Detective Agency of the Bizarre

The gardeners' territory, having lost its lord, can temporarily serve as a hiding place for Lu Li and Claire.

Although they could also hide in the woodshed, the limited view there would mean they could only escape through a hidden passage if discovered, losing their chance entirely.

Moreover, the gardeners' territory is adjacent to the woods.

Lu Li and Claire quietly walked through the Fluorescent Withered Forest. Shadows of withered branches reached out towards their oblivious backs, assisting in covering the tiny traces left behind.

"How did you manage that?"

"Managed what, drawing the gardener?"

"Hmm."

"I just made it think I stole its treasure chest." Claire hovered above Lu Li, "Why would I fly around with a big, heavy chest? I already hid it somewhere."

"Treasure chest?"

"Interested? I could take you there..."

Approaching the edge of the Fluorescent Withered Forest, Lu Li already saw the phantasmal glow wandering in the gardeners' territory, deformed plants entwined around the crooked tombstones, with piles of rotten flesh at the roots.

This was once Count Hunter's family cemetery, now it serves as the gardener's nursery.

The "Little Gardeners" were unaware that the lord has died, still following the instructions of the Viscount and the gardener, patrolling the territory and tending the garden.

"Beneath the tombstones is their dwelling, the gardener resides in the central large mausoleum, I hid the chest there... Why?"

Claire, perched on Lu Li's head, looked back at his direction.

"Many bats are passing through the withered forest."

Lu Li's calm voice sounded.

"Heading to the manor?"

"Hmm."

"It seems our cover is blown, what about the Head Maid?"

"Didn't see her."

Retracting his gaze, Lu Li followed Claire's guidance, avoiding "Little Gardeners" along the way to approach the large mausoleum of the gardener.

The nursery growing in the cemetery helped Lu Li hide, and the wandering "Little Gardeners" were so oblivious that they hardly needed any effort; Lu Li and Claire approached the large mausoleum without much trouble.

The mycelium-like grave moss lay on the descent to the tomb, a light shone at the depth. Lu Li stepped onto the blood-red moss welcoming his arrival and entered the tomb, where a simple tomb chamber appeared.

Torches lined the walls, a stone platform served as a workbench with unfinished body parts and corpses laid out, while soiled hay served as makeshift bedding in the corner.

Claire flew to a corner of the stone platform, flapping her wings to drag out a chest large enough to fit Lu Li.

The chest had never even left the tomb; the gardener was easier to deceive than expected.

Lu Li came under the stone platform. It was more like a safe, disguised in the shape of a chest, with thin slot holes indicating the need to insert something to open it.

"The gardener doesn't seem like the type to hide the key somewhere... It should have carried it on itself, and then got crushed along with the Head Maid."

Claire didn't care about what the chest contained, maliciously guessing, "Since the gardener cares so much, maybe it holds...an organ."

Plodding—

At that moment, squishy footsteps came from the staircase.

Claire pushed the chest back and hid with Lu Li behind the stone platform's shadow.

Firelight descended from the stairs as an abominable "Little Gardener" assembled from different corpses entered the tomb. Unaware of the uninvited guests in hiding, it replaced the wall torches before slowly leaving.

Once the footsteps faded, they reemerged from their hiding place.

The stench around the stone platform was unbearable.

"Time is short, I'm planning to sneak into the castle to investigate." Claire said.

"Need my company?"

"No. You can't fly, you're not as nimble, you're not as fast, and not as battle-capable as me."

Claire decisively rejected Lu Li, spreading her wings and flying out of the large mausoleum.

The tomb chamber's torches burned silently. Alone again, Lu Li set his eyes on the chest.

It weighed around 10 to 15 pounds, easily dragable with a tail.

Lu Li surveyed the spacious yet plain tomb chamber, returned to the chest before dragging it to the side of the torch.

Firelight explored the keyhole, illuminating the edges. The depth was shallower than expected, even less than the width of the narrow slot. A vision of a wide flat strange key appeared in mind.

That seemed too unusual.

Lu Li examined the groove's pattern, imagining the key in nontraditional shapes, like...

a patterned surface coin.

The tail reached near the keyhole for comparison. The Good Merlin Emperor's Coin that Will Ken mentioned did resemble the keyhole's silhouette.

After a moment of thought, Lu Li dragged the chest back behind the stone platform and silently leapt up the stairs to leave the tomb.

A few minutes later, Lu Li's silhouette reappeared in the Fluorescent Withered Forest.

From the woods, he learned about the bats' non-returning journey. Lu Li picked a glowing fruit to prevent being swallowed by shadows as he stealthily approached the manor.

A dim silhouette flitted across the night sky, patrolling overhead of the manor.

The shadow flowed silently against the soil towards the mansion, slipping through a half-open window.

In the silent hallway carpeted in red, a pair of pitch-black cat eyes briefly observed bats hanging on chandeliers before retreating into a corner.

Bats guarded every corner of the mansion corridor, Lu Li's only accessible room being the laundry room at the hallway's end.

Footsteps echoed, causing Lu Li to prick his ears and quickly hide in the laundry room.

The Lizard Maid followed and entered the laundry room, gathering the dried sleepwear and gowns of the Head Maid into a basket before going back upstairs.

The bats paid no attention to the Lizard Maid's passing, leading her smoothly up to the second floor and into the Head Maid's room.

Creak—

Opening the wardrobe, the Lizard Maid picked up a maid outfit, shook it open, and hung it on a hanger.

By her feet, the basket stirred silently as flowing shadows crept out from under the clothes.

Padded paws and a blanket surreptitiously masked Lu Li's footsteps, drawing close to a corner and retrieving the Good Merlin Emperor's Coin from the canvas stand.

Bypassing the shattered glass, he leapt onto a window ledge and slipped through the still unrepaired broken window.

The breeze blowing through the bedroom from the gap suddenly whistled, alerting the Lizard Maid as she turned to only see an empty window ledge that had returned to stillness.

Having retrieved the coin and an eyepiece from the eaves, Lu Li retraced his steps back to the tomb.

Passing through unguarded patrolling gardeners, returning to the tomb chamber, Lu Li pulled out the chest, holding the coin to compare it to the keyhole.

The Good Merlin Emperor's Coin fitted snugly into the keyhole, as if they were one. As the tail turned, mechanisms inside the chest clicked into action.

Click—

The chest opened a slit.

With the tail flipping open the chest, the item Will Ken hoped Lu Li would come into contact with emerged from within.

An intact eyeball lay at the bottom of the chest.

Claire was right, the gardener's chest indeed contained an organ.

Gazing at the murky eyeball, Lu Li pondered whether the chest's original contents had been something else.

Finding the answer seemed only possible by asking Will Ken. However, just when Lu Li was about to summon Merchant Anthony, a roar echoed into the large mausoleum and reverberated within the empty tomb chamber.

Temporarily hiding the chest, Lu Li ascended to the surface.

The "Little Gardeners", sensing the rumble, gathered towards the southern part of the territory, shaking off their numbness slightly.

There was no line of sight here. Lu Li slipped into a nearby Fluorescent Forest and was lifted to the canopy by its branches, finally witnessing the chaos erupting at the garden's edge.

Humans had arrived.