The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 887: The Risen Deep Ones

A light rain fell, a prelude to the storm.

The locals loved the rain. They emerged from their dim, cramped houses to wander through the rain-shrouded streets of Innsmouth, gathering in twos and threes to pray or chant as if in celebration.

This made Lu Li, clad in a black cloak with his features hidden by a hat and scarf, seem all the more out of place.

Though Lu Li no longer drew the locals' hostility, they still watched him with attentive, curious eyes.

Meeting gazes entirely different from the ones that had greeted his arrival, Lu Li made his way toward the coastline—a place where outsiders never dared to tread.

A cobblestone road separated the residential district from the port.

Few people lived here. Aside from the workers at the processing plants, most of the townsfolk kept their distance from the bay, a mixture of reverence and fear compelling them to stay away.

As he passed a coastal processing plant, Lu Li saw fishing nets draped over wooden posts, holding hundreds of pounds of fish waiting to be turned into food. When he tried to continue, a local at the gate stopped him, explaining that the building ahead was a gold refinery and that outsiders were forbidden.

Lu Li left the plant and approached the heart of the day's celebration: the port square, the site of the Festival of Rebirth.

Stone pillars covered in bas-reliefs, seemingly from another civilization, rose along the edge of the wooden square. Their indescribable patterns depicted the same blasphemous, half-fish, half-frog creatures Lu Li had seen before, rendered with a horrifying, lifelike quality. Were it not for the power emanating from the carvings—a force that threatened to drive one mad—they might have been considered exquisite works of art, rich with history.At the edge of the square bordering the bay, slanted wooden planks descended into the water for some unknown purpose, like a ramp for creatures of the sea to emerge onto the land.

The townspeople crowded around the square didn't stop Lu Li from approaching; some even invited him to join their prayers.

Lu Li asked a few questions, and the enthusiastic townsfolk answered readily, their replies sounding as rehearsed as a priest's sermon. Yet, whenever he mentioned the boarded-up houses, they would fall silent.

Their silence wasn't born of fear or disregard for the victims, but from a tangle of more complex emotions.

Before drawing too much attention, Lu Li slipped away from the square and headed toward the northern part of town.

Zadok Allen was still snoring, slumped against a stone wall. Lu Li roused him.

"Where do they keep the kerosene in this town?"

"Wha... what..."

Zadok Allen's eyes were unfocused as a heavy stench of alcohol wafted from him.

Lu Li removed his hat and scarf.

The drunken stupor lifted slightly from Zadok Allen. His bloodshot eyes fixed on Lu Li as if staring at an enemy.

"Even an outsider can..."

"Where is the town's kerosene?" Lu Li repeated.

Zadok Allen, a man who despised everything about this place, was the only person in town Lu Li could be sure wouldn't betray him. Not even the old man from the hotel could guarantee that loyalty.

"You're planning to..."

Zadok Allen fought back his hatred, then suddenly shook his head wildly, letting the haze of confusion reclaim his mind.

"I won't tell you. I can't betray them..."

"The shops?"

"No kerosene... They, hic, can't get it. We all use fish oil..."

Zadok Allen mumbled drunkenly, his mind lost in a fog of madness.

"Where?"

"At the plant... by the bay..."

Zadok Allen muttered something incoherent and drifted back to sleep, though this time an indescribable sense of dread seemed to settle over him.

Now knowing where the fish oil was stored, Lu Li returned to the port.

The smokestacks of the coastal processing plants had stopped belching black smoke. Evening was drawing near, and all of Innsmouth was preparing for the Festival of Rebirth, an event held only twice a year.

This gave Lu Li the perfect opportunity to slip into the fish processing plant.

The main gate was secured with a chain, but one window had been left ajar. Lu Li hoisted himself through the opening and into the dim factory.

A strong, almost floral scent hung in the air inside. Lu Li knew it was the smell of fish, so potent it warped the senses.

Unprocessed fish and cured fillets lay about the factory, a sight that should have been crawling with flies and maggots.

The only sounds were the sticky, wet drips and plops echoing through the empty space.

Lu Li moved past these "floral arrangements," searching for the barrels of fish oil.

There were no hidden, grotesque limbs, no oppressive, terrifying whispers. If not for the fact that this was Innsmouth, it would have seemed like an ordinary fish processing plant.

Before long, Lu Li found five barrels of fish oil near the gate, waiting to be transported.

Its burning point was slightly lower than kerosene's, but nearly a thousand pounds of fish oil would be more than enough to set the wooden structures by the bay ablaze.

However, Lu Li was about to face the Deep Ones from the ocean depths, and fire would likely be little more than a minor hindrance to them.

The processing plant was situated on higher ground than the port square. Lu Li wouldn't have to painstakingly haul the barrels and hide them; he just needed to ensure the oil could flow down to the square when the time came.

Regardless, he hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

After finding the key for the chain and putting everything back as he had found it, Lu Li left the processing plant.

The sky was beginning to darken, the clouds churning like a stormy sea.

Braziers in the port square pushed back the gloom as townspeople gathered from all directions, their distant lights converging like stars.

The sacrificial rites of the Festival of Rebirth were about to begin.

Lu Li quietly merged with the crowd of townspeople and moved with them toward the square. Before doing so, he stuffed his ears with torn rags, hoping to prevent whatever was about to happen from twisting his mind.

It was no use. When a priest in a tall, golden crown approached the hundreds of assembled townsfolk and began a communal prayer, Lu Li felt an overwhelming urge to join them.

Lu Li gripped the thin key, pulled it from his pocket, and brought it to his ear.

He took a deep breath and shoved the key into his ear canal.

The world to his left instantly faded away. Lu Li repeated the action, rupturing his right eardrum, and the world plunged into absolute silence.

The urge to pray along with the priest was swiftly crushed by his now-fortified reason and the isolating silence.

In the total stillness, Lu Li silently scanned the crowd, searching for any sign of Katerina.

The prayer went on for more than ten minutes, but Lu Li still couldn't find her.

The priest and his strangely beautiful acolytes cried out, and a dozen sacrificial victims were led into the square.

They were young women, ranging in age from their early teens to their twenties, dressed in fine but revealing garments. Adherents of the Secret Cult of Dagon escorted them to the stone pillars and bound them.

Katerina was still not among them.

Observing the silent spectacle, Lu Li's brow furrowed slightly.

The victims displayed the same fanaticism as the townsfolk, which made Lu Li abandon any thought of retreating to the processing plant. He would remain and watch in silence.

The priest, his acolytes, the townsfolk, and the victims all raised their hands, chanting the same phrase over and over again.

Lu Li's gaze snapped to the sea. A vision flooded his mind: something was rising from the depths.

Everyone present saw the same image at once: countless Deep Ones performing a horrifying prayer amidst majestic colonnades and sunken palaces.

Silhouettes began to appear in the churning waves. They stepped onto the wooden planks that led down into the bay and emerged from the water.

They had slick, grayish-green skin and bulging, unblinking eyes. They made guttural, barking sounds as they moved.

As the surrounding townsfolk fell to their knees in worship, Lu Li fixed his gaze on one of the Deep Ones.

Hanging from its belt was a trophy: the Black Thorn and the Book of the Apocalypse.

Those belonged to Katerina.