Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 101 - 101 One hundred and one

101: One hundred and one.

The girl under the umbrella 101: One hundred and one.

The girl under the umbrella “Why aren’t any of you shooting?”

Yang Chunxue complained loudly to her teammates on the screen.

It seemed she had a regular group of players she gamed with every afternoon.

However, they would never know the true nature of their gaming companion—

Wrapped in a blanket, Kong Nanqing watched a TV drama, with a box of tissues ready by her side.

Of course, she couldn’t cry, these were habits from when she was alive.

Each ghost was preoccupied with their own amusement, in harmony.

Lu Li sat at his desk as usual, seemingly deep in thought.

The old Taoist’s claim that spirits lose consciousness over time might be true; the ghosts at the graveyard in Shanjiao Village had proven this point.

Lu Li wasn’t particularly worried; with the Ghost Envoy Manual, Yang Chunxue had no reason to be able to hurt him.

Although Kong Nanqing was free, even if she lost her consciousness and a malevolent spirit awakened, Lu Li had the power to contend with her.

His concern was that Yang Chunxue would gradually lose consciousness.

She was already displaying quite an emotional temperament.

Glancing away from the bedroom, Lu Li had no immediate solution to this problem and could only hope that Yang Chunxue would persist on her own.

With half a month remaining until the Metaphysics and Cultural Exchange, Lu Li planned to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the omnipresent hunt for the door.

It might not be effective, but it should have some effect.

However, there’s a saying: the only purpose of a plan is to be changed.

Approaching the afternoon, Kong Nanqing went to the living room to talk to Lu Li, wanting to retrieve some items from her rented house.

Although the room was severely burnt, Kong Nanqing had preserved some relatively intact items as mementos after her death.

Lu Li considered something.

Perhaps a sufficient amount of memories could help a ghost maintain clarity?

If so, he needed to make a trip.

“Kong Nanqing, you stay here.

Exorcists are looking for you, don’t wander around just in case.”

After giving instructions, Lu Li left Shen Yuqiao to watch the Detective Agency and himself headed out the door.

“I’m too lazy to move, I’ll wait in the Ghost Envoy Manual for your return, hurry up,” mumbled a dispirited Yang Chunxue, who had just lost a game, as she crawled into the Ghost Envoy Manual.

Lu Li drove alone, and as he neared the gate of Ziyue Garden, his path was obstructed by a police line.

Amidst the familiar flash of red and blue lights in the rain, a dozen figures with umbrellas gathered in front of the police line, conversing in low voices.

Mixed with the sound of the rain, murmured conversations drifted in through the open car window.

Apparently, a resident had found a half-body corpse near a garbage bin.

The body was covered with bite marks, as if gnawed by a wild beast, but the upper half was missing and might not be found.

Sitting quietly in the car, Lu Li watched the busy policemen under the rain.

Seeing no familiar faces, he dropped the idea of inquiring.

While musing, the surrounding light suddenly dimmed, and a figure stood in front of his car window, holding a wide pink umbrella.

“Sir, do you need an umbrella?” A crisp voice, like jade beads falling onto a silver plate, asked Lu Li.

The pink umbrella was tilted low, hiding most of the face, revealing only a section of snowy chin and bright red lips.

Dressed in an ancient white robe, she was adorned in traditional attire.

Lu Li’s body tensed for a moment, his right hand reaching for the knife sheath, lightly pulling it open.

“I have an umbrella.”

The girl under the umbrella rotated her oiled umbrella lightly, “It’s better if I accompany you.

See, my umbrella is quite large.”

“…Thank you,” Lu Li said after a brief silence, unable to refuse as he stepped out of the car to stand under the umbrella, “I need to go to building three, thank you for the trouble.”

His right hand always stayed close to the waistband of his trousers.

He turned his head to look at the girl’s profile.

With bright eyes and white teeth, her snowy face was stunning, as if she had stepped out of a painting.

In the misty rain, she seemed even more softly radiant.

“Don’t mention it, but no matter what, don’t look up,” the girl said softly, her verdant fingers lightly covering her red lips.

“What would happen if I did?” Lu Li asked.

Those red lips, hidden by her fingers, curled into a beautiful smile as she replied with a chuckle, “You might get eaten up.”

Lu Li said no more, walking shoulder to shoulder with the girl, bypassing the blocked main gate and entering the residential area through the side door.

The garden path, shrouded in a misty drizzle, with a man and woman shoulder to shoulder under an umbrella.

To onlookers, it might seem rather romantic—but the people involved wouldn’t think so.

Suddenly, a faint chewing sound seemed to come from above, like the grinding of teeth.

“Don’t look up, okay?” the girl said softly.

“I know,” Lu Li replied.

They walked the short distance as if on thin ice.

At last, the three buildings were only a step away.

In front of the gloomy corridor, Lu Li took a step forward, leaving the coverage of the red umbrella.

“Thank you for walking me here,” Lu Li turned his head and calmly thanked her.

The girl lifted a corner of her skirt, chuckled lightly, and bowed slightly.

She lifted her face and watched as Lu Li, without looking up, climbed the stairs and disappeared from view.

“He’s gone.”

The red lips under the umbrella moved slightly, a voice tinged with a hint of regret spoke.

“What a pity, I thought I would have a feast today.”

Gurgle gurgle—

A thunderous solitary cry rose from beneath the umbrella, as the writhing mouthparts taking up all the space under it rubbed together, and dark green mucus dripped down…

…

Lu Li didn’t stop until he reached the third floor and went straight into room 302.

Thud.

With the door shut and his back against the security door, Lu Li felt the danger receding and his expression grew solemn.

Could there really be such a terrifying existence in Lingling City?

And it was bold enough to kill recklessly in broad daylight…

From the beginning to the end, Lu Li hadn’t sensed any yin energy from the girl, but that hair-raising sense of crisis had surrounded him since the girl with the umbrella appeared.

His intuition was warning him.

If he refused, if he resisted… he would die.

The scorched room was quiet.

Stepping over debris on the floor, Lu Li went to the bedroom and stood beside the windowless window.

Outside, through the hazy curtain of rain, red and blue police lights twinkled at the entrance, with vague shadows and a slight uproar barely discernible.

His gaze swept over the whole complex, and the girl with the umbrella had disappeared without a trace.

Leaving the bedroom, Lu Li returned to the living room and approached the charred refrigerator.

He opened the door, and a patch of white blinked strikingly in the dark surroundings.

Whoosh—

Lu Li took out a plastic bag of miscellaneous items hidden in the refrigerator.

He had no interest in prying into Kong Nanqing’s privacy, so he prepared to leave after closing the door.

Suddenly, the plastic bag felt lighter as several objects fell out through a torn hole at the bottom.

Lu Li put all the items back into the plastic bag one by one: a strangely styled pink microphone, a doll, and a photo frame.

Picking up the photo frame, Lu Li paused, his gaze inevitably falling on the photograph.

The photograph was a group shot.

Kong Nanqing and her colleagues appeared in the picture.

She stood in the center, her figure elegant, makeup exquisite, and demeanor professional.

Lu Li’s entire impression of Kong Nanqing’s living image came from her company ID photo, but she looked far more beautiful in this picture than in her ID.

Pausing briefly at Kong Nanqing’s form, Lu Li suddenly looked toward a young man in the corner, wearing a plaid shirt.

The young man wore a watch, a ladies’ watch.

And coincidentally,

Lu Li’s missing girlfriend, she too wore such a watch.