Bizarre Detective Agency

   Chapter 1 1. The Exorcist

   The ink-stained quill was held in one hand and paused on the paper.

   "Mr. Lu Li, you can talk."

   The psychiatrist raised his head and gestured to the black-haired man sitting across from him.

   There is a harbour outside the window. The gray and gloomy weather leaves only a silhouette of Rodster Harbor.

  The chimneys in the industrial area have been stopped for many days, but the fog still envelopes Belfast eerily.

   "It's a long story." The black-haired man called Lu Li said.

  The psychiatrist said he didn't care at all: "please feel free, it's still a long time before it gets dark."

   The man nodded and spoke slowly after a brief silence.

   "I am an exorcist."

   On the bluestone street in the morning, Lu Li said to an old couple inside the door.

   "I heard that there are ghosts in your house?"

  The two old men looked at Lu Li carefully from head to toe, and a vigilant emotion surged in their cloudy eyes.

The man opposite    is very formal. Most of the civilians only wear formal clothes at festivals or evening parties, and he regards them as daily clothes, a white shirt with a black tie and a black coat over it, but no crutches and bowler hats.

  Black hair color and eyes are rare in Port Rodster and even in the whole of Belfast. The calm black eyes are like an abyss, which makes people unable to help falling into it.

"Who are you?"

  The vigilance of the two old men subsided a little. They didn't think that this handsome man in exquisite clothes would be a jerk.

   "Fantastic Luli Detective Agency, Exorcist Lu Li."

  Lu Li took out a brand new postcard and handed it to the two old men.

   He took the business card with his palm full of wrinkles and ravines, and his eyes flashed blankly. It was not until they saw the words and address of the detective agency on the business card that they roughly understood the purpose of this card.

   "Are you here to help us disperse the ghosts? Hurry up... come in quickly..."

   They were eager to get out of the way.

  Lu Li stepped into the door, his figure engulfed by the darkness of the room.

   The sky was overcast and the room was dark.

   A damp, musty smell permeates the air.

   Sweeping across the simple and plain room, Lu Li retracted his gaze and looked at two pairs of eyes full of expectations: "Can you tell me the specific situation? For example, what happened."

  The old man said mysteriously: "Did you see it..."

  Lu Li shook his head gently: "I didn't feel anything, that's why I asked you guys."

   The disappointment of the old couple was beyond words, but they still told Lu Li about their experiences.

   is like the sound of marbles on the ground at night, the cry of a baby in the middle of the night, the passing white shadow outside the window, and the abnormal noise in the kitchen.

  Lu Li quietly listened: "These are not necessarily made by ghosts, they can be explained by scientific evidence... Do you know science?"

  The old couple looked at each other: "Yes, I heard that steam cars and iron ships are made of science."

Lu Li didn't correct some common-sense mistakes of the old man. Most of the people here have little knowledge of science: "Almost, then I will continue. The marbles you hear are the sound of building materials expanding and contracting, and the cry is because of the current situation. It was summer, and when I came I saw a feral cat, and the cat's courtship sounds were similar to that of a baby. The white shadows outside the window were probably from pedestrians on the street."

   "As for the abnormal noise in the kitchen..." Lu Li didn't take a look at the kitchen, and he didn't need to. "It's time for you to put a mousetrap."

   "I...we didn't lie to you! I really saw a ghost! Ask my wife if you don't believe me!"

   "Yeah yeah, that night..."

  The two old men hurriedly defended, trying to convince Lu Li that they saw it with their own eyes.

"alright, I got it."

   Lu Li's calm expression stopped the old man's narration. He has seen a lot of this kind of assertiveness these days.

   "I can't find the ghost for now, so I will arrange an exorcism ceremony in the room. Can you invite the two of you to wait outside the door?"

   "This..." The old man looked at each other with an embarrassed expression.

   Ghosts are terrifying, but give your home to an outsider…

   Knowing what they were worried about, Lu Li said, "You guys stay outside, I have nowhere to run."

