Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 334 - 334 One hundred ninety-one point seven buildings

334: One hundred ninety-one point seven buildings 334: One hundred ninety-one point seven buildings A few minutes later, a breeze blew through the stifling shop.

“Only those two houses have issues; I can’t sense anything from the others,” Anna’s voice echoed in their ears, heard by everyone else.

“So the other houses are safe?” Pryce deduced.

Lu Li didn’t think so, “Not necessarily, this only means that only two ‘man-eating houses’ have developed a consciousness.”

Like the cafe, for example.

Before the evil entity’s consciousness formed, Anna couldn’t detect anything strange there; it was only his own heightened sensitivity due to a low Sanity Value that allowed him to hear the sounds emitted by the house.

Pryce took the file from a team member and returned it to Lu Li, “We will cooperate with you, what should we do next?”

“Elm Street numbers 33, 63…”

Lu Li closed the wooden box, muttered to himself, and then looked up and said.

“Let’s take a look at number 93.”

…

Elm Street number 93.

This was already close to the end of the street.

If the downpour lessened, perhaps one could see the edge of Elm Forest a hundred meters away.

Number 93 was a residential house, and someone was home.

When Lu Li ran his finger over the door, he didn’t hear any whispering sounds; after knocking, the homeowner also appeared behind the door, unscathed.

A team member explained the situation to the residents briefly, and alongside Lu Li, entered the room for inspection.

As Lu Li touched the walls, floors, sofa, and coat rack, he heard no sounds, ruling out suspicion for this house.

It seemed that the numbers of the previous two houses were a coincidence.

After leaving the house with no abnormalities, Lu Li and the others emerged onto the street.

Pryce almost understood Lu Li’s actions, diluted by the sound of rain, a voice came through, “It looks like we can only eliminate them one by one.”

Lu Li nodded, lacking a better method, they had to resort to a more foolish one.

Not efficient, but effective enough.

To save time, the eight-person Night Watch team divided into two groups, Pryce leading one to notify the residents of the whole Elm District to prepare for the investigation in advance, while the other followed Lu Li for protection.

Starting from number 118 at the end of Elm Street, Lu Li and the team set about inspecting each house.

Starting from number 114, the residents who had been notified were already waiting with open doors, speeding up the inspection; Lu Li checked down from the houses at a rate of thirty seconds per house.

The houses without occupants were marked by the other group of Night Watch, Lu Li just traced the doors; if he heard no sound, they moved on.

At the tenth minute, the seventeenth house, the owner of number 101 Elm Street waited in front of the door.

Scanning over the owner’s tense face, Lu Li raised his hand and brushed it over the door.

“Hee hee hee that tickles…”

A weak, indistinct giggle came through the rain.

Lu Li’s dark eyes narrowed, and he turned to look at Matthew by his side, “The third one.”

The third ‘man-eating house’ had appeared.

Matthew understood and motioned for the residents to leave this place.

Lu Li then took a pebble from another team member and stood in front of the door, throwing it into the entryway.

The pebble hit the ground with a crisp sound, bounced several times, and then rolled to a stop.

Lu Li held his breath and listened closely, a cursing voice came up from the floor, “That guy actually hit me with a stone!”

There was no doubt.

Matthew asked if there were any other people in the house, then led the resident who was still unaware of what had happened to the shop they had commandeered.

To avoid alarming any yet-to-awaken or newly formed consciousnesses, the Night Watch did not inform them of the exact situation.

Two team members stayed behind to set up police tape, while the last one followed Lu Li towards the next house.

…

Elm Street No.

85, the fourth building, “Man-Eating House”.

The family of three living here was taken to the store by the arriving Pryce.

The residents of the entire district had already been notified.

“Next one.”

Two team members cordoned off the area with police tape, and Lu Li followed Pryce and others towards the next building.

…

Elm Street No.

41, the fifth building, “Man-Eating House”.

The door complained of cold hands as Pryce gestured for the residents to leave, but he met resistance—the couple refused to leave their home unless they saw a police officer—they had never seen nor believed in the identity of the Night Watchmen.

After some thought, Pryce sent one of his men to the nearby Police Station to get someone, leaving two to guard the door, and accompanied Lu Li to the next house.

The dreadful weather made their actions much more covert, attracting far less attention.

…

Elm Street No.

10, the sixth building, “Man-Eating House”.

The master of this house was a middle-aged man with considerable knowledge.

When Lu Li and others arrived, he had already been waiting outside the door with his wife and a box of luggage.

They were sent to the shop by the Night Watchmen.

…

Elm Street No.

3, the seventh building, “Man-Eating House”.

Regrettably, Lu Li and his team arrived too late.

By the time they got there, the consciousness of the evil creature had awakened, and the clothes of the residents had been thrown out the door, soaked by the rain.

Just over ten minutes earlier, when the Night Watchmen had come to notify them, there had been no sign of trouble.

In the first hour after the Night Watchmen arrived, all the houses in the Elm District had been searched.

Three evil creatures had awakened, four had not yet stirred.

“To think there are so many…” Pryce murmured to himself, his cold sweat mingling with the rain and trickling down his forehead.

Even more chilling was the fact that they were all the same type of evil creature.

This usually indicated one thing: there might be even more of them.

As Lu Li and others walked back to the shop, Pryce said to Lu Li, “I intend to apply for an investigation of the nearby districts.

What’s your opinion?”

They needed to quickly determine whether other streets had also been affected by “Man-Eating Houses”.

Should this phenomenon spread—the situation would become extremely dire.

“Agreed.”

With a brief reply, Lu Li continued to ponder.

Could the emergence of these evil creatures be related to Mutant Rain…

But the first appearance of a “Man-Eating House” had nothing to do with Mutant Rain.

Inside the repurposed shop, the brought-in residents huddled at the very back, whispering among themselves.

The door was pushed open, and a cold wind accompanied by the entrance of a dark figure caused them to halt their chatter and look over.

“Has the Police Station personnel arrived?” Pryce asked a team member who was warming up.

“Yes, I’ve arranged for them to stand guard outside the seven houses where the evil creatures appeared.”

“Matthew, contact the base, inform them of the situation here, and ask them to send reinforcements,” Pryce instructed his subordinate, removing his raincloak and sitting with Lu Li by the window display.

“What should we do next?” Pryce urgently asked.

“Do you know about the contaminants?” Lu Li looked up at him and asked in return.

“Yes, it’s the only piece of knowledge we’ve been allowed to know…” Pryce paused slightly, then realized something: “You suspect…”

“It’s highly likely.” Lu Li nodded.

“Tell me about the contaminants.”

Pryce drew a deep breath.

Suddenly, a team member interjected, “But my contaminant detector didn’t go off.”

Lu Li’s expression did not change: “It’s not effective at all times, is it?”

Pryce gave a wry smile: “Correct, the contaminant detector can’t detect contaminants without fluctuations, like those that don’t lower the Sanity Value.”

“Man-Eating Houses” just happened not to reduce the Sanity Value.