Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 522 - 522 Forty-One

522: Forty-One.

The Steps in the Cabin 522: Forty-One.

The Steps in the Cabin The hellish blood-red scene in the cabin faded like a painting, and Lu Li was pulled into the Death Retrace of his host.

The darkness that could not be dispelled surged around him, plunging Lu Li into gloom, with only thick, muffled gurgling sounds and distant chaotic footsteps in his ears.

Time moved forward, and after a dozen seconds, a dim yellow glow emerged from the darkness ahead.

In the approaching glow of the oil lamp, Lu Li saw himself and Anna floating beside him.

Unexpectedly, it was Lu Li who ended the life of the tentacle host.

In other words, the host had been “alive” until then.

This dashed Lu Li’s hope of gaining clues from the host’s initial death.

The last scene of the Death Retrace was the “Lu Li” across from him pulling the trigger, then Lu Li returned to reality.

“Nothing.” Lu Li said to Anna, who was waiting for the result, telling her about the situation in the retrace.

With the host dead, the flesh and veins clinging to the walls and ceiling fell down with a rustle, disgustingly landing on the ground and outside the protective shield.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Anna with disgust, as she looked at the rotten flesh falling like raindrops.

Lu Li nodded, taking one last look at the collapsed mass of flesh that had lost its support, ready to turn and leave.

Whoosh—

Suddenly, a faint sound of wind echoed in his ears.

Wind…?

Lu Li halted his movement and lifted the oil lamp toward the pile of flesh.

There seemed to be something under the flesh-covered floor.

“There’s something under the floor,” Lu Li said.

Anna waved her hand, and the flesh was pushed aside like a pile of garbage, revealing a pull-ring on the floor.

The sound of wind was seeping out from beneath the secret door.

At the same time, Lu Li suddenly felt the space around him become open and quiet.

This was unprecedented; after the reduction in Sanity Value, the surrounding malice and occasional lurking whispers of projections never disappeared, but at that moment, they were as if they had never existed, leaving no trace.

This occurred after the sound of wind arose.

No…

Lu Li had indeed experienced this before.

That time, Lu Li had gone through a strange and inexplicable experience, along with Blood-Colored Tentacles in his mind.

“Open it.”

The secret door gave Lu Li a strong sense of déjà vu.

Anna was already on it, the air currents tugged at the pull-ring, pulling open the secret door.

A dark, grey-brown staircase extending downward emerged before their eyes.

“Stairs…?”

Anna couldn’t understand.

The appearance of a secret passage here was extremely irrational…

They were already at the bottom of the cabin, below which should be the endless, dark sea rather than a stone wall and steps that extended downward for a dozen meters and continued downward after a bend.

Lu Li, who had already connected it with his memory, looked at the wall, but this time, there were neither numbers representing time nor chaotic, meaningless scribbles on the wall.

“I’m going to go down,” Lu Li said.

Inside Richard’s container of contaminants were three things: tentacles, chunks of flesh, and an eyeball.

If the tentacle that once penetrated Lu Li’s forehead corresponded to the meaning of “tentacles,” then the annihilated chunk of flesh host represented “chunks of flesh.”

Clearly, Lu Li was facing the second “test.”

Yes, a test.

Recalling the last experience, if he ignored the dangers and strangeness along the way, it was more like it was testing him, like the principles it conveyed in the end—

Down below lay danger, but also Lu Li’s opportunity to get closer to the core of Richard’s conspiracy.

“I’ll go with you.”

Anna knew once Lu Li made up his mind, it was usually after much deliberation and difficult to sway.

So she extended her palm and placed it in front of Lu Li.

“Hmm.”

Lu Li took Anna’s ethereal hand, lifted the oil lamp, and stepped into the secret passage that had appeared beneath the floor.

But as soon as he took a step, Anna’s hand was left behind—she was left outside the steps.

Anna seemed to be unable to step into the dark path, blocked from entry.

This appeared to be a trial intended for Lu Li alone.

“Wait here for me.”

Lu Li said to the visibly anxious Anna, withdrew his gaze, and continued down the cold stone steps, vanishing around the corner from Anna’s view.

…

The rough walls gave Lu Li an odd sensation.

It was as though they were made of sandblasted brown glass, with the obscured light of day shining through the “glass” from behind thick clouds and into the passageway.

The reason Lu Li had this feeling was because the walls themselves were emitting light.

Even without the help of the oil lamp, the descending stairway was anything but dark.

It was just that when Lu Li touched the walls, he found they were indeed just roughly hewn stone.

Standing before the first turn, Lu Li’s gaze fell towards the end.

There were still no numbers or letters on the walls, only a solitary, intricately carved wooden door stood against the rough stone.

Clearly, this was the first test Lu Li had encountered.

Descending the steps, Lu Li arrived in front of the wooden door, which was crafted with rich religious designs and motifs.

Through its openings, Lu Li could vaguely make out another space behind it.

Grasping the doorknob, Lu Li pushed the wooden door open.

The narrow space behind the door was fully revealed to him, along with the echo of smooth, flowing organ music.

A carved wooden chair was placed in the middle of the narrow space, which resembled a confessional in a church, with the reverberating organ music and the diffused light from beyond the lattice walls confirming Lu Li’s speculation.

Lu Li entered the confessional, placed the oil lamp on a protruding wooden shelf, which also held a stack of coarse paper and a quill pen dipped in an ink bottle.

In the confessional filled with a faint wood scent, Lu Li sat in the carved wooden chair.

Shortly after he sat down, the silhouette of a woman appeared behind the lattice wall and sat in front of the confessional.

Through the wide holes in the paper-covered wooden wall, Lu Li could see a pair of hands intertwined, restless, and without place.

They were so real as if everything truly existed.

Meanwhile, the woman outside the confessional began to whisper softly, “Almighty Lord, please tell me what I should do…”

“Who are you?”

After a moment of silence, Lu Li spoke out.

However, the woman outside the confessional seemed not to hear Lu Li’s voice, her figure within the chair unmoving.

Lu Li, with a flash of understanding, looked towards the stack of coarse paper and wrote with the quill pen from the ink bottle: [Tell me your name], and passed it through the wide hole to the outside.

The vague figure outside the confessional took the paper and responded reverently, “Lord, I am your most loyal servant, Olivia Kikan.”

[What’s the time now?]

Lu Li continued to write, exploring the test, and passed the question to the outside.

But this time, the woman did not take the paper handed out and remained still.

Lu Li wrote more questions like [What is this place] [Who is the Lord you believe in], with no response received.

Putting aside the useless paper with the test questions, Lu Li wrote on a fresh sheet: [What trouble have you encountered?]

Finally, the woman outside the confessional responded, reaching out to take the letter.