Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 119 - 119 One hundred nineteen

119: One hundred nineteen.

Strategic Retreat 119: One hundred nineteen.

Strategic Retreat Yang Chunxue couldn’t understand why Lu Li cared so much about the truth.

Just like Lu Li couldn’t understand why people were afraid of ghosts.

Yang Chunxue kept shaking her head, resisting taking the bag that was handed to her.

Lu Li didn’t care, he casually threw it forward, seeming to not care at all about the exceedingly precious Ghost Envoy Manual.

The moment the bag was about to fall into the water, it suddenly paused in midair.

Controlling the Yin energy to grasp the bag, Yang Chunxue’s eyebrows shot up, ready to burst out, but she saw that Lu Li had already turned around, stepping on water towards that door.

“Wait a minute!”

Yang Chunxue’s heart was urgent, almost subconsciously stretching out her hand to grab Lu Li’s palm.

With the warmth of his touch, Yang Chunxue froze, staring down at the two hands holding each other.

“I touched you…?”

Her mind went blank, staying frozen in position.

Lu Li watched her quietly: “What do you want to say?”

“Ah…

I was wondering if I could take a look at the Jade Pendant?” As if burned by his palm, Yang Chunxue quickly let go, and said with a slight composure, “You told me the story of the door, you said it’s always been luring you inside, using various illusions…”

Lu Li was slightly startled, as if he had thought of something.

“Then is there a possibility that the Jade Pendant was affected by it, or to say in your vision…

it was influenced.”

Lu Li extended his hand silently, palm facing up, open.

A wisp of Yin energy twirled the Jade Pendant, and it floated shakily in front of Yang Chunxue.

“Indeed…”

Yang Chunxue sighed helplessly, pointing it out to Lu Li with fear, “What I see here is a water mark pointing diagonally behind us, almost in the direction we came from.

In other words—”

She looked at Lu Li with eyes that said “even you, a mere mortal, can make mistakes.”

“The door has dug another hole, and you almost jumped into it.”

Silent and reserved, with peculiar behavior, prudent in actions, sleeping while sitting, physically exorcising ghosts, and adorably tilting his head.

These were the labels Yang Chunxue secretly assigned to Lu Li.

Ignoring the last three somewhat odd terms, the first three could represent most people’s impression of Lu Li.

And yet such a rational person could also have impulsive moments.

Yang Chunxue hardly dared to think what would happen if Lu Li entered the door…

At least he wouldn’t be able to find Liu Wenwei inside.

In the underground passage filled with the clamor of rushing water, Lu Li was silent for a while, his aura scattered in an instant, as if he had let go of something.

“You’re right.”

In the midst of the conversation between the human and the ghost, unnoticed by either, a pitch-black ghost claw extended from behind the door, spreading along the bottom of the water.

It twisted and deformed, stretching towards Lu Li not far away.

Faint whispers nearly indistinguishable from the sound of the water arose nearby, dissolved by the water, or perhaps never there at all.

Finally giving up, Yang Chunxue breathed a sigh of relief, looking at his face with pity.

Biting her lip, she decisively said, “How about this, I’ll go in and see what’s actually inside.”

“No need, we no longer have a reason to go in.”

Lu Li turned towards the wall, the wet, damp wall reflecting a sheen of light, with a slight red bloodstain barely visible on it.

“Someone has been here and got injured.

They might have tried to enter this door or to close it, whichever it might be…

they failed.”

Lu Li turned his head, his expression still calm, but something less than a moment ago.

“Let’s go back.”

Picking up the bag suspended in midair, Lu Li waded through the water, heading back the way he came.

In the chilly underwater depths, the pitch-black ghost claw inching close to Lu Li’s shoes slowly retracted behind the door.

The fading voices of the human and the ghost conversing intermingled with the sound of the flowing water.

“Hmph, you say you’re only interested in the answer, but you still care about that woman.”

“Are you jealous?”

“No!”

…

Slap—

“Do you realize what you’ve done wrong?”

The stapler slammed down on the table, ringing out crisply.

From the bedroom, lying in bed watching TV dramas and applying a facial mask, Kong Nanqing curiously turned her gaze toward the living room.

Lu Li sat in the executive chair, while Yang Chunxue leaned on the table with both hands, settling accounts after the fact.

“I do,” Lu Li answered.

“What did you do wrong?”

“The error wasn’t mine.”

“???” Faced with such a uniquely independent way of admitting fault, Yang Chunxue was shocked.

Lu Li seemed to have regained his usual rationality.

He pointed at his temple and calmly replied, “A door can affect my vision and likewise can affect my emotions.

I don’t deny the urgency I felt in searching for Liu Wenwei, but I would not lose my senses.”

“All I could light was a candle, and the door poured a cup of alcohol on it.

In such a situation, I couldn’t distinguish whether what awaited me was the answer or a trap.”

“…?”

To be honest, Yang Chunxue didn’t quite understand Lu Li’s defense, but it didn’t prevent her from continuing her words.

Slap—

Acting like a gavel, the stapler hit the surface once more.

“So, would you dare to do it again next time?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Lu Li replied.

“I am greatly relieved to see you have this realization,” Yang Chunxue said, her mind instantly clearing, and without another word, she dropped the issue with a few huffs and puffs.

“That…

If you want to find that woman, I can help you.

You can’t see the right arrow, but I can.”

“It’s not necessary for now.”

“Eh?

You’re not in a hurry anymore?”

“The more impatient I am, the more I need to remain calm.

And this matter has reminded me that without sufficient self-protection, I might not last until the moment I find the truth.”

The door spares no one, and Lu Li had almost fallen victim to it twice recently.

He was no longer sure how many more times he could endure.

The Intuition Atlas had not issued a warning from beginning to end.

This suggests two possibilities: either the door’s attack this time bypassed intuitive perception, or the door’s attack exceeded the range of intuitive perception.

The former possibility was significant.

Because this time, the door had only altered the Spiritual Guide, which was difficult to detect.

“So, what are you planning to do?”

“Lay low and wait for the symposium two weeks from now,” Lu Li answered frankly.

The more things one came into contact with, the more dangerous it was.

Before following the direction indicated by the Spiritual Guide, Lu Li intended to improve his abilities last time to prepare for the upcoming metaphysical symposium.

It was time to help the Birth Difficulty Ghost at Xishan Gallery find her deliverance.

“Promise me that you won’t risk your life like that again, okay?”

A gentle voice suddenly rang in his ear, and Yang Chunxue’s bright eyes softened with a hint of tenderness as she quietly watched Lu Li.

[Drawing a long, straight line toward the countless next stops—]

At that moment, the phone rang, and Lu Li temporarily answered.

“This morning, our city’s police received a report of a white Xiali car rampaging through downtown—I reckon our Lingling is the only person who has that junk car.”

Lu Li replied indifferently, “The brakes failed.

The car wouldn’t stop.”

“Really?”

“What do you think?”

“Ahaha…

Alright, I got it.

But the traffic police have already written the ticket, remember to pay the fine when you have time.”

“I will,” he said.

The call had already ended; that ‘I will’ was said to Yang Chunxue.

Yang Chunxue’s expression turned a bit unnatural as she turned her head away.

It wasn’t shyness, but an effort to restrain herself.

She had intended to follow up with a sentence like “It wouldn’t be a big deal if you died, just don’t drag me down with you,” and give Lu Li a dose of poisonous chicken soup!