Chapter 341 - 341 198

Words : 1344 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

341: 198. Eve of the Rainy Season 341: 198. Eve of the Rainy Season About ten minutes later, Lu Li appeared in the tavern hall. His calm expression was as if nothing had happened before. Only the Spirit-Calling Gun in his waist holster silently narrated something. Matthew was also in the hall, dining alone at a table. Her damp, brownish-yellow hair was spread out, her cheeks still flushed from the bath. She had already finished washing, much faster than the men. Lu Li didn’t sit down next to her. He took a seat at a table on the edge of the tavern, waiting for the Alliance Personnel to bring food and medicine. Pryce was the third to come out, he whispered something to Matthew and took a beer to sit opposite Lu Li. “If I’m not mistaken, you must not have been through many incidents, but you did very well.” It was not surprising to Pryce that Lu Li seemed inexperienced at every turn of the events. However, his excellent performance nearly covered all that. The food was soon brought over: hot sausages, bread, and meat soup, along with a glass of milk that Lu Li had specifically requested. “Where are you headed next?” Lu Li asked. The tavern door was suddenly pushed open, and the team members Pryce had left on Elm Street walked in. Pryce nodded at them and then turned to answer Lu Li, “Rest for a while, then continue patrolling.” Pryce didn’t discuss this topic much, and as his voice fell, he raised his beer mug. “To you.” “Thank you.” Lu Li picked up his glass of milk in response. The Night Watchmen who had finished bathing gradually gathered in the hall. Pryce whispered an excuse and returned to his team. The expected noise and commotion did not occur. Even off duty, the Night Watchmen still kept as quiet as possible, only speaking softly. After eating, Lu Li used the last piece of bread to soak up the meat soup before wiping his fingertips and mouth corners with a handkerchief placed beside him. An Alliance Personnel came to clear the table and told Lu Li that if he wanted to leave, he only had to inform them, and they would prepare a coach to take him to his desired destination. “Prepare a coach for me, and now I need a telephone and contact information for Petra’s good friend.” “Petra? May I ask who she is?” an Alliance Personnel usually tasked with logistics asked, not understanding what Lu Li meant. “The lady of Elm Street number 33, the main character of this incident.” “Okay, please wait a moment.” After waiting a few minutes, the Alliance Personnel led Lu Li to the tavern owner’s room. The room had been tidied up a bit but was still a mess, and the owner was nowhere to be seen. The phone was on the desk, left off the hook, and the Alliance Personnel told Lu Li, “We’ve already contacted the person you were looking for. Her name is Luna, Petra’s childhood playmate. They have maintained a very good friendship to this day.” Walking to the desk, he picked up the phone and Lu Li got straight to the point, “Does Professor Petra have any personal habits?” The Alliance had already informed Luna about what had happened, and the old voice on the phone did not find Lu Li’s inquiry abrupt, “Habits? Let me think... What do you mean?” “Like reading naked.” The expression of the Alliance Personnel who hadn’t yet left the room instantly turned odd. A deep sigh came through the phone after a slight silence. “...I thought this would end with her departure... It’s really hard to believe, isn’t it?” ... The rain pelting on the roof of the carriage completely drowned out the crisp sound of the horse’s hooves. Outside the carriage, the coachman was driving the vehicle on the way back to the Detective Agency. Through the carriage window curtains, Lu Li’s gaze stretched outside, witnessing a strange scene. Many residents stayed outside amidst the pouring rain, applying something on walls and roofs or cleaning the gutters under the eaves. “What are they doing?” Lu Li asked. Sitting next to Lu Li, Anna explained, “They must be preparing for the upcoming rainy season. Even back in Himfast, some people did this when the rainy season approached, but not as many as here.” “The rainy season, huh...” Recalling that the rainy season would last one to two weeks, Lu Li instructed the coachman to head temporarily to the department store and market. He wanted to stock up on some food and supplies to prepare for the rainy season. One could imagine that the already bad conditions would become even trickier with the rainy season. Just in case, Lu Li needed to make some other preparations as well. So when the carriage stopped at a department store, in addition to buying kerosene, waterproof tarps for the walls, and sandbags to block the doors from incoming water, Lu Li also hired a stone mason. Only two cubic meters of Deep Sea Stone were not enough to cover the entire Detective Agency, but they could barely cover the four walls of the bedroom, which could be somewhat useful. If he could settle the accounts of the “alley screams” and “man-eating house” cases in time, Lu Li could lay down a third cubic meter of Deep Sea Stone before the onset of the rainy season. Having agreed that the stone mason would come in the afternoon, Lu Li returned to the carriage with the purchased goods. The carriage moved, leaving a trail on the damp cobblestone road, which vanished instantly. ... Half an hour later, the carriage stopped in front of the Long House. Just like what they had seen all along the way, Sailor Street was also laying down tarps to prevent leaks during the rainy season. In front of the Long House, the shirtless landlord loudly directed the residents to check for potential leakages. Lu Li stayed out of it, parking the carriage behind, then the landlord approached Lu Li with a nearly ingratiating smile and greeted him—he had learned through some grapevine about Lu Li’s identity and what that represented—with him around, the Long House needn’t worry about strange occurrences. The frequency of bizarre phenomena in Belfast had been increasing lately. If it weren’t for even more outside the city, many residents would consider leaving. The only issue was that this Exorcist seemed to be planning to move away. “Did you buy tarp? Don’t worry, we’ve already covered your exterior walls,” the landlord noted the items in Lu Li’s hand and said attentively. “Thank you,” Lu Li nodded his thanks and returned to the Detective Agency. The newspapers had been delivered, lying on the floor behind the door of the Detective Agency. Lu Li handed the items he was carrying to Anna and picked up the edge of the newspaper, placing it on the desk. The musty smell of damp wood in the Detective Agency was strong, not pleasant, but bearable. “You stay here, I will go to the investigator’s base.” Lu Li had already mentioned this to Anna in the carriage. To complete the case, everything needed to be recorded and submitted to the investigator’s base, this time was no exception. In situations where the details of the incident couldn’t fit on one notecard, Lu Li would have to go to the base to recount them. “Come back early.” “Hmm.” Remembering something, Lu Li reached into his coat, placed the book he had picked up at the store on the desk, then turned and left. Anna, who had forgotten about this matter, stared blankly at the book on the desk for several seconds before looking out the window. The silhouette she relied on slipped into the waiting carriage, and as the wheels turned, it slowly moved past the window.

Chapter 341 - 341 198

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