Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 654 - 654 173

654: 173.

Visit 654: 173.

Visit “There are no survivors who moved into those houses,” York came to his senses and told Lu Li about their situation, “Did you not find any, or…?”

“We didn’t find any survivors.”

York’s expression darkened for a moment.

“Maybe they’re all hiding like we are,” Gemini Reed analyzed, thinking about the grim future not so far away, “But the weird creatures will soon realize this and then start searching for survivors hiding in the houses.”

“Will they come here?” Yiwo, who had been hiding behind the clothes rack, crawled out.

“So I won’t be leaving for now,” Lu Li said.

With the crisis averted, the survivors who had hidden upstairs came back down.

After awkwardly expressing their gratitude to Lu Li, they were chased back upstairs by York, along with Yiwo and Webb—If the weird creatures started paying attention to the houses, the clothing store that accommodated too many people would definitely be suspected.

The best arrangement was an owner, a shop assistant, two customers, and someone to guard the second floor, in case the weird creatures broke in through the windows.

Gemini Reed reopened the wet clay in the fireplace, but the fire had been covered for too long and was completely extinguished; it needed relighting.

After a while, the warm but faint fireplace was lit again.

Gemini Reed added a few logs and stood up, looking at Lu Li, “Did you find Emma?”

“Mhm.”

Lu Li told them about the situation at Echo Church, including their act of sacrifice and his own speculation, hoping to get a new perspective from others.

“Other than spreading a curse, I can’t think of anything else…” York pondered.

“They worship a ‘Divinity’, maybe it’s a summoning ritual,” Gemini Reed analyzed.

“Remembering is key.”

Then they exchanged glances, combining each other’s thoughts: “They offer themselves as a sacrifice to summon a ‘Divinity’, but someone must remember them, or it loses its effect.”

“Very close.”

Their guess was close to Lu Li’s, but there was one point that confused him: Tristan had become a Follower of an Evil God, so were they trying to please and sacrifice to the same “Divinity,” or a different one?

“There’s nothing we can do right now,” Gemini Reed sighed.

They were excluded by the enigma, unable to do anything but wait, and the only one who could move around, Lu Li, was restrained here because of them.

“We can.”

Anna had no intention of doing nothing; resting her chin on her hand and tilting her head, she looked at Lu Li, “Should we clear up the surroundings before they come to disturb us?”

From one angle, this could make them safer and undisturbed.

From another angle, opportunities to recklessly plunder humanity with lesser risk were not plentiful.

Plus, if there were other survivors hiding in the houses or basements, they could find them.

Lu Li agreed and left the clothing store with Anna again.

The house across the street that had been cleared was still empty.

This time, the cleaning area was set on the same side as the clothing store—starting with the neighbors.

Knock, knock, knock—

Lu Li knocked on the door of the residential house next to the clothing store.

After a moment’s wait, slow footsteps came from behind the door.

Creak—

The face that appeared behind the opened door was that of a middle-aged man with a dull expression.

Lu Li raised his head, and in the Inverted City, several tentacles like those of an octopus crossed the threshold, swaying in front of the door.

“May we enter?” Lu Li asked.

“Enter…?” The middle-aged man’s eyes stiffly shifted, settling on Lu Li as if he were a scarecrow, with only his feet shuffling backward, “Of course.”

Lu Li walked into the room, followed by Anna whose eyes were curved.

Squeak—yah—

The door closed slowly behind them, and just before it shut, there seemed to be the sound of something heavy dropping.

A minute later, Lu Li and Anna reappeared at the door, heading for the next house.

Cleansing was not always smooth sailing.

After clearing the second dwelling, the third house was a restaurant, with seven or eight patrons seated at the dining table behind the display window.

The Evil Spirit Sect usually resembled humans more than other oddities—because they were entities that became such after human death.

Although they were turned into vengeful spirits and malevolent spirits by the influence of the Inner World as they fell into the abyss, before that, they as mere ghosts still retained their self-awareness to the greatest extent.

It’s just that this self-awareness became innately hostile toward the living.

Take, for example, the patrons in the restaurant.

On one hand, like nobles using elaborate etiquette to differentiate themselves from commoners, they brought their own meat to the restaurant to have it cooked into steaks.

In return, the restaurant would take a portion of the meat as payment.

On the other hand, their food was once their own kind.

These ghosts attempted to distinguish themselves from the outside oddities that feasted on flesh and blood through this higher-end form of “eating,” much like vampires and werewolves in legend stories.

The viscous red wine glasses, the succulent steaks, the snow-white napkins around their necks, delicate knives and forks—a scene both evil and filled with aristocratic ritual.

This made the patrons scoff at Lu Li and Anna, who came in asking questions and left “disappointed,” as if they were naive bumpkins who understood nothing.

However, soon Lu Li and Anna returned, bringing with them “meat”—a fine ribeye obtained from the fourth dwelling.

This proved their strength, and although the patrons did not become reverently silent, their attitudes softened considerably.

The boss didn’t quite understand why the ribeye was so clean, as if it had already been processed.

He took it as a special talent of Lu Li and Anna, gladly bringing it to the kitchen and offering them two freshly squeezed blood drinks, still warm.

Anna didn’t sit down, but curiously approached other guests’ tables, inspecting closely and deliberately issuing a criticism loud enough for everyone to hear, “The steak is overdone, seasoned with too many herbs, and reeks of the pungent smell of inferior processed wood.”

Although Anna’s culinary skills were not the best, it was not difficult for her, who had been half a noble, to pinpoint some very real flaws.

The chef wearing a clean apron came out of the kitchen, wanting to see who was complaining.

Anna tilted her pale chin up proudly and said, “Directress of the Lota family, Anna Lota Bessie.”

Even though Anna had not used the family’s middle name since she was born.

Some of the patrons were former nobles, but most were just trying to distinguish themselves from the oddities.

They didn’t know what the Lota family was, only that it sounded rather formidable.

So the chef, originally blustering, became timid, merely muttering that this was just an ordinary restaurant, unable to produce the culinary level of a chef employed in a Noble Manor.

The plan proceeded as expected, and Anna continued, “Can we do the ribeye?

I’ll allow you to watch on the side.”

As patrons, they of course desired to taste something more delicious.

As a restaurant, it couldn’t be better to learn higher-level cooking for free.

Thus, Lu Li and Anna smoothly made their way into the kitchen.

Click—

The last to enter, Lu Li gently closed the wooden door of the kitchen.