Bizarre Detective Agency

   Chapter 373 Two hundred eighty eight. Human nature

  The stove in the kitchen flickered, driving out the dampness and coldness of the detective agency.

  Jojo was sitting on the wooden chair, the rain pooling under her feet.

  .

   After closing the door, Lu Li returned to the desk and sat down, removing the oil lamp that blocked his view: "What's wrong?"

"The police didn't find my brother. They didn't find any trace of the convoy going out. My brother and the others were still in Shadow Town! Then just last night, Shadow Town suddenly lost all contact with the outside world! I know something must have happened, please help I!"

   This very outgoing and cheerful girl with the temperament of an explorer pleaded bitterly with red eyes.

  Lu Li didn't speak, he was thinking about Shadow Town.

   He has entered the Shadow Swamp and knows how eerie it is, and the evil **** named "Mother of the Swamp".

  The letter from the beak mask figure had kept him away from Shadowtown, where something was wrong.

   and Lu Li were once marked by "Mother of the Swamp".

  Oliver is a good helper, and he was the first person Lu Li came into contact with in this world, but this kind of thing is beyond Lu Li's ability.

  The enemy is not as simple as a monster or a wraith.

   "I can't help you." Lu Li answered Qiaoqiao calmly.

   Qiao Qiao's expression was sad and she opened her mouth to say something, but the unchanging calm in Lu Li's eyes let her know that it was useless.

  Jojo stood up silently and walked behind the door.

   heard Lu Li's voice behind him: "I have a suggestion for you, go to the investigator or the night watchman. If what you said happened, they should have been prepared to deal with it."

   "I will, thank you..."

  Jojo left the detective agency.

   "Don't blame yourself, we can't help her." Anna emerged and comforted Lu Li.

"I know."

  Lu Li got up and walked around the desk, took a mop and wiped the floor, and went back to the sofa to rest again.

   The sound of the wind and rain outside the window has not diminished. Perhaps a girl in a rain cape and soaked in water is begging for help from others on a cold rainy night.

  …

  There is no bright sunshine, birdsong, and the hustle and bustle of people outside the window.

   A stormy morning is like evening. A faint light shone into the detective agency from the uncovered kitchen window, and the sharp whistling was unnerving.

  There are two oil lamps in the detective agency so that it will not be too dim in the daytime.

  The long house was very lively. The residents who were unable to work because of the storm opened their doors, and the voices of talking and cooking echoed in the corridor without being masked.

  The kids loved the atmosphere, running back and forth in the hallway.

   Lu Li slowly woke up.

  After washing with Anna's warm water, Lu Li tied his tie, put on a woolen coat, and went out with Anna to buy ingredients. When he went out, he met a postman who delivered newspapers despite the wind and rain, and delivered some wet newspapers to Lu Li.

   Put away the newspaper, Lu Li continued to the market at the end.

  The arrival of the storm made the bustling market quiet, and only a few shops opened.

   After buying the ingredients, Lu Li walked into the adjacent bakery to buy bread.

  While waiting, Lu Li saw a familiar figure walking slowly on the street.

  The man had no poncho, and his already soaked clothes were clinging to his thin body as he walked through the storm-swept streets. He looked around the street strangely, as if he had not seen these houses for a long time and felt nostalgic.

   passed in front of the bakery, he looked into the shop and saw the tall figure.

   stopped.

  …

  Two cups of steaming coffee were brought to the table by the window.

   A pair of wet hands held up the water glass, and the warmth transmitted to the body made the man narrow his eyes.

   The kraft paper bag containing the ingredients and bread was placed by the window, Lu Li watched the man without speaking.

   "I remember you." The man said slowly, his body still dripping under the chair.

   His speed of speech gave a sense of slowness, his back and shoulders were hunched unconsciously, like an old man, but the man looked only about thirty years old.

   Lu Li replied, "The last time we met was less than half a month ago."

   "But for me... a long time has passed." The man let out a long sigh. "I remember something, you're an exorcist, right? Thank you for reminding me... otherwise I might have gone mad."

   "You're not in a good state."

   Lu Li felt the twilight on the man, like a dying man.

   The man smiled indifferently: "I just ended my life as an old man not long ago, don't worry, it will be fine soon."

   "Do you still remember your name?" Lu Li asked him.

"Of course, it's the first of my thousands of names, and it's very memorable. If you're potentially asking me if I've lost my nature in a long time and space...I can only say that I am still me." The man withdrew his gaze from the shop window.

   "A ship sailing on the sea is constantly changing parts, and even if it is new, it is still the same ship...but I haven't used that name for a long time...and I don't plan to use it again."

   "Then what should I call you."

  The man smiled at Lu Li and said, "I'll tell you when I figure out what my name is."

   "If you remember."

   "Yes, if I still remember..." A flash of reminiscence appeared in the man's eyes.

  Lu Li was not good at talking to people, and the man almost lost his memory and emotion for Lu Li over the long years. After a few minutes of silence, Lu Li finished drinking the coffee in his cup and called the clerk to check out.

   "You seem to be in some trouble." When Lu Li checked out and the clerk walked away, the man suddenly spoke up.

   He also held the cup of warm coffee: "I see in your eyes... the hesitation in your heart."

   A wave of fluctuations appeared in the void.

   "Yes." Lu Li admitted frankly, looked directly at the man and said, "Do you have an opinion?"

   "Just some trivial experience." The man replied Lu Li. "I don't know what's confusing you, what I'm telling you is... to choose a decision that you won't regret looking back on."

   The man's tone carries the nostalgia and recollection of the past.

"I can't remember that day, hundreds of thousands of years have passed, but I still remember a time when I made a decision that I regretted because I cringed. I thought time would erase that memory, but it was like The scars running through the stone became clearer as the stone was smoothed."

   "Time can never go back, so don't let yourself regret it."

  …

   Leaving the cafe, Anna sheltered Lu Li from the wind and rain on the way.

   After a few minutes, they returned to the longhouse.

   The figure who had been waiting for a long time stood up, sitting under the eaves with his legs crossed.

   "No one wants to help me—" Jojo, who was soaked all over and her cheeks pale from the cold, looked at Lu Li desperately.

   Lu Li knocked on the door of the long house, then turned his black eyes to Qiao Qiao.

   "Come in. Tell me what happened to Oliver and Shadowtown, the more detailed the better."

   (end of this chapter)