Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 111 - 111 One hundred and eleven

111: One hundred and eleven.

Breaking the Formation 111: One hundred and eleven.

Breaking the Formation [Toward countless next stops, draw a long straight line——]

The screen lit up, displaying a call from Old Taoist Lu.

Halting his thoughts, Lu Li answered the phone.

“I’ve broken the Soul Attracting Formation, hurry out!

I can’t hold on much longer!”

As soon as the call connected, the old Taoist’s explosive shouting caused a ruckus.

“Broken?” Lu Li calmly walked into the piano room.

Old Taoist Lu was sitting crossed-legged on the floor, his backpack filled with ghost-hunting tools beside him, and a mysterious array drawn with cinnabar powder next to him.

Facing away from the door, he cursed into the phone, “Stop dawdling, come back to the piano here, you don’t have much…

time…”

The old Taoist strangely found his voice coming from beside him, turned his head in shock, and jumped.

“When did you…

How did you get out!?”

“The spirits let me out,” Lu Li replied.

“What…?” Old Taoist Lu was puzzled and confused.

Lu Li hung up the phone, walked to the piano, picked up a cold coffee, and drank it in one gulp: “It couldn’t beat me, just found an opportunity and chased me out.”

“Are they very weak?” Old Taoist Lu asked, remembering he was still clutching a magic decision, he shook and threw it from his hand, getting up from the ground.

“I only faced one of them; the family of three didn’t target me.”

“You’re really lucky, to enter the Soul Attracting Formation and come out unscathed,” Old Taoist Lu exclaimed, not targeting Lu Li anymore.

“Wait, I’ll break the formation now.

Hmm…

the array is too big, I can’t find the array’s key point, if we are lucky, it will be quick, if not…

it might take a few hours.”

“It doesn’t need to be so troublesome, I have a way,” Lu Li looked towards the door.

Old Taoist Lu realized, having entered the Soul Attracting Formation, that Lu Li knowing where the key point was not surprising.

Lu Li left the room, Old Taoist Lu packed up the tools on the ground, and followed with his backpack.

Following Lu Li to the second floor, they entered the study; he went to the bookshelf and picked up a book, flipping through it casually.

Could the key point be a book?

This overturned Old Taoist Lu’s attempts, but since the Soul Attracting Formation covered the entire house, a book as a key point seemed not so surprising after all.

Lost in thoughts, Old Taoist Lu saw Lu Li holding the book to the desk, picking up a lighter, and setting it on fire.

Old Taoist Lu nodded slightly; if the book was the key point, burning it was indeed easier and more convenient than tearing it.

The corner of this National Geographic magazine caught fire, Lu Li held it back to the bookshelf, and put it back in its place.

The rising flame gradually lit up Lu Li’s face.

The flickering light and shadow danced, his complexion was grim and fluctuating, but his eyes remained calm throughout.

In a moment of sudden enlightenment, Old Taoist Lu realized,

“You’re actually thinking of setting a fire!?”

Lu Li turned his head, his expression calm, “Then you can break the arrays one room at a time until you find the key point.”

The entire book burst into flame, the fire reaching several tens of centimeters high and spreading to the nearby books, moving to other areas.

With each house spaced over thirty meters apart, and surrounded by three-meter-high walls, the fire was unlikely to spread to the next, at most only blackening the exterior walls.

Old Taoist Lu had no words to reply; this was indeed the most time-efficient and effortless method.

However, Lu Li’s solution really made him…

“Lucky you chose this line of work; who knows what you would’ve done otherwise.”

Squinting sarcastically, Old Taoist Lu looked towards the fire spreading to the surrounding bookcases, sighed, and said, “Now we’re in a real mess, whether it looks like crap or not.

Being with you feels like I’ve encountered a run of bad luck.”

Lu Li no longer cared about the burning bookcase and turned to leave the study.

He went from room to room repeating the process, lighting curtains, firewood, clothing, and other flammables, retreating with Old Taoist Lu back to the courtyard.

By then the fire was fierce enough; flames rose from both floors, with thick smoke billowing into the sky.

“Someone will call the fire department, let’s go,”

Lu Li looked up at the house, withdrew his gaze, and walked towards the gate.

Behind him, the flames quietly devoured everything.

The Soul Attracting Array, traces of Lu Li and Old Taoist Lu, along with three bodies huddled together.

…

Before leaving, Old Taoist Lu still secretly made a call to the fire department.

He had shown his face at Song Hu’s house, and once the police investigated afterward, they could easily connect the fire to Old Taoist Lu.

Lu Li had also appeared, but he was fearless.

Some villagers, wrapped in clothes, were already standing in the street to watch the excitement.

Old Taoist Lu and Song Hu’s parents explained the situation and stealthily slipped into Lu Li’s car before the fire brigade arrived.

The car started and quietly left the roadside, heading towards Lingling City.

As they drove on the highway, faint voices could be heard inside the car.

“This isn’t the way back to Tiger Head Mountain.”

“I know.”

“You’re going to kill me to silence me!?”

“I’m going home.”

“Drop me off, don’t be so stingy, man.

Ever heard of respecting the elderly and loving the young?”

“Oh.”

“…Man, you scare me.

What will it take to convince you to take me back to Tiger Head Mountain!”

“I have some questions.”

“Don’t know!”

“I encountered a girl in ancient attire holding an umbrella in Ziyue Garden.

She didn’t have ghostly aura, but her presence was very dangerous.

She had previously killed a normal person and might have spared me because I was obedient.

Do you know what she is?”

“Hiss…I can’t decide if you’re unlucky or lucky.

Whether it’s that door, the umbrella girl, or the Soul Attracting Formation, all are deadly things to mess with, yet here you still stand in front of me talking.

That’s really strange.”

“So you know?”

“Can’t really say I know, just aware that there is such a thing wandering around Lingling City.

That thing of course doesn’t have ghostly aura because she is not a ghost, she is a monster.”

“Spirits and monsters, aren’t monsters supposed to exist only beyond the door?”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know, and I don’t dare to say.”

“Did she come from behind the door?”

“Probably…can we change the subject?

Old Taoist Lu here still wants to live a few more years.”

“Does she have a boyfriend?”

Old Taoist Lu looked in shock towards Lu Li in the driver’s seat.

Lu Li calmly met his gaze.

He didn’t mind employing a honey trap—if it could help him obtain more information and was to his advantage.

“Are you crazy?

You’d go after that?”

“She’s pretty good-looking.”

“I…

I’m actually at a loss for words.

Truly, the new waves push the old ones; each new wave more formidable than the last.”

“Second question, does metaphysics have a way to find people?”

“Who are you looking for?”

“My girlfriend, she has been missing for five years.”

“Hmm…Old Taoist Lu could give it a try.”

“Can you find her?”

“How would I know!

You think finding people is as easy as hunting ghosts?

Even for ghost hunting, I have to write a few talismans!

Turn left up ahead on the mountain, hey this is a shortcut.”

After the ghost house incident, the two, now much friendlier, made their way up to Tiger Head Mountain Taoist Temple and sneaked into Old Taoist Lu’s bedroom.

“I’ll now help you look for your lady, all you need to do is recall every little detail about her in your mind.”

Old Taoist Lu tossed a meditation cushion to Lu Li, then used cinnabar powder to draw an array around him, placing a copper basin in front of Lu Li.

Lu Li frowned slightly: “I might not remember clearly.”

“Then think of a past event, the clearer the better, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten everything—”

“Let’s start.”

Lu Li sat down on the meditation cushion and exhaled a breath of turbid air.