Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 620 - 620 One hundred thirty-nine

620: One hundred thirty-nine.

New stories and new knowledge 620: One hundred thirty-nine.

New stories and new knowledge Marvelin recounted an experience of a mother and daughter who had miraculously survived an arena.

A family of three was traveling by carriage to the Neighboring County when misfortune struck as they passed an unclaimed house, dragging them into Sara and Adam’s death game arena.

The house was just a plain wooden hut, so the rules of the game became simple: hide and seek.

The time limit was one hour, and the person still playing “it” after one hour would die.

Among the family of three, the husband made a touching decision, he had his wife, who became “it,” touch him and they maintained this contact until the countdown ended.

“In the end, the mother and daughter who were huddled together walked out of the wooden hut, while their husband and father was left behind forever in the wooden hut with the doors tightly closed.”

Marvelin slowly concluded the story, his expression filled with emotion.

If only the story had ended with the whole family walking out together.

Unfortunately, Evil Spirits are never benevolent.

“Did the Exorcist enter the wooden hut to search afterward?” Keg Fla asked.

“They certainly searched, but the hut was empty, and the husband’s footprints also disappeared after his wife and daughter left.”

“Traces of demons and Evil Spirits can usually be traced back to their origin.” Lu Li spoke slowly: “Did the Exorcist investigate the story of Sara and Adam’s lives?”

Marvelin shook his head in confusion: “Perhaps there is one, but I do not know it.”

“I know it.” Rhode suddenly answered.

The others around the campfire looked at him.

He sat up a bit more, leaving the rock he had been leaning against, and after casually throwing some firewood into the campfire, he said, “Two hundred years ago, when Sara was still human, she was the noble heir of a small duchy in the northern part of the continent.

She fell in love with a commoner named Adam, but was forced by her father to marry an Earl’s Heir.

Later, maybe it was her father’s doing, or it was an accident, but Adam died.

Sara, unfortunately, was defiled by that Earl’s Heir in the garden during a banquet at night.”

“After that, traces of the devil mysteriously appeared.

Sara summoned the devil, and in order to resurrect Adam, she killed everyone in the manor, including the Earl’s Heir and her own father.

The end result was the annihilation of her family, with Sara leaving the duchy with Adam’s body.

Then, the death game arena of Sara and Adam appeared.”

The first part matched Lu Li’s experience, only the latter part was modified, resulting in a less-than-perfect ending.

In the copy of The Shadow of Puppetry, they were all servants of the manor, and if the plot had not changed, everyone would have died.

After Rhode finished speaking, his gaze fell on Lu Li: “You seem very familiar with Sara and Adam?”

“I have encountered The Shadow of Puppetry.” Lu Li did not hide the fact.

“The original script is the story of Sara resurrecting Adam.”

The three Exorcists showed an interested expression, so as his story, it became the third to rise around the campfire.

“Light pierced through the dark clouds, shining upon two intertwined trees, where the figures of Sara and Adam could faintly be seen.”

Lu Li finished the story a few minutes later.

“Great story,” he offered generously, not sparing his praise.

The story that Lu Li recounted pointed to the very nature of their gathering: new knowledge and learning the methods of other Exorcists in dealing with the strange.

Exorcists place more emphasis on legacy than other professions, which is why most well-known Exorcists come from Exorcist families.

Without the accumulation of knowledge, an ignorant Exorcist isn’t much different from an ignorant commoner.

“So that is the story of Sara and Adam…” Marvelin exclaimed, as if solving one of the many mysteries in his heart about the strange.

He turned to Rhode: “It’s your turn for the last story.”

At that moment, Anna’s hand gently pressed against Lu Li’s back.

Lu Li, sensing something, turned his head toward the darkness in the direction of Star Lake.

Drip, drip, drip—

Marvelin took out the noisy alarm clock from his bosom and looked around with a somber expression.

“An evil spirit is approaching us.”

Keg Fla and Rhode stood up simultaneously, Rhode curiously glanced at Lu Li, who had sensed the presence earlier than them and the premonition alarm clock, and then followed Lu Li’s gaze.

Ten meters away, at the edge of the firelight, on the boundary between light and darkness, a withered and elongated pitch-black hand slowly reached out, its shadow stretching across the ground toward the people, or rather, the fire pit.

The Shadow Thief of Fire.

The tense atmosphere suddenly dissipated, Rhode leaned back against the rock, casually picked up a pebble, and threw it at the Shadow Thief of Fire.

His aim was poor, the stone landed a few dozen centimeters in front of the shadowy figure, but the bouncing, rolling pebble still touched the Shadow Thief of Fire.

The eerie, elongated shadow retreated swiftly as though startled, diving back into the thick darkness beyond the firelight.

“It’s gone…”

Anna whispered in Lu Li’s ear.

“These evil spirits have been appearing more and more frequently,” said Marvelin as the premonition alarm clock fell silent.

He wound it up fully and put it back into his pocket, sighing, “I heard that not long ago, Visible Song appeared in Tannis Guard City, traveling from north to south.

It passed through over a dozen streets and killed hundreds of people.

If it had not appeared at night, the death toll would have been even higher.”

“Visible Song?

Is that an evil spirit?” Lu Li asked.

“Yes, it appeared on the Main Affinity Continent half a month ago and has since been wandering around,” Marvelin informed Lu Li about the Visible Song.

When one hears the ethereal low hum of a song, it means they have entered the domain of the Visible Song.

If nothing is done, those who hear the song will slowly fade away, vanishing within tens of seconds.

Fleeing is futile; the only solution is to close one’s eyes, and the Visible Song will vanish instantly.

Like the Shadow Thief of Fire, the Visible Song is an evil spirit that can be easily dealt with, provided one is aware of its ritualistic nature.

As Marvelin finished speaking, Keg Fla shared with Lu Li some information about evil spirits that had been ravaging the Arlen Kingdom recently: the Crowd of Suffering, the Headless Spirit, the Uninvited Guests.

The Crowd of Suffering, a bloated tumorous entity with hundreds of eyeballs growing on its flesh, fears no harm.

No form of attack can kill it, and it does not attack others on its own—yes, the Crowd of Suffering never strikes first, but its horrifying and repulsive appearance often compels most commoners to flee or attack it.

For those who flee, the Crowd of Suffering will follow closely, forcing people to hurt it, then like an ascetic monk, it will chant lowly, taking on the pain inflicted by the commoners until a certain threshold is reached.

Its body will open up like petals and swallow the person who harmed it.

Some exorcists believe the person swallowed becomes part of it, with the eyeballs on its body serving as evidence, but there’s no direct proof.

The Headless Spirit, a headless female figure in a white dress, still emits ceaseless crying despite lacking a head.

If one listens closely enough to her intermittent sobbing, they might faintly hear the murmur of “my head…” through the cries.

Upon hearing its crying, words related to heads or heads themselves cannot be spoken.

Otherwise, it will appear instantly beside the speaker and remove the victim’s head, whispering “Not this one…” before disappearing to another location.

As for the Uninvited Guests, Lu Li was already well aware of and had encountered them.