Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 733 - 733 252

733: 252.

Setting up the Stage 733: 252.

Setting up the Stage The Ashuli, operated by the Archipelago Queen Shipping Company, is undeniably a giant.

With a length of 213 meters, it sails confidently through storms, heading towards the Barren Lands and Lennon Islands.

It carries up to 2,200 crew and passengers, including a specially hired team of Exorcists to ensure the passengers’ safety.

The sense of security it brings amidst the pale-gray vast ocean is indescribable.

Yet many passengers remain on deck.

Some are lamenting leaving their homeland, some eagerly anticipate a new beginning on the other side, hoping the Ashuli will successfully reach the Lennon Islands.

The waves and clamor on the deck peel away from Lu Li as he enters the cabin; the doors of most cabins along the corridor are open, with the sounds of conversation or luggage being moved emanating from them.

Sidelining around the passenger pushing luggage into a cabin, Lu Li, holding his ticket, walks to the mid-section of the cabin.

In front of his cabin door, a cloaked girl clutching several unusually thick books is conversing with a middle-aged man.

The man leaves with joy, brushing past Lu Li, while the girl pushes open the wooden cabin door.

The specifications of the cruise’s cabins aren’t uniform.

For instance, the Avitanis, which carries Aunt Mary and Jojo, only offers three types of cabins: first-class, second-class, and third-class.

The Ashuli, however, is similar to the previous Reslin: first-class, one-class, second-class, and third-class.

The second-class is slightly inferior to the previous second-class, with no separate room.

It’s slightly better than third-class, with only two people per cabin.

As Lu Li pushes open the wooden cabin door, the cloaked girl, her back to the door, is placing down the books.

Upon hearing the door open, the cloaked girl swishes her chestnut long hair into an arc, her gaze pausing briefly on Lu Li’s face before graciously extending her hand: “Hello, I’m Emin Grolyn.”

“Lu Li.”

Lu Li gently shakes her hand.

The cloaked girl’s soft palm trembles slightly, seemingly unaccustomed to touching.

“A Three-Eyed Crow Badge?

And it’s filled with one eye!”

Lu Li thought their exchange would end there, but Emin Grolyn, noticing the badge on his chest, exclaims with excitement: “Are you a Senior Investigator?”

“Yes.”

Most people couldn’t recognize the badge, let alone call out its name and understand the meaning of the filled eye: “Are you an Exorcist?”

“Not yet, but soon!”

The cloaked girl proudly puffs out her chest, allowing Lu Li to see a badge pinned on her cloak—not called a badge because it only has a rose background without a marked symbol.

“I’m an Apprentice Exorcist.”

“Apprentice?”

“You don’t know?”

Emin Grolyn scrutinizes Lu Li, her gaze carrying suspicion, seemingly doubting the authenticity of the badge.

“I’ve spent the past two days on the ship,” Lu Li replies.

Previously, he wasn’t entirely out of touch with news, so he couldn’t be unaware.

“No wonder…

It was just announced yesterday afternoon.”

Emin Grolyn comes to realization, sitting on the bed, seemingly unaware she’s sitting on Lu Li’s bed: “The organization formed by Investigators, Night Watchers, and Exorcist Association has officially changed to Exorcists, no longer subdividing responsibilities…

Wait a minute.”

As if remembering something, the girl on the bed springs up, opens her suitcase, and takes out folded newspapers.

It surprisingly contains some fresh vegetables and fruits.

“Here, this morning’s newspaper.”

Lu Li accepts the Daily News, with the front-page news precisely about the change in the Exorcists United Organization.

Three major organizations will merge into Exorcists, revamping their system, using new badges, yet retaining the four levels of the Exorcist Association: Exorcist, Demon Slayer, Demon Hunter, Legendary Demon Hunter.

It’s apparent that the worsening situation and severe losses, leading to insufficient Exorcists to support the framework, is the culprit for the merger of the three major organizations…

Apprentice Exorcists are those not yet qualified as Exorcists, acting as substitutes.

Usually, after systematically learning some mysterious knowledge and personally participating in one to several paranormal events, they are promoted to Exorcists.

Emin Grolyn is one of them.

She has already passed the mysterious knowledge assessment, with the next step being the practical phase: participating in a paranormal event.

Recently, Luosha Town in the Barren Lands has been fraught with strange occurrences, with people constantly disappearing while local residents remain silent about it.

Emin Grolyn, avoiding the local paranormal event her family prepared for her, set her sight on the Luosha Town incident and secretly boarded the Ashuli.

Coincidentally, Emin Grolyn will disembark at Bridgehead Port, which is also Lu Li’s destination.

More coincidentally, Luosha Town is only twenty miles away from Bridgehead Port.

Lu Li hopes Emin Grolyn could elaborate on the strange incidents in Leaf Fall Town, as it might be related to Aunt Mary.

However, she doesn’t have much information either.

“Mr.

Luli, are you going to Bridgehead Port also to investigate Leaf Fall Town?” Emin Grolyn asks curiously.

“No, but it might be related.”

“Great, we can team up!”

Because of Lu Li’s identity, Emin Grolyn, fresh from the Ivory Tower, feels close to him, displaying no vigilance in sharing a room with a stranger.

She candidly shares that Lu Li exudes a comforting aura, akin to standing beneath a tree in sunny weather.

This is evidently a trait brought by humanity: very few people feel adverse towards Lu Li, and what he says is hard to doubt.

Lu Li flips through the few thick books brought by Emin Grolyn, which are Pharmacology, Study of the Weird, and Geography Records.

Study of the Weird mainly consists of simple, common knowledge that doesn’t trigger a decline in Sanity Value.

Only the last dozens of pages warn readers that the upcoming content might lead to Sanity Value decline and hallucinations, then documenting rituals of currently common dozens of spectral entities.

Interest is piqued by the fact that some spirits have illustrations, such as the Uninvited Guests, Shadow Thief of Fire, Crowd of Suffering, and Headless Spirit—spectral entities with form and witnessed.

The Uninvited Guests and Crowd of Suffering align with what Lu Li has seen.

The Crowd of Suffering resembles a bloated, distorted potato, enlarged, covered in eyeballs.

The Headless Spirit in pencil sketch appears as a silhouette of a woman in a Filthy gown, her head shrouded by a sack, tied at the neck.

Though they possess form, these aren’t the entities’ true selves, more like projections, unable to cause substantial harm.

Only the Crowd of Suffering is suspected to be the true self, but any harm towards it becomes null and rebounds.

However, its harmfulness is minimal, as long as it’s not harmed, no harm will be received.

If one could disregard the Sanity Value decline and the fear and revulsion it inherently brings.

Gradually darkening outside the porthole, the cabin’s electric lights illuminate, then Emin Grolyn, as per the crew’s reminder, lights the oil lamp placed on the bedside table.

However, upon leaving the cabin, one must extinguish the oil lamp; if a patrolling crew member discovers it, they will strip away passenger rights and drop them at the next stop.

Night descends; Lu Li draws the curtains to shield the porthole, then heads with Emin Grolyn to dine at the second-class and third-class restaurant.