Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 835 - 28. Walking Forward in the Eternal Night

Chapter 835: 28. Walking Forward in the Eternal Night

"The Cursed Title is a blessing, but also a curse."

In the carriage, Katerina looked at the bustling workers running down the street.

The Cursed Title originates from the strange, and Katerina didn’t know how it was acquired... perhaps from reading ancient books, or perhaps from being targeted by the Evil God, like Cohen who was cursed by the strange. It grants the cursed one a positive ability, but also brings a side effect or takes something away.

That’s why it’s called a Cursed Title.

"The lower term to Cursed Title is Cursed Bloodline, more common and ordinary, and one doesn’t understand its meaning upon hearing it. Almost every Hunter surviving in the wilderness, severely polluted, has a Cursed Bloodline," Katerina said, gently touching her belly, her maternal gesture filled with complexity. "My Cursed Bloodline is it."

"After being polluted, it makes me more keenly perceive the strange aura, but also makes me more easily detected by the keen strange."

A double-edged sword.

Having it allows Katerina to grasp faint inspiration, but the keen sense of the strange makes them more able to detect her.

"Many people in Tang Ge Town have extra eyeballs," Lu Li said. "Is there a connection?"

"Partly... pollution comes from the earth and surroundings; the longer one stays in a place, the easier to be infected with the local Cursed Bloodline."

"Are the abilities the same?"

"There will be some differences."

Katerina used the only two examples she knew: Moles and Hunters.

The dozen eyeballs squeezed in the Mole’s eye socket help him see the truth beneath things, while the tavern owner Hyena’s eyes can distinguish between genuine and fake items.

However, such retelling inevitably involves some exaggeration, especially for information merchants and tavern owners, and they haven’t mentioned the price.

"Is there a higher level of the Cursed Title?"

At this moment, the caravan leader who holds the survival instinct title walked by again, cursing loudly, not caring about the two added to the caravan.

The caravan was about to set off.

"Yes, more Cursed Titles," Katerina said. "They can coexist."

It’s hard to say whether the Cursed Title is good or bad—although it has obvious benefits, it also brings trouble.

For those living in the Weird Times, the Cursed Title is a symbol of strength—ordinary Hunters cannot, nor dare they, touch the existence that brings a Cursed Title.

And those who survive the process of acquiring a Cursed Title are usually not weak.

Pollution is everywhere, Cursed Bloodlines are everywhere.

Even the horses pulling the carriage are not untouched. Their thin bodies grow large moss-like dark green Mycelium, vibrant mushrooms grow on them, the Mycelium and mushrooms rob the nutrients from the horses, but somehow grant them the ability to survive in the wilderness.

"Time to depart. Close up the carriage, remember the rules and my reminders," the caretaker passed behind the carriage, reminding Lu Li and Katerina.

He then climbed to the front of the big canvas wagon, calling the workers to help pull down the canvas.

Katerina closed the door, and the final scene was the caretaker and workers uncovering the canvas, revealing Numa.

Ka—

The carriage door closed, shutting out the noise.

Inside the enclosed carriage, a weak glow of Fluorite lit up.

"We can get some rest; in three or four hours we’ll reach the safe zone of Ghost Town," Katerina said, handing Lu Li a piece of Fluorite, clutching her own as she leaned back against the cargo.

"What makes Fluorite glow?"

The Fluorite rolled beside him, and Lu Li did not reach out to pick it up.

"Who knows, they have been everywhere since the Weird Times began, like minerals," Katerina thought of Lu Li’s identity and took the Fluorite back.

If the Fluorite has polluting qualities that contaminated Lu Li, it would be a loss.

"Doesn’t it extinguish?"

"Hmm, even if shattered, it turns into shiny fine dust. Only by throwing it into water would it extinguish like a broken oil lamp, but once retrieved and dried off, it lights up again," Katerina said.

"Fluorite is the best source of lighting, but unfortunately, even the highest purity Fluorite isn’t brighter than an oil lamp."

The carriage underneath suddenly trembled, the gentle push into her back made Katerina lean back against the cargo once more.

The caravan set off.

"Keep quiet," Katerina said, folding her arms, seizing the chance to rest during the journey.

Not long after, an ethereal malevolence cloaked the carriage, lingering outside the glow of fluorescence.

They should have left the small town and entered the safe zone shrouded by eternal night.

Along with the malevolence came Numa’s strange aura, even the resting Katerina sensed it, frowning.

However, the stronger Numa’s aura became, the more it could protect the progressing caravan.

The swaying narrow carriage inside and outside returned to silence.

In the rare quiet time, Lu Li recalled what happened after leaving the refuge.

Twenty-four years later... Weird Times... changing spirits... humans protected by the Evil God... only strangeness can counter strangeness...

Lu Li suddenly remembered that the "Door" seemed not to have appeared for a long time.

The last time it appeared was twenty-four years ago.

Hopefully, in Midnight City, most of the mysteries would be solved. Lu Li thought, like Katerina, leaning against the cargo, closing his eyes to rest.

Disasters always arrive suddenly.

The mournful cries of Mycelium Horses startled the two sleeping in the carriage, and before they could do anything, the carriage flipped, and the pouring cargo flung Lu Li and Katerina out into the wilderness shrouded by eternal night.

The shrieking Mycelium Horses broke free from their harnesses, charging into the wilderness.

Not only was their carriage in trouble, lights forced on throughout the caravan dispelled the solid darkness, illuminating the chaos within the convoy.

Numa agitatedly rammed against the iron cage.

"Good child!"

The caretaker jumped from the carriage to the edge of the iron cage, pressing his forehead against Numa’s head, trying to soothe him.

Numa responded, opened his mouth filled with dense sharp teeth, and bit off the caretaker’s head that stretched into the cage, leaving a headless corpse kneeling before the cage.

Katerina assumed Numa lost control, but soon saw the caravan leader who held a Cursed Title, holding a torch and short blade, charged into the eternal night. Saw the caravan workers wield short blades killing their companions, saw a Mycelium Horse as if nothing had happened, pulling a swaying carriage emitting screams past them.

The cries and screams echoed above the wilderness, everyone strangely doing their own thing.

Meanwhile, a burst of forest-like freshness suddenly rushed into the nostrils.

"It’s the Emerald Dream!"

Katerina lost her composure, exposed skin displayed infectious disease-like goosebumps, the dreamlike beautiful words made her terrified.

"What is that?"

Lu Li pushed off the last box crushing his thigh, picked up the Fluorite beside his hand, retreated to the carriage’s edge.

Katerina’s demeanor made Lu Li prepare for battle.

"An illusion that immerses you; no one can escape from the illusion!"

"No one?"

Katerina didn’t answer Lu Li’s question, without hesitation, drew out the Homogeneous Item from her eye.

"From this moment on, don’t trust anyone around, including me!"