Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 758 - 758 277

758: 277.

Spreading on the land where hope is unseen 758: 277.

Spreading on the land where hope is unseen “Child, it’s enough, but you don’t know yet.”

The elder spoke kindly, taking out two straw dolls from his arms: “This is the reward from the Lord for your devoutness.

With them, the Lord’s punishment will no longer descend upon our souls and bodies.”

Lu Li took them, lowering his head to gaze into the hollow eye sockets of the simple straw dolls.

The elder handed another doll to Anna, and Anna’s response was to pull back her sleeve, revealing her illusory arm to them.

“Ah, it is the Revered Kin.” The elder and four followers slightly bowed their heads in greeting.

In the Church of the Silent Moment, the peculiar holds a higher status.

Anna had seen the appearance of Kin Followers and knew how to disguise, her cloak slightly lifting in acknowledgement.

Lu Li held onto the straw doll, remaining silent because he was not a true believer of The Time of Silence.

Until the bell’s sound vanished, Anna gently lifted his palm, and trusting Anna, Lu Li chose to follow the followers.

His shoe soles ground against the scattered stones in the wilderness, making a crushing sound, yet Lu Li still remained, had not disappeared.

The elder expected to see shock or other emotions on Lu Li’s face, yet Lu Li only showed contemplation.

The straw doll allows a non-believer to evade The Time of Silence’s ritual, could it mean…

faith is actually unnecessary?

It is not faith that protects the followers from the third calamity, but the straw doll.

Lu Li re-examined the straw doll.

Rough as if woven by a child spontaneously, coarse enough to prick if held closely.

It is not a commodity, nor is it valuable.

His gaze swept over the elder and the four followers, do they each also have a straw doll?

As silence enveloped the entire world, seven figures walked peacefully through the wilderness.

Twenty minutes later, the ghostly radio echoed, The Time of Silence receding, shrinking back into the depths of the abandoned oasis of Barren Lands.

“What is that?”

The elder looked at Lu Li, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes showing childlike curiosity.

“The ghostly radio, which senses the approaching spirits,” Lu Li said.

“Interesting little gadget,” the elder remarked, moving his gaze away.

A village outline emerged at the horizon, the elder glanced towards the distance and said, “That village has our companion, he will find us horses and carriage.”

An hour later, they walked into a silent, uninhabited village.

The village was strangely devoid of any people, including the companion the elder mentioned.

Oil lamps in the houses were nearly dry, dimly flickering; domestic pigs slept in dirty, smelly pens, wild dogs warily watched the intruders, and a lone horse was tethered in the stable.

As if the villagers had disappeared in an instant.

Observing the unsettling deserted village, the elder made a wise decision: “Take the food and carriage, leave immediately.”

After a simple scavenge of food, they quickly escaped the village with a carriage.

Once far enough away, the elder whispered from the cart, “This is why we need the Lord’s redemption…”

They boarded the carriage, during the ascent Lu Li noticed the straw dolls hanging from their waists—they indeed had them too.

The elder was talkative, or rather, he spoke more than Lu Li and the four followers who were as silent as Lu Li.

Contrary to what Lu Li imagined, the elder did not have a higher status within the church, though he was different from ordinary followers: he was the guide.

Guiding the lost non-believers back to the embrace of The Time of Silence.

A day’s interaction revealed some of the Church of the Silent Moment’s situation to Lu Li: they were expanding their number of believers, yet true fanatics were rare: those who would be rewarded by the Lord.

Lu Li was rewarded because he saved the guide.

But Lu Li felt perhaps it was because he’d saved the elder, who had extra straw dolls.

At dusk, migrating, the carriage carried them into a run-down town.

The town’s residents had mostly moved away, leaving behind only those unable to leave or unwilling to go, numbly scraping by, with daily disappearances.

They were indifferent to the cloaked group, letting them stay in homes previously occupied by townsfolk.

The place had been thoroughly looted, even shelves and chairs dismantled to be used for firewood, the empty living room left with nothing.

The followers lit the fireplace, going outside into the dim world to fetch water, bringing it back to boil into soup.

Bang bang bang—

Right before nightfall, the wooden door was knocked, dust falling softly.

The followers gathered on the floor by the fireplace turned their heads.

One follower stood, walked to the door, and pulled it open.

On the street stood an ox cart loaded with goods, a short chubby middle-aged man smiling, froze seeing the followers’ cloaks and shadows inside, then quietly retreated a few steps: “I’m just a merchant…

Do you need anything, or want to sell something?”

Because of his identity, he couldn’t help but ask.

“We don’t—”

“Six blankets,” Lu Li stood up from beside the fireplace.

The elder nodded in gratitude to him.

“390 shillings,” the merchant priced.

The elder frowned, displeased with the high price: “With better luck, 90 shillings might buy them.”

Hard to imagine a church guide who worships spirits, still bargaining.

“We take a great risk,” the merchant smiled, accepting the shillings Lu Li handed over.

With business at hand, the merchant didn’t care if they were heretics, urging his guards to bring six blankets, asking if the generous-paying Lu Li needed anything else.

Lu Li glanced at the elder, who shook his head saying, “No more, child…

it’s enough.”

Closing the wooden door, people returned to the fireplace.

Lu Li passed out the blankets, followers helped the elder lay them out, some tried to give their blankets to the guide, which he refused.

The soup boiled and cooked, the followers distributed food, quietly eating it down.

The hot soup entered the stomach, driving away the night’s chill.

Next was mass time.

Four followers gathered by the fireplace, forming a circle like a cell, shadows stretched long, eerie murmurs spilled out.

The elder did not participate in the mass.

He could see Lu Li’s unfamiliarity with the church, he was unbothered by it, instead he kindly, like a warm neighbor, asked if Lu Li had any perplexities: “Child, I can see your confusion…

Ask boldly, the Lord will forgive all the believers’ sins.”

The guide’s attitude deepened Lu Li’s sense of contradiction toward him—

Their journey together made Lu Li feel they were “harmless.”

They did not attack people they met or forcefully preach.

In fact, aside from the elder, the four followers remained silent.

And this didn’t match with Lu Li’s observations and what he’d heard—they shouldn’t be so peaceful.

Was the guide hiding his claws, or had he discovered something?

At that moment, a question abruptly surfaced in Lu Li’s mind.

It should’ve vanished as suddenly as it appeared, but before it could be extinguished, rationality caught it, and humanity reminded Lu Li: Hurry, ask him.

“…Why do you kidnap those people.”

The elder’s aged face showed confusion.

“Kidnap?

We did not—”