Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 693 - 693 Two hundred twelve

693: Two hundred twelve.

Conversation 693: Two hundred twelve.

Conversation The storm lasted longer than expected.

The next morning, the sound of the wind weeping still emanated from the fireplace, and the rain outside the cave stretched down like a curtain of water.

Anna showed no further anomalies as if Sara’s shadow had moved far away from her.

Only when alone, she urged Lu Li to leave early, even amidst the storm.

Thus, not waiting for the storm to vanish over the sea, Lu Li and Anna left the cliff top, heading toward Shadow Swamp.

This was not a long journey.

Even though the rain obscured their view, forcing Anna to slow down, they reached the ruins of Shadow Town by noon.

Under the abundant rainfall, the swamp transformed into a mire, with the gnarled tree roots, exposed during dry spells, now submerged again.

The moment Lu Li and Anna stepped into the swamp, the Mother of the Marsh sensed their arrival.

The silhouette of the Shadow Figures emerged from behind a dead tree, standing in the water to guide them.

The creek had widened due to the storm, turbulently rushing downstream.

Returning again beneath the giant banyan tree, only the sprinkling rain that dripped into the dark earth broke the dim surroundings, shielded by the tree canopy.

In the southeast corner of the giant banyan tree, among the gnarled roots, a small cabin was built, blending faintly with the roots themselves.

“Your Excellency Lu Li, Miss Anna.” Lilia, already informed of Lu Li and Anna’s arrival, waited for them in front of the cabin.

And that black-robed silhouette.

Stopping in front of the cabin, Lu Li spoke directly to the black-robed silhouette, “It’s your turn to help us.”

The silhouette in the black robe seemed to be listening to something, its voice under the robe conveying the words of the Mother of the Marsh: “What do you want…”

“Anna has a memory that doesn’t belong to her.

We’ve heard that the Evil God possesses the ability to seal and erase memories.”

“I indeed can…” the Mother of the Marsh replied after a brief pause.

The silhouette also slightly shifted, “Please follow me.”

Lilia followed as the black-robed silhouette led Lu Li and Anna through the twisted, fierce roots to the back of the giant banyan tree.

The ground cracked, the soil arching upwards.

A stone platform, similar to an altar, seemed to have been squeezed out of the ground recently, with fresh black mud scattered around.

“Lie down on it… I will seal the foreigner’s memory…” voices of men, women, old and young, murmured from beneath the robe.

Anna went forward and lay down on the cold, damp stone platform, yet she felt not a touch of it.

“Please step back a bit.” the silhouette in the black robe whispered.

Lu Li and Lilia retreated a few steps.

Suddenly, a substantial black mist emanated from the cracked earth, swirling slowly without spreading outward, drifting toward Anna on the stone platform, but it was blocked outside of Anna’s soul.

“Spirit, do not resist…” the silhouette conveyed the words of the Mother of the Marsh.

Anna did not reply, only looking towards Lu Li.

“You can trust the Mother of the Marsh,” Lu Li told her.

Trusting Lu Li, Anna let her aura dissipate, allowing the black mist to envelop her figure.

Despite yearning for a body more than forgetting Sara’s memory,

Without Sara’s memory, I wouldn’t crave a body so badly, nor would I have harmed Lu Li.

Anna thought and closed her eyes.

Seconds later, when she opened them again, she stood in a bedroom carpeted with velvet, bright sunlight spilling in from the balcony.

Apart from the crisp and pleasant chirping of birds, there stood a figure in a purple long dress.

“You finally decided to show yourself…” Anna’s eyes turned cold as ice.

“You cowardly, filthy creature.”

“I have never hidden, it’s just that you’ve always been avoiding me.” The figure slowly turned around, revealing breathtakingly beautiful cheeks and red eyes.

“I’m glad to see you again.”

“Unlike you, Sara,” Anna coldly walked toward Sara, even the warm sunlight on the balcony couldn’t thaw her.

“That woman is looking for us.” Sara, paying no heed to the approaching Anna, gazed outside.

Flowers bloomed under the balcony, shimmering with dew in the sunlight.

The manor was lush with greenery, but beyond the enclosing walls, it was not the same.

Twisted, terrifying black fog turned to darkness, inch by inch encroaching upon the estate.

“I was looking for you,” Anna corrected her.

“But you let me come back to life,” Sara said with a light laugh, seemingly indifferent to the encroaching black fog.

“What are you trying to say?”

Sara looked down at the flowers beneath the balcony, the approaching black fog making them appear even more vivid and beautiful: “I just want to help someone even sadder and pitiable than the me from before.”

“I never left my beloved,” Anna answered coldly.

“Do you really think so?” Sara’s tone made Anna uncomfortable, reminding her of something.

“Brief lifespans grant humans complex emotions,” Sara said, extending her pale arm.

A Blue Feather Bird landed on her slender fingers from the roof.

“But everything will eventually decay, whether material or consciousness.”

The Blue Feather Bird’s lively eyes were covered by a yellow, murky film, stiffly falling into the wilted and withering flowers.

Anna remained silent.

“Do you still not understand, or do you not want to understand?” Sara’s red eyes fixed on Anna.

“Sara never existed from the beginning.

She had died along with Adam, and the ‘me’ talking to you is just an afterimage, an obsession, a…

‘you.'”

The black fog drew closer, enveloping the mansion.

Anna seemed immersed in her words and those red eyes.

When she came to her senses, the eyes were still crimson, but the face had changed to her own image…

“Recall the thoughts deep in your mind…

The sparse sensory experiences of Arlen Kingdom, and hence the spontaneous longing for the living,” she gently caressed Anna’s cheek.

“I could have endured the darkness if I had never seen the light…”

“It wasn’t me who took over you.”

“It was you who awakened me…”

At that moment, the black fog enveloped them both.

…

The black fog on the stone platform quietly dispersed.

Underneath the giant Banyan Tree, a beautiful, pristine girl lay on the grimy stone platform.

“Anna?”

Lu Li inquired to the girl who was awakening.

“It’s me.”

Anna lifted her eyes, and after a few seconds of looking into Lu Li’s eyes, she left the stone platform and returned to his side.

Then, as if feeling something, she looked up at the canopy covering the sky.

A shadowy figure flitted through the air, landing on Lu Li’s shoulder, a bamboo tube tied to its foot.

Lu Li unrolled the paper brought by the messenger, which bore only one message.

[Ghost Prison has been maliciously destroyed, the warden is missing, and the prisoners have escaped.]

The crow on his shoulder spread its wings and left, Lu Li spoke to Lilia and the cloaked figure, “Thank you for your help, it’s time for us to leave.”

With the prisoners from Ghost Prison free, Belfast’s stabilizing order would once again become chaotic.

The Strange has never gotten along well with the strange, not to mention the conspiracies harbored by the Heretics who deliberately destroyed the prison.

Lu Li and Anna departed, while Lilia walked toward the wooden cottage.

“Your Highness the Princess, they just have urgent matters to attend to,” Lilia didn’t want Princess Roland to be upset because Lu Li left in a hurry.

“Lilia…” Mother of the Marsh called softly to the old woman.

“Your Highness,”

“I want to hear a story…”