The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 947: Humanity and Evil

Professor Kris temporarily stepped out.

"Professor Haig... is that right? I'd like to sit for a moment," Kane said, his voice hoarse but significantly stronger.

The aura of decay around him had faded, and he looked like a frail patient just recovering from a severe illness.

In exchange, Lu Li paid the price—a grim, faint aura of hatred now enveloped his body.

Just as it had enveloped Kane before.

From this, Lu Li could gauge how much of his humanity he had just transferred: a quarter.

And he was immediately faced with the terrible consequences of losing that humanity—

Vicious gazes pierced through the cracks in the floorboards, and a pervasive sense of malice surrounded him. The professors around him suddenly seemed repulsive, and he could almost hear their inner whispers urging him to kill them.

The loss of humanity was just as terrifying as a decline in one's sanity.

"I can feel the softness of the sofa again..."Kane sank onto the sofa, his voice so faint it sounded as if he could pass away at any moment. But in truth, he had never felt so full of life.

"You have eased my affliction... and I will fulfill my promise..."

"Master."

Kane bowed his head to Lu Li.

The professors in the study were stunned.

"You don't have to do this."

Professor Haig, who had previously been disgusted by Kane for his attempt to harm Lu Li, wore a complicated expression.

"Perhaps," Kane replied, leaning back lazily against the cushions.

"Darkness has shrouded me for a long time, its omnipresent threads weaving a cage around me. But suddenly, a ray of sunlight pierced through the layers of that cage and shone upon me..."

He raised his hand, and the "sunlight" from the window fell upon his wrinkled, aging skin.

"Tell me, am I still human... This is a gratitude you cannot understand."

His words were logical and philosophically profound. Considering Professor Kris knew him, it was possible Kane had once been a student, or even a professor, at the Academy of Giant Trees.

"I could have endured the darkness had I never seen the light," an old professor said slowly.

"But you've left the other Cursed Title holders with a difficult problem. You chose to become Lu Li's servant—what can they possibly offer for that?"

"That's not my concern, old Lus."

At that moment, Kane was like an old dog dozing in the midday sun—lazy and utterly relaxed.

This made the other professors sigh, contemplating what he must have endured from the loss of his humanity.

He was lucky. The bonfire before him had been weak and dim. Just as he, like the other dying Cursed Title holders, was preparing to stumble into the cold darkness in a desperate search for some faint, insignificant hope, the sunlight had shone down upon him.

More importantly, he was resilient enough to have tasted the depths of darkness without losing his mind—which meant he no longer needed to release his Cursed Title to maintain a sense of security.

He would be able to hold on longer, to live longer.

"An exorcist's servant? That sounds interesting."

The door swung open, and Professor Kris slipped into the room, carrying an elegant birdcage.

She offered the birdcage to Lu Li, along with a golden dinner knife.

"What is this?"

Inside the silver-plated birdcage, a gray, withering mist swirled and billowed.

"A Vengeful Spirit. I was going to use it to research a new potion, but now it's yours."

Lu Li took the golden knife and, following Professor Kris's instructions, plunged it into the silver birdcage he was holding.

The swirling Vengeful Spirit trembled and shrieked inside the cage, but its cries cut off abruptly as the knife slid all the way in.

Lu Li was immersed in the Memories of Death.

...

A piercingly cold wind blew down the street, muffling the sounds of a beating and screams coming from an alleyway.

A drunkard was kicking a vagrant who was cowering with his hands over his head. The vagrant's screams were shrill, but the drunkard, barely able to stand, didn't have much strength.

The vagrant was simply terrified; his cries brought no help and did not deter his attacker. Screaming hysterically, he shoved the drunkard away and scrambled out of the alley.

Lu Li's gaze shifted from the fleeing vagrant to the drunkard, who staggered backward. He stepped into a puddle of sewage, and the grime made him slip. The back of his head struck a protruding wall with a dull thud.

Thump...

The drunkard slowly slid down the wall.

A confused, fading soul drifted out of its mortal shell.

...

"The scent is much better now..." Professor Kris leaned down, moved closer to Lu Li, and took a sniff.

"Have you recovered?"

"Mostly," Lu Li replied, his mind pulling away from the Memories of Death.

The baseless malice in the room had vanished. The professors no longer radiated that grim, cold malevolence, that desire to kill him.

The humanity provided by the Vengeful Spirit in the birdcage amounted to almost half a measure—a value that was then amplified by the Book of the Apocalypse.

This was enough to demonstrate the value of humanity.

The withering Vengeful Spirit was gone, leaving only a layer of pale ash at the bottom of the birdcage.

"I can just try a different potion. This won't be a waste," said Professor Kris.

Lu Li thanked her. Professor Kris, covering her mouth with a black lace glove, laughed softly.

"You should thank me in another way... darling."

"Master, may I tell the other Cursed Title holders about this?" Kane asked respectfully.

"Just call me by my name. And yes, you may," Lu Li replied.

Kane rose from his seat and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Professor Haig asked.

"To tell my weary old friends to go hunt some anomalies."

"Wait..." Professor Haig stopped him and then asked Lu Li:

"This... gift of yours, it won't be a burden on you?"

"No."

Professor Haig was still uneasy and reminded Kane:

"Remember to be discreet. The anomalies already hate Lu Li to the bone; don't give them a reason to become even more ruthless."

But they all knew the secret wouldn't stay hidden for long. Kane had recovered from a near-death state, just when he was about to exile himself into the wilderness. Soon, people would find out what had happened.

Before Kane left, Lu Li gave him a few eyeballs.

"The eyeball to summon the Trader, right? I understand, Master."

Kane backed away from Lu Li and left the study.

"I imagine no one in human civilization will be able to harm Lu Li anymore."

Professor Kris, her narrow eyes curving into a smile, replied to the professors' glances:

"The lost ships, guided by the Beacon, will not let the waves destroy him."

Now that it was confirmed that humanity truly existed and was linked to the Cursed Title holders, Lu Li could write down his theory.

Regarding the theory, Lu Li held nothing back, even recording that this power came from the redemption of his Spirit Gun.

"The Spirit Gun?"

The professors were pleased with Lu Li's transparency and astonished by his secret.

They couldn't imagine such a miraculous power coming from an outdated piece of equipment—as a weapon, it was too delicate, and its slow reload time and the inability to conceal its loud report overshadowed its advantages in ranged combat.

Lu Li showed them his Spirit Gun, as elegant as a work of art.

Upon learning that each rose on the Spirit Gun granted a miraculous ability, Professor Haig muttered:

"Perhaps we've underestimated this creation of the Exorcist Association..."

"These are artifacts created by a great legend; they hold far more secrets than we know..." whispered the Nameless Lady, the divination professor.

"I know someone who still possesses the technology to make a Spirit Gun, and he happens to be a professor of science."

"Science?" the reckless Meiwen asked, tilting his head.

"A discipline that believes in numbers and logic... popular back in the Ancient Era," an old professor said wistfully, then asked Professor Kris:

"May I meet him?"

"I'm afraid not. He's not suited for the limelight," Professor Kris replied, her gaze falling on Lu Li.

"Are you ready, darling?"