Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 679 - 679 198

679: 198.

Return to Marsh Road 679: 198.

Return to Marsh Road At dawn, the blood-colored mist in the streets and alleys had thinned.

The southward-traveling Blood Dandelions were finally about to leave the airspace above Valrend City.

The downriver cities to the south had already made preparations: they had erected huge torches on the city walls to block the dandelions, and the revamped trenches in the streets were filled with kerosene and wood shavings.

Doors and windows were sealed, stockpiling food, coal, and firewood.

Although disaster was inevitable, it would not be as sudden and complete as it was for Valrend City.

Some villages and towns, aware that they could not withstand the onslaught of the dandelions, chose to leave their homeland with their families to settle in towns that the dandelions would not pass through.

However, by this time, this had nothing to do with Lu Li and Anna.

The carriage heading south gently swayed along the road, having left Tafeng City not long before, saying farewell to York and the others who had decided to stay behind, taking Lilia back to the Ailen Peninsula.

Himfast was too far away, York and the old, weak, sick, and disabled in the team had to assess whether they should embark on the long journey—even though the dandelions were fast approaching.

Amber was also brought along, but because its presence around towns or on the roads could cause disturbances, Anna had it follow the carriage from a distance.

Miss Anna seems much more cheerful,” said Lilia.

The wrinkles at the corners of Lilia’s eyes deepened, although she knew Anna was a ghost… which old person doesn’t like to see young love?

Even at this time of dark clouds and no hope.

All afternoon, Lilia noticed that Anna kept gazing deeply at Lu Li… as if she could never get enough of looking at him.

Whoosh—

Lu Li put down the newspaper of the day, and calmly looked towards Anna sitting across the carriage.

Anna blinked gently in response.

Before this, Anna would have continued her quiet, indifferent gaze, and even longer before that, she would pretend to look away and then sneak glances back at him.

Sara’s memories inevitably affected Anna, and even when she first emerged from the endless entanglement and chaos, the slight pause when she called out Lu Li’s name was telling—for that two hundred plus years of memories, the name “Adam” was more familiar and habitual to her.

Fortunately, the words Lu Li spoke before her consciousness plunged into the depths, along with Anna’s will, had been like a reef in the waves, firming her consciousness and not collapsing within Sara’s lengthy experiences.

Anna was still Anna, only the parchment had gained much more content, some good, some bad.

Lu Li continued to read the newspaper.

In addition to the hurricane-like shocking and fearful news of Arlen Kingdom’s fall, news of Valrend City and the southward-moving Blood Dandelions also appeared in the paper.

The towns of Tranquil Plains were filled with cries of grief, as the swarm of dandelions had become more scattered after passing through Valrend City, with a tendency to spread across the entire plain—people who had witnessed the destruction wrought by the Blood Dandelions knew that even a single dandelion could bring great trouble.

People could only hope that the newly formed rain clouds over the northern part of Tranquil Plains, the Sielma Mountain Range, would arrive quickly to smash these troublesome little things before they could touch the entire plain.

If not, the dandelions might continue southward after ravaging most of Tranquil Plains, reaching the Falling Leaves Mountain Range to the east, gazing at the Ailen Peninsula across the mountains.

Himfast and the other settlements on the Ailen Peninsula did not need to worry for the moment, as the continent’s climate usually had little effect on the peninsula, and even if it did, the sea breeze would blow them back the way they came.

By evening, the low contours of the Falling Leaves Mountain Range emerged in the distance, the dry, cold air started to turn damp and cold, carrying the breath of the sea breeze.

Lu Li was the first to notice these things; the first time he set foot here was on the soil of the Ailen Peninsula, and he spent most of his time there…

The air mixed with the scent of the sea breeze seemed to welcome him home.

Ana also tilted her head back slightly to sniff the air, then showed a hint of disappointment; she still couldn’t feel anything.

Fortunately, Sara’s long memory was like an incredibly thick book, as vivid as a dream.

Ana could browse it at any time to sense the emotions within.

Occasionally, they would encounter fellow travelers on the road, their carriages piled high with luggage, then turning left near Leaf Fall Town to take a fork in the road and go on their separate way.

They even tried to dissuade Lu Li from taking the Marsh Road—there had been terrifying changes reported there.

Thirty miles to the east, there was a small port from which one could sail around the swamp and reach the Ailen Peninsula.

And soon, the three inside the carriage saw the changes to the Marsh Road just as night was about to envelop them.

When they had passed a few days ago, the terrifying thickets of the North Shadow Swamp had already extended halfway across the Marsh Road, encroaching on the territory of the Mother of the Marsh.

This time, their invasion was even more thorough, and the whole Marsh Road was overshadowed by the twisted, eerie thickets.

The slender and dense withered branches were like dried-up arms, sharply clawing across the road towards the Southern Shadow Swamp.

The horses pulling the carriage grew restless, resisting the entrance to this stretch of marsh road, now completely enveloped by the withered branches.

The Mother of the Marsh seemed powerless to resist the terrifying being awakened in the North Shadow Swamp.

So Lu Li retreated to the outskirts of Leaf Fall Town, unhooked the carriage and strapped it onto Amber instead, then returned to the town to return the horses to the carriage station, and proceeded back to the Marsh Road.

But now, with the Marsh Road taken over by withered claws and impassable, they had no choice but to step directly into the damp and gloomy swamp.

The Mother of the Marsh detected their presence from the start—the silhouettes of the Shadow Figures and the sparingly crawling Six-legged People emerged behind the shadowy withered forest.

Amber stopped before a Shadow Figure, and Lu Li spoke to the Mother of the Marsh hiding behind it, “I’ve brought the things you wanted, and people too.”

The Shadow Figure made no reply, simply retreating behind the trees, then appearing deep in the swamp, dozens of meters away.

Amber followed them, navigating between the muddy marsh and withered trees.

After about fifteen minutes, a dense growth of withered banyan trees appeared ahead.

As they approached, the trees that had been guarding the center of the marsh like stars around the moon began to move—their hanging branches shifted aside, forming a straight dark archway leading to the center of the swamp.

They seemed particularly fond of Lu Li, gently touching the hem of his clothes with their branch tips to show goodwill.

This was probably related to humanity—extinguishing Sara and Adam had brought Lu Li a great deal of humanity, which, after being amplified by the Doomsday Apocalypse…

Lu Li now possessed 12 portions of humanity.

When he left the refuge point a few days ago, he only had 2.

This forced Ana to release the aura of wraiths to cover up the vibrancy that Lu Li exuded, which was in stark contrast to the despair of this world.

Passing through the banyan forest and the stream in the marsh where the “whale” had once been stranded, the huge central banyan trees of the South Swamp came into view.

Lilia looked at the giant banyan tree, her murky eyes filled with shock and a trace of recoil—

Under the gloomy tree hollow, a figure cloaked in a black robe silently emerged.

“They say…

you have brought back what I wanted…” Mixed with countless whispers and murmurs, the Mother of the Marsh’s voice rose from beneath the black cloak.