The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 68

After a few moments, the headless ghost replied, "They're gone..."

"They're gone? Didn't the visitors look for the note?"

"They looked."

"They looked? And they didn't find the note?"

"They found it."

"They found it? But they didn't see you?"

The headless ghost lifted a hand and scratched the hair on the head cradled in his other arm, his voice laced with confusion. "I... I don't think they saw me. He just walked right up, grabbed the note, shut the locker, and left. Didn't even give me time to think..."

"Uh..." the Distorted One mumbled, then suddenly shouted, "This is bad! Quick, tell Lilis not to let the visitors pass!"

He snatched the phone from under the desk, dialed an internal number, and yelled into the receiver, "Lilis, come in!"

"The visitors have passed the classroom and are heading straight for you."

"What!? I'm still watching..."

"Get a move on! The visitors are almost there!"

"Got it!"

Hanging up, the Distorted One couldn't stop himself from berating his companion. "I told you not to close your eyes when you're on watch, but you didn't listen! Now look what's happened!"

The headless ghost replied defensively, "The locker door is squeaky! And what if the wind blew in my eyes and I couldn't open them? That would have been really embarrassing!"

"You're a ghost!"

"Can't a ghost get something in its eye?! You should worry about your own problems. If you'd shown up on time, the visitors wouldn't have gotten away! You know I'm slow to react..."

"Huh? Weren't you supposed to go first?"

"I didn't want to go first! If you're so brave, you go first! Oh, I get it, your legs probably hurt, that's why you walk so slow!"

"Headless, who do you think you're talking to?!"

"Oh, right, I'm talking to a creature with no legs!"

The two ghosts started blaming each other and were on the verge of a fight, just as Lu Li and the young man left the classroom and entered a new area.

An old dance hall.

"Have you been here before?" the young man asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

"No."

"Then how did you know the note was in the locker?"

His curiosity only grew.

"In the entire classroom, only the bookcase stood out. It had to be there."

"But the clue..." the young man began, but Lu Li cut him off. "It doesn't matter. The important thing is we got the note. It's like a math problem—it doesn't matter how you solve it, as long as you get the right answer."

Entering the dance hall, they saw a dust-covered mirror on the far wall. Lu Li and the young man's reflections were faint in the light of the oil lamp.

There was a row of windows along the walls, but they were covered with newspaper, blocking out any glimmer of light.

"There must be a clue here too," the young man mused, glancing repeatedly at his companion.

As expected, Lu Li walked straight to the mirror again and picked up a second note that lay beneath it.

But just then, a girl in a white dress materialized in the dance hall, appearing in their line of sight.

One of them looked horrified; the other was as calm as ever.

She breathed a sigh of relief. She had finally made it, catching up to the visitors.

Plop...

The thought had barely crossed her mind when the foot-and-a-half-long prop tongue she was holding in her mouth fell out.

"Sorry, so sorry..." the girl in white began to apologize. She picked up the tongue and was about to put it back in her mouth, but she hesitated...

The tip of the tongue was now covered in dust, and putting it back in her mouth didn't seem very hygienic.

Two pairs of eyes were fixed on her, and the atmosphere grew awkward.

"Are you a ghost?" Lu Li asked suddenly.

"Um... no! No, no... I work here. Please excuse my inexperience," the girl in white denied immediately, bowing and apologizing repeatedly. Too embarrassed to admit who she was, she hastily floated away.

After fleeing a safe distance down the corridor, she glanced back fearfully to make sure the visitors weren't following. The girl in white passed through a wall and slipped into a dark room.

The dark room was small. Inside, there was only a table, a chair, a book lying open to the middle, and a telephone.

The girl in white grabbed the phone and spoke anxiously, "I couldn't stop him! That visitor is too fast! He's already left the dance hall."

A panicked voice exclaimed from the receiver, "What? Not even you... Boss, initiate the emergency response plan!"

A few seconds later, a low, icy voice came through the phone: "Understood. I'll make this visitor stay here... forever..."

"How did you know where the note was again..." the young man asked, looking at Lu Li in amazement as he walked over.

"It's simple. There are no useless rooms in this place," Lu Li replied, walking past the young man toward the exit.

A room with such strange decor, clearly designed to be frightening, had to contain a note.

"So... so that's how..." the young man muttered, following Lu Li out of the dance hall thoughtfully, glancing back over and over.

Lu Li and the young man walked down the corridor until they reached the third location in the haunted house: a medical station.

Filthy sheets, walls covered in bloody handprints, and bloodstained surgical tools—everything here was reminiscent of an operating room in a psychiatric hospital.

"There's probably nothing here..." he didn't have time to finish before a loud, static-filled voice blared from a speaker in the ceiling:

"Dear visitor, you have entered a ghost trap room! The conditions of the ghost trap room are as follows: you must remain in the room for ten minutes before you can exit. Attempting to leave early will be considered a violation of the game rules..."

Lu Li looked at the young man, perplexed. "Haunted houses have game rules?"

"Huh?" The young man was taken aback. Stammering, he explained, "Um... haunted houses usually have these kinds of trap rooms..."

Lu Li nodded and, without another word, began to calmly inspect the well-decorated operating room.

While Lu Li was detained, the ghosts in the house were gathering their strength for another attempt.

"Alright, I've locked that visitor in the operating room..." came the boss's low voice from the phone receiver.

The three unsuccessful ghosts exchanged glances and cackled maliciously.

"Heh heh heh, just what you'd expect from the boss! So decisive!"

"That man is a tough nut to crack. Let's go after the others. The two girls will be easy to scare, hee hee hee..."

"I'll scar them for life..."

Having failed with Lu Li, they decided to try their luck with Joan.

The narrow walls were covered in complex, sinister runes. A few dilapidated coffins stood against one wall. The lids of the decaying coffins were riddled with cracks and holes, and from within came the sound of soft, muffled breathing...

"Oh..." The frightened girl pressed herself against the young man.

"Don't be scared, none of it is real," he said, raising the lamp to shine on a coffin. Through the cracks, they could see it was empty. "Look."

Unlike the right corridor with its school theme, the left one clearly had a different motif.

Past the cluster of coffins, they saw a row of severed hands embedded in the wall.

Hidden in the darkness, Anna was looking around with interest when she suddenly sensed a presence up ahead.

The ghosts had appeared?