Chapter 344 - 344 201

Words : 1421 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

344: 201. Bad Hunch 344: 201. Bad Hunch The crow landed outside the window. Its dark eyes reflected everything around it. Parents were busy reinforcing their houses on the street, while a mischievous child rushed to the window, trying to catch the crow. It watched the reflection on the window of the child approaching from behind and flew up to dodge the human child’s attack, landing on the eaves of the house. The little boy looked on reluctantly for a while before turning and running away. The crow flew down again, perching in front of the window, tapping the glass lightly with its beak. The two figures inside the house looked over when they heard the noise, and then one of them walked out of the room. The crow tilted its head to watch the remaining figure inside, then turned to look at the Long House door as it was pushed open. Lu Li, holding an umbrella, walked out from behind the door, went to the window, and removed the paper from the crow’s leg. The rainy season was about to begin, and to prevent leaks, the landlord had dutifully reinforced the two windows of the Detective Agency, sealing the cracks but also making it impossible to open the windows normally. This time, the crow didn’t linger; it spread its wings and flew straight into the curtain of rain, disappearing from view. Lu Li returned to the Detective Agency with the note, asking Anna to light the oil lamp, then sat on the sofa to unfold the message. “The vengeful spirit case in Himfast?” Anna placed the oil lamp on the dining table beside the sofa, illuminating a small area. “That should be it,” Lu Li said, shifting slightly towards the edge to read the content under the combined light from the window and the oil lamp. A curious face crept silently closer. [Your completion of the event: cries for help in the alley] [Event difficulty: none] [Completion: 111%] [Total time spent: 1 day] [Due to a completion rate of 111%, you receive 111 (completion rate) x 2 (multiplier for events with no difficulty) = 222 investigation points as a reward] [The following content provides detail on information level] [The spirit is a female vengeful spirit (5%), whose head rotates clockwise when she speaks (1%); commonly seen at night in the Dark Alley, she pulls people into her ritual as they draw near (7%), and any movement, including leaving or approaching, is deemed a ritual failure by the spirit’s rules (25%).] [First, the sounds akin to cries for help from the spirit herself are heard from the Dark Alley (5%), then the spirit’s head appears at the edge of the alley, revealing her face to those who see it (5%). A few hands reach out from the depths of the darkness, dragging back the spirit’s head (5%), and after a few seconds, the cries for help turn into screams (5%), until approximately 30 seconds later when the noise fades away (3%).] [If the person pulled into the ritual has not moved by this point, the spirit will reappear at the edge of the alley and repeatedly ask why they won’t save her (7%). At that moment, if they answer, “Because you are not human,” the spirit will respond, “I am human.”—] The rest of the content repeated the conversation Lu Li had had with the spirit that night, so he looked directly at the information level in the parentheses, which indicated (50%). Usually, this meant that Lu Li had deciphered the vengeful spirit’s ritual to a certain extent and could potentially avoid it by repeating the measures. Directly banishing the spirit would increase the information level to 100%. A completion rate of 111% meant an exceptionally high evaluation, the only regret being that this event was merely a basic one, or in other words, it wouldn’t be classified as having “difficulty” in the realm of investigators, so it only rewarded the basic double rate, amounting to just 222 investigation points. Equivalent to about 2,500 Shillings. Adding the nearly 600 Shillings from informing the merchant, the total income was 3,000 Shillings. Much better than working as an Exorcist solving troubles everywhere. In fact, Lu Li’s income could have been increased further—no one would trade the contribution points they earned for Shillings. Exorcists typically used them to exchange for practical tools or Homogeneous Items as well as certain privileges, all of which were worth far more than the 1:10 ratio. Lu Li could easily exchange his contribution points for these items and then sell them. But Lu Li didn’t have that much time. Not only because the end is nearing, which might happen, but also because of the rising prices of Deep Sea Stone. Regardless, Lu Li had already secured the funds to purchase canned food and to hire a Stone Mason. If the “Eat-Man House” incident could be upgraded to “simple difficulty,” and Lu Li completed it thoroughly, he would receive a substantial amount of investigation points. That would make it more than enough for him to buy a fourth Deep Sea Stone. After a while, the owner of the grocery store personally delivered two boxes of canned food. When Lu Li indicated he wanted another box of beef cans, the owner happily assured him that he would deliver them right away and that he could offer a discount for future needs. But not this time. However, Lu Li asked him to deliver the beef cans the next day, as he only had contribution points and no Shilling on him. The store owner agreed and cheerfully worked out a price with Lu Li — 1100 Shilling, waiving the 40 Shilling change. After confirming the delivery for tomorrow afternoon, the store owner left the Detective Agency. “So expensive...” Anna, whose character was somewhat influenced by her close association with Lu Li, grumbled. Even in today’s economy, 57 Shilling could feed a family a reasonably lavish meal, but Lu Li only bought a can of heavy tin canned food. “But it’s worth the price.” The shelf life of canned food is unparalleled by any other food. Except for honey. But it’s likely that bees are no longer seen in this world. As plants cease to grow, bees will be one of the first species to go extinct. This is also one of the reasons why Lu Li insisted that this world was heading towards collapse. He knew better than anyone the importance of plants. Lu Li asked Anna to move the three boxes of canned food back to the bedroom for storage. The bedroom would temporarily serve as his refuge once the rainy season started. Having done everything that he could for the time being, Lu Li picked up the three newspapers that had been delivered in the morning to read. There was no news, or more accurately, any current events that were newsworthy were unlikely to appear in these regular papers. The estimated arrival time of the rainy season had been predicted: it would begin next Wednesday and last for nearly half a month. In addition to the forecast of the rainy season, all three newspapers had also announced that during the rainy season, daily publications would be reduced to twice a week, specifically on Monday and Thursday. Perhaps Lu Li was overthinking, but all these signs indeed emanated the bad vibes of an impending disaster. Looking out the window, the residents on this street, under the veil of rain, were still busy building their nests. At two o’clock in the afternoon, a Stone Mason arrived at the Long House, brought to the door of the Detective Agency by a neighbor. Anna hid her figure, as Lu Li brought the Stone Mason into the Detective Agency. The Stone Mason, wearing a rain poncho over his overalls, was stunned upon seeing the Deep Sea Stone. He told Lu Li that they were incapable of handling such a large block of stone — though they could cut it, a considerable portion would be wasted as scrap and unusable. After the Stone Mason left, Anna reappeared, looking thoughtfully at Lu Li. “Hmm.” But he would have to wait for the merchant’s arrival to inquire about the details. Tomorrow, Monday, the merchant would arrive with the Deep Sea Stone and a copy of “Investigator Weekly” that would put Tesla in a rather unusual mood. That would be a good time to clear up any doubts.

Chapter 344 - 344 201

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