Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 658 - 658 One hundred and seventy-seven

658: One hundred and seventy-seven.

“Helping Hand 658: One hundred and seventy-seven.

“Helping Hand Gemini Reed bowed his head, his face hidden in the shadows, “If it’s about buying clothes, of course.”

Chime—Chime—

The crisp ringing failed to dispel the oppressiveness as a malicious uninvited guest entered the clothing store.

Gemini Reed, who was behind him, closed the door, lifted his head to look at York behind the counter, and silently mouthed, “Go upstairs, take them and leave.”

“You can take a look at these.” Gemini Reed distracted the strange attention, leading it to select clothes by the window, with his back to York.

York got the hint, and sneaked upstairs quietly.

“Shh…” He signaled silence to Yiwo, who was about to speak at the top of the stairs, and lowered his voice to tell him of the unwelcome visitor’s arrival, everyone needed to hastily evacuate.

Red had already arranged for everyone on the second floor to leave through the backyard and avoid the downstairs shop during Lu Li’s absence—neighboring houses had been cleared out, providing them with temporary hiding places.

Yiwo slipped into the living room, woke the people curled up asleep there, and led them quietly out the back door.

York, after searching the second floor, only found a sack and, carrying it, returned downstairs.

The first floor of the shop was cold as if a late autumn chill had swept in, causing York’s skin under his clothes to prickle with goosebumps.

The situation in the shop was just as grim; the uninvited guest’s probing of Red seemed to be nearing its end, no longer concealing its malevolent intent.

At that moment, York suddenly emerged from behind the intruder, wielding the sack he had found as an improvised weapon—catching the intruder inside it.

“How did you…” Red exclaimed in shock; he had not realized that York had actually run back.

“I’m no coward!”

York, who had bagged the intruder, shouted as if venting his emotions and charged at the anomaly.

The entity, unclear in form, should not have been disturbed by the fall, but its human shell was flung away, crashing into a nearby seat clock and revealing a dark crack with a missing piece of wood.

Rip—

The sack only briefly trapped the dazed intruder, and in the clear sound of tearing, it slid off both sides, revealing a gloomy face filled with greed.

“It seems like the two of us hiding here are now going to die here,” Red said with a wry smile, not forgetting to dupe the anomaly into thinking there were only two people present.

York visibly paused, not because of what Red said, but because he saw the crack behind the intruder.

As if possessed, he suddenly shouted at the crack, “Are you in there?

Please help us!”

The intruder tilted its head, seemingly bewildered by York’s words.

The next moment, its facial features stiffened, and odd contours pressed outward against its skin, as something attempted to burrow out from beneath.

They all thought the intruder was about to break free from its human shell and reveal its true form.

York, sitting on the ground, was so frightened by the eerie spectacle that he nearly wet his pants, constantly cursing himself for being a show-off and courting death.

Rip—

A more muffled sound of tearing than the sack resounded, and a withered claw drilled out of the intruder’s stiff face.

The tense Red froze; the shape of the withered claw seemed…

familiar to him.

The claw emerging from the face slowly stretched out, like a hook, grotesquely deforming the intruder’s face and dragging it into the crack.

Disturbing sounds of gnawing emerged from the dark fissure, the intruder’s limbs twitching as if struck by electricity.

All struggles were ignored by the increasingly numerous withered claws emerging from inside the crack, which forcefully dragged the intruder into the gaping fissure.

Amidst a series of intense tearing sounds, every noise from within stopped.

“They really ate it…” York muttered disbelievingly, his chest heaving.

But weren’t these withered claws, lurking in the shadows like rats, supposed to only eat unliving flesh?

How—

One slow-moving claw, emerging from the fissure, suddenly pierced through York’s confusion, reaching slowly towards him.

Red stepped forward to pull York back, but stopped.

Because the claw merely grazed the bottom of York’s shoe lightly, hooking a piece of muddy, bloodied flesh, that had unknowingly stuck there, and retracted back into the dark fissure.

The clock on the wall had fallen to one side, and the clothing store had completely returned to tranquility.

Except for the turmoil in the hearts of the two people present.

“Why would they help us?” York asked, staring blankly as he lifted his head.

Gemini Reed was equally unable to understand and explain.

He did not answer the question and extended his hand to York, “Where are the others?”

“They’ve taken shelter in the house next door.” York grabbed Reed’s hand to stand up, but his legs continued to tremble.

“You stay here; I’ll go call them back,” Gemini Reed said, taking a deep breath to steady his emotions.

“Should we seal the rift again?” York gestured toward the crack behind the fallen clock.

He didn’t reject Reed’s suggestion, as he needed the chance to change his pants.

After a brief silence, Gemini Reed suggested that if they could help them once, they could do it again, so it would be best to leave it be.

York felt the same.

Compared to the strange and evil beings that wanted to kill them at any moment, the withered claws from within the rift seemed almost cute.

…

In front of the Amprus Noble Bank, Lu Li was waiting, silently counting the time since Anna had gone in.

When he reached the third minute, his palm pressed against his gun holster as he stepped onto the bank’s entrance stairs.

At the same time, Anna’s figure emerged from a shadowy area in front of the door.

“Tough to deal with?” Lu Li frowned, noticing a red mark on Anna’s snow-white neck.

“Not at all, other than being a bit large.” The rules were on Anna’s side.

When the massive creature in the lobby attacked Anna and was warned by Paradise, Anna could freely slice through its body.

If the creature hadn’t abandoned its human form and been so large, it wouldn’t have taken her long to take care of it.

“Your guess was right; it might not be a trap.” The creature had never communicated with Anna, nor had it made any noises, as if it were a lump of flesh without self-awareness.

“Is it dealt with?” Lu Li asked.

“Almost,” Anna replied, taking Lu Li’s cool palm and leading him into the lobby.

The dimly lit hall, cloaked in gloomy drapes, was strewn with chunks of flesh that Anna had cut off, besides the clearly distinguishable outline of tables and chairs.

Anna led Lu Li past a row of counters to the deepest part of the bank lobby.

There awaited a deformed head, its surface like sludge, flowing thickly and awaiting salvation to help it find release.

Lu Li took out the salvation, and amidst the sudden, dense sound of the counter clicking “clack clack,” he tossed it onto the head.

Hiss—

The salvation began to erode the residual head of the creature, with intangible smoke rising and the fleeting shapes of ferocity briefly coalescing before dissipating.

The stronger the creature was, the slower the salvation eroded it, but clearly, more humanity could be plundered.

When it was completely dissolved, leaving behind only the scattered body and head, the power that salvation had plundered surged into Lu Li’s body, and he felt it distinctly.

It was nearly comparable to the humanity brought by ten creatures.

Taking advantage of the moment, Anna found where the withered claws were hiding, lured them out with chunks of flesh, and then left them to their own devices—they would find a way to leave not a shred of flesh in the lobby.

Soon after, Lu Li and Anna arrived at the door leading to the basement, or rather, the thick metal door to the vault.