74: Seventy-four.

Things in the dark 74: Seventy-four.

Things in the dark Hades did not answer the question.

He ducked behind the bar, and a rummaging sound ensued.

Ten seconds later, he reappeared, holding a candle that looked like pure white cream.

This seemed to be some sort of rare item, which was clear from the way Hades handled it — Lu Li only saw him display a similar expression when he encountered Shilling.

Hades removed the protective cover from the oil lamp nearby, tilted the white candle, and lit it.

A faint glow of light emerged, featuring a blend of pale yellow and light red that wasn’t any different from a normal flame.

The wax around the flame melted but did not drip down; instead, it turned into steam-like vapor, which spiraled upward and dissipated into the void.

Lu Li stared at the flame, suddenly overwhelmed by an indescribable feeling.

The dim candlelight seemed to disperse a pervasive mist, exposing the most essential truth to his eyes.

It was as if the fog on his vision had been suddenly wiped clean, making everything clear.

“It’s called an Illusion-Breaking Candle.

It allows you to see things that you usually can’t, just like the Spirit-Calling Gun.

But there won’t be any negative effects,” Hades whispered, seemingly in pain.

He stared behind Lu Li as if something was there.

“Now take a look around you.”

Hades might blow out the candle when Lu Li turned his head or take off with 1000 Shillings, as that would be his style.

But Lu Li still followed Hades’s guidance and turned his head.

The gloomy, rainy weather was even more dim than the fog of the previous days, and the windows displayed a feeble halo.

The oil lamp and candle on the bar barely illuminated a few meters around them, while the round tables and chairs in the distance were merely black silhouettes.

Lu Li was certain that the seats had been empty when he entered.

But when he turned back, the previously unoccupied tables and chairs were crammed with silhouettes of various black shapes.

These pitch-black shadows exhibited ominous, thick dark contours, and it was hard to discern what they were just by their silhouettes.

Some shadows seemed structurally similar to humans but with clear differences.

There was a shadow like an enlarged clump of grass with tentacles that swayed like seaweed.

One with an ankle dragging a metal ball, but with a head shaped like the spire of a bell tower.

Another like a dense, urchin-like black sphere with hundreds of slender limbs extending from its trunk.

And one like a puddle of slime, constantly changing shape, as if the water on a drum’s surface vibrated with each beat.

These beings resembled objects a child might mold from wet sand on the beach — odd and ambiguous, seemingly familiar yet instilling a profound and terrifying strangeness at the core.

They were under the seats, below the round tables, upon the ceiling, between the gaps of the stairs, and beside him — they were everywhere.

The pub-style Detective Agency suddenly became incredibly “crowded.”

“This is…”

Lu Li’s expression gradually became stern.

“What you’ve always wanted to know, the essence of the world.”

Hades grinned with a cruelty in his voice.

“These are the things in the darkness.”

Lu Li did not respond; he quietly observed these black silhouettes.

Some of the black silhouettes were moving.

Occasionally, a silhouette would leave the “pub,” but new ones would also appear.

Some moved simply, while others gradually faded and vanished into the distance.

Lu Li tilted his head, focusing his gaze on a corner of the bar two stools away.

A black silhouette sat there; it was one of the few that had an almost complete human outline.

It was holding something unrecognizable in its hand, periodically lifting it as if taking a drink.

Lu Li quietly watched it until, at one moment, the shadow’s head moved, seemingly turning towards Lu Li.

“Don’t keep staring!

They can sense you!”

A stern shout suddenly rang in his ears!

Lu Li’s dark eyes regained clarity, and he instantly withdrew his gaze, turning his head back.

The two men kept silent in unison, observing the black silhouette in the corner of the bar with their peripheral vision.

Thankfully, it didn’t move, nor did it seem to notice anything, instead turning its head back and repeating its previous actions.

Having narrowly escaped danger, Hades let out a long breath, his heartbeat so loud that even Lu Li across from him could hear it clearly.

“What are they?” Lu Li asked.

He began to observe the black silhouettes behind him again but did not keep his gaze on them as before, instead, his eyes flitted constantly, moving around.

Hades shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, we’ve just started our theoretical research about the Inner World.

Oh, Inner World is what we call that space.

Some also call it ‘Mental Layer Void’, ‘Spiritual Space’, and so on…

There’s no official name, so you can call it whatever you want.”

“Can they sense that this place is a bar?”

“I need to remind you that this is the Detective Agency,” Hades said sternly, correcting Lu Li’s misconception before answering the question, “Why couldn’t they?

We are on the material plane, they are on the spiritual plane.

Whatever changes occur for us, changes happen there, too.

In other words—we and they are the outer and inner of this world; it’s just that we usually don’t interact with each other.”

“But the night brings opportunities,” Lu Li added.

“That’s right,” Hades agreed.

“What are they?”

“I don’t know.

Evil spirits?

Evil Gods?

Unspeakable beings?

You shouldn’t ask such questions to an Exorcist who is normal, unremarkable, without any distinguishing features, and greedy for money.”

Hades hunched his shoulders, his words revealing a self-awareness of his own limits.

“Are they all the same outside?”

Hades shook his head, trying to shatter Lu Li’s naivety, “Don’t you understand yet?

Our world is crowded with these things.

The day belongs to the living, while the night belongs to their world.”

“So as long as you stay in a place with light, you are safe?”

“Yes, at least that was the case before the first fog appeared.”

“Fog?”

Lu Li asked, his thoughts returning to the strange bell sound he encountered that night at the gallery office and the thin fog that enveloped the sea, lasting only a few seconds.

“That’s the one.

They wander in the dark, and all we need to do is to avoid the dark.

But if the fog appears, they will materialize around us—and the light can’t dissipate them.”

Hades noticed Lu Li’s recollection, and with a snap of his fingers, he said.

“If you still don’t understand, I can give you an example.”

“During the day we are like ordinary visitors at a circus, no danger, maybe just scaring ourselves.

At night we are like ordinary visitors standing in front of the lion’s cage, safe as long as we stay away from the cage.

But in the fog…”

Lu Li’s dark eyes suddenly deepened.

He lowered his eyes, then lifted his head and continued.

“We’re like visitors in front of an open cage.”