Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 426 - 426 Two Hundred Eighty-Three

426: Two Hundred Eighty-Three.

True Home 426: Two Hundred Eighty-Three.

True Home “I’m already dead…?”

The ghost’s eyes carried a sense of bewilderment, like a person with missing memories, trying to recall.

“Hmm.” Lu Li responded.

[Missing Person Notice]

[Alice]

[19 Years Old]

[Brown long hair, wearing a white floral long dress when she disappeared.

If anyone sees her, please go to 43 Parrot Street to find us, we beg you.]

“What about her…” Alice turned her head woodenly, her gaze falling next to Lu Li.

Anna was sitting there.

“The same as you.” Lu Li answered.

Alice looked back at Lu Li, the confusion in her eyes shimmering: “I’ve forgotten how I died…”

When she regained consciousness, she found herself standing under a streetlight, saw the poster, and the carriage that came driving through from the rainy street.

“But dead…

then let it be…” Alice lifted her arm, looking at her ethereal palm as if she had let go of something, her eyes now containing a touch more humanity: “Could I ask you a favor?”

“I’ll tell your parents.” Lu Li knew what she was asking.

“Thank you.”

Alice sincerely bowed in thanks, lifted her head, and as if called by some summoning, looked in a direction.

Her soul began to fade away, slowly dissipating like mist.

“Wait a minute.”

Lu Li called out to the vanishing Alice.

When Alice looked over, puzzled and confused, Lu Li’s hand reached to his waist, nudging open the holster.

“I’ll help you.”

…

The crisp sound of the horseshoe was masked by the pouring rain.

The torrential rain under the fierce wind was like a school of fish in the sea, gathering and then suddenly dispersing.

Accumulated water rushed into the roadside gutters, becoming a turbulent flow, surging down the streets.

If the visibility were clear enough, one might see the entire city covered with flowing water, a spectacle of it rushing towards the shoreline.

Several minutes later, the carriage stopped in front of a house.

There was light in the windows, someone was inside.

Knock, knock, knock—

Lu Li knocked on the door.

Soon, the door opened, and a figure with confusion appeared behind it.

“May I ask who you are?”

The tall figure outside the door, cloaked in a raincoat, made the middle-aged man feel an unease and a strangeness.

His unease stemmed from the calm around Lu Li; there was a storm on the street, yet there was not a sign on Lu Li of having been disturbed by the storm, even the corners of his raincoat were free from water.

“I am an Exorcist.

I just found your daughter’s ghost.”

As this figure spoke, paired with the pale flash of lightning suddenly flickering behind him, he seemed like the Grim Reaper declaring death.

“Dear, who has come?” A woman came from behind the middle-aged man.

Lu Li repeated to her.

This news was cruel to the family, and the woman embraced her husband and broke into sobs.

“We should’ve been prepared.” The middle-aged man gently patted his wife’s back.

He thought of something, lifted his head, but found that the figure had already left, and the carriage had disappeared into the rain curtain.

…

“I thought you would seek revenge for Alice,”

Anna, sitting beside Lu Li, propped her chin and said.

She tried her best to hide her breath, but still, uncontrollable energy from the Inner World leaked out, which made her uneasy.

Anna didn’t want to hurt Lu Li.

“She has let it go herself; there is no need to decide for her,” Lu Li replied.

Alice’s body showed no signs of coldness or malice, just like Anna used to be.

They both died of natural and accidental causes, not by someone’s hand.

Alice’s home was more or less on the way, and the carriage turned back in the direction of Elm Street.

After a period of silent travel, Lu Li’s voice broke the quiet in the carriage.

“What is your ability of Soul Projection?”

Telekinesis, or Anna’s control over objects, wasn’t an ability unique to her; almost all ghosts possessed this power, and only this power.

Only by becoming a vengeful spirit, starting to transform into an evil spirit, would one possess a unique Soul Projection.

It is, in other words, the embryonic form of the Evil Spirit Ritual.

Anna’s Soul Projection was a twisted shadow; she had never used her own ability.

“Fusion.” After a moment of silence, Anna answered.

Her Soul Projection, or so to speak, ritual, was to let the twisted shadow cover the victim’s shadow, until it was fully overlaid, at which point the victim would become a part of her strength, and she would possess the victim’s memories and thought.

The countermeasure was simple, hide somewhere without shadows, like in the darkness.

Soul Projection, as its name suggested, was a power evolved from the obsessions in one’s heart, and this power must be born from dark obsessions.

After all, if a person’s obsession was to protect, their Soul Projection as an evil spirit wouldn’t possibly remain protective.

So, the dark thought hidden in Anna’s heart was…

wanting to know everything about herself?

Lu Li quietly pondered.

It was indeed a possibility, as Lu Li knew clearly how curious Anna was about her own emotions and origins.

But there could be other reasons, such as…

Fortunately, Anna also realized the trouble with Soul Projection and treated Lu Li as if he were a delicate, fragile object.

Anna observed Lu Li; she knew as soon as he began to think that he was aware of it.

Yet, Lu Li showed no sign of resistance or aversion, no different from usual.

The feeling of being trusted felt so good…

A trace of warmth seemed to melt the indifference in Anna’s crimson eyes.

Forty minutes later, the carriage arrived at Elm Street.

Half a month had passed, and the ruins of the houses destroyed by the infection had been cleaned up, leaving behind only the empty foundations.

Unlike the streets they passed earlier, where most windows shone with light, here only a small fraction of houses emitted any light.

After the “Cannibal House” incident, many unsettled residents fled the Elm District.

If they could find safety in the center, no one would choose to risk danger on the periphery.

After a brief stop at the Elm Street warehouse to load up a nicely cut Deep Sea Stone, they headed toward Elm Forest.

Normally, a regular horse-drawn carriage could barely handle the weight of two Deep Sea Stones, but in such adverse weather, Lu Li couldn’t gamble on whether the carriage would make it to the cliff top safely.

As they left the houses of the street behind, the uneven cobblestone road turned into a muddy dirt path.

Occasionally the carriage wheels got stuck in the mud but were pushed out by a wave of Anna’s hand, using her power.

The morning sky was as dark as dusk, and sudden flashes of lightning illuminated the withered, twisted dead trees surrounding the track.

The consciousness of Elm Forest, filled with various negative emotions, enveloped Lu Li and Anna, becoming clearer than the last time they were here, as if it were truly about to give birth to a thinking entity.

Sorrow, pain, and despair surrounded Lu Li, but his firm will kept them at bay.

The emotions didn’t target Lu Li specifically; they were evenly applied to all beings entering the forest.

As Lu Li neared the cliff top, the surrounding consciousness started to change gradually.

From a few hundred meters away from the cliff top, the emotions no longer clung to the carriage, and as he approached within a hundred meters, they took on a friendly manner like that of a friend.

This was Lu Li’s home.