Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 207 - 207 Sixty-four

207: Sixty-four.

Cunning World 207: Sixty-four.

Cunning World Shadow Town was far from the bustle of Belfast—only the two bakeries on the street were open, though they were still cleaning up the troubles brought by the hurricane and had not yet prepared the dough.

It would be at least another half-hour before anything was put into the oven.

Returning to the tavern empty-handed, Lu Li found Little Jack, who had been awake for a while, possibly stirred by the sound of Lu Li leaving or perhaps the moisture seeping into the tavern.

He politely greeted Lu Li, rubbing his eyes as he pulled open a few curtains and then ran off to extinguish the oil lamp that had been burning all night.

Lu Li went back upstairs and pushed open the wooden door of his room.

“Back so soon?”

As soon as Lu Li returned to the tavern, Anna, who had secretly slipped back to the room upstairs, turned around and feigned surprise.

“Just a few seconds after you,” Lu Li replied.

Anna, straightforwardly exposed by Lu Li, felt a bit awkward and embarrassed, suddenly noticing that Lu Li was about to close the door and leave again.

“Eh?

Where are you going?”

“To feed the horse.”

Without caring whether Anna followed or not, Lu Li walked through the newly installed back door to the backyard, fed some hay and beans to the seemingly fine brown horse, and returned to the room.

“When are we going back?” Anna asked, supporting her chin with both hands and tilting her head in boredom.

She, who had initially been the most excited about the trip, now missed the Detective Agency.

And that statue, despite it never acknowledging her.

“After we buy the newspapers and food,” Lu Li said.

Lu Li glanced at the clock; it was just 6:10 am, only ten minutes had passed.

Then Anna saw Lu Li freeze, staring motionlessly at the clock.

Guessing something, Anna tentatively asked, “Did you see a vision again?”

Lu Li’s gaze moved upward, watching a vine that sprouted from the clock’s hands, growing longer and taller, passing through the ceiling.

After the vision dissipated, Lu Li nodded, “Hmm.”

“Why do I always feel like visions are an amusing thing for you…” Anna murmured quietly.

In fact, Lu Li did think so, as long as his Sanity Value didn’t drop.

Lu Li said no more, and Anna, quite accustomed to his silence, picked up a book of fables and began reading.

Time moved on, and after a while, footsteps approached from the corridor outside the door.

“Sir, a newsboy has come with the newspapers.”

Two minutes later, armed with three freshly baked newspapers, Lu Li returned upstairs and addressed Anna, whose had just appeared and hadn’t managed to pretend to read her book: “Prepare to go back.”

…

At the front of the tavern, Little Jack, standing on tiptoes, fitted the reins over the brown horse, then checked the connection between the horse and the carriage to ensure it was secure, and stood up: “All set, sir.”

Lu Li nodded, placed his backpack in the carriage, and climbed aboard.

Under the regretful gaze of the tavern owner, he pulled the reins and slowly left the front of the tavern.

“We are going back!”

The weird and troublesome journey finally ending, Anna was somewhat excited, her aristocratic manners nearly invisible at this point.

Before leaving Shadow Town, the carriage briefly stopped outside a bakery, where Lu Li got down to buy five pounds of bread, returning to the carriage with a leather bag and an umbrella.

Anna looked at Lu Li with disbelief because…Lu Li had just been bargaining!

When Lu Li said, “Could it be cheaper?” his silent and stern image collapsed in Anna’s mind.

Consequently, as Lu Li climbed back aboard and pulled the reins, Anna couldn’t resist pinching Lu Li’s cheek.

“…?”

His still calm dark eyes looked back, puzzled.

“Cough cough…

I want to see if you are the real Lu Li,” Anna, realizing what she had just done, coughed lightly and feigned calmness as she spoke.

“You mean bargaining?”

Anna, sitting in the carriage, nodded behind the curtain, realizing that Lu Li couldn’t see her and said, “Could it be that the bread prices are too high?”

“It’s just to save money.”

“Eh…” Anna dragged her voice, unable to understand.

“Are we running out of money?”

“We still have some.”

“Then why do we need to save money?”

Anna’s thoughts basically overlapped with what Lu Li had thought the day before: money wasn’t important.

Lu Li paused briefly, not turning his head as he replied, “Because of some things.”

He didn’t intend to hide anything from Anna, although explaining was troublesome.

Lu Li then told her his speculation after seeing the airship: the world was becoming increasingly dangerous.

This was discernible.

A few months before Lu Li’s arrival, the night disasters had begun, followed by bizarre and terrifying events occurring frequently.

Places far from human settlements were becoming more and more dangerous, plants were no longer growing, and the sun was showing itself less often—

The people in this world were experiencing a situation like the boiling frog.

The difference was, frogs knew they could jump out when the water got hot; people did not know, and those who did couldn’t escape.

The more frequent and closer to humans the strange appearances became, the more severely the world was being consumed.

“It can’t be that bad…”

Anna couldn’t believe that a plot one might find in a novel could happen in real life, but she couldn’t refute Lu Li’s speculation either; his words were nearly flawless—it was indeed visibly becoming darker.

Anna, struggling to accept this, bowed her head and remained silent.

Lu Li didn’t comfort her.

He was the type who would bluntly tell a dying person, “You’re about to die, you’d better find a suitable burial site and tombstone,” without caring whether others could accept it or not.

“But it might not be that bad, right!”

Suddenly, Anna lifted her head, her eyes filled with hope, and asked.

Lu Li’s voice was neutral: “Yes, this is just my speculation.

But having foreseen it, we must prepare everything in advance.”

Anna clenched her fists quietly: “So, what are we going to do next?”

“We must quickly find a solution to the door and the Blood-Colored Tentacles, then prepare a sufficiently safe dwelling and enough supplies for survival.”

Lu Li wouldn’t place all hopes on the elusive Richard.

He planned to make contact with the mystical forces in the world after returning to Belfast: the Night Watch and the Investigators.

Among the Night Watch, he knew Joel and his flashlight was suspected to be an Investigator’s token.

The remaining Demon Slayers, Lu Li hadn’t yet encountered; perhaps he could ask Hades if he knew anything.

The rain continued heavily, but without the wind, it was much milder—a mere umbrella was enough to stay dry.

As the carriage left Shadow Town, Lu Li let go of the reins and climbed back inside.

Lu Li forgot to fill the kettle with hot water, which would have warmed his icy hands for at least ten minutes.

In the early morning outdoors, it was only a few degrees, or even lower.

The rain falling on him rapidly took away what little warmth his body had.

If such cold had occurred during last night’s storm, Lu Li might not have returned to Shadow Town unscathed.

Previously buoyed by the excitement of heading home, Anna was thinking of something, but Lu Li withdrew his gaze from her and spread out the three newspapers he had bought on the creaking board in front of him.

The Arlen Principality Gazette, The Walson Post, The Daily News

The three newspapers each corroborated Lu Li’s grim predictions from different angles.