The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 907: The Forest's Troubles

On the broken streets of Tenebrae, three silhouettes flickered in the dim glow of oil lamps.

The encroaching darkness of the twisted forest gradually receded.

"Could it... be higher?"

Ofelia believed their failure was due to insufficient height.

"My remaining power is limited..."

A hundred-meter water column was the limit of His control.

"Only when you return the maimed body will my power be restored."

But this just led back to the same cycle: "return the maimed body to solve the forest's problem, and solve the forest's problem to return the maimed body."

Returning to what was left of the southern swamp, they informed the Mother of the Swamp of their failed operation. Now, it seemed their only option was to have the Deep God radiate his aura to attract the attention of the maimed body that had extended from the twisted forest.

But the price for this could be immense: if the twisted forest decided it wanted the Deep God, they would be powerless to resist."Take me to the front line," Lu Li said, looking up at the Mother of the Swamp.

"As You say."

Late that night, they all returned to the battlefield bordering the twisted forest.

"Ofelia, you follow me. If I'm attacked, save me. If not, fall back."

Lu Li wiped the moisture from the glass of the oil lamp, held it in his right hand, and walked between two banyan tree sentinels, stepping onto a battlefield that resembled a thunderstorm zone.

Ofelia, like cooling lava, radiated waves of heat as she followed Lu Li.

Just as before, the twisted forest flew into a rage at their approach. Denser than during their previous three encounters, a storm of thrashing tree roots coiled around Ofelia, who had transformed into human lava, forming a fiery sphere that engulfed her.

Lu Li, holding the oil lamp, stood amidst the battlefield where roots and rhizomes clashed, where even the frozen earth was torn into trenches, and remained completely unscathed.

They were truly avoiding him. Even the flying splinters, sharp as stones, and chunks of frozen earth were gently deflected by the surrounding distorted roots and banyan rhizomes.

But at that moment, the tree roots stirred beneath Lu Li's feet, forming a vine-prison that ensnared him.

"Stay back."

Lu Li stopped Ofelia, the Mother of the Swamp, the Deep God, and the cultist servants who were preparing to charge, allowing the tree roots to lift him and carry him north.

"Wait here. They want to take me somewhere."

His calm words vanished along with him into the depths of the dark, twisted forest, and the battlefield was once again consumed by a deafening roar.

"Lu Li, do You know them?" the Deep God whispered.

"It's 'they'," Prusius corrected the Deep God's archaic pronunciation, speaking casually as if to a friend.

"If they knew him, they wouldn't have attacked us."

He wasn't the least bit worried about Lu Li.

"Because... the title... Lu Li... is Treewhisperer," Ofelia, who had returned showered in ash, hoarsely revealed the answer.

The whisper of the Cursed Title reached the ears of the two deities.

The Mother of the Swamp and the Deep God reacted differently: the former expressed surprise, while the latter searched his memory and whispered:

"That feeling... the Shadow... of the World."

"You are... learning... to speak... like me... again," Ofelia said, reining in her aura.

The Deep God was still trying to remember, but he couldn't piece the fragments into a coherent memory.

"What's the Shadow of the World?" Prusius asked as the Deep God raised his hood.

"I've forgotten..."

...

Light filtering past the cage of tree roots created a shifting, intertwining play of shadows.

The roots carried the prison, like the other waves that had lapped at the Deep God's feet, passing Lu Li deeper into the woods.

Lu Li couldn't determine his direction, but he was likely moving north, perhaps across the Swamp Road.

By allowing the twisted forest to take him, Lu Li had shed one nuisance: the devil's pursuit.

Yet, as he moved farther from the Deep God's protection, the expected heat from the brand on the back of his hand never appeared, as if the devil had abandoned its search for Lu Li.

Instead, Lu Li believed the pursuit was being blocked by some other force—not the twisted forest, at least, as the heat on his hand hadn't vanished when he entered the woods from the coast.

Lu Li, having already realized the truth, touched his chest: the necklace, coalesced by the Deep God and given to him by the Mother of the Swamp as a second gift, was under his shirt.

Setting aside the additional value of it being a "gift from an Ancient God," the Deep God's offering was clearly very generous. The Mother of the Swamp, who had passed it on to him, was just as generous.

The prison's speed slowed at that moment, and it was gently lowered onto the soft mud that seeped inside.

A single root extended, unwound the prison, and freed Lu Li after the long, silent journey.

Lu Li stepped out of the cage and raised the oil lamp high, feeling like a tiny man who had wandered into a dark forest of giants.

"Friend from afar, why do you walk with those villains who harm the trees..."

A low, vibrating whisper echoed from the depths of the forest.

Lu Li, holding the flickering oil lamp, addressed the darkness from which the voice came.

"We don't intend to harm the forest. We are just looking for something."

"They harmed the forest..."

"Because you attacked us."

"It was you... who first... harmed the forest!"

Instead of the expected rage, the echoing, vibrating voice sounded more like the complaint of a child or an awkward youth lamenting an injustice.

In fact, Lu Li couldn't recall anyone harming the trees before the attack—unless stepping on roots in the seawater counted.

Perhaps the Deep God had done something.

"I apologize on His behalf."

The voice in the darkness softened again.

"Friend, what are you looking for..."

Suddenly, glowing points of light appeared, like fireflies. They drifted from the depths of the forest, and the places they passed through went from silent to buzzing—

They illuminated this forest: unlike the twisted canopies he had imagined blotting out the sky, the trees here were tall and straight, like a naturally growing wood.

Lu Li saw the owner of the voice: a tree no different from the surrounding giants—except for a phalanx bone that had fallen onto its crown, supported by layers of branches that formed a nest, as if it couldn't bear the weight.

"That phalanx."

Lu Li had found the maimed body of the Deep God.

"It cannot be given to you..." the voice's answer was expected.

"Why?"

"The forest needs its power to resist our enemies."

"The Mother of the Swamp from the south?"

"She is only one of the enemies."

"There are other enemies?" Lu Li asked with a frown.

"The water that defiles and corrodes all, the wind that extinguishes all, the shadows that envelop all..."

Lu Li pondered this. He hadn't heard anything of the sort from the Mother of the Swamp.

And their descriptions sounded very strange.

"What is the water that defiles and corrodes all?"

"To the north of the forest, they are endless, bringing the forest pain and despair..."

Seawater.

"And the wind that extinguishes the faint light of life?" Lu Li asked again.

"They roam outside, waiting to carry away the forest's warmth..."

The Severe Winter.

Then the final "shadows that envelop all" must be the clouds that blotted out the sky.

Lu Li looked calmly at the giant tree and the phalanx on its crown.

"If I can solve your problems, will you give us the phalanx?"

"Truly, friend?"

The voice became deafening, and he could almost feel its excitement.

"Mm-hmm."

Helping them, perhaps, was easier than fighting the forest.

"But before that happens, please stop your invasion of the Mother of the Swamp's territory."