Bizarre Detective Agency

   Chapter 291 206. Emotional Forest

  The years have left deep imprints on the old man's face, and a smooth-polished wooden stick extends from his empty trouser legs and hits the floor.

   The unstoppable heavy rain made the weather outside only about 10 degrees, but the old man was only wearing a patched linen shirt. Fortunately, there was no rain, and the linen clothes were barely kept dry.

   The old man sat opposite the desk, looked around the detective agency curiously and looked at Lu Li: "Young man, what do you want to know?"

   "I need a guide who knows everything about Elm Forest."

   "I think that person is me." The old man showed a proud look. "I was a woodcutter in the Elm Grove when I was 13 until 11 years ago. I can name every tree king there."

   People in this world generally age prematurely, and the poorer they are, the more so. The old man with a hunched back and gray hair was probably only fifty years old.

   Even so, it means that he has stayed in the Elm Forest for more than 20 years.

   "Tree King?"

   "Those extraordinarily thick and old trees shelter the surrounding trees like a village sheltering people."

   This is obviously beyond Lu Li's common sense - before this, Lu Li never knew that the forests of this world would produce such changes.

   And it seems that people have long been used to it.

   In order to avoid thinking too much, Lu Li asked: "The tree king has his own consciousness?"

   "Consciousness? No...how is that possible, they are not human." The old man Barton laughed and felt that the young man in front of him was a little whimsical: "The tree king is just...an emotion of the forest."

The term   emotion, while equally evoking, is slightly better than “consciousness.”

   "Please elaborate."

"Of course, that's what I came for." Barton lowered his head and recalled for a while, and said slowly: "The tree kings are like the incarnation of the forest. When you approach it, you can feel the emotions emanating from the forest... ...I know what you're trying to say, but the forest is not conscious and it doesn't think like us. Like ants...they move and hunt and eat, but it's just instinct that drives them."

"These changes occurred more than ten years ago, and we didn't know anything about it before that. When we felt the mood of the forest, some people were so scared that they threw their axes and fled back to the city, and some people bit the bullet and continued to chop. Trees... go back empty-handed and starve to death."

"However, we found that nothing happened, and it only became a little sad when the tree was cut... Until one day, a stunner went to cut down a tree king... I heard about this from other woodcutters. Yes, the lumberjacks under the owner of the lumber mill went to chop down a tree king that may have been hundreds of years old, and then what happened, everyone died. When someone approached, they only saw the corpses around and the sadness that made people want to cry. mood."

"Then the police and some mysterious guys came out and took them away, and then some rumors spread that when they fell down the tree king, the mood of the forest affected them and made them all commit suicide. The last part of the woodcutter put away their axes and did other things. Work, the other part of the woodcutter maintains the same status, but no longer approaches those tree kings and does not hurt them. Although those factory owners are greedy, it is meaningless to exchange human lives for the tree kings, so fewer and fewer people die because of the forest. …”

   "After that, the forest didn't hurt us, and we tried our best not to hurt the forest."

   This is why, in the budding period of industry and capital, an elm forest next to the city still stands in the northern part of the city.

   "Is every forest like this?" Lu Li asked.

   "Yes, every forest big enough has emotions, the oak forest on the west, the maple forest on the back of the mountain, and I heard that the shadow swamp jungle further away is the same."

  Lu Li has been to the Shadow Swamp, where the jungle is dead—perhaps because the dove, the mother of the swamp, has occupied the magpie’s nest.

   "Are you a detective? Is it the owner of a lumber mill who asked you to investigate there? There should be nothing but dead silence now..."

  Lu Li knew what he was referring to, "Plant Calamity".

   Although most people in this world don't think it's a serious thing for a plant to stop growing.

   "My target is not those trees." Lu Li said. "I wonder how many caves are there."

   "Cave?" Barton glanced at Lu Li strangely, but he had also received many strange tasks, such as finding a purple four-leaf clover.

   "There are a lot of caves near the cliffs and Silent Hills, and a few if you need a hunter's hut and a lumberjack's hut."

   "Those who can hide in others."

   "There are some caves near the cliffs and Silent Hills."

   "Great view to Belfast and the sea."

   "There are several caves near the cliff."

   "Let's go then."

"Now?"

   "Do you have anything else to do?"

   "No, let's go. It's good to be young..."

   Poncho Luli prepared a lot of pieces, he gave one to Barton and asked Barton to wait under the eaves, he held up his umbrella and went to the street to call for a carriage.

   A few minutes later, the carriage stopped in front of the longhouse, picked up Patton and drove into the rain screen, which gradually faded away.

   There are still many residents repairing leaks on the streets. Occasionally, some scavengers are seen holding tattered quilts, standing under the eaves and staring at the heavy rain outside.

   and the watchmen who appeared more frequently than yesterday.

   There is no weird rain in this area today, and it may only be a warning from three hundred miles away that drives them.

  Lu Li retracted his gaze and was about to say something to Barton when the carriage suddenly stopped suddenly.

   "What's going on?" Barton asked strangely, the sound of rain obscuring the movement outside.

  Lu Li lifted the curtain and saw a steam locomotive blocking the carriage. Several night watchmen in black uniforms stepped out of the locomotive and walked to the carriage to negotiate with the groom.

   Seeing Lu Li, the night watchman showed a friendly smile: "I'm a police officer from the Houston Police Department. We're chasing a fugitive. Have you seen him?"

   Lu Li didn't answer, his eyes fell on the night watchmen who were scattered and vaguely surrounded the carriage, and suddenly understood what they were going to do.

   He took out the investigator badge from his arms and said calmly, "I am an investigator, and the breath you feel is my assistant."

   "Assistant..." The night watchman froze slightly when he saw the badge, and made a hidden gesture.

  The vigils who gathered around stopped.

   The vigilance and doubts in the eyes of the night watchman have not diminished.

   "She's not in a good state." Lu Li added.

   This sentence has many meanings. The night watchman guessed something, put down his guard and backed up and said, "Please be careful."

"thanks."

   The vigils got back to their carts and drove off the street, and the carriage continued onward.

   "Anna, calm down." Lu Li tilted his head and said.

  Barton didn't know who Lu Li was talking to, but the scene that happened earlier made him know that the young man in front of him was not an ordinary little detective.

   Decades of life have taught Patton many things, such as don't ask what shouldn't be asked.

   (end of this chapter)