Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 347 - 347 Two hundred and four

347: Two hundred and four.

The premonition is real 347: Two hundred and four.

The premonition is real It was an incredibly ethereal, yet distinctly solid grey shadow.

Shrouded in the gloom of the clouds, its own shadow loomed over the port city.

Hovering a few hundred meters above the sea, the slender figure, similar to that of a human, extended its twisted grey arms to either side as if embracing the city before it.

Atop its slender neck sat a head devoid of hair, lacking any facial features or countenance, its strangeness and peculiarity beyond description.

Looking down, its body gradually became more illusory until, reaching the waist, it completely vanished from sight.

But even just the upper half of its body already reached a terrifying height of five to six hundred meters, compelling one to think of fleeing.

The Terrifying Giant was less than two kilometers away from the city, yet its huge, eerie form created the illusion that it could encompass the entire city within itself.

The black and white photo, coupled with the poor resolution, made it hard for Lu Li to discern more details of the Terrifying Giant.

Nevertheless, the moment Lu Li laid eyes on that being, he felt an indescribable and nameless terror crash into his mind, a distortion too intense to bear pouring in.

Whoosh—

Lu Li instantly shifted the newspaper aside, his boiling thoughts gradually subsiding.

Just one glance at the picture in the newspaper, even one that had all its dangers removed, had produced such a terrifying negative effect.

Looking at Anna, who was puzzled and curious, Lu Li took a deep breath and started to carefully recall the twisted information that had infused his brain.

No one would do such a thing, except for Lu Li, who wanted to know what it was.

But what Lu Li got was only a mess of chaotic memories with no clue, much like a jumbled bundle of threads, impossible to unravel.

This kind of mental contamination had a significant effect on reducing Sanity Value, and without looking further, Lu Li closed his eyes, picturing the image from his memory.

Even in his imagination, Lu Li felt a faint headache throbbing at the back of his head, as if something was tailing his thoughts, corrupting and twisting his will.

Opening his eyes, Lu Li saw that Anna, driven by curiosity, had already tilted her head to look at the newspaper.

Being a ghost, she could ignore the effect of the image.

“Please, stay far away…

nine out of ten…” Anna murmured the words on the newspaper, then turned to look at Lu Li, who was massaging his temples, “Has the situation really gotten this bad…”

“It’s beyond what I estimated,” Lu Li answered.

He was aware that the world was turning dire, yet he had underestimated the speed at which this great ship was sinking.

Zenster City was not as prosperous as Belfast, after all, in the Ailen language, “Faust” means “gigantic,” and only five cities on the Ailen Peninsula held the honor of bearing the name “Faust.”

Even so, it had a population of well over a hundred thousand.

But this port city, with its hundred thousand inhabitants, lost over ninety percent of its population in just under two days.

This was because the Terrifying Giant had appeared at night; had it been during the clear visibility of day, it’s likely the city would have become a land of death, with almost no one surviving.

What was even more frightening was the thought that if this Terrifying Giant had appeared not in Zenster, but in the most populous and bustling city of Belfast…

The ratio of nine out of ten would not be reduced in the slightest.

Weirdness does not abide by reason or logic; they kill humans as easily as stepping on ants.

They don’t even need to actively do anything—just by being there, the fragile humans who catch sight of them would fall into madness and collapse.

This is why Tesla suddenly made a statement that was out of character for him.

Maybe what’s in the bottle isn’t lemon juice at all.

He was venting the emotions from the death of his friend and learning of the Terrifying Giant incident.

Zenster is in the northwestern part of the Ailen Peninsula, while Belfast is at the furthest eastern point, separated by three or four hundred miles.

The only impact the Terrifying Giant could have from such a distance were the aftereffects conveyed through the newspaper—but this was just the surface.

The deeper influence it would have on Lu Li was still to come.

The collapse of a city and the scenes akin to natural disasters were nearly impossible to prevent from spreading, especially with the advent of industrial communication.

It was bound to spread across continents, a matter of time.

The Ailen Peninsula would be first to bear the brunt; within a few days, panic and turmoil would spread throughout Belfast.

This would lead to considerable unrest and rapidly rising prices.

Everyone would want to hoard as much food as possible.

Furthermore, the three major organizations would undoubtedly accelerate the construction of refuges, meaning that the price of materials based on Deep Sea Stone would skyrocket.

Fortunately, the merchant would deliver the cut stones the day after tomorrow, allowing Lu Li, who had won the reward from the “Man-Eating House” event, to buy the third piece of Deep Sea Stone just in time.

“Cut the photo and place it on the bookshelf, secured under something.”

Lu Li told Anna.

“Mm.”

Rip—

A slight tearing sound was heard for an instant as Anna cut out the photo of the Terrifying Giant and threw it onto the top shelf of the bookshelf, pressing it down with a pen.

Lu Li took the “Investigator Weekly” back again and read the report about the Terrifying Giant one more time.

This time he read more slowly, more carefully.

“[Suspected to be a projection of some dangerous and horrific existence from the Inner World]”

“Just a projection, huh…”

Lu Li murmured with a frown.

Just as he had pondered before: the Surface World has only one layer.

It is the world where humans live, and at the same time, it is the source of countless layers of Inner Worlds.

The criterion for the source is simple, the geography of the Surface World completely projects into all presently known layers of the Inner Worlds.

Take, for example, the Ghost World.

If Anna were to descend into the Inner World, she would see a colorless, desolate Detective Agency.

When Lu Li in the Surface World knocks over a water glass, she in the Inner World would see it tip over without apparent cause.

But Anna in the Inner World could not right the glass.

For the Inner World, the changes in the Surface World are like laws; that glass is fused with the whole space, impossible to move.

But this is not absolute; some extremely terrifying and powerful anomalies can affect the Surface World from within the Inner Worlds.

Like the Terrifying Giant.

The Ghost World is the closest Inner World to the Surface World, which explains why ghosts can appear freely in the real world, unlike other anomalies that can only manifest as random projections or illusions in the real world, perceivable only to those with low Sanity Value.

After confirming the relationship between the Surface World and the Inner Worlds, Demon Slayers inevitably pondered: Is the world we live in really the Surface World?

Is there another layer of Surface World above us?

And is there truly only one Surface World?

Compared to these questions, what Lu Li was more curious about at the moment was whether the appearance of the Terrifying Giant’s projection was accidental or inevitable?

The former suggested that this world still had a fighting chance to survive.

The latter indicated that this world would soon welcome more unwelcome visitors.