Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 452 - 452 309

452: 309.

Church Basement 452: 309.

Church Basement The tide by his side receded, densely rushing toward the three people on the street.

Not far away, the streets became increasingly chaotic, as several Night Devils under the clouds were rushing over.

The Six-legged Monster lay before Lu Li, raising a pair of hands as if offering a treasure.

The Mother of the Marsh sculpture flowed with mist, only audible to Lu Li as whispers like those by his ear, as if resonating in his mind.

“I have always been watching you…

Take it…

Do not refuse the power…”

Lu Li seemed to be experiencing the same situation as Tristan.

Moreover, Lu Li seemed to have no choice but to accept.

The Six-legged Monsters could return at any moment, following the Mother of the Marsh’s commands.

Lu Li silently extended his arm, the counter on his wrist going from steady to rapid clicking as he drew closer.

Suddenly, an ethereal pale hand grabbed his arm, Anna shook her head at him, her crimson pupils flickering unstably.

Lu Li did not change his mind, but the reminder made him briefly retract his hand to unbuckle the gun holster, he handed the Seriel 2 to Anna, then like scooping up meat from a soup, Lu Li used the gun holster to scoop up the Mother of the Marsh sculpture, never touching the sculpture directly.

The gun holster, engraved with Runes, primarily isolated sanity contamination.

It might not sever the connection between the Mother of the Marsh and the sculpture, but the counter no longer clattered incessantly, steadying instead.

The Six-legged Monster that offered the sculpture returned to its original state and quickly crawled toward the fighting on three people street.

“Let’s go quickly.”

Lu Li said, moving closer to the stunned Jojo and Fran.

The Mother of the Marsh might realize what happened at any moment.

Or maybe it had already realized.

An indescribable aura began to emanate from the sculpture in the gun holster, the near-steady counter again picked up speed, ticking intensely.

A buzzing noise filled Lu Li’s ears, and chaotic static appeared in his vision, flickering at the edges and spreading toward the center.

Lu Li ignored it, and after meeting up with Jojo Fran, quickly approached the church.

This phenomenon rapidly intensified, countless visions of death, prayers, and worship, which did not belong to Lu Li’s memories, began to flash through his mind.

It was as if some existence was descending into Lu Li’s consciousness, commandeering his thoughts.

Anna immediately noticed something was wrong with the staggering Lu Li and supported him, fading into the Inner World.

Jojo and Fran looked over in concern.

“It’s temporary.”

Lu Li had long grown accustomed to hallucinations and auditory illusions caused by low Sanity Value, although the erosion from the Mother of the Marsh made him uncomfortable, it was not severe.

Moreover, he could complete the information about the Mother of the Marsh through the frequently flashing fragments.

For example, the most frequently appearing scene: under a massive ancient banyan tree that blocked out the sun, countless Six-legged Monsters were crawling in worship, surrounded by Shadow Figures, and beyond them was a circle of Banyan Trees encircling a clear area.

In the center of the clearing, an ancient banyan tree revealed a dark and gloomy opening, emitting a mysterious and eerie aura.

Supported by Anna, Lu Li walked into the graveyard outside the church.

The mottled stone bricks of the church exterior and the rusted copper bell on the tower silently spoke of the years they endured, but that was all coming to an end.

Shadow Town had almost no survivors left, and one could foresee the town’s future fate: like increasingly many villages, it would be abandoned due to desertion and eventually consumed by evil.

This church would age and collapse due to lack of maintenance, turning into ruins.

But until then, it remained one of the sturdiest, safest buildings in town.

Surrounded by clusters of tombstones around the church, the group walked on a path when Jojo suddenly noticed Lu Li, who had strayed off course, walked to the garbage bin below the church wall, and threw in the gun holster containing the Mother of the Marsh sculpture.

The flickering images within his vision and the raucous whispers in his ears faded away as they moved away from the source.

The Sanity Value Counter returned to normal and ceased making noise as Lu Li pushed open the door.

However, Anna still hadn’t let go of Lu Li, holding onto his arm, as the three of them moved along the path toward the front of the church.

Jojo stepped forward to push the door, which seemed to merge with the space and didn’t budge.

Anna waved her hand gently, a dull thud of something heavy falling echoed from behind the door.

Jojo pushed again, and the heavy door slowly opened a crack.

An indescribable breeze, carrying the scent of decay and damp, surged through the slit in the door, nearly blinding Jojo with the dust it carried.

Jojo stepped back to avoid it, and Lu Li stepped forward, entering the church sideways.

Blood-red light from the broken windows cast into the inside of the church, which lay in shambles, a desecration to the no longer existent Divinity.

Behind the door were piles of collapsed benches and a corpse of a Night Devil.

The body of the Night Devil was covered in wounds, with several pitchforks embedded in it.

Lu Li looked around inside the church, then lifted his head to look towards the wall at the far end of the church.

The stained glass window that might have once been adorned with figures was completely missing, the podium below shattered.

A scene appeared: the Night Devil crashing through the stained glass window, entering the church.

The frightened civilians running and screaming, men picking up weapons to fight, and finally killing the Night Devil.

The casualties were unknown since there were no bodies in the church.

The blood-red light and the red carpet also concealed any traces of blood.

“The wind is coming from that side,” Jojo pointed to the entrance to the basement by the edge of the podium.

The basement’s stone door, similar in texture to the wall, stood open.

It seems there is no need to ask Fran where the basement entrance is.

The last to enter, Fran pushed the church door closed.

Through the crack, he saw the ongoing battle in the street, and as the door shut, the distant clamorous roars were blocked outside.

Jojo and Fran moved benches to block the door and returned to stand behind Lu Li, walking across the empty church to the entrance of the basement.

Cool, damp wind blew up from the basement, carrying with it a miasma of rot and a faint scent of blood.

But that wasn’t what attracted everyone’s attention.

“There’s a light…” Fran murmured incredulously, his dead heart reigniting with warmth.

The dark steps were crowded, but at the turn at the end of the staircase, a faint glow of an oil lamp shone.

Maybe there were still living people in the church’s basement!

Fran thought, containing his excitement as he looked toward Lu Li.

“I’ll check it out,” Anna whispered and after a short departure, returned with news, “No danger, and no one alive.”

Fran’s emotions froze.

Lu Li took out a flashlight, turned it on, and the weak beam of light guided him as he stepped into the basement.

The silent Jojo and Fran followed him.

As they neared the basement, the light around the corner grew clearer.

Even though Fran had heard the outcome from the spirit named Anna, he still harbored a sliver of wishful thinking.

This illusion persisted until he reached the corner.

Directly in front of the steps, a bookshelf had been moved to reveal a secret passage, a breeze from the Shadow Swamp blowing along the lengthy passage into the basement.

Next to the steps, on a cabinet, an oil lamp sat, its flame flickering weakly as the kerosene was nearly burnt out.

Large patches of dried blood stained the ground and walls.

Besides them, there was no one in the basement.