The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 66

Happiness often arrives unexpectedly: finding a decent sum of shillings in a long-forgotten coat, running into an old friend on the street, or having Lu Li suddenly suggest a trip to Simple Park.

Though, of course, he had his own motives.

The only thing that made Anna a little uneasy was that a girl with a similar name would be joining them.

“My name is so easily confused with Anna’s... Ha-ha... Please, just call me JoJo,” Joanna laughed, scratching the back of her head in the carriage.

Her boisterous energy was a surprising contrast to her sweet, freckled face.

“Alright, JoJo.”

Anna felt a little better now.

The rain outside intensified.

The sky was so grim it seemed to be a dark omen.

There were fewer pedestrians now. Carriages occasionally rolled past, people hurried by with umbrellas and in raincoats, and a few children, unafraid of the downpour, dashed through the streets.

“I heard the rain knocked out all the electric lamps near city hall. It’s a good thing the gas ones are still lit, otherwise I don’t know how the homeless would make it through the night,” JoJo sighed. Perhaps because she herself had been an orphan, JoJo felt a deep sympathy for those who had once been in her position.

Anna sat beside Lu Li, chin resting in her hand, listening quietly.

“They should be more worried about staying dry and not getting sick,” Lu Li replied, gazing out at the rain-blurred port.

“Right...” JoJo nodded in understanding, hugging her knees as she drifted into memory. “When my brother and I were little, the world wasn’t so dangerous. When it rained, we could hide under a neighbor’s awning or in the sewers. Back then, what we dreamed of most was having our own home, without a landlord as vicious as a vampire and without police officers chasing us away...”

JoJo talked a lot, as if she wanted to tell Lu Li all about the customs of Belfast.

Or perhaps she was simply a chatterbox.

Gazing at the sky and listening to JoJo’s quiet story, the passengers swayed gently with the carriage’s movement, and for a time, the atmosphere became peaceful and still.

At some point, Lu Li’s gaze fell on something closer.

He noticed barrels set out on the streets and balconies to collect rainwater.

Belfast was situated by the sea, its rainy season was long, and Agate Lake sat atop the mountain. Furthermore, as a trading city, it benefited from the resources of the Allen Peninsula, so water could be bought cheaply.

In Belfast, water wasn’t measured by the liter but sold by the container—one shilling per container. A glass of water cost a shilling, a jug of water cost a shilling, and a bucket of water also cost a shilling.

Naturally, the larger the container, the better the deal, but you still had to pay.

On the Allen Peninsula, there was a saying: “Free things have their own perks.”

Case in point: the both beloved and despised rainy season.

During this time, the poor used rainwater for drinking, while the more well-off used it for bathing and washing clothes.

In normal times, most residents would go to the seashore to wash. Although the crust of salt left on the skin was a bit unpleasant, it was still better than being dirty. And if you wiped yourself down afterward with a towel soaked in fresh water, the result wasn’t much different.

That was how the residents managed before the Night Calamity.

With the onset of the calamity, the ocean had become too dangerous, and most residents stopped going to the beach to swim or relax.

Lu Li gazed thoughtfully out the window until the paved road gave way to a bumpy, cobblestone path. Instead of houses, the sides of the road were now lined with a bare, ugly, withered forest.

The incessant rains had finally coaxed green buds from the bare trees, but there was still no other vegetation.

“Are we almost there?” Anna straightened up slightly, leaned toward Lu Li, and peered out the window.

“Sir, miss, we’ve arrived at Simple Park,” the coachman’s voice called from behind the curtain.

The carriage slowed.

Lu Li pulled back the curtain. In the rain, a white cobblestone road snaked through the withered trees, and ahead, a low-slung building came into view—the Haunted House, their destination.

The wheels rolled through puddles, and the yellow, paint-chipped carriage came to a stop beside the building.

Lu Li took out two umbrellas and handed one to JoJo.

“One for me, too,” Anna said from the back seat, holding out her hand.

“Do you want the coachman and the staff to see an umbrella floating in midair?”

“Hmph... fine then.”

The tip of an umbrella emerged from behind the curtain, followed by the rest of it. It opened with a soft snap, and raindrops began to drum against the fabric.

Lu Li stepped out of the carriage, his foot landing in a shallow puddle. Looking around, he saw that the rain had shrouded the entire world, leaving only a small patch of dry ground beneath his umbrella.

A soft sound came from behind him as JoJo hopped out of the carriage, opening her umbrella. She held out a hand, expecting Lu Li to help her down.

But JoJo saw that Lu Li was just looking around. She shrugged and jumped down from the carriage, sending up a splash.

Lu Li averted his gaze and spoke to the cloaked coachman, “If you have no other fares, you can wait for us here. We won’t be long.”

“Very well. I hope you have a good time,” the coachman smiled.

“There are three of us,” Anna murmured quietly, floating out of the carriage and ducking under Lu Li’s umbrella.

Although the sight of a ghost hiding from the rain was a bit strange, Lu Li still tilted the umbrella toward Anna. His left shoulder was exposed to the downpour, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Two people and one ghost made their way to the entrance of the Haunted House.

The entrance to the Haunted House was deserted. The ticket window was closed, and the cashier, head bowed, was engrossed in a book, not yet having noticed the visitors.

A rap on the window startled the cashier. She nervously set her book aside and stood up, sliding the window open.

A cold wind gusted into the small booth, making her hold her breath for a second.

“...Hello?” she managed to say.

“Are you open today?” Lu Li asked.

“Yes, we’re open, but the roof might be leaking in some places because of the rain. A few rooms are closed right now. Maybe you’d like to come back another day...?”

“Will that affect the experience?”

“Huh?”

“If there are fewer rooms, does that mean we’ll see fewer ghosts?”

“Uh... no.”

“Good, we’d like to go in.”

“Alright, one ticket is 8 shillings, two are 20.”

“It seems cheaper to go in one by one,” Anna said, bewildered.

Lu Li glanced at her.

“Oh, no, sorry, I misspoke. Three tickets are 20 shillings,” the cashier flustered, her face turning red. “How many of you are there?”

“Do you see anyone else with us?” Lu Li asked calmly.

The cashier hesitated for a moment. “No...”

Lu Li nodded and said nothing more.

The cashier stood in confused silence for a moment, then suddenly seemed to understand. Blushing, she began to prepare the tickets for Lu Li.

Two tickets.