Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 589 - 589 One hundred and eight

589: One hundred and eight.

Man from hell 589: One hundred and eight.

Man from hell Hades had been to hell, but not by dying.

“Is this what you called…

the passage?” Ruth asked skeptically as she stared at the tombstone.

People in hell didn’t do this.

“Who is Hades?”

“The one who proved the existence of the passage.” Lu Li scanned the surroundings, finding nothing unusual or out of place.

So it must be below.

Lu Li picked up a stone spike, digging into the gravel in front of the tombstone.

Ruth stood by, watching as the gravel dust rose, and suddenly there came the sound of something hitting a hard object from the pit Lu Li had dug.

A segment of skeleton, covered with sand, was revealed.

Ruth stared suspiciously at Lu Li as he picked up another piece of stone and dug out the skeleton.

“Bones of the Hungry Demon.”

Ruth looked at the pile of bones tossed aside by Lu Li.

After digging out the whole skeleton, Lu Li continued to dig deeper, and soon there were sounds of striking against something hard from the bottom of the hole, echoing hollowly.

Ruth raised her eyebrows slightly, tilting her head to look towards the bottom of the pit.

Lu Li’s palm brushed over the sand at the pit’s bottom, revealing a wooden plank.

His forefinger knocked on it, producing a hollow tapping sound.

There was emptiness beneath the plank.

Ruth suddenly turned and walked away, drew her gun, and took care of the Hungry Demons lurking around.

Minutes later, after clearing all signs of activity in the vicinity, Ruth returned to the grave, and Lu Li had already cleared around the wooden plank and lifted it.

Beneath the plank was a low, narrow, dim space.

The walls showed clear signs of man-made excavation, but progress was slow.

Sandstone was present only on the surface layer; below it lay cooled igneous rock.

An iron pickaxe was visible not far below, partially exposed.

Some wooden boxes were stacked in the corner, covered with a layer of dust.

In the deepest part, a door black as if from religious legend was embedded in the wall.

Ruth had a hunch that this door was the key to Lu Li’s return to the human world.

Lu Li lept into the cellar and crouched near the obsidian-like stone door on the wall.

It was carved with something, but it was difficult to see clearly in the dim light.

Swoosh—

Dust sprinkled down from the opening, Ruth jumped down and exchanged a glance with Lu Li who turned around.

“It’s clearer inside.” She stood up from her half-crouch, ignoring the stone door Lu Li was looking at, and walked over to lift the lid of a wooden box.

The box was filled with coins bearing the likeness of MacDonald I.

Presumably, the other boxes contained the same thing.

Ruth whistled, her tone weird, undecided if it was sarcasm or praise, “His name was Hades, right?

Hiding money in hell…

truly a genius.”

Nothing could be more reassuring than hiding money in hell.

And Hades, who cherished money like life itself, would indeed do such a thing.

Withdrawing her gaze, Lu Li approached the stone door.

A strange sense filled his brow.

Enhanced perception told Lu Li that by touching this door, he would return above.

“Is this the door?” Ruth’s gaze fell on Lu Li, noticing the stone door he had been observing for a long time.

“Yes.”

Lu Li nodded and turned to face her, “Our journey has ended.”

As these words rang out, Ruth pursed her lips, suddenly feeling a sense of melancholy and loss.

The journey had indeed been splendid, just too short.

Lu Li had only taken one step into the vast expanse of hell, covering but a fraction of the distance.

If compared to the human world, Lu Li hadn’t even left the bounds of Sugard Mountain.

Many people Lu Li intended to meet in hell had not appeared, like Oliver, like Sara and Adam.

The latter were merely characters from The Puppeteer’s Tale, and they might not exist.

While the former had died in the Elm Forest, if he still lived in hell, at this moment he should be thousands of miles away, on the piece of land known as “Elm Forest.”

“Are you going back?” Lu Li asked.

Ruth seemed tempted but shook her head in refusal, “I… never mind.

There’s nothing in the human world worth clinging to.

I believe I will live well in hell, even though I am weak.”

Ruth wasn’t a demon; as a soul returning to the human world, she would only become a ghost, then follow the same path as Anna.

That was by no means a comforting route.

Lu Li, no longer persuading Ruth who had made up her mind, gently nodded to her: “Goodbye.”

He turned and walked toward the stone door.

Behind him, Ruth waved at his departing figure.

“Wish for me to become stronger, so that perhaps when you die, I could have you as my subordinate.”

Lu Li’s soul became a momentary illusion, then completely vanished from the cramped, dim space.

“Phew…”

Ruth let out a breath, tilted her head towards the wooden crates, grimaced tenaciously, crawled back to the surface, and pushed the dug-up dirt and skeletons back into the pit, restoring it to its original state.

Her hand on her forehead, she looked towards the mountain-like Black Calamity Volcano, this time without wavering or hesitation.

Now she had a backup plan, and a safe house.

…

“Nine hundred sixty, nine hundred seventy, nine hundred eighty…

one thousand shillings.”

Watch Town, busy Hades Detective Agency, a silhouette counting money reflected on the second-floor curtain.

The change in his hand, and on the table, was Hades’s earnings for the entire day.

On the other side of the mountain, as disaster fell and everyone was panicked, fearful, and bewildered, Hades was one of the few who remained unassimilated by despair.

Or rather, he was quite happy now.

After counting the shillings twelve more times, Hades held them up to his face, took a deep breath, and, indulging himself, grinned to reveal his gold teeth: “The smell of money.”

He began to ponder whether to rent out all the rooms on the second floor tomorrow, excluding the bedroom, and also excluding the room stuffed with fake gold bricks.

That could bring him several hundred more in profits—

While pondering, a strong premonition of unease suddenly surged in Hades’s heart.

This sensation of unease had appeared many times before; usually, it signified that his wealth was under threat.

Bodily danger was a different premonition.

“Why do I feel uneasy?

Could it be those refugees who fled here from Belfast staying downstairs!”

Hades stood up anxiously, even knocking over the wooden chair behind him.

Before running downstairs, he didn’t forget to hide today’s earnings in his socks, then stuff the socks into an old, patchy coat, and fling the coat into the corner garbage pile, only then picking up the oil lamp and rushing downstairs.

Thump, thump, thump—

The wooden stairs vibrated, Hades stood at the staircase’s turn.

In the pub-styled hall lay and sat many citizens who had escaped from Belfast, some tossing and turning sleeplessly, some whispering softly.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven… seventeen, no one’s missing.”

Hades muttered to himself, suddenly feeling a shiver.

My treasury and secret hideout!

…

Gloomy shadows surged around him, strangely whispering echoes resounding by his ear.

Despite the perilous situation, the appearance of the Night Calamity meant that Lu Li had indeed returned to the human world.

Lu Li remained calm; he should still be in his soul form, which could avoid the assault of the Night Calamity.

Just then, the sound of a door opening echoed, and a figure holding an oil lamp appeared at the doorway.

“Lu Li!?

What are you doing in my treasury!”

Hades let out a shrill scream of mental collapse.

“You son of a bitch, invading my chamber!”