Detective Agency of the Bizarre

As one of the first few districts of Belfast, Gwyn District was renowned.

Back when the city's name wasn't prefixed with "Old."

At that time, it was both a bustling commercial area and a gathering place for the wealthy and famous.

Now, Gwyn District is like everywhere else in Old Belfast—turned into ruins, with collapsed dilapidated houses at every turn.

Having taken the Revealing Potion, Lu Li walked along the broken cobblestone street, his memories torn between past prosperity and present decay.

Compared to the bizarre entities lurking in the dark corners, the probability of these tottering houses collapsing and killing Lu Li seemed higher.

In front of an intact two-story house, Lu Li paused briefly. The surrounding houses were either reduced to ruins or had only crumbling walls standing, and the reason for its steadfastness was quite clear—it was a stone house.

It was sturdier than those perilous houses that were as dangerous as the bizarre, and crucially, the Revealing Potion allowed Lu Li to sense the Inner World's aura permeating behind the windows.

Lu Li looked up, glancing at the upstairs curtains that seemed to sway gently in the breeze.

The aura he sensed moved away from the window.

The aura wasn't strong, even unexpectedly thin. And this usually means one of two things: the entity in the house is indeed weak, or it has deceived the Revealing Potion.

Considering the proximity of Gwyn District to Agate Lake Camp and the destroyed crawler nest, the entity here wasn't likely the latter, so Lu Li stepped into the house.

Ignoring the looted empty downstairs hall, Lu Li walked straight up the staircase.

The house being intact meant that the hallway was dark and impenetrable by light. Standing before the last few steps, Lu Li raised the oil lamp.

Tap—Tap—

A sudden, abrupt tappity-tap sound disturbed the silence, as a glass marble rolled out from under a door crack and into the opposite room.

Ignoring the eerie phenomenon, Lu Li stepped into the corridor.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap—

Dozens of glass marbles noisily scrambled, rolling down the corridor, slipping into door cracks or hitting the walls.

Lu Li paused slightly, approaching the room from which the glass marbles emerged.

"Cough cough cough cough..."

A cold, aged cough suddenly came from behind the door, echoing down the corridor.

Ignoring the clumsy, almost laughable trick, Lu Li stood before the door where the obscure aura dwelled, gripping the doorknob.

The locked door didn't budge.

Stepping back slightly, Lu Li prepared to kick open the decayed wooden door, but at that moment, the door slowly opened.

The room was old and decrepit, with dark corners unreachable by sunlight. A thin figure in a tailcoat hung from the ceiling fan, swaying slightly, glaring at the unwelcome guest with bloodshot eyes.

Click—

The response was the sound of the Spirit-Calling Gun's hammer being cocked.

"Wait, please wait... I didn't intend to hurt you!" a panic-stricken voice shouted, and the Tailcoat Ghost raised its hands.

So it was still alive.

"I recognize that gun... it's an Exorcist's weapon! How did you get it?"

"I am an Exorcist."

"Are you joking? Here? An Exorcist?" the Tailcoat Ghost laughed inappropriately, then quickly shut up upon meeting Lu Li's calm, dark eyes: "Sorry... I just didn't expect there to still be Exorcists in the world."

"Have you been here all this time?"

Lu Li wasn't stingy with conversation with a ghost capable of communication. The Tailcoat Ghost appeared as a haggard, thin middle-aged man, with noodle-like curly brown hair dangling on either side of a long face.

"Yes, always..."

Its emotions turned somber: "That storm killed me... left me lost in the wilderness, unsure of how much time has passed... I saw sunlight falling and thought the world had returned, but everything around was familiar yet strange. I eventually returned here, to my home, but my family was all gone..."

Lu Li lowered his hand, his gaze falling on a corroded, blurred picture frame on the corner cabinet, approaching it under the watchful eyes of the Tailcoat Ghost, slightly turning towards it and picking up the frame.

"Are you Lokin Michel?"

The Tailcoat Ghost, not seizing the chance to attack, nodded: "How do you know my name? Yes, I'm Michel. That's a photo of my wife and I on our wedding anniversary—"

"I didn't know." Lu Li turned to face it, putting down the frame with its picture jumbled into scraps inside: "I just made up a name."

"Uh... I lied, I'm just a ghost of a homeless past, forgotten," the Tailcoat Ghost confessed the truth, or perhaps a second lie: "I guess I disappeared with Belfast, then hid on the mountain out of fear, and returned a few months ago. I like it here, I like the sunlight, it reminds me of when nothing happened and I was still alive. But it's too dangerous here, only the area near the mountain peak is free of those monsters..."

"Why haven't you turned into a vengeful spirit?" Lu Li asked.

"Turned into what?"

"A ghost that absorbs too much Inner World aura will become a vengeful spirit."

Killing humans or bizarre entities could also do it, but evidently, the Tailcoat Ghost hadn't done that.

"What's the Inner World?"

"A kind of obscure aura that swirls around you, dragging you into the abyss."

"I see... you mean the thing that emerges when my emotions fluctuate..." the Tailcoat Ghost realized. "I was afraid of it, so I avoided it. I did the right thing!"

"Do you know the situation in Old Belfast?" Lu Li interrupted its joy.

The Tailcoat Ghost shook its head, always hiding in the house and having never left.

"We've established a camp around Agate Lake, you can go there for refuge."

"Refuge... you're not going to kill me?" its delight grew more intense.

"Have you ever attacked humans?" Lu Li asked, putting away the Spirit-Calling Gun into his holster under its gaze.

"No! I'll go right away!" The Tailcoat Ghost's thoughts became more active, but unrelated to Lu Li: "Can I take them..."

It discreetly pointed to the glass marbles, these industrial byproducts that remained popular for their elegance and low cost.

Lu Li nodded in approval, and the Tailcoat Ghost hastily collected the marbles scattered in the corridor and next door, pocketing them before following him downstairs.

"You're an Exorcist, so do you know why things are the way they are here?"

The Tailcoat Ghost pointed to the sunlight pouring through the broken window frame.

"The Ancients sacrificed themselves to disperse the clouds."

Then handed this land over to him.

Lu Li suddenly stopped while stepping onto the street, realizing a key point: Did the Mother of the Marsh really trust him on his journey?

But they indeed permitted and condoned, forsaking protection. Does that mean... the Crown of Knowledge concealed something.

"Mother of the Marsh," Lu Li whispered.

"I am here, what is it?"

The voice of the Mother of the Marsh echoed in his mind.

"...Just guessing the truth."

"I will not leave for now, you can go directly to the human camp beside Agate Lake." Lu Li said to the Tailcoat Ghost.

"Of course, I'll wait for you there."

The Tailcoat Ghost grinned, then, after drifting into the depths of the street and turning into an unseen alley, it spat venomously: "I'm not that stupid to be fooled, clever Parker boss? I won't fall for your trick!"

The Tailcoat Ghost, preparing to hide elsewhere, turned to float away, but at that moment, some invisible force descended, taking over the Tailcoat Ghost's consciousness, making it drift numbly towards the Agate Lake Camp.

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