Detective Agency of the Bizarre

The next day, at dawn after the Mist of Strangeness receded, Lu Li slowly woke up.

The night was not peaceful, the cat group in the church never ceased their cries, seemingly repelling the presences wandering in the dense mist.

Outside the church, the ruins were dim and lightless; the only difference between morning and night was the Mist of Strangeness.

Examining the severely injured cat group, their wounds had already begun to scab and heal, none of the cats disappeared into the long night.

Lu Li instructed Merchant Anthony to bring sufficient supplies, the cats with upright tails following behind piled enough Strange Meat for them to eat for several days in the corner, and placed a basin of water mixed with Healing Potion beside it.

"Meow~"

The Flowing Cat came to Lu Li's leg, as it arrived, the cat group spread out.

Lu Li picked up the Flowing Cat, parted its scorched fur to inspect the wound, its wound had also healed.

Putting it down, Lu Li set the oil lamp beside the dying fire, spread out the map, and examined the upcoming journey: if the border of the Eternal Forest remained unchanged, Vig Town was approximately 60 miles from the gathering place at the forest edge.

There should be numerous farms or hunter cabins along the way, but the map had long turned to ashes along with Niss Town.

After planning the itinerary, Lu Li did not take the Flowing Cat, whose divinity was lost, leaving behind a few eyeballs, bidding it temporary farewell before exiting the church, stepping into darkness, heading towards the Eternal Forest.

The Flowing Cat sat at the church door, its pitch-black eyes reflecting the distant disappearing light points.

No longer did echoes resonate around, nor was the earth underfoot charred, signifying Lu Li had left the vicinity of Vig Town.

At this moment, the outline of a "sculpture" abruptly emerged at the edge of the oil lamp's light.

The pitch-black "sculpture" knelt on the road, its head bowed, body with uneven surfaces glinting like charcoal as the oil lamp flickered.

This was a burned corpse pointing towards Vig Town behind Lu Li.

Returning the empty bottle of Revealing Potion to his belly pocket, neither intuition nor sensation indicated its presence.

Lu Li bypassed the indistinguishable charred corpse, continued forward, nothing happened.

The southern hills of Vig Town no longer had the undulating terrain surrounding the Hillevig Mountain Range, the townspeople had even once cleared flat farmland here, but it had long been abandoned.

Lu Li was much faster than when in the mountains, but losing complex terrain meant the strange beings could easily discover him.

Having left Vig town for tens of minutes, Lu Li encountered an ambush.

The Dreamwalker deftly evaded the attack and resolved it. Lu Li observed the unknown strange being that ambushed him and the surrounding footprints, then quickly departed.

There were many footprints, more than just it nearby.

Replacing the oil lamp with a Fluorite Lamp, Lu Li quietly proceeded, avoiding the strange beings emitting similar dim glow along the way awaiting prey to stumble into their traps.

Crunch—

Suddenly stepping into emptiness, Lu Li fell downward, promptly grasping at the rocky wall to halt his slide.

The fallen Fluorite Lamp crashed into the trap's bottom, the cover shattered, fluorite rolled out, illuminating the spike-lined edges.

This lost wolf trap nearly became Lu Li's burial place.

Dust rose, Lu Li freed a hand to reach into his pocket, opened the wooden box, throwing eyeballs out of the trap.

After a brief wait, the merchant's footsteps sounded, Lu Li extended his hand towards it: "Pull me up."

Soil slid from the edge, bringing with it dirt and abrasions as Lu Li escaped the trap.

A sign marking danger stood beside it, but Lu Li failed to notice.

Retrieving a new Fluorite Lamp, Lu Li simply rinsed his wounds with clean water, applying Healing Potion.

There should be a hunter cabin nearby, but the darkness enveloped everything on the surface, and Lu Li did not intend to end the day's journey in the morning.

Merchant Anthony receded into the depth of darkness, Lu Li continued onwards.

The moving breeze dried the moisture on his hands, leaving only the stabbing pain following heartbeat coming from his palms.

No more traps nor encounters with strange beings impeded Lu Li's path, but as time passed, they were bound to appear again...

Manic shrieking accompanied by "thump thump" dull running sounds rapidly approached, it took only a few seconds from when Lu Li heard it in the distance to it charging right in front of him.

Colorful, bizarre dreamscape was smeared across, a hazy glow illuminating the terrifying face barely inches away, slowly retreating into darkness.

Lu Li had no means to know what it was, whether under Mutant Rain, within Mist of Strangeness, nor during Lightless Night, countless strange beings arrived in tandem. Nor could he ascertain if it was calling companions or an attack method. He could only maintain the Dreamwalker form and leave before surrounding strange beings were drawn by the shrieks.

Retreating several hundreds of meters, Lu Li reined in the Cursed Title, abruptly, manic shrieking echoed anew, nearing rapidly—

Opening dreamscape anew kept it at the fuzziness edge.

The terrifying face flashed then vanished.

It perceived Lu Li as prey.

It awaited Lu Li's fatigue.

Lu Li pressed on, consuming Shadow-Hiding Potion while distancing himself. Whispers swiftly enveloped him, his form disappeared amidst the murmurs.

Five minutes later, Lu Li's silhouette emerged about three miles away.

He believed he had shaken the strange presence, a few seconds later, though, faint sounds emanated from behind.

Lu Li paused, turning back, hearing now distinct shrieks growing closer, then crashing against the bordering Dreamwalker—

It recognized that as "ritual," did not intrude.

Lu Li watched as the terrifying visage hid into the darkness, silence returned around him, as if it had left, danger was gone.

Fetching a piece of fluorite from his belly pocket, he tossed it into the darkness.

The shaded fluorite traced an arc, struck something, and fell vertically.

It remained there.

Lu Li could not constantly maintain the Dreamwalker state.

Using consumption before entering the Eternal Forest to exhaust humanity was perhaps the most foolish conduct.

Even if doing so truly evaded the strange beings.

Lu Li had several more Shadow-Hiding Potions, yet sustaining progress to Eternal Forest proved challenging, furthermore Inner World pollution's harm would not be less than humanity loss.

Silent, Lu Li marched onward, just like the previous two times, gaining distance, consumed Shadow-Hiding Potion, immersed anew into Inner World.

Five minutes later, panting, Lu Li emerged four miles afar.

Upon emergence, he flung the Fluorite Lamp to his back, a shattering sound rang out, as fluorite scattered he took out the oil lamp, consumed Revealing Potion and Guardian Potion, holding Spray Potion ready.

Predictably the sharp shrieking arose once more, Lu Li did not release the Dreamwalker state, only throwing the Spray Potion ahead.

Dark yellow mist swelled, then stirred by foul wind.

The strange being appeared yet halted before Lu Li.

Mist hissed corroding its body, yet a sinister smile surfaced on its terrifying face, nearing Lu Li—

Silently the dreamscape unfolded behind Lu Li, numerous roots burst forth, twisting its body into pulp.

With a considerable amount of humanity surging into the body, it just firmed Lu Li's loss of humanity.

Lu Li retracted the dreamscape, roots vanished accordingly, only a pile of flesh narrated what had occurred.

Resuming the journey, but nearing dusk, he was about 20 miles from the Eternal Forest.

Remaining time proved insufficient to reach the forest edge. As night approached, Lu Li was fortunate enough to encounter the second wolf trap. He leaped into the trap, cleared out rotten wooden spikes, and asked Merchant Anthony for slates to cover overhead.

After everything was done, Lu Li hunkered down in the blanket-lined pit, soon falling into deep sleep.