Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 702 - 702 221

702: 221.

About to become the richest person in the world 702: 221.

About to become the richest person in the world Anna couldn’t, and had never even heard of a printing press.

However, she had other methods to organize Lu Li, “I can bring over the machine.”

“Can you recognize it?” Lu Li asked.

“Then I’ll move the entire newspaper office here.”

If the newspaper office wasn’t very large, Anna could even uproot the entire building and bring it to the cliff top.

“Half the city will see a house flying into the Elm Forest,” Lu Li said calmly, unable to understand her reluctance, “I am not a baby, I can’t always stay in the cradle.”

“But you don’t need to do anything in this matter,” Anna replied with a serious gaze.

Raimy had to interrupt their argument, or Anna’s overprotection, “Lu Li, you stay at the refuge, I’ll go to the newspaper office with Anna.”

“No, you have to stay to protect Lu Li,” Anna equally refused Raimy’s proposition.

Jimmy was too cumbersome and had a physical body, making him unsuitable for guarding Lu Li.

Aidanvoya, even more so, lacked any strength.

Raimy could only shrug helplessly, feeling they would continue to argue for a while, but what happened next almost made her exclaim “wow.”

Suddenly, Anna leaned close to Lu Li, her face almost touching his, foreheads nearly meeting.

She looked into his eyes, which nearly filled her entire field of vision, deep and dazzling like black gems, and whispered.

“I will complete the task you’ve given me, can you trust me?”

Lu Li stepped back from Anna and took out a piece of white paper on which he sketched the outline of Belfast and Oak Forest, marking the top of Oak Forest specially with an X.

“Even a wordless ghoul can understand this while ensuring no wandering beasts mistake their path for the Elm Forest,” Lu Li handed Anna the map along with the initially mentioned flyer.

Anna curved a smile that belonged to her, “Wait for my return.”

“Be careful,” Raimy waved goodbye to Anna, clutching the newspaper.

Once her figure vanished into the entrance, Raimy walked into the cave with a faintly contented smile and started reading a book.

Lu Li remained calm, adding a block of wood to the fireplace, then belatedly realized that the fireplace was burning vigorously enough…

…

Anna was not unfamiliar with “The Belfast Today.”

Several stacks of newspapers, including it, were piled under the bookshelf at the Detective Agency.

Anna had once thought to take them to the kitchen to use as kindling for cooking, but Lu Li had stopped her, seemingly wanting to consult them when necessary, or something else.

However, disaster struck so suddenly that those newspapers remained piled up in the Detective Agency, unnoticed.

This time she could take them back, if they weren’t damp and stuck together, that is.

Anna thought.

The newspaper office was located near the industrial area at the foothills of Sugard Mountain.

There were tall chimneys everywhere.

If there was little wind, the dense smoke from a dozen chimneys couldn’t be dispersed by the sea breeze when the factories were in operation.

It was worse when the wind blew from the north, as the smog would spread throughout the city.

Fortunately, Belfast rarely experienced north winds, and the people at City Hall were not fools.

They built the factories in a location that wouldn’t have the entire city enveloped in toxic mists every day.

But those days were long past.

By the time Anna was taken out of the gallery by Lu Li, they were no longer puffing out smoke like monsters, and she never had a chance to see them like that again.

It was hard to imagine that just four months ago, she was still hiding inside paintings, coming out every night to tease the night watchmen…

Anna thought, it seemed like such a long time ago.

And she found herself unusually contemplative at that moment.

Possibly because of the intimacy with Lu Li and his subsequent actions, which made her happy.

Even though Anna had no body, nor a heart.

Returning to her thoughts, Anna looked towards the distant chimneys and walked into the Blackwater District.

“The Belfast Today” newspaper office was here.

…

Shortly after Anna left, Lu Li once again took out the wooden box containing rotten meat, opened it to summon the messenger, or rather, the merchant.

In the meantime, Raimy curiously watched as Lu Li wrote another piece of content, placed it into an empty envelope, and then carefully observed the cave as if some eerie presence lurked within the rocks.

The merchant arrived quickly, waiting for Lu Li to state the terms of the trade.

“Do you help transport goods, like a postman?” Lu Li asked.

“We can,” came the response in the usual unchanging tone from beneath the scarf.

“Including to Tillage Garden?”

“…The price will be steep.”

It was just very expensive, not impossible.

However, Lu Li had nothing he wanted to be sent to Tillage Garden or to be picked up; it was still just a test of the merchant’s capabilities.

“My merchandise is on an island a few miles off the coast of the Oak Forest, south of the Ruins of Belfast,” Lu Li detailed as much as possible.

“The Deep Sea Stones that make up the Ghost Prison, please bring them to me.”

The all-knowing merchant of course knew that all that remained there were stones: “They don’t belong to someone; they are ownerless.”

Clearly, the merchant did not regard Lu Li as the rightful owner of them.

“The warden there has granted the prison to me,” Lu Li said, which was indeed what Old Micklos had told him.

Old Micklos was not just the manager of Ghost Prison, but also its owner, for it was his second home.

Under normal circumstances, the Exorcist Association that had constructed the Ghost Prison might have appeared and taken charge, but even if they were still operational, they had no time to attend to matters on the remote Ailen Peninsula.

The merchant fell silent for a moment, as if confirming the truth of Lu Li’s words with some obscure entity before getting an answer.

“You want them all brought here?” the merchant said, accepting that Lu Li owned those Deep Sea Stones.

They knew everything.

“Just a part,” Lu Li stated the figures he had calculated earlier.

“Bring 100 cubic meters of Deep Sea Stone, and cut them into 10-centimeter cubes, just like the walls here.”

Lu Li lifted the oil lamp, allowing the merchant to observe the walls of the refuge.

“The transport and processing fees are 150 contribution points per cubic meter,” the merchant answered.

That was equivalent to 1,500 shillings per cubic meter for cutting and transport.

Ordinarily, 100 shillings would see hordes of workers breaking their necks and even fighting each other for such work.

“That’s acceptable,” Lu Li said, not in the mood to haggle, as he had other matters to trade: “What’s the current buyback price for Deep Sea Stone?”

“…1,300 contribution points, per cubic centimeter,” the merchant paused briefly again, seemingly querying the price, or perhaps realizing something.

“And the buyback price?” Lu Li asked calmly.

Lu Li was well aware that the merchant would not buy back the Deep Sea Stone at the original price.

But even if the price was only one-tenth, one-hundredth, or even one-thousandth… Lu Li could become the wealthiest exorcist, or even human.

Because every cubic meter equaled one million cubic centimeters.

Clearly this was a big deal.

At least for Lu Li, it was.

“75 percent of the original item’s price,” the merchant made the offer and quickly added, “We won’t take too much.”

“How much will you take?”

“…10 cubic meters.”

Lu Li frowned: “That’s too little.”