Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 790 - 23.2 pm~6 pm

Chapter 790: 23.2 pm~6 pm

The palm covered the doorknob and applied slight pressure.

The wooden door seemed integrated with the architecture of this mysterious staircase, completely motionless.

It seems Lu Li managed to escape the "game time" at 2 p.m.

His gaze shifted away from the wooden door and fell below.

The blood-red hue on the stairway walls intensified, exuding a disturbing blood-light.

Broken hints were scattered across the walls, seemingly connected at first glance, but attempts to piece them together resulted in meaningless sentences.

[Food] [Will] [Knowledge] [Novelty] [More] [Endow] [Life] [Wealth] [Strength] [Loathsome] [Them]

Fortunately, this was Lu Li’s specialty.

Silently scanning the entire wall extending downward, he took in the broken hints, piecing them together like a puzzle...

[Knowledge is loathsome, detestable, but they are your friends. They will make you stronger, smarter, and more easily gain an advantage]

[Food gives you novel stimuli, it is the reliance you live by, but unrestrained taking will easily ruin your life. In any case, eat your fill before continuing]

Like the hints from previous time floors, these hints, once pieced together, became puzzling warnings.

The decrypted keywords from two phrases connected with the keywords from the above floors, and Lu Li formed a larger clue: At noon, a boy resisted the temptation of television, the calls of playmates, studying and reviewing on his own, then felt tempted to eat...

It sounded unrelated to the bizarre and eerie surroundings of Lu Li, but this was indeed a scene Lu Li was experiencing.

The strange staircase architecture was filled with eeriness, no turning back, Lu Li could only descend along the staircase until he reached the end of this building.

Or die on some time floor.

He took out his phone, still unable to power it on. Lu Li gathered his thoughts and continued moving downward.

Tap—tap—tap—

A faint cool breeze blew up from the depths of the staircase, from unknown sources, neither damp nor foul.

As his messy black hair was blown upwards, Lu Li pondered. When was the next study time? 2:30 p.m.? Or 3 p.m.?

Or maybe eat first?

Tap—

Reaching the 1430th floor, Lu Li quietly waited for a few seconds, and no sinister events were triggered.

Then it must be the next floor...

Footsteps echoed again, stepping down what seemed to be an endless stairway.

At the 1500th floor, Lu Li paused his steps.

Rustle—rustle—

A group of twisted bodies made chaotic shuffling sounds at the corner below, quickly creeping upward!

They were slender, indescribable beings. They stood two to three meters tall but only a palm’s width, with eerily grinning pale faces on their torsos. Every step upward made their slender bodies sway dramatically from side to side, hitting walls and each other, nearly falling.

They crowded together, twisting noodle-like bodies, swiftly approaching Lu Li!

Indeed, as the hint stated, this group of "knowledge" was loathsome and repulsive.

Despite this, they seemed to be entities aiding Lu Li, at least based on the pieced-together hints.

Of course, the hints could be wrong, deliberately misleading Lu Li to ignore them at this moment—but the staircase had no purpose in doing so, it could have provided incorrect information from the start.

In the blink of an eye, this scalp-tingling slender existence rushed to the 1500th floor, tightly enveloping Lu Li.

Lu Li raised his arms without using any abilities, simply protecting himself, warding off the rain-like falling grinning faces around him.

Caught off guard, when one of the creatures kissed his face, Lu Li raised his arm to protect his head, silently resisting the scene.

If placing Lu Li in the background setting, his actions resembled a boy perfunctorily dealing with his studies.

The face that managed to kiss Lu Li’s cheek changed, eyes narrowing, a curve appearing at its mouth, its figure fading as a smile emerged. Then it was pushed forward by the surrounding slender entities.

The whirlwind of affectionate touches was blocked by Lu Li, and it seemed they would disappear even without touching Lu Li’s face. Those that only touched Lu Li’s arm changed their facial expressions. Eyes shifted upward, mouths curved downward, transitioning from a grin to a mournful glare, their figures equally fading.

Observing this, Lu Li seemed to grasp something. His arms subtly moved inward, changing the protection from covering his entire head to just shielding his cheeks.

This way, although some slender beings accidentally touched Lu Li’s arm due to crowding and vanished with mournful expressions, more slender beings touched Lu Li’s head, faces emerging with smiles, dissipating into the air.

A grinning face landed on top of Lu Li’s head, its soft touch causing no pain, its pale face showing a smile, disappearing on the spot.

This was the last slender entity.

Silence fell around Lu Li.

He lowered his arms, there was no nauseating drool, no discomforting scent.

After checking his body to ensure no abnormalities, Lu Li proceeded downward again.

No events occurred on the 1530th floor. Lu Li skipped it and continued descending.

Reaching 1600 came into view, along with a few tables on this platform holding protective gear and weapons.

"Eat... but in moderation."

Lu Li murmured the hint from the wall, arriving at the 1600th floor.

Long sword, broad sword, thin sword, dagger, Meteor Hammer.

Shield, heavy shield, helmet, armguard, chain mail.

A dazzling array of brand-new weapons piled on the tables, meaning unclear.

Perhaps these weapons and armor were the "food" hinted at.

Lu Li picked up a short sword, quietly staying aware of his surroundings.

No changes occurred. He examined the metallic short sword.

The short sword had a moderate weight, the blade relatively sharp, unlike the lifeless setup; it was a real weapon.

Would the upcoming floors have adversaries to contend with...

Lu Li held the short sword in hand, turning to a table with armor placed on it.

Like with the short sword earlier, Lu Li directly picked up a round shield capable of fully covering his arm, tapping it with his short sword, the tapping sound resounding.

His gaze shifted to a nearby medieval helmet.

Small weapons and shields can be wielded in narrow stairways, and in situations where retreat is impossible, helmets and armor are equally important.

Lu Li’s hand reached for the helmet when suddenly, large clusters of black tentacles extended from the helmet’s opening, writhing and swaying.

Lu Li realized he shouldn’t take it anymore.

As Lu Li withdrew his hand, the seaweed-like writhing black tentacles retreated back into the helmet.

No longer coveting other weapons and armor on the table, Lu Li, with a short sword in the left hand and a blunt object in the right, continued descending.

Lu Li had roughly figured out the staircase architecture.

Currently, it was the 1400th floor, and before any major conflict, there was usually resupply. The 1700th floor, representing 5 p.m., might present a new challenge.

Perhaps... parents checking on the learning progress.