Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 697 - 697 216

697: 216.

Time will erode everything.

697: 216.

Time will erode everything.

The Heretics apparently got what they wanted.

After Anna returned to the cliff top with a shard of Deep Sea Stone, Lu Li thought.

They certainly didn’t release the prisoners from the Ghost Prison out of goodwill—and the number of ghosts in Belfast had not noticeably increased.

After they had succeeded, they disappeared without a trace, seemingly weaving an unknown conspiracy.

However, it wasn’t all bad; the Ghost Prison had a large quantity of Deep Sea Stone.

Even taking only a small portion would be enough to complete the expansion of the refuge.

But not now.

The Heretics had just left, and the Ghost Prison might still be under their observation.

Frequent visits might attract their attention.

For now, Anna temporarily focused her exploration on the neighborhoods around Elm Forest.

Several districts, including Elm District, were occupied by anomalies, but because they were far from the city and closer to the suburbs, these anomalies were few, and they usually did not wander on the streets during the day, instead hiding in the gaps between ruins or within the dim interiors of alley houses.

“I plan to clear out some,” Anna said to Lu Li after exploring.

“I’ll only leave those that can serve as food.”

“I’ll join you,” Lu Li put down his book.

Lu Li had been living on the cliff top for nearly two weeks.

He didn’t dislike this dreary, repetitive routine, although it was quite different from his initial thoughts.

“No, I’ll handle it,” Anna didn’t want Lu Li to follow, as that would distract her.

“Be careful,” Lu Li didn’t refuse Anna’s suggestion, quietly watching her.

“Don’t forget our agreement.”

Her cooling heart panicked for a moment as she met his abyss-like dark eyes, “Of course not.”

Armed with “Redemption” and silver-plated bullets, Anna said goodbye to Raimy Aidanvoya, and thought about leaving the cliff top.

Even as she approached the first anomaly she had selected, Anna was still uneasy.

Lu Li rarely spoke unnecessary words.

This straightforward man’s every sentence had a purpose and meaning—

Had he guessed something?

Ana focused not on the invisible anomalies trembling in the water cup, but rather constrained the space around it and simply tossed Redemption into it, as if throwing a set of keys.

Redemption fell into the water cup, creating ripples like those in a liquid and then hissed, emitting steam-like green smoke.

Finally, everything stopped abruptly amidst a shrill scream.

Then Anna snapped back to reality, thinking about how Lu Li had already harvested trivial human nature, and suddenly recalled something long forgotten: the existence that died due to Redemption allowed Lu Li to see Death Retrace.

But because they were too far away and Lu Li had never touched them, Anna’s hunts with the Spirit-Calling Gun didn’t reveal the Death Retrace to Lu Li.

The uniqueness of Prada Paradise also prevented Lu Li from seeing the Death Retrace of the killed anomalies.

However, the death of Sarai Adam wasn’t included.

They were personally dealt with by Lu Li and had a deep connection.

What did Lu Li see then?

…

[Blood-like roses bloomed beneath her, and her pure white visage made her more beautiful than the roses.

Oh poor girl, abandoned by kin, betrayed by her love, spurned by people, yet her death dazzled everyone.

It was the most brilliant moment of her life…]

[…And Key Points]

[End]

Pfft—

Lu Li closed the book, the air escaping the pages before they closed.

This book “The Romantic History of Shaya” was of the genre Anna liked, though Lu Li picked up the wrong book, he still read on.

The library at the cliff top looked like it had about a hundred books, but due to the paper restrictions of this era, the pages were thicker and the text larger, a standard two-finger-thick book had only about two hundred thousand words, or even less.

At the rate Lu Li read one to two books a day, the library at the cliff top wouldn’t last two months.

Returning to this book itself, it narrated a story of a noble girl falling in love with a commoner boy.

Melodramatic, clichéd, repetitive—all the flaws one could find in similar romance novels were present.

The only difference was, the tragic ending elevated the otherwise banal plot: as time and setbacks accumulated, the boy gradually gave up, only the girl kept holding on, but in the end, she was betrayed by her lover,

This book also made Lu Li think of Sara and Adam.

In reality, Adam’s death coincided with the story from “The Shadow of Puppetry”; he fell from Sara’s balcony, dying in the blossoming flower bed.

In “Death Retrace”, Lu Li, standing before the flower bed, failed to save Adam who fell from the balcony clutching a torn sheet.

He didn’t die immediately; turning to look at Lu Li, while coughing up blood, he struggled to advise, “Hold on to your feelings, don’t let time erase them.”

Next was Sara’s “Death Retrace”: Her complexion pale yet beautiful, Sara, bound in coarse rope and clad in a dirty linen dress, stood on the gallows, below her were angry and cursing, stone-throwing civilians.

The guards left the gallows early to avoid being mistakenly hurt by the furious citizens.

Sara, disregarding the surging crowd below the gallows, tilted her head back as if to display her pride.

A sharp stone hit her near the eye, slicing across her brow.

Her right eye became bloodshot and swollen, with blood flowing down along the tear tracks.

Lu Li stood among the crowd, watching quietly, not intervening.

This was the punishment she deserved.

Sara’s neck was fitted with a noose, among the noisy ruckus of the crowd, the floor under her suddenly broke, and the tightly stretched noose jerked her suspended body, which slightly swayed.

Her cheeks rapidly turned red with congestion, but eerily, Sara showed no trace of pain, her drawn lips more resembling a smile.

She found Lu Li calmly watching in the crowd, the blood at her mouth making her twisted smile look ferocious.

The voices of the people gradually faded, becoming irrelevant to Lu Li.

All he could hear was Sara’s intermittent mocking laughter.

“Don’t know… when your… beloved faces… the same fate, whether you… will still… remain indifferent…”

Lu Li had thought the misfortune Sara mentioned was brought by her memory, but now it seemed she meant something else.

The abyss is where all ghosts belong, and although the journey might be incredibly long, there was an end point.

Lu Li reopened “The Romantic History of Shaya”, the dedication page written by Moritz Johnston.

Time erases everything, including past beloveds.

This phrase made one subconsciously speculate that Moritz Johnston was a man full of stories.

Perhaps… the stories in the book were his own experiences.

But with the noise of the past gone, there was nowhere to confirm this now.

Merchants who trade everything might know, but Lu Li wouldn’t waste investigation points on this.

Lu Li chose to believe in Anna.

But if Anna truly lost her nature and fell into the abyss.

His slender fingers reached towards his waist, only to remember the redemption had been taken by Anna.

…

The strange beings were incredibly diverse.

Being annihilated by Anna, the invisible strange being hiding in a cup of water was just one of them.

Anna didn’t even know its ability before she easily dispatched it, just as it killed human beings—effortlessly and quickly.