Detective Agency of the Bizarre

Lu Li gently embraced the weightless, weeping girl clutching at his waist.

"I knew you would come... I knew... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Anna mumbled dreamily, holding Lu Li tightly.

Lu Li was also immersed in the joy of finally reuniting.

Raimy's silhouette appeared beside the cabin, followed by Jimmy, Tesla, Aidanvoya, Amber, and the children...

Anna ignored them, her intense emotions nearly melting Lu Li. After a long time, she reluctantly let go of Lu Li, clasping his hands tightly, fearing that everything was just a dream.

"Our friends also live here."

Anna looked towards the people on the river's opposite bank, with expressions blessing beautiful things, as she floated over the river with Lu Li.

All were familiar faces to Lu Li.

"I thought it was an illusion, but you haven't changed at all..." Tesla was the first to express emotion. Time had etched itself onto him, turning the former investigator into an old man.

"Maybe Lu Li's arrival will make you younger." Aidanvoya was still as beautiful as the woman she once was.

"Did you see the letters we left? I almost thought you had..." Raimy couldn't continue and gently hugged Lu Li, with Anna generously not stopping her.

Nothing was more wonderful than Lu Li returning to her life.

After Raimy let go of Lu Li, Jimmy embraced him again. He seemed to have just finished farm work, radiating warmth, speaking incoherently: "I... thank you... welcome..."

Jimmy then stepped aside, and the children ran over hand in hand, surrounding Lu Li and singing songs: "She is surrounded by the vast forest, far away from conflicts. Animals gather here, plants still grow..."

"Rustle—"

Amber called deeply from the outskirts.

"Let me take you to our home."

Anna took Lu Li's hand and walked towards the cabin cluster.

The jumping children wanted to follow, but Raimy swayed her skirt lightly, using an invisible force to hold them back.

"Give them some time alone," Raimy whispered.

Opening the flower-adorned door, Lu Li stepped onto the creaking floorboards, entering the cabin, as if back at the Detective Agency: bookshelves, a desk, a sofa, sculptures standing by the wall.

It raised its arm, holding a bouquet of flowers in its palm.

"Amlee!"

Anna looked at the flowerpots with overturned soil on the windowsill, the carefully tended flowers all in the sculpture's hand.

"Just this once."

She gently waved her hand, and the sculpture was lifted by an invisible force, flying into the bedroom, the door "click" closing.

Finally alone, Anna faced Lu Li, her ethereal fingers meticulously and tenderly tracing the scabs and new wounds, her eyes welling with tears: "I'm sorry... I should have waited for you outside... You gave up so much to find me... right?"

"Yes."

Anna gently stroked Lu Li's slightly gaunt cheek, her forehead lightly resting against his chest.

Their embraced figures seemed to freeze like a sculpture.

Because of Lu Li's arrival, Raimy and the others had prepared food and slaughtered a lamb from the farm.

In the evening, as the sunlight disappeared behind the grassland surrounded by the Gloomy Forest, the stars climbed into the night sky.

They dined at the Jimmy Siblings' house, the cooking pot exuding the aroma of lamb meat and yams, raising the fruit wine brewed from wild fruits in toast, Lu Li and Anna wearing new clothes, their shoulders touching.

Besides the aroma of the food, the house was filled with stories of the past.

"Why don't you leave here?"

"We've been to the edge, it's still pitch black there, as if the whole world is just us," Tesla answered.

They did not know of the Land of Light's existence.

Lu Li looked at Anna, she nestled next to his arm, softly saying: "I knew you would come..."

Mentioning here, people recited a long poem like a prayer: "She is surrounded by the vast forest, far away from conflicts. Animals gather here, plants still grow, honey-like rivers flow, secluded people migrated here, like paradise."

This was not the end; they completed the long poem praising the Eternal Forest.

"Named the Eternal Forest, life flows here; it is the lungs of the world, nurturing this world. It is a worry-free idyll, it is an untainted pure land."

"Will you stay?"

After reciting, Anna asked Lu Li expectantly:

"I'll take you away," Lu Li told them about the Land of Hope.

Tesla sighed about their former home.

"Why not stay... we could live here forever," but Anna preferred it here.

Lu Li almost agreed with her, but he thought about the outside world, everyone's expectations, and gently shook his head: "The Land of Hope is our home."

"Here is too."

Anna lowered her head somewhat sadly.

Tesla again recited the long poem: "She is surrounded by the vast forest, far away from conflicts. Animals gather here, plants still grow, honey-like rivers flow..."

People followed, hands together, reciting like a prayer, Anna also continued: "Secluded people migrated here, like paradise—"

"Lu Li..."

Amidst the prayer, the low voice of Mother of the Marsh suddenly interspersed, echoing in their minds.

"—Named the Eternal Forest, life flows here; it is the lungs of the world, nurturing this world. It is a worry-free idyll, it is an untainted pure land..."

Lu Li lowered his gaze, quietly listening to something.

"What's wrong?"

After the prayer, Anna opened her eyes and asked Lu Li.

"I'm a little uncomfortable; I'm going outside for a while."

"I'll go with you."

"No need."

Lu Li left his seat, leaving the warm house, to the breeze-blown outside.

Strolling along to the edge of the cabin cluster, Lu Li reached into his pocket, holding a pure white stone.

"Your heart tells me you are hesitating..."

"Anna" sat on the beam, swinging her legs.

"There is nothing wrong with indulging in the unreal. If you believe this is real, then it is real. You can believe that Mother of the Marsh's warning is false."

Lu Li looked up at her: "Anna is still waiting for me outside."

"But what if I have already died..." "Anna" stopped swinging, overlooking him: "Sometimes the answer is not so important, my love, you have to learn to deceive yourself..."

Lu Li responded with silence, but "Anna"'s silhouette began to fade away.

"Seems you have made your decision..."

"Anna" smiled lightly, dissipating into the night sky.

Lu Li briefly gazed at the warm light spilling from the window not far away, then turned towards the lonely dark riverside.

Creak—

The door behind him opened at this moment.

"Lu Li! Don't leave me! I beg you!"

Crying Anna lifted her skirt, ran with only one shoe, barefoot towards Lu Li.

But how could a ghost cry, how could it run, and leave a shoe behind?

Lu Li tenderly watched Anna run towards him; he turned and leapt into the river, perhaps overflowing with rotting juices. The cold washed away all the previous beauty, the unknown current pulling him towards the depths of the Gloomy Forest.