Chapter 44 - 44 Forty-four

Words : 1311 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

44: Forty-four. New Goal 44: Forty-four. New Goal Oliver was merely coerced into delivering love letters. Lu Li had not planned to read those pretentious, love-filled, sour-smelling letters, and put it together with the previous one in the deepest part of the drawer. Intermittent voices began to arise in the bedroom, but Lu Li was uninterested in the whispers among the girls, although occasionally, a few sentences, more clearly articulated due to uncontrollable emotions, reached the living room. “You still look the same as back then...” “Hmm, you’ve grown up, your looks... and your figure.” “Pfft... what are you even noticing?” Lu Li silently withdrew his attention and unfolded the day’s issue of the “Belfast Today.” The front page’s boldest headline read: “Rainfall expected soon, the persistent fog over Ailen Peninsula to end,” with much of the content also weather-related. Some scholars analyzed and commented on the benefits the rain would bring to Ailen Peninsula, such as for the plants. Thanks to the lingering fog, it had already reached June, yet Belfast remained starkly gray. Trees had not sprouted green buds, and the usually lush wild grass was nowhere to be seen. Belfast is a port city, where the absence of plant life made it look merely bald and ugly. However, it was said that the inland farmers, relying on crops for survival, had started to panic. If the crops did not sprout soon, they might not be harvested before the winter snows arrived. The second page was also related to the weather. Belfast City’s government released information that the rainy season on Ailen Peninsula was arriving soon, reminding residents to prepare for dampness and to stock up on kerosene. The kerosene in Belfast was transported from other cities. Once the rainy season started, due to geographical reasons, the surrounding lands would turn into swamps, making them almost impassable. By then, Belfast would be almost cut off from the world, like a deserted island. Turning to the third page, the focus shifted from the weather to a scandal involving a certain baron. “A dancer takes Baron Joseph to court: claims to have been violated by Baron Joseph at a private dance a few days ago.” It was apparent that Belfast was short on news, as this entertainment-style news occupied an entire page. Having understood the gist of the major news, Lu Li flipped further, and the following news returned to more ordinary matters, such as a homicide on Black Gold Street, a scholar who did not pay a prostitute and ended up fighting and having a lot of hair pulled out, and Desais being appointed as Chief of Starlight District Police Station. Time passed quietly until almost an hour had elapsed. Squeak— The door suddenly opened, and Daisy walked out with a beaming smile in her eyes. Anna floated behind, her eyes crescent-like, also smiling. Daisy first politely bid farewell to Lu Li, then she whispered some girls’ secrets to Anna, waving her hands reluctantly as she left. “I thought you would stay a bit longer,” Lu Li said to Anna who floated over after Daisy left. Anna drifted to a spot near Lu Li, virtually sitting next to the desk: “I sent her away; I told her I couldn’t stay out too long.” Lu Li remained silent, waiting for Anna to continue. Worry clouded her brow and eyes: “Since I awoke, I have been pondering one thing—am I still considered human? I can think, speak, and affect things around me, but I’m dead... different from all of you.” Anna’s bright eyes rested on Lu Li, carrying a hint of expectation—as if she hoped Lu Li would offer some words of comforting encouragement. But she clearly thought too much; Lu Li never comforted people, just as he never spoke needlessly. Anna naively waited for a while, and upon realizing Lu Li showed no sign of speaking, her delicate cheeks gradually flushed red with embarrassment and annoyance, she exclaimed: “Don’t you have anything to say to me at all?” “... there still are.” After a few seconds of silence, Lu Li nodded, speaking as Anna’s eyes suddenly lit up, “Why did you send her away?” “???” Anna’s emotions changed rapidly in just a few seconds, from confusion to incomprehension, from embarrassment to relief. She finally sighed softly, not knowing whether it was because of Lu Li or Daisy, “I’m afraid staying with me too long might be bad for her health. Haven’t those ghost stories written that ghosts and the living together can affect the living...” Anna’s voice abruptly stopped, and she quickly covered her mouth, stealing a glance at Lu Li. “I feel fine so far.” Lu Li answered, unconcerned about this. Anna breathed a sigh of relief and then sighed slightly in melancholy. A ghost not wanting her living friend to get hurt because of her almost seemed heartwarming. “Times have changed.” Lu Li suddenly spoke, his tone a bit strange. “What?” Anna blinked, not understanding. Lu Li pointed to the telephone, continuing, “If you’re worried that contact with her might cause her health issues, why not contact her by phone?” “... I’ll go get a phone!” With a face full of irritation and shame, Anna rushed towards the door to call for Daisy, who hadn’t gone far. Lu Li shifted his gaze back and picked up the newspaper, then remembered he had already finished reading it and rustled it before placing it beside the table. He began to ponder the commissions he would undertake next. The current situation was somewhat awkward; Lu Li had a balance of 700 Shilling, which meant he only needed to take on a commission that paid 300 Shilling or more to afford to seek the truth from Hades. The problem was, Lu Li didn’t have any commission that paid over 300 Shilling. This meant that Lu Li would need to take on two more commissions to make up a total of 1000 Shilling. He pulled out a stack of commission information from the drawer, with the Haunted House and the Asylum topping the priority list. The former was easy enough, only requiring him to investigate and confirm whether the ghosts in the Haunted House were real people or actual ghosts. The latter was somewhat dangerous but involved Asina. Her husband had disappeared near the Asylum, and there might be some clues there. Apart from these two commissions, one of the remaining two was at the Belfast City Library, where Lu Li had encountered a vengeful spirit—he naturally wouldn’t try his luck there. The last one left was about mysterious shadows at the Stover Logging Camp. [The commission was posted by several loggers together; they claimed that every evening, moving shadows and strange conversation sounds could be heard in the forest, and even after secretly observing from a distance several times, the shadows in the forest didn’t disappear after dark. These loggers hoped to uncover the truth and dispel the ghosts.] These were the details written on the commission information, and the few words hinted at clues that made Lu Li sense something was amiss. More critically, the location was very far from Belfast, close to the countryside. If he encountered some kind of danger, Lu Li couldn’t even contact the police station in time. Just then, Anna floated back in through the door. “Did you catch up?” Lu Li asked without looking up. “Yeah.” Anna nodded, her cheeks still slightly flushed. Lu Li put down the commission information, his dark eyes lifting to meet Anna’s, “Would you like to go out for a walk?” Anna paused for a moment, and after a few seconds, her pale blue clear eyes brightened increasingly, bursting with a brilliance like that of the stars.

Chapter 44 - 44 Forty-four

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