The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 67

"Are you going to hide? If there’s a ghost inside, it might sense your presence and conceal itself," Lu Li asked Anna, his eyes narrowing slightly as he gazed at the Haunted House behind the ticket booth after buying their tickets.

"I'll make sure they don't sense me, tee-hee," Anna giggled. Her form began to dissolve into the air until she vanished completely.

"Can you still see me?"

"No," Lu Li replied, reaching out to the spot where Anna had just been.

"Ow! Don't touch!"

"Ooh," Jojo remarked, giving him another knowing look.

"Let's go," Lu Li said, heading for the entrance of the Haunted House.

"Welcome to the Haunted House..." an employee in a black-and-white prison uniform intoned.

To Lu Li and Jojo's surprise, a couple and another young man were also waiting at the entrance.

"And what happens if we don't find all the notes?" the young woman asked, clinging to her boyfriend while stealing glances at Lu Li.

Handsome men always attract attention.

The employee gave a low, sinister laugh. "Then you'll lose... and you won't get the prize!"

Everyone fell silent.

"I'll do my best," the young man declared, puffing out his chest.

The employee offered a sinister grin. "Excellent... Now, here are your clues: 'on the mountaintop,' 'at the bottom of the well,' 'on the tree branch,' 'in the middle of the axe,' and 'on the surface of the coal.'"

"'On the mountaintop... at the bottom of the well...'" the other young man muttered, perplexed. "This is just a building. Where are we supposed to find mountains and wells?"

Lu Li looked at him without a word.

"Those are the riddles you have to solve. If you're ready, I'll start the timer."

"Start it," the boyfriend replied, and taking his girlfriend's hand, he was the first to step through the curtained entrance.

The other young man followed. Lu Li and Jojo brought up the rear.

The curtain fell behind them, silencing the sound of the rain.

A long, dark corridor stretched out before them. The doors on either side had plaques with classroom numbers. Clearly, it was a school-themed haunted house.

The frightened young woman clung to her boyfriend, who whispered soothingly, "Don't be scared. It's all fake. Ghosts aren't real."

The sickly sweet scent of young love filled the air.

"Ugh!" came a soft, almost inaudible scoff.

The other young man, walking behind them, added, "Even if ghosts were real, they wouldn't be working in a haunted house attraction."

"Haha, you're right. What's there to be afraid of?" the boyfriend laughed, and his girlfriend seemed to relax a bit.

Only the two in the back remained silent.

In reality, there were probably ghosts who came to haunted houses just to scare people, and others who came to get scared themselves—like Anna.

Lu Li decided against using his Spirit Gun to pinpoint the ghosts' locations. The weapon's power was a double-edged sword. When he held it, he could sense every ghost around him, whether they were hiding or not. But in turn, the ghosts could also sense him.

Using the Spirit Gun—which had side effects from contact that worsened over time—just to see if there were any ghosts around was not practical. Not unless the pay was significantly higher.

Soon, they reached a fork in the corridor, branching left and right. A sign on the wall read: "For the best scare experience, we recommend you split up."

"I don't want to split up!" The young woman clung even tighter to her boyfriend.

"Okay, okay, we won't split up. We'll go left, and you guys..."

"I'll part ways with my companion. Jojo, you head right," Lu Li said, glancing at the spot where Anna presumably floated and signaling for her to follow Jojo.

"I'll go right with you, then," the other young man said, offering Lu Li a friendly smile.

To make the game more interesting, the group of five split at the fork and went their separate ways.

...

"Quick, get ready! We've got visitors!" a distorted figure shrieked as it scrambled into a dark classroom nearby in the right corridor.

A headless figure sitting at a desk tossed a head into the air. The severed head grinned. "Finally... something to eat..."

Jojo had gone down the left corridor, while Lu Li and the young man took the right. The ghosts decided to attack the smaller group first.

"Hee-hee-hee..." The distorted ghostly figure let out a sinister giggle as it pressed itself against the classroom wall and slowly faded from view.

The headless ghost, carrying its head, placed it on the top shelf of the bookcase at the back of the room and closed the cabinet door. Then it climbed into the bottom compartment, shut that door, and hid, its severed head grinning in the dark.

"Hee-hee-hee..."

"Should we check it out? The clues are usually hidden in the first room," a muffled voice drifted from beyond the door.

The dusty door creaked open.

"Have you been here before?" Lu Li asked, looking at the young man who had pushed the door open without consulting him.

The classroom was coated in a thick layer of dust, crisscrossed with footprints. The walls were covered in childish scribbles.

The oppressive atmosphere felt vaguely sinister.

Judging by the set design, the haunted house was surprisingly well done.

The young man gave a nervous laugh and stepped into the classroom first. "No, but I've been to other haunted houses. The puzzles are usually all the same."

He certainly acted brave enough.

"'On the mountaintop, at the bottom of the well, on the tree branch, in the middle of the axe, on the surface of the coal...'" The young man surveyed the room, muttering the clues under his breath. "Do you think all that stuff is actually in here?"

He turned to Lu Li. "Do you have any ideas... Hey, where are you going?"

Lu Li walked through the rows of desks to the bookcase against the back wall.

The upper cabinet door creaked open on its own, revealing a ghastly head on the top shelf, its eyes closed and blood trickling from it.

Without even glancing at the head—which looked disturbingly real, and perhaps was—Lu Li reached for the bottom shelf. He pulled out a geography book with a snow-capped mountain on its cover, opened it, and removed a note tucked between the pages. Then he closed the cabinet door and calmly walked back.

His movements were fluid and swift; the entire process took no more than five seconds.

"Got the note," Lu Li said calmly as he walked past the other young man and out of the classroom.

The young man stared, dumbfounded, at the now-empty classroom. A few seconds later, he bolted after Lu Li.

Silence fell over the classroom once more. Time ticked by...

After a moment, a ghostly sob echoed from the bookcase. "Wooo... wooo... huh?"

The sobbing cut off abruptly, replaced by a baffled cry: "Where'd everyone go?"