Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 752 - 752 271

752: 271.

People flocked around the Exorcist, helping him search for his lost companions.

752: 271.

People flocked around the Exorcist, helping him search for his lost companions.

Can animals become the bizarre?

Breaking away from the Death Retrace of the statue, Lu Li kept pondering.

A pig fell into the swamp, turned bizarre after dying, was picked up and brought back by villagers over time, fed to grow, its proximity numbing the villagers.

This is the sequence of the statue incident.

The story ends with Lu Li redeeming it through salvation, along with humanity reaching twenty pieces.

The ashes of the collapsed church haven’t dispersed.

People hide in houses by the bonfire, huddling together for warmth amidst the Mist of Strangeness.

The rescued people’s responses vary.

Villagers drown in the sorrow of losing companions, family, and the village, overwhelmed by boundless regret and pain after being altered by the statue, then restored upon its disappearance.

The traveling migrants are relieved to survive, as are the merchants, who soon lament the loss of money and goods.

The village has no food at all, people can only endure the night of rescue through hunger and sleep.

By morning, they will leave the village and head to the Spinning City.

Village chief Abdel suggested they keep watch overnight.

Lu Li nodded slightly and asked for information about the Spinning City.

Spinning City is a small city.

Slightly larger than a town, but not as populous as a city.

It functions more as a hub city — the largest former city in the Barren Lands used to be located in the east at the Meteorite Land.

The fate of that city once echoed that of Belfast on the Ailen Peninsula.

“It’s not suitable for settling down there.”

Lu Li looked at the parchment map.

The Spinning City lies inland, with no lakes around, similar to the abandoned inland villages and towns.

The only difference is that it still persists.

“We have no food, and it’s the nearest town…” village chief Abdel sighed and added: “The City Lord is a stingy, greedy fellow, but you’re an exorcist, he shouldn’t dare do anything…”

Village chief Abdel can only hope that the City Lord will take them in because of Lu Li.

The conversation in the small house gradually quieted, and people wrapped in fur leaned against the walls to sleep soundly.

At midnight, The Time of Silence suddenly visited.

However, people were already awakened, keeping quiet until The Time of Silence departed, and no one was harmed.

People peacefully passed the night in the village.

In the morning, the Mist of Strangeness receded.

People walked out of their houses, and in the cold morning mist, the burned heap of ashes left only wisps of smoke.

They searched the village again, Lu Li following along, but didn’t find Anna’s mark.

Soon, people finished scavenging and brought everything worth taking, wrapped in warm and comfortable fur, and followed Lu Li and Elena out of the village.

Surrounded by hunger, people moved quickly because Elena said a pack of hyenas might be lurking nearby.

But even after leaving the village for dozens of miles, they didn’t encounter those hyenas with their sinister laughter.

Not just hyenas, they encountered no beasts or the bizarre on the way afterward.

Occasionally vultures would appear, following them for a few miles before vanishing into the wilderness.

The silhouette of the Spinning City emerged in the distance in the afternoon.

Weary, breathless people became elated.

Although still a dozen miles away from Spinning City, seeing the city-state and wandering aimlessly in the wilderness carried two different meanings.

After another two hours of progress, people finally arrived at this small city surrounded by rubble stone walls.

But the situation wasn’t so pleasant.

Guards at the city gate stopped them.

Even knowing that Lu Li is an exorcist, they demanded permission from the Noble Council to enter the city.

After gaining entry, the local residents’ attitude towards them wasn’t friendly either.

Residents on the streets stared at the group of outsiders, including Lu Li, with a xenophobic and disdainful gaze.

Most shops in the Spinning City were already closed, and Lu Li arranged for people to stay at the only open inn.

He asked the innkeeper to prepare some food and inquired about the city’s situation.

The answer was simple: food in the city was running low.

Stored food had been exhausted, and hunting and incoming caravans could hardly supply the Spinning City, with a population of two to three thousand.

“Why not leave?” Lu Li tilted his head, watching the inn attendant carrying dirt-covered potatoes from the cellar.

“My family has run this inn since my grandfather; I can’t let it not survive me.” The innkeeper just smiled and said.

“By the way, we don’t have much food, only yam beans to barely make you full; will that be okay?”

“Yes.” Lu Li nodded slightly, continuing to ask, “Aren’t other residents leaving either?”

“Actually, many have left already.

Only those unable to leave remain, and someone like me who doesn’t want to leave,” the innkeeper said.

Lu Li asked some other questions, such as about the Noble Council.

It sounded as if the City Lord’s power was usurped by local aristocrats — which was indeed the case.

After The Time of Silence descended, the City Lord suggested moving away from Spinning City to coastal towns.

The city’s nobles and wealthy people jointly blocked and usurped the City Lord.

Or rather, they imprisoned the City Lord.

“What’s the point of doing that?” Elena’s tightened grip on her spear reflected her emotion.

“Old-fashioned, conservative, short-sighted,” the innkeeper spread his hands.

“And affluent.”

A lack of food and hunger were issues for the commoners, while each noble and wealthy person’s provisions were enough for several months, even years.

So they continued their nightly revelry, living a life unimaginable to commoners every day.

“A bunch of bastards…” Elena muttered, turning to Lu Li, “What’s your plan?”

“Find Anna first.”

If Anna is in the city, rescuing the City Lord and helping the local residents won’t be troublesome.

Stewed potatoes were quickly served on the table, and Lu Li followed suit, eating some.

Once people finished their meal, he told them about searching for marks in the Spinning City.

The rescued people readily agreed; apart from women and children, they left the inn in groups, scattered in the Spinning City, searching for the marks Lu Li described.

“Should we just wait here and do nothing?” Elena asked reluctantly.

“We wouldn’t be much better than others at finding marks,” Lu Li replied, taking out and crushing the Stone Badge.

Before the people returned, a merchant walked into the inn lobby.

“Ten crates of canned pork, deliver them as soon as possible.” Lu Li said.

The merchant turned and left, not even quoting a price.

“Why not ask for more?” Elena asked.

She had witnessed the merchant’s peculiarity in Helen Town.

“The cans won’t appear out of thin air; if I take ten crates, somewhere will have ten fewer crates,” Lu Li said.

The merchant returned quicker than expected.

A half-hour later, the merchant carrying the cans walked into the inn alongside the first group of returning people.

They marveled at the merchant’s mystery, more delighted by the neatly placed wooden crates on the floor, filled with cans.

The guilt among people was that they hadn’t found the marks Lu Li described.

One batch after another of the seekers returned, only to provide the same answer.

Until the last few returned.

They didn’t find the marks, but brought news that Lu Li might be interested in.

“Recently, an exorcist came to Viscount Hamish’s Mansion, rumored to have magical powers like a wizard.”