Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 629 - 629 148

629: 148.

The Enveloping Mist of Strangeness 629: 148.

The Enveloping Mist of Strangeness “Will they bring out their valuables?”

“Definitely not…

there are strange beings hidden in the house.”

“Just burn down an entire street like this?”

“What else?”

“What a pity…

How did it go out!?”

Under the gaze of two panic-stricken eyes, the towering flames in the distance abruptly ceased, plunging into darkness.

“What’s going on…

Hiss!”

A City Guard who had been complaining about the weather suddenly raised his palm, only to be obstructed by his helmet.

“What’s wrong with you?” his companion quickly asked.

The extinguished fire in the distance incited a flicker of panic in him.

On the deserted street, even the street lamps and the sneaky peeks from behind the curtains of nearby houses could not offer him any sense of security.

“It might be too cold, feeling a bit uncomfortable.” The sting in his cheek quickly faded, and the guard dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

“Rather than that…

what happened in the five o’clock district?”

“That’s none of our concern, just need to keep an eye on this area…

Best step back a bit, I have a bad feeling…” His companion clenched his icy spear tightly while peering anxiously ahead.

Without a response, he turned his head curiously—his fellow guard was trembling oddly, raising his head to reveal a face within the helmet as gaunt as a skull and covered with white fuzz.

“Tell Aileen, I…”

His tone strangely garbled, he stumbled forward.

Thump—

The guard collapsed, and from the gaps in his armor burst countless snow-white dandelions.

Clang—

The other guard accidentally let his spear slip through his fingers.

He knew exactly what this was!

Cradling his head, he ran towards the five o’clock district shrouded in darkness and silence, his screams of exhaustion echoing down the street.

“The monsters are coming out!!!”

…

“Who wrote this?”

“It’s unsigned.”

There was no room for anything else on the note, only a warning.

Anna said no more, waiting for Lu Li’s decision.

As he held the note and thought, the sky outside the window, which had been dyed red, suddenly darkened, and the clouds no longer shed a glimmer of light.

“Retreat to the farm outside the Royal City,” Lu Li said.

A few miles from the Royal City there lay an abandoned farm.

Lu Li would hide there to observe the situation in the Royal City.

If everything continued to deteriorate, he would have to give up attending the Exorcists’ Council and leave the Main Affinity Continent.

Anna picked up the suitcase and oil lamp, pushed the wheelchair, and woke Lilia in the next room.

Lilia hadn’t fallen asleep yet, and after hearing that the Arlen Kingdom might be invaded by monsters, she agreed to follow Lu Li and leave.

Upon reaching the lobby downstairs, several guests and hotel staff were huddled at the window, peering outside.

Their arrival did not draw attention, until Anna lifted the latch and opened the tavern’s main door.

A faint mist enveloped the street, the light from the street lamps became dim and murky, the deserted street was empty except for a horse carriage parked by the roadside.

“The Mist of Strangeness…” Anna muttered with a frown.

“What are you doing!?”

Guests had already identified the fog and cried out for Anna to quickly close the door.

Anna ignored them, and with a reminder that “it’s dangerous outside, come in quickly,” she pushed Lu Li and walked out of the inn with Lilia.

Bang!

The inn’s back door slammed shut tightly, followed by the sound of the bolt locking.

“The Mist of Strangeness shouldn’t have arrived so soon…” Anna murmured, the situation was worse than imagined.

Seated in his wheelchair, Lu Li picked up the “lighthouse” oil lamp, ready to light the costly lamp if something approached in the fog.

No longer concealing her identity, Anna grabbed the stunned Lilia and swept towards the city wall.

They skimmed over the city wall, as shouts from the City Guards and chaotic footsteps echoed up from the fog below.

They were closing the city gate.

Just a few dozens meters away from leaving Arlen Royal City, a continuous flame suddenly rose along the city wall behind them, dispelling the engulfing fog.

Lu Li looked back towards the sky above the city walls, where the edge of the sky touched by the firelight faintly revealed an inverted Arlen Royal City, equally majestic but shrouded in endless darkness, like a mirage flipped over the sky of the Royal City, incredibly close…

And as they moved away from the city wall, what they had just seen vanished into the layers of fog like a phantom.

Turning away, Lu Li’s gaze dropped below.

As the city gate closed and the fog enveloped, the waiting caravans and people fell into chaos, the once-continuous dragon of fire turned into balls of light beneath the city wall.

“Go down,” Lu Li said.

Without asking why, Anna took Lu Li and Lilia down to the front of the caravan, where the ground-dwellers, who had already noticed the “monster” descending from the sky, screamed and retreated, clearing a large space.

Only one Exorcist recognized the badge on Lu Li’s chest and ventured to ask, “Did your excellency just come from the Royal City?”

“Arlen Royal City is currently ravaged by strangeness, the city gates have been closed,” Lu Li replied and continued before the Exorcist could speak, “A few miles away there is a farm, I will go there to avoid the Mist of Strangeness, it would be best for you all to also go there and wait until daybreak.”

“It indeed is the Mist of Strangeness…” the Exorcist muttered to himself, then speaking anew to Lu Li said, “Of course, but please wait a moment, your excellency, I need to inform the others and those civilians.”

These Exorcists escorting the caravan were still unaware of what had happened in the Royal City.

Lu Li nodded, watching the Exorcist walk into the midst of the caravan.

The civilians were no longer afraid, but they still dared not approach Lu Li, merely looking on curiously from a distance.

Lilia was also curious, but she probably guessed something and said nothing.

“Did you notice anything?” Anna asked in a low voice.

She had noticed Lu Li observing the sky above Arlen Royal City.

Lu Li nodded and related to Anna his vision of the phantom-like inverted Royal City.

Anna hadn’t noticed anything, but she wouldn’t doubt Lu Li’s words.

If he said he saw it, it meant the scene was real.

The most pessimistic conspiracy was unfolding: regardless of whether it was the Exorcist Association’s conspiracy, the strangeness was indeed targeting this city and tomorrow’s meeting of the Exorcists.

Soon, the Exorcist and his three colleagues returned to Lu Li, telling him that a few of them and a small group of civilians were willing to head to the farm.

The majority of the population and Exorcists placed more trust in the thousand-year-old central Royal City, despite the minor issues now appearing.

It wasn’t that they didn’t believe Lu Li, but their trust in the Royal City was more like a pillar of their faith—if even one of humanity’s most glorious and great cities couldn’t withstand the strangeness, did humanity really have a future?

Lu Li, Anna, and Lilia got into a cleared carriage, leading the way.

Sparse points of light split from the long dragon of fire, following behind them.

Ryko Farm, nestled among flat and soft farmlands, featured a few low wooden huts.

Once there, the caravan, under the arrangements of the Exorcists and soldiers, unloaded goods and merchandise in the center of the farm, then used the carriages to block the farm’s road.

They raised a large bonfire at the center of the farm, visible from miles away, to dispel the fog enveloping the farm.

It was conspicuous but safe.

At least, the entities that appeared with the Mist of Strangeness would not leave the range of the fog.