The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 44

All Oliver had to do was deliver a love letter. Unwilling to read the flowery, sentimental prose, Lu Li shoved the message into the furthest corner of his desk drawer along with the previous one.

Muffled voices drifted from the bedroom. Lu Li had no interest in the girls’ conversation, but occasionally, a louder phrase born from a burst of emotion would reach him in the living room.

“You look just the same as you did back then...”

“Mm, but you’ve grown... and your figure... too.”

“Hmph... What are you even thinking about?”

Lu Li tuned out their chatter and unfolded a fresh copy of the day’s newspaper.

The front page headline screamed in bold type: “Rains to Begin Soon, Fog Over Allen Peninsula to Disperse.”

The majority of the page was dedicated to the weather. Several scientists analyzed the potential benefits the rains would bring to the Allen Peninsula, particularly for its vegetation.

Thanks to the stubborn, lingering fog, it was already June, yet Belfast remained a city of bare gray. The trees had yet to bud, and the usually vibrant grass had not broken through the soil. For a port city like Belfast, the lack of greenery cast a dreary pall over everything. Rumor had it that farmers in the inland regions, whose livelihoods depended on the harvest, were beginning to panic. If the crops didn't sprout soon, they likely wouldn't have enough time to ripen before the first winter snows.

On the third page, the topic finally shifted from the weather to a juicy scandal involving Baroness Joseph: “Dancer Sues Baroness, Alleging Harassment at Recent Private Party.”

Evidently, it was a slow news day in Belfast if a story that was essentially gossip merited a full-page spread.

After skimming the article, Lu Li turned the page. The news that followed was far more mundane: a murder on Blackgold Street, a scholar who got into a brawl with a prostitute over unpaid services and lost a clump of his hair, the appointment of Desais as the new police chief for the Astra district, and so on.

Nearly an hour passed.

The door creaked open and Daisy emerged from the room, a radiant smile on her face. Anna floated behind her, her eyes curved into smiling crescents.

Daisy politely bid Lu Li farewell, then whispered something to Anna before giving a reluctant wave and departing.

“I thought you two would be longer,” Lu Li remarked to Anna as she drifted over.

“I’m the one who sent her away,” Anna said, gliding toward Lu Li and perching on an invisible chair by the table. “I told her I couldn’t be away for too long.”

Lu Li remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

“Ever since I woke up, one question has been tormenting me: am I still human? I can think, I can speak, I can even affect the objects around me, but I’m dead... I’m not like you,” Anna confessed, her eyes clouded with anxiety. She looked at Lu Li hopefully, as if waiting for a few words of reassurance.

But she was sorely mistaken. Lu Li wasn’t one for consolation, nor for wasting words.

Anna waited for several seconds, but when it became clear Lu Li had nothing to say, she blushed and exclaimed in frustration, “Aren’t you going to say anything at all?!”

“...There is one thing,” Lu Li finally nodded after a moment of silence. Anna’s eyes lit up. “Why did you send her away?”

???

In the span of a few seconds, Anna’s expression shifted from confusion to bewilderment, then from annoyance to resignation. She finally let out a soft sigh, though whether it was for Lu Li or for Daisy was unclear. “I was afraid that spending too much time with me might harm her. Books about ghosts always say they have a bad influence on the living...”

Anna fell silent abruptly, covering her mouth with her hand and glancing furtively at Lu Li.

“I feel fine so far,” Lu Li replied nonchalantly.

Anna relaxed slightly, only to sigh softly again. A ghost worried about harming her living friend—it was a touching sentiment.

“Times have changed,” Lu Li suddenly said in a peculiar tone.

“What?” Anna asked, not understanding.

Lu Li pointed to the telephone. “If you’re afraid that direct contact might harm her health, why not just talk on the phone?”

“...I’ll get her number!” Blushing crimson with embarrassment, Anna dashed toward the door to catch Daisy before she got too far.

Lu Li picked up the newspaper again, then, remembering he had already read it, folded it and set it aside. He began to consider which case to take next.

The situation was rather tricky. Lu Li had 700 shillings. That meant he needed to take on another case that paid at least 300 shillings to reach the 1,000 he needed to buy information from Gades.

The problem was, none of the cases he had paid 300 shillings or more. He would have to complete at least two more jobs to gather the necessary funds.

He pulled a stack of advertisements from the drawer. The top priorities were the Haunted House and the psychiatric hospital. The first job was fairly simple—he just had to determine whether the ghosts in the new attraction were real or merely a hoax. The second was more dangerous, but it was connected to Asina. Her husband had disappeared near the hospital, and it was possible there were clues to be found there.

Besides those two, there were two other advertisements. One was for the library where Lu Li had once encountered a vengeful spirit. He certainly wasn’t about to tempt fate again.

The last advertisement was about strange shadows at the Stover Sawmill.

“This ad was placed by several woodcutters. They claim to see moving shadows and hear strange conversations in the forest every evening. Several times, while watching from a distance, they noticed that the shadows don’t disappear even after nightfall. The woodcutters want to learn the truth and drive out the ghosts,” the advertisement read. From this sparse information, Lu Li sensed something was amiss.

Furthermore, the Stover Sawmill was located far from Belfast, in a rural area. If he ran into trouble, he wouldn't be able to contact the police quickly.

Just then, Anna floated back through the door.

“Did you catch her?” Lu Li asked without looking up.

“Yep,” Anna nodded, her cheeks still slightly flushed.

Lu Li set the advertisements aside, raised his eyes, and looked directly at Anna. “Want to go for a walk?”

Anna froze. A few seconds later, her clear, pale blue eyes began to shine like stars.