Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 312 - 312 169

312: 169.

Seesaw 312: 169.

Seesaw The afternoons at the Detective Agency were usually idle, reminiscent of an old man’s afternoon dominated by newspapers, coffee, and tea.

Lu Li had no coffee and tea, but he had plenty of newspapers.

The front-page news was still about the Immortal Giant.

No progress was reported, at least in the eyes of the public.

The case against Baron Joseph was officially declared, dismissing the plaintiff’s lawsuit and charging the plaintiff with defamation.

However, the plaintiff named a nobleman, claiming it was under his instructions—suddenly, the situation shifted from entertainment news to a political conspiracy.

It seemed that Joseph would continue to appear in the newspapers for a while, competing for headlines with the Immortal Giant.

The proportion of murder cases was higher than usual, yet Lu Li saw no news related to Dwarf Gold Town.

Content about anomalies was completely blocked off, unknown to the common folk.

The weather forecast predicted cloudy on Friday and light rain on Saturday.

The apocalyptic forecast in “Investigator Weekly” of Mutant Rain didn’t specify if it corresponded to Saturday’s light rain or the unknown Sunday.

Or perhaps “Mutant Rain” was merely metaphorical and didn’t actually signify rain.

After finishing the newspapers and as the food was almost ready, Lu Li finished lunch.

It was just past one in the afternoon, with a long way to go before dark.

Using the break, Lu Li left the Detective Agency and went to the investigator base for a Sanity Value test.

Lu Li did not take Anna with him, as it wasn’t suitable for her to be there.

…

Anres Brothers’ Repair Station

Some customers were buying tools in the store; Alliance Personnel acted just like real shopkeepers, guiding them in their purchases and ignoring Lu Li as he walked straight to the back of the store.

Passing through the doorway that occupied the front wall, he took the elevator to the lobby, asked the Alliance Personnel in the lounge area for a glass of milk, and waited for Tesla’s appearance.

Before leaving, he had informed Tesla that he would come later.

After a short wait, the sound of a door being pulled open came from the other side of the lobby, and Tesla, dressed in a neat tailcoat, appeared behind the door and walked toward the lounge area.

“You look in good form,” Tesla said with a mild smile, sitting opposite Lu Li.

“Shall we go to my office?”

“Here is fine,” Lu Li looked behind the counter momentarily.

His milk was still being prepared.

With a thoughtful look, Tesla too glanced over, nodded understandingly, waved to greet, and ordered a sugarless cup of coffee.

He pulled from his pocket a segment of ebony branch identical to Hades’s, only this one had no bite marks and radiated a gloomily ominous aura.

Lu Li, just like last time, reached out to touch it briefly, and Tesla simultaneously withdrew his hand: “For now, let’s just chat.”

“How should I transfer the investigation point to you?” Lu Li asked directly.

“I am not in a hurry.

You can transfer the investigation points through a merchant.

Just tell it whom and how much you want to give,” Tesla removed his right white glove, folded it neatly, and stowed it in his pocket.

“What happened?

Why do you need that much money?”

“Money spent will be money gone.”

“…That does seem to make sense,” Tesla said after a brief silence.

“If you need help, you can tell me.”

“I will,”

The milk and coffee were brought by Alliance Personnel, who ignored the Soul Tree branch on the table and walked away after setting them down.

“How do you feel?

About the first incident,” Tesla asked with interest, pushing away the steaming cup of coffee before him.

“Oppressed, and confused.”

“Confused?”

Tesla was somewhat surprised; he hadn’t expected that emotion from Lu Li.

“Hard to determine which actions are correct.

Everything might be right, or everything might be wrong, like walking on thin ice.”

Tesla nodded in understanding of Lu Li’s feelings: “That’s quite normal.

Newcomers often face such dilemmas.

The anomalous is like a badly behaved child; we can never predict its actions, only try to get as close to right as possible.”

Take for instance the ceremonial sense in evil spirits and ghasts.

Lu Li asked, “How do you handle it?”

“Through habit and knowledge,” Tesla tapped his temple with two fingers.

“The former prevents us from getting too emotional, and the latter helps us understand them more.”

Here, Tesla added, “Those investigators who can’t adapt, you probably won’t get the chance to meet them.”

Behind his calm words lay a gruesome reality.

Lu Li changed the subject: “I want to know about wraiths and evil spirits.”

Tesla seemed to have anticipated many questions from Lu Li at this point and answered with a smile, “For that Miss Ghost of yours?”

Lu Li gave no confirmation or denial.

After a moment of thought, Tesla began, “You may already know, only humans can turn into ghosts after death.

They retain human consciousness, thoughts, logic, but as we all know, ghosts and humans are two distinct beings…”

“Their power can grow limitlessly, requiring only murder, the killing of other ghosts, or intense negative emotions.

Before becoming wraiths, they can still somewhat be considered human.

Do you know about seesaws?”

Lu Li nodded.

It seemed Tesla was going for a metaphor, although a balance might sound more apt than a seesaw.

“The state of a ghost is like a seesaw, all their humanity on one side and the aura of the Inner World on the other.

When still ghosts, the balance is still manageable, or in other words, the Inner World’s aura hasn’t completely taken over.”

“But once they advance to wraiths, their soul projection connects with the aura of the Inner World.

Just as contact with the aura of the Inner World lowers Sanity Value for humans, for them it erases their humanity.”

“The aura of the Inner World incessantly enters the Surface World through their soul projection, strengthening the wraiths that accept it but also tipping the seesaw—making one side go higher and the other, lower.”

“This process is irreversible.

A ghost that turns into a wraith will irrevocably plunge into the abyss, and in the end, become an evil spirit.

And you have already seen the different forms and ceremonial senses of evil spirits, all originating from the soul projections of their time as wraiths.”

“There’s a chilling saying that ghosts are fabricators chosen by the Inner World.

They infect ghosts, letting them nurture soul projections, allowing these projections to grow continuously, and ultimately consuming the human side of the ghost, completely transforming it into an existence of the Inner World.”

“This is why, even though we all know ghosts were once human, we still need to eliminate them.

They are destined to be the enemies of the entire human world.”

At this point, Tesla looked at Lu Li with unprecedented seriousness and gravity, and said word by word,

“If you care about her, absolutely do not let her become a wraith.”