Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 705 - 705 Two hundred twenty-four

705: Two hundred twenty-four.

The first one.

705: Two hundred twenty-four.

The first one.

Fortunately, Robbie Rudnev wasn’t one of the nearby residents who hid in the newspaper office.

Robbie Rudnev was the watchman of today’s Belfast Newspaper.

However, more than ten years ago, he was one of the most efficient workers at the newspaper, even two or three sturdy lads couldn’t match his printing speed.

He had thought that the ink and the machines would accompany him until he was too old to move, but four years ago, the newspaper underwent an update, replacing the manual printing machines with cheaper and faster automatic ones.

Robbie Rudnev thus retired.

Luckily, the newspaper boss was a kind-hearted man, and although he sold almost all the manual machines and laid off most of the old fellows who had worked there for more than ten years, he kept him.

Perhaps because the boss knew he once was a sturdy lad himself.

Of course, occasionally when there was no electricity, Robbie Rudnev would also haul out the only manual printing machine from the basement, and he would be extremely busy.

Robbie Rudnev had no children, he thought he would work until the day he could no longer move, and then sadly leave in the face of the boss’s retention, taking the Shilling the boss gave him to visit every place.

He wanted to go to Himfast, the City of Art, where the smell of ink was everywhere—he wanted to know if the smell of ink there was stronger than in the newspaper office.

Yet, before that day came, the sudden disaster of the night changed everything.

Robbie Rudnev was so scared that he hid in the basement, sneaking out only when the oil lamp was almost out and the hunger and thirst were unbearable.

“Fortunately”, when disaster struck that night, he was the only person in the newspaper, so he didn’t have to face the bodies of others or anything.

Robbie Rudnev saw the tragic state of the city through the window, was too scared to leave his shelter, and just scavenged some food and water that had not spoiled in the second-floor offices, along with half a bucket of ink, and then hid back in the basement.

The iron door of the basement was never opened again.

Even though the ink burned too fast and caused him to cough incessantly, and hunger continually assailed him, he would rather die hidden in the damp, dark basement than face those monsters outside.

Sometimes he wondered when the rescue would come, then he quickly thought, forget it, don’t deceive yourself, who would save a city that has already been destroyed?

Robbie Rudnev continued to weaken day by day, until the iron door was gently knocked.

Confused memories caused Anna to be disoriented for a dozen seconds, but they quickly receded like the tide.

After all, this was not her first time performing the ritual, and since she had just endured Sara’s memories of more than two hundred years, the memories of a man barely sixty years old could not make her disoriented or lose herself.

Emerging from the memories, the first surge was a deep-seated desire from the body: a craving for food.

Then came the smell, the pungent odor from ink mingling with moisture, with the ink smell even more overpowering.

The burning ink seemed toxic—as evident from the thick black smoke it produced.

Although such a smell did not bring happiness, Anna still gladly accepted everything.

Having a body felt like someone beneath the water breaking the surface, the entire world became clear.

She understood why so many ghosts longed to possess humans.

It was like cigarettes and alcohol, addictive to men.

Smelling the pungent odor of burning ink, Anna unconsciously wondered what Lu Li smelled like.

Anna remembered her experiences in the Inverted City; Lu Li had no scent, or rather, compared to scent, the emotions his very presence evoked were more intense and profound.

It was like being in a dream.

Anna, possessing Robbie Rudnev, cocked her head and looked at her own ethereal self-standing aside.

Watching oneself was a strange experience, especially when she could control both bodies simultaneously.

Anna swiftly averted her gaze, then noticed some issues: all the senses were not as sharp as they were in the memory.

The heart beat weakly, the blood vessels flowed slowly, and things a little farther away started to double.

Breathing brought with it the noise of bellows in the lungs.

It was as if a veil had been draped over the eyes, muting the world.

Was it because this body was accustomed to these sensations?

Or was it because he was too weak and old?

Yet Anna still shivered with excitement when she touched the ice-cold floor as she got up—it could also be because he was an old man.

This long-missed touch…

Anna even felt that she could faint from the sheer beauty of the moment she touched Lu Li.

Alas, she could not afford to do so.

Anna approached the manual printing press, Robbie Rudnev’s memories made her know exactly how to use it, and a sentence that suddenly leapt into her mind.

“The machine is meant to be run, not sit in a warehouse rusting away.”

These were the thoughts that bubbled up from the old man’s part of the mind.

Anna silently chewed on the taste of these words, her physical self returning to the ground to carry blank papers from the storage.

The small half left in the ink bucket was enough.

Upon return, Anna rummaged for unused letterpress plates, etched content and the outlines of maps onto them with force, poured ink into the machine, placed the plates into the slots, then put in the blank papers, pressing them like stamps, leaving behind clear, fresh ink patterns and script, and then repeated the process.

Within mere seconds, Anna had taken adept control over everything.

She was not yet satisfied, carving content onto the remaining plates as well, using her intangible hands to press them onto other blank papers.

At first, she was a bit clumsy, but as she grew familiar, it became as smooth and effortless as an assembly line.

The hand-pressed flyers looked murky and unclear, but she wasn’t planning to sell them for money, so the oddities didn’t matter.

Having a body meant Anna inevitably possessed human vulnerabilities, or perhaps benefits—the brain was constantly thinking about something.

While printing, she subconsciously thought that if everything had not yet happened, starting a newspaper with Lu Li might have been nice…

He could think, and she would print.

At that moment, she felt a sudden difficulty breathing in the left side of her chest.

Anna was stunned for a moment and her floating letterpress plates stopped for a breath.

Realizing something, Anna lifted her withered palm to touch her chest.

Muffled and silent…

The body’s heart had stopped beating.

The old man was dead.

This turn of events was unexpected to Anna.

She did not want to kill him; that was unnecessary and might even alert Lu Li to something.

She even wanted to find some canned food from around after the printing, as a temporary compensation for occupying his body.

But the old man’s health was worse than she imagined, the shock and possession becoming weights that crushed his frail life.

Even without Anna, he would have struggled to last two or three days.

But in the end, he died because of Anna.

A faint humanness oozed out from the body, merging into the ethereal form of Anna standing beside, bringing strength and a whisper of desire…

incomprehensible but somehow thrilling to the very soul.