The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 42

A translucent, ghostly hand suddenly shot out from behind the ghost's head, reaching for Lu Li.

Bang!

A flash of light, and the deafening report of the gunshot echoed through the narrow sewer. The walls trembled as if struck.

Daisy and the others winced in pain, instinctively clamping their hands over their ears.

The thunderous roar gradually faded.

The ghost's head burst like a bubble, skipping the stage of boiling, bloody blisters, and vanished as tracelessly as the sound of the shot.

Another rose bloomed on the flintlock pistol.

Lu Li holstered his spirit gun, ejected the spent casing, and loaded a new silver bullet.

The empty casing clattered into the sewer channel, hissing as it released a puff of steam. It settled on the bottom before rolling away with the current.

Ignoring the terrified youths, he turned under their fixed gazes and stepped into the darkness behind him.

After a few seconds of dead silence, a warm flicker of light suddenly ignited in the darkness beyond the oil lamp's glow.

Splish... splash...

Lu Li returned, oil lamp in hand, and stated calmly, "You've seen your ghost. It's time for you to go back."

The moment he finished speaking, the young people, fear frozen in their eyes, retreated in unison.

Had Lu Li lunged at them in that moment, they likely would have turned and fled.

"I'm an exorcist," Lu Li explained, omitting any mention of being on a case. "So, now can you tell me what happened?"

Exchanging glances, Ben adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, stepped forward, and asked, "We came on a tour... You... You're an exorcist?"

"I've already answered that question," Lu Li replied. His usual coldness and composure struck them as a sign of anger, and no one else dared to speak.

"What a stupid question! Let me," Daisy tugged lightly on Ben's sleeve, stepped forward, and said, trying to appear calm, "We're students from Francis College. We were curious about the rumors of a ghost and decided to try our luck. You saw what happened next... In any case, thank you for your help."

She bowed deeply.

Straightening up, Daisy brushed the hair from her forehead and said with a slight smile:

"You can call me Daisy."

"Lu Li," he replied curtly, pulling a business card from his pocket and handing it to her. "If you run into anything supernatural, you can contact me. And some advice: if you want to keep hunting ghosts, find an exorcist and follow them."

Lu Li couldn't find the words to describe this kind of suicidal impulse—coming to look for ghosts in the dark, knowing nothing and carrying nothing.

Daisy took the card, stunned, and her gaze fell on it automatically. The words "detective agency" were printed on it.

Realization dawned on her. "Are you here to deal with the two missing bodies in Agate Lake? Was that ghost one of them?"

"Possibly," Lu Li glanced down the dark sewer tunnel. He didn't know what had happened at Agate Lake, but as his hand closed around the grip of his pistol, he could feel the presence of another ghost somewhere deeper inside.

It seems the numbers match up.

"You can go now."

"What about you?"

"There's another ghost inside. I have to deal with it," Lu Li answered. He had no reason to pass up such easy prey.

Exchanging glances, Rhys straightened his back and said earnestly, "We'll keep your secret! We won't tell anyone you're an exorcist!"

"It doesn't matter whether you do or not. The exorcist profession is already a semi-open secret," Lu Li replied indifferently. With a wave of his hand, he paid them no more mind and headed deeper into the tunnel, lamp in hand.

The five of them watched Lu Li until the light vanished from sight.

"That was so cool," Rhys sighed in admiration, his voice full of envy.

"I'm going to have nightmares," Susan said with a sigh. She then asked Rhys with a touch of irony, "So, did you enjoy meeting a real ghost?"

Rhys replied with a solemn look, "I'm starting a new life."

The frightened group started back the way they came, chattering animatedly to dispel the fear that lingered from their encounter with the ghost.

Daisy walked at the back of the group, her hands thrust into her jacket pockets, silent and not participating in the conversation.

Her fingers found the business card in her pocket. The soft pads of her fingertips traced its edges, feeling a faint sting. Daisy was lost in thought.

The supernatural...

...

Drip... drop...

The sound of dripping water echoed through the empty tunnel.

Lu Li didn't react, not even bothering to look up.

The ghost's childish tricks couldn't fool him. How could the sound of dripping be so distinct next to the rush of the current?

In the next stretch of the tunnel, Lu Li was met with a fleeting, malicious face, a soft cry from the depths, and a roar like the bursting of a dam.

But nothing could stop Lu Li, least of all this ghost.

After a few illusions failed to have any effect, the ghost seemed to have exhausted its arsenal and ceased its useless attempts. For a long stretch of the tunnel, Lu Li encountered no new phantoms.

This continued until Lu Li had ventured deep into the sewer, where the path began to slope upward.

Lu Li drew his spirit gun, then immediately holstered it again. An instantaneous chill told him the ghost's presence was just a few dozen meters ahead, unmoving.

With a steady gait, Lu Li approached the source of the presence. In the lamplight, everything was laid bare.

Lu Li stopped abruptly, his calm expression tightening with tension.

There was a door in the wall.

It was an ordinary metal door, rusted and pitted, almost merging with the wall.

Similar doors appeared at regular intervals along the tunnel. Behind them were rest areas for workers and storage rooms for tools.

Lu Li had already passed two such doors on his way; this was the third.

The only difference was that a key was stuck in this door's lock, just as rusted as the door itself.

In his strange, vivid, dreamlike vision, Lu Li had seen this very door—identical, down to the rust stains in the very same places.

In that moment, dream and reality bled together into a distorted fusion where it was difficult to tell one from the other. A wave of nausea rose from the depths of his consciousness.

Lu Li suppressed the chaotic thoughts, his brow furrowing.

A coincidence? Or something else?

An intangible malice seeped from behind the door. Lu Li couldn't tell if it was a figment of his imagination or if the malevolence truly permeated the space.

He gripped the handle of his pistol.

A palpable malice emanated from behind the door, whispers penetrating the thick metal to reach his ears. Something was lurking behind it.

But the iron door blocked all of Lu Li's thoughts. The ghost had chosen to hide inside, which meant one of two things: either it had nowhere left to run, or the room was dangerous, and it was hoping Lu Li wouldn't dare to enter—or would die if he did.

Lu Li stared at the door in silence for a long time, then exhaled.

The ghost had guessed correctly. Lu Li had no intention of playing this game.

He backed away, step by step, until the door disappeared from view. After pausing for another moment, he turned and walked away without a backward glance.