Detective Agency of the Bizarre

The Sunshine Box delivered by the girl Grace is installed in the Land of Light, and the model of sales by the Earth Dwellers' Trading Company is gradually stabilizing.

Due to the involvement of the Earth Dwellers' Trading Company, Lu Li decided to allocate an additional 10% of the profits to them, shifting the overall distribution to 6:3:1. The reason was simple—the Earth Dwellers with a share in the profits would have a closer relationship with the Land of Light, and having a vested interest, they would have no reason to suppress prices by colluding with the twisted figures and could help fend off those who coveted the land. They would also no longer deceive the Vena Refuge with substandard goods.

Although the Earth Dwellers' Trading Company might be one of the culprits in the engulfment of Midnight City by the swamps—hunting the Guardians of the Realm allowed the swamps to grow rampantly—both the Vena Refuge and the Land of Light must cooperate with them for now.

Moreover, the Earth Dwellers' Trading Company is unaware that Lu Li knows their secret.

The school is being rapidly constructed according to the plans, and it is predicted that the day Andrea returns will also be when the residents move into the dormitories to begin their studies.

On the twelfth day of returning to the Land of Light, and the tenth day of transcribing Midnight City's knowledge, Lu Li completed all the known knowledge. Just hours before completion, Lu Li had Merchant Anthony bring from the Vena Refuge a letterpress printing press that did not require electricity and a typewriter, capable of compiling knowledge according to his conception.

However, the Vena Ice-Free Port was surprisingly unfamiliar with typewriters. Fortunately, they were able to gather craftsmen to fulfill Lu Li's requirements, but it would take two to three days to manufacture.

The progress was thus forced to delay. Lu Li temporarily categorized the transcribed knowledge so that he could start immediately once the typewriter arrived.

The Mother of the Swamp, like the former Anna, would search the ridge of Sugard Mountain as if on a leisurely stroll before afternoon tea, bringing back prey tainted by the aura of the Alien God.

"If the Ailen Peninsula is full of such lowly creatures, I could have the Followers and the Giant Tree migrate over," the Mother of the Swamp suggested during such a time.

"They're not the true threat. Himfast, Zenst, and the towns occupied by the twisted figures are," Lu Li replied.

Perhaps the trees of the Shadow Swamp might not incite too much greed in the twisted figures, or perhaps they wouldn't be drawn to the Land of Light, or the migration of the trees over hundreds of miles might not deplete their strength significantly, or perhaps there were not as many uncertainties.

Three days later, Lu Li returned to his humanity level of 1 and took the time to purify a tenth of the farmland and the garden of the Mother of the Swamp. However, he was then promptly chased from the manor, the reason being that a gentleman must not intrude on the delightful afternoon tea time of two ladies.

The typewriter also arrived at this time, designed to the functionality and key arrangement that Lu Li specified, and additional typewriters were being hastily manufactured—hopefully, these excellent craftsmen would be sent as the seventh batch of residents.

Lu Li had not said so, but Matthias was already preparing for this. As Matthias had mentioned before, the Vena Refuge would spare no effort in assisting the Land of Light—they were like a ship leaking from all directions, and only a little time remained before it would completely sink. To save more people, they had to board another intact ship far away before they capsized.

This typewriter, emitting the fresh fragrance of raw wood or the scent of deceased trees, occupied one-third of the desk, but its importance was as significant as the space it took up.

The Mother of the Swamp and the twisted figures visited soon after, thinking it was a petite item like the Sunshine Box. However, upon seeing the machine, which did nothing more than make crisp tapping sounds or print the same font on paper, they returned to the garden to continue their afternoon tea time.

In the following days, the task of hunting fell to the twisted figures, weaker than the Mother of the Swamp but sufficient to handle the twisted figures at the back of Sugard Mountain.

Compared to the slow recovery of humanity, the stack of paper, edited according to Lu Li's conception, grew at a visibly rapid rate. They would be compiled into volumes, further divided into Basic Knowledge; Mysticology level 1 to 7; Alchemy level 1 to 3; Otherworld Study level 1 to 2; Weird Knowledge Study level 1 to 2; Botany level 1 to 2; Divination Study level 1 to 2—all drawn from the knowledge Lu Li acquired at the Giant Tree Academy.

Besides this, there was a comprehensive sequence potion formula index.

When the sixth batch of residents arrived, Lu Li would consult with the scholars on how to incorporate scientific elements into Alchemy—at least to eliminate vague terms like "two teaspoons and a half" or "about the length of a pinkie."

As long as the Land of Light mastered the art of sequence potion crafting, the residents would no longer be mere civilians. They could become pharmacists, use potions to combat many lower-tier twisted figures, and even become... Exorcists.

Andrea was already on her return journey and would soon be back in the Land of Light. As the garden and Lake Heart Island extended their vegetation, and each resident received a potted sprout in a flowerpot, as everything at the Agate Lake Camp seemed to be progressing positively, a piece of bad news arrived from a farmer.

The farmer stood fearfully and awkwardly on Lake Heart Island, hunching over as if afflicted by rickets, closing his legs tightly, terrified that his filth and the dirt under his shoes would desecrate the air and soil.

"Lord... Exorcist sir... the crops... are cursed..."

The farmer hesitantly conveyed the camp's trouble: the crops stopped growing.

Lu Li had purified the farmland twice, once when he had just returned to the Land of Light, and the second time was six days ago. The farmer said that the farmland purified six days ago was still growing, but the first piece of farmland had seen its growth slow to a crawl in recent days, with its leaves turning yellow yesterday.

Under the farmer's guidance, Lu Li went to the farmland, and the idling Mother of the Swamp followed along.

The camp's fields were planted with yambeans, a high-yield crop. Lu Li observed that the single leaves of these ankle-high plants drooped, their edges curling and turning yellow, verging on withering.

Looking at the adjacent field, the young sprouts were still robustly growing.

Lu Li had a few hypotheses.

The Speaker of the Trees had removed the contamination from this land, but the plague remained and, over time, re-polluted the farmland.

Removing it would be simple; Lu Li need only release the Speaker of the Trees again, but as long as the plague existed, contamination would recur. Lu Li couldn't stay in the Land of Light indefinitely to purify the land.

"Separate the purified soil from the ground with wooden boards," Lu Li instructed.

The Vena Refuge had been doing just that, and they had some remaining pure soil where they cultivated grapes and crops.

The farmers, following Lu Li's orders, divided the fields into grids, dug about half a meter deep, laid a layer of wooden boards at the bottom to isolate the soil from the earth.

This temporary measure would sustain them until the crops matured.

The next day, the farmer found the plants were no longer withering and had resumed growth.

Meanwhile, Andrea, carrying five Banyan Tree Guardians and ninety-four sixth-batch residents, was approaching the bay.