Drip... drip...
Viscous drops seeped into his slowly awakening consciousness.
Lu Li opened his eyes. The oil lamp beside him cast a faint light, shielding him from the darkness.
A ghostly figure in a white dress hovered at the edge of the light. A hint of concern lay hidden in the depths of her cold eyes.
He was back in the cabin, sitting on a round stool by the bar in the dining area. Just as Anna had said, he had appeared out of nowhere, without any warning.
"Is it over?" Anna asked.
"Yes. I'll tell you what happened later."
Taking the hovering lamp, Lu Li approached the pile of rotting flesh that now covered where the basent hatch had been. The hatch was open, but just as it had been with the wardrobe, the space beneath the floorboards was nothing more than an ordinary storeroom.
Suddenly, a shadow shot out from the storeroom and, before Anna could stop it, sank into Lu Li's forehead.
"Don't worry."
As Anna grew alard, Lu Li reassured her, "Rember the tentacle I told you about, the one that entered my mind? That was a piece of the flesh."
Lu Li's tone was unsettlingly calm, as if the piece of flesh had invaded soone else's body.
"Is it dangerous?" Anna's swirling hair gradually settled.
"It's inevitable."
Two of the three trials were complete. The third would most likely be related to the "eye."
And then, no matter what the trial was trying to convey or what sche Richard was plotting, everything would finally beco clear.
There was, however, a more direct solution: catch Richard.
There was no longer any reason to stay in the cabin. Lu Li and Anna went up to the deck.
"How much ti has passed?"
"About fifteen minutes."
Ti outside was flowing at roughly the sa rate as it was inside, though on the first occasion, Lu Li had spent an entire night in bed...
Perhaps he had actually been sleeping then.
From the deck, Belfast was visible in the distance, resembling a city in a pencil sketch, veiled by lines of gray.
The leaden sky and drizzling rain gave everything a surreal quality.
Typhoon...
He had a map of the continent in his suitcase back at the detective agency. When he returned, he could check if a city by that na actually existed.
He needed to know if the story had been real, or rely an illusion within that bizarre space.
In any case, it suggested the events had likely happened long ago—back in an era when the sun wasn't perpetually obscured by a veil of clouds.
The small passenger ship was at anchor. The boat they had arrived in was gone.
However, the ship had lifeboats. Lu Li could use one to return to shore, but it ant he wouldn't be able to leave as discreetly as he had arrived.
"He just left the ship here?" Anna asked.
"When we get back to shore, we'll contact the United Exorcist Organization and let them handle it," Lu Li replied.
Although the problem was solved, he couldn't just leave a ship full of corpses and rotting flesh to drift a few miles off the coast of Belfast.
"Alright."
Anna lowered a lifeboat into the water, transferred Lu Li into it with her telekinesis, and steered the boat toward the shore. Anyone watching through binoculars from another vessel would have seen a small boat gliding across the water by itself, with no one at the oars.
...
At half-past four in the afternoon, a palpable unease was spreading through the port.
Only a few ships remained on the dark water. The bridge to Port Roadster had been blocked off, and figures in black uniforms scurried everywhere.
Sothing had happened. The crowd at the port was agitated, the murmur of their voices mingling with the blare of ship horns.
Police officers were evacuating people from the coastal streets and the beach.
The lifeboat shot onto the shore, skidding a couple of ters across the sand before coming to a stop.
Lu Li, oil lamp in hand, stepped onto the shore and gazed into the distance.
Several dozen ters away, three police officers were approaching him.
Lu Li walked toward them and, before they could speak, announced, "There's a passenger vessel anchored six kiloters from Moon Bay. An Anomaly killed everyone on board. I've destroyed it. Contact the United Exorcist Organization to handle the aftermath."
After a slight pause, Lu Li added, "Just in case, be careful. There might be a risk of Mind Level contamination."
"A-alright... And who are you...?" one of the officers stamred. For so reason, they all seed incredibly nervous.
"Senior Investigator Lu Li." Lu Li presented his badge. "What's going on at the port?"
"A strange epidemic..." the officer replied automatically before clarifying, "An unknown disease is spreading through the port, and many are already infected. Your colleagues are trying to contain it."
Lu Li nodded. "And what's wrong?"
His perceptive gaze told him sothing was off. The officer, slightly flustered, replied, "I-I don't know why, but we feel... calm... near you."
The three police officers couldn't explain the feeling, but it was like a warm spring breeze after a long winter.
"It's the life force granted by The Atonent..." Anna whispered in Lu Li's ear.
Lu Li said nothing. After bidding the officers farewell, he headed for Sailor Street.
So far, the increased life force hadn't brought him any tangible benefits, only drawbacks—now Lu Li was like a firefly in the dark, visible from a great distance.
To people and monsters alike.
Leaving a trail of footprints in the sand, Lu Li returned to the street.
The deserted street was now occupied only by the officers on duty and a few retreating figures.
Lu Li raised his head and looked toward the mountaintop. Beyond the houses, the setting sun painted the dark clouds a dull yellow.
It would be dark soon.
After retrieving the wagon, Lu Li took the reins and set off toward the location of the last Bloody Tentacle.
If its host was the "eye," then Lu Li would face his third and final trial.
As he moved further away from the shore, the streets grew more crowded.
The wagon rolled down a bustling street, but after a while, a commotion could be heard in the distance.
Wagons and steam-powered cars had stopped in the middle of the road. Workers were shouting, their voices carrying for half a block.
"Everyone, take shelter in your hos before nightfall! Light at least three sources of light! A strange fog will envelop the city after sunset!"
"Everyone, take shelter in a safe, lit ho imdiately! A strange fog is approaching from the sea!"
"Everyone, get inside! Light all your lamps and fireplaces! Sothing strange is coming!"
The people on the street panicked, shouting and running for their hos. The street emptied rapidly.
Lu Li halted the horse at an intersection.
The sa alarming announcents echoed from other districts.
Lu Li glanced at the western sky. The clouds had grown darker. With less than half an hour until sunset, there was no way he could reach the next Bloody Tentacle before nightfall.
After a few seconds of thought, Lu Li pulled on the reins.
The wagon turned around and headed for the detective agency.
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