Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 842 - 35. Meeting

Chapter 842: 35. Meeting

"Theft?" The tavern owner looked at the waiter.

"He really did run out of Miss Hunter’s room," the waiter replied.

A look of disgust appeared on the tavern owner’s face, and he waved a hand: "Sell this unruly guy to the sewers."

No guests voiced any opinions, and the waiter, as if having done it many times, calmly dragged the unconscious man out of the tavern.

The table was set upright, the overturned plates and bottles were cleared, and the tavern returned to its bustling state.

The tavern owner shouted toward the female hunter: "Bee Sting, someone wants to know what happened to the convoy."

"Who?"

Katerina pocketed her spoils and dagger, walking toward the counter.

No need for the tavern owner to introduce, Katerina was pleasantly surprised to see Lu Li looking from beside the counter.

"You’re actually still alive!"

Anyone could see Katerina’s excitement.

"That’s what I wanted to ask you too," Lu Li remained calm.

It was strange that Katerina was still alive, irrational as if still in the Emerald Dream — but the Emerald Dream wouldn’t leave such obvious loopholes.

"Some costs..." Katerina’s excitement faded considerably as she realized something, looking at Lu Li with an untrusting gaze: "But how can I be sure... this isn’t my Emerald Dream, or it’s not your dream..."

Katerina was also worried about the same issue.

"I received a Cursed Title after leaving the Emerald Dream," Lu Li whispered in a voice only Katerina could hear. "Lighthouse."

All the information about the lighthouse surfaced in Katerina’s mind.

"You actually faced the Emerald Dream and..." Instead of easing her doubts about the world’s reality, Katerina became more skeptical, but soon, she realized it was meaningless.

This wasn’t a good place to talk, Katerina said to the tavern owner, "You’re not getting your commission," and took Lu Li toward the stairs.

"There will always be another chance."

The tavern owner replied from behind, seemingly indifferent.

Back upstairs, Katerina closed the door, hung the latch, and leaned close to Lu Li, whispering, "Are you still... pure?"

Katerina was very close, and her words were ambiguous, Katerina intentionally creating misunderstandings, this wasn’t Tang Ge Town, she couldn’t care less here.

"I think so," Lu Li said.

The occasional use of the lighthouse in the Emerald Dream didn’t reduce his humanity, keeping it at two point zero-one after the amplification. The Sanity Value couldn’t be quantified, but was above full.

"Good, our agreement is still valid..."

Katerina’s fingers hooked on Lu Li’s collar, whispering.

She wasn’t good at acting, neither the stiff voice nor awkward movements had anything to do with intimacy.

But if there were eavesdroppers, this was enough.

The recovery of her "fortune" made Katerina excited, but the worry that all this might still be an illusion of the Emerald Dream left her anxious.

Lu Li felt the same. Even though he was granted a Cursed Title by the Emerald Dream, there was still a slight chance that this was still a dream.

Perhaps he should confirm.

Lu Li thought and asked for Katerina’s dagger: "Draw the curtains."

Katerina drew the curtains, and when she turned back, she saw him pressing the dagger to his chest: "What are you doing!"

"Confirming."

The sharp dagger pierced the skin, and a bead of blood appeared at the edge, but no humanity glow erupted.

At this moment, a sharp cry of fright rang out.

"What are you doing!"

A small doll standing by the Fluorite Lamp pointed at Lu Li and screamed.

But compared to Katerina’s tension, it sounded more like a prank, deliberately shouting loudly to scare Lu Li, causing him to slice open his chest by accident.

"It’s the rule of the Ghost Town," an alarmed Katerina reminded.

The prankster doll scurried behind the curtains as Katerina pulled them open, it had already vanished without a trace.

Wasn’t this the correct way to activate the lighthouse...

Lu Li handed the dagger back to Katerina, but he was certain they had escaped the Emerald Dream.

"The Emerald Dream isn’t that simple, self-harm won’t wake you up," Katerina warned as she put away the dagger.

"Just testing something else."

Lu Li responded, asking about what happened after the convoy was attacked.

"The eternal night lasted for eleven days," Katerina slowly recalled.

This Eternal Night was unusually long, Katerina paid some price to escape to Ghost Town, and reported the convoy attack to the Ghost Lord. Until the Eternal Night ended, and the Light Thieves returned the sky, those who went to investigate brought back word, that only ruins were left, there were no survivors.

Katerina’s last hope was gone, prompting her to come to Cape of Good Hope Tavern.

"It’s lucky you’re alive... help me testify to the Count."

"Testify to what?" Lu Li sat down at the table, while outside, the sky was shrouded in clouds, uncertain if it was still rock walls and lava, or a new sky.

"The Count lost an entire shipment, and they don’t completely trust my words. Although they didn’t imprison me, they wouldn’t let me leave Ghost Town. Otherwise, I’d have already returned to Tang Ge Town far from those annoying —"

Knock knock—

Lu Li gently tapped the table to remind Katerina.

"—that come out and scare people, you know what I mean."

A faint reproachful sound seemed to arise from a corner of the room.

"Your title can explain everything, the Count will believe the convoy was indeed attacked by the Emerald Dream and let us leave. He might even be interested in your... identity."

Neither Lu Li nor Katerina needed rest, so they directly went downstairs to check out.

Lu Li’s gaze swept over the guests in the tavern, suddenly hearing a sharp cry for help.

"Help! I’m drowning!"

A small clay figure floundered and struggled in a cup, its body half-melted.

The guests talking among themselves cried out to rescue the clay figure, but it climbed out on its own, ignoring the eye that slipped to its mouth and its missing left foot, pointing at the guest and mockingly saying: "You lost, leave our home!"

The guest realized something, turning to look around, the other tavern guests all looked at him with pity.

He just cried out, according to the rules of Ghost Town, he would be expelled and forbidden from stepping foot inside again.

The dejected guest left the tavern.

"Another customer lost," the tavern owner sighed as he polished a glass.

It was just an interlude. Leaving Cape of Good Hope Tavern, Lu Li and Katerina headed towards the Count’s Manor.

The Manor House wasn’t much different from the Emerald Dream. After entering, the butler received them. During the conversation, Lu Li learned that the Count was not a ghost, just an ordinary human.

After showing the Cursed Title, the butler believed their story, no longer restricting Katerina from leaving the town, and invited Lu Li to become a guard captain—

As expected, Lu Li refused the well-paid job. Katerina was somewhat interested, but the butler was not impressed by her.

Katerina hesitated, ultimately deciding not to ask if the Count was interested in pure-blooded humans.

She couldn’t trust them.

Moreover, Midnight City lay just ahead.