Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 332 - 332 Captain Pris 189

332: Captain Pris 189 332: Captain Pris 189 “The harbor, when you went to investigate the Rhode,”

Lu Li still remembered the situation at that time, which was the first time he encountered the secrets of this world.

At the same time, he had some connections with this squad: Joel, whom he met at the Watch Town Police Station, had wanted to invite Lu Li to join them.

However, Joel was not among these four Watchers now, and Lu Li didn’t see him.

Captain Pryce pondered briefly, then with a hint of realization said, “I remember now, you were in the crowd, and I sensed that you were no ordinary person.”

But at that time, Lu Li was still just an ordinary person.

Without meaning to puncture any illusions, Lu Li looked towards the coffee shop across the curtain of rain, “That’s the house where the abnormality occurred.”

Captain Pryce nodded, then turned back to his team.

“The Nikola Counter is quiet…” Matthew with the ponytail lifted his wrist, showing the counter.

Their gaze converged on another member, who was holding an irregular grey stone.

“There is an ominous aura enveloping the house…” that team member said with caution, suddenly looking around Lu Li, “It seems near him too—”

“That’s my friend,” Lu Li interjected.

The member paused momentarily, looked at Lu Li curiously, but said nothing.

“There is a presence, but the Sanity Value hasn’t dropped, it might be an evil entity,” Pras nodded, looking to Lu Li, “Mr.

Investigator, please tell us what exactly happened.”

Evil entities refer to bizarre anomalies; it’s another term for strangeness.

Ghosts, evil spirits, evil gods, and anomalies can all be collectively referred to as strange.

Using ‘strange’ alone would be too vague.

Lu Li nodded and recounted how he had discovered the anomaly in the coffee shop and brought the unlucky owner out of the bar.

“The consciousness inside the coffee shop woke up after we escaped.

This consciousness gave me a sense of familiarity, very much like the man-eating house at 33 Elm Street,” Lu Li shared his analysis as well.

“Two identical evil entities then?” Pryce murmured, having never encountered such a situation before nor heard of it, which brought on a trace of unease.

For a fleeting moment, he felt an indescribable fear press down on his spine.

Compared to “finding a way to solve the problem”, Watchers were more suited to “solving trouble.” Investigators and Watchers were like the brain and limbs of a person: one for thinking, one for action.

With an investigator by his side, Pryce skipped the process of applying for investigation, directly telling Lu Li that he needed his help.

“Okay, but I need to know the details about the man-eating house.” Lu Li didn’t refuse; he went out in the rain of anomalies to resolve them anyway.

And this incident had already made the news once.

If Lu Li could resolve it, it was highly possible it would be reported again.

Pryce showed a slight smile, “I will ask for permission to provide you with that information.

Before that, let’s find a warm place to rest.”

If they stayed any longer, this investigator across from him would surely fall ill.

Taking the somewhat enlightened owner along, Pryce temporarily requisitioned a storefront with a display window, less than twenty meters from the coffee shop.

In the storeroom, wringing out his clothes, Lu Li, dressed in his crumpled, damp shirt and wrapped in a blanket, walked over to the display window.

The window had been furnished with tables and chairs.

Pryce, who had been waiting for a while, was seated at one of the tables and gestured for Lu Li to sit across from him, asking the owner of the shop to prepare some hot drinks.

Lu Li looked outside the display window, where his three assistants were busy in the pouring rain, cordoning off the coffee shop with caution tape to prevent other people from entering or leaving.

Exactly like the “man-eating house” on 33 Elm Street.

It was this relatively systematic way of handling that allowed humanity to confront the strange and not be overwhelmed.

“How much longer for the documents?” Lu Li, withdrawing his gaze, inquired.

“Very soon.

My team members will bring them over.”

Minutes later, three team members blocking off the coffee shop returned to the store, shed their rain cloaks, and huddled by the fireplace to warm up.

The weather was too cold, the chilling rain seemed capable of taking away all warmth.

Steam rose from the coffee mug placed before him and Lu Li, picking up the cup, didn’t hear the sharp and subtle sound again.

They didn’t wait too long, a steam motorcycle, also clad in a raincoat, stopped next to the motorcycle by the door, and four figures got off and walked into the store.

They were Pryce’s subordinates, but Lu Li still did not see Joel among them.

“Did you bring it?” Pryce looked towards them.

“Yes, the head of Tesla at the Investigator’s Home asked us to cooperate with Investigator Lu Li’s actions,” the team member said, removing his rain cloak and handing a wooden box he held to Pryce.

“It looks like we don’t need to worry about this operation,” Pryce said, accepting the wooden box and placing it before Lu Li.

“I didn’t see Joel,” Lu Li said as he opened the wooden box in front of him, with its inscrutable numerical codes.

A stack of papers lay at the bottom of the wooden box.

The atmosphere suddenly turned silent, team members who were walking around, rubbing their hands and taking off their rain cloaks all halted their movements simultaneously.

“You knew Joel?”

“I spoke with him at the Watch Town Police Station, he helped me out a bit.”

“He’s dead.”

“How did he die?”

This question was somewhat abrupt, but Lu Li was the sort of person who didn’t concern himself with such matters.

After a slight silence, Pryce told Lu Li, “During the Watch Town operation, he accidentally came into contact with some kind of contaminant.”

Inevitably, Lu Li thought of the situation in the dungeons of the Watch Town Police Station.

Without saying anything, he started to look through the papers in the wooden box.

The somber mood lingered for a while before gradually easing up.

Two team members wrapped in blankets watched the coffee shop from the window, others warmed themselves by the fireplace, murmuring conversations carried through.

This was a file containing all the information on “The House That Eats People.” It recorded when it was first found to be abnormal, when it began attacking people, and how it was dealt with.

The first to discover the house’s abnormality was the owner of 33 Elm Street, a pitiful elderly woman named Petra.

She was a retired university professor, who one morning heard whispering sounds in her house.

Thinking it was a thief, Petra locked her doors, picked up the phone to call the police, and then heard her phone making noises—not that someone was calling, but that the phone itself was making sounds.

As a university professor with sufficiently high social status, this retired woman knew many things ordinary people didn’t, like a portion of the world’s secret truths.

So, after suppressing her fear, she called the Police Station, told them everything happening in her house, and put on a coat, preparing to temporarily leave home.

Disaster then struck—the poor old woman was consumed by the house before she could leave, it only spewed out her clothes and the coat she had put on.

The second victim was one of her former students.

A woman named Sherry, who lived on Elm Street, would prepare breakfast every morning and bring it to her teacher Petra’s house.