Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 772: 5. Getting Closer and Closer

Chapter 772: 5. Getting Closer and Closer

The gate wouldn’t appear twice in one day, at least that’s what Lu Li understood.

The Spiritual Guide hanging under the rearview mirror swayed gently. This time, Lu Li saw the same direction as Yang Chunxue.

Through bustling streets and orderly roads, he drove all the way to the west side of the city.

The liquid in the jade pendant dissolved, turning chaotic.

The target pointed by the Spiritual Guide was nearby.

Lu Li took off the Spiritual Guide and opened the car door to get out.

A clamor of sounds floated in with the wind, dispersing some of the loneliness brought by gloomy skies.

A bustling street lay in front, people coming and going.

Lu Li looked down at the Spiritual Guide, and at that moment, the initially scattered liquid suddenly shifted back into an arrow, pointing straight toward the bustling street ahead.

Lu Li did not move.

“Why did it turn back into an arrow…?” Yang Chunxue poked her head out, her bright eyes suddenly lighting up. “Does this mean… your ex-girlfriend might still be alive!”

Lu Li remained silent, moving forward.

After a few steps, the arrow dispersed again into chaos.

Lu Li stood quietly waiting for a while. Around ten seconds later, the dispersed liquid condensed back into an arrow… pointing forward.

Clenching the jade pendant, Lu Li walked swiftly like the wind into the market.

Yang Chunxue hurriedly closed the car door, hovering to follow Lu Li.

The chatter and clamor surrounded them. Lu Li, usually silent and pure like a blank sheet of paper, squeezed through the crowd, seemingly accumulating some dye on his once serene dark eyes, now anxious.

The Spiritual Guide in his hand had long dissolved. Lu Li scanned the crowd, seeking that almost forgotten presence from his memory.

“I’ll help you find her.” Yang Chunxue recalled Liu Wenwei’s photo, planning to fly out to search from above Lu Li.

“No need.” Lu Li suddenly spoke.

His gaze fixed roughly ten meters away on a figure’s back.

A black ponytail, the back of someone in a black suit.

“Is it her?” Yang Chunxue also saw the figure.

It must be said, she’s indeed Lu Li’s former girlfriend, even her attire is identical.

“Use Ghost Wall to lead her into the alley.” Lu Li said.

“Understood.”

A wisp of yin energy left Yang Chunxue, floating like mist toward that back and shrouded her.

The figure that originally moved along the bustling street suddenly changed direction, turning into a low alley between the small houses beside the market.

Lu Li stood still, looking down at the Spiritual Guide jade pendant.

The Spiritual Guide jade pendant quietly changed, the mercury-like liquid flowed to the ducting position—right into the alley the figure entered.

He did not find the wrong person.

“I’ll keep an eye on her!”

Noticing the change in the pendant, Yang Chunxue shouted excitedly, floating toward the alley.

Lu Li reached into his coat and followed her into the alley.

In the dim alley, the woman who was walking in the market suddenly found herself standing in the alley.

Unable to comprehend what was going on, footsteps approached from behind.

Yang Chunxue was observing this woman. Unfortunately, it was too dark to see clearly.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up at the approaching Lu Li and said: “Lu Lili, quick, see if it’s— What are you doing?!”

Lu Li’s hand gripped a kitchen knife.

“I ask, you answer.”

Facing the woman, his cold voice sounded.

Yang Chunxue was caught off guard, what kind of development was this?

Could it be… she was tricked? Was Lu Li not actually looking for an ex-girlfriend… but an enemy?!

The woman forced back a scream she was about to let out, fear etched on her face, she nodded with trepidation.

Lu Li asked, “Do you know Liu Wenwei?”

“I, I don’t know her, please let me go. I haven’t done anything…”

What what what what what is this!? This isn’t Liu Wenwei?!

Yang Chunxue was bewildered and suddenly saw Lu Li look at her and said, “Chunxue, search all her belongings.”

Yang Chunxue had a guess and followed Lu Li’s instructions.

In the wide-eyed gaze of dread from the ponytail woman, she revealed herself, controlling the yin energy to search everything on her except her clothes, presenting them before Lu Li.

The ponytail woman trembled all over, her voice choked by fear.

Wallet, cosmetics, a hair tie. Lu Li’s gaze scanned over these items, focusing on a jade necklace.

“Where did the necklace come from?” he asked.

The poor woman shook as if her life depended on it, answered softly: “I-I bought it…”

“Where?”

“From a scrap collector, I don’t know him…”

“How much?”

“50 yuan.”

“When?”

“A long time ago… five years! I bought it on my eighteenth birthday!”

She’s just a regular person, unrelated to the matter.

The piercing black eyes slowly softened, Lu Li lowered his arm, taking out all the money he had and offering her a few hundred yuan: “The necklace is important to me, I need to take it.”

“No, no need, you can have it, please don’t kill me…” The ponytail woman’s face was stained with tears, she shook her head repeatedly.

Lu Li remained indifferent, placed the money at her feet, picked up the necklace, and turned to leave the alley.

He didn’t need to remind the ponytail woman to keep the secret; no one would believe her words anyway.

The return to the car was sullen, until they were back in the car, Yang Chunxue asked, “Was the necklace something you gave her?”

“I never gave anything.” Lu Li carefully stroked the still warm jade necklace, he recognized it.

From their first encounter, Liu Wenwei had worn it constantly.

“This is too real,” Yang Chunxue questioned life itself, doubting someone like Lu Li could have a girlfriend.

Lu Li took out his phone, called Old Taoist Lu, and briefly described the Spiritual Guide’s finding of the necklace.

“Yes, that’s possible. The Spiritual Guide looks for aura, so the fact that you found the necklace first indicates the person you’re looking for has a faint aura.”

Old Taoist’s tone was slightly intoxicated, as if he had just been drinking.

“Generally, a faint aura implies a few possibilities: She might be near death or already deceased. But you can also think positively, maybe your girlfriend has become a ghost?”

“How do I find her?”

“Destroy what you found and it’ll point the way—hiccup.”

…

In the bustling street, a typical dim alley.

The ponytail woman crouched down, picked up the fallen items including the cash, and slowly stood up.

Her hand brushed her face, erasing both tear stains and the look of fear.

She let out an unintelligible chuckle, turned, and left the alley.

Her direction opposed Lu Li’s, walking along the crowded street, her black ponytail swaying, all pedestrians unconsciously bypassed her.

She reached the end of the street, where the surroundings seemed somewhat desolate.

No one was visible here, single-story yards chaos, scattered over a barren, dark surface.

A stream stretched tens of meters away; here was one of Tang He’s upstreams.

The ponytail woman approached the river, gazing down at the muddy stream.

Her silhouette reflected therein.

“Miss, do you need any help?”

From behind, an accented voice in Mandarin sounded.

The ponytail swayed, the woman turned around.