Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 682 - 682 201

682: 201.

Prison on the Sea Surface 682: 201.

Prison on the Sea Surface Dark waves continuously lashed against the cliff’s base rocks, day and night.

The mist from the deep sea never dissipated.

The sea breeze brushed over the cliff top, otherwise, why would Annie sway so gently?

“Look, there are tree buds.”

Anna stood under the Annie Tree, the gray and withered branches on the recliner pushing out clusters of yellow-green sprouts.

“Annie’s fondness for you is about to surpass mine,” Anna muttered softly as she caressed the trunk.

“You two came back two days late…

Did something happen?” Raimy asked from not far away.

She felt that Anna seemed to have changed, not quite the same as before.

“Indeed, there was an incident,” Lu Li looked towards the children frolicking around Amber and Aidanvoya, who welcomed the arrival of new residents more than anyone else.

“This is Aidanvoya, Tesla’s wife, and she may live here for quite a while,” Lu Li introduced to Raimy and Jimmy.

As for Annie, he had already told Aidanvoya about the siblings and the children on the road.

It meant that the third wooden hut in Elm Forest needed to be built.

“Leave it to me and my sister.” Jimmy, who had regained much strength from hunting with Anna, volunteered eagerly.

The siblings, who had built two huts, could be considered craftsmen by now.

Amber wasn’t interested in the huts; it favored open grounds and Elm Forest, and…

the children.

It even indulged the children in climbing on its body to frolic on its back.

Anna reminded it not to get close to the trees in the forest or to harm them as she entered the refuge with a carriage full of books and food.

After storing the food in the cellar, Anna began to ponder where to place half a carriage’s worth of books—the space in the refuge was clearly insufficient.

With the refuge now down to limited free space after setting down a single bed and a table with chairs, the books Anna brought would need several bookshelves to fit.

“For now, put them in the cave,” Lu Li said.

But they couldn’t stay for too long…

Fragile books couldn’t withstand the dampness and decay.

The refuge perhaps needed to be expanded.

Lu Li thought.

The original intention of the refuge was to let him, Lu Li, eke out a miserable existence after the apocalypse, but Anna and the residents of Elm Forest together built a defense called safety.

This did not align with the initial plan.

“We don’t have that much Deep Sea Stone,” Anna said, as if she knew what Lu Li was thinking.

“There’s a place with a lot,” Lu Li said, where they even extravagantly used Deep Sea Stones as building materials, just as they did.

Ghost Prison.

And it was right at Elm Forest’s doorstep, at the Ruins of Belfast.

The only issue was whether they should release the ghosts imprisoned in the prison in order to obtain Deep Sea Stones, even though Belfast was already bad enough.

“I’ll look for the prison’s location when I go hunting later,” Anna said,

Lu Li didn’t refuse, but he reminded Anna that she could observe but should not explore or approach.

He still remembered what Tesla had said, that the warden of the prison was an evil spirit.

Regardless of its relationship with humans, it was clear its relationship with its own kind was not good.

Outside the cave, the sound of hammering planks for construction rang out.

Anna lit the hearth that had cooled for several days, and the ashes that were dug out were taken outside by Lu Li to be scattered.

Amber lay at the entrance of the cave, the children like its own offspring, snuggling up and falling asleep in Amber’s curled-up embrace after tiring of their play.

Not far away, Jimmy’s monstrous figure was building a new hut next to the siblings’ cottage, while Raimy worked on the shelves for those books.

When Lu Li returned to the cave, he saw the flower pot placed by the entrance by Raimy, the tender shoots had stopped growing, as if frozen in the moment Lu Li had left the forest.

The drooping yellowish shoots indicated that they were about to die.

Lu Li picked up the pot and placed it on the desk, alongside the one he had brought from Arlen Kingdom.

This pot, which had brought Lu Li and Anna together, had rightfully been brought back to the cliff top.

Perhaps by tomorrow morning, one would be able to see fresh sprouts piercing through the soil, adorned with dewdrops.

Soon, Raimy entered the cave with a roughly made bookshelf, with tree bark still adhering to it that hadn’t been peeled off, but it was sufficient as a makeshift shelf.

Anna placed the books on the shelf one by one, and after filling it up, she placed the remaining few on the desk in the shelter.

Whether or not anyone would peruse them, the few books indeed gave the shelter an atmosphere like that of a room.

Next was something Lu Li had been planning to do: visiting the “neighbors,” the elm trees.

The gift was simple—it was Lu Li himself.

It might sound a bit odd, but the current Lu Li was welcomed like fertilizer by the trees.

Wherever he passed and stayed, the elm trees permeated with despair and sorrow began to gradually alter their mood.

Lu Li and Anna walked around the perimeter of the cliff top.

Although the elm trees weren’t as friendly or welcoming as the trees near the cliff top, if they took a walk every day, it wouldn’t take long for the day to come.

Approaching noon, Anna set off for a hunt outside Elm Forest with Redemption, while the construction of Aidanvoya’s cabin was nearing its end, with sporadic sounds of hammering and sawing indicating Jimmy was making furniture.

An hour later, Anna returned with prey much later than usual: an ugly shark with rear limbs.

Jimmy ate a small portion, with the rest going to the children and the new resident Amber.

Anna reminded Amber not to eat the bones, as she was going to pile them at the edge of Elm Forest.

“Found the Ghost Prison.”

Anna said to Lu Li, who was sitting in front of the cave reading a book.

“Is it by the sea?” Lu Li closed the book and took the gun holster off the rocking chair armrest.

“Or rather, in the sea.”

North of Belfast was Elm Forest, while to the south lay an Oak Forest.

But compared to here, the Oak Forest was closer to the Ruins of Belfast, and there was no towering cliff to separate it from the coast.

The Ghost Prison was over there.

Beyond Crescent Bay, on the edge of the Oak Forest, on an island no more than three miles from the beach.

That was a secluded sea area.

After all, it was riddled with hidden reefs; no ship wished to enter the port through there, and it wasn’t too close to the city either.

The choice of this location was much questioned—why not place it further from the Ruins of Belfast?

People feared that a loss of control over the Ghost Prison would lead to disaster.

Ironically, the ruins of Belfast were already destroyed before any uprising at the Ghost Prison.

Anna didn’t get too close, but still observed something interesting around it: fresh footprints on the beach near the Ghost Prison, small patches of oak trees that had been chopped down, and newly crafted boats.

There was some group interested in the Ghost Prison on the marine island and attempting to approach it.

Among them were strange footprints mixed with human ones, humans and the strange working together…

The only thing Lu Li could think of were the Heretics.

“Heretics…

why would they want a hand in the prison,” Lu Li said, frowning.

Clearly, there were undercurrents stirring in the Ruins of Belfast.

“Heretics don’t just worship the Evil God; they could be devotees of any powerful aberration or even certain legends,” Sara’s memories told Anna, and Anna relayed to Lu Li.

“Perhaps their master needs to gain power, or more followers.”

And what better to deal with than a group of trapped spirits?