The Bizarre Detective Agency

Holding his breath, Lu Li’s gaze followed the ghost’s movements.

But it seemed that the more you hoped something wouldn’t happen, the more likely it was to occur.

The hollow eye sockets of the girl’s ghost turned toward Lu Li, and a laugh echoed through the room.

“Did you see my eyes?”

There was no way she was talking to herself.

So, the ghost had changed again. Simply staying silent was no longer enough to evade her perception.

“No, I didn’t see them,” Lu Li replied.

The ghost’s aura shifted, growing more malicious. Lu Li didn’t want to resort to violence. After a brief hesitation, he spoke slowly, “It doesn’t matter if you’ve lost your eyes. I’m willing to be your eyes.”

The girl’s expression twisted into something more vicious, as if she had seen a ghost herself. In an instant, her demeanor turned completely hostile, her laughter cold and mocking. “Hah… Fool!”

“Guess there’s no reasoning with you,” Lu Li murmured softly. He suddenly raised the gun and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang!

To be honest, Lu Li had indeed contemplated silencing her.

The thunderous gunshot echoed like a dragon’s roar. Flames and black smoke erupted from the barrel as the black powder ignited, filling the air with acrid fumes. The blast shattered the mist clinging to the window and reverberated throughout the gallery.

Hearing the ghost’s piercing scream, Lu Li didn’t bother to check the results. Wasting no time, he loaded another silver-plated bullet into the chamber.

He could feel a trace of energy merging into the flintlock pistol, making it stronger.

Was it because he had fired the gun? Or because he had hit the ghost?

By the fourth second after the shot, Lu Li had reloaded the bullet and closed the chamber, his hand leaving the gun’s grip.

The countless malicious presences that had been stirring around him vanished completely.

“Are you done?”

A chilling laugh broke the silence, transforming into a venomous hiss. “Now it’s my turn!”

Suddenly, Lu Li’s vision was forcibly drawn to the ghost. The next moment, an all-encompassing darkness enveloped him. A searing pain shot through his eyes, and he felt something cold and wet trickling down his cheeks— Ṟ

Instinctively, Lu Li reached for the warmth of the oil lamp. The steady heat of the glass cover reassured him.

The flame was still burning. The light hadn’t gone out… Forcing himself to ignore the pain in his skull, Lu Li steadied his thoughts and touched his eyes—they were still there.

Was this some kind of ability to block his vision?

“Did you take my eyes?” Lu Li asked calmly, trying to provoke the ghost into speaking and revealing her location.

“I’ll take your life next,” came the venomous laugh, this time from directly in front of him.

With her position confirmed, Lu Li gripped the gun and prepared to raise it. But before he could, a gust of wind rushed toward him.

Rolling to the side, Lu Li evaded the attack, crashing into a table and chair.

“That trick won’t work on me a second time!” The ghost cackled, sending a barrage of objects flying toward Lu Li.

“Is that so?” Lu Li responded as he dodged, his hand gripping the flintlock pistol tightly.

The malicious energy surrounding him grew stronger, but it also helped him sense the ghost’s location without needing to rely on sight. However, just as he was about to fire, he detected another presence outside the door.

At the same time, a familiar, eerie voice drifted in from the hallway.

“Have… you… seen… my child…?”

The ghost Lu Li had tricked earlier had returned, now standing outside the door.

The attacking ghost froze, completely still.

Lu Li noticed this immediately.

It seemed their relationship was less than amicable—or perhaps the ghost feared the woman searching for her child.

Realizing this, Lu Li released his grip on the pistol and spoke up. “I saw your child.”

Both sets of ghostly eyes turned toward him.

“Your child is about this tall, this big, dark red in color, and still has an umbilical cord, right?”

Lu Li repeated the description he had used earlier, then pointed at the attacking ghost. “I saw her holding your child, giving it to a stranger. That person paid her a hundred shillings—it seemed like she sold your child.”

The ghost’s furious eyes burned with hatred as she glared at Lu Li. But before she could respond, the woman searching for her child spoke again in a haunting voice near his ear.

“Have… you… seen… my child…?”

“No!” The attacking ghost recoiled in fear, while the grieving mother ghost clung to her relentlessly.

“Get away from me! I don’t have your child!” The ghost’s shrill scream erupted as a wave of energy blasted through the office, scattering objects everywhere.

Lu Li, standing on the edge of the chaos, simply observed the scene unfold.

“Then… give me… your child!” The mother ghost’s icy voice hissed. Her hands, clawed with razor-sharp nails the length of a finger, plunged into the other ghost’s lower back.

“Get off me! I don’t have a child!” The enraged ghost struggled to break free from the mother ghost’s grip. The force of their clash sent debris flying through the room, and amidst the chaos, Lu Li’s vision finally cleared.

“Ahhh! Let me go!!!” The ghost’s angry roars quickly turned into agonized screams, echoing through the entire gallery.

Her struggles were futile. Before Lu Li’s eyes, the ghost’s presence visibly weakened, while the mother ghost’s aura grew stronger.

The mother ghost was consuming her.

The screams gradually faded, and the once-solid figure of the ghost became translucent. Her face was filled with panic and terror, helpless against the mother ghost, just as ordinary humans were helpless against ghosts.

Lu Li watched thoughtfully. So, there were power hierarchies even among ghosts.

Clap—

At that moment, a book flew through the air, passing harmlessly through both ghosts before landing on the floor, its pages spreading open.

Though it caused no damage, the book succeeded in diverting the attention of the two ghosts.

“There’s no point in targeting her anymore,” Lu Li said, retrieving the flintlock pistol with a smooth motion and tucking it into his waistband. “You should focus on finding the person who bought your child and saving them instead.”

“He probably hasn’t gone far. If you leave now, you might still catch up.”

The mother ghost’s blood-red eyes flickered before she slowly withdrew her hands from the other ghost’s back.

“Child… my child…” The mother ghost muttered, dragging her intestine as she stepped out of the office.

The remaining ghost collapsed to the floor, panting heavily, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

A pair of black leather boots appeared in front of her. The ghost froze, looking up at the man who had crouched down before her.

Her voice carried a hint of complex emotion. “Why… did you save me…?”

Does he like me? she wondered. Stories about humans falling in love with ghosts were common, after all. Could he be one of those people? I mean, even though I’m a ghost, I still look quite good. Surely there are some who’d find me attractive. Maybe I could stay with him for now and wait for the chance to—

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off by an explosion of flames and the roar of the pistol.

Lu Li answered her question with action: he saved her to claim the kill.

The ghost’s incorporeal form seemed to solidify as the silver-plated bullet lodged itself between her brows. Blood-red bubbles spread from the wound, rapidly consuming her entire form.

“You… bastard…” she managed to sputter, her voice muffled as the bubbles overtook her. They quickly enveloped her completely, causing her spectral body to dissolve as if it were boiling away.

Clink—

The bullet fell to the ground, bouncing lightly.

The only sound left in the now-empty office was her faint, lingering curse.

“Bastard…”

The floating debris in the office fell to the ground, lifeless.

Lu Li’s dark eyes held a hint of confusion.

What did she mean by calling me a bastard before she died?

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