Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 605 - 605 124Aidanvoya

605: 124.Aidanvoya 605: 124.Aidanvoya The collapsed stonework buried half of the church, with colored fragments scattered around the faded red benches, and the broken divine statue’s face was mournful.

A dim light spilled from the damaged walls, and dust drifted through the air.

Lu Li and Anna entered the church through the collapsed main gate.

They navigated around the rubble and piles of stones, and a well-preserved stone door leading to the basement appeared before them.

“There’s a ghost inside,” Anna said.

Lu Li raised his hand and knocked on the stone door.

“Who is it?” A moment later, a gentle and peaceful voice came from behind the door.

“Tesla sent me to the church,” Lu Li said.

Soon, a beautiful but ethereal lady passed through the stone door and appeared before them.

“You must be Lu Li and…

Anna,” the lady said softly, her gentle gaze falling on Anna.

“Michael often mentioned you to me.

Are you hurt?”

“A minor issue,” Lu Li said, showing Tesla’s letter and the hidden information to Aidanvoya.

“He’s hiding your information.

Why?”

“Because of the refuge,” Aidanvoya replied, looking down with a sorrowful expression.

“Do you know the status of the refuge?”

Aidanvoya nodded and said, “Only partly.

Michael lost contact before he could learn more.

The servants told me the refuge has been sealed off, and per Michael’s previous arrangement, they brought me here.”

On the eve of the refuge’s public opening, Tesla acutely sensed the true purpose of the refuge—if it were merely for people to hide, there would be no need for a location kept secret, a hundred meters underground, estate-like massive, with walls several meters thick made of deep-sea stone, and continuously expanding.

The Exorcist Association, which proposed the refuge plan, had other schemes in place here.

For instance, the very meaning of the “Seeds of Fire” plan.

Tesla entered the refuge about two weeks ago, which was the same period he went out of contact.

The refuge sent a letter, essentially inviting Tesla to choose his room, but he was to go secretly by himself.

Being Tesla’s wife, Aidanvoya qualified to settle in the refuge, even as a ghost.

Hence, the actions of the refuge seemed strange to him.

Therefore, Tesla instructed his wife and the old servant at home that if anything unexpected happened to him after he entered the refuge, they should take Aidanvoya to Lu Li’s place, who would protect them.

However, the next morning, as he was about to set off in the carriage, Tesla seemed to faintly foresee something and instead changed to taking Aidanvoya to the church basement in Shadow Town.

He said if he could not return, he would find a way to have Lu Li come there to pick her up.

Tesla left, and then, just like his worst-case scenario, the refuge was officially sealed off.

Realizing something was wrong, the old servant prepared the carriage overnight and took the lady to the church, until two weeks later, when Lu Li who received Tesla’s letter arrived here.

Everything made sense now.

Tesla had long planned to entrust his wife to Lu Li, which is why he had Aidanvoya come to the edge of Shadow Swamp and hide in the church basement.

Tesla knew of the relationship between the Mother of the Marsh and Lu Li, and he knew that Lu Li had once stayed in the basement.

“What about the servant who brought you here?” Anna suddenly asked.

Aidanvoya lowered her head, her breath becoming unstable, “At night, we encountered a group of wandering ghouls…

they…

ate…”

Aidanvoya wasn’t lying.

A soul that has consumed human souls would be permeated with evil, but her soul was weak and clean.

This indicated that Aidanvoya could be trusted.

“Has Michael returned?”

After patiently answering all of Lu Li’s inquiries and questions, an impatient Aidanvoya asked.

“No,” Lu Li shook his head.

Then, he shared some incidents that had happened outside with the disheartened Aidanvoya.

She had been hiding here for two weeks, oblivious to the incidents occurring in the outside world.

“Belfast…”

Upon hearing the news of the city’s destruction, Aidanvoya fell into a stunned silence.

In that moment, Lu Li pondered the “Seed of Fire” plan for the refuge.

Just as Tesla had said, the ancient Exorcist Association, which had always been battling the oddities, wouldn’t likely bear such a heavy cost merely to preserve a group of people.

What Lu Li could deduce as the most probable purpose was that the refuge was a Noah’s Ark.

As the flood consumed the land, only those aboard Noah’s Ark were spared from the disaster.

After the waters receded, they disembarked the ark, starting anew in the chaotic, new world.

What Lu Li couldn’t determine was whether the Exorcist Association knew the “flood” would eventually recede, or if they too were gambling on humanity’s fate.

If the oddities never left, the refuge would ultimately have to reopen due to a lack of resources, making it meaningless.

The “Seed of Fire” plan would merely allow the inhabitants of the refuge to live a relatively comfortable and safe life for a while.

If it was the former, had the Exorcist Association discovered something?

Lu Li was aware that there was more than one refuge, with one located on the Ailen Peninsula.

But like other Exorcists uninvolved with the refuge plans, he was unaware of the refuges’ locations.

“Can I leave with you?”

Aidanvoya asked, not worried about her husband’s safety but rather anxious about whether they could still meet in the future: “There is nothing here but monsters that try to come through from the other side of the passage at night.”

“I’m afraid not.

We are going to Arlen Kingdom on Main Affinity Continent, and we can’t take you with us.

However, we will bring you back with us when we return.”

Lest anything unexpected happen to Aidanvoya before they could return, Lu Li added, “The Mother of the Marsh knows us.

If her servants appear, mention my name, and she will understand.”

Aidanvoya nodded gently, her ghostly presence as soft and peaceful as water, perhaps the reason why she had remained as a ghost to accompany Tesla through the long years without turning into a vengeful or evil spirit.

After a brief meeting, Lu Li and Anna left the town ruins.

Before departing, Anna left a novel for Aidanvoya to pass the time, also as a token of acceptance—because of Lu Li.

The more oddities there were on the cliff top, the easier it was for Lu Li to hide, and the safer he was.

Upon reaching the airspace above Marsh Road, sparsely populated caravans of people walked along the straight road.

They instinctively stuck close to the left side of the road, deeply wary of North Shadow Swamp on the other side, even though Southern Shadow Swamp also harbored unsettling monster rumors.

The forest had long been dead, but for some unknown reason, it eerily began to grow again—toward Marsh Road, toward Southern Shadow Swamp.

The terrifying, withered thickets resembled countless desiccated claws, elongated and dense, almost covering the gloomy sky, nearly half of Marsh Road engulfed by these horrifying shadows.

If not for the imminent danger approaching from the Ailen Peninsula being more conspicuous than this scene, people would never dare set foot on Marsh Road.

Anna sensed a murky, terrifying aura from deep within this swamp, akin to that of Agate Lake.

Something had awakened, encroaching upon the territory of the Mother of the Marsh.

In such times, it wasn’t only humans who couldn’t ensure their own safety.