Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 859: Fifty-two. Strange Community Atlas

Chapter 859: Fifty-two. Strange Community Atlas

Despite his black hair sticking with dried mucus, despite his face smeared with gray dust. The old man remembering past days recalled everything.

Professor Nuno Alexandrovich’s withered hands had nowhere to place, his eyes gradually reddened, and his lips moved silently.

"My god... How is this possible... You... you’re still alive?"

Lu Li nodded in response.

The trembling, withered hand held onto the edge of the sofa, propping up the aging body.

"Please wait a moment, I’ll call those old friends..." the old man said excitedly, his staggering steps making one doubt if he’d fall.

Bang.

The door closed, and the short footsteps behind the door gradually receded.

Leaving Katerina staring blankly at Lu Li: "The ballad he mentioned is about your story...?"

"Yes."

"But you never mentioned..."

"You never asked."

Lu Li thought about the ballad. Was the source of the all-speaking ballad the Rope of Descent or Anna?

Katerina suppressed the surging emotions, realizing this was a good thing—the wealth in the chest was much richer than imagined.

Perhaps she could obtain the residency of Midnight City!

Until the sound of noisy footsteps and shouting came from outside the office door, and the wooden door was violently slammed open, revealing guards crowded in the corridor amid flying wood chips.

"It’s them!"

All of Katerina’s beautiful fantasies shattered like bubbles.

"We were deceived!" A low roar emerged from her throat as Katerina drew a dagger, confronting the guards.

The Homogeneous Item has no effect on humans.

Lu Li surmised something from the guards’ hesitant advance and calmly spoke: "What happened."

"Don’t you know what you did!" the guard shouted, bluffing.

During the standoff, Lu Li learned what happened after Professor Nuno Alexandrovich left the office.

The excited Professor Nuno Alexandrovich went to find their old friends, but he neglected his own condition or was too excited, falling in front of the guards.

He only had time to grab a guard and say "the people in the office" before passing out, then being mistaken by the guards for intruders coming to arrest.

The absurdity of the situation was laughable.

"Is he simply unconscious?" Lu Li asked.

"Did you do something else to him!"

Lu Li shook his head, calmly said: "We are guests of Professor Nuno Alexandrovich, his excitement was because he learned something, and that’s likely why he passed out. We can stay here until he wakes up, and if you’re unsure, call his colleagues to verify our identity."

Perhaps because the explanation was reasonable or because of his demeanor, the guards accepted this approach, withdrew from the office, and held them in the room until Professor Nuno Alexandrovich woke up.

"I thought we were going to fight."

Katerina sheathed her dagger: "Is this how Midnight City handles problems? In our place, the strong and weak don’t speak rationally..."

Her words undisguisedly expressed her longing for Midnight City.

Lu Li walked to the window, looking out at the garden. A few guards gathered downstairs to watch over them but sat lazily in the flower beds and on benches.

It’s more like dereliction of duty than the way Midnight City handles issues.

A rundown university?

"There are so many books here..." the wandering Katerina approached the bookshelf: "What is a university?"

"A place where knowledge is imparted."

"Knowledge? That sounds scary..."

Like encountering a pollutant, Katerina avoided the bookshelf, wandering over to an oil painting.

This oil painting is titled "The Great Migration of the Spinning City," with a surging crowd flowing towards the city gates beneath the mottled archway, and silhouettes clearly visible on the high platform beside it.

"Is that you?" Katerina saw a silhouette with black hair and black eyes and turned to check against Lu Li.

"Yes."

"Who’s standing next to you?"

She pointed to a stout silhouette.

"The City Lord of the Spinning City."

Katerina’s finger pointed again to Lu Li’s right side in the painting: "Who is this?"

That was a silhouette shrouded in a black robe.

"My..."

Lu Li’s words paused.

"Hmm?" Katerina turned back in confusion.

Lu Li’s dark eyes lowered slightly, and he softly replied: "Family."

"And later?"

Katerina had already guessed the story’s outcome but couldn’t help but ask.

"She became a malevolent spirit."

"Malevolent spirit... that Shadow of the Maiden?"

Katerina suddenly remembered the information Lu Li had been inquiring about.

"Yes."

Katerina recoiled her finger at the flame, stopping her aimless wandering to sit back on the sofa.

Lu Li left the window and walked to the bookshelf, pulling out a book.

"The professor said not to open notes of unknown origin."

Flipping through the "Geography Records of the Dark Wilderness," the title page indicated the 24th year of the Weird Times, meaning the current edition.

The dark map on the first page showed the outline of the Dark Wilderness.

This Dark Wilderness, comprising parts of the Old River Channel Plains and surrounding areas, housed dozens of towns.

Midnight City was on the western side of the Dark Wilderness, and Ghost Town, Leviathan Town, and Tang Ge Town also appeared on the map in order to the east.

Tang Ge Town lay almost at the edge of the Dark Wilderness’s core.

Besides towns, there were also Weird Lairs marked with dark skull symbols scattered on the map.

Their numbers outnumbered the towns, like malicious spirits lurking around the towns, ready to strike.

"Problematic books wouldn’t be placed on the shelf."

Lu Li responded, flipping through the pages.

The subsequent content wasn’t as detailed as imagined, even rather simplistic. Regarding towns, only mentions of their size and rules were made, with no mention of Divinity or those Weird Lairs.

As if people had lost the ability to record.

He then flipped through several more books, all generally the same, offering only brief descriptions.

The advantage was there was no risk of the books corrupting the mind, but the downside was only knowing a little of everything.

This deprived books of their intended purpose of preserving records.

If people nowadays could only read this kind of knowledge, the school’s dilapidation would become reasonable.

As he was about to return it to the shelf, Lu Li suddenly noticed a book wedged in the gap that no one had paid attention to.

Extracting it, a thick layer of dust signifying long neglect covered it.

This book was titled "Strange Community Atlas," with a line of wisdom written beneath the title.

——When you open it, it will mean you are prepared

After a brief pause, Lu Li brushed away the dust on the cover and opened the book.

[Part One · Ghoul Community]

Turning the first page of cicada-wing-thin, yellowed parchment, a sketch appeared on the back of the paper.

It was a sketch of a Ghoul, with the label [Ghoul Commoner] beneath it.

The opposite page recorded text describing it.

[This humanoid upright creature has a snout similar to that of a dog, a curved spine, and nearly foot-length claws. It resembles the imagined werewolf, but not as tall, even shorter than women. Its exterior is severely decayed, infested with fungi, meaning besides the claws and fangs, the plague and viruses it carries are equally deadly.]