  The hesitant two old men walked out of the house with a half push, standing on the street, and Lu Li, who was following behind him, closed the door.

  Dangjang—

   By the way, he dropped the latch.

   The two old men who heard the sound of the door latch tightened their expressions, and then heard a low, obscure incantation from behind the door. It was a language they couldn't understand, and the pronunciation was weird and complicated.

   After a while of whispering, there was a dead silence behind the door.

   There was a sudden muffled sound, the door trembled, and a few mottled walls peeled off.

  The two old men trembled with fright and almost retreated to the middle of the street.

   The sound of fighting and roaring in the room suddenly made people imagine a picture of an exorcist fighting a ghost.

   At this time, in a house separated by a wall.

   Contrary to the imagination of the old man outside the door, Lu Li sat at the dining table very calmly, except occasionally kicking on a wooden chair, knocking on the table, and making a few muffled groans.

   After dozens of seconds passed, Lu Li stood up, kicked the chair over, and hit the wall with his shoulder.

   A muffled sound shook the wall.

   Then there was more than ten seconds of calm.

  The two old men held their breaths as time passed by...

   The door opened, and a figure appeared behind the door.

  Lu Li's black eyes were calm, the water stains that looked like sweat stuck on his forehead, and his breathing became steady: "It's solved, now it's time to talk about the reward."

  …

   "Wait a minute, you said you were an 'exorcist'" The doctor interrupted Lu Li's narration. He bit the accent on the word 'exorcist'.

   Lu Li asked back, "Do you think I'm the kind of exorcist who grabs a ghost by the neck and yells, 'Destroy you in the name of God'?"

The doctor    was silent, and waved him to continue.

  …

   "The ghost has..." The two old men probed into the door, trying to find the traces of the ghost.

   "It's done." Lu Li turned sideways, signaling that they could come in.

  The income of the two elderly people is not high, so Lu Li only received 10 shillings as a token payment as a charity, and left.

   "I'll find you."

The moment    walked onto the street, a whisper suddenly sounded in his ear, close at hand.

  Lu Li turned back suddenly and saw the relaxed old couple closing the door.

   The breeze blew through, and the tips of the hair swayed. It was obviously cold and biting during the day.

  …

   "So your confusion is... You have encountered a ghost and suspect it's a psychological problem?"

"Yes."

   The psychiatrist's eyes became very strange, and he looked Lu Li up and down: "Are you a foreigner? Or a noble who rarely goes out?"

   "Is there a problem?" Lu Li neither denied nor admitted.

   The psychiatrist spread his palms: "As we all know, ghosts do exist. So instead of worrying about mental illness, you should be more worried about the troubles after being entangled by ghosts - after all, you are not a real exorcist."

   "Really." Lu Li was noncommittal. "Then another story, what if I said I came from another world."

   "Can you tell me in detail?" The psychiatrist changed his sitting position and seemed very interested.

  Luli briefly described the situation of the earth.

"Wow... Dozens of tons of metal are flying in the sky? A house with hundreds of stories? Can you talk face-to-face when you are separated by thousands of kilometers?" He pulled away and said solemnly, "Mr. Lu Li, this is a very serious hysteria. Your condition is more serious than I thought."

   "I'm just asking, I don't want treatment." Lu Li replied.

   False existence becomes real, and real existence becomes false. There are ghosts in the world more believable than hundreds of tons of metal flying in the sky.

   "Uh...whatever you want, you have already paid for the consultation anyway." The psychiatrist shrugged, put the paper and quill on the table, and turned to look out the window. "It's getting dark. If you live far away from here, please hurry up."

   The gray sky was a little darker than when the conversation began.

"Thanks for reminding."

  Lu Li stood up, shook hands with the psychiatrist who also stood up, and turned to leave the clinic.

   There is a saying in Belfast.

   After dark, stay where there is light.

   (end of this chapter)