Bizarre Detective Agency

  Chapter 1402 Forty-Four. Heim

  The morning mist no longer covers the vast land.

  Under fairly good visibility, cooking smoke rose faintly at the far end of the horizon.

  Lu Li and Kate walked slowly but firmly along the water bay.

  Hopefully the smoke rising is not a building or something burning.

  In order, the interval between the disappearance of the Immortal Giant and the loss of contact in the Cultivated Land is only a few days, and the period from the loss of contact in the Cultivated Land to the rising of the Black Ring spans almost the entire rainy season.

  So at this time, Cultivated Land Garden is not that bad for the time being—at least not facing disaster.

  Lu Li was moving towards his destination, thinking about another thing in his mind: as if the pure black stone brought him back to before the destruction of the Lennon Islands. Let yourself go back to the existence of the cultivated land where everything has not yet happened?

  A pure recorder like a pure black stone, or does it need Lu Li to do something?

   Kate, who was following Lu Li, gradually shrank her shoulders. The rushing water a few dozen meters away brought abundant moisture. Her hair had already formed dewdrops, and her wet skirt was clinging to her body.

  The aristocratic etiquette she received told her that at this time the gentleman would take off his clothes and put them on for herself, but Lu Li in front of her didn't do anything.

   "Cough..."

  Uncontrollable light coughing awakened Lu Li's attention from his surroundings and thoughts. He noticed that Kate, whose nose was reddish, shrugged her shoulders, hid behind her to avoid the wind, and took off her windbreaker and threw it to her.

"…thanks."

  Kate wrapped her windbreaker tightly, the cold gradually faded away, and the warmth brought her tiredness all night, and dragged her into drowsiness again.

  The location where the smoke rose was farther than thought, and the good news is that it did originate from the town of Bay, which was not burned or attacked.

  After walking away from the broken down car for nearly two hours, Lu Li and Kate finally got rid of the desolation and saw townspeople wandering outside the town.

  The town is okay, they're okay.

  In fact, when they heard that a large ship encountered a strange encounter on the sea, Lu Li and Kate were survivors, and everything that happened on the Immortal Giant, these locals showed more surprise, and then gathered young people to rush to rescue.

  The flat field of tens of miles is enough for them to rush to the grounding place and bring back the survivors before dark.

  Lu Li then asked the locals about Heim and the spirit sculpture. He didn't hold out hope at first, but the captain of the town's guards showed a deeply embarrassing expression.

   "Do you know what that is?"

"…follow me."

  The captain of the guard led Lu Li and Kate to a large round house covered with old feathers and hair.

   "Tell mother that there are guests coming." The captain of the guard said to the dwarf outside the door.

  The dwarf crept into the igloo, and in a moment raised the knitted curtain to beckon them in.

   "Mother." The captain of the guard respectfully addressed an old woman with thick braids sitting cross-legged on a blanket, "They want to know about Heim and... the spirit sculpture."

  A gray cloth covered her eyes, but when the crone raised her head, Kate felt she was "watching" herself.

   "Why, kid."

   "A friend asked me to find them."

   "...my friend won't let you do this." A pair of examining eyes seemed to pierce Lu Li through the gray cloth.

   "Enemy and friend."

   "No one will let you find it..."

   "He is not human."

  The lies exposed did not allow Lu Li to express any emotions other than calm, nor did "mother" drive him away.

   "Boy, Helm isn't special, neither is the Sculpture, but when they're connected..."

  Heim represents many meanings, while the spirit sculpture is the statue of the gods. Linking them is a distant legend: that a séance called Helm will bring destruction to the world.

  The purpose of the King of Ghouls is revealed: He wants Lu Li to find his spirit sculpture in Heim.

  "Mother" didn't stop Lu Li from going to Heim, but just warned him that it was very dangerous, and the friend who asked him to look for the spirit sculpture might have evil intentions—"Mother" had no way of knowing what happened to Lu Li, but her guess might lead to the same result.

   "Go and look at the sea cliff... Your answer may be there..."

   Kate also has problems. Before leaving, she asked "mother": "We encountered a thick fog on the sea surface, and there were monsters lurking in the fog."

   "Hassan Takana..."

  "Mother" whispered the local language of Weird Mist, and wearily said to Lu Li: "Go quickly...Your time is running out..."

  Kate was still thinking hard about the meaning of "time is running out", but Lu Li had already asked directly: "What do you mean time is running out?"

   "Darkness..."

  "Mother" sighed long. The dwarf stood in front of them and escorted them out of the big house. Kate is now a dwarf with a haircut and no tongue, and is a mute.

  Meeting the captain of the guard waiting outside the house, Kate told him: "Our car broke down on the road."

  The captain of the guard said that this would allow the townspeople to bring them back.

   "That's a steam car."

   "Steam what?"

   "Steam Cars."

   "What car?"

   "Stay there." Lu Li said.

  The guard captain's reaction shows that no one in Bay Town will repair that steam car.

  Lu Li asked the captain of the guard to help guide the direction of Wanghai Cape, and asked for a map and a carriage—Lu Li in this era has no money to pay, so Kate mortgaged her necklace.

  It is about 200 miles from Haiwan Town to Heim. If the road is flat gravel road, it is not too late to arrive in Heim before evening.

   After buying some food and clothes, Lu Li put on his windbreaker and asked the tired Kate, "Are you still following me? It will become more and more dangerous in the future."

"Ok."

   Pulling the reins, Lu Li drove towards the south of the cultivated land.

  The land under the gloomy sky is lifeless. This kind of boring, drowsy journey is something people dare not expect in weird times. The only thing that hindered Lu Li was the turbulence itself, which was more serious than the Immortal Giant.

  Kate vomited all the food she ate. The severe motion sickness and numbness caused by the bumps made her almost unable to hold on. Finally, the bumps ended temporarily—they passed an abandoned village.

  The village has been abandoned for a long time, and there is nothing left. The only thing that arouses interest is the wooden bed on it that Kate thinks of.

  Lu Li searched around but found nothing, but when he was about to leave, he found a cave—a decaying corpse in the cave.

  Before departure, Lu Li asked the captain of the guard about the local legends, and there are indeed legends similar to ghouls. And what appeared in front of him looked like the prototype of a ghoul—this was a human corpse that was transforming like a ghoul.

  The festered skin reveals the gums that have degenerated toward the gums, and the palm placed on the abdomen where the wound emerged becomes sharp and slender,

   Lu Li observed the posture of the corpse. He seemed to want to cut open the stomach.

  Picking up the ax next to the corpse, Lu Li began to cut open its tough leathery skin. Kate, who was holding an oil lamp beside him, looked at Lu Li like he was looking at a murderer.

  The belly was cut open, and Lu Li did find something in the stomach of the ghoul—a piece of parchment, with short, scribbled words full of despair and fear:

  【That rain brought everything】

   "That rain" refers to the rain of mutation, one of the three major disasters, or is there something else?

  (end of this chapter)