The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 69

Concealing her already faint aura, Anna drifted toward the source of the chill.

It was an intersection. Two ghosts lurked around the corner, poised to strike. They were clearly planning to ambush Jojo and the others as soon as they reached the junction.

So there really were other ghosts here. Anna wanted to warn Lu Li, but she had no idea where he was. Besides, he had asked her to protect Jojo...

Gauging her opponents' auras, Anna could tell they were weaker than her—likely the most minor of spirits. A plan began to form. Without the other ghosts noticing, Anna extended her own aura in front of the two hiding around the corner, creating a screen that blocked their view. Now, they wouldn't see anyone who walked past.

Her preparations complete, Anna peered around the corner. A short distance away, three visitors were approaching, chatting amongst themselves.

Feeling a slight drain on her energy, Anna acted as if nothing was amiss. She returned to Jojo's side and, humming a cheerful tune, drifted past the intersection along with the three visitors.

Once they were several meters past, Anna felt her aura dissipate with the growing distance. By the time the ghosts around the corner suspected anything was wrong, the visitors were already long gone.

The headless ghost was the first to sense that something was off. It tapped the writhing ghost standing in front of it on the shoulder.

"Aaaaaah!" the writhing ghost shrieked, jumping in fright and flailing its arms. But when it saw who had startled it, the screaming stopped. "It's just you!" it muttered angrily. "Gods, you scared me to death... You can't just tap a guy on the shoulder out of nowhere! You know a ghost can scare another ghost to death!"

"What?" The writhing ghost peeked out just in time to see the visitors vanish around a corner at the far end of the hall.

"Why didn't you say so sooner?!"

"I only just noticed," the headless ghost replied, shaking the head it was holding. "You know I've got bad eyesight and slow reflexes."

"But how could that be? They walked right in front of us and we didn't see them..." The writhing ghost paused in thought, then suddenly shrieked, "Did we just run into another ghost?!"

"Another ghost? Aren't we ghosts?" the head asked in confusion.

"I mean another one of the scarers," the writhing ghost replied.

"Isn't that what we do?"

"Gods... It's useless talking to you." The writhing ghost waved a dismissive hand, giving up on any further explanation. It slipped into a dark room behind the wall, snatched up a seemingly ever-present telephone, and yelled into it, "Batat, Batat! The visitors just passed me. They're heading your way."

A few seconds later, the voice of a girl in a white dress answered, "Got it. I'll stop them."

After hanging up, the writhing ghost frowned. A nagging feeling told it that something was off about these visitors.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

A scream from up ahead shattered its train of thought.

The headless ghost exclaimed, "Batat got them!"

"It's okay, it's okay, it's just a dummy," the young man said, rubbing his girlfriend's back reassuringly. Out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but glance at the form of a girl in a white dress hanging before them.

The young man's heart was hammering. Having that thing drop from the ceiling had nearly given him a heart attack. Especially since the "dummy's" arms and legs were outstretched and twitching as if it had been electrocuted, just like a real person.

Could it be a staff member in costume?

Jojo, who was walking behind the couple, watched the scene with amusement. Floating invisibly beside her, Anna decided to have a little fun. She raised a finger and made a gentle slicing motion through the air.

The rope holding the girl in the white dress abruptly snapped, and the specter dropped to the floor with a heavy thud.

"Aaaaaaaah!" The girl shrieked and leaped back. The young man stumbled as well, still reeling from the initial scare.

"Oof..." A pained groan came from the girl in the white dress on the floor.

The couple froze. A staff member?

Jojo stepped closer, extended a hand, and asked with concern, "Excuse me, are you alright?"

"Mmmph!" With her face pressed to the floor, the girl's head shook frantically. Then, like a spider, the girl in white spun around and scrabbled away down the corridor on all fours.

"S-so fast..."

Could that have been a real ghost? Jojo glanced over her shoulder and saw Anna slowly materializing behind the couple. Anna gave a slight nod.

It was a real ghost.

Somewhere inside the Haunted House, in a hidden room.

Four ghosts were gathered in the dim light, whispering among themselves.

"There's something wrong with this group. They aren't scared of us at all... I'm not even going to talk about the guy on the right, and the girl on the left looked absolutely thrilled when she saw me... Who's supposed to be the ghost here?"

"Don't worry about it. They're probably just Haunted House fanatics who've been to tons of these places. It's normal for our tricks not to work on them. After all, we may be real ghosts, but we're not professionally trained. We don't have much experience."

"Well, I scared one of them. You should have heard her scream, hehehe..."

"You scared one person out of four. What's there to be happy about? That's a failure! Boss, I don't think our other traps are going to work on them. What's your take?"

"Hmph. If these visitors are so hard to scare, then I won't hold back... It's pouring rain out there, so it's not like we're getting any more customers. Let's just get rid of this pesky group and call it a day!"

"Hooray!"

"Don't celebrate just yet. You all need to see this job through to the end. Even if you can't scare them, you have to give it your all! We have a reputation to uphold, and we need to show everyone our dedication to the craft!"

"Right!"

"Besides, we still have our secret weapon... Hmph... Whoever that guy is, even if he's some kind of exorcist, he won't be able to stay calm when he sees this..."

"Hehehe..."

...

[Time's up. Ghost traps deactivated. Visitors may proceed.]

A sharp, crackling voice came over the radio in the operating room.

"It hasn't been ten minutes," Lu Li remarked from his seat on the operating table, glancing down. "It's only been three."

"Er... your... your companions triggered a trap, so the ghost traps have been disabled early," the radio answered, sounding flustered.

"I see... So, can I leave now?"

"Y-yes, of course."

"Let's go." Lu Li hopped off the table and headed for the operating room exit.

"Wait a minute," the young man said, taken aback. "Shouldn't we look around here? The note could be hidden somewhere."

"The note's not in here," Lu Li replied without turning back. "Two on the left, two on the right, and the last one's at the end."

The young man was stunned. By the time he recovered, Lu Li was already out the door. A shiver ran down his spine. He hurried to catch up and asked, "Hey, be honest with me. Have you done this before?"

Skipping all the puzzles and heading straight for the notes just ruins the fun!

"No."

Turning on lights was forbidden inside the Haunted House. Lu Li moved through the gloom, walking a straight, unwavering path.

"Then how do you know where the notes are?"

"Do you want to know the truth?"

"Yeah!"

Lu Li paused for a moment before admitting, "I read the guide before we came in."