Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 618 - 618 137

618: 137.

Western Hills Gathering 618: 137.

Western Hills Gathering At three o’clock in the afternoon, Lu Li packed three books into his suitcase, and after talking with Lilia, he took “lighthouse” and a common oil lamp, and set off with Anna to the appointed meeting place, Western Hills.

Centuries ago, this area had been accessible only to royalty by permission, and it was made completely open to the public a hundred years ago.

Standing at the top of the hill, one could overlook the vast City of Endless Night and the beautiful Star Lake, which mirrors the stars in the sky, making it a popular spot for picnics and gatherings.

That was until the first Night Disaster struck.

Plants ceased to grow, fog shrouded the sky, and the wilderness became dangerous.

No one was willing to go to the Western Hills anymore, where trees withered and lakes turned to dead waters.

At the base of the Western Hills in the street district, there was a carriage rental, where Lu Li left his carriage and Anna pushed him in his wheelchair, heading toward the gentle slopes of the hill at the end of the road.

By the time they reached the foot of the hill, the sky had begun to darken, and nightfall was not far off.

There, Lu Li and Anna encountered a stopped carriage; the servant lifted the curtain, and a middle-aged gentleman dressed in a tailcoat stepped out.

He curiously looked towards Lu Li and Anna, “Are you here to attend the gathering too?”

Lu Li nodded in response.

“Then you must be His Excellency Lulian, invited by Flay,” the middle-aged gentleman said with a smile emerging, as the coachman carrying the suitcase followed him to Lu Li’s side.

“Allow me to introduce myself.

From the Mavolin Family, Exorcist Henry Mavolin greets you.”

“Senior Investigator, Lu Li.”

“We’ve all heard of your legendary experiences,” Henry Mavolin said with a big laugh.

“It seems my luck is as good as Flay’s, getting to meet you before the other fellows.”

While a second-tier Exorcist was not common, they were not so revered by Exorcist families that had been continued for generations, even a dozen generations.

The real reason was that Lu Li had personally resolved a dispute between two Evil Gods and killed one of them.

He had accomplished something that many third-tier Exorcists couldn’t.

As Exorcists, besides being Night Watchmen, most of them were curious about the unknown.

Mysterious and never interacting with people, Lu Li was like that unknown.

Henry Mavolin introduced to Lu Li their gathering: exchanging insights and stories known to each other.

Usually held once a month, it was a gathering where one could invite friends who are Exorcists to come.

Henry Mavolin had learned about this gathering through a friend.

He told Lu Li that including himself, there might only be four people at the gathering this time—many Exorcists from the Royal City had gone to maintain order in the surrounding areas and to follow villagers who were evacuating and would not be back until tomorrow.

“I guess Flay and Rhode definitely want to hear about that legendary experience of yours,” Henry Mavolin said with a smile as they moved along the path between the dead woods towards the top of the hill.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Li replied, “Another Evil God still lives, mentioning the Shadow Town Incident might draw the attention of that Evil God.”

“That’s truly a pity,” Henry Mavolin expressed his regret.

He did not ask about who was pushing the wheelchair.

It was like the servant following behind him.

Henry Mavolin assumed that it was Lu Li’s maid or servant.

Through the sparse woods, the rippling Star Lake and the buildings of the Royal City stretching toward the horizon became visible below the hill.

“It looks like Flay arrived earlier than both of us,” Henry Mavolin said, looking towards a figure on the other side of Star Lake, as they approached Flay skirting around the hundred-meter-diameter lake.

Keg Fla was setting up a bonfire, and by the time he noticed the two approaching figures, they were already just a dozen meters away.

“`

“Hey Marvelin, His Excellency Lu Li,” Keg Fla greeted, delighted to see Lu Li appear.

Marvelin’s servant had been dispatched to build a campfire, and with some free time, Keg Fla and Marvelin joined Lu Li.

“Only Rhode is left to arrive,” Keg Fla looked towards the other side of the lake, the path leading up the hill still lacked a human figure.

After a while, the newly built campfire was lit, dispersing the increasingly dim twilight.

A few street lamps lit up on the streets stretching beneath the hill, adorning the dusk like stars.

As evening approached, the last person finally emerged.

Rhode Tesla, whom Fla and the others had already introduced to Lu Li.

A familiar surname, and Rhode soon confirmed this familiarity: “My uncle has mentioned you many times.”

“Michael Tesla?”

“Mm-hmm,” the young Exorcist nodded and smiled: “So I knew you before those three did.”

Keg Fla seemed to relax.

Rhode Tesla was not an easy person to get along with, which was related to his family background and also his personality.

But now it seemed unnecessary to worry about him clashing with Lu Li.

The light behind the clouds completely left the earth, and the Royal City, lit with twinkling stars, enfolded the only darkness of the western hills.

But the western hills were not completely dark; atop the hill, a faint firelight persisted.

Four Exorcists gathered around the crackling campfire, and Keg Fla, turning the food roasting over the fire, began the evening’s theme: “Then I’ll start.”

“As long as you don’t tell the same stories over again,” Marvelin teased.

“Of course not, this story is specially prepared for Lu Li.”

“I remember you’ve been teaching students at the university recently,” said Marvelin in confusion.

“It’s my brother’s.”

Keg Fla shrugged in response, his face licked by the flickering flames as he slowly recounted his brother’s experience.

In the Tashuphik region of the Arlen Kingdom, there was an open-air excavation site with hundreds of years of history, which was initially dug to supply stone for the construction of a newly established town several miles away.

But after digging down about ten meters, rare minerals were discovered at the bottom.

The excavation site was subsequently taken over by the officials for mining, and over the next hundred years, the original few-meter-deep site expanded to accommodate an entire village.

About sixty years ago, the minerals extracted from the site began to diminish, and just when people thought the mineral resources were exhausted, a new and even rarer and more precious mineral was discovered: gold.

Despite unsettling incidents during the excavation, such as skeletons embedded in the ore, and miners going mad, the royalty would not halt the mining of valuable gold for the sake of the lives of their laboring slaves.

The Tashuphik region was swept up in a gold rush, with many risking execution by the guards to sneak around the excavation site, hoping to unearth gold.

The lure of gold was greater than imagined.

Over the decades, the Royal Family acquired vast wealth from the site, which in turn expanded from the size of a village to that of a town, nearly three hundred meters from the bottom to the ground above.

Spiral roads unwound downwards, like the swirling mark left by a sea snail on the sand.

The excavation site became the scene of bizarre events after the onset of the Black Night Calamity.

Workers reported that the geology began to turn into strange black rock, and a few days later, the bottom of the pit was suddenly shrouded in an eerie grey fog that spewed from beneath the earth, swallowing over a hundred miners.

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