Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 632 - 632 Mirror City

632: Mirror City 632: Mirror City Abandoned carriages were a common sight, clogging the roads everywhere.

There was no sound, no human presence, no light from fires, and no horses, as if these carts had been deserted for a long while.

Lu Li, carrying an oil lamp, walked past the extinguished fires, weaving through the dark, chaotic carriages.

In the gloom, it almost felt like vindictive eyes were following and watching him.

Lifting the curtain, he found the luggage still inside the carriage.

The ground showed no disordered footprints, possibly smoothed over by strong winds, or perhaps…

Lu Li shifted his gaze from the surroundings and looked ahead on the road—the fog-shrouded fields likewise enveloped the Royal City, which lay a few hundred meters ahead.

The disappearance of people here might be related to their proximity to the Royal City.

As Lu Li approached, the caravans that maintained their distance from the Royal City still waited in the Mist of Strangeness.

Lu Li pulled out a pocket watch from his pocket and opened the cover.

The time didn’t fixate on a specific point, nor did it change direction as he turned.

Time was normal, indicating no strangeness around.

This pocket watch was borrowed from an Exorcist gathered about a mile behind him.

When the Exorcist learned that Lu Li planned to explore the Royal City, he lent him this watch that could detect any strangeness nearby.

Exorcists seemed to like using time to locate strangeness, or rather, strangeness seemed to be marked by time.

Click—

Snapping the watch cover shut, Lu Li stepped around the obstructing carriages, his oil lamp in hand, and walked alone towards what surged as a presence even dimmer than blackness itself.

Lu Li edged closer and closer to it until he merged with it and surveyed his surroundings, only to realize he was standing under the gate of Arlen Kingdom.

The city gate was wide open as if nothing had happened.

There even stood a squad of guards in perfect formation guarding the gate.

Suddenly feeling an intuition, Lu Li looked up and saw the Inverted City clearly reflected in the sky a hundred meters above.

A grey mist blurred the space between the two cities, making it difficult to discern the truth.

In the city overhead, Lu Li saw the gate crowded with clumps of rotted mud that grew eyeballs on their bodies—one such clump of strange mud left its companions and crawled forward.

Lu Li shifted his gaze back to the motionless squad of guards at the gate, one of whom was walking his way, his armor clanking.

Lu Li did not see his own reflection on it.

Strangeness was impersonating humans…

but why?

Hand resting on the edge of his holster, Lu Li waited for the guard to come close—a young face, which could have been mistaken for that of a real person if not for the odd sniffing and strange expression.

“Human…

your identity will be concealed…

the chief will reassign it…” the strange, garbled tone awkwardly came from the young face, “Don’t raise suspicion…

guests of the paradise will have the right to devour you…”

“What is ‘paradise’?”

Lu Li liked exchangable strangeness, as it usually meant he could communicate and ask questions.

But the mud disguised as a human didn’t want to engage with Lu Li.

Suddenly, Lu Li felt a fleeting attention on this place, as if a gaze was cast here.

Then the “guard” told Lu Li, “Xiusi University…

after you arrive, the chief will tell you the next steps…”

Lu Li didn’t respond; instead, he looked up again at the Inverted City in the sky, searching for details that remained unnoticeable.

“Can you see the chief’s paradise…?”

Unexpectedly, the “guard” who hadn’t intended to engage suddenly asked proactively.

Lu Li withdrew his gaze and nodded slightly.

The “guard” underwent a subtle change in attitude toward Lu Li, though it was hard to discern whether the change was good or bad, but it spontaneously warned Lu Li, “Discard the oil lamp…

It will expose you as human…”

After some thought, Lu Li set down the oil lamp, leaving only the extinguished “lighthouse.”

Taking advantage of the fact that the “guard” was still communicative, Lu Li asked once again, “Did a female spirit enter the city an hour ago?”

“The master knows all…

and will arrange everything…”

In a squirming whisper, the “guard” receded back among its companions, leaving that seemingly pointed, yet ambiguous statement behind.

Lu Li knew where Xiusi University was but didn’t know if it was related to the so-called “master knows all.”

Without his oil lamp, Lu Li could still see objects in the dark city.

Streetlights emitted a faint, cold glow, and the city was filled with shades of gray, unlike the blackness, resembling a city nestled beneath the earth.

Even in the depths of the alleyways, he could clearly see his fingers, as the Lightless Night did not function here.

Lu Li arrived at the street, quietly contemplating.

This usually suggested a possibility: the entity controlling this place was more hauntastically powerful than the Lightless Night.

Perhaps it was the Evil God, or as the Evil God said, those star-like, vast, great beings…

There were surprisingly a few sparse passersby walking the streets, acting as if nothing had happened.

Only when they looked up at the Inverted City above, could they see the same silhouettes on the upside-down streets.

Lu Li observed the street and the street above: a middle-aged gentleman in a top hat, wearing a tailcoat and holding a cane, in the Inverted City, was nothing but an empty skeleton.

A pair of children chasing each other, laughing as they ran, were two ethereal ghosts in the Inverted City.

A woman with a graceful figure, who playfully winked at him, was a shadowy figure like a black fog.

Among them were also real humans—like Lu Li, whose figures couldn’t be seen in the Inverted City.

They walked very naturally among those monsters, as if they were completely unaware—of course, that was impossible.

The bloodstains scattered on the street and the occasional screams piercing through the gloomy night were enough to engrave in their minds what was happening right now.

But they remained indifferent, walking as usual, just like…

those oddities.

Perhaps this was the reason they survived: “Paradise’s” rules, arousing suspicion meant being devoured, they had to act as usual.

Thus, Lu Li before him saw the “harmonious” coexistence of humans and strange beings, albeit twisted.

Looking along the long street, the moist cobblestone road under the streetlights extended forward, what was not water puddles, stepping on which produced a sticky sound of water, similar to licking sounds coming from the alleys, revealed it was actually blood.

Scraps of flesh were scattered about, kicked away by people and “people” who passed by without care, landing at the mouth of alleys or in front of roadside drains.

At those moments, thin gaunt claws would quickly stretch out from the darkness, scramble to grab the scraps of flesh and retract into the dark, followed by munching sounds.

The echoing screams and howls incessantly cut through the night, never ceasing.

This was a city of strangeness.

“What are you looking at?” A gentle female voice suddenly sounded beside him.

A meticulously made-up lady stood beside Lu Li, asking with friendly curiosity.

Lu Li didn’t respond, but once again lifted his head to look at the upside-down city above him.

A distended monster like a stomach sac piled beside him, its mouth at the top hanging over Lu Li’s head, dripping viscous saliva beside him.

It was questioning Lu Li.

It wanted to eat Lu Li.