Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 67 - 67 Sixty-seven
67: Sixty-seven.
Lu Li on this side 67: Sixty-seven.
Lu Li on this side The cost of admission would, of course, be covered by the client.
“Are you going to hide?
If there are ghosts inside, they might hide because they can sense your presence,” Lu Li said, his gaze falling on the Haunted House structure behind the ticket counter, squinting his dark pupils slightly, and speaking to Anna.
“Just make sure they can’t sense me,” Anna chuckled, her figure gradually fading in the air until she disappeared completely.
“Can you still see me?”
Anna asked triumphantly.
“No, I can’t,” Lu Li reached out towards where Anna had been standing.
“Ah!
No, don’t touch randomly!” A cry of embarrassment rang out.
“Oh~”
Jojo again revealed that knowing look that everyone understood.
“Keep up.”
Withdrawing his hand, Lu Li stepped forward and walked through the main entrance of the building.
“Welcome to the Ghost House…”
The Ghost House staff member, dressed in black-and-white striped prisoner garb, spoke in a deep voice.
Surprisingly, aside from Lu Li and his companion, there was also a couple and a young man waiting at the entrance.
Jojo handed over two tickets, and after the staff member confirmed, he said, “We now have five people, so guests can prepare to enter the Ghost House for the adventure.
The rules of the game are: inside the Ghost House, there are five slips of paper hidden within various clues.
You will need to find all the slips of paper to unlock the final door and exit, with a time limit of thirty minutes.”
“What if we can’t find the slips of paper?” the young girl, clinging to her lover, raised her hand to ask, taking the opportunity to glance at Lu Li a few additional times.
A good-looking man can also attract a lot of attention.
The staff member chuckled lowly, his voice cold, “You will fail the game…
and lose the chance for a prize!”
The group fell silent.
“I will do my best,” the young man promised, puffing out his chest.
The staff member sneered, “Very good…
I will now give you the clues about the slips of paper: at the mountaintop, inside the well, atop the tree, in the middle of the axe, on the surface of coal.”
“The mountaintop…
inside the well…” The young man asked puzzled, “Isn’t the Ghost House a building?
Where are the mountains and wells?”
Lu Li quietly glanced at him.
“This is a riddle, and visitors must figure it out themselves.
If everyone is ready, I’ll start the timer.”
“Let’s begin,” the young man replied, pulling his girlfriend aside to lift the entrance curtain and enter inside the building.
The young man followed them quickly, and the two people, plus one ghost, trailed at the end.
Behind them, the curtain of the main door fell, and the sound of rain was blocked outside.
Before them lay a long, cold hallway with room doors on either side bearing classroom numbers, clearly a school-themed Ghost House.
The timid girl huddled into her boyfriend’s arms, who softly comforted her, “Don’t be afraid, all of this is fake; there are no ghosts in the world.”
An unpleasant, mushy smell of romance spread throughout.
“Pah!”
A sound of disdain, barely audible, echoed through the air.
The young man walking behind them said, “Even if there really were ghosts, they wouldn’t be scaring people in a ghost house.”
“Hahaha, you’re right, so what are we afraid of?” the young man laughed loudly, and the girl felt slightly reassured.
Only the two at the back, a person and a ghost, were silent.
In fact, perhaps there really are ghosts that run around scaring people in Ghost Houses, and there are ghosts who visit Ghost Houses to experience being scared—like Anna.
Lu Li had not used the Spirit-Calling Gun to sense the location of ghosts.
Her ability was relative.
While holding it, Lu Li could sense the ghosts around her, whether they were hidden or not.
However, at the same time, the ghosts nearby could also sense Lu Li.
More so, just to confirm the presence of ghosts and touching the Spirit-Calling Gun, which had greater side effects the longer it was in contact, seemed a bit counterproductive—unless the commission could be a bit higher.
Soon, a fork in the road extended to the left and right in front of everyone, with a sign on the wall bearing some writing.
[For the best scare experience, it’s recommended that the group of visitors split up to explore]
“I don’t want to split up!” The girl gripped tighter.
“Okay, okay, we won’t split up.
We’ll take the left side, and you guys…”
“I and my companion will separate, Jojo, you go right.” Lu Li picked up, looking towards the space where Anna might be, gesturing for her to follow Jojo.
“Then I’ll go right as well,” the young man said, giving Lu Li a friendly smile.
For the sake of the game experience, the team of five split up at the crossroads, each heading their own way.
…
“Hurry up and get ready, visitors are coming!”
At this moment, in the dimly lit corridor not far from them, a twisted figure burst into the classroom.
A headless silhouette sitting behind a desk tossed its head around, and the head thrown up cackled, “Finally they’re here…
time to feed…”
Turning towards the left corridor were the couple and Joanna, while the right corridor was taken by Lu Li and the young man.
The ghosts chose to attack the side with fewer people first.
“Hee hee hee hee…”
The twisting ghost’s shadow laughed eerily, merging into the wall behind the classroom, slowly disappearing.
The Headless Ghost cradled his head, placing it on the upper section of the bookshelf at the back of the classroom, shutting the cabinet door, then maneuvered his headless body to slip into the bottom section, closing the door and hiding with a sinister chuckle.
“Hee hee hee hee…”
“Should we go in and have a look?
Generally, clues are hidden in the first room.”
Faint voices of conversation arose from outside the classroom door.
Creak—
The dusty door was pushed open a crack.
“Have you been here before?” Lu Li looked towards the young man who had taken it upon himself to push the door.
The classroom was covered with a thick layer of dust, and footprints were everywhere.
The walls were filled with children’s whimsical graffiti.
An oppressive and dark atmosphere was tinged with eeriness.
Judging by the set, the Ghost House was well made.
The young man chuckled dryly a few times, taking the lead into the classroom: “No, but I’ve been to other Ghost Houses…
the puzzles are pretty much the same.”
He certainly had the courage of someone highly skilled in the arts.
“The top of the mountain, inside the well, above the tree, in the middle of the axe, on the surface of the sand…” The young man surveyed the classroom, muttering the clues he had received: “Could there really be such things here?”
He turned his head towards Lu Li: “Do you have any ideas—hey, where are you going?”
Lu Li had walked into the classroom and, passing between rows of desks and chairs, headed straight for the wall-mounted bookshelf at the back of the room.
Creak—
The upper cabinet door opened, and a horrifying head with eyes tightly closed and blood oozing out appeared on the top of the bookshelf.
Lu Li didn’t even glance at the head, which could have been real or fake, picked up a geography book from the lower shelf with a snow mountain on the cover, opened the title page, retrieved the slip of paper hidden within, closed the cabinet door and turned to head back the way he came.
A fluid sequence of actions, from crossing over to coming back, didn’t even take five seconds.
“Got the slip of paper,” Lu Li said indifferently as he passed by the young man, leaving the classroom.
The young man stood dazed in the empty classroom for a few seconds before hurrying after him.
The classroom returned to silence, time ticking by second by second—
At a certain moment, a ghostly wail suddenly emerged from the cabinet.
“Woo~~~ Woo~~~ Woo…
Hm?”
The wailing abruptly halted, replaced by a puzzled light exclamation.
“Where did they go?”