Detective Agency of the Bizarre

Amid whispers from the people, Lu Li opened the despised container and took out an ancient wooden box.

"Inside is the sunlight collected from the Land of Hope."

While Tesla hesitated, Raimy took it and opened it.

The dazzling noonday light spilled out from the overflowing Sunshine Box, a flowing golden ocean that intoxicated with nostalgia, at least it intoxicated Raimy and Tesla with memories.

The others in the room had a different reaction. They screamed intensely, "It's a curse," "I'm melting," knocking over chairs, making noises, and fleeing toward the door, as if the sunlight falling on them was some sort of malicious pollution.

Even outsiders were startled by the commotion, Jimmy opened the door and looked over — then stopped them from leaving.

Lu Li was family to him, but those who lived together for twenty years were not.

The cloudy eyeballs of Tesla, sitting on the wooden chair, reflected the sunlight and people, his tone filled with sorrow, "You wish everything to return to the beginning, yet you don't even know what sunlight is?"

"It comes from the Land of Deceit, it's the curse of the Land of Deceit!"

Someone screamed in terror, shrinking in the shadows, tearing at their face as though melting.

Tesla, reflecting more sunlight, revealed a sarcastic hint, "Is it possible that the Land of Deceit is mimicking the real sunlight?"

Raimy found them noisy and rendered them silent with open mouths, as the room returned to quiet, Tesla sighed, "They are a pitiful lot... twisted long ago and suffocated by strangeness."

"I know," Lu Li said.

A pitiful, pitiful group, broken down by fear.

Raimy wasn't as merciful as Tesla; she preferred directness, holding up the Sunshine Box to the screaming people until they were hoarse, clawing at their skin, exhausted and unable to move before removing the Sunshine Box and telling them the truth.

Saying she didn't care whether they believed it or not, she returned to Lu Li's side, taking up the last intentionally left item.

"What is this?"

"Spirit-Calling Gun."

Raimy opened the holster, enduring the corrosion brought by the Spirit-Calling Gun, intentionally asking, "The Spirit-Calling Gun only Exorcists possess?"

"Yes."

Lu Li took back the Spirit-Calling Gun and holster from Raimy's hands.

"Are you an Exorcist?"

"Always have been."

Bang—

Closed the glowing Sunshine Box, the house returned to darkness, warmth stripped away, and the people who barely survived suddenly realized: apart from self-inflicted wounds, the so-called "sunlight" had caused no harm.

"Can you tell us more about the outside world?"

As they calmed down, Tesla cooperatively asked, and he indeed wanted to know.

Lu Li nodded and began recounting his experiences since leaving the depths.

Spirit Town, the only two Midnight City and Vena Ice-Free Port, the Mysticology system, the fall of Midnight City, the fall of Vena Ice-Free Port, the awakening of the Ancients, the disappearance of the Ancients, the mirage and legacy of Midnight City, the creation of the Land of Hope, rebuilding Vena Underground City, reclaiming the Land of Hope. Coincidentally and inevitably, Lu Li was present in every event.

"You did well..." Tesla realized the evaluation was difficult to carry the weight of Lu Li's actions, so he added, "No one could have done better than you..."

The people didn't believe it, but some hesitated due to the trust of Tesla and Raimy and Lu Li's assertiveness.

"Can we see the sunlight again?" asked a middle-aged man with a face full of scratches.

Lu Li handed over the Sunshine Box to him, telling them the wooden box must be returned — sunlight wasn't valuable, but the wooden box was.

"Can we leave now? Let me show you the real 'Paradise Valley'," Raimy invited Lu Li.

Lu Li stood up and left the room with Raimy and Tesla, leaving the people gathered around the Sunshine Box.

The open space in the forest dispelled the oppression brought by the low houses. Jimmy couldn't help but snuggle up to Lu Li, but was chased away by his disgusted sister, while the children allowed themselves to approach Lu Li. As for others... not knowing Lu Li, and having not heard the story, they regarded Lu Li as a strangeness, retreating back to their houses.

"Can you still call out their names?"

Raimy supported the children's shoulders. After the charred shells disappeared, they shrank a bit, looking like hazy children clad in veils.

One of the children had wooden eye frames pasted over its eyes. Lu Li recognized it: Wei'er. The other wore a hat.

"This is Little Jimmy, with the same name as me." Jimmy placed it on his shoulders, speaking dully.

Wei'er's squishy hand like a soft-bodied creature squeezed into his palm, and Lu Li held it, walking past the crooked huts in Paradise Valley.

Fluorescent plants were the only things emitting light in this land. Although people collected them and planted them everywhere, it was still not much brighter than night, dim and difficult to see.

"She is surrounded by endless forests, far from strife. Animals gather here, plants continue to grow, rivers flow like honey, reclusive people migrate here, like paradise..."

Raimy recited the long poem of Paradise Valley with irony, "This is clearly a scam."

Many seeking Paradise Valley were thus immersed in the illusory deception of the Land of Deceit.

"But here it's indeed isolated, without strange attacks, as long as no harm comes to the trees no harm comes to us..." Raimy pointed at the ubiquitous fluorescent plants, "We survive on their fruits. There's little pollution, it just makes you glow for hours if you eat them."

"Because we can't harm the trees, we only have seven houses, but firewood is abundant, branches can be picked up easily."

They led Lu Li to the animal pen, where Amber and some animals that ventured into Paradise Valley were kept.

Amber almost toppled the pen in excitement, showing closeness to Lu Li.

"Why don't you leave here?" Lu Li patted Amber's hard shell.

"We've been to the edge, darkness is everywhere," Tesla spoke of a reason Lu Li had heard not long ago, "It's harder to survive outside. At least in Paradise Valley, we don't worry about strangeness."

"Do you want to take us away?" Raimy suddenly asked.

"Yes."

"I agree with you."

Raimy looked at her brother, and Jimmy agreed too, "I have no objections."

"...Then I'll leave Raimy, Jimmy, and the children to you." Tesla spoke in a low tone, slowly moving outside.

"I'll go persuade him," Raimy said, watching Tesla's back.

"I'll go."

Lu Li left the animal pen, following Tesla to a cemetery full of standing tombstones.

"I thought you would blame me, scold me with 'an investigator shouldn't look so pitifully decadent'…" Tesla sat on a smoothed stone bench.

"I came from outside, I know how bad it is out there," Lu Li stood behind, looking at the tombstone in front of them.

"After Aidanvoya left, I just wanted to stay here with her..." Tesla spoke slowly, "What about you? After losing Anna, what do you want to do?"

"Do what I must, until I die."

"And then reunite with her in the Land of the Dead?"