The Bizarre Detective Agency Chapter 70

"Uh..." The young man was speechless, confronted by the harsh reality.

There were no more rooms ahead, but the corridor gradually narrowed. The normal passage had become a tight squeeze, wide enough for only two people to pass by pressing close together.

They rearranged themselves. Lu Li now walked in front, with the young man following behind.

The corridor continued to narrow as they walked, until it was only wide enough for one person. Sensing something was wrong, the young man called out to Lu Li and pressed his palms against the graffiti-covered walls. A few seconds later, his face went pale:

"The walls are closing in!"

"It's just a trick mechanism in the House of Traps, meant to be scary. They won't actually crush us," Lu Li replied, completely unfazed by the attraction's atmosphere.

He was the type of person who, while watching a horror movie, right when the audience was getting immersed, would announce that it was all fake and the ghosts and victims were just actors.

The young man forced a smile. He opened his mouth to speak but suddenly spun around, his eyes fixed on the path behind them. His face twisted in terror. A torrent of blood was surging down the corridor, sloshing against the walls as it rushed to engulf them.

"Oh my God... Run! Hurry!" the young man screamed.

A hallucination?

Neither the closing walls nor the surging blood felt real. The illusion was rather childish, but at least a somewhat convincing ghost had finally made an appearance.

"Faster! We have to run!" The young man was practically frantic. So as not to be a hindrance, Lu Li was forced to quicken his pace.

Fifty meters later, the space around them abruptly opened up. The young man gasped for breath, seemingly exhausted, and stared in horror at where the flood of blood had vanished. He asked in a trembling voice:

"What was that? This is supposed to be the House of Traps, why are there such terrifying things here... Where are we?!"

He suddenly realized their surroundings had changed. They were now in a small courtyard made to look like an open-air yard.

A dim light, mimicking sunlight, streamed down from above. The walls were painted with images of a fence, withered trees, and a distant forest. Next to the opening they'd come through, Lu Li saw another one—likely for those who had chosen the path to the left.

The courtyard was sparsely decorated: an abandoned backyard strewn with fallen leaves and branches, and an old, damp well. It was a scene that would have frightened most people.

"This is..." the young man whispered, his lips trembling.

"The last place the note is hidden," Lu Li said, stepping onto the soundless, rotting leaves. He approached the old well and peered down into it.

From the dark, bottomless depths, a pale figure writhed like a snake as it rapidly scaled the slippery walls of the well. Lu Li had already seen her twice—this girl in the white dress was constantly rushing from one place to another. A tough job, to be sure.

She neared the surface with unnatural speed. From beneath a tangle of black hair, a bloated, deathly-pale face appeared, snarling as it lunged toward Lu Li at the edge of the well!

Just as she was about to reach the top, Lu Li suddenly asked, "Where's the note?"

What? The girl in the white dress paused to think and instinctively halted her ascent. She seemed to forget she was clinging to the slippery wall of a well, and as soon as she stopped, she started to slide back down.

She quickly shot out her hands and barely managed to grab the edge of the well.

"Help... help me..." the girl in the white dress lifted her head and pleaded with Lu Li, who was looking down at her.

"Where's the note?" Lu Li repeated in the same tone.

"I'm an employee, not a ghost."

"Where's the note?"

"It's a crime not to save me!"

"I don't think failing to save a ghost is against the law," Lu Li replied, abandoning his repeated question.

The girl in the white dress gritted her teeth, determined to pull herself out. But Lu Li wasn't about to give her that chance. He picked up a broken stick and began prodding her hands with it, as if he were fencing.

"Ow! Ouch! That hurts! Wait... wait, I'll give it to you! I'll give it to you! Just let me climb out first!" The girl couldn't dodge the pokes, and after about a dozen of them, she shrieked.

Lu Li stopped prodding her and stepped back, silently watching as the girl in white pulled herself out of the well. After a moment's hesitation, she fished a slip of paper out of her hair.

"This is a cursed note. Whoever takes it will be..." She started to say something menacing, but when she saw Lu Li raise the stick again, her tone quickly changed. "...cursed with eternal happiness."

"Thank you," Lu Li said. He tossed the stick aside and took the note.

"You've passed," the girl in the white dress said with a complicated expression. She sighed and turned toward the narrow passage, her mood bleak and somber.

"We passed! There's nothing to be scared of now!" The young man, who had done nothing helpful so far, let out a sigh of relief before exclaiming with feigned surprise, "Oh! Look, another room."

Beyond a door set into the wall, there was only pitch darkness, which struck him as odd.

"Maybe it's the exit? Let's go check it out!" the young man muttered. He started toward it but kept glancing back, gesturing for Lu Li to follow him.

Lu Li put the three notes together and followed the young man into the room.

The room was pitch-black. Lu Li lit his oil lamp. The light spread through the space, only to be reflected back at him.

Lu Li stood perfectly still. It was a hall of mirrors, the walls covered with rectangular panels. Hazy reflections of his own figure and the warm glow of the lamp stared back at him from every direction.

Lu Li also saw the young man who had come in with him. Only he wasn't standing ahead, but... right behind him.

"Let me tell you a little secret..." The young man chuckled softly. His face paled and contorted, the corners of his mouth splitting wide to reveal bloody flesh beneath. A chill radiated from him as he pressed himself ominously against Lu Li’s back and hissed, like a malevolent spirit, "...I'm actually... a ghost."

"I have a secret for you, too," Lu Li said, meeting the young man's eyes in the mirror. He reached for his hip, unfastened his holster, and drew a flintlock pistol. "I'm actually... an exorcist."

The young man's transformation froze mid-shift. He opened his mouth. "...Really?"

"The honest truth."

"Why would an exorcist use a gun..."

"It may look like a flintlock, but it's a Spirit Gun," Lu Li said, raising the pistol. "One bullet for each ghost."

The young man's face started to revert to its original appearance. He backed away, his voice trembling on the verge of tears. "...If I apologize, will you forgive me?"

Lu Li turned and raised the flintlock pistol:

"I'll count to three. If you run, I'll shoot."

Without a second thought, the young man spun around and bolted. He hoped that even if he couldn't get away, he would at least have time to beg for his...

"Three."

A calm voice sounded from behind him, followed by a gunshot.

Bang!

...

The Haunted House, a secret room.

In the dim light, four ghostly figures huddled together, secretly observing everything that was happening in the hall of mirrors.

A deathly silence hung in the air for a moment, but it was shattered by the gunshot, which threw the room into chaos.

"He's come for us!"

"We've been discovered... we've been discovered..."

"He's going to destroy us!"

"He has a gun! We're doomed!"

Weeping, the crash of overturned furniture, and frantic screams merged into a cacophony. The four ghosts descended into panic and despair.