Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 166 - 166 Twenty-three

166: Twenty-three.

12:00~14:00 166: Twenty-three.

12:00~14:00 Don’t look back!!!

Don’t look back!!!

Don’t look back!!!

Crimson blood-red slogans appeared beneath every step.

These ominous, darkly colored repeated phrases seemed to warn those who trespassed here.

While descending, due to the angle, one could not see the warnings under the steps, but when standing below and looking up, they were all in plain view.

Lu Li drew out the Spirit-Calling Gun, and a profoundly disturbing, sinister aura appeared deep above the steps.

The Spirit-Calling Gun’s senses told Lu Li that something was lurking above.

The route back was no longer an option, and below, the sounds of laughter were rapidly approaching, as though there were no way out.

Should I not listen to them…

Lu Li remembered the warnings plastered across the walls, musing thoughtfully.

Teeheeheehee—

The laughter from below gradually became clearer, Lu Li couldn’t be sure if the warnings were true, but with something from below slowly approaching, he had no choice.

Lu Li took a deep breath, released the flintlock pistol, and raised his hands to cover his ears.

The sound was muffled by his palms, leaving only faint, indistinct noises slowly approaching from below.

After a dozen seconds, a bizarre, dense black mist swirled into view at the end of the staircase below.

The mist was murky like blood.

Rustle rustle rustle rustle—

Amidst relative silence, the black mist moved upstairs, shifting its form, stable yet eerie.

As it moved up the steps, unavoidable sounds began to penetrate his ears, and Lu Li had to rub his palms, creating noise to drown out the sounds emitted by the mist.

Most of the laughter was blocked, but some sounds inevitably crept into his ears—faint screams, or perhaps auditory hallucinations.

Lu Li now pressed against the warm, blood-colored walls, completely holding his breath, his chest no longer moving, minimizing his presence.

Under Lu Li’s gaze, the strange dense black mist drifted past him without stopping, then continued to move upward.

The noise began to fade, the screams quickly becoming faint and then completely disappearing.

The black mist, upon reaching floor 1230 above, abruptly vanished around the corner.

Lu Li’s chest began to rise and fall again, resuming his breathing.

The air in the bloody staircase had neither the smell of blood nor any foul odor, and did not even make one feel cold.

As the noise moved away

In the extreme silence, only the warm wind blowing up from the deep staircase and the hardly perceptible sound of a heartbeat remained.

He had temporarily escaped trouble.

Lu Li furrowed his brow slightly, gripping the Spirit-Calling Gun again, and looked up at the stairs he had come from.

The ominous premonition lingered, that sinister feeling still had not dissipated.

No turning back, could I only continue downward…

How many more steps are there below, where do they lead, or is there no end at all…

Lu Li composed himself and began to move down the stairs.

He didn’t intentionally step down one step and then step back up, as such testing was pointless and extremely risky.

Tap—tap—tap—

Crisp footsteps echoed in the deathly quiet staircase; reaching floor 1300, Lu Li did not stop and turned to continue downward.

By depth, he was now about twenty meters below the ground.

The situation he faced was completely abnormal.

Put differently, Lu Li was dealing with some kind of anomaly.

Lu Li had no way back, nor could he retreat.

For him, two meters below ground and twenty meters below ground, or even two hundred meters were not much different.

They were all depths that could instantly bring about his death.

After completing another flight of stairs, as expected, the number on the wall at the end changed to 1330.

That was one-thirty in the afternoon.

As it neared 1:00 PM, Lu Li encountered what the signs labeled as the “laughter,” that mass of black fog.

So, now that it was close to 1:00 PM, would the “children” mentioned on the wall make their appearance?

And staying overnight might refer to later on, further down the floors.

The signs on the walls, like the time, made Lu Li realize something.

If he followed the clues downward, it was likely that the “children” mentioned in the hints would soon appear, perhaps around 1:30 PM…

Thinking this, Lu Li walked to the platform at 1:30 PM.

Nothing happened.

…or perhaps at 2:00 PM.

The blood-red walls bore no new signs, yet the three clues Lu Li had pieced together at the start were now worn and fragmented.

Even though Lu Li had his answer, this was not a good omen.

It was like a puzzle game escalating from easy to medium difficulty.

This meant that his journey ahead would probably offer fewer hints and more fragmented clues.

Continuing downward, Lu Li reached the platform between 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM.

His gaze fell below, where a form began to take shape before his eyes.

Unexpected yet expected: an ordinary wooden door appeared in the wall corner at the 2:00 PM level.

This floor didn’t give Lu Li much time to breathe or react.

As soon as he paused, the next moment, the door swung open.

Children dressed in colorful clothes rushed out from behind the door, bouncing upstairs.

Their target was Lu Li.

They were not ordinary children.

These child-shaped…

creatures had features twisted together—some with eyes on their foreheads, others with noses on their chins—but uniformly, each face bore four to five mouths.

Any normal person seeing them would uncontrollably feel nauseous and dizzy.

At that moment, they ran up to Lu Li, and the four or five mouths on their faces all spoke at once.

“Let’s go, let’s go out and play~”

“We’re going to the slides, and to play hide and seek~”

“My mom just bought a new comic book.”

“I’ll treat you to some snacks.”

The chattering surrounded his ears; they grabbed Lu Li’s hands, tugged at his clothes, and pushed him from behind.

“You go ahead, I still have things to do.”

Lu Li, following the tips, tried to refuse, but as he realized he was powerless to resist being dragged down the stairs, his dark pupils contracted.

They jostled Lu Li, their faces jabbering incessantly, as if surrounded by dozens of people, completely ignoring Lu Li’s resistance.

Having descended most of the steps, Lu Li saw brilliant sunshine from behind the door, laughter, and a warm breeze carrying the scent of fresh grass.

The world beyond the door was no longer the agitating, unsettling blood-red; this contrast made it very easy to be half-pushed, half-willing to enter.

“Come on, you haven’t played with us for days.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll let you play with my game console.”

“Everyone’s waiting for you~”

Lu Li appeared like a small boy eager to go out and play, yet conflicted because he hadn’t finished his homework, ambivalently stepping out at his friends’ urging.

The four or five children pushed Lu Li down the stairs.

The door grew closer and the dazzling white light behind it was intoxicating.

As Lu Li approached the door, getting close enough to touch it, suddenly—

His right hand shot out, grabbing the nearby wooden door, and slammed it shut!

Bang!

The airflow stirred, the noise instantly vanished.

The phantoms of the children around him dissolved into nothingness.