Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 269 - 269 One hundred twenty-six

269: One hundred twenty-six.

Cremation furnace 269: One hundred twenty-six.

Cremation furnace “`

At the end of the conveyor belt, the glowing furnace radiated scorching heat.

Its redness was intense, ominously intense.

Lu Li was sent into the kitchen as if he were fish meat.

And before long, he would become mince on the other end of the conveyor belt, turning into food for someone unknown.

The conveyor belt rumbled on, and the first to fall were the piled-up fish corpses, scattering across the entire belt.

Lu Li was one of them.

Waiting to recover before acting became pointless, Lu Li marshaled his strength, using the only part of him that could move—his head and neck—to shift his body slowly towards the edge.

The sound of chopping was clear in his ear, yet Lu Li didn’t look at those dark, monstrous shadows.

Just by listening to the frequency of the cleavers falling, he could guess that the fish corpses passing before them were turned into mush.

Still a dozen meters away from the chopping sound, Lu Li finally edged over to the side.

Resting his shoulder on the metal outside the conveyor belt, he used it as a pivot point to slide his body in a semicircle along the belt until he came up against its edge.

Whoosh—

A large number of fish corpses were swept off the conveyor belt.

Plop—

Lu Li fell right after them, some black substance that had smeared onto him splattered away.

He noticed, at that moment, his body seemed to have regained some movement.

As he connected his earlier paralysis with the mysterious black substance, the chaotic chopping sounds nearby ceased.

After a brief pause, the chopping resumed, but with fewer sounds.

A dark, monstrous shadow wielding a cleaver was approaching his direction.

Barely able to move his shoulders, Lu Li wriggled forward underneath the conveyor belt, the heavy steps behind him drawing ever nearer—

If he were discovered, being thrown back onto the conveyor belt would be the best outcome.

In the end, Lu Li pushed hard, rolling over the fish corpses and tumbling into the shadow beneath the belt.

The monstrous figure reached the outside of the conveyor belt at the same time, revealing a pair of sturdy, deformed calves that were not quite human.

Lu Li held his breath, silently observing from beneath.

The monstrous shadow emitted a series of strange, muffled murmurs, its large hand scooping up the fish corpses from the ground and tossing them back onto the conveyor belt.

That hand was odd—the shadow was deformed, massive, and unhuman-like, yet its palm was similar to that of a person, with distinct lines and five fingers.

There were no sharp claws or thickened dermis, just an abnormal size.

This made the monstrous shadow appear even more bizarre as if made from mismatched parts of different bodies.

Hidden beneath the conveyor belt, Lu Li quietly watched the human-like palm that could easily crush a skull clear all the fish corpses that had fallen around, albeit the owner of the palm still fumbled on the ground, several times passing over Lu Li’s legs, even feeling the cool breeze from the palm’s swings.

Gurgle gurgle—

From above, hidden by the conveyor belt, came more unintelligible murmurs.

The hand withdrew, followed by the sound of heavy steps walking away.

Lu Li had narrowly escaped a fate of becoming minced meat.

“Huff…”

His chest began to rise and fall again as Lu Li resumed breathing.

After a few quick gasps, the sound of his breathing softened and faded into the hum of the conveyor belt and the chopping sounds.

He waited several minutes with no signs of his body easing up.

Lu Li tentatively attributed his paralysis to the black substance that was enveloping his body.

His wool overcoat and life jacket, along with his flashlight and some bullets, were all gone as if they had vanished into thin air.

But the two Spirit-Calling Guns seemed still to be on him.

This gave Lu Li some ability to defend himself.

If only he could move again.

“`

If the Spirit-Calling Gun could still be used.

Seizing a brief moment of safety, Lu Li began to remove the black substance wrapped around his body, but he soon realized that it wasn’t just him—the surrounding everything was also contaminated.

The black substance was everywhere, covering every inch.

The only difference was that the substance on Lu Li’s body was thicker and stickier.

His fingertips trembled, he shakily raised them, and clumsily began to undo the shirt covered in a layer of black substance.

Slap—

The shirt fell to the ground, making a sticky sound, revealing a body still crawling with the black substance.

Lu Li applied a bit more strength, his hand slowly formed into a fist, weak though it was, but it would suffice.

Shifting his body, Lu Li leaned against the support pillar of the conveyor belt, the bone-chilling coldness brought his consciousness into sharper focus.

With his now movable hand, Lu Li scraped off the black substance and flung it beyond the conveyor belt.

Lu Li couldn’t completely remove the black substance from his body, but he could make it as minimal as possible.

After wiping the sticky black substance off his left arm, the now stronger left hand went on to clean the right, followed by both legs and the torso.

The two Spirit-Calling Guns were also covered in the substance, and Lu Li sequentially removed their holsters and gave them a quick wipe.

The substance, which clung like gangrene, was gradually scraped off, and the strength in Lu Li’s body started to emerge, yet he was still weak.

Part of this was due to the frailty after losing consciousness.

Having dealt with his own problems, Lu Li picked up the shirt that had turned black and tossed to the side, twisting it as one would wring out water from a damp cloth.

Drip—drip—

The thick black liquid collected on the twisted shirt surface, dripping down, making a sticky sound.

Wearing wet clothes would be uncomfortable, but the temperature here was low, and it was better than having nothing at all.

Somewhat surprisingly, when Lu Li put on the half-dry shirt, his body did not feel constricted—only the black substance that contaminated his body slowed his movements.

This discovery led Lu Li to strip off his trousers and twist them half dry.

Dressed again, Lu Li, hidden in the shadows beneath the conveyor belt, began to observe this “kitchen.”

The kitchen was narrow and long, with the rolling conveyor belt occupying most of the space.

Eight massive monstrous silhouettes stood several meters away from the stove, right beside the conveyor belt.

A door of light black appeared on the deep black wall.

That was the exit of the kitchen, but to get there, Lu Li would have to make his way past four monstrous silhouettes under the watchful eyes of the other four, to reach that door that led who knows where.

But now it seemed there was no better choice.

Lu Li did not want to risk everything yet, he cautiously crawled out from the shadows beneath the conveyor belt, moving closer to the spot where he had initially fallen.

The clumsy and dull “chefs” took no notice of the movement of the food on the other side; they were unceasingly chopping the passing fish carcasses, sending mash into the stove, destination unknown.

Where he had once fallen, there was a thick layer of sticky, rich black substance, the slimy touch like stepping in rotting mud, especially when occasionally stepping on the slippery fish carcasses beneath the mire.

This black substance made Lu Li feel like he was trudging through a marsh, moving with difficulty.

He stuck to the wall, keeping as far away from the center and the conveyor belt as possible, to avoid being hit by fish carcasses suddenly dropping from the fishing net.

It might not kill Lu Li, but it would definitely knock him into the black substance, making it impossible for him to move and sending him towards the chef.

Lu Li looked up at his entryway, about four meters high, with smooth metal walls that were difficult to grip and climb without handholds.

The door behind the chefs was the only way Lu Li could leave this place.