The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 964: Recognizing the Anomaly

Having mastered the basic crafting skills required for the trials, Lu Li bid farewell to Professor Kris and her daughter Claire, and left the alchemy lab.

"The scent of the Ziwei flower, Sequence Potions?"

Claire sniffed the herbal aroma that still lingered in the room.

"When I got back, I heard rumors... Has Lu Li been coming here every day just to make potions?"

"What else, my dear? Lu Li is preparing for the Level 2 alchemy trials," Professor Kris said, placing a blood-colored potion on a shelf.

"Get ready, Claire. You'll have new teammates soon."

...

A new day dawned.

Knowing that Lu Li would be participating in the Level 2 alchemy trials, Professor Ruberhro dedicated his alchemy class to potion-making techniques, including the inspiration-based method Lu Li had mastered the day before.

At noon, Lu Li arrived at the alchemy classroom.This time, only one student was taking the trial—Lu Li. The requirements held no surprises, either. Lu Li simply needed to craft an alchemy potion with a success rate of over fifty percent.

Skillfully brewing the same basic potion he had made two days prior, Lu Li successfully passed the trial, earning a promotion to Level 2 in the alchemy course.

"Lu Li, will we see you after you move up to the middle courses?" Dogmeat asked reluctantly during lunch.

"No... The Academy strictly forbids students from the Crown Level to train in the Trunk Level..."

Fudot wore a complicated expression; her time as Lu Li’s classmate had turned out to be shorter than she had expected.

"The library," Lu Li said calmly.

Fudot’s eyes lit up slightly, but Dogmeat was still dejected.

"But I can't read..."

Regardless, the existence of the library helped to slightly dispel the sense of farewell that hung over Lu Li's impending departure.

Tap-tap-tap-tap—

The sound of familiar, distinct footsteps echoed as the gatekeeper entered the assembly hall. Meeting the curious gazes of the students, he walked over to Lu Li.

The gatekeeper informed Lu Li that the Level 2 mysticism trial would take place the next day, and that he was required to be at the lifting platform in the Mixed Zone by noon to wait.

"I understand."

Shortly after the gatekeeper left, Lu Li returned to his room to prepare for the following day's trial.

"Lu Li is leaving, and you're still eating!"

Fudot, wrestling with some internal conflict, grew angry when she saw Dogmeat gobbling down his food.

"But I'm hungry..." Dogmeat said, looking hurt.

Fudot ignored him, pulling a pen and a letter from the wide pocket of her robe. She wrote a few lines in her elegant script, then left the assembly hall to find the gatekeeper.

"Mr. Gatekeeper, please deliver this letter to the Lince family."

...

Noon was approaching.

Arriving in the Mixed Zone, Lu Li saw another student waiting at the lifting platform for the trial.

Bentler.

The very same first-year student who possessed the Cursed Title "Edge Wanderer."

"Lu Li... uh, sir, hello," Bentler greeted him with reserve.

Lu Li nodded in acknowledgment and followed the short-cloaked gatekeeper onto the lifting platform.

As the platform slowly descended into the fading light and growing silence, Lu Li's voice broke the quiet.

"Where is the trial being held?"

"The Swamps forbidden zone."

"The forbidden zone..." Bentler muttered. He had never been there, but the name itself spoke volumes.

After a long descent, Lu Li once again saw the magnificent and fantastical landscape of the Swamps forbidden zone.

Ant-sized figures were scattered along the edge of the Safe Zone below, making their way into the depths of the Swamps.

The lifting platform touched down in the Safe Zone. Lu Li and Bentler followed the gatekeeper to its northern side.

A group was waiting there, surrounded by more gatekeepers.

Aside from a group of people clearly dressed as outsiders, which included the elderly and children, there were also three students from the middle and senior courses.

"I'm the leader of the group..." the leader of the migrant party stammered nervously, surrounded by the gatekeepers and students from the Academy of Giant Trees. "We are heading for the Central Station of Midnight. The gatekeepers told us there's an anomaly hiding in our group and required us to participate in a trial..."

"Find the anomaly hiding within the group. The deadline is your arrival at the Central Station of Midnight."

"Does the one who finds the anomaly pass, or does everyone pass?" Lu Li asked.

"Identify the one you believe to be the anomaly. The answer will be revealed upon your arrival at the Central Station of Midnight."

"Is it forbidden to reveal the anomaly's identity?" Lu Li noted the trial’s loose conditions.

"If you must, and if you are certain," the gatekeeper replied.

This meant that if someone found the anomaly and announced it, the other participants in the trial would also pass.

But if the wrong answer was announced, then everyone would fail.

After the rules were explained, the gatekeeper told the group's leader to continue on their way.

As an intermediate layer between the surface and the Central Station of Midnight, the Swamps had countless passages to the outside world. Anomalies or people usually chose to travel from the Swamps to the surface or into the Old Sewer.

The presence of the Academy of Giant Trees and its Safe Zone made the outer regions of the Swamps relatively safe. As long as one didn't venture recklessly deeper, the Swamps were perhaps a safer route for the group than the Old Sewer.

At least it wasn't like the Old Sewer, where completing tasks could attract greed and unwanted surveillance.

The gatekeepers escorted the group south.

The diameter of the Safe Zone was less than five kilometers, and their destination was the southern edge. This meant the students participating in the trial had about an hour to find the anomaly.

Lu Li calmly observed the dozen or so people in the caravan. A husband and wife with a small child, an old man clutching a clay pot, a young couple... They were anxious and tense, but also relieved.

With the escort from the Academy of Giant Trees, they no longer had to worry about danger.

However, it was clearly difficult to determine what form the anomaly had taken just by observation. The students in the trial joined the caravan, talking with and testing the people.

"The ashes of my late wife... he's still so young... we've been together for so long..."

Fragments of conversation drifted on the light breeze blowing from the Swamps.

Lu Li walked through the caravan, spoke with each person, and then returned to the edge of the group.

The second person to leave the caravan was a man named Yeger; he had taken a blood sample from everyone and had his answer.

Bentler, who had been following Lu Li, became flustered—everyone seemed suspicious. The lovers, clinging tightly to one another, inseparable; the couple, unusually doting on their child.

An hour isn't a long time. Skirting the hanging roots of the lifting platform, they drew ever closer to their distant destination.

"Mr. Lu Li, have you... found the anomaly?" Bentler asked, his sweaty forehead glistening as he left the group and licked his dry lips.

"I can tell you," Lu Li answered calmly, looking at him.

"I... I'll wait a bit longer..."

Bentler didn't want to rely on help... He hoped to pass the trial on his own.

Twenty minutes later, the caravan came to a halt on the southern edge of the Safe Zone.

A deep, dark cave leading into the Old Sewer opened up beside a set of steps where a figure stood waiting.

And so, the answer to the trial was officially revealed—the little boy, so cherished by the couple, was the anomaly that had mixed in with the caravan.

Bentler, unfortunately, was wrong. The anomaly he had identified was the old man who had lost his wife.

Although he had nearly guessed it, having considered the child an anomaly, the couple's intense love for the boy had clouded his judgment.

The couple had known for a long time that their child was an anomaly—ever since their real child had died in its cradle during the Hour of Silence.