Bizarre Detective Agency

  Chapter 1444 Eighty-six. Socrates

   Stepping on the rough gravel, walking in the silent gray fog.

  Lu Li passed the broken tools and debris scattered along the way, approaching the blurred shadows shrouded in deep haze.

  It was a pale stone head statue, standing in the desolate gray mist, and shimmering because of Lu Li's arrival.

  He felt the gaze from the lifeless stone statue.

   "Those who lost their way, they couldn't find the answer, and they came back here again."

  A dull low-pitched sound permeates around the stone statue.

  Lu Li was not surprised that Socrates knew of his arrival. Because it said when they met for the first time, he would come back here.

   "The truth has brought me here."

  The lord of the cracks in the world did not deny anything, but said: "Then, as before, accept my test and get the truth you want."

  The stone statue of the head gradually faded into the gray mist, leaving a note in place.

  【A confused person who has lost his memory, he wanders in the place of memory, just to find the answer】

  Lu Li picked up the note and embarked on the journey of testing again.

  The shadow in the depths of the gray fog gradually became clear. It was a stone statue carved with a compassionate expression.

  Socrates asked with pity: "Your companion is not willing to part with you, but you still insist on leaving. Is there really nothing outside that you are nostalgic for?"

  Lu Li said calmly:

   "In the eyes of the dying, nothing is more important than living. In the eyes of the money collectors, nothing is more important than money. In the eyes of believers, nothing is more important than faith."

  The stone statue gradually faded away, leaving behind a second note.

  【In the eyes of that black-haired boy, nothing is more important than his family】

  Lu Li continued to move forward, and the gravel under his feet gradually leveled off.

  The third statue of Socrates presents grief: "The world is saddened by your departure."

  Lu Li said: "I have done many things, but I have never done something for myself. Now, I want to do it."

  The sad Socrates was swallowed by the fog, and the third note left read:

  【He is like a star that accompanies a lost child in the dark night, so dazzling but out of reach】

  It is a wise stone statue with glasses on the bridge of the nose. It didn't ask Lu Li a question, but asked Lu Li to ask it.

  Lu Li thought of the death retrospect of the diary, the symbiosis of the tree of the mind and the plant disaster, and the dark disaster at the bottom of Socrates.

  Finally, he thought of the scene he saw when he fell into the abyss after the swamp disappeared: the lingering "gate" emerged from the shadows and walked in front of the dying Lu Li.

  Lu Li really saw the appearance of the "door"—it was himself.

  The scattered thoughts returned to the soul, and Lu Li asked, "Where is she?"

  Socrates' wise answer: "Keep going, and you will get the answer."

  The wise stone statue disappears, revealing the fourth note.

  【A person who gets lost at night mistakes the stars on the horizon for fireworks, and he will not find the answer until dawn】

  A broken iron pick was lying on the gravel, Lu Li stepped over and approached another stone statue in the gray mist.

   It was an angry face.

  The wrath of Socrates said: "Everything you valued was killed by your own hands! What you are doing now is only paying for your own fault!"

  Lu Li's eyes drooped slightly, and he admitted his mistake: "Life is like this... It is connected by countless regrets."

   The frozen roar faded away in an instant, leaving behind a note.

  【The painful boy tortures himself like an ascetic, only expecting to be redeemed or relieved】

  Continue to move forward, the ground mixed with fine crushed stones turns into pale gravel like a beach. This is the depths of the gray mist where Lu Li has never been before.

  A frowning stone statue sits on top.

  Socrates questioned: "Are you punishing yourself? Or are you giving up on yourself? You don't value your own life, you live up to your friends' expectations of you, and you are applauding the life and death of the world."

  Lu Li thought about it, and answered seriously: "The last exorcist, the hope of the world, the lord of the land of light, the guardian of order... These labels are just imposed on me. My original belief is definitely not to save the world."

  The disappearing stone statue left a new note, which read:

  【This world is closely related to you. The worse you are, the worse the world is. 】

  The rough gravel under the feet became finer and finer, the edge of the shoes sank into the fine sand, and the faded gray mist revealed the statue staring at Lu Li.

  Socrates' musing asks: "But you are like the little boy who returns a fish stranded on the beach to the beach. You are homeless, but you don't want others to be like you."

  Lu Li fell into silence, unable to answer the image of the thinker's evaluation.

  Socrates's meditation is not too embarrassing, or silence also means passing, it leaves a note covered with fine sand.

  【This is the road to redemption. You are saving the world, and yourself. When it was your turn, "Never." You said, you didn't redeem yourself like you saved the world]

  Powder-like fine sand makes every step sink into the soles of the feet, leaving a line of deep footprints. And ahead, a stone statue of pain awaits.

  "You avoid the problems in your heart, and you refuse to bring them up, like an ostrich buried your head in a sandpit. But it never disappeared."

   "This is the way I can think of to alleviate the pain." Lu Li no longer evaded, facing his own heart, "Human beings have three major desires, and for me, she is one of them."

   The stone statue of agony disappears, leaving behind a sunken bunker and a note.

  【Remorse is an emotion you can't understand, but it really tortures your heart and soul day and night, making you inhuman】

  Continuing to leave footprints, Lu Li trekked forward step by step.

  It seems to hear the wisdom of Socrates standing on the pale sand of the waves.

  Before it opened its mouth, Lu Li asked again: "Where is she?"

"Front."

  The stone statue of the short answer disappeared, leaving behind perhaps the last note.

  【Time and time again, time and time again, you are insatiable looking for something to keep you alive】

   Lu Li took one step after another, walking in the silent pale world. I don't know how long it has passed, but the stone statue of Socrates that I first saw stood on the pale sandy beach as if it stood at the end of the world.

   "Did I pass the test?" Lu Li asked it.

   "Don't you already know the answer?"

   "What's behind the door?"

   "It is what you desire."

  As Lu Li lightly nodded, the stone statue of Socrates faded, and the real last note appeared where the stone statue disappeared.

  Lu Li bent down and picked it up.

  【"Good night, have a good dream." She said to you. Then, tomorrow a sleepy boy will wake up]

  At this moment, Lu Li raised his head.

  The shadow deep in the gray fog ahead is no longer Socrates, but a door.

  A mottled, faded, weathered wooden door awaits him.

  The door slowly opened due to Lu Li's approach, and the dim light greeted the walking figure.

  (end of this chapter)