Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 657 - 657 One hundred seventy-six

657: One hundred seventy-six.

Broadcast sound 657: One hundred seventy-six.

Broadcast sound Gemini Reed was about to turn off the radio, or switch to another frequency, but at that moment, a faint curse came through the noisy static.

[“Damn…

can anyone hear me…

I…

need help…”]

Gemini Reed stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Lu Li.

The intermittent noise continued to burst from the loudspeaker, sometimes far, sometimes near: [“…

everywhere…

they…

rustle…

be careful…

go to 44 Lime District…

basement, while my cough hasn’t…

whoever it is!”]

It seemed the person using the radio realized the importance of the address, as those words were especially loud and clear, as if they were shouted right next to the microphone.

With the end of that, the shout disappeared into the static noise.

“It could be a trap,” Gemini Reed warned Lu Li after waiting for about ten seconds, confirming that the other party wouldn’t repeat it, “We are not the only ones who can use it and know this frequency, and the address was too clear.”

Clear like a conspicuous trap laid out on a flat road.

Lu Li didn’t respond, instead, lifting his gaze to Anna.

He was inclined to head there because the voice on the radio felt familiar, but he couldn’t quite recall where it was from.

However, he could be sure that at some point, the voice had said something to him that remained fresh in his memory.

“Trouble’s here, I’ll take care of it,” Anna replied to Lu Li’s look, walking to the back door of the clothing store to lead the carriage from the backyard.

“Trap or not, the person on the radio must know something,” Lu Li nodded slightly, saying to Gemini Reed, “Do you know where Lime District is?”

“Of course…” Gemini Reed informed Lu Li of the direction of Lime District.

He also knew this was the best chance to touch the truth, if missed, they might never find out what that intermittent warning meant.

“I’ll protect these people with my life,” Gemini Reed could only make the biggest promise within his capabilities.

“Do your best.”

Anna, leading the carriage, had already come outside the display window, Lu Li withdrew his gaze and, under Gemini Reed’s watchful eye, boarded the carriage, heading into the distance with the clear sound of horse hooves.

“Wouldn’t we be better off hiding in the cellar?” York asked from behind the counter.

“The cellar of the neighboring house is big enough to hide all of us.”

Gemini Reed latched the door and returned to the lounge chair in front of the fireplace: “That would have worked before, but now it would be like telling the creatures that we are humans.”

The fewer humans show themselves, the more the rules of the playground had transitioned from finding insiders to hide and seek.

Residences, basements, and cellars—places where one could hide—would certainly be searched by the creatures, so disguising as one of them was actually the safest course of action.

Bang bang bang—

Sudden, urgent knocking at the door of the clothing store broke the silence.

The dust shaking off the wooden door indicated it wasn’t Lu Li and the others returning.

Gemini Reed exchanged a glance with the uneasy York, stood up, and walked toward the door: “You’re the boss now, and I’m the assistant.”

York, unable to hide his emotions, could cause serious problems, but Gemini Reed knew how to appear more like a creature.

Gemini Reed unfastened the door latch, opened the wooden door, his eyelids drooping halfway, his face stretched taut and stiff as he sized up the figure outside, his tone indifferent: “…Customer?”

“I’d like to buy some things.” The customer outside revealed a ferocious smile, with an unmistakable chill emanating from it right at Gemini Reed.

…

Lime District was some distance away from them—it was closer to the center of Royal City.

Lu Li had always been avoiding that area; as the center, the hazards were visible to the naked eye.

Indeed, that was the case.

The silhouettes wandering the streets here were denser, and the reflections of Inverted City were more terrifying and ineffable.

The creatures roaming the outskirts seemed like those without the qualifications to enter the center, pathetic beings driven and squeezed to the edge.

Anna had to actively emanate a faint aura to reveal her identity, to not be disturbed by creatures, at the cost of the almost stagnant Sanity Value Counter ticking up slowly again.

“They’re spreading out…” Anna whispered the discovery to Lu Li.

There were more “people” walking back the way they had come than those heading in the same direction as them.

As the carriage entered Lime District, and the street numbers approached 40, Lu Li noticed a human figure on the sidewalk moving in the same direction as them.

Anna pulled the reins closer to him, and Lu Li, sitting in the carriage, asked, “Are you here because of the broadcast?”

The middle-aged man in a black suit with an overcoat looked at him strangely, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

A chill suddenly emanated from him.

Lu Li noticed that he had sneakily glanced at Anna.

Signaling Anna to conceal her presence, Lu Li spoke directly, “I am a Senior Investigator, Lu Li.”

Lu Li wasn’t good at persuading people with words, and at least this Exorcist, also drawn here by the broadcast, didn’t believe him.

He showed an impatient expression, warned Lu Li not to bother him—the “freak”—and lowered his hat brim as he walked away.

“Got it wrong?” Anna asked in a low voice after he had left.

Lu Li shook his head slightly, watching their fellow Exorcist pause slightly as he passed the Lime District’s number 44, then pushed the door to enter.

“Let’s go over there too.”

Stopping the carriage by the roadside, Lu Li and Anna walked towards number 44, Anna, holding onto him, looked around at the windows of the houses.

Were there other surviving Exorcists brought by the broadcast hiding and watching from the shadows?

And the strange creatures.

[Amprus Noble Bank]

This three-story brick and stone building with defined edges had been a bank not long ago.

Now, through the broken door, one could only glimpse the gloom, emptiness, and disorder inside.

Tap tap tap tap—

Suddenly, a jumble of footsteps echoed from the dark and empty hall, and a figure stumbled towards the entrance—towards Lu Li and Anna—

“Hel—” The syllables laden with terror were hardly uttered before they were cut off by something.

Shadows like tendrils in the deep gloom seized him, tightly wrapping around his body and muffling his shouts, dragging the struggling shape back into the darkness, vanishing without trace.

“It’s a trap,” Anna said in a low voice, staring intently into the dark inside the doorway.

Lu Li moved his hand away from the holster.

Everything had happened too quickly; it was too late to save the person.

He recognized the figure that had been dragged away— the Exorcist who had just entered the building.

“Not necessarily.”

Perhaps they were too late, and the creature had reached the place first, or perhaps…

“Bait can be used to catch more fish,” Lu Li said.

“You mean the monster lurking in the bank deliberately let the Exorcist come to rescue the person calling for help?”

Lu Li looked up, searching for other ways into the bank.

“Leave it to me,” Anna said at that moment.

Lu Li didn’t object, “Be careful.”

Pursing her lips slightly, Anna gave a light nod and left Lu Li’s side, stepping onto the staircase.

With each step she took, the aura she emitted became colder and more obscure, pulsating with the unmistakable presence of the Inner World.

Warped shadows extended beneath her feet, merging with her figure into the dark of the hall.