Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 843 - 36. Old Sewer

Chapter 843: 36. Old Sewer

"Dustfall Cloth? How could such a thing exist?"

Leaving the manor, when Lu Li asked Katerina about Dustfall Cloth, she said she had never heard of it: "I’ve never heard of it, and even if it exists, I don’t think I could afford it."

Another fictional item. Thinking about how the cloth of the Dustfall Cloth was like the tarp of a caravan, everything became clear.

"We’re heading back to the Cape of Good Hope Tavern." Katerina retraced her steps, walking towards the lower-lying town center. "The tavern owner knows how to get to Midnight City."

"You said you’ve been there before," Lu Li calmly stated.

"...When I was very young, I’ve almost forgotten it." Katerina pretended to be nonchalant.

"You said you experienced the Weird Lair as a child, then fled to Tang Ge Town."

"Alright, I’ll be honest."

An embarrassed Katerina had no choice but to reveal the truth: "I’ve only heard others talk about it. Don’t look at me like that; boasting is quite common among hunters. To seem intimidating and sound impressive, every hunter has some half-true, boast-worthy stuff, like my title."

For the remote areas of the Dark Wilderness and secluded Tang Ge Town, having been to Midnight City was indeed something to boast about.

"So you don’t know anything about Midnight City?"

"...It’s very bustling, like cities from the Olden Days," Katerina replied after a moment of silence.

Thus it was hard to judge if Katerina’s lack of contact with others was due to her personality, or because she couldn’t answer what Midnight City was like.

"Over here! Over here!"

A sharp, simultaneous call suddenly came from the side. In the dark alley with flowing sewage, a two-headed puppet stood on a garbage can, waving to Lu Li: "I found a treasure, hurry over."

"Don’t go; it’s either a corpse or a monster face inside, and don’t ignore them, otherwise they’ll hate you. Just find an excuse to refuse," Katerina’s reminder echoed in his ears.

Lu Li did as instructed, covering his nose as he replied, "It smells terrible in there, forget it."

Before the two-headed puppet could invite them once more, Lu Li and Katerina left the alley.

"I thought you would bluntly point it out," Katerina couldn’t help but say, "Hmm... more natural than I thought."

That would have been the case, but the Doomsday Apocalypse amplified even the "performance" by a factor of two.

Soon, the sign for the Cape of Good Hope Tavern appeared in their sight.

Returning to the bustling tavern, the owner was not surprised at their return: "I told you there’d be another chance."

"You guessed right," Katerina, not fond of the tavern owner, said stiffly, "We want to go to the Old Sewer."

"The guiding fee is 5 shillings per person."

"Why so much?" Katerina frowned. "We’re just going to the Old Sewer, not Midnight City."

"For safety, those things in the Old Sewer won’t treat you as discarded food," the tavern owner looked at Lu Li, spreading his hands. "Every day, poor people who can’t afford the fee and attempt to sneak through are directly eaten."

"Fine... we’ll pay it." Katerina gritted her teeth in agreement, as selling the Ghoul’s Lair and catching the thief had left her somewhat wealthy, so she didn’t mind the 10 shillings: "When do we depart?"

"In forty minutes. You can take this time to stroll around town, but remember to come back before departure, otherwise you’ll have to buy a new ticket."

Katerina paid the 10 shillings, and she and Lu Li left the Cape of Good Hope Tavern again.

"The stingy bastard charges for everything, and even when a thief appeared, he wouldn’t waive my room fee..."

This was the root of Katerina’s dislike for the tavern owner.

"Where is the Old Sewer?" Lu Li asked.

Katerina pointed towards the road stretching to the hilltop: "Up there."

"Tell me about the Old Sewer."

"Hmm... I don’t know much," Katerina had neither been to Midnight City nor the Old Sewer. She could only share the little information she had with Lu Li.

The Old Sewer was originally a giant underground construction built during the Olden Days, endowed with the miraculous mission of channeling the melting lakes of the Spine of the World Mountains to the water-scarce Old River Channel Plains, now known as the Dark Wilderness.

This ambitious and delusional plan was put on hold due to the advent of the Weird Times, leaving behind unfinished ruins.

Until Midnight Town appeared, sitting right on the Old Sewer site. As Midnight Town prospered, the underground Old Sewer was reactivated.

Because it too was sheltered by Midnight Town but beyond the jurisdiction of its church, the Old Sewer quickly became a filthy land. Wanted humans, aliens, mutants, heretics, evil spirits, and even monstrosities filled it, making the phrase "filled with chaos and sin" seem like a compliment.

As more and more dirty beings that "shouldn’t appear above ground" gathered, the Old Sewer began expanding around it. Initially, the Old Sewer only extended to the border of Midnight City’s safe zone, but with the emergence of refuges, people knew the underground was safer than the surface, and the Old Sewer began an insane expansion and deepening underground.

Twenty years turned it into a labyrinthine and vast underground domain, its network spreading to every corner of the Dark Wilderness. No one knew how deep the Old Sewer went or how many branches it had.

The Old Sewer from Ghost Town to Midnight City is the shallowest area, the chaos wasn’t as severe as the lower levels, of course, it was also due to getting closer to Midnight City, where the inhabitants were more "noble."

"In the Old Sewer, you might gain everything or lose everything," Katerina slowly recounted what she heard, although she put quotation marks around this section’s credibility—when she initially heard it, the merchant was already drunk.

Regardless, it would be entirely different from anything Lu Li had experienced—he had to be ready to face the reality of the Weird Times.

"Where are we going now?" Katerina asked as Lu Li walked along the street towards the town’s outskirts.

"Buy some clothes."

Besides the black robe draped over him, Lu Li was wearing a black coat with a hole in the back and a hemp shirt found in the refuge.

"I know a place—"

Katerina’s voice was abruptly cut off as Lu Li walked into a boutique whose display window revealed a hefty price tag.

It was too late to stop him, so Katerina could only follow him into the shop, witnessing Lu Li tell the waiter, "I need a set of clothes."

White shirt, black woolen coat, trousers, tie, all in the style of the Olden Days.

When Lu Li stepped out of the dressing room, his demeanor and face indeed made it hard for Katerina not to immerse herself in admiration, but as Lu Li paid for it, her heart was filled with pain.

Clad in the black robe, Lu Li and Katerina left the boutique.

"Your spending manner is unmatched even by any noble I’ve ever encountered," Katerina found it hard to breathe, unable to believe a few pieces of clothing were worth 180 shillings. "Were you wealthy before?"

"More or less."