepped into the darkness ahead, leaving the worms to wait.

The piercing wind froze their faces, carrying with it a stench of manure and mud. On the wind came the soft grunting of pigs.

Soon, as they drew closer to Mackenzie Farm through the dark tide of fog, the silhouettes of pigs appeared behind a fence. They lay in the half-frozen mud, smacking their lips lazily, paying no mind to the uninvited guests on the other side of the fence.

“Not... here. This place is occupied by another group of anomalies.”

Lu Li didn't answer, his dark eyes fixed on the darkness beyond the fence. At the edge of the lamp's light, two snow-white feet appeared, standing in the mud yet remaining immaculate. Above the ankles, they vanished into the gloom, revealing only a deep silhouette. Anna stood in the shadows, waving gently in their direction.

“Where... next?” Ophelia asked, only to see Lu Li reach out, open the gate, and step onto the farm.

She and the Trader followed, approaching the silhouette of a barn buried deep in the snow. Anna's illusion vanished before the barn door, and a stench even stronger than the mud wafted out from within.

The sound of wind and snow was cut off the moment they entered the barn. In the depths of the structure, a fat, enormous, foul-smelling silhouette leaned against something, its belly rising and falling with each breath in the lamplight.

“Oink...”

The silhouette let out a low, thunderous grunt.

“I understand! It’s asking why we’re bothering it!”

“We’re looking for the Church of Shadows, a group of heretics,” Lu Li said calmly, gazing at the enormous silhouette.

“It says it will tell us, but we must either become its food or leave behind food of an equal weight...”

“Fine.”

The silhouette continued to make indistinct grunts, which Elder Sister translated:

“Behind...”

Lu Li unfolded his map and looked in the direction indicated behind the silhouette. About a dozen miles away was an area marked as the Stone Forest.

Oink— The silhouette gave a displeased, indistinct grunt, as if urging Lu Li to hurry up and provide the food.

Lu Li instructed the Trader to bring out twenty crates of canned food. The expired tins, stored for twenty-four years at Sea Gaze Cliff, had finally found a use.

The silhouette, which never revealed its full form, expressed its satisfaction, indicating that the deal was complete and Lu Li was free to move through its territory. A fair exchange was a rare quality in an anomaly, much like the being Lu Li had once met by a campfire who had given him Anomaly Currency.

Bidding farewell to the pig lord, they returned beyond the fence and instructed the worms to bypass Mackenzie Farm and dig toward the Stone Forest.

There, on the outskirts of Himmfast, lay the Stone Forest, a place once more famous than the City of Arts itself—or rather, its very origin. Duke Valentin, exiled to the Allen Peninsula after a coup, had brought hundreds of sculptures by renowned masters with him and established an underground estate here named the Stone Forest. This indirectly cultivated the artistic appreciation of Himmfast's residents, and eventually, through the commercial efforts of the Donnell family, Himmfast earned its title as the City of Arts.

Now, those statues had likely been moved long ago, and the Stone Forest no longer lived up to its name.

Would Anna be there? Lu Li suddenly recalled Anna's family. Her grandfather had been Duke Valentin's steward and had mentioned statues gifted to their family by the duke...

A wet, widening sound echoed as the closed passage opened. It was time to go.

Putting away the map and their supplies, they ate another greengage plum and leaped into the passage. The distance of a dozen or so miles forced them to surface frequently to wait, like fish breaching in a downpour.

Toward evening, with the worms' help, they neared the outskirts of the Stone Forest. The frozen earth beneath the snow gave way to an uneven bluestone road.

“I... don’t... sense anything... But... it feels like... something... is here,” Ophelia whispered.

Lu Li gazed at Anna waving to him from the edge of the darkness, raised the oil lamp, and started down the snow-covered bluestone road. At the end of it, a staircase appeared, leading underground. And there, at the entrance to the subterranean passage, was a set of shallow footprints, nearly buried by the fresh snow.

...

An old oil lamp on the wall slowly flickered to life. The girl’s graceful shadow grew sharper.

“The oil in this lamp will only last for a little over ten minutes.” She turned halfway, her white dress fluttering.

John, who was following her, shivered. His face and the fists hidden in his sleeves were red with cold, and his toes were curled tightly inside his boots.

“I... I don’t know where to go... and you saved me,” John stammered, his voice trembling.

He had truly wanted to give up several times. The cold felt so real it almost made him doubt he had ever died, until he touched the emptiness in his chest and felt his heart, frozen solid as a rock. And every time he felt he couldn't go on and his pace slowed, the Shadow Maiden would stop, as if waiting for him to catch up.

“You can stay here.”

“Here...”

John pulled his neck into his collar and looked around at the lamplit surroundings. The passage resembled the frescoes of ancient ruins he had once seen. “Where are we?”

“He’s here...”

Just then, as if sensing something, the Shadow Maiden turned her graceful silhouette toward the entrance of the passage and whispered softly.

“No more hiding underground...”