Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 340 - 340 One hundred ninety-seven

340: One hundred ninety-seven.

End 340: One hundred ninety-seven.

End The bedroom, now only filled with the sound of rain, watched a pair of rain boots step inside.

The boots avoided the mound of flesh and a half face wrapped in clothes and stopped before the ancient book not far away.

The ancient book on the floor closed once again.

A hand descended, slender fingers picked up the ancient book, and receded backwards, silently retreating into the shadows behind the door.

…

On the street, the night watchmen waiting in the rain saw a figure emerge from beneath the eaves.

Lu Li picked up the umbrella Thomas had left at the door, opened it, and walked towards the night watchmen.

“The thing in your hands…

it gives me a very bad feeling,”

Anna’s whisper reached his ears.

“It’s over,”

Lu Li replied to Anna and the questioning gaze of Pryce.

Pryce and others quietly stepped back a bit, their gazes fixing on the open door behind Lu Li, “Is Thomas still inside?”

“Yes.”

That was indeed the case.

Pryce tilted his head and said, “Ma…

no.

David, contact the outside; the contaminant has been retrieved.

Let them prepare for its reception.

We will wait here for another investigator.”

“No need; just have the personnel handle the follow-up,” Lu Li suddenly spoke up.

Pryce and David, who was about to leave, paused, and looked towards Lu Li with questioning eyes, “What went wrong?”

“He’s dead,”

Lu Li said succinctly and after thinking for a moment, he added another sentence, “Dead due to carelessness,”

And unpredictability.

Thomas’s actions were bold and dangerous—usually, only someone completely ignorant of the supernatural would think so.

Even in Lu Li’s view, his actions were merely risky, not deliberately suicidal.

Lu Li’s warning was born of a certain caution.

Both Thomas and Lu Li were clear on one thing: Petra brought the ancient book home and looked at it without any issues to herself, the only problems were with the infected furniture.

So, Thomas looked at it, and then was killed by his suddenly sentient clothes.

Thomas died from experience.

—Hunters often die by the maws of their prey.

“That’s truly regrettable…” Pryce said, perhaps desensitized to death, his tone devoid of any sorrow, as he arranged according to protocol, “Just in case, please keep the contaminant here with you.

We will maintain distance until the subsequent personnel arrive.”

“Yes.”

Lu Li saw no issues with the arrangement; holding the ancient book, he indeed needed to be cautious—especially since a senior investigator had died because of it.

He stood under the umbrella, not far from Petra’s front door, quietly contemplating certain matters.

For instance, Thomas’s death was too sudden, even denying him a chance to react.

Compared to him, Petra’s fate was rather lenient; she was swallowed by the house only after seven days when the evil entity in the book awoke.

What caused their encounters to differ?

Lu Li knew too little about the ancient book to analyze.

Perhaps there had been some change in the book over the week, or perhaps… a laughably absurd possibility—

Petra had been naked when she read the book.

Lu Li was more inclined to believe the reason was something else.

After all, the mental shock of a nearly sixty-year-old man reading in his bedroom without clothes was no less than facing a bizarre creature.

After a while, the house awakened, the malicious calls filling Lu Li’s heart once again, unaware of what had happened before — though not entirely unaware, as it consistently produced chewing noises.

After dozens more minutes of waiting, a group of figures emerged in the rain-drenched street.

A small squad of Night Watchmen arrived.

This group, clad in raincoats similar to those worn by Pryce and his colleagues, stopped about a dozen meters away, with two figures walking out; one towards Pryce’s group, the other towards Lu Li.

The Night Watchman approaching Lu Li was carrying a leather briefcase.

He stood before Lu Li, opened the briefcase which was laid flat, and said, “Please place the contaminated items in the box.”

Some rain splattered into the box, moistening a small circle of the leather.

The box was empty, nothing special inside.

Lu Li did as instructed.

After placing the ancient book inside, the Night Watchman snapped the briefcase shut and retreated back to his teammates.

It seemed that a strange chewing noise came from the box, disappearing into the sound of rain as the Night Watchmen walked away.

The figure approaching Pryce now came close to Lu Li, under the hood was a younger face with freckles.

She was holding a pocket-sized alarm clock, signaling Lu Li to stretch out his hand.

She was checking whether Lu Li was infected with a contagion.

“This might hurt a bit, please bear with it,” said the female Night Watchman as she wound the alarm clock’s spring and pressed it against the palm Lu Li had stretched out.

A searing pain suddenly emanated from the palm where the spring touched, making Lu Li furrow his brow, watching the clock malfunction as its three hands spun rapidly at the same time.

A few seconds later, she removed the alarm clock and told Lu Li, “Congratulations Investigator Lu Li, you are clear of any issues.”

The squad of Night Watchmen who had kept their distance approached Lu Li’s group; their leader was a burly man with lush hair, his bushy beard edged with dew-like droplets.

This guy knew Pryce and was talking to him.

Lu Li approached them and asked, “How will you deal with this house?”

“These houses turned malevolent will be recorded and then destroyed, do not worry,” the bearded leader looked at Lu Li and said.

“Next, we need to inspect all the houses and residents on this street, you should leave the area first.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you,” Pryce nodded at him, then said to Lu Li, “Let’s go together.”

As the incident neared its conclusion, Lu Li left Elm Street with Pryce, crossing the cordoned off area back to Little Raef District.

A large number of police officers and a small squad of Night Watchmen were still stationed there.

Lu Li and others were ushered by the Alliance personnel waiting there into a tavern.

This place had been temporarily commandeered as a resting spot, outfitted with hot water, food, and bedding; it appeared they had prepared for a long watch beforehand.

Lu Li was led by an Alliance Personnel to the guest room and informed that hot water, food, and medicine had been prepared.

Considering he had been in the rain for a long time, Lu Li did not refuse these arrangements.

Entering the room and disrobing, Lu Li stepped into a wooden tub.

The enveloping warm water expelled the deep-seated chill from his body, steam rising and filling the room like mist.

Suddenly, an odd trace appeared in the middle of the room; the steam swirled around a certain spot in midair, vaguely revealing a human silhouette.

“Anna?”

Lu Li’s dark pupils fixed on the human silhouette.

The steam stirred, and the invisible outline fled in panic.

Lu Li silently retracted his gaze

But at that moment, a transparent, ethereal figure suddenly appeared above the door.

“I wasn’t trying to come in.”

After entering through the door, Anna turned her head away, not daring to look at Lu Li, and stammered, “You…

why did you call me?”

Lu Li sharply narrowed his eyes.