The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 973: Secrets of the World

Yeger protected Lu Li while covering Kiruet. Nasi stood nearby, awaiting the next move from Lu Li, the core of their team.

Lu Li once again retrieved the Sequence Potions from his pouch, squeezed a drop of a miniature revealing potion into his eyes, and scanned the room with his deep, black eyes.

— Found the source?

Kiruet, standing at the head of the group, was inspecting the house.

— The note on the table. Faint traces of contamination.

Under the effect of the revealing potion, a distinct haze of pale black mist had formed around the note. The rest of the room was immaculate, save for a faint, thin gray mist rising from the half-eaten food on a plate.

— Inspector Victor, no one has entered the room since the incident, correct?

— ...Huh? Uh, that's right. No one came in... well, no... Pisenlot, my colleague, went in after we got the report, — the stunned Inspector Victor replied hastily.

— Did he show any abnormalities? — Lu Li asked.

— No...— Bring him here, — Kiruet said.

— I'll go get him right now!

Inspector Victor hurried outside and disappeared around a quiet street corner.

— We'll check the surroundings again, — Kiruet said to Lu Li, averting her gaze.

While the revealing potion was still active, they used the other keys on the ring to inspect the empty rooms nearby. The only problem was in Lannar's room.

Once Yeger had wrapped the note in a special blanket—what alchemists referred to as an alchemical cloth—the mission was as good as done.

Fifteen minutes later, Inspector Victor returned with Pisenlot. The nervous policeman was very clean—both his uniform and his aura.

After a nod from Lu Li, Kiruet declared that Pisenlot was clean. The task was now complete, and they would be taking the note with them.

Yeger and Nasi were lost in daydreams about the completed mission.

The meager reward of one academic credit didn't mean the task was easy or simple. Carelessness could have serious consequences, and every time they took on a mission, the Holy Light Squad had to conduct a complex and painstaking investigation, which included checking on every neighbor.

This meant that it usually took them a day or even longer to complete a mission.

This time, only two hours had passed since they entered Midnight, and half of that was spent traveling.

It came at a steep price, though.

Six Sequence Potions cost as much as the Holy Light Squad earned from several months of missions.

Even the top-ranked teams couldn't replicate this—no one was extravagant enough to use expensive Sequence Potions on basic missions.

— That thing you just had me drink... was that a Sequence Potion? — a questioning voice asked from nearby.

— That's right.

A note of pride was evident in Nasi's voice, but Inspector Victor's reaction baffled them.

— Sequence Potions? Enough to feed an entire city block! And you used them just to investigate a dead man's case?!

Inspector Victor cried out in disbelief, then, full of regret, roughly shoved his hand down his throat to try and make himself vomit.

— What have I done... I drank a year's salary in a single gulp...

But in the fifteen minutes that had passed, he managed to spit out nothing but tears and saliva.

— Every day, people starve to death or get thrown out of Midnight for eating filthy things, and you people never intervene, — Inspector Victor sobbed, tears and snot running down his face as he collapsed to the ground. Lost and despairing, he dropped his fawning demeanor and waved a hand listlessly:

— Go back to your ivory tower. You were born lords of the inner city.

The Holy Light Squad quietly absorbed Inspector Victor's change in attitude and departed from the dark alley in silence.

— This is unavoidable... that's why we want to change this world.

Returning to a bustling district, Kiruet spoke, hoping her team members wouldn't lose heart over the incident.

— What did he mean by 'filthy things'?

— Probably mutated meat... It's forbidden in Midnight because it causes mutations in just a few months, but every day, residents who can't survive buy this cheap food.

One shilling could buy a fist-sized piece of meat. If a person was willing to accept that they only had a few months or years left to live, they wouldn't have to suffer from hunger during that time.

After returning to the Academy of Giant Trees' camp to secure the note, the Holy Light Squad headed out again, this time making for the inner city.

Upon reaching the stone gates in the center of the outer city, the badges on their chests exempted the Holy Light Squad from the guards' inspection, and they took an elevator up to the inner city.

Looking back, they could see almost half of the sprawling outer city.

At that moment, Lu Li parted ways with the Holy Light Squad; he needed to be away for a short while.

— You're going alone?

Kiruet accepted his answer and added:

— Then Nasi and I will go visit his family. We'll meet back at the camp later.

Watching Kiruet and the others depart, Lu Li turned onto another street.

Elegant, clean buildings lined both sides of the paved street. Sewage flowed through channels down toward the outer city, and patrolling guards became a more common sight.

Passersby subconsciously gave Lu Li a wide berth due to his cloak, which resembled a cultist's robe, but they relaxed their vigilance when they saw the tree-shaped badge on his chest.

After walking in silence through the inner city for some time, Lu Li arrived at the address Professor Kris had provided.

[Museum of Foreign Races]

The shop, though called a museum, was not wide. It looked cramped and cluttered, squeezed between two other storefronts.

He pushed the door open and entered the shop, a bell on the door chiming melodiously.

The dimly lit room was empty—no customers, no shopkeeper. There were only strange objects displayed in cases and on shelves.

Some were bones, some were clay pots, others were difficult to identify. But without exception, they all possessed a sense of historical weight.

— Humans aren't the only intelligent race, don't you think?

From the depths of the room, a hunched, corpulent figure crawled out, resembling a cicada larva.

— Obviously, — Lu Li replied.

The figure bent its already hunched body and bowed, saying:

— It is a great honor to meet the hero of humanity, Mister Lu Li. You may call me Vita.

— Professor Kris said you wanted to see me.

Lu Li disliked long preambles before getting down to business; he preferred directness.

— Yes. Please, accept my gift...

Vita spoke, his thin legs carrying his corpulent body over to a nearby coffin. As he approached, its lid began to lift slightly from one edge.

He opened the coffin, which suddenly began to tremble slightly.

Because of Lu Li's arrival, the Merchant opened its impassive eyes.

— Return to the In-Between. The other Merchants will tell you what happened.

The Merchant silently climbed out of the coffin and vanished into a dark corner.

— Long ago, the world of an intelligent race was invaded...

Vita slowly began to tell the story of his race.

— Beset by endless enemies, they resisted fiercely, but they lost their kin and their world. They embarked on a long journey, losing their history countless times over. One day, an individual named Vita, who loved to study history, arrived in a new world. He knew that if nothing changed, this world would suffer the same fate as all the others that had been invaded: the native intelligent race would resist, their resistance would fail, the survivors would be forced to abandon their home, become part of the anomaly, and be lost in the river of time...

— Vita had seen this scene countless times throughout his long history, and he hoped that this time, something would change. So he sought out this race's hero and convinced him.

Lu Li's figure was reflected in Vita's convex, dark eyeball.

— The world treats you as you treat it.