The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 65

A report on the Michelle case was playing on the radio. To receive a letter like this at such a time... it was hard not to connect the two.

Lu Li opened the door and peered into the dark hallway. At the far end, a noise echoed from the bathroom.

The mailman was long gone.

Returning to the detective agency and shutting the door, Lu Li picked up the letter again and read it over several times.

"What are you looking at?" Joan asked, her curiosity unconcealed.

Lu Li looked up, met her inquisitive gaze, and paused to think. He held up the envelope. "Can you see this?"

Joan shook her head in confusion. The next moment, she saw Lu Li’s hand, seemingly holding nothing at all, move toward her face. Joan started to pull back, but he stopped just a couple of inches away.

Lu Li, however, saw the letter touch Joan's cheek, crumpling and deforming before a part of it stuck to her face like an ordinary sheet of paper. Curiously, it left no mark on her skin.

"Do you feel anything?" Lu Li asked again.

Just as Oliver had once told Lu Li that his sister had a strange personality, Oliver had apparently told his sister the same thing about her new boss.

"Nothing special," Lu Li said, placing the letter on the edge of the desk. He walked around it and sat down. "Tell me about yourself."

"About what?"

"Why you're here..."

He trailed off, remembering she had already explained everything.

An awkward silence settled between them. It didn't seem to bother Lu Li, however, who continued as if nothing had happened. "Have you thought it through?"

"Yes!" Joan's eyes lit up.

Lu Li nodded, explained his working arrangement with Oliver, and then added, "Are you sure you can handle it?"

"My brother learned most of his skills from me," Joan declared, lifting her chin proudly.

"Alright."

"So, when's the next operation?!"

"This afternoon or tomorrow," Lu Li paused and looked at her. "What is it you want?"

"Can I come with you?!" Joan blurted out, realizing he had read her mind.

Noticing Lu Li’s appraising stare, she quickly added, "There are no classes at the academy today!"

"It's dangerous."

"Just this once, please..." Joan pleaded, leaning over the desk.

"You need to understand how risky dealing with ghosts can be."

"I'm not afraid..."

"Don't be so quick to agree," Lu Li interrupted.

"You wouldn't want Oliver to come back and ask where his sister is, only for me to point at you and say, 'There's your sister. I have two pieces of news for you: the bad news is, your sister is dead. The good news is, she'll be young forever.'"

Lu Li didn't trust Joan. It wasn't anything specific, but her burning curiosity about ghosts and other unknown beings worried him.

In that, she was like him, but with one crucial difference: he could control his curiosity, and she could not.

"If you're worried about my brother, don't be. I'm the one who calls the shots at home!" Joan announced confidently, patting her chest.

Joan had the spirit of a true explorer.

Free-spirited, craving the unknown. Or, to put it another way: uncontrollable and a risk-taker.

After a few seconds, Lu Li said calmly, "How can I contact you?"

After a moment's thought, Lu Li had agreed. One of the main reasons was that the next case was relatively safe.

[Haunted House]

[Location: Simple Park]

[Belfast has never been a paradise for children. The city is constantly battered by sea winds and choked by the murderous smog from its industrial zones, though it's gotten a little better recently. Simple Park is a prime example. Besides a circus and some old, rattling carousels, it has little more than flowers and trees. This new, well-made Haunted House, built less than a month ago with diligent staff, seems completely out of place here. And would anyone really pay money to see that sort of nonsense?]

[Apparently, yes. Plenty of fools (if you'll permit me to call them that) are paying to see employees dressed up as ghosts, and they insist it's all incredibly realistic... Good heavens, why pay for fake ghosts when you can meet real ones for free?]

[This information comes from a curious, or rather, terrified fellow. The client visited the Haunted House, suffered from nightmares for several days, and now suspects the ghosts inside are real, not employees. That's why he decided to contact a detective agency.]

[Potential payment: 50–200 shillings. He's just an ordinary citizen without much money, so he can't pay a lot.]

Note: My contact at Simple Park said nothing strange has happened there, other than the opening of the Haunted House.

This was the information Oliver had gathered. The case hadn't been withdrawn, so Lu Li could still contact the client and take it on.

"Excellent!" Joan exclaimed joyfully. "Here's the number for my academy. You can call me there."

"Alright," Lu Li stood, intending to see his guest out. Joan got the hint and headed for the door.

Opening it, she paused in the hallway and asked, "And where's that ghost girl?"

"In the bedroom."

"Oh-ho..." Joan drew out the sound, giving him a meaningful look. "Well, I won't disturb you two, then. Goodbye."

Slam.

The door shut.

"Ahem..."

A soft cough sounded beside him.

"Sore throat?" Lu Li asked without turning around. He walked to the desk, picked up the envelope from the edge, and looked at Anna, who clearly wanted to say something. "Can you see this?"

"What?" Anna asked, surprised.

"Can you see this?" Lu Li repeated, waving the envelope.

"Your hand...?" Anna, who had just been feeling a slight unease, immediately shifted her focus.

"I mean what's in my hand."

"But there's nothing there!" Anna replied with a hint of irritation, feeling like he was teasing her.

A thoughtful expression appeared in Lu Li's dark eyes. Not even Anna could see it... Just what kind of letter was this...?

...

Ding-dong.

"Oh, let's see who it is..."

"Can you see this?"

"What? A speck of dust?"

"Nothing."

Ding-dong.

...

Lu Li sat in the detective agency, his fingers steepled before his lips. On the desk in front of him lay the letter that no one but him could see. Anna floated nearby, her hands folded obediently.

Ordinary people, ghosts, exorcists.

None of them could see this letter.

Finding no answer, Lu Li opened the bottom drawer of his desk and placed the envelope inside.

Lu Li had never been one to frighten himself. A single, cryptic phrase wasn't about to send him into a spiral of doubt—the chances of that were zero.

If the entity that sent this letter truly knew something and had a purpose, it would contact Lu Li again.

It was like someone asking "Are you there?"—they obviously had something more to say.