Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 820 - 13. More questions

Chapter 820: 13. More questions

Lu Li closed Sean’s notebook.

He quietly contemplated the information within.

Though there’s still a small possibility of other explanations, like if everything was a dying illusion—starting from when he fell into the abyss, or when he got killed by the Mantis Ghost.

But more likely is the possibility that Lu Li is still alive, and the current time is twenty-four years later.

After the first time he woke up, Friday said six months or a year had passed, and Lu Li had fallen asleep twenty-three times in total.

"Does the road from the shelter lead outside?"

Putting the diary in his pocket, Lu Li turned around, sat sideways on the wooden chair, and asked the woman.

"Of course, it was fine when I arrived..." The woman suspiciously looked Lu Li up and down, wondering why he was asking such a thing.

"What is ’outside’?"

"...The ground?" The woman tentatively answered.

"The Ailen Peninsula, Main Affinity Continent, or the Barren Lands."

"The Dark Wilderness of the Barren Lands."

Lu Li searched his memories but couldn’t locate the region the woman mentioned. Either she was lying, or it was a place named at a later time.

"Do you know where the people from the shelter went?"

"They were taken away by the city people."

"City people?"

"Yes, people who live, in, the city." Concerned that Lu Li might not understand, the woman separated the words as she explained.

Lu Li understood, combining what the woman had said with her previous sarcastic remark about "upper-class people from the city," it seemed her idea of city people was different from his.

He temporarily put this question aside; asking further would only raise more questions.

First, he needed to resolve the confusion in his heart, then learn about the state of the outside world.

And the woman, too, had transitioned from initial impatience and mockery to cooperating with every question—she seemed to be trying to confirm something.

Lu Li didn’t care.

"What kind of anomaly can penetrate the Deep Sea Stone?"

"Mantis Ghost, though some call them Mantishumans."

"Why can it cross the Deep Sea Stone?"

"Seal Stone? It’s malfunctioned." The woman casually replied, without realizing how shocking her words were: "Ever since a huge creature burrowed out of the sea, those stones which could block monsters have become useless.

"Otherwise, the cowards at the shelter would never dare leave their home."

She added mockingly, then closely observed Lu Li’s expression, seemingly trying to confirm if he was from the shelter.

However, she saw only calmness on Lu Li’s scruffy, haggard face.

"What’s your name?" The woman asked voluntarily.

"Lu Li."

"Lu Li? What a strange name. You can call me Katerina." The woman tried her best to link this name to the shelter residents.

But as far as she knew, no one in the shelter had such an odd name, nor did the hybrids, whose names were either long and awkward, or entirely lacked vowels.

Lu Li calmly looked at her: "You’re very focused on my identity."

"A bit, yes. Shelter residents are in high demand outside." Katerina didn’t intend to hide her motives, staring eagerly at Lu Li, waiting for the answer she hoped for.

"I’m not a shelter resident." Lu Li shook his head gently.

"Really?" Katerina expressed doubt. "If you dare say you have amnesia, you’ll lose the trust of me, ’Bee Sting’ Katerina."

She further reminded Lu Li: "Trust is very important on the ground. If you hadn’t saved me, I wouldn’t be talking so much to you."

"Truly, but I’m also not someone of the present."

"’Not someone of the present’?"

Lu Li calmly revealed the truth: "For certain reasons, I’ve been underground for a long time."

"How long?"

"Twenty-four years."

Upon hearing this, Katerina was rendered speechless, much like Lu Li had been when he learned that twenty-four years had passed above ground, followed by a long pause filled with hissing intakes of breath.

Lu Li’s honesty instead made Katerina find it unbelievable.

"But how is that possible... How old were you twenty-four years ago? Ten or fifteen?"

Katerina scrutinized Lu Li, who was almost as filthy as her; his scruffy beard looked quite messy, yet the slightly trimmed hair lent some credibility to his words.

"Due to certain reasons, my time scale might have only spanned twenty-four days," Lu Li said.

The woman didn’t understand what a time scale was, but she grasped the twenty-four days: "So you thought only twenty-four days had passed when it was actually twenty-four years?"

"Mm."

Katerina seemed able to accept this answer, her chest shrinking as she exhaled the cool air she had inhaled earlier: "I don’t know whether to say you’re lucky or unlucky... So, are you a pure human?"

"A pure human?" Lu Li queried in return.

Katerina temporarily withdrew the Homogeneous Item embedded in her foot, thrust it into her eye, and with the black glow in the center of her pupil, she stood up, lifted her shirt, and pulled down her waistband, revealing her emaciated stomach with protruding iliac bones.

As well as a round fleshy lump on her abdomen.

Katerina reached over to peel back the lump, or rather... eyelid, revealing an eyeball seemingly in deep sleep, its pupil twitching and convulsing.

"Do you see? All the living beings in the world have been tainted by anomalies. Only by having children with pure humans can the taint be reduced, and if two pure humans procreate, they’ll produce pure human offspring."

Letting her shirt fall, Katerina retreated to the bed’s edge to sit back down, withdrawing the Homogeneous Item from her eye to continue jabbing it into her foot.

"If you’re a pure human, you’d be as fortunate as the shelter’s residents, but if not, you’re just another unfortunate soul like me. Your identity would be worthless."

"Due to what kind of contamination?"

Lu Li was still reflecting on that eye resting in the depths of her abdomen.

"Because of everything," Katerina shrugged, answering indifferently: "Contaminated food, low Sanity Value, belief in Evil Gods, mating with hybrids, overuse of Homogeneous Items, visiting places one shouldn’t, marked by powerful anomalies, hereditary origins..."

"What happens when the contamination deepens?"

"Nothing special. One becomes a hybrid or anomaly, or goes to town to sell oneself."

"Sell oneself?"

"Yes, it’s signing a contract with a City Lord or mayor, in exchange for a sum of wealth and a Spirit Extinguishing Collar, then fighting desperately against the anomalies surrounding the town, until you’re killed or turn into a monster yourself and are killed by the Spirit Extinguishing Collar."

"So, you’d better be a pure human."

"Will the fate of those shelter residents be terrible?" Lu Li asked.

"Terrible? Not at all." Katerina seemed to be looking at a madman: "Why would you think so? Safe, warm houses, no dealing with the wilderness monsters, not having to do anything themselves, clean and delicious food, clear water, and a designated spouse arranged for them, it’s practically like... like..."

The word was right on the tip of her tongue, but Katerina just couldn’t think of what it was.

"Like pigs," Lu Li said.

"—Like princesses. Pigs? It sounds a bit rude, but seems fitting," Katerina didn’t find "pigs" derogatory in the slightest.

"So what were you before, a commoner?"

Lu Li looked down at his chest, where his Exorcist badge had long been lost.

But that wouldn’t change his identity.

"I am an Exorcist."