Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 370 - 370 Two hundred twenty seven

370: Two hundred twenty seven.

On the cliff 370: Two hundred twenty seven.

On the cliff It was still a while before noon, and with nothing else to do today, Lu Li had sorted out some items earlier, such as three cubic meters of Deep Sea Stone and two boxes of canned beef, along with 5 pounds of kerosene.

After renting a cart tomorrow to pick up the Jones Brothers, he could also take these items to the warehouse and the cliff.

The plan to lay the Deep Sea Stone in the bedroom of the Detective Agency was canceled by Lu Li, as there wasn’t much time left.

In the afternoon that followed, other than Jojo bringing over the proceeds of 230 shillings, nothing else sought out Lu Li.

Yesterday’s “Eternal Dreamer,” from an idealistic perspective, had already become the “Eternal Dreamer” of a hundred years ago.

He might have forgotten that Lu Li, whom he had helped a century ago.

As the sky darkened, every corner of Belfast lit up with a dim light, and the entire city gradually fell silent, no longer bustling.

…

Next morning, the sky was dimly lit at twilight.

Light rain drizzled down, greatly improving visibility, barely allowing the distant hazy bay to be seen.

After washing up, Lu Li rolled up his sleeves, tied his tie, and put on his wool coat to head out.

Before long, he had the rental cart return to the Long House, pretending to individually “lift” three boxes of Deep Sea Stone into the cart, then loaded the other supplies, and drove to pick up the Jones Brothers.

They must have arisen before dawn, for when Lu Li arrived, they were loading freshly made food—it was some makeshift bread made from a mixture of wheat flour, wheat husk, and sawdust, tasting even worse than black bread and hardly nutritious, but it was enough to stave off hunger and looked definitely formidable.

As well as being makeshift clubs.

Black bread had surged to a costly price of 3 pounds per shilling, a 300% increase, so even ordinary citizens had to carefully consider whether it was worth it as food.

Beyond sawdust bread, they also carried some fish that hadn’t dried properly, with half-shriveled eyes of sea fish wide open, emitting a foul and bizarre sea stench.

Luckily, Anna couldn’t smell it and naturally had nothing to complain about.

Half an hour later, the cart reached Elm Street.

It stopped in front of the warehouse to offload supplies, then drove into Elm Forest.

Despair and agony permeated the atmosphere of the forest, unrelenting.

The Jones Brothers, who had been softly conversing on the road, shut their mouths unanimously upon sensing the mood, looking at each other in the cramped, dim carriage, their eyes filled with fear of the unknown.

Knowing is one thing, facing it is another.

However, no one voiced an intention to leave, as the payment for this job was enough for them not to worry about food for half a month, and Lu Li’s calmness somewhat infected them as well.

In their eyes, Lu Li, with his black hair and eyes, was mysterious, but not frightening.

Lu Li’s emotions were not much different from theirs, not alleviated by providing slight help to Elm Forest, but he was unique in his own way, with some joyous emotions surrounding him, offsetting the negative effects brought by the despair and agony.

Some of the trees saw Lu Li as half one of their own.

Relatively silent, they spent an hour until the cart arrived at the cliff, and the last stretch of road was too steep for the cart to ascend.

The men jumped down from the cart, watching as Lu Li moved to lift the innermost three boxes of black stones.

The Jones Brothers volunteered eagerly to help, but were rejected by Lu Li.

The crates, weighing over one ton or nearly 3000 pounds, were not something four workers could handle, even for Anna, it was quite a struggle, but fortunately, the cave wasn’t too far.

As they watched Lu Li carry the huge but seemingly effortless crates up the cliff, the eldest of the Jones Brothers and the other three waved, allowing two men to climb back into the cart to help carry the crates.

But when they got their hands on it, their expressions started to change.

The two couldn’t even lift a corner of the crate.

The bottom of the crate seemed fused with the body of the cart, immovable.

The boss furrowed his brow, signaling for the two of them to come down.

Lu Li returned from a distance, passing by them with a calm demeanor, and without much effort, he lifted the box of Deep Sea Stone and carried it towards the cliff.

Gulp—

Someone swallowed their saliva, feeling a chill down their spine.

The boss remained silent for a while before turning to his brothers and said, “Remember, we know nothing.”

Meanwhile, as Lu Li walked towards the cave, Anna’s voice echoed in his ears.

“It looks like they secretly moved the wooden boxes,” Anna’s tone carried a hint of amusement, thinking it was interesting, “They are probably guessing your identity right now.”

Lu Li didn’t respond; it was a trivial matter, but perhaps the Jones Brothers would be more focused on their tasks now.

After moving three boxes of Deep Sea Stone, under the mixed gaze of fear and respect from the brothers, Lu Li tied the carriage to a tree and led them to the cave on the cliff.

In other areas of the Elm Forest, doing this might have been risky for Lu Li.

But in the cliff area, Lu Li was “one of their own” to these elms, and as long as he didn’t hurt them, they wouldn’t affect him with their emotions.

Although he hadn’t greeted the King of Trees here.

“Don’t get close to or harm the trees here, just in case, and don’t leave the cave and the cliff,”

Lu Li said to the Jones Brothers as he walked in front of them into the cave and placed the oil lamp on a smooth stone slab nearby.

The sound of rain was blocked outside the cave, Lu Li detailed the area of enhancement and the location of the cellar, and the eldest of the Jones Brothers checked the stone and confirmed that the completion time would remain unchanged.

The Jones Brothers set down their oil lamps and food, picked up their tools, and prepared to start work.

Lu Li said he would come back to pick them up in the afternoon and then walked out of the cave.

Standing at the edge of the cliff and gazing into the distance, the crescent-shaped bay stretched far away, with half of the city hidden behind the light gray mist of the drizzle, like a sketch on a scroll.

Beneath the cliff was a shallow reef, the nearly hundred-meter drop made this place unknown and unobserved by others.

With Anna’s help, it wouldn’t be too troublesome for Lu Li whether he wanted to go down to fetch water or fish, or to come up.

The reef covered a large area at the base of the cliff, among which at the furthest edge about four to five hundred meters from the cliff, stood a lighthouse about thirty to forty meters tall amid rugged rocks.

A man-made path extended from the lighthouse to the beach.

Its presence dispelled some of the desolation and solitude on the cliff.

If it weren’t for the world gradually turning bleak, the scenery on the cliff would have been beautiful and uplifting.

But now there was only the lead-gray sea and dark sky, along with the foul smell of the sea wind and the surrounding dead woods.

“You stay here to accompany Annie and watch over them,” Lu Li withdrew his gaze and said to Anna, whose figure appeared.

“Yes,”

Anna looked up at the contours of Lu Li’s face, suddenly raised her hand, and straightened Lu Li’s slightly skewed tie.

If it weren’t for the blush rising on her ethereal delicate cheeks, the scene would have been much more natural.

After lingering for a while, Lu Li and Anna said goodbye and rode the carriage to the Holy Father District’s cemetery to attend a funeral.