Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 464 - 464 Three hundred and twenty-one

464: Three hundred and twenty-one.

The Light of Redemption 464: Three hundred and twenty-one.

The Light of Redemption [Flames are the light of civilization]

Oliver forgot when he saw the sentence on a book while rummaging through the trash can, he didn’t take the book, only remembered that one sentence—mainly because that was the only one he could read.

Now, after many hardships, Oliver had time to think like a philosopher, and he added a sentence after the one he remembered.

[Flames are the source of life]

Flames licked Oliver’s cheeks, their warmth and dryness dispelling the original cold dampness of the cabin.

Facing the fire made Oliver feel as if he were on the beach of Rodest Port in summer, while the coolness at his back reminded him it was just an illusion.

The clothes he had scavenged were placed by the fire to dry, and once his body was not so cold, he used a rusty kitchen knife from the kitchen to smash open a can.

There was no taste, Oliver thought the previous cold might have temporarily taken away his sense of smell, but still, he couldn’t smell anything even when it was right under his nose.

He leaned over the can, there were no signs of mold, and tasted it with the tip of his tongue, – a briny taste overwhelmed his taste buds.

Except for the salty taste, he couldn’t make out anything else.

“No bad smell…

should be fine.”

The food in the can had already melted after being left for a decade.

Oliver had eaten food far dirtier and more disgusting than this, like a half piece of bread in vomit…

so after stirring the can several times with a small knife and finding nothing suspicious, he drank some of the can’s liquid.

If it didn’t make him uncomfortable or cause diarrhea afterward, that meant the food was safe.

The fully dried clothes gave off a comforting smell that was almost intoxicating, and Oliver changed out of his dirty clothes, collected some condensed water droplets from the wall to rinse his wounds, and placed the rest under himself.

The kerosene poured over the charcoal was almost burned out, but the charcoal was now fully ignited.

Oliver added some damp charcoal to prevent the fire from extinguishing, curled up in the pile of clothes he had laid out.

He was getting sleepy.

…

Jojo had a strong intuition.

Inside this steamship, there was an existence of utmost importance to her.

After checking the deck above, Anna floated back to Lu Li, who was at the side of the creek with a furrowed brow, “Something feels very wrong here.”

Lu Li felt the same.

The large ship stranded in the marsh gave him a strange feeling, like a whale stranded in shallow waters.

No matter what, they needed to take a look aboard.

“Or you all wait outside, and I’ll go search,” Anna suggested.

She could ignore physical objects, and it wouldn’t take long for her to shuttle through the big ship a few times.

Lu Li shook his head, “Together.”

Looking at the Shadow Figures not far off, it stood several meters away from the group at the ship’s edge, no longer guiding the way.

They had to find their own path now.

There was a rock upstream that could help them climb up, but with Anna around, they were directly “lifted” onto the deck.

The wooden deck, once carefully maintained, was now damaged beyond repair and lifeless.

Lu Li glanced around the deck and the upper deck and saw the entrance to the lower decks.

Oliver had an oil lamp, and the surface above was unsafe, so he might be hiding below.

Holding the oil lamp, Lu Li skirted the fragile deck that might collapse and creaked his way into the dark space below the deck.

A corridor stretched out before him into the dark end, and Lu Li saw an old-fashioned gear elevator, which likely meant this had been a passenger liner.

“Call out to him.”

About ten meters from the entrance, Lu Li stopped and said to Jojo.

“With the Banyan Tree as a barrier outside, not even the minions of the Evil God can enter, no matter the noise.”

And for those few that slipped through the net…

Anna would make sure they wouldn’t return.

“Is it okay…”

Jojo had never been so close to hope, she asked subconsciously, Lu Li didn’t answer her but realizing it herself, Jojo nervously looked ahead into the dark and took a deep breath and shouted.

“Oliver!”

Her brother’s name echoed, shattering into countless echoes that spread far away.

…

In a daze, Oliver heard someone calling out his name.

Chaotic consciousness made it difficult for him to think until the memory before he fell asleep surged into his mind, reminding him where he was—

Oliver suddenly awoke.

The fire and the oil lamp were still burning, though the charcoal was about to run out.

What time is it now…

It’s been burning for almost two hours…

It must be nearing morning…

He lifted a corner of the cabin window “curtain,” and the outside world remained shrouded in the gloomy blood-red of the clouds; no change had occurred.

Oliver sat down, threw two pieces of dried charcoal into the fire, and recalled the calling he had heard before.

“Perhaps it wasn’t a hallucination?”

Oliver thought, listening attentively like a man grasping at straws.

But unfortunately, aside from the faint sound of flowing water and the distant echoes within the ship’s hull, there was nothing.

He sighed and checked his wound; it no longer seemed to be oozing pus, nor did it hurt, but a ring of black patterns that made him uneasy had formed around the wound.

There couldn’t really be a curse, could there…

I should have been ruthless and cut out this piece of flesh before.

Oliver thought, noticing now that the black patterns around his wound had spread to cover nearly half his palm.

Get out as soon as possible, then find someone to help, Lu Li will definitely aid me…

As he was thinking, a weak call rose to his ear.

“Oliver…”

Who is it!?

Oliver shuddered, and the next moment he realized it was his sister’s voice!

…

“Oliver!

Brother!”

Jojo’s hoarse voice from exertion echoed in the corridor below deck.

Most of the cabin doors on both sides were tightly closed, with only a few open, revealing corroded narrow spaces and rusty frames.

“Oliver!”

Jojo kept shouting her brother’s name over and over, all negative emotions cast aside.

Even Lu Li, who had reached out to help, hadn’t given up; she had even less reason to do so.

As she turned a corner, a dim corridor loomed into view, its silhouette barely visible, ending with a half-shut cabin door.

A strong premonition suddenly surged within Jojo’s heart that her brother was in that room at the end of the hall.

She glanced back at Lu Li and hurried towards the room at the end of the hall.

“Brother!”

…

“I’m here!

I’m right here!”

Oliver responded loudly to his sister’s calls, scrambling to his feet in a panic, nearly tumbling into the fire due to lack of strength.

Clumsily rising, Oliver rushed to the door.

The calling was echoing just outside; he hastily pulled away the wooden chair blocking the door, desperate to see his sister—although he didn’t know how Jojo had found the place.

…

Jojo, getting closer to the cabin, broke into a jog and rushed to the door, pushing open the half-closed room door at the end of the corridor with force.

What appeared in her eyes, still holding the remnants of joy, was a body leaning against the wall.

That was Oliver.

Oliver’s skin was a faded grayish-blue, coldly propped against the cold wall, devoid of warmth.

Sinister black patterns climbed his neck, outlining the shape of a little demon.

The fire and oil lamp in front of him had long since died out, no longer emitting light.

They had arrived too late.