Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 487 - 487 Six

487: Six.

Whale’s Farewell 487: Six.

Whale’s Farewell Time dragged on, and Tesla still hadn’t come back.

In the meantime, the waiter entered the carriage to relay Tesla’s message: there had been some changes; he had to get off with the “madman’s” corpse at the station up ahead.

Half an hour later, the steam train slowly came to a stop at the small town station named “Wheat Town.”

Hisss—

After the vibrations, the carriage settled into calmness.

Lu Li looked out the window towards the platform, where a crowd carrying hefty luggage displayed a flurry of bewildered, panic-stricken emotions, moving aside to clear the way.

Several silhouettes wearing bird beak masks appeared at the edge of the window, carrying a simple stretcher covered with a white cloth, walking away.

The weight of the stretcher and the outline under the white cloth silently testified to the existence of a lifeless corpse within.

Tesla’s figure appeared; he raised his hand to adjust his wide-brimmed hat, grasping his cane and hurriedly followed the silhouettes in bird beak masks and the corpse, leaving the platform.

He didn’t even have time to turn back and say goodbye to Lu Li behind the window.

“Do you sense anything?” Lu Li asked without looking back.

Jojo, who was lying in front of another row of windows, turned her head to look and realized that Lu Li wasn’t speaking to her.

“A strong Inner World aura, it feels like a vengeful spirit…” Anna’s murmuring voice arose by the ear, adding, “I don’t want you to get involved.”

“Mm, I won’t.”

Lu Li, who handled the Shadow Town incident on his own, needed to rest.

Tesla knew this too, which is why he didn’t call on Lu Li for help.

Or perhaps it was because Lu Li couldn’t help with this matter.

The steam train remained at the Wheat Town station platform for nearly twenty minutes, waiting for all passengers to board and the engine to be refueled with coal.

Then black smoke billowed from the smokestack.

With a resounding whistle, the train slowly started moving.

A few minutes later, Wheat Town was no longer visible outside the window, and the pressing sensation disappeared in the steadily moving carriage.

Jojo left her seat, steadying herself on the chairs as she moved through the jolting carriage to sit opposite Lu Li.

Lu Li lifted his gaze to her: “What do you plan to do next?”

Jojo, who was moving a coffee cup aside, stopped her hand and hesitantly retracted it, saying, “I don’t want to let my brother down…

so I guess I’ll go back to the academy and continue my studies.”

Lu Li then looked towards Fran sitting across from them.

“Uh…

I don’t know…

With Shadow Town gone, I might be resettled in Rose Town or a city nearby,” Fran replied, equally uncertain about the future.

It wasn’t a bad thing; at least they had something to be uncertain about.

“Do you have something you want to tell us?” Jojo suddenly asked, knowing that Lu Li wasn’t one to show concern for others.

That might sound somewhat ambiguous.

To be more precise, Lu Li wasn’t one to express concern for others.

“One of Anna’s relatives wants to head to the Lennon Islands, which are relatively…” Lu Li paused mid-sentence, recalling the madman’s ramblings in the next carriage, then resumed, “…safe.

If you want to leave this place, you can travel together there.”

This advice didn’t hold much persuasive power considering the traces left by the prior madman’s words.

Nevertheless, Jojo trusted Lu Li, and after some thought, she shook her head with an apologetic expression, “No thanks, I’d like to fulfill my brother’s expectations.”

She turned and patted Fran, who was sitting across the aisle: “If you’ve got nowhere to go, you can hang with me.”

Jojo was several years younger than Fran, but at that moment, she truly had the demeanor of an elder sister.

Fran forced out an unattractive smile.

“What about you, are you going to the Lennon Islands?” Jojo asked.

Lu Li did not reply; he was pondering.

Disregarding the madman’s ominous prophecy, the Lennon Islands were a fine sanctuary from danger, though Lu Li’s refuge was almost complete.

They each had their merits and drawbacks.

In a perilous dark forest, hiding within the shadows, facing the darkness and danger is one choice.

Lighting a fire, seeking warmth and an illusory sense of safety by its glow, is another.

The former is a refuge point; the latter is the Lennon Islands.

“Perhaps.”

Lu Li didn’t give Jojo a definitive answer.

Jojo’s eyes moved about, searching around Lu Li for something, and he asked softly, “Is Sister Anna…is she alright?”

Indifferent words floated from the void beside Lu Li, “I’m fine, thank you for the concern.”

Jojo pursed her lips and nodded, feeling that Miss Ghost was becoming distant.

Soon after the misunderstanding, she left her seat without troubling Lu Li any further and went to sit in the front row.

The gentle rocking of the carriage, the soft seats, and the warmth of the fireplace lured people into drowsiness; Fran quickly fell asleep on the table, and Lu Li also closed his eyes for a little rest.

Whoosh—

The door of the carriage was pushed open, and footsteps entered.

Lu Li opened his eyes and looked at the waiter carrying an oil lamp who approached him.

She told Lu Li that the steam train was about to pass through a tunnel and although the carriage would light up with electric lights, they needed to light the backup oil lamp just in case.

Lu Li took the oil lamp and asked whether the steam train would pass by Himfast.

The answer was no; the train would travel along the coastline all the way to Belfast.

However, they could get off at Maple Leaf Town, which was the closest to Himfast—just under forty miles away.

Ten minutes after the waiter left, the carriage lit up with dim electric lights.

Lu Li struck a match and lit the oil lamp, placing it securely on the table.

A few minutes later, the world outside the window abruptly plunged into darkness, reflecting Lu Li’s face on the glass.

The carriage also fell into an eerie silence.

In stories, this would typically be when something bad happened.

But until the outside world grew bright again and clarity broke through, the incident Jojo worried about did not occur.

“Look…

it’s the sea.”

Anna’s soft whisper reached his ears, and Lu Li, who had extinguished the oil lamp, looked outside again.

After crossing over a low hill, a vast, lead-gray sea appeared before them.

The train had reached the north coast of the Ailen Peninsula.

“We only stayed in Shadow Town for half a day…

and so much has happened.”

Lu Li looked outside, where a reflection of a surreal beautiful girl’s face seemed to shimmer on the window.

Anna murmured softly, “Lu Li…

I don’t want you to take any more risks.”

“Do you want to go to the Lennon Islands?”

“Mm.”

“Then, when we get back, contact Daisy to see if she wants to join us to the Lennon Islands.”

“Alright.”

A hint of warmth crept into Anna’s reply.

She continued to gaze at the sea, and at some moment, she saw a hazy ship faintly visible in the distance, shrouded in mist, moving parallel to the train.

It was gradually drawing closer to the coast, its blotchy hull and broken smokestack bringing a familiar sense of déjà vu.

“That big ship is the one we saw in the swamp…” Anna whispered.

“Mm.”

Having received an answer, Anna watched the ship silently as it sailed on the sea surface, like a majestic whale granted freedom.

More and more passengers on the train noticed the strange ship on the sea, gathering at the windows, watching with a mixture of curiosity and fear the rust-covered cruise liner.

Soon, the Exorcist on the train, informed of the message, began to observe this mysterious ship, but it eventually drifted away from the coastline and disappeared into the distant mist.