Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 550 - 550 Sixty-nine

550: Sixty-nine.

The passage extending downward 550: Sixty-nine.

The passage extending downward The injury seemed quite severe, Richard clutched his right foot and kept screaming in agony.

“You’re not keeping your word!”

Richard’s screams were mixed with angry accusations, “You should have confronted me honorably instead of forcing me out with such despicable tactics!”

Lu Li watched as Richard, covered in dust, struggled to rise, “You don’t need that.”

“Ha… the arrogance of the victor.” Richard sneered, slowly lifting his head, his face distorted by the blood mixed with dust, “But do you really think you’ve won?”

He limped along, but not toward Lu Li, instead heading to the side of the garden.

There was an abandoned woodshed or storeroom there.

“You don’t dare kill me, you still want to know how to rid yourself of the Ancient God’s Body from me, you can only watch as I walk away from here.”

Lu Li’s hand, which had been resting by his gun holster, moved away.

Just as Richard said, Lu Li needed Richard alive if he wanted to rid himself of the Blood-Colored Tentacles.

“Cough—ptui!”

Richard spat blood at Lu Li but it landed only half a meter in front of him.

He reached into his mouth, screaming as he pulled out a moving tooth, raised it, and laughed maniacally at Lu Li, “You and your ghost girlfriend can’t do anything!”

The Asylum behind him, rising with thick smoke and firelight, framed him like a madman.

Although he was one.

“You’re right.”

Lu Li said, gripping the Sequence 2 and aiming at Richard’s legs, he pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Accompanied by the deafening sound of the gunshot, Richard screamed and fell to the ground clutching his shins.

He was terrified of pain, his screams nearly drowned out by the crackling and howling of the fire behind him at the Asylum.

“You can keep shooting!” a bloodied Richard yelled at Lu Li, his cheeks twitching with pain as he flicked blood from his face, “But don’t think I’ll tell you everything!”

Richard’s threat worked, Lu Li holstered the Sequence 2 and did not shoot at Richard again.

An uncontrollable Richard could do anything.

Richard, with a twisted smile, cradling his leg, stood up again and limped toward the woodshed a dozen meters away, “You won the first half, but I will dominate the second half!”

“What are you trying to do?” Lu Li watched him calmly.

“I’m not like you, you thieving, vile, shameful burglar who steals your master’s finances.

You… huh… you want to obtain the Ancient God’s Body?

Want to know the truth?”

Having moved to the shed door, Richard leaned against the wooden wall, trembling as he opened the wooden door.

Lu Li couldn’t see what was behind the door, only seeing Richard take down and light the oil lamp hanging there, then looking back at him.

“Come down personally, I’ll be waiting for you in the abyss.”

Leaving these words, Richard’s figure disappeared into the space behind the door, vanishing from sight.

Lu Li approached the woodshed, yanking open the door.

The narrow woodshed was cluttered with miscellaneous items, but that was not important.

A damp, cold staircase extended downward, and at the end, some fifteen meters away, the faint glow of the oil lamp flickered.

A sea breeze-like damp breeze blew from beneath the stairs, reminding Lu Li of the third type of passage he had seen during the second challenge.

This was the third challenge passage.

Just like the previous situation in the ship’s cabin, Anna could see it but couldn’t set foot in it.

“You stay.”

Lu Li told Anna, shaking the oil lamp.

There was more than half of the kerosene left, enough to last over six hours.

“This might be Richard’s trap.” Anna whispered.

“But it’s also the best chance to get rid of the Blood-Colored Tentacles.”

The source of the Ancient God’s Body, Richard’s goal, and how to escape the Blood-Colored Tentacles.

The fire had spread to the second floor of the Asylum, and the terrifying black smoke almost enveloped the entire sky.

Before leaving, Lu Li said to Anna, “Hide yourself, and if the officers find you after they arrive, appear voluntarily and tell them what happened; do not argue.”

Anna quietly watched Lu Li’s dark eyes, which reflected her own figure.

“Come back safely.”

“Mm.”

Under Anna’s gaze, Lu Li walked into the passageway holding the oil lamp.

This time, the passageway extended straight downward without any corners obstructing the view.

Strangely, Richard, who had been only twenty meters ahead of Lu Li before, had disappeared; it seemed he had moved even lower.

Even stranger were the uneven stone steps; each level down, the steps increased by a few centimeters in height.

After descending just over a dozen steps, Lu Li had to face half a meter drops in the steps.

Briefly stopping his pace, he looked back at the way he had come, the end of the steps faintly outlining a silhouette waiting for him.

Turning his gaze back, Lu Li continued downwards.

As he descended, the passageway became damper, the light from the oil lamp dim, reflecting water stains off the rough walls.

Shadows cast long, quivering shadows behind him.

It was like a pitch-black figure twitching.

Two minutes later, the difference between each step had grown to one meter.

As the drop increased to over one meter, Lu Li’s movement became increasingly difficult.

Now, at each step, he had to place the oil lamp beside him, turn around, and lower his body by gripping the edge of the step with both hands.

This continuously increasing distance inevitably prompted frightening contemplations: What if at some point he reached a level where he could not turn back and could only continue downward?

The walls bore no advice or changes; the third challenge seemed only to be a passageway extending downward with increasingly greater drops.

As they went deeper underground, the surrounding temperature gradually decreased.

His bare neck broke out in goosebumps.

Bang—

Lu Li released his hands, landing on the next step down.

The echo of his shoes hitting the ground traveled far.

Lu Li tiptoed, reached out and, shaking, took the oil lamp by its base.

The high steps appeared like a stone wall, blocking the view upwards.

He could no longer see the path he had come on, nor could he see the figure waiting at the starting point on the ground.

Looking downward, as the steps grew taller, they also became longer, as if they were not designed for humans but for a much larger being.

Yet, the passageway remained narrow.

The intermittent blood stains on the steps told Lu Li that Richard was still moving downward.

Lu Li continued downward, and when the drop exceeded two meters, he had to bite the handle of the oil lamp to keep from leaving it on the previous step.

He no longer looked back; it was pointless, for the height of the steps had already surpassed his ability to return the same way.

He could only continue downward, hoping there was an end to this passage.

At least an end he could reach.

After the steps exceeded two meters, each descent took Lu Li several tens of seconds, and the soles of his feet ached from the continuous impacts.

At one point, standing at the edge of a wall-like step, Lu Li suddenly held his breath and strained to listen downward.

The sound of heartbeats filled the passage, growing weaker over time and then disappearing.

Gradually, a sound emerged from the deep darkness as if from an abyss.