Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 634 - 634 153

634: 153.

Disguise 634: 153.

Disguise The murmuring whispers that seemed to rise from the depths of his heart told Lu Li what identity he had obtained: a Xiusi University student.

This familiar sensation of being granted an identity reminded one of The Shadow of Puppetry, the difference being that The Shadow of Puppetry, as the manipulator, directed the plot and the narration, while the “master” would not interfere with anything other than one’s identity.

Lu Li could do whatever he wanted, even abandon his identity.

But he would also have to bear the consequences himself.

At the entrance of Xiusi University, an old gatekeeper sat in the wooden chair in front of a cabin—however, this was not the old man Lu Li had seen the day before.

In Inverted City, his image was that of a hunched back, with long mouse-like dark brown coarse hair, hidden beneath a cloak’s silhouette.

It stared at Lu Li, its turbid eyes in the gloom seeming to harbor ill intentions.

But Lu Li paused only briefly on it before stepping into the school, serene as if he naturally belonged to this university.

Some students were wandering and strolling in the garden, and though it was late at night, time began to blur after being enveloped by Inverted City.

“Second floor, third classroom…

third row, middle seat…”

Following the guidance of the whispers, Lu Li walked into the place where he was supposed to be.

His gaze swept over the dozen or so young faces in the classroom; none were familiar.

Lu Li took his seat.

A goose feather pen lay atop a notebook in front of him.

Opening the notebook, its yellowed pages bore Lu Li’s name.

This was “student Lu Li’s” notebook.

But as Lu Li was about to open it to see if there was any content inside, a chubby hand stretched out brazenly and snatched the notebook away, with the rude and portly figure blocking next to him like a door panel.

He looked down at Lu Li from above, waving the notebook, “Tell me, new face, what’s written on it!”

The classroom’s whispering faded, as the gazes of the “students” gathered around.

Lu Li calmly looked up, without answering, and instead turned to ask the girl sitting in the seat to his right, who radiated youthful vitality, “Where does he sit?”

The girl propped her chin in her hand and pointed behind Lu Li with her finger.

Subsequently, Lu Li turned around to take the portly figure’s notebook and counter-asked, “Human, tell me what’s written in your notebook.”

Of course, the portly figure would not check that notebook; he couldn’t answer Lu Li and couldn’t bear the cost of a wrong guess, mumbling something unclear, he threw aside the notebook and sullenly returned to his seat.

Lu Li picked up the scattered notebook, flipped through the pages, and found nothing but simple literary excerpts—nothing special.

In contrast, the girl to his right who had been idly sizing Lu Li up seemed to notice something, and her lips curled into a smirk.

Lu Li’s crisis was simply resolved, and the classroom once again buzzed with the sound of the students’ conversations, until the professor’s figure walked up to the lectern.

“Classmates, I am your Weird Studies Professor, Gabriel Burn.”

The professor, with the image of a middle-aged man, introduced himself.

Lu Li’s dark pupils slightly furrowed.

This subject was supposed to be taught by Professor Keg Flay…

Had he not survived the calamity?

“Weird Studies Professor?

Are you going to teach us how to fight against ourselves?”

Several snickers echoed through the classroom, originating from those oddities who scorned hiding their identities or humans disguised as oddities.

Study of the Weird Professor Gabriel Burn paid no mind to the students’ offenses.

After all, whether he was truly weird or just impersonating as such, it was impossible for him to really teach “those below” in the classroom any knowledge.

All he needed to do was open the textbook and read its content aloud.

No one listened to the lecture; the students engaged in their own activities.

Lu Li observed that occasionally some students would exhibit habitual behaviors.

For example, a young man would occasionally rub his eyes, pressing on the eyeball as if to confirm it was still in its socket.

Another girl could not control her masseter muscle, her mouth uncontrollably opening and spilling drool.

An eerie balance was maintained in the classroom—the professor didn’t deal with the students’ oddities, and the students didn’t disturb the professor.

Minutes later, Lu Li’s quiet was shattered by a wad of paper suddenly landing on his desk.

It bounced and rolled a few times, stopping in front of him.

Lu Li turned his head toward the girl who had thrown the paper—a girl who had previously signaled to him—then unfolded the crumpled sheet: “The one who rings the Evil God’s Death Knell… Lu Li, I know you.

Why have you come here?”

Lu Li silently stared at the girl for a few seconds, then balled up the paper again without responding.

But quickly, a second wad of paper landed on the table: “I should not trust others so easily, but you are an exception; my cousin has mentioned you to me countless times.”

After a brief hesitation, Lu Li finally wrote a short message in an empty space: “Who is it?”

At the response, the girl seemed relieved and wrote something new for Lu Li: “You certainly know him.

Keg Flay, you were with them at a gathering just yesterday.”

She claimed to be a relative of Keg Flay.

She recognized Lu Li.

She mentioned their gathering from the night before.

This information seemed to convey to Lu Li that she should not be doubted.

But unable to glimpse the truth of the Inverted City overhead, and the sights on the way to the university made Lu Li cautious about everything—although the Inverted City he had managed to sneak a glance of was equally hard to trust.

All the disguised creatures he had encountered on the streets as if they were human.

They seemed to have the consciousness of the living, or human-like intelligence.

Disguises, communication—making it impossible to distinguish them from real people.

Even the survivor’s bias—those creatures unable to play the part of humans had already been punished and had no right to enter “paradise”—was enough to drive one to despair.

For there were tens of thousands, or even more, intelligent creatures wandering the city.

They could be ghosts, heretics, or servants.

Whichever they were, it could easily kill a human.

As the notes went back and forth between the two desks, the girl proved her identity with too much haste and no reservation.

Lu Li responded, but until he had observed the Inverted City, he would not admit to being Lu Li, nor would he recognize himself as human.

“Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you as much as I can,”

wrote the girl as if she had guessed Lu Li’s distrust.

She took the initiative to write some things about herself on the note.

She called herself Dorin Flay, a member of the Foray Family, and she shared many secrets with Lu Li that only exorcist families would know, as well details on her brother.

Her account bore no discrepancies, so everything started to make sense: she, like Lu Li, was placed at Xiusi University by “the master,” she had arrived to find her cousin Keg Flay already deceased, and the panic-stricken her could only hide.

But then, Lu Li appeared and she recognized him.

Thus, she sought to ally with the only human she discovered and escape this cursed place.

The duration of the class was shorter than expected.

Twenty minutes later, or perhaps even less, Professor Gabriel Burn announced that class was over.

Lu Li left his seat and walked out of the classroom, with Dorin Flay following behind.