Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 539 - 539 Fifty-eight The Lone Decoy

539: Fifty-eight: The Lone Decoy 539: Fifty-eight: The Lone Decoy “Hmm.”

This time, Anna didn’t plan to make it bloody and simply twisted off its head.

As the neck bones separated, the infected creature that was bound mid-air stopped morphing with a twisted howl.

Rachel looked around at the others, “There should be no more in this tent, let’s move to the next one.”

Leaving the tent, Anna casually threw the infected into the bonfire on the beach.

Boom—

Sparks flew as the flames consumed the soulless husk.

Rachel and Gerard led Lu Li around the campsite on the coast and found one last infected in the tent used to store the deceased.

“It’s good you came, otherwise most of the people here would not have escaped death,” said Deputy Mayor Gerard with hindsight fear.

The area housing the injured was guarded by only a few exorcists and officers.

Had Human Pus appeared here, it might not have spread to the city, but the injured would have been doomed.

Anna remained silent, ready to twist the head off the infected.

“Wait!

Please wait!”

An anxious shout suddenly came from a distance, as a figure ran quickly toward them, panting, “Wait a moment, could you let me research it!”

“Who are you?” Gerard frowned at the approaching figure.

“I…uh…I’m a professor from Bradlow University, Mansfield Eugene, one of the scholars invited by the United Organization of Exorcists to study these creatures.”

The figure frantically searched his breast pocket for something to prove his identity, but after fumbling for a while, he couldn’t find it and thought he might have lost it during the run.

He wanted to go back and look for it.

“I know you, Eugene,” Rachel called out to him, telling Lu Li and Gerard, “He’s one of the people we’ve asked to help.”

“Miss Rachel?

It’s so good to see someone I know here,” said Eugene.

Eugene behaved like most scholars people were aware of: obsessive, eccentric, and a bit neurotic.

“You want the corpse of the infected?” Lu Li asked.

“Yes!” Eugene pushed up the bridge of his nose as if there was a pair of glasses there.

“An infected in the midst of transformation could help us better understand this epidemic.”

As well as the frenzy for the unknown.

Deputy Mayor Gerard then spoke, “Mansfield Eugene, I mean you no harm—in fact, I’m grateful for the detailed information on Human Pus you’ve provided—but you must understand the potential danger of a living infected.

As the Deputy Mayor Gerard of Belfast, I won’t allow any behavior that could pose a threat to her!”

By the end, Deputy Mayor Gerard’s tone had become increasingly stern.

As a scholar, Eugene wasn’t good at debating, especially with a politician.

The best point he could think of was, “This won’t hurt anyone!

We just want to study the epidemic; perhaps we could find a solution—”

“Anna, break its neck and throw it into the fire,” said Lu Li, suddenly turning his head.

Eugene’s arrival had made Lu Li contemplate.

Knowledge was the power of mankind.

Lu Li knew this better than anyone else in the world.

Unlike most people’s deep aversion to the unknown, to some extent, Lu Li’s mindset aligned with those of the scholars—

But such behavior was destined to exact a heavy toll.

Without a sterile environment, without protective gear in the early burgeoning period of industry, contact with the plague meant becoming the plague.

It made no sense, for there were unknowns many times more terrifying and capable of claiming lives more swiftly than this particular epidemic.

Eugene could not hide his deep disappointment.

Rachel, who knew a part of Lu Li’s character, then said, “He’s right.

Those rudimentary pieces of equipment wouldn’t allow you to observe the transformation of Human Pus up close.”

In the end, Eugene was still led away from the beach by a policeman with regret.

Maybe it was because he was a commoner who lacked the exploration of knowledge, or maybe he realized that there indeed was no point in doing so.

The infected ones in the fire had been reduced to ashes, and Lu Li and the others headed back the way they had come.

Gerard spoke with a hint of regret, “It seems Mr.

Luli won’t be able to help us.

If you appear among those monsters at the port, they’ll go berserk.”

“No, think differently,” Rachel shook her finger, her thoughts in complete contrast with Gerard’s.

She felt that Lu Li’s role was significant, and the mole at the corner of her eye gave her gaze an added profoundness, “Perhaps Investigator Luli can act as bait to attract them.”

A chill permeated the air, giving the two others besides Lu Li a sense of cold dread.

“Don’t be nervous, Miss Wraith.

I mean no harm, and this plan won’t hurt your Lu Li, not fundamentally,” Rachel explained and continued, “Intuition tells me your ability to attract Human Pus is connected to that comfortable aura around you, but that’s not important.

What matters is that your presence makes it possible for us to eliminate Human Pus.”

“What’s the plan!” Gerard lost his composure, asking urgently, in some ways resembling Eugene, whom he had turned away before.

“A cargo ship is docked at Rhodest Port, loaded with thousands of pounds of kerosene and other supplies.

Once ignited, it could burn until dawn.

If all the Human Pus are on that ship, the fire-fearing creatures will be reduced to ashes in seconds.”

Gerard murmured, looking at Lu Li, “We happen to have the person who can attract them…”

Lu Li was noncommittal to the suggestion, simply inquiring about potential flaws, “They won’t contaminate the sea?”

As a cargo ship, deck space was limited.

Thousands of Human Pus swarming onto the ship would inevitably see some spill into the water.

“It won’t matter once diluted by the sea,” Rachel replied.

“Don’t worry about them surviving.

Human Pus need to breathe too; falling into the water, they’ll die just the same.”

Allowing these sources of the epidemic to fall into the sea wasn’t a responsible plan, but it was the most effective way to restore safety to Belfast quickly—and with the port breach lasting for hours, many Human Pus would inevitably have fallen into the sea already.

In light of the existing sea contamination, further pollution seemed to become acceptable.

Heading back from the beach to the streets, Rachel and Gerard told Lu Li what to do next.

They would have two-thirds of the available Exorcists capable of combating Human Pus escort Lu Li into the port, to that ship, to break the kerosene in the cargo hold, then ignite it when the ship filled with Human Pus, before escaping on lifeboats.

“There’s no need for that hassle.

Just tell me where the cargo ship is located.”

Lu Li had a safer and simpler method.

“Are you sure?”

“Hmm.”

Rachel didn’t ask Lu Li how he planned to do it; she had United Organization members bring the ship’s crew to Lu Li, telling him where the cargo ship was moored.

No need for help.

No need for the Bird Beak Mask.

Lu Li only took two oil lamps and a torch to light the kerosene.

However, before leaving, Rachel handed Lu Li an item.