Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 769: 2. Door

Chapter 769: 2. Door

“To put it simply, the Cleaner organization is a group of unfortunate individuals discovered by the gate, and with support from kind-hearted individuals in society, they fight against the gate to prevent its spread,” Big Liu scoffed when he mentioned kind-hearted individuals in society. “Everyone understands the logic of ‘lips gone, teeth cold’.”

Big Liu continued to chuckle and said, “Incredible, right? You thought we were some underground evil syndicate, on the fringes of the rules, but in fact, we are an organization secretly saving the world, with everyone being a savior.”

Although most people among them are forced to bear this.

“Each city’s Cleaner organization is independent, and within each city’s Cleaner organization, there are independent teams. After all, the gate is too dangerous; a photo, a diary, a video is enough to harm countless people. So, teams within the same city often come into contact due to cooperation, but Cleaners in different cities almost never communicate.”

Big Liu’s tone shifted, scrutinizing Lu Li: “Interested in joining?”

“Do you casually recruit people?”

“Not at all. For ordinary people, Cleaners conduct screening, but not for unfortunate individuals like us who have come into contact with the gate,” Big Liu spoke with a touch of self-mockery. “By the way, your level of observation should still be at the ‘hearing’ stage, right?”

“…Already heard it,” Lu Li fell silent for a moment and then stated the truth. “Just ten minutes ago.”

“Uh…” Big Liu paused, his tone somewhat complicated: “Mind telling me the details?”

“I don’t mind, but are you sure it’s okay?” Lu Li remembered what Big Liu had said: the more you know, the faster you die.

“It’s my duty,” Big Liu leaned back, his tone filled with resignation and habit: “Every team must have a ‘know-it-all’ guy to prevent companions from encountering danger due to lack of information, and it just so happens that I’m that guy.”

Lu Li directly recounted receiving a phone call and the contents of that call.

“I knew it…” Big Liu showed an expression of unsurprised realization. “If only I had come a bit sooner.”

“For your safety, I can’t say too much, but I can tell you that you’ve been deceived; it can’t affect those who don’t know about it.”

Lu Li thought of Yang Chunxue and Kong Nanqing coming into contact with the gate and shook his head, saying, “They know about the gate and have had contact, but they’re not human.”

“Ghosts?”

“Yes.”

“Ghosts are unaffected by the gate,” Big Liu showed some envy. “But that’s on the premise that they hadn’t come into contact with the gate when they were alive.”

Lu Li lowered his gaze, then lifted it, his expression calm as he said, “I want to know the gate’s method of attack.”

“Look, listen, inquire… cough, just kidding to lighten up the mood, hope you don’t mind, hehe… heh…” Big Liu dryly laughed a few times, seeing Lu Li calmly watching him, he stopped laughing and shrugged: “All those who have been in contact with the gate or its media go through several stages: once it hears you, it can see you; once it sees you, it can touch you; once it touches you, it can take you away.”

“During these three stages, you will be mostly harassed and won’t be in danger — interpret it as a sort of beginner’s protection period. However, if you reach the last stage, meaning you are touched by it, you’ll enter an extremely dangerous state. In other words, your beginner’s period will end.”

“We have a term internally called sanity value or mental value… whatever. This term represents your contact with the gate. The longer the contact time, the lower the sanity value. Then you will start seeing indescribable things like flesh, tentacles, robed figures, etc. We generally joke and call these the truth of the world.”

“These things will intensify as you contact the gate, and soon you’ll find that when you approach the gate, all the illusions in front of you fade away, returning to normal.”

Lu Li had seen similar content in the Water Ghost’s diary.

The Water Ghost, coming out from the gate, had undoubtedly entered the sanity value stage. It had to continuously get closer to the gate to relieve these illusions. As for the result…

“But these are only temporary; as you approach the gate, you inevitably contact the gate. Contact with the gate inevitably reduces the sanity value. Hence, you get closer and closer to the gate, the sanity value gets lower and lower until you can no longer withstand it and enter the gate.”

Clap!

Big Liu clapped his hands, loud and clear: “And then you can exit the stage of life.”

“Can sanity value recover?”

“This sanity value isn’t what you imagine,” Big Liu adjusted his posture and said: “It’s not something like HPMP that can recover. Sanity value is a new term created specifically for the gate. To put it another way, when you walk at night and encounter a ghost, you’re scared half to death and fall seriously ill, but your sanity value doesn’t decrease. Only when in contact with the gate does it change.”

“Sanity value varies from person to person, each person’s max limit is different, but note, its decrease is irreversible — saying it like this seems a bit absolute, but so far, we haven’t found a way to restore it.”

“Moreover, sanity value doesn’t have numerical values, but there is a theory: better mental state is thought to provide some resistance… true or false, I don’t know, it seems similar to the saying ‘drink more water to stay healthy.’ So you must remember, once you enter the sanity value stage from the initial stage, strive to prevent the reduction of sanity value and avoid any contact with the gate!”

Lu Li’s expression remained calm, showing no panic or sadness.

Big Liu was somewhat impressed by Lu Li; he cried his eyes out hearing these from a veteran when he joined the Cleaners.

Lu Li asked, “If I’m not discovered by it, can I always avoid entering the sanity value stage?”

“Don’t you understand yet? Don’t hold on to luck; no one can bypass it…” Big Liu shook his head with a soft sigh: “Just like life, you can only infinitely prolong it, but you can’t make it endless.”

He found Lu Li still staring at him, helplessly, he said: “Indeed, as long as you don’t move out of the first stage, your sanity value won’t start decreasing.”

“What’s the longest anyone has held out?”

Big Liu looked up, thought for a moment: “Half a year maybe, I have seen that guy before, he was tortured beyond recognition. Later, he couldn’t withstand the pressure and committed suicide by medicine, he didn’t even enter the sanity value stage. I’ve answered almost all I should, what’s your decision? Do you want to join us?”

Lu Li was silent for a moment, then gently shook his head: “Not for now, I still have unfinished business.”

“A courageous decision.” Unexpectedly, Big Liu appreciated Lu Li’s refusal.

“You know, I envy you. When I found out about these, it felt like the sky was falling, I felt so lonely and helpless. Because I couldn’t bear the pain of bearing these alone, I chose to join the Cleaners. There are many people like me here. In any case——”

Big Liu took a deep breath and extended his hand.

“If you change your mind, you can contact us anytime.”

Lu Li reached out and shook hands with him.

“I will.”