Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 614 - 614 133

614: 133.

Hunter’s good harvest 614: 133.

Hunter’s good harvest “`

“An incredible… speculation,” Keg Flay could only reply thus.

Keg Flay’s heart was slowly sinking into a pitch-black pond; he didn’t believe that Lu Li’s cognition was merely the delusion of a madman or a soul contaminated.

To some extent, exorcists find it easier to believe in certain incomprehensible things than ordinary people do.

Especially since Keg Flay’s family had also once made similar conjectures.

He planned to return to his family later and relay these words to the others, preferably bringing Lu Li with him.

Keg Flay extended an invitation to Lu Li, who, after pondering for a moment, declined.

While a visit to an exorcist family might yield many apparent benefits like knowledge, Anna was not suitable to be there.

Particularly after Lu Li inquired about Keg Flay’s views on the bizarre.

Keg Flay and his family were the “radicals” referred to by the elders, that is, exorcists who never believe in the neutrality or friendliness of the bizarre.

Keg Flay did not know the reason for Lu Li’s refusal, and could only express his regret before issuing another invitation.

“There’s a picnic gathering this evening; it’s with some exorcist friends I know, and I think they would all be very happy if you came.”

“This evening?”

“Each person at the gathering will tell of an event they’ve experienced, and the night has a better atmosphere for storytelling.”

It was a gathering for exchanging information, and Lu Li was somewhat interested.

Keg Flay appeared to sense the calm in Lu Li’s emotions and continued, “Don’t worry, only the coastal cities are invaded by the bizarre fog at night, our nights are safe enough, provided that one stays in lit areas, and as everyone knows…”

His tone was filled with pride.

“Arlen Kingdom is known as the City of Endless Night.

Here, even the most secluded alleyways will be bathed in bright light.”

This pride reminded Lu Li of the Titanic; they, too, had declared the ship to be unsinkable with utmost pride.

“I will probably go.”

Lu Li answered, noting down the location of the gathering: the western hills within the Royal City.

Professor Keg Flay and the arriving Professor Gawain York saw him off from the university.

Before leaving, Lu Li posed a question to Keg Flay, “Why were the library and the history books destroyed?”

Gawain York, who had originally come over to say farewell, was stunned, staring intently at Keg Flay.

He too wanted to know the answer to that question.

Keg Flay did not hide the truth and told both Lu Li and Gawain York, “Because the knowledge we once knew well is warping into a source of contamination.”

This fact plunged Gawain York into a maelstrom of emotions, while Keg Flay looked at Lu Li and continued, “This is just the least of our troubles.

If we were worried about the contamination of knowledge, we wouldn’t need to make such a fuss.

The people in my family tell me that the real trouble comes from those… entities you spoke of.”

“If time is a long river, we are downstream, and they are invading our upstream through our history.”

Keg Flay trembled, his eyes overshadowed by despair.

“Such things are too terrifying to put into words…”

Luckily, Gawain York did not hear this conversation; otherwise, he might have gone mad glimpsing the true nature of the world beyond the thin veil.

“They altered history through the history books?” Lu Li frowned.

“No… Those that delve into the stream of time have become history themselves, and that’s why the situation has become as it is.

Everything we experience has been prearranged by them; it’s all been fated…”

A person downstream throws an ink bottle upstream.

As the bottle breaks, the ink spills out, contaminating the river and flowing downstream.

The river is polluted, and the ink that pollutes the river also becomes part of the river.

Time, too, never changes, because what we experience is the changed history itself.

“`

This was Keg Flay’s own thinking, but he dared not say it to others.

Had it not been for Lu Li’s “grazing idea” being just as pessimistic as the conclusion he had reached, Keg Flay would never have shared such potentially mocked and questioned thoughts.

This speculation sparked unprecedented contemplation in Lu Li, which lasted all the way until he said goodbye to Keg Flay and Gawain York, and headed for the Royal City City Hall—his mind still mulling over it.

Or rather, the part that concerned him—why had he come here?

Lu Li and the ink bottle were alike, neither belonged to this river.

But now, he found himself in this polluted stream.

Was there another person standing downstream, casting Lu Li upstream?

Were the two adversaries pitted against each other?

Or were they just friends who found amusement in tossing ink bottles and pebbles into the river?

This speculation about the forces behind the scenes was like glimpsing the night sky as the dark clouds dispersed; it changed nothing, but left one in awe of the star-filled firmament.

So Anna watched with relief as Lu Li quickly snapped out of his contemplation and became his usual self again.

Xiusi University was not far from City Hall, both located on the southern edge of the central area of the Royal City, but it took them half an hour before they neared City Hall.

Lu Li took the chance to rest for a moment, while Anna enjoyed this warm moment of solitude with Lu Li.

Anna called to Lu Li softly, rousing him, and he surveyed the structure before him, a building as magnificent as a castle.

The wide boulevard that could accommodate ten carriages stretched into the distance, leading to the heart of the nation: the palace.

Just in case, Anna was left at a café across from City Hall, and Lu Li alone wheeled his chair across the street and stopped in front of the City Hall steps.

Two armor-clad guards, resembling canned soldiers, turned their heads to look over.

“Senior Investigator Lu Li, I can’t get in conveniently; please call a staff member out,” he said.

The two guards exchanged glances, and one of them, with a clanking metallic echo, ascended the dozen steps and entered City Hall.

Lu Li waited quietly at the footsteps, looking around the bustling boulevard, his gaze falling on the café window opposite.

A silhouette in a black robe stood in front of the window, seemingly looking back at him.

Thump—

Suddenly, not far away, the sound of a snapping rope rang out, followed by the clatter of fallen cargo.

Looking over, a cart filled with the bodies of wild animals stopped a dozen meters away, surrounded by several wolf carcasses on the ground.

The ropes had broken unexpectedly, causing them to fall.

The guards stood rigid, indifferent to the scene not far from City Hall.

Lu Li watched silently as the old hunter and his young son jumped off the cart, threw the wolf carcasses back onto the cart, and took out a bundle of spare hemp rope to tie them up again.

“This much meat and fur will surely fetch a good price,” the old hunter said cheerfully.

His young son, however, looked quite downcast, “But the wolf pack we’ve been watching for a long time got killed by other hunters.”

“But we still made more, didn’t we?” the old hunter replied.

“If only we could have brought back those wolf cubs, many nobles like these wild beasts, calling them…

cute?”

With patience, the old hunter explained to his son, “We need to leave the adult wolves and the cubs, so next year they can become our food and clothing.

If all hunters don’t leave seed, there won’t be any wolves on Grey Wolf Mountain!”

After securing the ropes, the old hunter and his somewhat reluctant son sat back on the cart and slowly moved away.