In the dim, shabby corridor, naplates hung on many of the doors, and the air was thick with smoke.
"Where is this?"
Standing in the hallway, Lu Li looked out the fog-shrouded window.
"Jones's Psychological Therapy Clinic," the psychologist replied.
"What city?"
"...Belfast," the psychologist replied, discreetly opening a drawer. He knew how to handle "patients" like this.
"Are you a patient here for a consultation, or would you like to make an appointnt?"
Lu Li calmly surveyed the clinic with his dark eyes, said nothing, and walked out.
The wooden staircase creaked under his feet, and as Lu Li descended, he stepped into a cold glimr at the end of the corridor—
The darkness receded, and the scene that unfolded before him was not a gloomy swamp, nor Silver Cross Elephant and Mildred Humphrey waiting for him.
With the industrial district shut down, the acrid sll that usually clung to the fog had vanished. There were more pedestrians on the streets than in the past few days, but the ladies had not yet removed the black veils that covered their faces.
A cycling postman rang his bell, warning passersby to make way. Muffled conversations and the clatter of hooves drifted through the air, while a steam-powered automobile chugged past, spewing black smoke.
The winding street sloped downward, disappearing behind the shapes of the houses. The bay at its end was indistinct in the fog, with only the distant horn of a steamship echoing occasionally through the haze.
The Ancient Era. Belfast.
The place where it all began.
Lu Li stood still, waiting. If this was so kind of sensory-blocking illusion, the two Lords would be enough to save him.
At the sa ti, he checked himself: the Book of the Apocalypse was gone, so were his stomach and the Spirit Gun—
His shirt and coat felt thinner to the touch.
Lu Li opened his palm: the brand of the inverted pentagram was gone, as were the scars from the salvation implant.
The power brought by the fragnts of salvation had vanished, his left arm was restored, and he could no longer feel the presence of Humanity.
The only things in his pocket were a few shillings, a ring of keys, and a box of matches.
It was as if Lu Li had truly returned to the very beginning.
But after waiting for so ti, Lu Li received nothing but curious glances from passersby.
In that case, he had to consider the possibility that this was real. Just as he had once appeared in that other world out of nowhere, it wasn't so surprising that he might just as suddenly return to the very beginning, especially on a day when that world was dying.
But what was the cause?
The only clue he had was this: Lu Li had opened a door.
But it couldn't be "the Door." Lu Li hadn't seen any sign of it, and it would take so ti for it to reach the Academy of Giant Trees.
With no "rescue" in sight, Lu Li started down the street, heading toward the Sailor Street district from his mories.
The fishy sll in the damp, cold fog was like the deck of a fishing boat adrift at sea, but it was soon overpowered by a mixture of sweat and other scents.
The street was as noisy as a marketplace, with children chasing one another. Residents drying fish would pause as Lu Li passed, careful not to soil his neat, clean, and expensive clothes.
The familiar tenent building appeared in the distance.
On the door of the building hung a still-new wooden sign bearing the words "Lu Li's Bizarre Detective Agency."
Pushing open the half-open main door, he walked across the creaking floorboards and down the narrow, dark corridor to a familiar door.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—
The sound of frying ca from a half-open wooden door across the hall, while from a nearby room ca the cries of a scolded child.
Taking out his ring of keys, Lu Li selected a brass key and inserted it into the lock.
Click—
The damp sll of wood, like wine yeast, struck his nostrils, and Lu Li stepped into the still and silent living room.
Anna wasn't here.
At this point in ti, he hadn't t Anna yet.
After standing there for a mont, Lu Li left the detective agency again.
He had sothing he needed to do, even if this was all a fabrication.
"Going out? It's getting dark," the stout landlord greeted him obsequiously from the hallway, his face gleaming with grease in the light of an oil lamp.
"I've brought an oil lamp."
So twenty minutes later, Lu Li arrived at 23 Da Vinci Street.
A sign hung above the entrance: "Madam An Lei's Art Gallery."
As evening approached, only a single, dim oil lamp burned in the gallery's display window.
The gallery's current owner, Benjamin, was mopping the floor. Hearing footsteps, he spoke without turning around:
"Are you the new applicant for the job?"
"A visitor," Lu Li replied calmly.
The stout Benjamin hurriedly straightened up, tossing the dirty mop into its bucket. He looked over the mysterious, and apparently very wealthy, Lu Li and said:
"My apologies, sir, but we're already closed. You can co back tomorrow morning—"
Lu Li pulled a handful of shillings from his pocket and pressed them into Benjamin's involuntarily open, fleshy palm. At a glance, there were about a hundred shillings—
"I'm a friend of the Bessy family. I heard the gallery had opened here, so I ca to have a look."
"Uh..."
The shillings in his palm and Lu Li's claim to be an "acquaintance" made Benjamin hesitate.
"But I still advise you to co during the day," Benjamin said, glancing uncertainly into the deepening shadows of the gallery.
"You may not know this, but ghosts have started appearing in this gallery at night recently..."
"That's precisely why I'm here," Lu Li interrupted Benjamin again.
"I'm an exorcist."
Benjamin's breath hitched. He hastily shoved the shillings Lu Li had given him back into his hand as paynt.
"It's all yours! Please, help
solve the ghost problem in the gallery!"
Dong—dong—dong—
At that mont, the toll of the nightly church bell echoed through the street.
The fat on Benjamin's face trembled. He left with the words, "I'll leave it to you," and hurried away without even putting the mop and bucket back, leaving Lu Li alone with the entire art gallery.
Watching Benjamin's stout figure disappear, Lu Li lit his oil lamp.
A dim yellow light spread out, dispelling the encroaching darkness. Holding the oil lamp, Lu Li stepped into the deeper, darker recesses of the gallery, his footsteps echoing.
He saw an oil painting titled "The Daughter of Madam An Lei."
The painting depicted an estate, where flowerbeds of dark green and pale pink lined a path, with a mansion in the background.
Anna sat on a chair on the estate grounds, one delicate hand lightly holding the hem of her dress. She wore a white, Gothic-style pleated gown, as exquisite as a doll's. Yet, despite the noble girl's pose, a lively aura still shone through.
Fine particles were scattered across the entire painting, making the canvas slightly uneven. Perhaps due to a lack of protective asures, the paints had oxidized, leaving the image sowhat distorted and dim. This distorted, dark coloration, however, gave both the painting and Anna a unique, ti-worn beauty.
Like the weight of ti itself.
After he stood there for a mont, Anna did not erge from her state of repose. Lu Li temporarily left the painting and continued deeper into the gallery.
On a display stand was a plaster statue that looked like a perfect work of art. When Lu Li had returned to Sea Gaze Cliff once before, he hadn't found it; Jimmy and his siblings had taken it with them to Paradise Valley. But to this day, Lu Li had received no information about "Paradise Valley."
Lu Li returned the way he ca, not going upstairs or even approaching the portrait of Dracula at the center of the staircase.
Right now, he didn't even have his Spirit Gun, nor any ans to fight anomalies.
When Lu Li returned to Anna's painting, a strange sound suddenly echoed from the depths of the gallery he had just left—the scraping of stone against the floor.
And on the dim, grayish, ti-worn oil painting, the beautiful and elegant figure was becoming clearer and more distinct.
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