The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 995: Reunion

Yeger turned and faced the inhabitants.

"What's happening... Are you having second thoughts?"

Margaret raised a spectral hand to stop Yeger, mouthing something silent and calm.

"Perhaps the soul has been outside the body for too long," Fudot suggested.

Kiruet examined Margaret's body. Her shell was still alive, with a faint breath and heartbeat, but the soul was gone.

"Can you restore her?" Lu Li asked the inhabitants.

"We do not know."

The inhabitants, their voices merging into one, replied. As if to prove their words, the power enveloping Margaret's body dissipated. Kiruet caught the limp form, gesturing for Margaret's soul to touch it again.

The spectral hand still passed right through the body; it didn't work.

The Holy Light Squad had no idea how to handle a "resurrection from the dead," and Kiruet looked up in a panic."Her body is dying!"

Deprived of the dungeon's power, the soulless body was inching toward death.

"Go to Professor Kris's alchemy office," Lu Li said, having confirmed through the Merchant, Antoni, that she was there.

"Margaret is a ghost now... The Giant Tree won't let her enter!"

Nasi glanced at Margaret in alarm. Radiating a cold, moon-like glow, she remained serene, as if she weren't the one who was dying.

Fudot released a parasite from her insect pouch for Margaret's soul to inhabit temporarily, allowing her to evade the senses of the Giant Tree and its gatekeeper.

"And you?" Kiruet asked Lu Li, who showed no intention of leaving.

"I'm going to complete the rest of our arrangement."

Until the arrangement was complete, they wouldn't let Lu Li leave.

"Be careful."

Carrying Margaret's soul and body, the Holy Light Squad quickly departed from the dungeon.

When the silhouettes of his teammates had vanished into the fissure in the rock, Lu Li asked the Merchant, Antoni, to summon a worm to dig a passage to the Swamps forbidden zone.

The process was bound to take a while. Several dozen minutes later, the worm, shaking the ground, broke through the wall of the hut and emerged from beneath the earth. The dungeon's consciousness, having already been warned, did not reject the worm's appearance.

A cold aura from outside dispelled the dungeon's murky air, and the inhabitants gathered as one near the tunnel the worm had dug, vaguely discerning a shimmer at the far end that emanated from the Swamps.

For the sealed dungeon, the Swamps forbidden zone was the "outside world" and the only path to the Old Sewer.

Without a doubt, this dungeon was formed from a collective consciousness. Margaret's body had also become part of it, but her soul, for some unknown reason, had escaped that fate. Perhaps the collective consciousness needed Margaret's wisdom, or perhaps she held another secret.

Lu Li and the dungeon consciousness had completed their arrangement. They allowed him to leave without hindrance. As for whether to remain in this place, wedged between the Giant Tree and the Swamps, or to migrate—that was a decision they had to make for themselves.

Lu Li returned to the entrance alone and, without looking back, squeezed through the crack. Shortly after he was out, the entrance suddenly collapsed and sealed itself.

They had their answer.

...

Knock, knock, knock—

Trunk level, senior course alchemy office.

When Lu Li arrived, Professor Kris was preparing potions at an alchemy table.

Margaret's body lay on a chaise lounge, with the others and her soul gathered around it.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

Kiruet looked at Lu Li.

"Both."

"The good news is that Margaret will survive. The bad news is that her soul was separated from her body for too long, and she'll need a lot of time to recover... She might not be able to earn enough academic credits for promotion in less than two months."

The joy on Kiruet's face showed that, compared to the good news, the bad news was insignificant.

What could be more joyous than recovering what was lost?

Lu Li approached the chaise lounge. Margaret's body bore light scrapes from the rocks, but otherwise, there was only her worn, dirty clothing and calloused palms.

After all, before Lu Li had rescued her from the dungeon, her body had been a "villager" for over a month.

"Did you destroy that dungeon?"

Professor Kris asked, her figure elegant as she brewed a potion.

"No. I opened a path to the Swamps and left. Then the dungeon sealed the entrance."

"It seems they want to avoid the fate of becoming a dungeon, but I'm quite curious... they didn't even think to bite you."

Resisting Lu Li's "charm" required immense self-control—especially for anomalies not bound by rules.

"Perhaps they feared the Academy of Giant Trees, and the power of the Tarot cards was effective."

"Tarot cards?"

"The Light Tarot cards, a treasure recovered from the dungeon."

"You were lucky," Professor Kris remarked.

"Are they very famous?"

The Light Tarot cards were now with Fudot, the only one who knew how to use them.

"There was a generous bounty on Count Hunter's head on the Midnight mission board for three years."

The unique nature of such artifacts made it difficult to classify their power, much like how the strength of many anomalies couldn't be measured.

"So, I assume that besides the Light Tarot cards, everything else was junk, right?"

"A few vials of Sequence Potions, with numbers close to one hundred," Lu Li replied.

Professor Kris, holding the freshly prepared potion, returned to the chaise lounge. She leaned over and poured the viscous, transparent, slimy potion, which resembled aloe vera juice, into Margaret's open mouth.

Without any need for swallowing, the potion flowed down her throat.

"What is that?" Kiruet asked, her composure slipping a little.

"Glue."

"Uh..."

"A glue to stick the soul and body back together," Professor Kris explained, holding out the remaining half of the cup to Margaret's soul.

"Drink the rest."

Margaret's fluorescent soul, which had been unable to interact with the physical world, took the potion and drank it. Then, following Professor Kris's instructions, it lay down on the chaise lounge and merged with the body.

"Close your eyes. Imagine you're trapped in a nightmare. Breathe, feel your heartbeat... you need to open your eyes and wake up..."

To the sound of Professor Kris's soft whisper, they heard a faint heartbeat. Margaret's chest began to rise and fall, her eyelashes fluttered slightly... Her eyes opened—not spectral, but calm as the surface of a lake.

Lu Li asked the Merchant, Antoni, to bring a wheelchair.

Having had a similar experience, Lu Li knew how to avoid the symptoms of soul-body separation.

"Stay still while the glue takes effect, then get used to your newly recovered body," Professor Kris said. She took her wide-brimmed hat from the coat rack, and as she turned to leave, she addressed Lu Li.

"My dear, I have something else to attend to. When you leave with your little comrades, don't forget to help me tidy up the office."

Click—

The door closed, and an eerie silence fell over the alchemy office.

Lu Li broke the silence with a step; he began to tidy up the messy alchemy table.

Kiruet and the others watched, not even daring to help.

"Thank you."

Margaret's soft whisper brought the strange situation back to reality. Kiruet gently stroked her forehead.

"You're our comrade..."

Lu Li quickly cleaned the office, and they didn't linger. Once Margaret was able to move slowly, Kiruet lifted her and gently placed her in the wheelchair.

"We're going home."