Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 149 - 149 Auditory hallucinations visual hallucinations

149: Auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations 149: Auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations The damp, gloomy basement.

The walls reflected the light of the gas lamps, and the moans echoed in the ears.

The stretchers were lined up behind the iron bars, where over a dozen figures were strapped in, some screaming hoarsely, others muttering whispers, and yet others laughing idiotically.

The majority of these patients were in police uniforms, along with a few medical staff.

The officers caring for them stuffed cotton in their ears to block the insane babblings from entering.

In such an overwhelmingly chaotic outcry, it was hard to focus and listen to what any one patient was saying.

“Why have they turned out like this?” Lu Li asked.

He saw a familiar face among the hospital beds: Officer Vinson.

That night at the asylum, he was still complaining to Lu Li about how things were getting progressively worse.

“They found something in the asylum; everyone who touched it or even saw it went mad,” Joel pointed towards a bed where the figure was convulsing violently, like someone with epilepsy.

“That’s Sheriff Eriks, the poor guy just glanced at it.”

That’s why they were received by Deputy Sheriff Valentine.

“What was it they saw?” Valentine asked quietly, afraid to breathe too loud.

Joel glanced sideways, “I told you, everyone who came into contact with it is inside here.

Unless you find a way to restore their sanity so they can speak.”

“Will they recover?”

“Their minds have collapsed; in other words, their Sanity Value no longer applies or has been reset to zero, and there is almost no chance they can regain consciousness.”

Lu Li remained silent.

He had tried his best to estimate the dangers of this world, but he had still underestimated it—simply glimpsing it could drive one mad, which was nearly unavoidable.

“Don’t feel too sad—most of the insane don’t live long,” Joel, assuming Lu Li’s silence was a sign of pity for these patients, shook his head as if he had seen too much of it: “They won’t eat, and over time, they will grow weaker.

Those who scream and shout will die first, followed by those who struggle and thrash about, and at last, the relatively silent ones.”

“Where is that thing?”

Joel’s face darkened: “It’s lost.

So I stayed here to handle these problems, while the rest of the team went after the guy.”

“Was it Richard’s doing?”

“No one else would think to steal it,” Joel looked at Lu Li.

“Have you figured anything out?”

Lu Li didn’t answer directly but asked calmly, “I still have some questions, like why Richard isn’t affected after touching that thing.”

“Maybe he has a way to be immune to the chaos?

I don’t know.”

“When did they start going mad exactly, right after touching that thing or sometime later?”

Since the incident at the asylum had already been days ago.

“Let Valentine tell you about it.”

Joel waved his hand indifferently, as if he was tired of explaining, and both he and Lu Li turned to look at Valentine.

“Uh…” Deputy Sheriff Valentine froze, hesitated several times to speak but didn’t manage to say much.

Just as lying inside was Sheriff Eriks and not Deputy Sheriff Valentine, this cowardly deputy sheriff saved his own life due to his cowardly nature.

Having narrowly escaped, Valentine naturally wouldn’t dive back into this firetrap.

Without Night Watchman Joel’s appearance, he wouldn’t even have come down to check on his subordinates.

Joel sensed something, but said nothing, instead waving to a police officer caring for a patient inside the iron bars.

Perhaps he thought Valentine was the type of clever person who would be most likely to survive until the end.

The personnel caring for the patients had already noticed the Deputy Chief with two gentlemen, and following Joel’s gesture, one of them temporarily put down the wooden bowl for feeding and unlocked the iron gate to stand before the three men.

Joel pointed to his ear, “My Nikola Counter isn’t showing any abnormalities, you can remove whatever’s stuffing your ears.”

The staff member couldn’t hear what Joel was saying, but that did not stop him from understanding the gesture.

He hesitated for a moment before removing the cotton from his ears, then grimaced in pain from the piercing cries.

“Shall we talk somewhere else?” Joel asked, his gaze turning to Lu Li.

“This is fine.” The environment did not affect Lu Li’s thinking.

Joel nodded and shouted towards Lu Li, “This friend wants to know about their descent into madness.”

The staff member nodded and loudly began to recount what happened after that night.

Vinson and the others initially had no problems after they came into contact with that item, which is why Chief Eriks was among them—they still did not know what it meant for them to have touched the item.

This eerie calm did not last long, as Vinson and the others began to demonstrate abnormalities.

They started by hearing whispers in their ears, each person hearing something different.

Some heard two people arguing, and then more voices joined the arguments.

Others heard prayers that increasingly multiplied.

Some heard someone talking to them, and the number of voices only grew.

Without exception, their condition worsened over time.

After a day, these people began to experience hallucinations.

Some saw something descending from gloomy clouds, others saw many bizarre, black apparitions wandering around them, and some saw an endlessly descending staircase that seemed to lead straight to the underworld.

At this point, both the individuals themselves and those around them became aware of their abnormalities.

Chief Eriks was the last to come into contact with it, and this time difference allowed him to remain sane while the others went mad.

Realizing the source of the trouble, Eriks, in his final moments of clarity, forbade everyone from touching the item, locked up all those who had experienced hallucinations including himself in the basement, and left the Deputy Chief in charge of everything at the police station,

Subsequently, as Lu Li knew, the Deputy Chief Valentine contacted the Night Watchman, and the item was stolen by Richard.

After finishing his account, the staff member re-stuffed his ears and returned to his duties behind the iron bars.

Joel looked at Lu Li, deep in thought, waiting for his judgment.

“You can keep an eye on residents who disappeared recently,” Lu Li said.

Joel thoughtfully asked, “Do you think Richard will continue?”

“He is a madman with a mindset different from ordinary people; since he dared to break into the police station to steal, he won’t just hide like ordinary people would.

He will continue—”

Here, Lu Li paused briefly and asked, “Could I take a look at the missing persons files you’ve compiled?”

Joel tilted his head, “Deputy Chief, give him a copy of your files.”

“I’ll go fetch them!”

Valentine, already regretting his decision to follow, hurriedly said and turned to leave the basement.

Upon leaving the dark, oppressive basement, Valentine felt a relief wash over him, and he waved over a subordinate.

“Bring me the list of missing persons from the asylum incident.”