Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 520 - 520 Thirty-nine

520: Thirty-nine.

The Parasitized Steamship 520: Thirty-nine.

The Parasitized Steamship “`

The small passenger ship, having dropped anchor, quietly floated a few miles off Crescent Bay,

with the bustling Rodest Port within sight, yet strangely, this passenger ship full of people anchored outside the harbor, motionless on the vast sea.

Even stranger was the behavior of the crew and passengers walking on deck.

The lookout sailor perched on the mast climbed the mast to gaze toward Rodest Port, then descended back to the deck, paused briefly before climbing up again to gaze toward Rodest Port.

On the deck, a couple of passengers huddled together, pointed towards the blurred Belfast shrouded in the rain curtain, withdrew their arms for a few seconds, then pointed at Belfast again.

The deckhand cleaning the deck bent down to wipe the floor, withdrew a bit to continue wiping, then moved forward to wipe, and then backward to wipe.

The young passenger by the deck railing had his hat blown off by the wind, chased after the rolling hat with a look of alarm, dusted it off, put it back on, and returned to the railing.

A gust of wind blew, and his hat was blown off once more, the alarmed young man went chasing after the hat again.

An elderly couple, leaning on canes, shakily circled the upper deck, children ceaselessly ran back and forth on the deck, and the sailor huddled under the mast clutching his thin clothes sneezed every few seconds.

The passengers and crew on the deck rigidly repeated the same motions over and over, eerie unease buried under the facade of liveliness.

Anna, initially unable to understand Lu Li’s behavior, gradually realized the dead silence amid the deck’s clamor.

After Lu Li stopped chanting numbers, she said, “There’s something wrong with this ship.”

Worried about letting Lu Li board the passenger liner, Anna continued, “You stay on the ship, I’ll go check it out.”

“Stay safe.”

Drifting with the current, Lu Li’s hand rested on the holster.

“Mhmm.”

Anna’s soft hum came from the void, then Lu Li felt the surroundings becoming emptier.

The counter that ticked every few dozen seconds fell silent.

Lu Li gazed at the repetitive silhouettes on the deck, and after a few minutes, the Sanity Value Counter twitched.

Anna’s voice rose nearby, “This ship has been contaminated by an abnormality.”

“It seems normal on the surface.

If you don’t look closely, it’s just like any other ship, but the interior walls and ceilings are everywhere covered in disgusting flesh, pulsing like a living thing,” Anna’s tone carried her disgust from the scene she’d witnessed.

“What about those people?” Lu Li pointed to the shadows on the deck.

After a brief silence, Anna replied softly, “…Their heads have been pierced, empty on the inside, some bodies are severely decayed.”

They had long been dead, and possibly no living person remained aboard, only shells manipulated by the abnormality in the cabins, concealing from the eyes of outsiders.

“I didn’t see any living people.

The hosts of the tentacles might already be dead, we can look for the last Blood-Colored Tentacle.”

Lu Li shook his head in response to Anna, “But what if the initiator is the host or the Blood-Colored Tentacles have already parasitized on the abnormality?”

“We could have the United Organization send help.”

“That would take too long.”

Anna’s voice carried reluctance and concern, “But I don’t want you to take risks.”

“To reach the safe shore, braving the turbulent waves is necessary,” Lu Li responded.

The Blood-Colored Tentacles and the door hung over his head like the Sword of Damocles… unless resolved, Lu Li was never truly safe.

Lu Li persuaded Anna, although she knew that the so-called “shore” was not safe either, the prospect of the “future,” laden with hope and beauty, indeed held great allure.

Before boarding the silent passenger liner, Anna shared the details of her discoveries with Lu Li: those shadows, that flesh.

Anna had a natural advantage in dealing with them—enemies with physical forms were far easier to deal with than intangible ones.

Protecting Lu Li, Anna controlled her power to lift him, floating him towards the deck of the silent passenger ship.

Thump—

“`

Lu Li fell into the empty space on the deck, surrounded by the dead husks that maintained an eerie silence, weirdly repeating the same actions until the stiff body chasing after a blown-off hat approached Lu Li.

Tap tap tap tap—

The dead young passenger’s husk bent down to pick up the hat that had stopped rolling, their movement suddenly coming to a halt, slowly raising their blood-holed head covered by a gray mist-like turbidity, their eyes landing on Lu Li.

The stiff footsteps that had been echoing around vanished at that moment.

Lu Li looked around; the husks that were previously engaged in their own behaviors stopped their actions in unison, coldly and woodenly staring at Lu Li.

Just then, a distant creaking of the ship’s bones sounded from below deck, and the ship’s body mysteriously and abruptly shook.

The staggering Lu Li was steadied by Anna, who remained vigilant, and numerous falling sounds arose on the deck.

Thud—

A crew member’s husk fell from the mast, breaking its neck.

But they quickly stiffly climbed up, advancing toward Lu Li.

Clang clang clang clang—

Vague sounds of chains moving echoed on the deck, and Anna whispered, realizing something, “This ship…

its oddity wants to leave.”

The anchor was being rapidly raised.

Facing the crew member’s husk crawling toward Lu Li with a hanging neck, Anna concentrated a spear in the palm of her hand, lightly throwing it.

An acute whoosh of air followed, and the crew member’s husk was pierced through the spine by the invisible spear, pinned to the deck.

But the crew member’s husk did not die once again; it kept moving its limbs, trying to get close to Lu Li.

“Destroy the heart and brain.” Lu Li murmured, looking at the husk.

Two successive swooshing sounds, and the crew member’s head was nailed down, tightly against the deck.

But its husk still moved in place.

Other approaching husks were blown away by Anna; they were significantly weaker than imagined, performing slow, stiff movements using human husks.

Could this be the reason for the oddity beneath the deck wanting to escape?

Lu Li frowned lightly, observing the nailed husk, when he suddenly noticed a detail.

“Get it off the deck,” he said, beneath the deck pierced by the translucent spear, strange blood-colored vessels were surging.

“Mmh.”

Anna hummed softly, dissipating the spear that had pierced the crew member’s husk, lifting it up.

A bizarre scene unfolded, from the crevices in the deck, blood-vessel-like thin red threads connecting to the crew member’s husk; as the crew member was suddenly lifted, they tore apart, burrowing back beneath the deck cracks like living things, and the husk disconnected from the blood-colored vessels also lost its “liveliness.”

“The oddity is controlling them.”

Anna murmured, her red pupils turning toward the surroundings, gently raising her palm.

The dozen or so husks surrounding Lu Li floated up out of nowhere, then disconnected from the web-like vessels, their bodies dropping down motionless.

At the same time, Anna turned her head towards the first crew member’s husk.

A resentful and incomplete soul emerged from the husk, instinctively drawing close to Lu Li, blocked outside by Anna’s protection, lingering around Lu Li in circles.

“Wait,”

As Anna moved to erase the incomplete soul, Lu Li called out to stop her.