Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 523 - 523 Forty-two

523: Forty-two.

The first believer, the second believer 523: Forty-two.

The first believer, the second believer The oil lamp on the table emitted a dim yellow light, but it couldn’t illuminate outside the Confessional, as if the inside and outside of the Confessional were two different spaces.

In fact, they indeed were, as Lu Li was about thirty meters below sea level according to the normal depth.

Outside the Confessional, a lady with rough hands held onto a piece of paper, slowly speaking about the troubles she had encountered.

Olivia Kikan might not be the most devout Believer, but she took a day each month to come to the Temple for worship.

This was her second visit this month due to the troubles she faced.

Her youngest son had an asthma attack and coughed up a lot of blood.

After taking him to the clinic, the doctor told her that his condition was very serious and that stabilizing it would require long-term treatment, which would not be very effective.

The high cost of treatment, following her husband’s death, was too much for Olivia Kikan, a mere peasant wife, to bear.

She had no choice but to come to the Confessional of the Temple to narrate her sorrows to the presence within.

Lu Li could hardly be of help in this matter.

Lu Li had money, but he couldn’t pass the Shilling through the wide slots—or to say he could, but the woman outside the Confessional seemed not to see the Shilling on the table that she desperately needed; instead, she awaited the “Lord” on the other side of the Confessional to aid her with the truths written on the paper.

More specifically, she hoped the gods she had always believed in could help solve her young son’s disease.

Lu Li couldn’t write “Everything will be alright,” but he indeed couldn’t help Olivia Kikan.

Thinking, he could only write on the paper.

“There are some who may be able to help you.

Obscure unknown doctors, retired old doctors, and compassionately wealthy nobles.

You can inquire about the first two from your neighbors, while the latter can be approached by going to the homes of known nobles or wealthy individuals and crying out about your troubles.”

Handing out the paper was all Lu Li could do.

That pair of rough hands grabbed the paper, and after a moment of silence, the woman’s voice carried an undisguised sense of loss, “Thank you, my Lord…

After Little Kiken’s asthma eases, I’ll bring him to the Temple for worship…”

Olivia Kikan rose from her seat and walked out, her figure gradually blurring until Lu Li could no longer observe her.

Is it over?

In the flow of organ music within the Temple, Lu Li thought.

Then, the light and shadow outside the Confessional began to change.

This change was usually not easily noticeable, but after speeding up, the shadows cast by the perforated wooden wall moved quickly, clearly revealing the passage of time.

The change only lasted for about a dozen seconds, but the blurred light from outside had already turned into the color of the sunset’s afterglow, with a slash of setting sun shining on the wooden chair across the wide slot.

Whisper——whisper——

Two blurred figures emerged on the perforated wooden wall, sweeping the floor and whispering quietly in the empty, sprawling Temple.

“Did you hear?

Olivia was hit dead by Viscount Rivis’s carriage…”

“Who is Olivia?”

“The woman who came this morning, her child was ill, and she came to the Temple for help because she had no money for treatment.”

“Then what?

How did she get hit dead by Viscount Rivis’s carriage?”

“Who knows?

After she left the Temple, she wandered around asking where to find skilled and inexpensive doctors, which just wasn’t possible.

Then, like a madwoman, she stopped the carriages of the rich to plead her case, and Viscount Rivis’s horse got scared and ended up hitting her to death.”

“That’s really sad…

But she must have gotten some compensation, so her little son could afford the treatment, right?”

“Compensation?

How could a madwoman who suddenly ran out to stop a carriage get any compensation?

If it weren’t for her being dead already, Viscount Rivis would have sued her by now.”

“Sigh…”

The soft talking gradually faded away, and the outside of the Confessional got darker and finally merged into the darkness, leaving only the faint glow of the oil lamp.

Lu Li stood up, the dimmed environment signaling the closure of this door.

No matter the purpose of this test, Lu Li seemed to have turned in a less than satisfactory answer.

Picking up the oil lamp, Lu Li turned to leave the Confessional, then his figure stopped in an instant.

The steps outside had changed.

This change was clearly visible: the walls and steps had deteriorated somewhat.

It was as if the stone columns of a long-neglected Temple had shown signs of weathering and damage, as had the walls and steps.

However, the damaged walls did not make the afternoon-like light clearer.

On the contrary, the light within the stones became more dim, as if the walls themselves were glowing, and as they deteriorated, the light naturally dimmed as well.

This was clearly not a good thing.

Could a bad ending damage this place…

Lu Li thought, holding an oil lamp and walking out of the Confessional.

As the carved wooden door closed behind him, Lu Li turned back and quietly observed for a few seconds, then continued walking downward.

Following the damaged steps to the next corner, at the end of the downward extending steps, another carved wooden door emerged.

The same Confessional, the same wood scent, and the same soothing flow of organ music.

The difference was, on the lattice wooden wall of the Confessional, two different phrases were sloppily scrawled.

“Only the truth can win hearts”

“Ignorance is not the original sin; arrogance is”

Lu Li compared the meanings of these phrases to those on the walls from his previous experiences.

If they represented some kind of hint, was the first sentence reminding him to use “the truth” to aid the seeking Believer?

As for the second phrase, Lu Li was temporarily unable to connect it meaningfully with himself; forcing an interpretation would only distort its meaning.

Sitting down in the wooden chair, much like on the previous level, not long after Lu Li sat down, a figure approached from a distance.

It was the silhouette of a man.

After the figure sat on the wooden chair outside the Confessional, the revealed shape confirmed Lu Li’s guess.

“Lord…I have sinned…please forgive my transgressions…” the man said tremblingly, his legs tightly pressed together, his pale hands nervously intertwined.

“What have you done?”

Lu Li wrote, handing over the paper.

“I…I killed a man,” the man said tremblingly, his voice carrying a hint of fear and suppressed hatred deep within his emotions.

He began to recount what happened—

A group of thugs had been harassing his daughter, and the man had been previously unaware.

It wasn’t until recently that he saw his daughter being led into an alley by the thugs.

The man, just off work from a logging site and blinded by anger, rushed in to rescue her.

It could have ended there, had the man warned the thugs not to approach his daughter again and they had agreed— a potentially decent end.

But, blinded by rage, he raised the axe in his hand and swung it at the thugs.

The man couldn’t clearly remember the final outcome.

He only recalled that when he left, one lay on the ground silent, another’s chest barely moved, and one stumbled and ran out crying.

Wrapped in immense regret afterwards, the man pleaded, “Please tell me, should I turn myself in?

Will I go to hell if I do…and what should happen to my daughter…please help your most faithful servant.”

“Only the truth can win hearts”

The truth, huh…

“I can help you, but before all else, I want to know if you are repenting of the sins you committed, or merely afraid of the consequences of your crime”