Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 722 - 722 241

722: 241.

The Inspiration Brought by Books 722: 241.

The Inspiration Brought by Books The new day’s Time of Silence fades away.

Soldiers of Himfast knock on the doors of residences registered with infants, although they usually get results even before knocking.

If it’s quiet inside, it’s likely the couple behind the door fortunately escaped once.

If there’s crying, it signifies a nightmare has arrived.

This isn’t absolute, but it’s mostly so.

Infants who died during the Time of Silence are buried at the Himfast Cathedral, where the priests have set aside a plot in the cemetery’s northwest corner.

That place is called the “Rest Land,” and it’s said that residents nearby occasionally hear the laughter of children playing from there.

This once drew the attention of the Exorcist, but after investigation, nothing was found.

“They never left us, merely accompanying us in another form.

Everyone will remember these lovely lives…”

Before dozens of grieving and sobbing couples, the priests and nuns prayed together,

Compared to some days ago, there were much fewer people attending the funeral, because the number of deceased infants was decreasing day by day.

But it wasn’t because people found a solution, rather it was because there were fewer babies.

Parents attending the funeral a few days ago nearly filled the cemetery.

Cold drizzle fell from the sky, as though Divinity was weeping as well.

“How many infants do we still have?”

On the outskirts of the cemetery, a metallic voice asked from beneath armor.

“Less than two hundred,” another soldier answered him.

“That has to be fake… There are at least a million people in Him now,” the soldier didn’t believe it.

“No, it’s true.

I heard the City Hall staff talking during my duty this morning.” A cold sigh clinked on the helmet.

“Can you believe it?

They actually felt fortunate… fortunate that there are over a hundred infants still alive.”

“Isn’t that quite a number already?

The Time of Silence has come more than a dozen times, now each remaining one is… lucky…” The soldier’s words turned dull and fragmented.

“My wife is already five months pregnant…”

“That’s terrible…”

The other soldier raised a hand and patted his comrade’s shoulder, producing a rather unpleasant metallic scraping sound.

“There will be a way, those scholars are working on a solution.”

…

“Is this the solution you’ve come up with?”

City Hall, Deputy Mayor’s office, O’Connor sneered as he watched the scholars across the desk: “Put infants to sleep with adult doses of anesthesia before every Time of Silence?”

As if the rhetorical question couldn’t vent his anger, O’Connor slammed the desk hard: “Even as a politician, I know how much harm this would cause to infants!”

Poseis University, Medical Professor Jason said helplessly: “We have no other way.

Aside from anesthesia, there’s no method to make infants fall asleep within a dozen seconds and remain stable for another dozen minutes.”

“Then figure it out,” O’Connor shouted, which sounded unreasonable, but that’s what politicians do.

The scholars looked at each other, and finally, Jason stepped forward to speak: “In fact, there is another way, though the public might not accept it…”

“Why not—” Deputy Mayor O’Connor, about to lose his temper, suddenly thought of something and held back: “Explain it first.”

“It’s what those from the Exorcist United Organization suggested.

They want to use a creature… an aberration’s power to put the infants to sleep.”

Not just unacceptable, if it had been suggested when the Time of Silence first descended, the infuriated and aberration-hating public would probably have smashed the Exorcist United Organization’s outpost next door.

But now, might the public who have experienced sorrow accept these?

Yet clearly, relying on aberrant powers is the final hopeless measure.

“…Do any other cities have good solutions?”

Scholar Herbert Nagy answered: “It’s all the same…

I heard some places cover the infant’s mouth and nose to suffocate them… Pardon my bluntness, but that’s even more dangerous.

Compared to that, anesthesia, though it might cause prolonged sleep or brain damage leading to intellectual issues, but—”

O’Connor waved him to stop the nonsense and had an assistant call for the Exorcists from next door.

“You really plan to do that?” Professor Jason couldn’t help but speak up.

“Why not?” The always assertive Deputy Mayor showed a softer side.

“We aren’t those parents who have lost children, we shouldn’t stop them from doing everything for their children.

By the way—”

O’Connor called the assistant who was about to leave: “Don’t forget to notify those nobles, their fear of death might pique their interest too.”

That way, the resistance he’d face in issuing orders would be considerably less.

In fact, the residents who died during the Time of Silence far outnumber infants, perhaps ten or twenty times.

There were always unfortunate or pitiful people who, after the Time of Silence descended, accidentally made noise and then disappeared valuelessly into the air.

Yet compared to pitiful infants, people clearly cared more about the latter.

After all, infants also symbolized hope.

This world is bad enough already; they can’t let the last hope also fade away.

…

Anna came to the basement the next afternoon.

“I hope you’ve thought of the answer this time.”

More familiar now, Serica Darel no longer feared Anna.

Anna nodded gently; a whole night of thinking and reading had led her to the answer: “I want to touch him.”

“Just that?”

“Just that.”

Anna answered the incomprehensible Serica Darel: “I’m a wraith, without a body or touch, emotions are like a dried-up pond lacking replenishment.

Only by possession can I gain everything temporarily.”

“So you’d be possessed in me…” Serica Darel understood and finally realized why Anna wanted her beloved man to step out of safety.

“The feeling of reappearing makes you unable to suppress your emotions for him…

is that right?”

Anna nodded in response.

“Maybe it doesn’t need to be that troublesome…”

Serica Darel looked into Anna’s ruby-like crimson eyes, tentatively asked: “Why not take me to him directly?

That way he wouldn’t need to risk—”

The voice abruptly stopped, a coldness suddenly wrapped around Serica Darel.

She felt submerged in bone-chilling icy water, surrounded by a suffocating panic.

Anna, who’d experienced hundreds of deceptions and lies in many people’s memories, regarded her coldly.

Anna could not bring Serica Darel to Seaview Cliff.

That way, Raimy might notice something, and Serica Darel, as a new resident, would be a liability—she couldn’t be controlled at all times.

“I just… wanted to help you…” Serica Darel said with difficulty.

“Then don’t get any ideas about that place,” Anna answered coldly, dissipating the aura directed at her.

Serica Darel took a deep breath as if coming back to life, wrapping a blanket around herself, still trembling.

She didn’t mention it again, instead asked: “Do you have a better idea?”

“Indeed, I have one.”