Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 750 - 750 269

750: 269.

The black-haired, black-eyed Exorcist helps despairing people 750: 269.

The black-haired, black-eyed Exorcist helps despairing people “Don’t even think…”

Swish—

The hunting knife sliced into the mud wall, sending four fingers of varying lengths flying and bouncing away.

The woman’s face turned pale, a suppressed scream escaped from deep within her throat.

“You can continue, and so can I.” Elena whispered maniacally, lifting the woman’s chin with the knife tip.

After her friend’s tragic death, her personality changed.

She became colder, more aggressive.

The woman glared at Elena venomously, cursing, “The pain you suffer will far exceed mine!”

Elena did not respond, instead she sliced off another piece of finger.

She murmured coldly, “I can still cut this arm twenty more times, then the other, and you still have both legs…”

Fear pierced through her numbed flesh, and finally, the woman told Elena what had happened in the village.

A week ago, a villager found a statue in the wild.

Shortly after, he claimed the statue would protect the village from invasions, granting them the power to “feel no pain,” at the cost of feeding the living statue.

But the village’s food was limited, and as the villagers received the statue’s power, their minds dulled.

They first fed the elderly and useless ones to the statue, then passing travelers.

“Numbness is considered a power?” Elena sneered, seeing through the supposed benefit.

“The master…

protected…

us…” the woman disagreed.

“You mean a ‘statue’ that has killed more than the anomaly?” Elena looked at her like she was a fool.

The woman fell silent.

When Elena was ready to let the useless woman go, she suddenly stammered, “Don’t feed it…

won’t be changed by the power…”

“Those unwilling to feed…

and travelers…

are kept near it…

they’re…

alive…”

With those words, the woman broke free from Elena, clasped her own hands around Elena’s hand, and pressed her neck to the hunting knife.

Elena tried to pull back, but she was a bit slow.

Blood surged like a river from the woman’s neck.

Warm blood splattered onto Elena’s cheek, as she watched the woman fall with a complex expression.

Her eyes landed on a pile of children’s clothes in the corner with unprecedented clarity.

In her final moments, the woman’s consciousness became clear.

“My…

child…”

Muffled murmurs rose with the gurgling sound, and the woman in the pool of blood fell silent.

Elena’s arm, which held the hunting knife, lowered in silence.

Lu Li reached her side and covered the woman’s corpse with a blanket.

Elena did not remain silent for long; she had her own matters to attend to.

She disengaged from the woman’s story, went to the window, and surveyed outside.

The chaos had ended.

From the village outskirts to the dirt road by the bonfire, corpses were scattered everywhere—villagers and hyenas alike.

About twenty hyenas bowed down, tearing and feeding, symbolizing the beasts’ ultimate victory.

Believing in the statue did not grant the villagers power to fight the beasts, nor did it offer protection.

Perhaps because the attackers were beasts rather than anomalies?

Lu Li ignited the oil lamp to counter the night’s encroaching darkness.

Elena continued observing by the window.

The eerie cackling echoed in the night sky, and the feasting hyenas turned their heads to the invisible corner of the small house, then dragged human corpses and comrade bodies away from the town like soldiers cleaning the battlefield.

“The behavior of the hyena packs is abnormal, let’s wait a bit.”

Elena said to Lu Li, who had moved to the side.

The bonfire crackled intensely, dispelling the cold, black night.

The eerie mist had not yet enveloped this place.

“Are you always this cold-hearted?”

Elena’s gaze fell on the phantom reflection on the window: “I thought you’d help those villagers outside.”

“I will do what I can and should do.” Lu Li calmly replied.

Talking to Lu Li evidently wouldn’t be pleasant.

Typically, two people with high emotional intelligence converse well because they know what to ask and how to answer.

Seeking someone to confide in, Elena hoped Lu Li would question her, but he did not ask.

“It’s fine.” Elena’s tone more indifferent, she pushed open the door and walked out of the small house.

Lu Li followed behind.

The village was small.

They circled the bonfire once, finding the tied-up villagers and travelers at the edge of the light.

“Pigsty?”

Elena was somewhat shocked at their environment.

Lu Li surveyed the surroundings, his gaze landing on a silent barn nearby.

The barn’s outer walls were decorated with straw-woven wreaths, resembling a crude church.

The statue should be inside.

Elena had already climbed over the wall, stepping into the dry yet still foul-smelling pigsty.

“We’re here to save you.” She said to the people who were agitated and scared by her approaching footsteps.

Blindfolded, mouths gagged, limbs tied, Elena swung her hunting knife, cutting the ropes of one of the people.

The rescued person removed their blindfold and muzzle, speaking with a dry voice, “Thank you…

I’m—”

“Go help them untie.” Elena did not intend to waste time listening to their introductions.

“Okay, okay…” The rescued person promptly responded and went to help untangle others.

Those who were freed helped the others, and more people were rescued.

Unaware of prior events, they restrained their movements, fearing silence, yet gratitude and excitement visibly surfaced on their faces.

Elena spotted Village Chief Abdel in the crowd and approached him.

“Is it you, Elena?” The old man, baring his thin chest, squinted at her.

“It is I, Chief Abdel.” Elena replied, introducing Lu Li to him, “That person is the Exorcist, Lu Li.”

Many eyes fell on Lu Li, filled with gratitude.

They believed Lu Li had come specifically to rescue them.

“Thank you for your help.” Village Chief Abdel placed his hand on his chest, performing the local greeting to Lu Li, then looked up, asking Elena, “Has the monster been eliminated?”

“No.” Elena responded.

Village Chief Abdel’s expression turned anxious, and the rescued people’s relief hardened with those words.

“Did you infiltrate secretly?” Village Chief Abdel glanced at the glaring bonfire.

“No, they’re all dead.” Elena said.

“Dead…?”

“Hmm, maybe a few are still alive.”

When the hyenas attacked, some villagers and that woman were likely inside their houses.

Village Chief Abdel’s lips trembled, attempting to criticize but unable to: “It was you…”

“It was the hyenas that attacked here.” Elena interrupted, answering.

“No wonder their cries were so close…” Village Chief Abdel breathed a sigh of relief.

Despite being betrayed…

the death of former villagers by beasts was easier to accept than by humans.

“What about the statue?” Quietly observing, Lu Li asked then.

“Exorcist Sir.”

Village Chief Abdel first respectfully saluted, about to speak, yet once more interrupted by Elena.

“Are you planning to chat forever in the dirty pigsty beside the monster?” Elena sheathed her hunting knife back into the leg holster.

“Let’s discuss this back by the bonfire.”

The rescued people climbed out of the pigsty, returning to the warm, bright bonfire.

Some able-bodied men went to search the village for clothing, food, water, and villagers.

Village Chief Abdel sat down before the bonfire, recounting to Lu Li all they had experienced.