Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 263 - 263 120

263: 120.

Assessment Event 263: 120.

Assessment Event July 13, Monday.

Anres Brothers Repair Station.

Compared to two days ago, there had been no change here.

Under the curtain of rain, Rodest Port on the distant beach was barely visible.

A figure holding an umbrella, dressed in a black coat, walked under the eaves of the repair station, closed the umbrella, shook off the water, and entered the building.

A few minutes later, in the investigator base’s rest area underground at the repair station.

Alliance personnel placed two cups of milk in front of Lu Li and Tesla and then left.

When the Alliance personnel returned behind the counter, Tesla withdrew his gaze and tapped his cane on the ground before putting it aside and said, “I am in charge of base duty this week.”

“Has my assessment event been released?”

“Yes, I thought your event would come a few days later, so you could have more time to prepare.”

“It makes no difference.”

Lu Li didn’t need to prepare, or perhaps he was always preparing.

Tesla did not intend to dive directly into the main topic, leisurely discussing trivial matters with Lu Li, “By the way, the results are out for the ones who took the assessment with you last time.

Guess who joined us.”

“Who?”

“Frank.”

Lu Li hadn’t planned to guess, and Tesla didn’t intend to keep him in suspense.

He said with a gentle smile, “Isn’t that incredible?”

Lu Li nodded, “Why him?”

“He is resolute and yearns for adventure; he possesses both qualities a detective should have.

The other few were also not bad, but their flaws made them unsuitable to join the detectives.

Reckless, cunning, delusions… However, we have recommended them to try out for the Alliance.”

The three major organizations needed elites, while Alliance’s standards were a bit lower.

“But Frank is not like you; he is just a young lumberjack.

We are taking time to teach him, so he can learn more before his assessment event arrives.”

Lu Li hadn’t forgotten the purpose of his visit and asked directly after Tesla finished speaking, “So what is my event?”

Tesla smiled and said nothing.

He took off his ivory gloves and pulled out a neatly folded piece of parchment from his suit pocket, placing it on the table and sliding it towards Lu Li.

“Take a look first.”

Lu Li picked up the parchment and unfolded it while saying, “Am I the only one who knows about the event?”

“The regional head and relevant personnel are aware of the assessment event.

This piece of parchment is merely a long-standing tradition.”

Lu Li nodded and looked at the unfolded parchment in front of him.

[Apprentice Investigator’s Promotion Event]

[Event Difficulty: Simple – (Special)]

[Event Location: The reef 120 nautical miles southeast of Belfast]

[Hurricane “Arthur” appeared here; arrive nearby by boat in the evening and investigate related clues about “Arthur” appearing.

This event is a special event; the investigator automatically completes the event upon reaching the target waters; however, any clues obtained may still be collected as rewards.]

From the parchment, it seemed that Lu Li did not need to gather clues; the event would be completed simply by reaching the nearby waters—the content of the last paragraph was quite puzzling.

“Finished reading?” Tesla asked after sipping his milk.

Lu Li put down the parchment, “Mostly.”

“Anything you want to ask?”

“This event isn’t a regular one, is it?” Lu Li pointed to the word “special” in the parentheses.

He had encountered a portion of the event content in the Investigator’s Rookie Trial that required exploring certain clues.

Tesla nodded and said, “Indeed, that’s why it’s marked as special.”

Because it’s at sea?

Lu Li didn’t ask this but instead changed his question, “What’s special about it?”

“Regular events usually assign detectives to investigate the situation at the target site, and based on the information gathered, the investigating team judges the completion rate.

If the information brought back by the detective is 100%, it signifies that the event is perfectly completed.

However, 100% is not the limit because we can never fully know something; hence, the degree of completion can continuously increase, just like your performance in the ‘Investigator’s Rookie Trial.’

“On top of this are special events, which have inconsistent content.

Like your event this time, its protocol is more akin to an exploration: reach the target site, ascertain the local conditions, and then return.”

It sounded simple and easy, but only in theory.

Night, the sea.

Either aspect alone could horrify contemporary people, especially when combined.

Especially when the shadow of Hurricane “Arthur” and the Immortal Giant incident hadn’t yet faded.

“So the difficulty of this event is not the event itself, but its process?” Lu Li said.

Tesla’s eyes showed undisguised admiration, “Exactly.

The more inaccessible a place, the stranger it is, especially in the deep sea rarely touched by humans.

The situation during the day is slightly better, but you will enter the deep sea after nightfall.”

“Why at night?”

That was Lu Li’s second question; operating during the day was clearly safer.

Tesla, looking into Lu Li’s dark eyes, spoke with an underlying meaning, “The internal information provided by the Exorcist indicates the hurricane formed in the evening.”

Lu Li furrowed his brows and followed Tesla’s logic, “But it didn’t move towards land until the next morning.”

“Indeed, and that’s why we need to conduct the investigation.”

“How will I get there?”

“The base will arrange for a fishing boat to transport you nearby in the evening, but there are reefs there, and they’ll stop outside the reefs and let down a small boat for you to approach.”The difficulty of the task was marked as simple — similar to the difficulty of other assessment events.

Thus, the greatest potential danger might be the time Lu Li spent alone in the small boat approaching the location, followed by the fishing boat’s journey back and forth.

Nowhere to escape was also one of the issues; encountering danger in the vast ocean left almost no way out.

From decades ago, anomalies began to appear in the deep sea, bringing calamity.

The sea water was no longer azure, and dead fish washed up on the beaches.

People’s fear of the deep sea intensified, and ship activities were increasingly restricted to coastal waters, with only the ironclad ships and fearless pirates still venturing into the deep sea and night.

Not to mention the emotions the sea itself brought to people—the fear of the unknown.

Tesla still couldn’t see any surplus emotion in Lu Li, as if the assessment event was as easy for him as “going for a walk back to the Detective Agency.”

It appeared that Lu Li didn’t need any comfort or encouragement from him.

Tesla then smiled wryly, “Your standard investigator equipment is ready.

It will be provided to you once you’re prepared to leave.”

“When do we start?”

“You can leave anytime within three days,” Tesla answered.

“Then today.”

Lu Li’s decisiveness slightly startled Tesla, who instinctively asked, “So soon?”

Lu Li picked up the cup full of milk and brought it to his lips before responding.

“A day earlier or a day later makes no difference.”