Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 223 - 223 Eighty

223: Eighty.

Ghost Prison 223: Eighty.

Ghost Prison “`”‘What is your definition of a human?’ Yesterday, when Old Pique and Old Ryan asked you this question, your answer was ‘Having a sense of identification with humanity,’ after that, you uncovered a flaw in the test and ended the questioning—I’m very interested in what came after, would you mind talking about it?”

Tesla had already known about all of Lu Li’s performance and responses that day, which was one of the reasons he held Lu Li in high regard.

“That’s all there was to it, just the literal meaning of that sentence,” Lu Li said succinctly.

“You mean ‘Having a sense of identification with humanity’?”

“Yes.”

“That’s too broad, you need to be more specific.

For example, is a being who becomes a ghost after death considered human?

Or an Evil God who has been resurrected through sacrifice and believes itself to be human, is that considered human?

Or Followers who possess human memories or thoughts, are they considered human?”

“What are Followers?”

Lu Li did not miss a chance to gain knowledge.

“Evil God’s Followers or servants.

You see, Evil Gods are born from certain sacrifices or actions similar to sacrifices.

Those who believe in them and those who are close to them might uncontrollably transform as a result of the birth of the Evil God.

Some retain human intelligence and thought, while others degenerate into beasts, largely depending on what kind of Evil God they worship…

Anyway, there are too many types of these Followers and servant races for me to list all the examples,” Tesla explained generously.

His answer made Lu Li think of some beings he had encountered in the Shadow Swamp.

A family of four, Six-legged Savages, a female corpse merged with a Banyan Tree—had they all once lived as ordinary humans?

Coming out of his thoughts, Lu Li nodded to Tesla, who was waiting for his response: “Yes, broadly speaking, I believe they are human.”

“That’s wonderful,” Tesla said with undisguised admiration.

“That’s why there’s a Miss Ghost following you.”

Lu Li’s dark pupils contracted as he scanned his surroundings, “She’s here?”

“No, no, not at all.

I was just referring to the information we have gathered, that you have a ghost assistant.”

Lu Li nodded and then asked, “Is the relationship between Exorcists, Demon Slayers, investigators, watchmen, and ghosts very poor now?”

Tesla laughed gently and replied, “You don’t need to list them all…

Just call them all Exorcists.

If you encounter any of the aforementioned four types without a confirmed identity, you can directly address them as Exorcists.”

“As for your question…

yes, most Exorcists are quite hostile towards ghosts, having complex feelings about them.

It’s that kind of emotion where you totally despise them but find it hard to take action because, after all, many ghosts think no differently from the living.”

“But however complex it gets, when they encounter ghosts, they still mercilessly perform exorcisms and refrain from any unnecessary communication with ghosts.

Only a small number of people sympathize and pity the ghosts.

They selectively let go of some harmless ones, and for those who harbor ill will towards humans, they treat them just as they would human criminals, locking them up in prison.”

“Locked up in a prison?”

That sounded like some kind of joke.

Tesla seemed to think so too, chuckling, “It does sound a bit funny, doesn’t it?

The idea is…

it’s…

sorry, I forgot the name of this first-generation Demon Slayer predecessor.

I only know his name was so long it would fill up an entire line in a book.”

Tesla could fill many lines with his talk, but Lu Li needed his loquaciousness.

The more Tesla spoke, the more Lu Li learned.

“This long-named first-generation Demon Slayer, like Isaac, was focused on studying evil spirits.

After finding that souls couldn’t penetrate a certain special stone material excavated from the deep sea, he began to ponder the possibility of imprisoning and binding evil spirits.

And then, he just did that.”

“Of course, the final result wasn’t a success, or else, hundreds of years later, you and I might not have become Exorcists.

The evil spirits ignored the properties of the stone material, but the research wasn’t a complete failure because he found that ghosts and some resentful spirits could neither pass through the stone material nor damage it.

So, he shifted his research from binding evil spirits to binding ghosts.”

“Back then, the overall situation of the world was still quite normal.

Apart from ghosts and a few Evil Gods, the overall scenario was one where Demon Slayers had the upper hand over ghosts.

Most people thought it was pointless to prepare a prison for ghosts.

Why bother going through the trouble of building a prison when a silver-plated bullet would deal with the issue?

However, the Ghost Prison was still built, with the help of some Demon Slayers and politicians who were friendly toward ghosts.

The main reason was that this kind of stone was easy to obtain at that time—some even used it to build houses, sorry, I’m going off on a tangent again.

After that, the Demon Slayers, out of pity or for fun, started tossing ghosts into the prison.”

“Don’t they attack each other?”

“They do, but the prison doesn’t allow them to gather together.

You can think of it as…

individual cells.”

“Who guards the prison?”

“An evil spirit.”

“…So it was the first-generation Demon Slayers who did it,” Lu Li said, roughly figuring out the direction.

The first-generation Demon Slayers were adept at using and studying ghosts.

In other words, they treated ghosts as materials, like wood, stone, or water, to be utilized.

“Right.

It was an era full of ingenious ideas.”

“They introduced a Devouring Evil Thoughts, an evil spirit that would appear in places filled with malevolent emotions, into the prison.

With it present, the evil thoughts of the ghosts in the prison would be consumed, preventing them from growing stronger.”

“What if the Devouring Evil Thoughts leaves?” Lu Li asked.

“That place has had several hundred, even thousands, of ghosts locked up over a few hundred years.

Although a portion of them have dissipated on their own over such a long time, and no new ‘inmates’ have been added to the prison in recent decades, at least about a thousand are left.

A thousand ghosts crammed into a prison with only a two to three hundred meter perimeter—how could it possibly leave?”

Lu Li still didn’t think it was a good idea, but fortunately, it wasn’t much of his concern.

“I have some news that might surprise you,” said Tesla mysteriously.

“That prison is in Belfast.”

This time, Lu Li couldn’t avoid being involved if he tried.

“It sounds like digging a hole in the sand at low tide and burying oneself,” Lu Li said expressionlessly.

Tesla, pinching his beard, comforted, “Don’t worry, the prison was built by the first-generation Demon Slayers.

It’s very sturdy and safe.”

A sense of foreboding grew stronger in Lu Li’s heart.

He had a feeling that the Ghost Prison might fail one day soon, with thousands of ghosts breaking out and ravaging the city.

It seemed that the refuge he was planning to establish in the future should be far from Belfast, and he could consider using this kind of stone for construction.“`