The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 901: The Fate of Elder Sister

The giant paw that had seized and scattered the stone fragments rose.

— Caught...

To the sound of a dull rumble, the giant paw slowly unfurled. Several distorted bodies, mixed with earth and rock, uttered a quiet whisper as they dissipated like nightmarish shadows.

At the edge of the rising dust, chaotic silhouettes burst through the swirling clouds and fled into the distance.

Stones tumbled from between the cracks of the giant paw, and the swirling fog obscured its form. The calm lasted only a moment before despair enveloped the ground Lu Li had just crossed—the stones exploded, and the believers surrounding him were thrown back.

— Scatter.

Lu Li could not allow his followers to die a pointless death here.

His followers and the Merchant Antoni scattered, revealing the silhouette of Prusius scrambling away on his pulsating limbs, shouting up from Lu Li's feet:

— Me too?

— Everyone.— Mister Lu Li, you have to get away!

Prusius ran diagonally, only to be thrown aside by the suddenly erupting ground, sent tumbling toward the fleeing believers.

The giant paw, stretching out from beneath the earth, ignored them, relentlessly pursuing Lu Li in the direction of his flight.

Only Elder Sister remained with Lu Li, swaying in his hood like a rider on a galloping horse.

— Do something! — Amid the whistling wind, Elder Sister's voice rang in Lu Li's ears.

Lu Li remained silent, for there was no way out.

As if confirming the Old Sewer's vendetta against him, every time Lu Li set foot within its depths, he was hunted—

The ground beneath his feet cracked and buckled. The moment Lu Li leaped and rolled away, sharp claws burst from the earth, forming a terrible, cage-like talon. It appeared around him again and again—sometimes slower, sometimes blocking his path ahead, sometimes to his left or right.

The master of the giant paw grew progressively more irritated with this endless, dramatic game of cat and mouse. It became more and more violent, erupting like lava and piercing the rock ceiling above.

This, however, slowed the frequency of its attacks—especially after Lu Li tried to lead the paw erupting from the ground toward the buildings on the street. The panicking anomalies fleeing in every direction made it somewhat harder for the paw to distinguish its target.

But a problem arose as Lu Li approached the central area of the Central Station of Midnight.

A law enforcer stood before another block at the end of the street, watching the fleeing Lu Li with an eerie, expectant indifference.

This was their punishment for Lu Li: a silent approval of the pursuit from the deeper levels.

The consequence of recklessly leading the giant paw to destroy half the street was that they would intervene to deal with the paw... and with Lu Li himself.

Lu Li had no choice but to turn onto other main streets, disappearing from the view of the law enforcer and the gathered subterranean inhabitants.

The inhuman anomalies on those streets, who knew nothing of the situation, suffered needlessly. Lu Li was like a harbinger of destruction, annihilating everything in his path.

Except for those powers that not even the master of the giant paw could disturb.

[Mole-Man's Curiosity Shop]

The giant paw stopped erupting from the ground as Lu Li passed the shop, as if it had given up on pursuing him.

But a short, fat mole-man with a narrow snout and coarse, stiff fur emerged from the shop and let out a terrible, piercing shriek, dashing any thought Lu Li had of a brief respite.

But even with the enhancement from the Book of the Apocalypse, his strength would sooner or later run out.

Lu Li's pace began to slow, and his ability to dodge the heaving mounds of earth diminished.

— Need my services? Help you escape the danger quickly?

A hissing was accompanied by the rustle of skittering sounds, and a centipede anomaly, moving on its multitude of thin legs, caught up to Lu Li.

Lu Li recalled Amper and his current dilemma, nodded, and settled onto its cold back, just as he had once before.

Its many thin legs became a blur, carrying Lu Li smoothly forward. The giant paw no longer rose from the ground, as if the danger was receding—

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through him. The hair-like segments on the centipede anomaly's back pierced his legs. A cold, numbing fluid poured into his body from the hollow spines.

Lu Li felt his body and consciousness going numb.

— It wants to eat you!

Elder Sister shrieked from within his hood.

As if waking from a shallow dream, Lu Li drew his dagger, gripped it tightly with both hands, and plunged it down, piercing the centipede anomaly's iron-hard carapace. The blade sank into its spine and severed the spinal cord.

The centipede anomaly let out a horrifying shriek. Its body, disconnected from its legs, could no longer support itself. It threw Lu Li from its back and, coiling into a ball, rolled forward.

Thud—

Lu Li landed with a dull thud and rolled several times. Elder Sister was thrown from his hood.

His legs numb, Lu Li struggled to his feet as something began to stir and approach from the depths of the now-quiet street.

The dust-covered Elder Sister got up, stretched out her two doll-like hands, and pulled at Lu Li, trying to drag him away.

The slowly rising ground made Elder Sister stumble, and the cage of sharp claws began to ascend.

Beyond the cage of bony joints, a massive skull arched up from the ground. It was so enormous that even on a main street dozens of meters high, only the skull's empty eye sockets were visible above the earth.

The cruel eye sockets stared at Lu Li in his cage, and the terrible, sharp claws, mixed with fragments of stone, began to close.

— Caught... you.

The closing stones nearly crushed Lu Li.

Elder Sister, in his arms, felt the raging waves beneath Lu Li's calm surface. As if making a decision, she let out a piercing scream.

— Mama!!!

Crushed by the stones, Lu Li knew nothing of what was happening outside. But the next moment, the rocks collapsed, and a whistling hurricane threw him, still clutching Elder Sister, several meters back, slamming him hard against the cavern wall. His back pressed against the cold stone, and the pain dissolved into his numbed consciousness.

The whistling hurricane echoed as it surged into the depths of the passage, scattering all the dust.

Leaning against the stone wall, Lu Li saw what had happened: the giant paw had fallen limp, buried beneath the rocks. In place of the skull, a massive, weathered, pale wall, like ancient ruins, had appeared.

The wall was moving. Shedding fragments of stone, it receded like the tide back toward the surface, leaving behind a chasm dozens of meters long.

This also allowed Lu Li to vaguely make out the outline of the pale, gigantic wall.

It was a pale fragment of bone on a claw.

A paw that blotted out the sky reached into the passage again, seized the cavern wall, and, as if tearing off a piece of cheese, peeled away hundreds of meters of the surface.

The ugliness of the Old Sewer was laid completely bare beneath the vault of the sky.

This also allowed Lu Li to see its outline.

A colossal skeletal body pierced the clouds. Its full form was unclear; only a curved ribcage, like a celestial city, and limbs like pillars holding up the sky were visible. Nearby Midnight seemed like a cramped hut beside it.

Amid the panicked flight of the exposed anomalies, one claw descended, soft and gentle, right before Lu Li. But for the entire Old Sewer, it was like total annihilation.

The earth, like fragile snow, was pressed down, forming long, deep furrows.

Elder Sister reluctantly left Lu Li's embrace, leaped onto the tip of the claw, and rose to the surface along with the ascending giant paw.

— ...Of course, I miss you... If I have eyes, I can see you... Give this person strength, okay?..

A faint, lively cry came from the receding tip of the claw. Elder Sister's head peeked over the edge, and she waved goodbye to Lu Li below.

— Don't forget to come to the City of Phantoms and find me! I'll run away with you again!